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

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Friday news, the second part:

Dragon Age director says BioWare learned an important lesson from the disaster that was Anthem: 'Know what you're good at and then double down on it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dragon-age-director-says-bioware-learned-an-important-lesson-from-the-disaster-that-was-anthem-know-what-youre-good-at-and-then-double-down-on-it/
Anthem was kind of baffling right from the start. Why would BioWare, a studio built almost exclusively on popular singleplayer RPGs—Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, let us not forget Jade Empire—suddenly dive into a multiplayer-focused looter shooter? It was weird, and the outcome, if not inevitable, was at least not entirely surprising: We called it "deeply flawed and frequently frustrating" in our 55% review, and just two years after it launched in 2019, BioWare pulled the plug, officially halting future development.
There's an old adage that says you learn more from failure than success, and that may be the one upside to Anthem's big bomb. In a new Edge magazine feature on BioWare's upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard, creative director John Epler said the studio's experience with Anthem taught it a tough but important lesson: Stick to what you know.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard's combat is 'more technically demanding on the player' BioWare says, which is why we'll only be controlling one character
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-the-veilguard-s-combat-is-more-technically-demanding-on-the-player-bioware-says-which-is-why-we-ll-only-be-controlling-one-character/
Leading up to the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard this autumn, BioWare continues to share details about all the things that are changing in the fourth game of the series. One very obvious departure is its extremely action-forward combat, subject of plenty of debate among fans (including my own group chats). In particular, Veilguard will narrow the focus of combat so that we'll only have direct control of our player character Rook—a change that was made, BioWare says, because the faster pace of combat made it difficult for players to manage the full party.

Arkane founder was saddened by the closure of Arkane Austin, but says immersive sims aren't going anywhere: The studio is gone, but 'the people survive'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/arkane-founder-was-saddened-by-the-closure-of-arkane-austin-but-says-immersive-sims-arent-going-anywhere-the-studio-is-gone-but-the-people-survive/
The closure of Arkane Austin earlier this year came as a very unhappy surprise, felt keenly by fans of the immersive sim genre. But in a new interview with PC Gamer, Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio, who left the company in 2017, said that while the shutdown is sad, it also represents an opportunity for a renewal of the genre.

Id Software just surprise launched Doom + Doom 2, a 'definitive' bundle that adds cross-platform multiplayer and in-game mod support to every retro Doom
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/id-software-just-surprise-launched-doom-doom-2-a-definitive-bundle-that-adds-cross-platform-multiplayer-and-in-game-mod-support-to-every-retro-doom/
The original Doom and Doom 2 are back in a big way: Bethesda Softworks announced at QuakeCon today that newly-updated editions of the groundbreaking 1990s shooters, bundled with a pile of additional content, are now available in a single package.

Brother, your world faces exterminatus unless you watch this new Space Marine 2 gameplay footage right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/brother-your-world-faces-exterminatus-unless-you-watch-this-new-space-marine-2-gameplay-footage-right-now/
As a lifelong Warhammer 40,000 fan, I have to confess to being a little underwhelmed by the playable Space Marine 2 demo that dropped this time last year. Saber Interactive's game looked the part—more so than any other 40k spinoff—but the combat felt too clunky, even bearing in mind the fact that I was playing a huge transhuman lad in power armor. So I was glad when a yearlong delay was announced last November in order to "properly polish the game".
Since then, the devs have had to deal with the fallout from a full build of the game leaking online, (at least it was long out of date), and more recently abandoned a planned public beta test in order to further focus on polish. Which brings us to this week, and a fresh round of playable impressions, the verdict from which is: Actually, this rips. 
(...)
Riding the wave of those good vibes, this morning publisher Focus Entertainment dropped seven minutes of official multiplayer footage. The video includes action from the co-operative PvE Operations mode, as well as some marine-on-marine action from the capture and control PvP modes (embedded above). Playing against real people isn't really what I'm personally looking for from Space Marine 2, but I did love seeing how faithfully Saber has modelled the heretics of the Death Guard, World Eater and Alpha Legion chapters.

Arrowhead boss says he's not upset by the latest Helldivers 2 balance uproar: 'I'd take this ANY day of the week over nobody giving a s**t'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arrowhead-boss-says-hes-not-upset-by-the-latest-helldivers-2-balance-uproar-id-take-this-any-day-of-the-week-over-nobody-giving-a-st/
Helldivers 2 players are at it again: Arrowhead nerfed the fan-favorite flamethrower in the recent Escalation of Freedom patch, and the community has not taken it well. But in the eyes of Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani, it could be worse.

And these are the weekend deals for GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• Alll the deals at LTO that will end Monday, with the first one being Voodoo Kid, 49% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/voodoo_kid
• They Always Run gets a 70% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/they_always_run
• Unepic is going to be 75% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/unepic
• Sea Dogs: Caribbean Tales has an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sea_dogs_caribbean_tales
• Evil Genius will be 89% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/evil_genius
• And the last one is Zombie Night Terror, with a 90% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/zombie_night_terror

+Steam

• God of War will be 60% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1593500/God_of_War/
• 911 Operator gets a 70% discount until the 15th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/503560/911_Operator/
• Radio Commander is also going to be 70% off until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/871530/Radio_Commander/
• The Tiny Teams 2024 Sale games games up to 90% off until the 15th, but some titles will keep on sale for longer than that: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TinyTeams2024
• EA celebrates an August Sale that will last until the 19th. The banner says it has up to 85% discounts, but there are several titles at 90% off, making me wonder what’s going on at EA: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/EA/sale/august-savings
• The Quakecon 2024 Sale is now available with up to 84% discounts until August, the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/quakecon2024
• Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is going to be 40% off until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2751000/Prince_of_Persia_The_Lost_Crown/
• Arcade Paradise gets a 60% discount until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388870/Arcade_Paradise/
• Maybe because of the launch of the movie (that everybody seems to agree it’s awful), the Borderlands franchise is on sale with up to 94% discounts until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/borderlandsfranchise

And that seems to be all. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.