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

[JEMC]

Monday news, part two:

Overwatch 2 is cracking down on 'unapproved peripherals' for console to 'level the playing field for all players'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-is-cracking-down-on-unapproved-peripherals-for-console-to-level-the-playing-field-for-all-players/
A recent Director's Take on Overwatch 2 revealed that Blizzard is about to begin the hunt for console players using a mouse and keyboard. If you're found with any "unapproved peripherals" like these, you'll likely be punished in the worst way possible: being stuck with PC players. 

Team Fortress 2 joins us in the modern age as Valve updates the 17 year old shooter to 64-bit
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/team-fortress-2-joins-us-in-the-modern-age-as-valve-updates-the-17-year-old-shooter-to-64-bit/
While Team Fortress 2 has received less attention from Valve than its other team-based shooter Counter-Strike 2, it hasn't been abandoned as some corners of the Internet claim. The game has been consistently receiving small updates every few months, tweaking maps and characters as Valve sees fit. The latest update is more substantial than usual, however, as it finally brings Valve's 17-year-old shooter into the 64 bit era.

Prison Architect 2's release delayed due to 'new technical challenges', has its sentence extended until September
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/prison-architect-2s-release-delayed-due-to-new-technical-challenges-has-its-sentence-extended-until-september/
Prison Architect 2, sequel to Introversion's beloved incarceration simulation developed by Double Eleven, has been remanded in custody until September 3rd. The delay was announced on Paradox's website, with the Prison Architect 2 team citing the emergence of 'new technical challenges' as the cause for the launch's postponement.

Helldivers 2 CEO says after success, the goal now is simple—'make this the best live game you've ever played'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-ceo-says-after-success-the-goal-now-is-simple-make-this-the-best-live-game-youve-ever-played/
A huge part of Helldivers 2's appeal is the game's ongoing galactic war, a push-and-pull conflict between the players and the enemy factions that sees planets liberated, territory lost, and casualties on a multi-planetary scale. (…)
(...) The developers themselves have in some cases become personalities: the biggest by far is game master Joel, who's become a community meme (if anything goes wrong, blame Joel), but almost as prominent is Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt (…)
We're dealing with the former today, after Pilestedt popped up in response to TheGentlemanCEO (presumably no relation) posting a topic about the game's subreddit "riding [a] fine line between constructive input and whiny entitlement". (…)
"I appreciate your sentiment and post," wrote Pilestedt in response. "Let me add some context. (…)
Part of the inspiration for the original topic is an ongoing community argument about certain bugs that need fixing, and whether these should be prioritised by the studio over the current rapid pace of updates and additions to the game. "We want to deliver the best in the industry and we are calibrating our efforts of fixing vs new stuff," responds Pilestedt. "It's easy to say 'just fix, don't add', but the reality of the competitiveness in this industry is that we have to do both to stay relevant."
Pilestedt says Arrowhead is still "figuring it out, the demands and expectations on the studio are high, all eyes are on us, and we have a sole purpose—to make this the best live game you've ever played. We just need to find our stride and balance."
>> I don’t think I’ve ever posted a news article so long and so cut. Anyway, since Joel is mentioned, he has made a deal with the community.

The long-awaited sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters hits its crowdfunding target in less than four hours, and they're not kidding about that $4.4 million stretch goal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-long-awaited-sequel-to-the-ur-quan-masters-hits-its-crowdfunding-target-in-less-than-four-hours-and-theyre-not-kidding-about-that-dollar44-million-stretch-goal/
After a long, rocky road, the sequel to Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is finally taking flight. A Kickstarter campaign to support the development of Free Stars: Children of Infinity got underway earlier this week, and it's already a major success, having tripled its $100,000 goal in just three days.

World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/world-of-warcraft-boss-says-microsoft-is-happy-to-let-blizzard-be-blizzard-but-im-not-sure-thats-entirely-true/
Six months after its 2023 acquisition by Microsoft, it sounds like its business as usual at Blizzard. In an interview with VGC, World of Warcraft executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale said being a part of Microsoft has "just been helpful," and that so far the new owners are taking a light touch.

A studio helmed by StarCraft 2's multiplayer lead wants to create an RTS 'paradigm shift' with its unannounced game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/uncapped-games-announcement/
Uncapped Games, a new Tencent studio formed in 2021, revealed itself to the world this week with a documentary from Noclip's Danny O'Dwyer (embedded above). The studio is working on an unannounced RTS game that it hopes will trigger a "paradigm shift" in realtime strategy by shifting the emphasis away from memorization and execution speed.

Slash and shoot your way through a procedural bug hole in Ants Took My Eyeball
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/slash-and-shoot-your-way-through-a-procedural-bug-hole-in-ants-took-my-eyeball/
A new 2D action-platforming roguelike released today, with Ants Took My Eyeball challenging you to descend into an ever-changing ant hill in search of your missing body part. Swapping between melee weapons, ranged weapons, gadgets, and trinkets, your job is to go as deep as you can before coming back for another try.

Here's a chaos co-op take on getting boxes off the shipping floor and out the factory door
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/heres-a-chaos-co-op-take-on-getting-boxes-off-the-shipping-floor-and-out-the-factory-door/
A just-released chaotic game in the vein of PlateUp and Overcooked takes the genre to the wild world of, uh, shipping logistics. Asking you to get boxes out the warehouse door as quickly as you can, Ready, Steady, Ship! is playable by yourself or in two player couch co-op, which you can also run via Steam's remote play together.

Metroidvania around a microscopic world to save dogs everywhere in BioGun
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/metroidvania-around-a-microscopic-world-to-save-dogs-everywhere-in-biogun/
Indie developer Dapper Dog Digital released their "love letter to the Metroidvania genre" this week with BioGun, a platforming action-adventure that takes place entirely inside a whimsically microscopic world of viruses and vaccines. And whimsically enjoyable it is, with a hand-drawn world and characters that have a wide, delightful, and cartoonish variety in their design.