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

[JEMC]

Thursday news, part two:

Fans reached out to Microsoft to save a 2000s-era FPS from the brink, and it paid off: 'it actually kinda works better'
https://www.pcgamer.com/fans-reached-out-to-microsoft-to-save-a-2000s-era-fps-from-the-brink-and-it-paid-off-it-actually-kinda-works-better/
I just found out that Shadowrun, Dungeons & Dragons' cyberpunk cousin, had a Counter-Strike style FPS game. I also just found out that you can still play it, thanks to some determined fans and an active Discord community.
(...)
This group of ride-or-die fans got a small community up and running, though things grew dire when a surprise update threatened to knock it all down. "A few days ago Microsoft updated some [Xbox 360] matchmaking services, which fixed Call of Duty games on the platform, but actually ended up nuking the Shadowrun Matchmaking service," Wwm0nkey wrote.
"Well a few people (myself included) reached out and Microsoft actually ended up fixing it … it actually kinda works better."

Bungie seems to have 'accidentally' leaked a glimpse at Destiny 2's next subclass
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-seems-to-have-accidentally-leaked-a-glimpse-at-destiny-2s-next-subclass/
I don't normally cover Destiny 2 leaks, but the timing of the latest one is so suspicious that I think it's worth a look. Yesterday, a redditor posted a short video to r/Destiny2Leaks that showed a guardian beaming into the H.E.L.M. social space. What's remarkable about the clip is that at the two-second mark we see a few frames of UI that show a completely new super icon. The UI also uses a red colourway not currently found in the game, leading pretty much anyone who watched it to speculate that this might be a glimpse of the game's next subclass.

To build words you first have to craft each letter in this clever factory puzzle game
https://www.pcgamer.com/to-build-words-you-first-have-to-craft-each-letter-in-this-clever-factory-puzzle-game/
If you really think about it, the letter L is just the letter I with another letter I lying down in front of it. What's a T? Maybe two letter Ls that have been welded together after being turned upside down? A V is just an I that's leaning over and has been welded together at the bottom with another leaning I, so an X… that's either two Is crossing each other, or maybe two Vs, one flipped upside down and welded together at the pointy bits. Maybe?
That's the concept in puzzle game Word Factori. You have a small factory that can produce the letter I, and using only that letter you have to create words like OX, CAT, and IVY, and then eventually tougher constructions like DOCTOR, VOXEL, and AXOLOTL.
>> If you're wondering how you get an O from an I, the article explains it.

The Walking Dead: Betrayal is a game about avoiding zombie hordes and murdering your fellow survivors
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-walking-dead-betrayal-is-a-game-about-avoiding-zombie-hordes-and-murdering-your-fellow-survivors/
The team behind the snowbound survival-and-murder game Project Winter is turning its talents to the zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead: Betrayal, a new game in which players must work together to complete objectives, avoid the undead, and ferret out the "traitors" who for some reason are trying to get everyone killed.

Riot cracks down on Valorant app that gives players a significant advantage before the match even begins: 'It's hard to describe how disappointed I am'
https://www.pcgamer.com/riot-cracks-down-on-valorant-app-that-gives-players-a-significant-advantage-before-the-match-even-begins-its-hard-to-describe-how-disappointed-i-am/
Riot is shutting down a third-party Valorant app that gives players an early advantage in character selection.
Unofficial companion apps for multiplayer games usually exist to provide enhanced (and harmless) stat tracking or live ranking insights. Recon Bolt, made by Swiss developer Julian Dunskus, attracted Riot's ire for its most unique feature: the ability to lock-in characters on your phone before the option is available on PC (as spotted by Dexerto).

