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

[JEMC]

The second part of the Thursday news:

Yawnoc is a new wave-based roguelike where killing your enemies the wrong way could send them growing out of control, and it's dirt cheap right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/yawnoc-is-a-new-wave-based-roguelike-where-killing-your-enemies-the-wrong-way-could-send-them-growing-out-of-control-and-its-dirt-cheap-right-now/
As someone who dedicates most of his life to obeying strange and esoteric rules that make no sense to anyone, you bet I was intrigued by Yawnoc, a newly released roguelike where you roam around a forest destroying machines "living on the rules of Conway's Game of Life and other cellular automata."
If you have no idea what that means, then you are my brother and comrade, but I've spent a solid several minutes looking at a Wikipedia page and a bit longer actually playing Yawnoc, and I think I've just about figured it out.

Fresh from a layoff bloodbath that cost over 2,500 jobs, Microsoft is already thinking about dropping the big bucks on more acquisitions
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/fresh-from-a-layoff-bloodbath-that-cost-over-2-500-jobs-microsoft-is-already-thinking-about-dropping-the-big-bucks-on-more-acquisitions/
If you were an international megacorp that had just emerged into the light, dripping from head to toe in gore after a wave of layoffs that saw over 2,500 people lose their livelihoods following a $69 billion acquisition, what would your first move be?
If you answered 'start eyeing up more acquisitions,' then congratulations, you've got the makings of a CEO in you. In a recent chat with Bloomberg, Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer got bullish about Xbox's health, declaring that "The Xbox business has never been more healthy," even as it transitions from a plain-Jane console maker to a multiplatform dev giant. "The business is performing right now, and I think that means a more healthy future for hardware and the games we build," said Spencer. