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

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Monday news, part two:

Voting is now open for the 42nd Golden Joystick Awards, so you can help crown the PC Game of the Year
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/voting-is-now-open-for-the-42nd-golden-joystick-awards-so-you-can-help-crown-the-pc-game-of-the-year/
You can now vote for your favourite games in the 42nd Golden Joystick Awards in categories like PC Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year. The polls will remain open until Friday, November 1, at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT/11pm GMT, so you have a month to figure out where your loyalties lie. 

Overwatch 2 is introducing new rewards to incentivise Competitive play, but be warned, only 'the most dedicated players will reach the highest prestige'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-is-introducing-new-rewards-to-incentivise-competitive-play-but-be-warned-only-the-most-dedicated-players-will-reach-the-highest-prestige/
Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that it would be adding new incentives and rewards to Overwatch 2's comeptitive play. Now that the update is finally live, players will be able to spend this weekend earning "drive points" and climbing through the checkpoints. 

As Ubisoft struggles and shareholders sweat, Tencent and the Guillemot family are reportedly looking at a buyout
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/as-ubisoft-struggles-and-shareholders-sweat-tencent-and-the-guillemot-family-are-reportedly-looking-at-a-buyout/
A new Bloomberg report says the Guillemot family and Tencent are exploring options for righting the Ubisoft ship, which could include buying out the company and taking it private.

Fortnite is coming for the FPS
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnite-is-coming-for-the-fps/
Fortnite in 2024 is a battle royale shooter, an arena shooter, a racing game, a rhythm game, a survival game, and later this year, it's gonna be a first-person shooter. Epic has officially opened up testing for a "First Person Camera Mode" in Fortnite, now usable in Fortnite creative mode and UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite).

BioWare announces that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has gone gold and is on track for its Halloween release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/bioware-announces-that-dragon-age-the-veilguard-has-gone-gold-and-is-on-track-for-its-halloween-release/
BioWare has taken to X, "The Everything App" to announce that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has gone gold and finished development. While a faintly anachronistic concept in an age of digital distribution and day one patches, it's a show of confidence from BioWare that the nine-years-in-development game has indeed reached the finish line.

Games Done Quick is quickly putting together a speedrunning marathon in support of Hurricane Helene relief
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/games-done-quick-is-quickly-putting-together-a-speedrunning-marathon-in-support-of-hurricane-helene-relief/
Games Done Quick is holding a special Disaster Relief Done Quick speedrunning event next week to raise funds for aid to people impacted by Hurricane Helene, a category 4 storm that devastated entire communities and left more than 200 people dead across multiple US states.

My Time at Evershine has passed $1.7M in crowdfunding and its developer wants it to become 'a must play series in the cozy/simulation RPG space'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/my-time-at-evershine-has-passed-usd1-7m-in-crowdfunding-as-its-developer-says-it-wants-to-become-a-must-play-series-in-the-cozy-simulation-rpg-space/
The developers of the My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock crafting and farming sim games are adding another destination to the series with the upcoming My Time at Evershine. Like the others, it's begun with a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Unlike the others, this one has absolutely buried its funding goal: Evershine has received pledges totalling $1,706,201 (and climbing), far surpassing its $200,000 goal, with 19 days left in the campaign.

This pixel art road trip RPG's reveal trailer is the only thing that's ever made me nostalgic for my crappy first car
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/this-pixel-art-road-trip-rpgs-reveal-trailer-is-the-only-thing-thats-ever-made-me-nostalgic-for-my-crappy-first-car/
Earlier this week, Swedish indie developer YCJY Games revealed Keep Driving, its upcoming driving game that imagines a cross-country festival roadtrip in your first car as a side-scrolling management RPG. And it looks gorgeous. 

Larian says 40% of all current Baldur's Gate 3 players are now 'embracing utter chaos with mods'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/larian-says-40-percent-of-all-current-baldurs-gate-3-players-are-now-embracing-utter-chaos-with-mods/
Baldur's Gate 3 launched over a year ago and it's still one of the most-played games on Steam. Part of the reason is that Larian's RPG is, y'know, pretty darn good and there are so many different ways to play it that you can easily rack up hundreds of hours winding through its campaign again and again.
But there's another great way to extend the life of any game: mods. Baldur's Gate 3 is extremely mod-friendly thanks to its recently added in-game mod browser, and that's not just on PC, either. According to Larian, there were 1.7 million mod downloads in the first 24 hours after mods became available on console. That's a ton. Combined with mods on PC, players downloaded a whopping 22 million mods since Patch 7 arrived in early September, which was less than a month ago.
This info comes to us from some exciting mod stats Larian posted on Twitter today, like the fact that 40% of all current Baldur's Gate 3 players are using mods. That's quite a lot of players, but maybe it's not all that surprising: we've seen loads of fun mods for BG3 popping up recently, like one implementing real-time combat and another recreating the opening area of Baldur's Gate 2.

David Hayter is cranking up Metal Gear Solid fans again, teasing 'a role I've not played since...'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/david-hayter-is-cranking-up-metal-gear-solid-fans-again-teasing-a-role-ive-not-played-since/
David Hayter was famed among gamers as the voice of Snake in the Metal Gear Solid games, until notorious star chaser Hideo Kojima unceremoniously replaced him with Kiefer Sutherland in Metal Gear Solid 5. Aside from a few cameo appearances here and there, Hayter's been out of the role since then, but a recent tease on X is giving some fans hope that he might be coming back.