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

[JEMC]

The Friday news, the long part two:

You'll be able to play Remnant 2's new DLC with a friend who has it, even if you don't own it yourself
https://www.pcgamer.com/youll-be-able-to-play-remnant-2s-new-dlc-with-a-friend-who-has-it-even-if-you-dont-own-it-yourself/
I'm pretty excited about Remnant 2's first DLC, The Awakened King. Aside from adding a whole new area to one of my favourite games of 2023—a much-appreciated upgrade, since it's built to be played multiple times—it'll also add a new archetype, build-altering jewellery, and even more guns for me to tinker with.
What's more, if you're playing the game with a friend, they'll be able to join you for the ride whether they own the DLC or not, as confirmed by the official Remnant 2 twitter account yesterday.

Here's how to watch the 41st annual Golden Joystick Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-how-to-watch-the-41st-annual-golden-joystick-awards/
It's the most wonderful time of the year: the time when the games industry puts on its best evening wear and Troy Baker takes the stage to tell us which videogames are set to win after millions of public votes have been totted up.
It is, in other words, time for the Golden Joysticks, which airs tomorrow, November 10, at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT on pretty much any platform that can hold a livestream. That means YouTube, Twitch, Steam, Bilibili, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter. Oh, and also GamesRadar, TechRadar Gaming, and right here on PC Gamer.

Warner Bros. wants to transform franchises like Superman into 'always on' live-service style games—which is somehow different from what its been trying for years
https://www.pcgamer.com/warner-bros-wants-to-transform-franchises-like-superman-into-always-on-live-service-style-gameswhich-is-somehow-different-from-what-its-been-trying-to-do-for-years/
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav has set out the company's plans for the future, and, surprise surprise, there's yet more live service stuff on the horizon.
The company's latest ambitions were revealed in an earnings call yesterday (thanks, Eurogamer). Zaslav states: "We recognize that we can do a better job of managing and maximizing the value of our blue chip franchises like Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Superman."

Braid: Anniversary Edition is finally coming in 2024 with 15 hours of developer commentary, and no I am not kidding
https://www.pcgamer.com/braid-anniversary-edition-is-coming-in-2024-with-15-hours-of-developer-commentary-and-no-i-am-not-kidding/
It's been more than three years since the announcement of Braid: Anniversary Edition, a "hand-painted" remake of the famed indie hit. At the time, it was supposed to arrive in 2021, and that was a pretty big miss—but now, two years later, we've got a new release date of April 30, 2024.

This Angry Birds clone made entirely through AI prompts makes me wonder what the future of small-scale game development is going to be like
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-angry-birds-clone-made-entirely-through-ai-prompts-makes-me-wonder-what-the-future-of-small-scale-game-development-is-going-to-be-like/
The use of generative AI in the development of games has been hitting the headlines for some time now, but typically in the context of AI tools being used to assist with game development. One person has now made an entire game solely through the use of ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney.

Warframe developer axes publishing division, will 'transition full control' of online action RPG Wayfinder to its developer
https://www.pcgamer.com/warframe-developer-axes-publishing-division-will-transition-full-control-of-online-action-rpg-wayfinder-to-its-developer/
At last year's Game Awards, Warframe maker Digital Extremes revealed that it was publishing Wayfinder, an online action game from Airship Syndicate which released in early access this August. Today, PC Gamer has learned that Digital Extremes is now closing its publishing wing and handing control of Wayfinder over to Airship Syndicate.
"We can confirm we have made the difficult decision to cease operations of our external projects division," a Digital Extremes rep told PC Gamer in an email today. "We have had to say goodbye to a number of hardworking and highly valuable team members as a result and we're working with Airship to transition full control of Wayfinder to them in the coming months."

A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 bug is spawning every player in the same spot, triggering a nonstop bloodbath
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-bug-is-spawning-every-player-in-the-same-spot-triggering-a-nonstop-bloodbath/
Call of Duty spawns are always a little wonky on launch day, but they're rarely as entertaining as this Modern Warfare 3 bug. Some console folk hopping into multiplayer early (presumably employing the good ol' New Zealand region switch trick) are getting swept up in a nonstop bullet barrage as the map Quarry will sometimes spawn every player in the lobby at the same spot.

Good news, terrible news: You don't have to launch Modern Warfare 2 to launch Modern Warfare 3 anymore, but now you can't launch Warzone without first launching Modern Warfare 3
https://www.pcgamer.com/good-news-terrible-news-you-dont-have-to-launch-modern-warfare-2-to-launch-modern-warfare-3-anymore-but-now-you-cant-launch-warzone-without-first-launching-modern-warfare-3/
Activision's rollout of the new "Call of Duty HQ" launcher has been anything but elegant. The HQ, which is really just a rebranded frontend for a single CoD game, is the only way to launch the new Modern Warfare 3, and until yesterday, that process was a real slog. To play MW3, you had to first launch the CoD HQ, then click MW3, then return to the desktop, then wait for the actual game you wanted to play to boot.
That's now been reversed by a patch deployed on the eve of Modern Warfare 3's full release: Launching "Call of Duty" now takes you to the front end of Modern Warfare 3 (whether you actually own it or not), and switching over to last year's MW2 or Warzone now requires a return to desktop first. Essentially, MW3 is now the homepage of CoD, making the launch process easy for folks making the leap to the new game, but simultaneously much worse for the hundreds of thousands of people who prefer to stick to Warzone, DMZ, or Modern Warfare 2.
>> By the way, the campaign wasn't done is 16 months. At least that's what the dev team is saying.

