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JEMC on 16 February 2024
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Friday news, part two:

Nightingale's system requirements reveal it offers an upscaler for every GPU but it'll gobble up 70GB of storage space
https://www.pcgamer.com/nightingales-system-requirements-reveal-it-offers-an-upscaler-for-every-gpu-but-itll-gobble-up-70gb-of-storage-space/
Survival games, what would we do without them? Much less rock punching, I would imagine, but it wouldn't be a year in PC gaming without several of the little tikes, all competing to capture the lightning in a bottle of big survival games releases past.
Potential contender Nightingale is due to release into early access on February 20, and given that it's looking like a graphically complex experience thanks to its use of Unreal Engine 5, it seems you'll have a choice of upscalers to keep the frame rate reasonable while you explore the fae realms.

Gaming's legendary comeback is now free until Monday: No Man's Sky's next big update lets you join its Omega community expedition without spending a cent
https://www.pcgamer.com/gamings-legendary-comeback-is-now-free-until-monday-no-mans-skys-next-big-update-lets-you-join-its-omega-community-expedition-without-spending-a-cent/
No Man's Sky nearly burned up on its atmospheric entry back in 2016—it promised the universe, and only delivered a sort-of-okay space game. PC Gamer gave it a middling 64 at launch in our No Man's Sky review, with Christopher Livingston remarking: "I’ve touched an infinite universe and walked away with some nice vacation photos."
Despite that, developer Hello Games has done a bang-up job polishing it over the years, pouring gallons of elbow grease onto a game that would've otherwise faded into security via a whole heap of updates. Its overall Steam reviews are now "Mostly Positive" on Steam—an unthinkable reality eight years ago.
And now it's free—until February 19, that is. To celebrate the launch of its newest expedition update, Omega, Hello Games is allowing everyone to download the game and play it in a charitably long weekend.

Payday 3 is finally getting an offline mode as Starbreeze CEO admits sales and player numbers are 'significantly lower' than he would like
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-3-is-finally-getting-an-offline-mode-as-starbreeze-ceo-admits-sales-and-player-numbers-are-significantly-lower-than-he-would-like/
In case there was any doubt, Starbreeze is not happy with how things are working out for Payday 3, the much-troubled heist-shooter that launched in September 2023. In its year-end financial report for 2023, CEO Tobias Sjögren said sales and player numbers are "at significantly lower levels than we would like," but it's not giving up on efforts to turn things around.
(...)
Sjögren said the Payday team would unveil its plans for changes to the game in February (which is the current month) and sure enough, a few hours after the Starbreeze financials were released, Operation Medic Bag was revealed. And it is big: The challenge-based progression system is being scrapped, matchmaking is being overhauled and a quickplay option added, developers are "looking into" bringing back a server browser, the UI is being overhauled, and—this is the big one—an offline mode is coming. Eventually.

Embracer reveals it laid off around 1,400 people in 6 months last year, but don't be a bellyacher—this is all about 'maximising shareholder value'
https://www.pcgamer.com/embracer-reveals-it-laid-off-around-1400-people-in-6-months-last-year-but-dont-be-a-bellyacher-this-is-all-about-maximising-shareholder-value/
There may be a wider context of enormous industry layoffs, but the rate and volume of layoffs at Embracer Group over the last year is on an unprecedented scale. Everything seemed on an even keel until the collapse of a mystery $2 billion deal in May last year left its CEO gobsmacked (while the company's COO chose to fall on his sword) and resulted in what at the time was said to be a 5% cut to its global workforce, around 900 people.
(...)
"Embracer still has a few larger structured divestment processes ongoing that could strengthen our balance sheet and further reduce capex. Processes are in mature stages. Certain companies might initiate restructuring before any divestment is announced. Our overruling principle is to always maximize shareholder value in any given situation."
>> It's worth reading the whole article to get a better picture of the context in which those words were said, and what they mean.

Tomb Raider fans are very excited about new art that seemingly reveals long-awaited 'Unified Lara' design
https://www.pcgamer.com/tomb-raider-fans-are-very-excited-about-new-art-that-seemingly-reveals-long-awaited-unified-lara-design/
Big news for followers of Lara Croft Unification Theory: Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has revealed a new piece of art for the character that may closely represent what she looks like in the series' next game. This reveal has apparently been anticipated for years, as in 2021 Tomb Raider's franchise director Will Kerslake said that Crystal Dynamics "envision a future for Tomb Raider unfolding after the established adventures" of the original Core Design games and its own prequel trilogy. "[We're] working to unify these timelines," Kerslake said at the time.