40K's edgelord assassins are coming to turn-based tactics game Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
https://www.pcgamer.com/40ks-edgelord-assassins-are-coming-to-turn-based-tactics-game-chaos-gate-daemonhunters/
In a setting as self-consciously dark as Warhammer 40,000 you really have to go out of your way to seem like "a bit much", but the black-clad killers of the Officio Assassinorum pull it off. They look like something a teenager who read too many Wolverine comics would come up with, and I love them. After going under-represented in 40K videogames they'll be joining the ranks of Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters in the Execution Force expansion.

EA responds to fan criticism of women players in Ultimate Team by reminding them it's 'fantasy football'
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-responds-to-fan-criticism-of-women-players-in-ultimate-team-by-reminding-them-its-fantasy-football/
EA's big reveal of EA Sports FC took place last week, the first non-FIFA entry in its long-running football series, and aside from some dodgy box art seemed to go down quite well. There's always criticism of a game on this scale, of course, but one big theme EA's been pursuing for years is integrating the womens' game into the experience, and with this game it's introducing women players to its hugely popular Ultimate Team mode.
The decision has led to some pushback from players, based on the fact that female players' stats will be competitive with equally rated male players' (though UT also takes account of things like height). The objection boils down to whether female players could realistically compete with male players, with some fans calling for the game to split men and women into their own UT modes, and some even going full basement dweller and suggesting women players shouldn't be in the mode at all.

Starfield's economy is already in shambles—a spaceworthy ship can go for as little as 25 sandwiches, 48 steaks, or ten plates of bugs
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfields-economy-is-already-in-shamblesa-spaceworthy-ship-can-go-for-as-little-as-25-sandwiches-48-steaks-or-ten-plates-of-bugs/
An unexpected connection of the dots—as discovered by Reddit user Mr_Twiddles—has given us a window into the fascinating moon logic of Starfield's economy. While Mr_Twiddles was misled by an admittedly convincing fan-made ship I wrote about earlier this month, they weren't far off.
The patty melt, which restores a whole 15 health, is priced at 295 credits. One starship from the gameplay deep dive is priced at 15,950 credits. That prices the starship at around 54 sandwiches, which either means starships are dirt cheap, or these melts are the equivalent of gold bars.
>> That explains why that dev at Bethesda collected so many sandwiches.

Diablo 4's sorcerers just can't catch a break—their new ultra-rare item rewards hours of grinding with motion sickness
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-sorcerers-just-cant-catch-a-breaktheir-new-ultra-rare-item-rewards-hours-of-grinding-with-motion-sickness/
The sorcerer's had a bad week. Thanks to a scorched-earth style nerfing of defensive stats, Diablo 4's magic user has turned from glass cannon to a pile of shattered glass. This is due to Blizzard's wide-net philosophy hitting them harder than other classes, while not buffing their barrier generation or stats to compensate.
To add insult to injury, the sorcerer's new ultra-rare unique—The Oculus, a rare wand—is barf-inducing, literally. The Oculus gives you the teleport enchantment for free, replacing your evade with a short-range teleport. However, this also causes it to teleport you to a completely random location. As PC Gamer's Tyler Colp witheringly put it: "maybe it'll teleport you to an action RPG that loves you."

Blizzard admits Overwatch 2's 'engagement and player investment' is in decline, while crossing its fingers for the Invasion update
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-admits-overwatch-2s-engagement-and-player-investment-is-in-decline-while-crossing-its-fingers-for-the-invasion-update/
In a recent earnings report, Blizzard celebrated Diablo 4's meteoric rise as its highest-earning game of all time, even while community sentiment around the latest patch hasn't been stellar.
The report itself celebrates this over the span of four bullet points, even noting that net bookings for Diablo: Immortal have been at the "highest level since January." Overwatch 2 only gets one bullet point, presumably as punishment.
"While engagement and player investment in Overwatch 2 declined sequentially in the quarter, the Overwatch team is looking forward to the August 10 release of Overwatch 2: Invasion. This will be the largest seasonal update yet, planned to include new PvE Story Missions, a new game mode, and a new hero progression system as well as an additional hero."
>> It's also the same day the game will launch on Steam.