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

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The news, the second part:

3 months after firing Dr Disrespect, Deadrop developer Midnight Society confirms 'significant' layoffs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/3-months-after-firing-dr-disrespect-deadrop-developer-midnight-society-confirms-significant-layoffs/
Midnight Society, the developer currently working on the NFT extraction shooter Deadrop, has confirmed "significant" layoffs at the studio, but says it remains committed to releasing the game in 2025 despite the cuts.

As it struggles to find players, Ubisoft's XDefiant will give you $9 in funbucks if you log in a few times over the next couple of weeks
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/as-it-struggles-to-find-players-ubisofts-xdefiant-will-give-you-dollar9-in-funbucks-if-you-log-in-a-few-times-over-the-next-couple-of-weeks/
Remember XDefiant? The sweaty, free-to-play COD-like from Ubisoft that—per Midcap Partners analyst Charles-Louis Planade—has struggled to find an audience since it came out last May? It's understandably keen that you play it, and is offering around $9 (£8) in company scrip to anyone who shows up once a day in the game between now and September 24. 

Minecraft is ditching yearly summer updates in favor of smaller, more frequent ones: 'We know that you want new Minecraft content more often'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecraft-is-ditching-yearly-summer-updates-in-favor-of-smaller-more-frequent-ones-we-know-that-you-want-new-minecraft-content-more-often/
In a blog post ominously titled "The future of Minecraft's development" this week, Mojang laid out the changes we can expect to its update schedule. The big one is that Minecraft is moving away from doing single, major game updates each summer in favor of smaller ones throughout the year and more frequent Minecraft Live presentations to match.

The yearly Minecraft mob vote is dead, players celebrate the death of mob democracy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/the-yearly-minecraft-mob-vote-is-dead-players-celebrate-the-death-of-mob-democracy/
The Minecraft mob vote is an annual exercise in democracy and ritual combat in which Mojang puts forward a few new mobs for possible addition into the game, and the community pulls the metaphorical battleaxes off the wall and has at it. I didn't discover the process myself until last year: I thought it sounded like fun but quickly learned the error of my ways. An awful lot of people take the mob vote very seriously.
Sadly for those who enjoy the online beef, the mob vote is no more. "We’re changing the format for Minecraft Live, and retiring the mob vote, to bring you something new," Minecraft general manager Ryan Cooper said in an update on the future of Minecraft's development.

Sonic Team director dashes hopes for a standalone Chao Garden: 'We can't just break it off and make it a thing'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/sonic-team-director-dashes-hopes-for-a-standalone-chao-garden-we-cant-just-break-it-off-and-make-it-a-thing/
My partner and I recently revisited Sonic Adventure 2, and it wasn't because we have a special fondness for sending hedgehogs rocketing to their deaths at unpredictable angles or fumbling with Tails's Metal Gear. We were there for the Chao Garden—the side mode where Sonic and co. act as surrogate parents for little blorbo creatures who you can force to fight in karate matches before they've learned to walk. It's a feature so beloved that its failure to appear as a standalone game is a continued and baffling mystery. Apparently, I'm going to stay baffled, because Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka says the Chao Garden isn't right for a spinoff.

Survival game Nightingale is making big changes after the developers looked at games like Palworld and Enshrouded: 'It was really the structure that stood out'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/survival-game-nightingale-is-making-big-changes-after-the-developers-looked-at-games-like-palworld-and-enshrouded-it-was-really-the-structure-that-stood-out/
Some big changes are coming to co-op survival game Nightingale this week. The Realms Rebuilt update planned for September 12 will add new weapons, spells, dungeons, and bosses. It'll also expand build limits on player bases, overhaul the progression system, and even add cats (in hats). 

Konami admits Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 1 kind of sucked at launch, promises to 'do everything we can not to repeat that' with Volume 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/konami-admits-metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol-1-kind-of-sucked-at-launch-promises-to-do-everything-we-can-not-to-repeat-that-with-volume-2/
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 hit almost a year ago, and it did so in a, uh, pretty lacklustre state. (...)
"We're also worried about how Vol 1 had a pretty rough launch," said Konami's current (and very amiable) MGS helmsman Noriaki Okamura in the second episode of the Metal Gear Production Hotline. "We're going to do everything we can to not repeat that [with Volume 2]."

Helldivers 2 heralds the flamethrower's return to its former glory, and will be releasing previews of its buff-filled September update every day until it drops
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-heralds-the-flamethrower-s-return-to-its-former-glory-and-will-be-releasing-previews-of-its-buff-filled-september-update-every-day/
Helldivers 2 has been encountering a bit of turbulence since its absurdly popular release—community dramas, review bombs, its CEO stepping down to CCO to better respond to player feedback, in-game protests, and, finally, a promise of a 60-day update plan to help haul it out of the fire.
Complaints have been numerous and passionately argued, but to summarise, Helldivers 2 has a couple of issues with its balancing philosophy. Time-to-kill is still pretty high despite Johan Pilestedt highlighting it as a problem and yet, despite that, some popular weapons were nerfed. The flamethrower, for instance, had nerfs that capped both its actual usability and, for reasons beyond my ken, a significant downgrade in its visual effects.
Pyromaniacs can rejoice, however, as the studio has elected to roll out its promised buffs piecemeal, starting with a plan to reinstate the flamethrower to its former office of glory.

Helldivers 2 devs casually reveal they're quadrupling the Railgun's durable damage, while CCO Pilestedt says kit like the Recoilless Rifle will become a 'delete key', and oh, do I like the sound of that
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-devs-casually-reveal-they-re-quadrupling-the-railgun-s-durable-damage-while-cco-pilestedt-says-kit-like-the-recoilless-rifle-will-become-a-delete-key-and-oh-do-i-like-the-sound-of-that/
Helldivers 2 has been, over the course of its turbulent lifespan, criticised for a couple of things—firstly, its heavily armoured enemies take a little too long to murder, and are downright impossible to kill without specific equipment. Secondly, whenever anyone's having a bit too much fun, the weapon in question seems to get nerfed.
Arrowhead Games' CCO—formerly CEO—Johan Pilestedt took to Discord to talk a little about the design philosophies fuelling an upcoming patch, which is coming to the horde shooter September 17.

Helldivers 2 creative director says it's a better, sillier world when physics bugs can kill players for jumping past the wrong lamppost: 'Realism can suck it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-creative-director-says-its-a-better-sillier-world-when-physics-bugs-can-kill-players-for-jumping-past-the-wrong-lamppost-realism-can-suck-it/
The Helldivers face an overwhelmingly hostile galaxy. Each deployment means risking mortal peril, whether by way of armor-shredding Terminid talons or the steel onslaught of the Automaton menace. Some of Super Earth's soldiers, however, fall prey to a more subtle killer: the physics glitch, a merciless enemy that's happy to pulverize a Helldiver as punishment for tripping over the wrong bit of terrain. It's an insidious foe, but it also happens to be very funny—funny enough that Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt thinks it's probably a net positive for everyone if it's left unaddressed.