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

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Friday news, part two:

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reckons we might see AI-generated games in less than 10 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-reckons-we-might-see-ai-generated-games-in-less-than-10-years/
AI-generation has been making huge leaps and bounds in recent years, from prompt-based image generation through to recent developments in fully AI-generated video. When it comes to our games though, most of the AI innovation has been limited to things like upscaling existing content. 
That might be about to change in the next decade, however, if Jensen Huang's latest predictions turn out to be correct, as the Nvidia head-honcho reckons we may be less than 10 years away from fully AI-generated games.
>> And they'll only comefor streaming platforms, to make the whole dystopian situation even worse.

WoW's new pirate battle royale ignites a baffling flame war between PvP and PvE players, meanwhile Blizzard's ramping up the rewards to make the grind a touch kinder
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wows-new-pirate-battle-royale-ignites-a-baffling-flame-war-between-pvp-and-pve-players-meanwhile-blizzards-ramping-up-the-rewards-to-make-the-grind-a-touch-kinder/
World of Warcraft's funky, limited-time event, Plunderstorm, is just fine by my making. I've played a handful of rounds, and experienced a slightly-clunky romp where you kill some enemies and messily try to land some skillshots Guild Wars 2 style in an MMO not really built for it. But hey, you can get some mounts out of the whole deal.
(...)
Issue being, that rewards track is somewhat slow—though it should be faster now, as per a hotfix.

Riot hits the development reset button for its League of Legends MMO: 'The initial vision just wasn’t different enough from what you can play today'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/riot-hits-the-development-reset-button-for-its-league-of-legends-mmo-the-initial-vision-just-wasnt-different-enough-from-what-you-can-play-today/
Riot has "reset" the development of its League of Legends MMO, according to cofounder and CPO Marc Merrill. Posting on Twitter, Merrill confirmed that "yes, we're still working on the game," but that the project has been set back to its early stages to pursue a new design direction. The decision was made "some time ago," based on the studio's feeling that the in-development MMO, set in the League of Legends' Runeterra world, was too similar to its competitors. "The initial vision just wasn’t different enough from what you can play today," Merrill said. "We don’t believe you all want an MMO that you’ve played before with a Runeterra coat of paint."

Bold new era of Helldivers 2 lightning combat short-circuits as Arc Throwers start crashing games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/bold-new-era-of-helldivers-2-lightning-combat-short-circuits-as-arc-throwers-start-crashing-games/
Democracy giveth, and democracy taketh away—though I maybe wouldn't say that where the Super Earth Ministry of Truth censors can hear. Fresh off the heels of today's earlier developments in the Helldivers 2 war effort, which fixed the buggy planetary liberation tickers, dropped a dispatch for confronting a new, flying bug menace, and—well—terminated dissidents, the war for galaxy-wide liberty has hit its latest roadbump. In short: don't use any lightning weaponry or stratagems until another patch hits, because you might crash your game.

DeathSprint 66 is like Mario Kart, but ultraviolent and minus the carts: 'It's The Running Man as reimagined for a new generation'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/deathsprint-66-announcement/
DeathSprint 66 has made me see Mario Kart in a new way. The brief teaser shown at today's Future Games Show (above) doesn't contain any gameplay, but game director Andrew Willans showed me a short video of the sci-fi racing game in action at GDC this week. It's a lot like Mario Kart—simple arcade racing controls, weapons, traps, maneuvers like slipstreaming and drifting—with one major exception being that I don't remember any version of Mario Kart containing a gore system.

Harold Halibut, the stop-motion-style story about life at the bottom of an alien ocean, gets a big new trailer and an April release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/harold-halibut-the-stop-motion-style-story-about-life-at-the-bottom-of-an-alien-ocean-gets-a-big-new-trailer-and-an-april-release-date/
Harold Halibut finally has a release date: Announced today at the Future Games Show, the stop-motion-style story of life in a stranded spaceship at the bottom of an alien ocean will be out on April 16.

Path of Exile 2's developers ended up reworking the entire game's combat around a new control scheme because of a single class
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2s-developers-ended-up-reworking-the-entire-games-combat-around-a-new-control-scheme-because-of-a-single-class/
Development of Path of Exile 2 has been an adventure for Grinding Gear Games, with several major reworks and redesigns happening since the ambitious free-to-play ARPG sequel's debut at Exilecon in 2019. Its latest big pivot is a literal game-changer. What started out as a gimmick for a single class has become what feels like the primary way to play for every class—an action-oriented control system, controlled like a top-down shooter on WASD and mouse. Or a gamepad, if that's your jam.

Path of Exile 2 is sticking to its 'ethical free-to-play' model instead of chasing Diablo 4's success
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2-is-sticking-to-its-ethical-f2p-live-service-model-instead-of-chasing-diablo-4s-success/
Having played the first few hours, I'm still a little shocked that brooding gothic action RPG Path Of Exile 2 (due out later this year) is set to be free. Or at least, every bit as free as its predecessor. During a preview event in Los Angeles, I got to ask the game's director, Jonathan Rogers, if the game would be following at all in the footsteps of Diablo 4, which despite catching some flak for its aggressive live service monetization and MMO aspects, has still been Blizzard's biggest financial hit yet.
His response for Path of Exile 2 was clear. "It's definitely not an MMO. I've never liked MMOs, actually," he said. Rogers explained that while he was a huge Diablo 2 fan, he firmly bounced off World of Warcraft and its more social side. He's an ARPG diehard, still making the kind of game that appeals to him, and doesn't feel that MMO elements bring much to the classic ARPG formula.

Path of Exile 2's beta delayed from June 'until later in the year'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2s-beta-delayed-from-june-until-later-in-the-year/
We've had plenty of intriguing news about Path of Exile 2 today, like the combat having been reworked around a new control scheme and the announcement it will be sticking to its "ethical free-to-play" model. However, to pour a little ice water on the fire, here's one bit of not-so-great news: the beta previously announced for June 7 now won't be happening until late in the year.

Bungie perma-bans Destiny 2 players who sent racist abuse to one of its developers during a livestream this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungie-perma-bans-destiny-2-players-who-sent-racist-abuse-to-one-of-its-developers-during-a-livestream-this-week/
In the wake of a depressing burst of toxic abuse aimed at one of its developers during a Destiny 2 livestream, Bungie says it has issued permanent bans against several of the people involved, and is taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.