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

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Monday news, part two:

The VR version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is 'on hold indefinitely' as Meta and Rockstar shift their focus to other things
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/vr/the-vr-version-of-grand-theft-auto-san-andreas-is-on-hold-indefinitely-as-meta-and-rockstar-shift-their-focus-to-other-things/
Back in 2021, Meta announced that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was coming to its Quest 2 VR platform. "Get a new perspective on Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas as you experience (again or for the first time) one of gaming’s most iconic open worlds," Meta said at the time. "This is a project many years in the making, and we can’t wait to show you more of it."
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"GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects," the official MetaQuestVR account said in response to an inquiry posted on YouTube. "We look forward to working with our friends at Rockstar in the future." Meta later confirmed that statement with IGN.

Swen Vincke was worried that the 100-hour Baldur's Gate 3 would be too short, which is why Larian made a ton of extra areas they wound up cutting: 'I've notoriously always been bad at judging the length of our games'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/swen-vincke-was-worried-that-the-100-hour-baldurs-gate-3-would-be-too-short-which-is-why-the-team-made-a-ton-of-extra-areas-they-wound-up-cutting-ive-notoriously-always-been-bad-at-judging-the-length-of-our-games/
In a new BAFTA video interview, Larian CEO Swen Vincke revealed that he was actually worried Baldur's Gate 3 wouldn't be long enough, an anxiety that's pretty rich in hindsight, given that some players struggle to finish the marathon RPG. Vincke revealed this old fear as a partial explanation for why Baldur's Gate 3 has so many tantalizing cut areas, while also describing one such zone we hadn't heard about before: a second Moonrise Tower to go with the one we saw in Act Two.

Neo-Victorian survival sim Nightingale is getting 'handcrafted realms,' more boss fights, and an all-new campaign in a major update coming later this summer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/neo-victorian-survival-sim-nightingale-is-getting-handcrafted-realms-more-boss-fights-and-an-all-new-campaign-in-a-major-update-coming-later-this-summer/
Earlier this month, Nightingale developer Inflexion said it wanted to bring "more structure" to the game so players will have a better idea of where they're going, what they're doing, and why they're doing it, and also to help reduce the feeling of repetition between the game's different realms. In an update posted today on Steam, the dev team offered a deeper insight into what it has in mind, including the introduction of new "handcrafted realms," a new campaign, and—everyone's favorite—boss fights.

PowerWash Simulator meets Pulp Fiction in this first-person scrubber where you clean up after horrific murders
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/powerwash-simulator-meets-pulp-fiction-in-this-first-person-scrubber-where-you-clean-up-after-horrific-murders/
We all know cleaning up in games can be just as much fun as making a mess. If you've ever mopped up blood and guts in Viscera Cleanup Detail or sprayed gunk off Doc Brown's time machine in PowerWash Simulator, here's an offer you can't refuse: combine those two games and you get Crime Scene Cleaner, where you hose down and scrub up bloody murder scenes until they're clean as a whistle.

The spiritual successor to old school pick-up-and-play Call of Duty Zombies is out now, on sale for $10 and gloriously free of battle pass nonsense
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/if-you-have-friends-you-want-to-play-fpses-with-but-theyre-allergic-to-battle-pass-this-is-your-life-now-nonsense-my-go-to-cod-zombies-alike-just-released-out-of-early-access-and-is-on-sale-for-dollar10/
Co-op shooter Hellbreach: Vegas has reached its 1.0 release after a little over a year of early access. While the pick-up-and-play FPS has gotten a $5 price increase over early access, a launch sale will keep it at the initial $10 price until August 28.

Exoborne is making the extraction shooter less punishing, and taking storytelling notes from Hades
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/how-exoborne-is-making-extraction-shooters-less-punishing-and-taking-storytelling-notes-from-hades/
If there’s anyone that can speak authoritatively about the extraction shooter as a genre, it’s Petter Mannerfelt. He's currently creative director on Sharkmob’s high-stakes PvPvE shooter Exoborne, but not too long ago he was a game director at Ubisoft Massive, where he worked on The Division and (most notably) its Dark Zone mode.
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With Exoborne, Petter says the studio has both matured and is better positioned this time, as the extraction shooter is still a relatively young and malleable concept. While Escape From Tarkov has put forward a popular and extremely tense template for the genre, Exoborne is taking a somewhat softer, more mass-market approach.

Runescape's latest content roadmap includes group ironman mode, a new skilling boss, and exciting advancements in woodcutting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/runescapes-latest-content-roadmap-includes-group-ironman-mode-a-new-skilling-boss-and-exciting-advancements-in-woodcutting/
Runescape, the game that isn't the old school one that I imagine when someone says "Runescape," just rolled out a new roadmap of upcoming content. On YouTube, Runescape developer Jagex unveiled Runescape Ahead, which it says will be its ongoing format for long-term previews of updates on the horizon. In the first instalment, detailing what'll be hitting Runescape through late 2024 and early 2025, Jagex offered early glimpses at a pile of new features, updates, and content additions, like new story quests and bosses, a group ironman mode, and more. Try to contain your excitement, woodcutters: You're getting a new tree.

Sorcerers were doing too much magic for Diablo 4's servers to handle, so Blizzard nerfed their most popular build
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/sorcerers-were-doing-too-much-magic-for-diablo-4s-servers-to-handle-so-blizzard-nerfed-their-most-popular-build/
A chaotic new sorcerer build in Diablo 4's latest season was so strong it was killing more than demons. The servers, it seems, couldn't handle players filling their screens with lightning bolts and frozen orbs, so Blizzard had to step in yesterday and fix it.

After Helldivers 2 cheaters undercut its latest Major Order by turning in millions of bug bits at once, Arrowhead canceled the whole thing with an in-universe justification: 'The ones submitting false samples have had their pet fish summarily executed'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/after-helldivers-2-cheaters-undercut-its-latest-major-order-by-turning-in-millions-of-objectives-at-once-arrowhead-canceled-the-whole-thing-with-an-in-universe-justification-the-ones-submitting-false-samples-have-had-their-pet-fish-summarily-executed/
In an in-game message to players today, Arrowhead Games has revealed that cheaters short circuited Helldivers 2's latest Major Order. The studio has given out its intended reward to all non-cheating players, and in typical Helldivers fashion, couched the whole thing in Super Earth-appropriate terms within the fiction.
"Super Earth High Command has detected a large batch of counterfeit samples within the delivery of the last Major Order," the message reads. "As is customary, Medals have been awarded to all Helldivers who honorably performed their duties, and the ones submitting false samples have had their pet fish summarily executed.

It's no wonder Dragon Age: The Veilguard was Steam Deck Verified so quickly⁠: it'll run on a 10-year-old graphics card that was new when Inquisition came out
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/it-s-no-wonder-dragon-age-the-veilguard-was-steam-deck-verified-so-quickly-it-ll-run-on-a-10-year-old-graphics-card-that-was-new-when-inquisition-came-out/
BioWare has revealed Dragon Age: The Veilguard's system requirements on Steam and its official website. They're surprisingly light for what looks like a pretty gorgeous RPG, though that 100 GB of hard drive space is definitely a whopper.