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

[JEMC]

Here come the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Hunt: Showdown enjoys highest-ever player count after 1896 update, but player complaints about UI are pushing down its Steam review score: 'I've never seen such a bizarre reaction to so much amazing content'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/hunt-showdown-enjoys-highest-ever-player-count-after-1896-update-but-player-complaints-about-ui-are-pushing-down-its-steam-review-score-ive-never-seen-such-a-bizarre-reaction-to-so-much-amazing-content/
Grungy horror extraction shooter Hunt: Showdown just received its biggest update in years, with developer Crytek upgrading its engine, overhauling its UI, adding a fourth map called Mammon's Gulch, and introducing other meaningful tweaks. It's such an extensive rework that the game has even been given a new name—Hunt: Showdown 1896.
The first day of availability saw Hunt reach a new high for concurrent players: 59,968, which is 18,000 more than its previous high in October 2023. Likewise, at the time we're publishing this, more than 51,000 are in-game, chasing and/or being immolated by the new Hellborn boss.
By that metric, the shooter is more popular than it's ever been. But simultaneously, the update has drawn aggravated complaints from a number of negative reviews on Steam, 3,730 of them so far, which have pushed Hunt's short-term label to Mostly Negative, while its longer-term state remains Mostly Positive.
How can Hunt both be more popular than ever and be condemned by a higher-than-ever number of players on Steam? The primary bone of contention is its new pre-match UI, shown in the video embedded lower on the page, with many reviewers complaining that Crytek's changes have made it worse rather than better.
(...)
Update 5 PM EST, August 16th: In a two-minute video posted to Hunt: Showdown 1896's channels, Crytek design director Dennis Schwarz acknowledged the complaints made by players about the game's UI and announced forthcoming changes.

GOG starts the week with 7 LTOs and 3 sales:

• These are the Limited Time Offers, that will end Wednesday:
  • Masterplan Tycoon is 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/masterplan_tycoon
  • Personal Nightmare gets a 75% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/personal_nightmare" target="_blank"> https://www.gog.com/en/game/personal_nightmare
  • Song of Farca has a nother 75% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/song_of_farca
  • Sea Dogs is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sea_dogs
  • Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945 features another 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sniper_elite_berlin_1945
  • The Walking Dead: Season Two gets yet another 80% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/walking_dead_season_2_the
  • The last one is Lords of the Realm 3, 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/lords_of_the_realm_3
• Publisher Fulqrum Publishing puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/202408_fulqrum_publisher_sale
• The new Weekly Sale starts a day earlier and has games up to 91% off for the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240819_weekly_deals_4_august
• And the Ukraine Days Promo/Sale features up to 95% discounts until August 27th: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_ukraine_days

Steam “only” has three new deals:

• Styx: Shards of Darkness will be 85% off until August 25: https://store.steampowered.com/app/355790/Styx_Shards_of_Darkness/
• Prison Simulator, that has a demo, gets a 45% discount until the 1st of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/842180/Prison_Simulator/
• And Cursed to Golf also gets a 70% deal until September 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1726120/Cursed_to_Golf/

Humble Bundle presents the Tower Defense Bundle, with up to 8 games to get during 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/tower-defense.

Fanatical has three new Flash Deals and a bundle:

• These are the 24h Flash Deals:
  • The Thaumaturge, 53% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-thaumaturge
  • Ghostrunner 2, with a 69% deal: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/ghostrunner-2
  • DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition features a 79% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/doom-eternal-deluxe-edition
• And the new BYO Monster Hunter Bundle has 8 items to build your 2+, 4+ or 8+ bundle during the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-monster-hunter-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.5971 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-5971
Highlights
Gaming Highlights
Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs for:

• Black Myth: Wukong
• Hunt: Showdown 1896
• World of Warcraft: The War Within

Fixed Issues
Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics Products:

• Delta Force: Hawk Ops Alpha Playtest (DX12) may experience application instability during gameplay.
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX11) may exhibit corruption on foliage during gameplay.

Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs:

• Force of Warships (DX11) may experience texture corruption during gameplay

Intel® Arc™ Control Fixed Issues:

• Arc Control Studio capture recording file may become corrupted when the mouse cursor is enabled during HDR capture.
• Arc Control may experience corruption in studio camera preview while changing settings from style transfer effects

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Red Dead Redemption Remastered runs with 60fps on PC via shadPS4 but there is a catch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/red-dead-redemption-remastered-runs-with-60fps-on-pc-via-shadps4-but-there-is-a-catch/
Yesterday, we informed you about the release of shadPS4 V0.2.0. And, from the looks of it, this PlayStation 4 emulator can run Red Dead Redemption Remastered with 60fps on a high-end PC. However, there is a catch.
You see, at 60fps, the game is running at double the original speed. I don’t know why it’s happening, but that’s not the way it was meant to be played. Moreover, there are a lot of visual bugs and glitches.
Still, this is incredible news. The fact that the game can run with 60fps is mind-blowing. Not only that but an Intel i7-10700 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is more than enough for 60fps. This is shockingly impressive.
>> There’s a short video In the article.

