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

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The Thursday news, part two:

After a catastrophic launch period, Payday 3 is assembling a veteran crew for its own daring rescue mission
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-a-catastrophic-launch-period-payday-3-is-assembling-a-veteran-crew-for-its-own-daring-rescue-mission/
Payday 3 has not had the smoothest of launches, with PCG's Tyler Colp finding some positives in the latest instalment of Starbreeze's heist-em-up, but concluding that much of it "needs a rework." (...)
So what's the plan? Well, we don't know yet, but the plan is definitely to come up with a plan. Over to Starbreeze:
"We're well aware that many of you aren't satisfied with the game the way it is in its current state," says a new blogpost credited to Almir Listo (brand director and community lead) and the Payday 3 team. "Since launch, we've been reading your valuable feedback [which] helps us massively and is crucial to the continued development of Payday 3."
Listo says that "we've put together a strike team of veteran developers from the design, community, communication and production teams with the focus on bringing Payday 3 up to where it will meet your expectations.

Final Fantasy 14 is shaking up its usual Moogle tomestone events by adding both weekly and event-long challenges
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-is-shaking-up-its-usual-moogle-tomestone-events-by-adding-both-weekly-and-event-long-challenges/
Final Fantasy 14's announced its next Moogle Treasure Trove event—for the uninitiated, these events help occupy players between major patches by giving them tomestones for specific activities. They can then spend those on glamour items, mounts, emotes, hairstyles, that sort of thing.

Chinese regulators may be having second thoughts about online gaming crackdown: Proposed rule changes have been removed from government website
https://www.pcgamer.com/chinese-regulators-may-be-having-second-thoughts-about-online-gaming-crackdown-proposed-rule-changes-have-been-removed-from-government-website/
China may be walking back a series of sweeping new restrictions on gaming that were announced in December 2023, as a Reuters report says the country's gaming regulator has removed the proposed rule changes from the National Press and Publication Administration website entirely.

The survival game that got kicked off Steam over a stolen source code dispute with Ark: Survival Evolved is set to launch in February, and a playtest is happening right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-survival-game-that-got-kicked-off-steam-over-a-stolen-source-code-dispute-with-ark-survival-evolved-is-set-to-launch-in-february-and-a-playtest-is-happening-right-now/
After a wild two-year ride that saw it forced off Steam over allegations of source code theft, the "multiplayer war sandbox game" Myth of Empires is set to launch on Steam on February 21. For those who want to see what the game behind the kerfuffle is really all about, a closed technical test is now underway and set to run until January 30.

Dungeons and Dragons is coming to VR
https://www.pcgamer.com/dungeons-and-dragons-is-coming-to-vr/
Demeo is a videogame take on tabletop dungeon crawling that we quite liked: Weekend editor Jody Macgregor described it as "like having the Monster Manual thrown at your face," but in a mostly good way. Now Resolution Games, the studio behind that game, is taking Demeo's D&D roots a big step further in a partnership with Wizards of the Coast to develop the first official Dungeons and Dragons VR game.

Palworld struggled to find a dev with shooter experience in Japan before stumbling on a self-taught hobbyist who worked at a convenience store
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-struggled-to-find-a-dev-with-shooter-experience-in-japan-before-stumbling-on-a-self-taught-hobbyist-who-worked-at-a-convenience-store/
Only five days post-launch, Palworld has sold over seven million copies and become the second game ever to log over two million concurrent players on Steam. Its unexpectedly absurd level of success has led to much speculation over the source of its appeal—as well as some condemnation—but the notion that it's "Pokémon with guns," while not exactly accurate, must be at least part of the answer.
Finding someone to design Palworld's firearms was apparently a challenge for Japanese developer Pocketpair, though.

The Pokémon Company releases a statement about Palworld, says it intends to 'investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pokemon-company-releases-a-statement-about-palworld-says-it-intends-to-investigate-and-take-appropriate-measures-to-address-any-acts-that-infringe-on-intellectual-property-rights-related-to-the-pokemon/
Is viral survival game sensation Palworld a fair parody of Pokémon or an act of plagiarism, potentially incorporating AI-generated fakémon? This is the argument that's consumed social media since Palworld's release, and while it seems like everyone has weighed in on the topic, The Pokémon Company itself maintained a dignified silence. Until now.
In a statement you can read on its official corporate website in both Japanese and English, The Pokémon Company has addressed "Other Companies' Games" in a way that is clearly referring to Palworld. Here's the statement in full.

Palworld players channel their inner hunter-gatherers to fell a giant mammoth by herding it into campfires, devs call it 'genius'
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-players-channel-their-inner-hunter-gatherers-to-fell-a-giant-mammoth-by-herding-it-into-campfires-devs-call-it-genius/
One of the things I genuinely like about Palworld is how it's created a weird intersection between classic Pokémon-style mechanics and harebrained survival game nonsense—as is the case with this recent kill by the Video Gamers Podcast on Twitter.
Spotted by GamesRadar, this kill of Mammorest—a huge boss-level pal that stomps around the game's starting area—taps into something primal. There was a time where, to get a good meal, you had to gather a few of your mates with some spears and hunt something big and woolly. That's exactly what's happened here.

Sneaky World of Warcraft hotfix titles players 'Champion of the Dragonflights' a whole week after a dramatic cutscene did, leads to most getting their full honours while standing around doing nothing
https://www.pcgamer.com/sneaky-world-of-warcraft-hotfix-titles-players-champion-of-the-dragonflights-a-whole-week-after-a-dramatic-cutscene-did-leads-to-most-getting-their-full-honours-while-standing-around-doing-nothing/
World of Warcraft's Seeds of Renewal patch is out: adding worldwide dragonriding, the reclamation of Gilneas, follower dungeons, and an altogether surprising amount of meat for an interval patch.

11 years in, Old School RuneScape's toaster graphics are about to look better than ever
https://www.pcgamer.com/11-years-in-old-school-runescapes-toaster-graphics-are-about-to-look-better-than-ever/
The Old School RuneScape look is iconic: Just a clatter of vaguely humanoid models running around a landscape of flat textures, accomplishing feats of grandiose heroism and sheer lunacy all the while. It's a faithful reproduction (to my eyes, anyway) of original RuneScape's graphics from the 2000s, a stunning example of how much you can do with six polygons and a dream.
But brace yourself, because those polygons are about to look better than ever. OSRS developer Jagex has announced the venerable MMO is getting an official HD mode, bringing a suite of lighting, effects, and texture improvements to the game later this year.

Palworld fights 'cheating on the official server' with new patch, but 'it is currently difficult to completely prevent all cheating immediately'
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-fights-cheating-on-the-official-server-with-new-patch-but-it-is-currently-difficult-to-completely-prevent-all-cheating-immediately/
Palworld, currently the world's fourth largest religion, has a cheating problem. In a post on Twitter, the official Palworld account announced today that "Currently, some players have been confirmed to be cheating on the official server." The good news? Pocketpair just released a patch to fight back. The bad news? It might take a while to get a proper handle on it.

Microsoft cuts 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra leaves the company, and the studio's survival game has been cancelled
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-cuts-1900-jobs-at-activision-blizzard-and-xbox-blizzard-president-mike-ybarra-leaves-the-company-and-the-studios-survival-game-has-been-cancelled/
As if 2023's historic volume of gaming layoffs wasn't enough, 2024 is starting in the exact same vein—studios including CI Games, Behaviour Interactive, and Riot Games have all let people go in January, and now it's Microsoft's turn. A message from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer to employees (via The Verge) says 1,900 employees are being laid off.