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

[JEMC]

Tuesday news, part two:

A book with names from a 340,000-player TF2 petition has been hardbound and sent to Valve, as part of the #SaveTF2 campaign
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/a-book-with-names-from-a-340-000-player-strong-tf2-petition-has-been-hardbound-and-sent-to-valve-as-part-of-the-savetf2-campaign/
Team Fortress 2 is—second only to Half-Life—probably what you think of when you picture a Valve game. It's built a huge, passionate player base of loyal fans who have, from an outsider's perspective, been stuck in a sisyphean, circular nightmare of bots and banwaves for some time now.
(...)
In June of 2024, fans campaigned to #SaveTF2, which saw its player count double as Valve did something about the problem, mercilessly banning players and telling them "No" when it came to appeals. It is now September 2024, and—okay, in fairness, this one's an extension of the last plea, though I get the uneasy sense we're stuck in a time loop.
Compiled by the author of that same petition website, TheWhat, this tome carries with it the hopes and dreams of the petition's 340,000 plus signatories and has, according to the YouTuber-slash-organiser, been hand-delivered to Valve HQ. I've reached out to Valve itself to confirm this, and I'll update this article if I get a response.

Literal rock star tells Rockstar 'go f*** yourself' over measly GTA 6 offer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/literal-rock-star-tells-rockstar-go-f-yourself-over-measly-gta-6-offer/#comment-jump
Martyn Ware is one of the greats of electronic music. He may not be a household name, but you'll certainly have heard of two of the bands he co-founded: the Human League and Heaven 17. Ware's a composer, songwriter, music programmer, has a list of production credits as long as your arm, and of course has been involved in the creation of several global hits.
One of these is the Heaven 17 song Temptation, a pulsing track about lust that builds around a lyric from the Lord's Prayer ("lead us not into temptation"). Ware has now revealed that Rockstar games contacted his publishers about using this song in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, and to say he wasn't impressed by the company's offer would be an understatement.
"I was recently contacted by my publishers on behalf of Rockstar Games RE the possibility of using Temptation on the new Grand Theft Auto 6," says Ware. "Naturally excited about the immense wealth that was about to head my way, I scrolled to the bottom of the email RE the offer…
"It was $7500—for a buyout of any future royalties from the game," said Ware, though later clarified that this was his cut as one of three co-writers. "$7500 each for 3 writers—Still utterly unacceptable."
So the offer was $22,500 upfront, but with the caveat that Ware and his co-writers would forego any future royalties from the use of the song in the game. You might well be thinking that 20-odd grand doesn't sound too bad, but Ware puts this in the context of Grand Theft Auto 5 grossing $8.6 billion. "Ah, but think of the exposure…" writes Ware: "Go fuck yourself."
>> I tip my imaginary hat to him. The article has the song, in case you want to hear it.

Destiny 2 is abandoning big annual expansions and linear campaigns in favour of more frequent releases that are 'mysterious, weird, and not afraid to try new things'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/destiny-2-is-abandoning-big-annual-expansions-and-linear-campaigns-in-favour-of-more-frequent-releases-that-are-mysterious-weird-and-not-afraid-to-try-new-things/
The arrival of the 10th anniversary of Destiny heralds some big changes in the works for Destiny 2, which will drop linear campaigns completely following the end of The Final Shape in favor of two "medium-sized" expansions per year, along with four"major updates" that will be free for all players.

Embracer's Lost Boys Interactive studio hit with another round of layoffs
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/embracers-lost-boys-interactive-studio-hit-with-another-round-of-layoffs/
Embracer studio Lost Boys Interactive has undergone a second round of layoffs, saying in a message posted to LinkedIn that it "has made the very difficult decision to reduce our overall headcount." 
"As a co-development partner studio, Lost Boys is directly influenced by the projects and priorities of our development clients," the studio said in the announcement. "The need to adapt to shifting market conditions within the videogame industry has required us to reassess our operations to align with the evolving needs of our business and our partners."

Jagex announces official Old School Runescape private servers, because the grind can always get grindier
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/jagex-announces-official-old-school-runescape-private-servers-because-the-grind-can-always-get-grindier/
I fear and respect Old School Runescape players. As someone who has a long history with MMOs and live-service games, I've stomached plenty of grind over the years. But the OSRS player doesn't merely tolerate grind—they relish in it, willing to devote themselves to the near-ascetic self-denial of killing a mole for 8 months. And soon, there will be grinds to endure that we haven't even begun to imagine. Over the weekend, Jagex announced Project Zanaris, the studio's name for customized OSRS community-run servers, where players will be able to design the parameters for the Runescape grind themselves.

James Earl Jones, the legendary voice of Darth Vader, Mufasa, and CNN, has died
https://www.pcgamer.com/movies-tv/james-earl-jones-the-legendary-voice-of-darth-vader-mufasa-and-cnn-has-died/
James Earl Jones, the award-winning actor known for the deep, commanding voice that brought life to characters ranging from Mufasa to Darth Vader, has died at the age of 93. A Deadline report says Jones' death was confirmed by his representatives at Independent Artist Group.
(...)
And yes, there was videogame work in there too. Jones has credits in multiple Lion King games, but he also provided the voice of the Great PI of the Universe in Under a Killing Moon and is probably best known on the game front as General James Solomon in Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Jones did not provide the voice of his most famous character, Darth Vader, in the many Star Wars videogames: That job went to various other actors, most notably Scott Lawrence and Matthew Sloan.
>> A shame. D.E.P.

Another reminder that your digital library isn't forever: Oxenfree will be completely removed from Itch.io next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/another-reminder-that-your-digital-library-isn-t-forever-oxenfree-will-be-completely-removed-from-itch-io-next-month/
Oxenfree, the gloomy adventure game from Night School Studio, will leave indie game storefront Itch.io on October 1, according to an email sent to users who own it this week. And nobody, including anyone who has the game in their library, will be able to download it after it's fully removed.
>> That sucks. I hope they refund the owners.

Days Gone director blows a gasket as its protagonist is 'reduced to a cartoon shill' to promote 'small game' Astro Bot—Sony's all-star romp featuring Kratos, Aloy, and Nathan Drake
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/days-gone-director-blows-a-gasket-as-its-protagonist-is-reduced-to-a-cartoon-shill-to-promote-small-game-astro-bot-sony-s-all-star-romp-featuring-kratos-aloy-and-nathan-drake/
Astro Bot appears to be doing rather well—we're not nattering about it, obviously, because it's a PS5 game, but the scant few of us who have betrayed our rigs, and have access to the forbidden console, have only had glowing words for it.
Someone who is not doing well, conversely, is Days Gone's former director John Garvin. His former studio posted a cute cartoon featuring the game's protagonist, Deacon Lee St John (or Deek) to celebrate the launch of Astro Bot, since both developers are part of Sony's PlayStation Studios division. What should have been a bit of fun, with colleagues supporting each other, seems to have incensed Garvin who has been posting through it on Twitter (via Eurogamer), claiming that Deek has been "reduced to promoting other games".
>> I get that he must be frustrated, after all, the game was denied a sequel because it only sold 7 million copies (close to 9 now with PC), but this is out of place.