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

[JEMC]

The slightly longer second part of the news to avoid a third part:

John Romero says that what set Wolfenstein and Doom apart 'was our speed—the speed of the game was critical'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/john-romero-says-that-what-set-wolfenstein-and-doom-apart-was-our-speedthe-speed-of-the-game-was-critical/
John Romero could be ordained as Pope, and people would still come up at mass and ask him about the early days of id Software and Doom. One of the key figures in early FPS history and by far the most infamous and outspoken, Romero's brand of hirsute grungy swagger worked for a very simple reason: the games he designed and promoted were brilliant (until they weren't).
These days Romero is head of Romero Games, currently working on an unannounced FPS, and has given an interview to Ars Technica about being known for Doom over three decades. Doom of course was the culmination of id's work up until that point, but that was standing on the shoulders of the successful Wolfenstein 3D, which itself had followed from the earlier id titles Hovertank One and Catacomb 3-D.

Nearly 6 months later, Palworld devs confirm Nintendo never drew so much as an inch of its legal sword over bootleg Pokémon allegations
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/nearly-6-months-later-palworld-devs-confirm-nintendo-never-drew-so-much-as-an-inch-of-its-legal-sword-over-bootleg-pokemon-allegations/
Palworld's meteoric popularity has naturally settled from its obscene all-time peak of 2 million players, which is only natural for a game released in early access—and for any popular game period. No monarch rules forever.
Early critiques aimed at the game involved the idea that the Palworld, which blends creature collection and survival game mechanics, was a "rip off" of beloved franchise Pokémon, overseen in part by the famously-litigious Nintendo—a company that has a habit of bringing down the legal hammer on emulators, Garry's Mod, and, well, people.
(...)
This came to a head when the Pokémon Company issued a "we're looking into it" statement towards the end of January. Now, as confirmed by an interview with gaming newsletter GameFile (thanks, Eurogamer), Palworld's creator Takuro Mizobe says that the studio heard "nothing at all … Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn't say anything to us".

Total War: Warhammer 3 is giving away a big dog that summons little dogs for free
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-3-is-giving-away-a-big-dog-that-summons-little-dogs-for-free/
Total War: Warhammer 3 seems to have clawed its way back into players' good graces, turning things around with the superb Thrones of Decay DLC, which gave us flying ships, boozed-up dwarfs and one world-conquering maggot. Creative Assembly is still working on its follow-up, focused on the Khorne, Greenskins and Ogre Kingdoms factions—but in the meantime, we're all getting a freebie. His name is Karanak, he is a good boy, and you can add him to your armies now. 

Dead by Daylight's new survivor is 'a legendary character that epitomizes the spirit of survival instinct,' and her name is Lara Croft
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/dead-by-daylights-new-survivor-is-a-legendary-character-that-epitomizes-the-spirit-of-survival-instinct-and-her-name-is-lara-croft/
The asymmetric horror game Dead by Daylight has finagled a lot of high-profile crossovers over the years—Alan Wake, Nicolas Cage, Ellen Ripley, Vecna, the list goes on—and the latest addition to the lineup is no exception. Lara Croft, the OG tomb raider, is coming to the game in July, and is playable right now via a public test build on Steam.

Farming Simulator 25 announced, with a collector's edition that includes a 'USB ignition lock' that lets you turn a real key to start your virtual tractors
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/farming-simulator-25-announced-with-a-collectors-edition-that-includes-a-usb-ignition-lock-that-lets-you-turn-a-real-key-to-start-your-virtual-tractors/
Farming Simulator 25 is launching on November 12, developer Giants Software announced today—but before we get to all the details about the new game and cinematic reveal trailer, I want to talk about something else. Giants also announced that there's a "Collector's Edition" of Farming Simulator 25 which comes with a "USB ignition lock" that lets you insert and turn a real key "to start the engines of in-game tractors." 
>> The article has a pic showing everything included in that collector’s edition, in case you want to see that ignition lock.

Former Halo and Destiny producer says live service model is 'much better for developers and players' than the '$60 boxed product model'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/former-halo-and-destiny-producer-says-live-service-model-is-much-better-for-developers-and-players-than-the-dollar60-boxed-product-model/
Joe Tung, CEO and co-founder of developer Theorycraft Games, started out his career in games as the lead producer on Halo 3 before moving on to be executive producer on Halo: Reach and Destiny at Bungie. In an interview with PC Gamer promoting his new MOBA-like battle royale game Supervive, Tung said that during his time at Bungie he had to make decisions that "were not in the best interest of players" and that a lot of E3 demos at the time (though not necessarily Bungie's) showed off "bullshit vaporware." The problem, he thinks, is the whole "boxed product model."
>> That may be true for online/multiplayer games, but certainly not for single player games.