A game pretending to be The Day Before has appeared on Steam, and yeah, it's a scam
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-game-pretending-to-be-the-day-before-has-appeared-on-steam-and-im-99-sure-its-a-scam/
Like a zombie you thought you shot in the head but actually just clipped in the thorax, survival game fiasco The Day Before is still twitching unpleasantly in the corner. Except, in this case, it's not really The Day Before at all, but rather a game that for some reason is pretending to be The Day Before, and it's not really a game at all. Allow me to explain.
Update: Even though it was obviously not legit, now it's officially not legit."MytonaFntastic has no affiliation with this page," a rep for the actual Day Before publisher said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "We have contacted Steam to make them aware of this account."
The listing has now been removed from Steam, but images are still available in the original story below.

The creator of Hello Neighbor is making a Home Alone-inspired PvP heist game and you can sign up to test it on Steam now
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-hello-neighbor-is-making-a-home-alone-inspired-pvp-heist-game-and-you-can-sign-up-to-test-it-on-steam-now/
RBO looks like just the thing for a group of goofy Discord friends: a "physics-powered" heist game in which one player must protect their house while a group of unallied intruders attempt to rob it.

Diablo 4 dataminer finds out why its most powerful items are impossibly rare and how little Blizzard's recent fix did to change that
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-uber-unique-datamined-drop-rate/
Lothrik, a dataminer who previously made accurate build planners before Diablo 4 was out, has released a sheet of data that supposedly shows the likelihood you'll find an Über Unique in the wild. Blizzard hasn't confirmed whether the data is correct, but the numbers line up with D4 Craft's datamined info from last year.

Helldivers 2 abruptly presses pause on its war on bugs, urges players to go kill millions of robots instead
https://www.pcgamer.com/helldivers-2-abruptly-presses-pause-on-its-war-on-bugs-urges-players-to-go-kill-millions-of-robots-instead/
The galactic campaign against the Terminids isn't close to over, but Super Earth has bigger problems on its hands.
As announced on social channels, Helldivers 2 is pressing pause on its bug war and pointing fleets of helldivers toward an emerging front. The Automatons, a faction of titanium death machines and Terminator wannabes, have launched "surprise invasions of multiple developed worlds" in the Xzar sector.
>> And it comes with a way to farm XP and medals.

Palworld players have found an ingenious bug that lets them infinitely mount and butcher the same pal for parts
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-players-have-found-an-ingenious-bug-that-lets-them-infinitely-mount-and-butcher-the-same-pal-for-parts/
Good news: Palworld players have found yet another way to get one over on the system by violating the laws of god and man alike. Not content with killing the game's bosses using physics-defying staircases, they've got a new trick: butchering their pals without killing them thanks to a well-timed mounting.

'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-dont-have-shareholders-but-we-also-dont-think-about-them-larian-studios-uses-its-stage-time-at-the-dice-awards-to-speak-out-against-a-brutal-industry-climate/
Baldur's Gate 3 walked away from the DICE Awards with another handful of trophies: Outstanding Achievement in Story, RPG of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and Game of the Year—adding to an already massive list of well-deserved accolades.
(...)
Larian Studios' head of production David Walgrave also took to the microphone to share a few words. "We ask you to pay one price only for the game, and that's it—you can own it for the rest of your life. We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them. There's an expression in Dutch—'honesty lasts longest', or something."
>> They may not have shareholders, but Tencent is still there.

Helldivers 2 roadmap is 'very out of date in comparison to what we now want to do' according to Arrowhead's CEO, as the game's stratospheric launch brings new ideas and ambition to the studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/helldivers-2-roadmap-is-very-out-of-date-in-comparison-to-what-we-now-want-to-do-according-to-arrowheads-ceo-as-the-games-stratospheric-launch-brings-new-ideas-and-ambition-to-the-studio/
Helldivers 2 dropped its first live-service twist last night, as its robotic automaton faction abruptly invaded several human planets, forcing players to heel-turn away from the Terminid frontline to undertake defensive missions halfway across the galaxy. It's likely this event has been planned by developers Arrowhead Game Studios for a while, but according to the studio's CEO Johan Pilestedt, the longer-term future of Helldivers 2 might be very different from what Arrowhead originally planned.

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

+GOG

+Steam

And that's it, until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.