Here’s your first look at Bloodborne running on PC via shadPS4
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-your-first-look-of-bloodborne-running-on-pc-via-shadps4/
And the time has finally come. Yep, this isn’t an out-of-date April’s Fools joke. This is the first gameplay footage of Bloodborne, running on PC via the PlayStation 4 emulator, shadPS4. So, waste no time and take a look at it.
This gameplay footage was shared on the Discord server of shadPS4. In other words, this is from an unreleased version of the PS4 emulator. So no, you won’t be able to run and play Bloodborne via shadPS4 V0.2.0 which came out recently.
What’s impressive here is the framerate. When shadPS4 was struggling to run the game, we all believed that it would take months until we’d see a somewhat acceptable performance. To my surprise, though, this gameplay video runs at… almost 30fps? I can’t tell since the team has not included a Performance Overlay. However, it does feel smooth (and over 20fps).
As you’ll see, there are numerous visual glitches and graphical issues. Even so, it’s amazing how smoothly the game already runs. I didn’t expect to see Bloodborne running this well on shadPS4 so soon. The shadPS4 team has really gone above and beyond what I thought they could do.
>> The video is over 2 minutes long.

Doom 2 Ray-Traced looks even better with RTX Remix Renderer
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/doom-2-ray-traced-looks-even-better-with-rtx-remix-renderer/
Earlier this week, we shared an amazing Path Tracing Mod for Doom 2. But, what if I told you that you can make Doom 2 Ray-Traced look even better? Well you see, its modder has also released an experimental RTX Remix Renderer. And as you will see, it looks incredible.
As shirokii said, RTX Remix creates a fully path-traced image with more complex light interactions. It also makes the picture much sharper and clearer on powerful PCs. Plus, it supports NVIDIA’s Ray Reconstruction.
So, below you can find some comparison screenshots. The default renderer of Doom 2 Ray-Traced is on the left, whereas the RTX Remix Renderer is on the right.
(...)
The only drawback of the RTX Remix Renderer is that the “jelly” blood effects don’t work. Instead, you’ll see the original blood effects and particles. But for those who didn’t like the “jelly” effects, this could actually be a good thing. After all, a lot have complained about them. So, that’s another plus if you did not like them.

According to a creator of the ambitious H2M Modern Warfare 2 mod shuttered by Activision, the multi-billion dollar corporation was worried the free project would disrupt Black Ops 6's sales
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/according-to-a-creator-of-the-ambitious-h2m-modern-warfare-2-mod-shuttered-by-activision-the-multi-billion-dollar-corporation-was-worried-the-free-project-would-disrupt-black-ops-6-s-sales/
First spotted by Insider Gaming, Watchful Wolf, a member of the hotly anticipated H2M mod project to remaster the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer by way of the Modern Warfare 1 remaster, has released a video elaborating on Activision's cease and desist order. According to Watchful Wolf, the mega publisher didn't want the potential competition with Black Ops 6 on the way.
>> I can believe that.

GAMING NEWS

Elements Destiny is a new SNES-inspired 2D retro JRPG
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/elements-destiny-is-a-new-snes-inspired-2d-retro-jrpg/
Deck13 Spotlight and ShrooMoon UG have announced a new game called Elements Destiny. Elements Destiny is a retro JRPG, inspired by those that came out for the SNES. And, to celebrate the announcement, the publisher released the game’s first gameplay trailer. So, let’s dive in and see what’s in store for us.
>> Have I said how glad I am that we’ve moved on from those blocky “8-bit era” inspired games to the 16-bit ones that are much, much more beautiful? Because I really am.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire just got a short but sweet gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/mouse-p-i-for-hire-just-got-a-short-but-sweet-gameplay-trailer/
Remember Fumi Games’ Mouse? You know. The black-n-white first-person shooter that has Disney-like cartoon-ish graphics? Well, the game has been renamed to Mouse: P.I. For Hire. Moreover, you can find below a new gameplay trailer for it.

New Star Wars: Outlaws trailer shows off some of its planets & moons
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-star-wars-outlaws-trailer-shows-off-some-of-its-planets-moons/
Ubisoft has just released a new in-engine trailer for Star Wars: Outlaws that shows off some of its planets and moons. To be more precise, in this video, we get to see the frozen air of Kijimi, the dense jungle of Akiva, the windswept plains of Toshara, and the arid desert of Tatooine.
>> And here are the full req. specs and PC specific features.

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged is coming to the PC on September 19th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/broken-sword-shadow-of-the-templars-reforged-is-coming-to-the-pc-on-september-19th/
Revolution Software has announced that Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged will come to the PC on September 19th. To celebrate this announcement, the team shared a new trailer that you can find below.

Crimson Desert just got an amazing 7-minute gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/crimson-desert-just-got-an-amazing-7-minute-gameplay-video/
Pearl Abyss has finally released a new video for Crimson Desert, featuring 7 minutes of brand new gameplay from it. In this video, we get to see the boss battle with White Horn, the mountain spirit born from the blizzards of the White Mountains.

Here are 27 minutes of gameplay from Silent Hill 2 Remake
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-27-minutes-of-gameplay-from-silent-hill-2-remake/
VGC has shared a video, showcasing 27 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay footage from Silent Hill 2 Remake. These are the first 27 minutes of the game, so avoid them if you don’t want to experience the game for yourselves. Additionally, Konami shared the official story trailer for Silent Hill 2 Remake, which you can also find below.

Official Gamescom 2024 Gameplay Trailer for Commandos: Origins
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/official-gamescom-2024-gameplay-trailer-for-commandos-origins/
Kalypso Media has just released the official Gamescom 2024 gameplay trailer for Commandos: Origins. This trailer features gameplay footage from the game’s latest alpha build. As such, it may not reflect the quality of the final product. Still, it will give you a glimpse at what the devs are working on.