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

[JEMC]

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

The PC games market grew a lot more than the console games market last year, says research firm
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/2023-pc-games-revenue-increase-newzoo/
2023 was a "recovery year" for games, according to the market researchers at Newzoo, and the platform that saw the greatest recovery was the PC. Revenue from PC game sales, microtransactions, and subscriptions grew 8.4% over 2022 revenues, says the firm, whereas console game revenues only saw a 0.3% increase, and mobile game revenues shrunk 2.1%.
The console and mobile game markets are still quite a bit bigger than the PC market: Newzoo puts 2023's total mobile gaming revenue at $89.9 billion, console at $52.4 billion, and PC at $39.6 billion.

GOG has two new sales:

• The new Weekly Sale has up to 91% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240421_weekly_deals_4_may
• And the Atmospheruc Games Sale has more than 300 games up to 95% off duirng 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240521_feel_atmosphere_sale

Steam has new sales and new weeklong deals:

• Publisher QubicGames celebrates its 20th anniversary putting its games up to 80% off (tho most are 40% off) until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Qubic/sale/20-anniversary-sale
• Publisher tinyBuild also puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tinybuild
• Spellcaster University will be 60% off until the 30th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/895620/Spellcaster_University/
• Evil West is going to have a 65% discount until the 2nd of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1065310/Evil_West/
• There’s another publisher sale, featuring Raw Fury, that puts its games up to 90% off until June 3: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/rawfurypublishersale2024
• And these are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, has a demo, is 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1942010/Vengeful_Guardian_Moonrider/
  • The Lab - Escape Room gets a 50% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1960930/The_Lab__Escape_Room/
  • Blazing Chrome has a 66% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/609110/Blazing_Chrome/
  • The classic Pang Adventures is 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/415150/Pang_Adventures/
  • And Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments gets a 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/241260/Sherlock_Holmes_Crimes_and_Punishments/

Fanatical has a new bundle and a contest:

• The BYO Bento Deluxe Bundle has 19 titles to choose from for your 2, 3 or 5 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bento-bundle
• And there’s a contest to win one of three possible bundles. There’ll be 5 winners nad 10 other will recieve a $5 coupon. Learn more here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/win-an-exclusive-bundlefest-bundle-with-new-releases

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 555.85 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-555-85
Highlights
Game Ready for F1 24 & Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 3 technology including F1 24, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Serum. Further support for new titles includes the launch of XDefiant which supports NVIDIA Reflex.

Fixed Issues
Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Tekken 8 may randomly crash during gameplay on GeForce GTX 10-series graphics cards. [4503216]
• Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition: Lower GPU utilization when Reflex is set to “On + Boost” [4412035]

Fixed General Bugs

• Blender Cycles: Motion blur renders incorrectly with some GPU architectures [4607411]

>> You’ll also find a list of newly added G-Sync compatible monitors.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Super Mario 64 gets a Mario Maker-like romhack that runs on original hardware
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/super-mario-64-gets-a-mario-maker-like-romhack-that-runs-on-original-hardware/
In terms of longevity, influence, and jaw-dropping community projects, if there's a console counterpart to Doom, it's Super Mario 64. Nintendo's generation-defining platformer and its  timeless movement mechanics, adorable aesthetic, and a speedrunning community that occasionally leverages quantum mechanics to get faster clear times have ensured that Mario 64 has always remained relevant. 
But where Doom's community has long had tools to go beyond the hardware and software limitations enforced by its 1993 release, Mario 64 diehards have had only a few janky editing tools to work with. Even with such limitations, there's been no shortage of incredible romhacks for Mario 64 over the years, but there's always been a high technical bar to triple jump over when it comes to making custom stages. 
That bar can now be cleared with a well timed long jump, thanks to Rovertronic and Arthurtilly's Mario Builder 64, an in-depth, intuitive, thematically appropriate level editor that runs as a romhack. The trailer they dropped shows off a ton of variety in the levels that can be made with the editor, offering a huge variety of objects and interactables to arrange in a cuboid fashion, providing a quick and simple way to bang out some custom Mario 64 stages. 
You won't be putting together levels at the scale or visual intricacy of the ones that shipped in the base game, as you're limited to only placing down perfectly cubed blocks, but that's still a ton of flexibility. There's even potential for some light Minecraft-esque engineering that Rovertronic has managed to hack in, ranging from changing water levels, opening and closing doors, destructible walls, and tracks on rails. 
What I find most impressive about Mario Builder 64 that it's a romhack, meaning it can be run on both emulators and original hardware should you have an EverDrive64 lying around. 
>> The article has the 2 minutes trailer.

