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

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The news, the sequel:

Bioshock 4 studio is now 'recruiting like mad' but the game's nature remains a mystery
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bioshock-4-studio-is-now-recruiting-like-mad-but-the-games-nature-remains-a-mystery/
The yet-to-be-named BioShock 4 is currently under development at Cloud Chamber, a studio with multiple locations established by publisher 2K specifically to work on the series. (…)
Cloud Chamber has now posted several dozen new job openings (first spotted by VGC) and says it "is currently recruiting like mad for game developers in two amazing locations" in San Francisco and Montreal. The 29 roles range across production, design and other skillsets, though notable by its absence is any mention of multiplayer (Bioshock 2 had a half-decent multiplayer mode, while Infinite was conceived of as a multiplayer title before abandoning the idea mid-development). There's not much known about Bioshock 4, but one of the sure bets is that it's a singleplayer shooter. 

After fans declared total war on Total War, Creative Assembly completes the apology tour with a major free expansion for Pharaoh this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/after-fans-declared-total-war-on-total-war-creative-assembly-completes-the-apology-tour-with-a-major-free-expansion-for-pharaoh-this-month/
The latest entry in Creative Assembly's long-running and storied strategy series is 2023's Total War: Pharaoh, and unfortunately things all went a little pear-shaped. Pharoah itself is a pretty good game, but it was no great step forward for the series and landed at a time when fans were losing patience with the pricing and value of myriad expansions, which all came to a head with both Pharaoh and a DLC called Shadows of Change for Total War: Warhammer 3.
(...)
Since then the studio has been on something of a mission to repair its relationship with Total War players, which has mainly meant giving away a lot of content for free. As well as the price drop, CA further committed to making Pharaoh's paid DLC a free update, and has now announced that Total War: Pharaoh's Dynasties will launch on July 25.

PVKK's full title is literally too big for our website, and the devs say it's 'Space Invaders, but the cannon you fire is really complicated'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/pvkks-full-title-is-literally-too-big-for-our-website-and-the-devs-say-its-space-invaders-but-the-cannon-you-fire-is-really-complicated/
PVKK, or—if you're feeling ambitious—Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant, looks fascinating. A sort of Papers Please-like from the Dome Keeper team, it situates you at the controls of a giant planetary defence cannon fending off extraterrestrial invaders. PVKK seems set to scratch my itch both to twiddle with vast arrays of analogue buttons, and to melt into the faceless machinery of an authoritarian state as a cog in the apparatus of violence. Finally, developers are making videogames for me.

Ubisoft apologizes for using a real-life reenactment group's flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows concept art without permission
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/ubisoft-apologizes-for-using-a-real-life-reenactment-groups-flag-in-assassins-creed-shadows-concept-art-without-permission/
Ubisoft has apologized for using the flag of a real-life Japanese reenactment group in concept art for Assassin's Creed Shadows, and says the images in question will no longer be used—although it will still appear in the art book that comes with the Assassin's Creed Shadows collector's edition.

Ubisoft says a Star Wars Outlaws planet is the size of '2 or 3' Assassin's Creed Odyssey map zones put together, which takes about 5 minutes 'nonstop' on a speeder to cross
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/ubisoft-says-a-star-wars-outlaws-planet-is-the-size-of-2-or-3-assassins-creed-odyssey-map-zones-put-together-which-takes-about-5-minutes-nonstop-on-a-speeder-to-cross/
It's not the size of the open world that counts, it's what's inside it—but I'll admit I've been curious to see how Ubisoft plans to tackle the open world maps for multiple Star Wars planets. This is a notoriously tough nut for space exploration games to crack. BioWare tried to make Mass Effect 1's barren planets more interesting in Andromeda, only to fill them with generic, cookie cutter quests that went over about as well as the facial animations. Bethesda justified Starfield's largely dull procedurally generated planets as realistic. What should we expect from Ubisoft, which has made some truly massive open world maps, bringing that scale to the whole galaxy?
Well, for one thing, we know Outlaws won't be going down the endless procedural planets route—Ubisoft has revealed five explorable planets so far, which you'll be able to fly between in your spaceship. Thanks to an interview with IGN, we now also know roughly how big they are. 
>> And they won’t be filled with map icons… at least at first.

