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

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Thursday news, the long part two:

Baldur's Gate 3 will soon let you ditch your friend's abandoned co-op character
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-will-soon-let-you-ditch-your-friends-abandoned-co-op-character/
Having your pals along for a co-op run of Baldur's Gate 3 can be a blast. It's hard to tackle an entire 100-hour RPG together the whole time though, and sometimes you're forced to continue the journey alone. At least, sort of alone, since there's currently no way to boot your friend's character concoction from your party once they've joined. Thankfully, that should all be changing soon.
>> By the way, if you want the worst possible ending, check this out.

Oops they did it again: War Thunder player posts NATO restricted military manual for what feels like the hundredth time
https://www.pcgamer.com/oops-they-did-it-again-war-thunder-player-posts-nato-restricted-military-manual-for-what-feels-like-the-hundredth-time/
The free-to-play military simulator War Thunder is taken incredibly seriously by its playerbase, some might say too seriously, and in recent years has been in the headlines again, and again, and again for one reason: players getting in arguments over the specifications of a given vehicle, until one produces actual real-world classified documents about it. Presumably in triumph. These documents tend to be highly protected—literally classified—and militaries understandably don't want the specs of their hardware floating around on the internet. So you'll never guess what's happened, again.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI acquires open-source Minecraft clone which I found out about from an article written by ChatGPT
https://www.pcgamer.com/chatgpt-maker-openai-acquires-open-source-minecraft-clone-which-i-found-out-about-from-an-article-written-by-chatgpt/
I mean, sometimes the whole story really is in the headline. OpenAI, the software company best-known for the various iterations of its ChatGPT text generator, has announced the acquisition of Global Illumination (GI), which describes itself as "a digital product company based in New York most recently working on Biomes."
Biomes is an open source sandbox game with a visual style straight outta Stockholm. It's Minecraft, basically, but Minecraft hosted on Github and theoretically built alongside the community. The synergies between something like this and AI content generation seem obvious. OpenAI's announcement says the GI team is joining to "work on our core products including ChatGPT [and] has been leveraging AI to build creative tools, infrastructure, and digital experiences."

Dwight from the Office advertising Armored Core 6 is the future mech fans dreamed of
https://www.pcgamer.com/dwight-from-the-office-advertising-armored-core-6-is-the-future-mech-fans-dreamed-of/
"When life happens," runs the copy for Armored Core 6's new ad, "Mechless Mutual Insurance covers everything* to give you peace of mind." The asterisk will turn out to be quite important. In scenes no Armored Core fan ever thought they'd see, the new game is being marketed with a skit starring Rainn Wilson, the American actor best-known for his role as Dwight Schrute in the Office.

Bethesda commissioned an official Starfield song from Imagine Dragons and if you guessed that it rhymes 'high' with 'sky,' you are correct
https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-commissioned-an-official-starfield-song-from-imagine-dragons-and-if-you-guessed-that-it-rhymes-high-with-sky-you-are-correct/
In the never-ending quest for more eyeballs on its stuff, Bethesda Softworks has enlisted the talents of award-winning pop-rock group Imagine Dragons to create a song for Starfield called Children of the Sky. It's not the worst collaboration between a game publisher and mainstream musician I've ever heard, but that's at least in part because I'm old enough to have a clear recollection of something called Hope For the Future.

Call of Duty enlists AI to eavesdrop on voice chat and help ban toxic players starting today
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-enlists-ai-to-eavesdrop-on-voice-chat-and-help-ban-toxic-players-starting-today/
Call of Duty is joining the growing number of online games combatting toxicity by listening to in-game voice chat, and it's using AI to assist the process. Activision announced a partnership with AI outfit Modulate to integrate its proprietary voice moderation tool—ToxMod—into Modern Warfare 2, Warzone 2, and the upcoming Modern Warfare 3.

Palia's first seasonal event adds exactly the kind of communal minigame I was hoping for
https://www.pcgamer.com/palias-first-seasonal-event-adds-exactly-the-kind-of-communal-minigame-i-was-hoping-for/
As both a life sim enjoyer and MMO sufferer, I've been quite invested in Palia's current early access period. Playing it right ahead of launch gave me high hopes for cozy MMOs in general, but I was still yearning for more MMO components on top of its crafting, gathering, and decorating chores. Palia launched its first seasonal event last night, a night market at the outskirts of town, adding exactly the kind of public event I had hoped for.

