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

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Wednesday news, part two:

Armored Core 6 will have 1v1 duels and 3v3 multiplayer that's like a 'mecha festival with metal flying everywhere'
https://www.pcgamer.com/armored-core-6-pvp-multiplayer-1v1-3v3-details/
Almost every arcade I've visited in Japan over the last decade had a floor dedicated almost exclusively to the latest iteration of the Gundam Versus series, a fighting game that seems to be carrying the entire Japanese arcade industry on its shoulders. It's essentially a 2v2, 3D arena fighter where you pick your Gundam, fly and dash through the air to dance around your opponents, and tap in button combos to do flashy moves. It's a frantic and overwhelming game to learn, which immediately came to mind when I talked to FromSoftware's developers about their plans for multiplayer in Armored Core 6, and they said the words "metal flying everywhere."

FromSoftware made Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 with a staff of just 300 developers
https://www.pcgamer.com/fromsoftware-made-elden-ring-and-armored-core-6-with-a-staff-of-just-300-developers/
Armored Core 6 is not a small side project for FromSoftware. That may have seemed obvious from the game's bombastic trailers, but without famed studio head Hidetaka Miyazaki serving as director and with that big Elden Ring DLC also in the works, it's less obvious exactly how FromSoftware splits its time and resources. During a recent interview with Armored Core 6's director and producer, I asked how big the studio is now and how the teams are broken down.
>> And this time around, they've managed to bring a 120fps option on PC.

Starfield's surprise anime series features battling mechs and fans are hoping they'll be playable in the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfields-surprise-anime-series-features-battling-mechs-and-fans-are-hoping-theyll-be-playable-in-the-game/
With the sci-fi RPG epic Starfield now just over a month away, Bethesda Softworks has released The Settled Systems - A Starfield Animated Anthology, a trio of brief animes offering a look at life in three of the game's biggest cities—and it's got some fans hoping that maybe Todd Howard has been holding something back.

Dave the Diver was inspired by a real oceanside seafood restaurant… and Metal Gear Solid
https://www.pcgamer.com/dave-the-diver-was-inspired-by-a-real-oceanside-seafood-restaurant-and-metal-gear-solid/
It might seem strange to hear that a fishing and sushi restaurant management game was inspired, in part, by the Metal Gear Solid series. But it makes more sense after you've played Dave the Diver. Sure, you spend a lot of time fishing and serving food, but among other surprises the game also has a few stealth sequences, including one where Dave has to slip past a bunch of armed goons on patrol.

ESRB says proposed age verification scan is misunderstood: It doesn't 'confirm the identity of users' and is unrelated to videogame age ratings
https://www.pcgamer.com/esrb-says-proposed-age-verification-scan-is-misunderstood-it-doesnt-confirm-the-identity-of-users-and-is-unrelated-to-videogame-age-ratings/
The ESRB recently filed a request with the FTC seeking approval for a "verifiable parental consent mechanism" called Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation, which will enable people to use selfies to prove that they are actually adults who can legally provide parental consent to their children. It struck me and many others as not a great idea—literally inviting Big Brother into your home and all that—but in a statement sent to PC Gamer, the ESRB said the system is not actually facial recognition at all, and is "highly privacy protective."
>> It sure is...

Sorry, Doom dreamers: John Carmack wishes John Romero 'the best' but they're not working on a secret new project together
https://www.pcgamer.com/sorry-doom-dreamers-john-carmack-wishes-john-romero-the-best-but-theyre-not-working-on-a-secret-new-project-together/
To many, id Software co-founders John Carmack and John Romero were the Lennon and McCartney of videogames: Their friendship was strained to the breaking point by creative friction, but the work they did together literally changed the world. They've both done good stuff since then, but, well... it's not quite the same, is it? But while some deeply committed fans may have dreamed that the passage of time would enable them to come together again to work on a new masterpiece, Carmack recently said on Twitter that it ain't gonna happen.

