Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Team Fortress 2 smashes all-time player record while fans hail plump seal as 'the best thing they've ever added to the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/team-fortress-2-smashes-all-time-player-record-while-fans-hail-plump-seal-as-the-best-thing-theyve-ever-added-to-the-game/
Don't call it a comeback: Team Fortress 2 has smashed through its all-time record for concurrent players, and at the time of writing has hit a peak of 253,997 and rising. This enormous uptick has been prompted by the release of a huge summer update, which was assembled by Valve but consists almost entirely of community content, and in particular love at first sight between the TF2 community and a rather plump seal.

The Epic Store gives away Train Valley 2: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/train-valley-2
Next week, they'll give away Murder by Numbers and The Elder Scrolls® Online.

Humble Bundle has launched the Cyberpunk Playground Bundle, with up to 8 games to get during the next 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/cyberpunk-playground.

Fanatical hasn't launched a new Star Deal yet, but it has a new bundle: the Very Positive Bundle 2023, featuring 7 games with a 93% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/very-positive-bundle-2023.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Half-Life Alpha is coming to the Doom/GZDoom Engine
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/half-life-alpha-is-coming-to-doom-gzdoom-engine/
Modder ‘QuakerCraft’ has announced his plans to bring Half-Life Alpha to the Doom/GZDoom Engine. This mod aims to bring the alpha version of Valve’s classic shooter to the Doom Engine, so basically think of it as a demake.
For those unaware, Half-Life Alpha was a GoldSource Engine project that aimed to bring back the maps and enemies from Half-Life’s alpha builds. Its GoldSource version was released in 2017, and you can download it from here.
>> The article has a couple of videos.

Elden Ring Mod forces all light sources to cast dynamic shadows
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/elden-ring-mod-forces-all-light-sources-to-cast-dynamic-shadows/
Modder ‘chainfailure’ has released a must-have mod for Elden Ring. This Elden Ring mod forces all light sources to cast dynamic shadows, and can transform some indoor environments, like caves and dungeons.
Although the modder has not shared any video, he did provide a comparison screenshot that you can find below. The vanilla screenshot is on the left, whereas the modded screenshot is on the right.

GAMING NEWS

Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown gets new screenshots & gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-gets-new-screenshots-gameplay-video/
NACON and KT Racing have released a new set of screenshots and a gameplay video for Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown. These screenshots will give you an idea of the visuals that this new Test Drive game targets. Moreover, its gameplay video will give you a taste of what you can expect from it.
(...)
NACON has just sent us a press release, stating that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown now targets a 2024 release date. Additionally, the publisher stated that it will launch the first closed beta phase on July 24th, 2023.
>> The gameplay video is over 35 minutes long.

Team Fortress 2 July 12th Update released, adds new maps, brings security improvements, full changelog
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/team-fortress-2-july-12th-update-released-adds-new-maps-brings-security-improvements-full-changelog/
Valve has released the July 12th Update for Team Fortress 2 that adds new content to the game, and shared its full patch notes/changelog.

Jurassic Park SNES and Gex Trilogy are coming to Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/jurassic-park-snes-and-gex-trilogy-are-coming-to-steam/
Limited Run Games has announced that the two Jurassic Park games that came out on SNES, as well as Gex Trilogy, will release on Steam. And, since I’m a huge fan of the Jurassic Park SNES game, this makes me really, really happy.
>> Erm... better late than never, I guess? You'll find the reveal trailers in the article.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart PC Requirements revealed for 1080p/1440p/4K and Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ratchet-clank-rift-apart-pc-requirements-revealed-for-1080p-1440p-4k-and-ray-tracing/
Nixxes Software has just revealed the official PC system requirements for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. These PC specs cover all common resolutions (1080p, 1440p and 4K), as well as the framerate they target and their graphical settings.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will support DirectStorage with GPU Decompression and Ray Tracing Ambient Occlusion on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ratchet-clank-rift-apart-will-support-directstorage-with-gpu-decompression-and-ray-tracing-ambient-occlusion-on-pc/
In a post on Steam, that has been removed, Nixxes Software revealed some new interesting tech details about Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart PC. According to the team, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will support DirectStorage with GPU Decompression on PC, as well as Ray Tracing Ambient Occlusion.