Starfield player jury-rigs 100+ Star Wars mods together to make a convincing Boba Fett simulator: 'I basically added every single Star Wars mod out there on Nexus'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/starfield-player-jury-rigs-100-star-wars-mods-together-to-make-a-convincing-boba-fett-simulator-i-basically-added-every-single-star-wars-mod-out-there-on-nexus/
Starfield's modding community is straight-up cooking, now. While we're still a little ways out from Star Wars: Outlaws (and those overpriced editions have me a smidge nervous), don't worry—we've got space gunslinging at home.
Created by modder and YouTuber DeityVengy earlier this month (thanks, Kotaku), the compilation features over 100 Star Wars mods from the Nexus community, smushed together into a functioning whole—using Bethesda's less-than-interstellar RPG as a convincing backdrop for shooting blasters and gunning down AT-STs.
>> The article has an over 11 minutes video of this compilation.

Bethesda won't make a game as cool as Morrowind ever again, so thank god an original dev has come back 20 years on to make quest mods for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/bethesda-wont-make-a-game-as-cool-as-morrowind-ever-again-so-thank-god-an-original-dev-has-come-back-20-years-on-to-make-quest-mods-for-it/
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is my favourite game of all time. It's also ugly, unintuitive, and has a combat system assembled by someone who wanted to combine all the worst parts of tabletop RPGs and videogames just to see what would happen. Now, to right-thinking people like you and me, that just adds to its charm, but it probably also goes some way to explaining why Bethesda moved on to develop much more digestible fare and why there are so few Morrowind-likes that aren't made by mad, wonderful indie devs.
But wait, there's more Morrowind! And it's even kind of official, or at least as official as we're gonna get without Todd Howard having a radical change of heart. It's called Red Wisdom – An Ashlander Prophecy (via GamesRadar), and it's a mod for Morrowind that adds a chunky new questline to the game written by Douglas Goodall, who worked as a writer and designer on Morrowind in the way-back-when of the early 2000s, before leaving the studio in 2002 after creative disagreements.
But now he's back with a mod that sees you "unravel the ancient prophecy of Red Wisdom" in a plot that promises to add new dimensions to the game's Ashlander tribes, the ornery Dunmer who retreated to Vvardenfell's harsh wastes after a bit of an altercation with the province's theocracy. The mod isn't all Goodall, mind you. It was made in collaboration with modders Melchior Dahrk and Greatness7, both long-time Morrowind tinkerers themselves. Still, the fact that the mod comes in part from one of Morrowind's original makers is doubtless the most head-turning thing about it, and I'll be very curious to try it out the next time I embark on a playthrough of the game (my semi-annual runthrough is just about due, after all).
>> Sadly, there are no screenshots or videos of this mod.

You can now explore the world of the first The Witcher game in The Witcher 3 Next-Gen
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/you-can-now-explore-the-world-of-the-first-the-witcher-game-in-the-witcher-3-next-gen/
CD Projekt RED has just released the REDkit modding tools for The Witcher 3, and its first mod just hit the Internet. This mod brings all the maps from the first The Witcher game to TW3, allowing you to explore its world.
As the modder noted, this is a fairly low-effort attempt at porting The Witcher maps via REDkit. There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to improving the visuals of these maps. So, let’s hope that either AngryCatster, or some other modder, will continue working on them.
While you can explore the whole world, there are some major issues with this mod. For instance, it is very easy to fall out of bounds as the original game didn’t have much vertical mobility. Some geometry may look funky, and all materials are diffuse-only (meaning there are no normals or other PBR textures). Plus, some terrain textures are wrong.
So, for a “first attempt”, this is a cool mod. It will also allow those who haven’t played the first TW game to explore its world. As said, though, it still needs a lot of work.
>> There’s an almost 3 minutes video that anyone who has played the first game will recognise.

GAMING NEWS

The Precinct gets an official gameplay overview trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/the-precinct-gets-an-official-gameplay-overview-trailer/
Kwalee has released a gameplay overview trailer for its upcoming cop game that looks like a classic GTA on a modern-day engine, The Precinct.

The Witcher 3 May 21st Update Released, Adding Official Support for REDkit, Steam Workshop and DLC-Sized Mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-witcher-3-may-21st-update-released-adding-official-support-for-redkit-steam-workshop-and-dlc-sized-mods/
CD Projekt RED has just released the May 21st Update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Witcher 3 Next-Gen. This update focuses solely on adding official support for the REDkit modding tools that will come out later today. So, let’s take a closer look at it.