Our favorite spy-themed extraction shooter is having a free weekend to launch its second season
https://www.pcgamer.com/our-favorite-spy-themed-extraction-shooter-is-having-a-free-weekend-to-launch-its-second-season/
We like the spy-themed extraction shooter Deceive Inc quite a lot. We called it "a creative blend of sneaking and shooting" in our 82% review, and it earned a spot in our list of eight overlooked games that you might have missed in 2023. That's a solid and well-deserved recommendation, but not really good news because it means a lot of folks are missing out on one of the more interesting gaming experiences of the year.
This coming weekend will be a good opportunity to address that problem, because Deceive Inc will be completely free to play from July 27-30 on both PC and consoles.

Charisma reigns supreme in D&D—the golden child Paladin might just be the most popular class in Baldur's Gate 3
https://www.pcgamer.com/charisma-reigns-supreme-in-danddthe-golden-child-paladin-might-just-be-the-most-popular-class-in-baldurs-gate-3/
A poll on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit—orchestrated by user Fable_Nova—gathered over 5,000 votes in under a week, with Paladin hitting the top of the charts. This was followed immediately by three other Charisma-based classes: Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock.

Baldur's Gate 3 used intimacy coordinators for sex scenes: 'I never felt 'yuck' in a recording session at all,' says actor
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-used-intimacy-coordinators-for-sex-scenes-i-never-felt-yuck-in-a-recording-session-at-all-says-actor/
When we talk about videogames taking cues from Hollywood, it's normally a reference to bombastic cinematics or a stacked cameo cast, not really behind the scenes staff. That's the case for Baldur's Gate 3 though, which used intimacy coordinators—professional advocates for actors appearing in explicit scenes—to help manage production of its romances between characters.

Cyberpunk and Witcher developer announces it's cutting 'roughly 9%' of its staff over the next 7 months
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-and-witcher-developer-announces-its-cutting-roughly-9-of-its-staff-over-the-next-7-months/
CD Projekt Red has laid off "roughly 9%" of its staff, with around 100 people losing their jobs over the next seven months.
In a statement on CDPR's website, CEO Adam Kiciński says the layoffs are part of "ongoing process of several deep transformations within the studio," which he considers "key to making quality games, on time and without crunch."
>> Given how long it takes them to launch a game, I don't know how they'll do with less people.

Fan outcry pushes Pathfinder dev to delete new data-sucking tool and all its info one day after introducing it: 'The scale of the outburst surpassed worst expectations'
https://www.pcgamer.com/fan-outcry-pushes-pathfinder-dev-to-delete-new-data-sucking-tool-and-all-its-info-one-day-after-introducing-it-the-scale-of-the-outburst-surpassed-worst-expectations/
Owlcat Games has yanked a controversial new player-tracking tool from Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous just a day after introducing it. On Monday, July 24, Owlcat introduced update 2.1.5m, a hefty patch to the game that—amidst all the bugfixes and tweaks you'd expect from this kind of thing—introduced AppsFlyer, described by Owlcat as "an industry standard tracking solution" that "allows developers and publishers to understand which part of players have purchased the game due to the impact of their advertising campaigns".

World of Warcraft Classic feels the scourge of the WoW token as a ring is traded for $13,000 worth of in-game gold
https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-classic-feels-the-scourge-of-the-wow-token-as-a-ring-is-traded-for-dollar13000-worth-of-in-game-gold/
As spotted by GamesRadar, the impact of the WoW token—a way for players to purchase game time, which they can also sell on the auction house for gold—is being felt on the Wrath of the Lich King: Classic servers, with one rare item selling for over 3 million gold in a GDKP auction.

2005 called, it's asking if you want another Neopets trading card game
https://www.pcgamer.com/2005-called-its-asking-if-you-want-another-neopets-trading-card-game/
Neopets is kicking off its new era by returning to an old one: The company's newly-independent leadership has announced the creation of a trading card game called Neopets Battledome, harkening back to the original Neopets Trading Card Game from the early 2000s. I never played that one myself, but I bet there are a lot of 20- and 30-somethings out there who experience a kind of full-body time travel whenever someone reminds them of it.