Succession writer says she's considering a return to games because they're ‘genuinely, massively exciting in a way that other forms aren't'
https://www.pcgamer.com/succession-writer-says-shes-considering-a-return-to-games-because-theyre-genuinely-massively-exciting-in-a-way-that-other-forms-arent/
There should be a Succession game. I mean, I guess there is, it's called Crusader Kings 3, and it also revolves around failson cabals plotting to usurp their parent's throne, but there should be an actual Succession game. That's my main takeaway from a recent interview with TV writer Lucy Prebble, who has writing credits on everything from Succession, to I Hate Suzie, to Destiny 1. All pretty much the same thing.

15 years after announcing the sequel, Ubisoft is gonna try to remember how to release a Beyond Good and Evil game with a new edition of the first one
https://www.pcgamer.com/15-years-after-announcing-the-sequel-ubisoft-is-gonna-try-to-remember-how-to-release-a-beyond-good-and-evil-game-with-a-new-edition-of-the-first-one/
There are 29 separate entries on PC Gamer's list of times Ubisoft has assured everyone that it's still definitely, totally, 100% working on Beyond Good and Evil 2, and yet somehow the prospect of that game coming out seems more remote than ever. But cheer up, because the first game is still quite excellent, and a recent leak from the ESRB—the US game ratings board—suggests that we're due for a new version of it imminently.

WoW Classic Hardcore hosts a dramatic duel to the death with dozens of bloodthirsty spectators—and of course it's because a hunter stole a belt
https://www.pcgamer.com/wow-classic-hardcore-hosts-a-dramatic-duel-to-the-death-with-dozens-of-bloodthirsty-spectatorsand-of-course-its-because-a-hunter-stole-a-belt/
Warcraft. Warcraft never changes. The words "hunter weapon" or "hunter loot" became its own meme back in the day, due to the fact that hunters could use—and technically benefit from—a bunch of loot otherwise relegated to specific classes. Rogue dagger? That's a hunter weapon. Warrior axe? That's a hunter weapon.
So of course the first high profile mak'gora—WoW Classic hardcore's system that allows players to duel each other to the death—was over a hunter stealing a belt. That fact alone floods me with something between shame and genuine, full-blooded patriotism for PC gaming culture.

Starfield subreddit goes mildly berserk as Todd Howard drops in to say 'we can't wait for you to play'
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-subreddit-goes-mildly-berserk-as-todd-howard-drops-in-to-say-we-cant-wait-for-you-to-play/
Bethesda boss Todd Howard has returned to Reddit almost two years after his last appearance, celebrating Skyrim's 10th anniversary, in order to thanks fans and subsequently bask in over-enthusiastic praise.

The Suikoden 1 and 2 remasters have been delayed with no new release date given
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-suikoden-1-and-2-remasters-have-been-delayed-with-no-new-release-date-given/
Suikoden fans are a real patient bunch. Decades of silence around the well-beloved RPG was broken last year when remasters of Suikoden 1 and 2 were announced at Tokyo Games Show, due to release sometime this year. Well, they were supposed to. It's time to put that patience to use once more, because the wait is going to be a little longer than originally planned.

CD Projekt casually mentions that, after Phantom Liberty, it's done with Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.pcgamer.com/cd-projekt-casually-mentions-that-after-phantom-liberty-its-done-with-cyberpunk-2077/
CD Projekt Red has announced its half year financials alongside some guidance on what its various teams are working on now, and will be in the future. The figures cover the period up to June 30 2023, and show a decrease in revenue and profit (hardly surprising given the absence of new releases in this time) which CDPR reckons will turn around with the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Project Liberty.
CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz says the company's spent just under $40 million on development costs in the first half of the year, thanks to the "most intensive phase" of Phantom Liberty development, and ramping up the staff on the next Witcher game, codenamed Polaris. The team on another Witcher project, Sirius, has decreased in size after the project was rebooted, and the Gwent team continues to reduce as the game reaches the end of content support.
The most notable news to come from the report, however, is that following Phantom Liberty there will be no other expansions for Cyberpunk 2077. (...)

Grim Dawn, a classic ARPG, is getting its first expansion pack since 2019
https://www.pcgamer.com/grim-dawn-a-classic-arpg-is-getting-its-first-expansion-pack-since-2019/
If you're into action RPGs and you still haven't played Grim Dawn, I think you really should. (...)
The game was given two major expansion packs—Ashes of Malmouth in 2017, which added two new acts, two new classes (called "Masteries" in-game) and a bunch of other goodies. Then in 2019, Forgotten Gods was released, taking the player through a desert romp and providing one of my favourite masteries, the Oathkeeper, which lets you hurl your shield around Captain America-style.
Now, nearly four years later, we're getting a new expansion pack—an unexpected but welcome capstone to a game that's otherwise showing its age. Announced on the Crate Entertainment website earlier this week, Fangs of Asterkarn will send adventurers to the frozen west in search of new horrors to beat up.