Surprise! Dota 2 has a built-in fighting game now and it actually looks pretty good
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/surprise-dota-2-has-a-built-in-fighting-game-now-and-it-actually-looks-pretty-good/
Dota 2's Crownfall Act 3: The Frosts of Icewrack arrived last night, and along with a new overworld map, "collector's cache" items, and a new comic advancing the story, there's also a very unexpected surprise: A full-on fighting game.

Riot was working on a Smash Bros-style fighting game, but MultiVersus helped convince it to pull the plug
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/riot-was-working-on-a-smash-bros-style-fighting-game-but-multiversus-helped-convince-it-to-pull-the-plug/
Riot Games was reportedly working on a League of Legends-based platform fighter inspired by Super Smash Bros Melee but ultimately decided to pull the plug on the project in late May.

Whether or not we'll see a penis in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a spoiler, apparently
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/whether-or-not-you-can-see-a-penis-in-dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-spoiler-apparently/
Game Informer has seen boobs—specifically, the magazine has seen a topless character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard's character creator, which it previewed as part of a recent slate of exclusive articles. It's the most overt nudity the Dragon Age series has featured so far.
"This is a mature RPG," game director Corrine Busche told the magazine.
The character creator didn't show any below-the-waist private anatomy, however, and Game Informer reports that when it asked BioWare whether the RPG will include full nudity—say, during romance scenes—the developer said that it wants fans to discover that for themselves.

FF14 player counts around 21 hours of cutscenes in Dawntrail—making it the second longest expansion next to Endwalker—and I can't for the life of me tell you why
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/ff14-player-counts-around-21-hours-of-cutscenes-in-dawntrail-making-it-the-second-longest-expansion-next-to-endwalker-and-i-can-t-for-the-life-of-me-tell-you-why/
I've had time to finish Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail's main story—which landed to a bit of a mixed reception late last month.
(… several paragraphs later…)
That's thanks to FF14 story scholar Cyberfunk3 on Reddit, who has worked in conjunction with jesterxgirl to produce the following Google sheet measuring the total cutscene length for every expansion and (almost) every patch quest to date.

As WoW returns to China, NetEase has placed a $14,000 bounty on reports that see cheat peddlers punished by law
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/as-wow-returns-to-china-netease-has-placed-a-14-000-bounty-on-reports-that-see-cheat-creators-punished-by-law/
World of Warcraft's returning to China after over a year spent in the dark due to squabbles with NetEase, the company that publishes several Blizzard games in the country. They've patched things up, though, and will be bringing the main MMO back August 1 alongside a pre-patch for upcoming expansion The War Within.
As spotted by WoWHead, however, NetEase has aspirations to fully deputise its player base—aiming to nip an influx of cheaters, hackers, and altogether unscrupulous types in the bud. Alongside World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic's return to NetEase's library, players have been called upon to "purify the environment of Azeroth", as per a machine-translated news post.

Darktide's next update promises a complete overhaul of weapon progression: 'We took the philosophy with this game to not be afraid of doing quite massive changes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/darktides-next-update-promises-a-complete-overhaul-of-weapon-progression-we-took-the-philosophy-with-this-game-to-not-be-afraid-of-doing-quite-massive-changes/
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide may have had a rocky launch back in 2022, but you certainly can't fault developer Fatshark's dedication to improving its grimdark creation in the time since. While we have had new missions, enemies, and weapons, the biggest focus in the game's updates thus far has been improving the core experience and basic systems, from performance fixes to crafting changes to a complete overhaul of class progression. 
And apparently that work is still ongoing. Following a major content drop with the Secrets of the Machine God update at the end of last month, Fatshark has revealed its next major project: a complete rethink of the itemisation system, to make investing in your weapons more satisfying. 

Bear sex 'a watershed moment in game history', says Baldur's Gate 3 writer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/bear-sex-a-watershed-moment-in-game-history-says-baldur-s-gate-3-writer/
You are, most likely aware, that Baldur's Gate 3 lets you have sex with a bear. Now to be fair, 33% of players have hair in their underwear, so it didn't scare its audience beyond repair. If you're wondering why I'm rhyming, it's because in constructing the above headline I may have quite possibly gone mad.
As reported by our friends over at GamesRadar, senior narrative designer Baudelaire Welch discussed the impact of the ursine-themed scene on the gaming landscape to a captive audience, via a presentation at Develop: Brighton 2024.