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

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Thursday news, part two:

Critical Role's D&D dungeon master Matthew Mercer would love to make a videogame 'should all those stars align', though I think it's a little more likely than that
https://www.pcgamer.com/critical-roles-dandd-dungeon-master-matthew-mercer-would-love-to-make-a-videogame-should-all-those-stars-align-though-i-think-its-a-little-more-likely-than-that/
Critical Role is pretty much the biggest livestreamed D&D campaign, by sheer popularity and volume alone. Starting halfway through the group's home game in 2015, to call the game's rise to popularity 'meteoric' is an understatement.
It's gone from an experiment by Geek & Sundry to its own enterprise with heaps of merch, a charity foundation, officially-sanctioned D&D settings, board games, its own unique systems like Candela Obscura, and a very solid animated series with two seasons and counting. And, according to a recent interview with Dicebreaker, we could get a Critical Role videogame, too.

Comedy TV show Taskmaster is getting its own VR game, and I can't stop thinking about how Greg Davies looks like he should be a tank hero in Overwatch 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/comedy-tv-show-taskmaster-is-getting-its-own-vr-game-and-i-cant-stop-thinking-about-how-greg-davies-looks-like-he-should-be-a-tank-hero-in-overwatch-2/
I suppose it was only a matter of time before Taskmaster got its own VR game. The game show, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is about giving celebrities and comedians increasingly absurd tasks to fulfil—with very few clues on how to get those tasks done.
Similarly, a lot of great VR games offer an experience that's basically just that: a vague task, a physical space to muck about in, and absolutely zero training. Most of the physical comedy in VR Games is decidedly Taskmaster, they're just based around figuring out how to reload a gun, rather than throwing something over a fence.

Embracer lays off 50 more employees and may soon close resurrected TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design, yet its CEO and board of directors still have their jobs and were 'discharged from liability for the financial year'
https://www.pcgamer.com/embracer-lays-off-50-more-employees-and-may-soon-close-resurrected-timesplitters-studio-free-radical-design-yet-its-ceo-and-board-of-directors-still-have-their-jobs-and-were-discharged-from-liability-for-the-financial-year/
There's more bad news out of struggling gaming conglomerate Embracer: The company has confirmed that approximately 50 employees are being laid off from Chorus developer Fishlabs, and is also reportedly looking at closing TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design completely.
(...)
Of course, it's fair to say that this tough moment is not really being faced "together": 50 employees suddenly no longer have jobs, while the company leadership whose decisions led to Embracer's catastrophic situation are still comfortably employed. In fact, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors and the company's board of directors were formally "discharged from liability for the financial year 2022/2023" during the company's annual general meeting in September.
>> This may be the longest title of any news article I've posted.

The Game Awards Future Class members call for a statement on the Gaza crisis at this year's awards show
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-game-awards-future-class-members-call-for-a-statement-on-the-gaza-crisis-at-this-years-awards-show/
66 members of The Game Awards Future Class, a program intended to honor people "who represent the bright, bold, and inclusive future for video games," and hundreds of others involved with the videogame industry have signed an open letter calling for a statement acknowledging the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza during The Game Awards show in December.

Among Us is doing a collab with some of the most popular indie games ever released
https://www.pcgamer.com/among-us-is-doing-a-collab-with-too-many-big-indie-games-to-fit-in-my-little-brain/
People did a lot of things to pass time during the early pandemic lockdowns: learn to play the guitar, make sourdough starter, spray their groceries with disinfectant. Among those popular pandemic activities was identifying murderous space goons in Among Us, and if you've set the social deduction game aside since then, you might be interested to know that there's still lots of activity around it—most recently, a collaboration with a bunch of big indie games.
Announced this week, Innersloth is doing a new Cosmicube that features cosmetics from Celeste, Undertale, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Untitled Goose Game, A Hat in Time, Castle Crashers, and Alien Hominid.
A Cosmicube, for the uninitiated, is Among Us's version of a battle pass. Once you purchase the cube with Beans, a free currency earned in-game, you can unlock the cosmetics by spending another currency you earn by playing the game. (It's all explained here.)

Sega admits Creative Assembly's live service push happened because it was drunk on 'the favorable winds of the early Covid-19 period,' says the studio will focus on RTS games from now on
https://www.pcgamer.com/sega-admits-creative-assemblys-live-service-push-happened-because-it-was-drunk-on-the-favorable-winds-of-the-early-covid-19-period-says-the-studio-will-focus-on-rts-games-from-now-on/
The devs at Creative Assembly have had a rough time of it recently. Back in September, the studio was blindsided by the sudden cancellation of its upcoming live-service shooter Hyenas, barely two weeks after it had concluded an open beta and one month after an appearance at Gamescom. The result was layoffs, uncertainty, and now the studio is going to attempt to pivot back to what it knows best: real-time strategy.
As part of a presentation to investors (via Eurogamer), CA's owner Sega attributed the studio's ill-fated push into live service to "the favorable winds of the early Covid-19 period, coupled with the strong performance of each title," which led Sega down a path of "accelerating more, even in areas where those studios have not tried yet for further growth." In other words, Sega decided to push the boat out, only to realise no one on board knew how to sail.

It looks like the next Baldur's Gate 3 patch will update the game's ending—also, Withers says 'fun is mandatory' and I'm scared
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-patch-of-baldurs-gate-3-will-likely-feature-an-update-to-the-games-endingalso-withers-says-fun-is-mandatory-and-im-scared/
Patch 5 of Baldur's Gate 3 is just around the corner. It's been promised to arrive 'later this week', alongside an announced fix for a bug that was breaking the game because it was thinking about your crimes too much. Now, thanks to a festive tweet by Larian Studios, we can also expect updates to the game's ending.