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

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The second part of the Thursday news:

Larian boss Swen Vincke cruelly hints at a 2029 release for the studio's next game, only to yoink it away: 'It was just a joke'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/larian-boss-swen-vincke-cruelly-hints-at-a-2029-release-for-the-studios-next-game-only-to-yoink-it-away-it-was-just-a-joke/
Following on the runaway success of Baldur's Gate 3, which is somehow still earning awards despite having launched well over a year ago, Larian Studios has not just one but two games in the works,which of course we're all very eager to get our hands on. They're still a long way off, of course, but... maybe not that long?
As reported by IGN, Larian boss Swen Vincke very gently teased a possible 2029 release for the game during an acceptance speech for a Special Recognition Awards at the SEA Game Awards—Larian opened a studio in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, in 2019. "We need to work hard on the next game so we can be back here in five years," Vincke said.
(...)
Well, no—or at least, don't count on it. "I knew you’d pick up on that," Larian told IGN after his speech. "It was just a joke. I don’t know, we’ll release it when it’s ready. They’re big games and it takes time, so don’t hold us to a date."

6 years after successfully crowdfunding a game about orphans in a cyberpunk warzone, the studio making it has closed: 'We've been so close to a release, several times, and there's a lot to regret after all the work done'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/6-years-after-successfully-crowdfunding-a-game-about-orphans-in-a-cyberpunk-warzone-the-studio-making-it-has-closed-weve-been-so-close-to-a-release-several-times-and-theres-a-lot-to-regret-after-all-the-work-done/
There's a bit of unintended irony in our 2018 preview of Orphan Age, a life-sim game about orphans attempting to survive in the midst of a cyberpunk warzone. "Not sure this one will have a happy ending," we said at the time, a reference to the game's grim premise that turned out to be prescient in an unexpected way.
A demo for Orphan Age was released in 2019 but a full early access launch never happened, and now it never will. Studio Black Flag, the developer, has announced that following a split with its publisher, funding has dried up and the studio has ceased operations.

The portals to hell have legs and health bars in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred's Season of Hatred Rising
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-portals-to-hell-have-legs-and-health-bars-in-diablo-4-vessel-of-hatreds-season-of-hatred-rising/
Demons can be anything they want, apparently. In Diablo 4's next season, which starts on October 7, a massive creature called the Realmwalker will stomp around Sanctuary with a portal to hell on its back. Defeating it will send you into a dungeon with more portals and new seasonal potions to help fill your inventory with loot.

A Valve engineer used ChatGPT to find a new matchmaking algorithm for Deadlock, and now it's in the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/valve-chatgpt-deadlock-algorithm/
A survey conducted about a year ago found that 31% of game developers were already using generative AI in some way. I'd wager that the percentage has increased significantly since then.
We know Valve is using it: Fletcher Dunn, an engineer who's been with Valve for over a decade, has been posting his "ChatGPT wins" on X, saying today that OpenAI's large language model is an "amazing" tool.
Dunn is more or less using ChatGPT as an advanced search engine, and the interaction that amazed him recently saw him describe a hypothetical kind of algorithm he wanted to use for Valve's MOBA-shooter, Deadlock, and receive an accurate recommendation for a real algorithm matching his specifications. The algorithm ChatGPT recommended is in fact now being used in Deadlock matchmaking, according to Dunn.

Not all Space Marines are created equal: Space Marine 2 dev asks players to be nice on the off chance you come across Henry Cavill
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/not-all-space-marines-are-created-equal-space-marine-2-dev-asks-players-to-be-nice-on-the-off-chance-you-come-across-henry-cavill/
The September community update for Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 included all the usual trappings like bug patches and announcements for upcoming content, but one part caught me a little off guard: one of the devs pleading for the community to be a little nicer just in case you run into Henry Cavill. 
"It has been reported that some players were displaying hurtful behaviours or comments in-game," the community update reads. "We do not tolerate that and will take action to prevent it. 

Bethesda honcho says Starfield is 'the best game we've ever made' in massive bout of amnesia
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bethesda-honcho-says-starfield-is-the-best-game-weve-ever-made-in-massive-bout-of-amnesia/
At time of writing, Starfield's Steam review score is at an unenviable, beige "Mixed" rating, with only 59% of its total reviews coming in positive. Its first DLC, Shattered Space, is faring even worse: It's currently sitting at "Mostly Negative," with just 38% positive user reviews.
But Starfield design director Emil Pagliarulo isn't letting it dissuade him. In a recent chat with GamesRadar, Pagliarulo said that—though Starfield might not be "everyone's cup of tea"—he reckons "it's also, in a lot of ways, the best game we've ever made."

'Subconsciously, we were all ready to die': Stalker 2 developers secretly prepared for Russia's invasion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/subconsciously-we-were-all-ready-to-die-stalker-2-developers-secretly-prepared-for-russias-invasion/
There aren't many games with a story like Stalker 2's, whose development at Ukrainian studio GSC Game World was interrupted by Russia's invasion of the country on February 24, 2022. Kyiv was bombed, devs and their families were evacuated while others enlisted in the Ukrainian military, and the studio as a whole had to be effectively rebuilt from the ground-up in Prague.
"Subconsciously, we were all ready to die," says a GSC dev named Alina in a new documentary, called War Game, put out to mark the game's tumultuous path to release on November 20 this year. In a section detailing devs' experiences of the day Russian troops rolled over Ukraine's border, we see shots of Ukrainians flooding into basements as missiles rained down from overhead. "I remember the alarm we heard in Kyiv," recalls another dev, "It was quite a scary feeling. The creepiest thing was knowing that your life would depend on this sound."

A deep South Fallout sequel with a 'guerilla warfare' vibe was planned, but then Interplay bit the dust
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/a-deep-south-fallout-sequel-with-a-guerilla-warfare-vibe-was-planned-but-then-interplay-bit-the-dust/
The Fallout lineage roughly splits into pre-Bethesda and post-Bethesda, but there are byroads. One of the most notable is 2001's Fallout Tactics, a Brotherhood of Steel RPG developed by Micro Forté. (...)
Jeremy Peel recently sat down with Fallout Tactics' lead designer, Ed Orman, about the game's breakneck and somewhat troubled development, including the hairy deathclaws. Towards the end of this chat they get onto Fallout Tactics 2: a sequel that was discussed and even planned-out, before publisher Interplay imploded and it became an irradiated Dodo.