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

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Monday news, the second part:

World of Warcraft's adding dragonriding to old world content ahead of schedule
https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcrafts-adding-dragonriding-to-old-world-content-ahead-of-schedule/
Way back in May, there was some hubbub in the World of Warcraft community when dataminers found a dynamic flight buff in the game files, which suggested that the game's dragonriding system—a feature which replaced flight paths full stop during my bouts of playing Dragonflight—would be coming to the old world.
Unfortunately, save for a few racing events, that didn't materialise. It's likely that dynamic flight, which would ideally let you use dragonriding-style movement with stuff like druid forms, won't be coming to the game before The War Within. The good news? Players'll get the next best thing far sooner than expected.

Rocket Arena sputters out, not with a bang but a whimper
https://www.pcgamer.com/rocket-arena-sputters-out-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/
Developed by Final Strike Games and published by EA, Rocket Arena was a 3vs3 arena shooter launched in 2020 and was really rather good. While the name had gamers of a certain age wistfully thinking of Quake fragfests, the experience was more mellow and akin to something like Super Smash Bros., all about controlling space and forcing your opponent out of bounds rather than just endless gibbing.
Rocket Arena had considerable post-launch support for a year after launch, and clearly had some live service hopes and dreams, but it never attracted enough of an audience to justify continuing with that business model. It hasn't been updated since 2021 and now EA has, without any kind of announcement or fanfare, de-listed the game from both Steam and the EA store (thanks, RPS).

For 'just' $70, you too can blind yourself in MW3's zombies mode with this garish weapon texture straight out of Garry's Mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/for-just-dollar70-dollars-you-too-can-blind-yourself-in-mw3s-zombies-mode-with-this-garish-weapon-texture-straight-out-of-garrys-mod/
Modern Warfare 3 has a promotional 'camo' skin, and it's the furthest thing possible from camouflage. Every time I think I'm over microtransactions—every time a new horse armour contender comes along—something hits my dome out of left-field like a high calibre sniper rifle and I'm left wondering: 'how did we get here?'

Landlords will just steal your stuff if you don't pay rent in The Sims 4: For Rent expansion
https://www.pcgamer.com/landlords-will-just-steal-your-stuff-if-you-dont-pay-rent-in-the-sims-4-for-rent-expansion/
Maxis showed off a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Sims 4: For Rent expansion and somehow the vision of evil landlordship just keeps getting more dire. We'd already found out that the new expansion would add "eviction anxiety," burglary, and neglectful landlords, but it looks like you can be even more actively evil than that.
>> And some people are already showing their new homes.

Diablo 4's upcoming boosted XP and gold week is overkill in its most generous season yet, but I'll gladly take it
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-upcoming-boosted-xp-and-gold-week-is-overkill-in-its-most-generous-season-yet-but-ill-gladly-take-it/
Diablo 4 season 2 is already way more generous than the first season, and now Blizzard is going to boost XP and gold gains from November 20 to 27 by 35%, more than the first Mother's Blessing event in August.

Gabe Newell on why game delays are OK: 'Late is just for a little while. Suck is forever.'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-on-why-game-delays-are-okay-late-is-just-for-a-little-while-suck-is-forever/
Famed Nintendo director Shigeru Miyamoto once said, so the story goes, "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." Did he really utter those words? Apparently not. But Valve founder Gabe Newell shares the sentiment: He said so, in very plain terms, in the new Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary that released today on YouTube.
>> Miyamoto didn't said that? What will come next, the cake will also be a lie? Madness! Anyway, Gabe also brought some light about how they made the crowbar fun.

Immortals of Aveum would really like you to give it another shot, so now there's a free demo on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/immortals-of-aveum-would-really-like-you-to-give-it-another-shot-so-now-theres-a-free-demo-on-steam/
The magic-powered FPS Immortals of Aveum didn't really blow our doors off when we reviewed it back in August: The shooting was fun, but its characters and story left us cold. But as is the way with modern game development, multiple updates have been released since then, including a big one that dropped yesterday, and now Electronic Arts and developer Ascendant Studios is hoping that the release of a free demo will convince gamers to give it a second look.

A mysterious 'third party' forbidding an embattled studio from bringing an essential Star Wars mod to consoles has left the dev fending off a gamer class action lawsuit
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-mysterious-third-party-forbidding-an-embattled-studio-from-bringing-an-essential-star-wars-mod-to-consoles-has-left-the-dev-fending-off-a-gamer-class-action-lawsuit/
As reported by Axios, developer Aspyr has argued that a class action lawsuit brought against it over the cancellation of a Restored Content DLC for the Nintendo Switch version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - The Sith Lords should be dismissed. The DLC was announced in June of 2022 before getting canceled after a year of radio silence, with Aspyr offering customers a free game to make amends.

Warner Bros. says Wonder Woman won't be a live-service game
https://www.pcgamer.com/warner-bros-says-wonder-woman-wont-be-a-live-service-game/
Last week, a job listing for a lead software engineer on Monolith's Wonder Woman game popped up, with requirements like "Knowledge of 3D math commonly used in game development" and "Prior experience working in a 3D game engine (Unreal, Unity, etc.)" Among the non-essential "Nice to Haves" was "Experience helping maintain a live software product or game".
(...)
As depressing visions of daily missions to level-up an invisible jet and unlockable cosmetic tiaras danced in our heads, Warner Bros. responded with a statement to IGN denying it was making Wonder Woman a live-service game. "Wonder Woman is a single-player action-adventure game set in a dynamic open-world. This third person experience will allow players to become Diana of Themyscira and introduce an original story set in the DC Universe, while also featuring the Nemesis System. Wonder Woman is not being designed as a live service," the statement said.

Behold, the world's first combine harvester combat racing game
https://www.pcgamer.com/behold-the-worlds-first-combine-harvester-combat-racing-game/
Finally, we have arrived: There is now an arcade-style combat racing game about combine harvesters mowing down waves of golden grain. This vital work is called Furious Farm: Total Reap-Out, and it's an absolute grainbath, a vegetal slaughter, wherein eight farmers go to town upon not just a field of crops, but each other, to win the Grain Prix grand title.