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

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The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Balatro has sold 2 million copies, free 'major gameplay update' coming next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/balatro-has-sold-2-million-copies-free-major-gameplay-update-coming-next-year/
There have been a few small hints that people like poker roguelike Balatro. Our Balatro review score of 91, for instance, the 40,000 Steam reviews that average out to "Overwhelmingly Positive," and the fact that I put 30 hours into it in a single week—and that was when I was playing the pre-launch demo, not even the full game.
Another tiny clue that Balatro is, y'know, pretty good surfaced this week: it's now sold over 2 million copies on all platforms. That's outstanding for a game that's been for the most part the work of a single developer, LocalThunk. 
“I would never have thought that Balatro would be played by over 2 million people when I started working on it almost 3 years ago," LocalThunk said in an email sent to PC Gamer. "I’m so grateful to all the players for giving it a chance and I’m excited to show everyone the next chapter for my game.”

Warner Bros execs pine for the Hogwarts Legacy glory days as games revenue plummets 41% thanks to Suicide Squad's abysmal performance
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/warner-bros-execs-pine-for-the-hogwarts-legacy-glory-days-as-games-revenue-plummets-41-thanks-to-suicide-squads-abysmal-performance/
Rocksteady has made some excellent games in its time, so I honestly feel a bit bad about the lead-balloon performance of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. I probably don't feel as bad about it as Warner Bros does, though: The entertainment megacorp just released its earnings statement for Q2 2024, and the news for its games revenue isn't great.
Specifically, games revenue is down an eye-watering 41% compared to Q2 2023. The reason? Rocksteady's ill-fated baby. Downturns were "primarily driven by the weak performance of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League this year," say Warner execs, adding that the bruise is all the more tender given "the strong performance of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year."
>> Well, that what happens when the game isn’t great and its tied to a game practice that the main audience of the game doesn’t like.

The Epic Store gives away the following games:

• CYGNI: All Guns Blazing: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/cygni-all-guns-blazing-98f872 https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/cygni-all-guns-blazing-98f872
• DNF Duel: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/dnf-duel-07d055 https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/dnf-duel-07d055
• And the Apex Legends™: Conduit Free Unlock Bundle: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/apex-legends-season-22-epic-content-offer-db02ab https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/apex-legends-season-22-epic-content-offer-db02ab

Next week, they’ll give away World of Warships — Starter Pack: Albany.

Talking about free games, GOG has something more than new sales:

• GIVEAWAY: Intravenous will be free to get during 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/intravenous
• The Greatest Villains Promo features up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_greatest_villains
• The RPG Promo has games up to 95% off during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_rpg_promo
• And there’s the QuakeCon 2024 Sale, with up to 85% discounts during 14 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_quake_con

Steam has two new deals:

• Super Woden GP 2 wil be 25% off until August 14: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2083210/Super_Woden_GP_2/
• And Digimon Survive features a 75% discount until the same 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/871980/Digimon_Survive/

Humble Bundle has launched the Capcom Summer 2024 Bundle, featuring up to 12 games during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/capcom-summer-2024

Fanatical has new Flash Deals and a bundle:

• These are the new 24h Flash Deals:
  • Victoria 3 - Grand Edition is going to be 48% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/victoria-3-grand-edition
  • DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT Legendary Edition features a 79% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dragon-ball-z-kakarot-legendary-edition
  • And Summum Aeterna gets a 90% deal: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/summum-aeterna
• And the BYO Indie Legends Bundle - Summer 2024 has 18 titles to choose from for your 2+, 4+ or 7+ games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-indie-legends-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

PlayStation 4 emulator, shadPS4, can now run Red Dead Redemption Remastered and Tomb Raider I-III Remastered with 30fps and 110fps, respectively
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/playstation-4-emulator-shadps4-can-now-run-red-dead-redemption-remastered-and-tomb-raider-i-iii-remastered-with-30fps-and-110fps-respectively/
Another week, another article about the best PlayStation 4 emulator for the PC. So last month, we informed you about Red Dead Redemption Remastered running at around 25fps on a high-end PC system. And today, we are happy to report that the game can run with a locked 30fps.
YouTube’s “BrutalSam” has shared the following video, showcasing RDR Remastered with a locked 30fps. To get this kind of performance, the YouTuber used an Intel Core i5 13400 with 32GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060.
shadPS4 also offers an option to unlock the game’s framerate. However, that experimental setting is currently bugged. Instead of doubling the framerate, it doubles the game’s speed. The good news here is that the shadPS4 devs are looking into fixing this.
Now as you’ll see in the video, RDR Remastered has major visual artifacts. In short, it’s nowhere close to being described as playable. Still, the fact that the game can now run with 30fps is mind-blowing.
And that’s not all. Remember Tomb Raider I-III Remastered? Well, now this collection can run with 110fps.
>> There’s a 4 minutes video describing the improvements.

The demo for the Fallout 1 Fan Remake in Fallout 4’s Creation Engine, Fallout: Vault 13, will be released on August 8th
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/the-demo-for-the-fallout-1-fan-remake-in-fallout-4-creation-engine-will-be-released-on-august-8th/
The modding team behind Fallout Vault 13, a fan remake of the first Fallout in the Fallout 4 Creation Engine, announced that a demo will come out tomorrow. The demo will become available at approximately 9:00 PM Eastern Time.
As the title suggests, Fallout Vault 13 aims to recreate the first Fallout game in Fallout 4’s engine. In other words, we’re looking at a total conversion mod.
>> The article has a 15 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

Here are 30 minutes of PC gameplay from Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, running at 4K/Ultra on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-30-minutes-of-gameplay-from-warhammer-40k-space-marine-2-running-at-4k-ultra-on-an-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090/
YouTube’s ‘GameRiot’ has shared a video, showcasing 30 minutes of gameplay footage from the latest PC preview build of Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. To capture this gameplay footage, GameRiot used an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, and ran the game at 4K on Ultra/Max Settings.

Here’s is the final pre-release trailer for Black Myth: Wukong
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-is-the-final-trailer-for-black-myth-wukong/
Game Science has just released the final pre-release trailer for Black Myth: Wukong. This trailer includes never-seen-before combat gameplay and story cutscenes, as well as new levels and characters. Moreover, the gameplay footage that you’re about to see was captured on PC.

Elden Ring Title Update 1.13.2 Released to Fix Various Bugs, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/elden-ring-title-update-1-13-2-released-to-fix-various-bugs-full-patch-notes/
FromSoftware has just released Title Update 1.13.2 for Elden Ring. According to the devs, this is a hotfix that will fix a number of issues that surfaced with the previous patch. So, let’s take a look at what the update fixes.