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

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The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Space Marine 2 cruises past 225,000 concurrent users on Steam within hours of full release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/space-marine-2-cruises-past-225000-concurrent-users-on-steam-within-hours-of-full-release/
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is now in full release and as the immortal Emperor of Mankind himself might say (if he was able to speak, or share a coherent thought of any kind), it's a banger.
Space Marine 2 has been playable since September 5 via the "early unlock" for players who preordered the Gold or Ultra editions of the game, but now it's fully live and we can get a proper idea of how it's going. The short version is, pretty damn good: Within a few hours of launch it sailed well past 200,000 concurrent players on Steam (the current peak sits at 225,254) and a "very positive" rating across more than 27,000 user reviews.
The acclaim isn't universal. Common complaints in Steam reviews include a short campaign and not-great AI companions, lack of ultrawide support, the game's use of Epic Online Services (required for crossplay between Steam and Epic), and—of course—troubles with online servers. But as redditor Ixziga pointed out, racking up more than 200,000 concurrents in the middle of a North American work day—a Monday, no less—is no mean feat.

GOG has five new sales/promos for us:

• The THQ Nordic Publisher Sale features up to 80% discounts until September 18: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240910_thq_publisher_sale
• The Weekly Deals has games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240910_weekly_deals_1_september
• The Post-Apo Promo has games with this setting with up to 90% deals for the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240910_post_apo_promo
• The jRPG & Visual Novels Promo has games up to 95% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240910_jrpg_visual_novels_promo
• And the last one, the Renowned Series Promo, has games from several franchises on sale with up to 90% discounts during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240910_renowned_series_promo

Steam has new deals for us, including new weeklong deals:

• Hydroneer will be 55% off until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106840/Hydroneer/
• The Ghost Recon franchise is on sale featuring between 65 and 80% discounts until Monday, the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/GhostReconFranchiseSale
• Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator is going to be 60% off until the 18th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1210320/Potion_Craft_Alchemist_Simulator/
• Railroads & Catacombs, still in Early Access, gets a 25% discount until the 23rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1156060/Railroads__Catacombs/
• And here are some of the weeklong deals:
  • The Librarian (Special Edition) is 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1364010/The_Librarian_Special_Edition/
  • Beach Invasion 1944 gets a 35% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2209680/Beach_Invasion_1944/
  • Dawn of Man is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/858810/Dawn_of_Man/
  • Majotori has a 60% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/588730/Majotori/
  • CHUCHEL features a 70% deal: https://store.steampowered.com/app/711660/CHUCHEL/
  • And Rubber Bandits is 85% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1206610/Rubber_Bandits/

Fanatical has a new bundle: the Capcom Dead Rising Bundle, with 4 games and a 90% deal during 19 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/capcom-dead-rising-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Project U is a dream come true for all Super Smash Bros. PC fans
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/project-u-is-a-dream-come-true-for-all-super-smash-bros-pc-fans/
Code Hunter is currently working on Project U, also known as Project Ultibyte, for PC. This is a 2D free fan fighting game, similar to Super Smash Bros. Below you can find its first trailer and as you can see, it feels like a dream come true for all Smash PC fans.
Project U aims to capture the essence of classic arcade and console games, blending nostalgia with intense combat. In short, think of it as a Super Smash Bros. free 2D game for PC.
What’s cool here is the amount of characters you can select. Project Ultibyte has basically anything you’d like. You can play as characters from pretty much all known franchises. Sonic, Mario, Donkey Kong, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Pokemon, Zelda… they are all here. And that’s the beauty of fan games. Contrary to licensed games, free fan games can have a huge roster of characters.
Not only that but the fighting mechanics look pretty solid. The hits and the reaction animations are already great. Moreover, all characters have different movesets. For instance, Sonic can use some of his own skills. Scorpion can use his moves from UMK3 (as well as his spear). Ryu can shoot fireballs. Diddy Kong can use barrels from the DKC games. And so on.
Project U will have three game modes. The first one is the Crusade Mode. In this mode, you will be able to duke it out with up to 6 players. Then we have the solo mode. This will have a variety of 1-player modes. Finally, there will be Online Mode. In this mode, you can challenge other players online.
There is currently no ETA on when the game will come out. Naturally, though, I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
>> With so many IPs involved, we’ll see who’s the first one to send a C&D letter. Anyway, the article has an almost 6 minutes video.

New fan-made engine makes Black and White playable on modern PCs, because god knows neither EA or Molyneux is going to do it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/new-fan-made-engine-makes-black-and-white-playable-on-modern-pcs-because-god-knows-neither-ea-or-molyneux-is-going-to-do-it/
Good news, friends: It's the early 2000s again. You are young—possibly not even born—your Apple products have ports, Peter Molyneux is back and ready to break your heart, and Black and White just got a release.
Specifically, Black and White 1's fan-made, open-source engine reimplementation just broke cover (via GamingOnLinux). Openblack has been cooking for the last five years and got its initial release yesterday. That's a 0.1.0 release, mind you, not a full-fat 1.0 thing. We're still a ways off from the devs declaring they're done.
The engine is a modern C++ reimplementation of the original game with support for rendering engines like Vulkan and that runs on all your myriad devices. It's also got support for Windows, macOS, and Linux, so you can play god on your Steam Deck, plus "experimental support" for Android and iOS. Note that it's still a bit janky in several areas—this is a 0.1 release, folks. Consider yourself more of a tester than a player if you download it to give it a shot.
Don't get mixed up: Black and White (and nearly the entire Lionhead oeuvre) is still as frustratingly inaccessible as it was when James Davenport was complaining about it in 2019. You can't just download Openblack and start playing, you need to slot the files from the original game into it to make it all work, much like you do with other game engine reimplementations like Morrowind's OpenMW. Pretty much the only way to (legitimately) get those files is to have them on a disc.

GAMING NEWS

Square Enix has reduced the stutters in Final Fantasy 16 PC Demo
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/square-enix-has-reduced-the-stutters-in-final-fantasy-16-pc-demo/
Square Enix has just released a new update for the PC demo of Final Fantasy 16. As the team noted, it has fixed most of the stuttering issues that plagued it. Thus, we’ve decided to test the game to see if those claims were true.

Star Wars Outlaws Patch 1.1.2 brings PC performance optimizations, cross-progression, cross-saves, and tweaks to stealth missions
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/star-wars-outlaws-patch-1-1-2-brings-pc-performance-optimizations-cross-progression-cross-saves-and-tweaks-to-stealth-missions/
Ubisoft has just released Title Update 1.1.2 for Star Wars Outlaws. This update improves how the game runs on PC, and adds cross-progression and cross-save features. It also makes changes to the stealth missions to make them better.