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

[JEMC]

Friday news, the second part:

Dev promises that Steam sensation Banana has 'no scamming', after fellow dev's shady faux-Bitcoin past sees his fruits confiscated
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dev-promises-that-steam-sensation-banana-has-no-scamming-after-fellow-dev-s-shady-faux-bitcoin-past-sees-his-fruits-confiscated/
Banana is one of the funniest things I've had the pleasure of reporting on—it's a game that seems to have started as a joke, but has rapidly skyrocketed to a high throne on the Steam pantheon, becoming the second most-played game on the platform, beaten only by Counter Strike 2.
(...)
The swollen Banana community, however, has been experiencing some turbulence as of late (thanks, Eurogamer). Heading on over to the Discord, which has over 108,000 members at the time of writing, you'll see a news post proclaiming that "There is no scamming/scam going on" in the appropriate channel.

WoW's devs will continue to use private auras, which limit UI addon functionality, in The War Within: though they'd like to be selective to avoid cures 'worse than the disease'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-s-devs-will-continue-to-use-private-auras-which-limit-ui-addon-functionality-in-the-war-within-though-they-d-like-to-be-selective-to-avoid-cures-worse-than-the-disease/
World of Warcraft has a bit of a problem. Unlike an MMO like Final Fantasy 14, which makes user addons technically against its terms of service, WoW has always been very lenient with its UI—to the point where the game was able to leave its ancient HUD untouched until Dragonflight.
(...)
Enter "private auras", which are a kind of flag that Blizzard can put on a specific mechanic or spell to place it beyond the reach of most UI addons, giving very limited information for them to work with. These were trialled in Dragonflight to varying degrees of success—and have been cropping up again in The War Within's alpha and beta tests.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is hard as nails, says Miyazaki: 'We've really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-is-hard-as-nails-says-miyazaki-weve-really-pushed-the-envelope-in-terms-of-what-we-think-can-be-withstood-by-the-player/
The day of the DLC is finally upon us, but before players jump into Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, some are debating whether they have what it takes to face off against all its new foes.

Elden Ring's pre-Erdtree patch makes a big, surprise quality-of-life change: You can finally summon Torrent for the final fight against the big boss
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/elden-rings-pre-erdtree-patch-makes-a-big-surprise-quality-of-life-change-you-can-finally-summon-torrent-for-the-final-fight-against-the-big-boss/
Elden Ring's big pre-Shadow of the Erdtree update is now live, and one of the biggest changes is one that wasn't previously teased: Yes, it's true, you can now summon Torrent for the final fight against the Elden Beast.
>> Sadly, the update is causing problems for Steam Deck users.

The original Counter-Strike mod is 25 years old, Valve calls it 'the greatest videogame ever made'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-original-counter-strike-mod-is-25-years-old-valve-calls-it-the-greatest-videogame-ever-made/
The official Counter-Strike account has posted to celebrate 25 years since the release of the mod that changed the competitive FPS forever. 
"Happy 25th birthday to the greatest videogame ever made, Counter-Strike," says the contemporary Counter-Strike 2 team. "A Half-Life mod which has spawned communities, created memories, and established the greatest esport of them all. We're grateful to have the most passionate players in gaming.  
"Here's to 25 more!"

In Dune: Awakening you 'physically fly' your ornithopter between servers on an overland map filled with 'hundreds of other players'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/in-dune-awakening-you-physically-fly-your-ornithopter-between-servers-on-an-overland-map-filled-with-hundreds-of-other-players/
Attention all you Arrakis fanatics (hey, it almost rhymes): we got another big look at Funcom's upcoming survival MMO Dune: Awakening today. First up, our own Joshua Wolens told us he's itching to play it after seeing a demo, despite being neither an MMO guy or a survival game fan. 
Then in a 30 minute Dune: Awakening Direct presentation that covered character creation and the MMO's alternate timeline, creative director Joel Bylos took time to explain the nuts and bolts of how the world, maps, and servers will work to provide a "relatively seamless" experience to players as they explore Arrakis.

Sony accidentally leaked an unannounced Helldivers 2 stratagem by getting its rocket launchers confused
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/sony-accidentally-leaked-an-unannounced-helldivers-2-stratagem-by-getting-its-rocket-launchers-confused/
Another day, another unsanctioned early look at an unreleased Helldivers 2 stratagem. However, while there's a not-unrealistic chance that some earlier Helldivers 2 leaks came from inside the Arrowhead house, this first glimpse of an unannounced rocket launcher came from, well, inside the bigger house that's publishing the game. Sony did it, is what I'm saying, and seemingly without meaning to.