Forza Horizon 4 is being removed from sale because of expiring licenses, but at least it'll keep running after it's gone
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/forza-horizon-4-is-being-removed-from-sale-because-of-expiring-licenses-but-at-least-itll-keep-running-after-its-gone/
Forza Horizon 4, a game so good we said it was "worth enduring the pain of the Microsoft Store" to play—pretty damn good, in other words—is going away. Microsoft announced today that because of expiring licenses, it will be delisted from digital storefronts in December 2024, meaning it will no longer be available for purchase.
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All Forza Horizon 4 DLC will be delisted today, leaving only the standard, deluxe, and ultimate editions of the game available for purchase. Those will remain up on Steam and the Microsoft Store until the full delisting occurs on December 15.
>> The article is from 18 hours ago, therefore yesterday, and the Steam page for the game has already removed the DLCs.

MMOs 'don't give people the tools to build community anymore,' says EverQuest 2 creative director
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/mmos-dont-give-people-the-tools-to-build-community-anymore-says-everquest-2-creative-director/
Kyle Vallee, creative director for EverQuest 2, is a huge fan of MMOs and has played basically all of them—but he thinks the genre has lost its way in one respect. The sense of community early MMOs cultivated is being sidelined, he says. 

GOG is bringing the original Resident Evil trilogy back from the dead, and to digital PC storefronts for the first time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/resident-evil/gog-is-bringing-the-original-resident-evil-trilogy-back-from-the-dead-and-to-digital-pc-storefronts-for-the-first-time/
Barely a week after a strange PEGI rating for the original PC version of Resident Evil appeared on the ratings board's website, the aura of mystery has been broken. Turns out the entire original RE trilogy is due for its first release on digital storefronts.
The release comes courtesy of, you guessed it, GOG, no doubt flush with the success of rescuing the excellent spy RPG Alpha Protocol from licensing hell. The company says it's teamed up with Capcom to put 1996's Resident Evil, 1998's Resident Evil 2, and 1999's Resident Evil 3 on the world wide web. They're not all releasing simultaneously: for now you can only buy and play RE1, with 2 and 3 following later down the line.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's latest patch buffs your power in its earlier hours, with 'other balance adjustments' to come—also, you may need to turn ray tracing off again
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-s-latest-patch-buffs-your-power-in-its-earlier-hours-with-other-balance-adjustments-to-come-also-you-may-need-to-turn-ray-tracing-off-again/
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, despite being critically lauded (fellow PC Gamer writer Tyler Colp gave it a 95 in his Shadow of the Erdtree review, himself) has somehow reignited the age-old Elden Ring difficulty discourse—although more people are on the side of toning things down than they were in 2022, as Steam reviews dropped to "Mixed" last week.
(...)
Well, it looks like FromSoftware's pumping the brakes a little bit. As announced in the DLC's first balance patch, the "attack and damage negation curve scaling of the Shadow Realm Blessings have been revised."

Zenless Zone Zero's launch roster won't quite match the numbers of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, but its producer says the team is going for 'quality not quantity'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/zenless-zone-zeros-launch-roster-wont-quite-match-the-numbers-of-genshin-impact-and-honkai-star-rail-but-its-producer-says-the-team-is-going-for-quality-not-quantity/
Those who are well-versed with miHoYo's library of games may have noticed that Zenless Zone Zero's base roster is looking a touch anaemic in comparison to what Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail launched with. The action-RPG is launching with 15 agents, which isn't a low number by any means, but it is notably less than Genshin's 22 characters and Honkai: Star Rail's 23.

Helldivers 2 director weighs in on Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty: 'A game for everyone is a game for no one'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/helldivers-2-director-weighs-in-on-elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtrees-difficulty-a-game-for-everyone-is-a-game-for-no-one/
Despite its critical success, most of the discourse surrounding Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree involves how difficult the game is, with many players bogged down by brutal boss fights and an unforgiving environment. It got so bad that the DLC is currently at Mixed reviews on Steam as many players agree it's too hard to be enjoyable, but even still, there are some fans who think the high skill ceiling is a great feature and one that makes FromSoft games stand out. 
One such person is Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt, who recently began replying to Shadow of the Erdtree players, discussing its difficulty and talking about why he actually likes it. "The games industry is now big enough for there to be so many exciting experiences for all audiences," Pilestedt says. "I try to imagine having this variety when I was 10... It would have been mind-blowing!"
>> I don’t know how old he is, but the Ninja Gaiden titles were renowned by its difficulty.

Zenless Zone Zero's producer has spent an ungodly amount of time playing Street Fighter 6, which makes the whisperings of a collaboration even more understandable
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/zenless-zone-zeros-producer-has-spent-an-ungodly-amount-of-time-playing-street-fighter-6-which-makes-the-whisperings-of-a-collaboration-even-more-understandable/
Taking a peek at screenshots of New Eridu—Zenless Zone Zero's main hub—I couldn't help but get some mild Street Fighter 6 Metro City vibes. Turns out they aren't totally misplaced, as producer Zhenyu Li is a huge fan of the fighting game and has put a lotta hours into playing it. Considering the two games seem set to collaborate with each other, it makes even more sense that Street Fighter 6 has served as an inspiration for Li during Zenless Zone Zero's development.