I can't believe this worked: There's a Task Manager trick to get into Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer hours before launch on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/modern-warfare-3-early-release-trick/
People say a lot of things on the internet: They say they have screenshots of Half-Life 3. They say it was actually their little brother who said all those terrible things in Fortnite. They say there's a magic Task Manager ritual you can perform to play Modern Warfare 3 early. You don't expect them to be true, but now and then, it does happen.
In this case, it turns out you really can get into Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer hours before its PC launch tonight by performing a easy multi-step process involving a Steam copy of the game and the Windows Task Manager. I just played a round of Hardpoint on Invasion.

World of Warcraft director says players who pay for early access to the next expansion won't have a 'long-term advantage'
https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-director-says-players-who-pay-for-early-access-to-the-next-expansion-wont-have-a-long-term-advantage/
World of Warcraft: The War Within is the first WoW expansion where purchasing a more-expensive edition gets you into the new content more quickly. The announcement caused an immediate controversy, but the game's director claims it will not ultimately affect players' progression relative to each other.

WoW director says its most controversial new class specialization is OP because it had to be: 'The community is naturally skeptical of things they don't understand'
https://www.pcgamer.com/wow-augmentation-evoker-overpowered-explanation/
Blizzard knew that its controversial new augmentation evokers—the first support class ever in World of Warcraft—were going to be overpowered. That choice was "deliberate," the game's director told us in a BlizzCon interview, although he added that "obviously they came out the gates too strong."

Baldur's Gate 3 hotfix means dwarves don't have to walk around in 'big blueberries' anymore
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-hotfix-means-dwarves-dont-have-to-walk-around-in-big-blueberries-anymore/
Larian has followed up Baldur's Gate 3's hefty fourth patch with a wee hotfix that squashes a variety of bugs, one of which I wish I'd experienced before it was fixed. I knew I should have rolled a dwarf.

Companies were offering a single dollar for Hitman dev IO Interactive when Square Enix was looking to offload it
https://www.pcgamer.com/companies-were-offering-a-single-dollar-for-hitman-dev-io-interactive-when-square-enix-was-looking-to-offload-it/
It might be strange to recall after Hitman 3's stonking success, but series developer IO Interactive was in a very precarious situation not so long ago. When 2016's Hitman failed to please IOI's owners at Square Enix, the corporation began scrabbling around looking for someone to take the studio of its hands.
We know how that turned out—thankfully, IOI eventually managed to buy itself out from under Square—but a recent feature in Edge magazine has cast a little light on just how much worse things could have been for Hitman and IOI in general. We're talking free-to-play Hitman, companies-offering-$1-for-the-whole-studio levels of grim.

Remnant 2's new DLC class will let you set foes on fire, melt them with acid, electrocute them, and make them bleed—all at once
https://www.pcgamer.com/remnant-2s-new-dlc-class-will-let-you-set-foes-on-fire-melt-them-with-acid-electrocute-them-and-make-them-bleedall-at-once/
Big damage numbers are fun, sure, but slapping a bunch of damage-over-time effects on your foes and watching them wilt has its allure too. Remnant 2's new archetype, the Ritualist, will let you do just that, and it'll be arriving alongside the game's first DLC next week.

And these are the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• There are five new Deals of the Day, that will last 70 hours:
  • Dorfromantik will be 30% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dorfromantik
  • Doors: Paradox gets a 40% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/doors_paradox
  • Tropico 6 has a 60% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/tropico_6
  • Hero of the Kingdom: The Lost Tales 2 sports a 74% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom_the_lost_tales_2
  • The last one is The Divine Invasion, 91% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_divine_invasion
• And Daedalic puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until November, 28th: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20231119_daedalic_publisher_sale

+Steam

• The first one is Stranded: Alien Dawn, 30% off until the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324130/Stranded_Alien_Dawn/
• Europa Universalis IV will be free to try during the weekend and 70% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/236850/Europa_Universalis_IV/
• Crusader Kings III gets a 50% discount until the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158310/Crusader_Kings_III/
• Publisher IndieArk brings demos to try and puts its games on sale with up to 55% discounts. Most discounts will last until the 16th but, for some reason, others will last for longer, until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieArkPublisherSale2023
• Tricky Towers will be 70% off until Wednesday, the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/437920/Tricky_Towers/
• The Watchdogs franchise goes on sale with up to 87% discounts until November, the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/WatchDogsFranchise
• Trepang2, that has a demo, is going to be 33% off until the 20th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/
• And last, but not least, we have Isonzo, that will be free to try during the weekend and 67% off until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1556790/Isonzo/

That's it. No more news left other than Jizz's. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.