Embracer embraces a 'human-centric' AI policy, says vague stuff about how it will 'massively enhance game development'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/embracer-embraces-a-human-centric-ai-policy-says-vague-stuff-about-how-it-will-massively-enhance-game-development/
Struggling videogame conglomerate Embracer Group appears to be embracing the rise of artificial intelligence: In its latest annual report, the company laid out a strategy for incorporating AI in its future work, saying that the tech "has the capability to massively enhance game development by increasing resource efficiency" and "adding intelligent behaviors, personalization, and optimization to gameplay experiences."

The Hollow Knight: Silksong delirium reaches its pitchfork stage as former playtester saying the game isn't 'in dev hell' gets eviscerated for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-hollow-knight-silksong-delirium-reaches-the-pitchfork-stage-among-team-cherry-s-continued-silence-as-former-playtester-saying-the-game-isn-t-in-dev-hell-gets-eviscerated-for-it/
The Silksong community is, as you'd imagine, a little fraught right now—without a peep of news from the Summer Game Fest or Nintendo Direct, nor a public statement from increasingly enigmatic developer Team Cherry, it has an appetite for information I can only describe as starved, a result of 700 plus days of silence.
Things have continued to spiral after some offhand comments from a former playtester who goes by the name of Your Mate Graig on the Hollow Knight Discord (thanks, GamesRadar). While he claims to have been the lead tester for Silksong (a statement that has gone unchallenged by Team Cherry for months), he left the studio to work on his own game, Roc's Odyssey, some time ago.
Graig stated Tuesday, June 18 that he "literally know[s] they are not in dev hell"—a pretty innocuous confirmation that would be uneventful in most circumstances but, like a flock of understandably pissed seagulls descending on a scrap of meat, Silksong's subreddit proceeded to eviscerate him over it.
>> The ysay that love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and a passionate community can be both a blessing and a headache.

6 months after revealing plans to become 'aggressive in applying AI', Square Enix's president announces he's being careful in applying AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/6-months-after-revealing-plans-to-become-aggressive-in-applying-ai-square-enix-s-president-announces-he-s-being-careful-in-applying-ai/
Square Enix appears to have learnt its lesson when it comes to sparkly new technology—just with a considerable input delay. Earlier this year, Square Enix's president Takashi Kiryu spoke glowingly of generative AI, which carried strong echoes of the company's equally ill-timed love affair with NFTs.
(...)
As reported by michsuzu on Twitter (and later spotted, then translated by Automaton), in a June 21 call to investors, Kiryu seems to believe that, just maybe, being hyper-aggressive about applying a controversial new technology isn't the best of ideas.

CD Projekt sends in Geralt to help its devs kill Mohg as it congratulates Shadow of the Erdtree on eclipsing Witcher 3's record review scores
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cd-projekt-sends-in-geralt-to-help-its-devs-kill-mohg-as-it-congratulates-shadow-of-the-erdtree-on-eclipsing-witcher-3s-record-review-scores/
The record is broken, the titan is fallen, yesterday's revolutionary upstart has become today's defeated incumbent: The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion—CDPR's excellent swansong for one of the best RPGs of all time—has officially been supplanted by Shadow of the Erdtree. 
In the eight years since it released, Blood and Wine has claimed the record for "best-reviewed expansion for a roleplaying game," but that's just history now. In a tweet earlier today, CDPR congratulated FromSoft on nabbing the title out from under it: "Elden Ring gets to wear that crown now," read a tweet from The Witcher's official account, "Congratulations to the entire team at FromSoftware on their stellar work!"

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

+GOG

• It has taken a couple of days, but we finally have a GIVEAWAY: Shadows: Awakening will be free during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/shadows_awakening
• The first of the three Deals of the Day, that will last 70 hours, is Dark Envoy, 35% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dark_envoy
• Transport Fever 2 - Deluxe Edition gets a 44% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/transport_fever_2_deluxe_edition
• And Shadow Tactics: Anniversary Bundle ha a 92% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/shadow_tactics_anniversary_bundle

+Steam

• Fossilfuel 2, that has a demo, will be 20% off until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2299660/Fossilfuel_2/
• The Early Access title Death Must Die gets a 20% discount until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2334730/Death_Must_Die/
• TEVI, that also has a demo, gets a 25% deal until Thursday 27: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2230650/TEVI/
• Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic is going to be 35% off until June 27 (are you noticing the pattern here?): https://store.steampowered.com/app/784150/Workers__Resources_Soviet_Republic/
• Stellaris will be free to try during the weekend and 70% off until the 27th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/281990/Stellaris/
• The Games Baked in Germany Sale features up to 80% discounts until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/games-made-in-germany-2024
• The Dragon Age franchise is on sale, with the three games 90% off until, surprise, surprise, Thursday 27: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/DragonAgeFranchiseSale
• Publisher Klei Entertainment puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 27th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/kleifest2024
• And Team17 has also puts its games on sale, also with up to 90% discounts and also until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Team17publishersale24

And that's it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make the news on Monday so, until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.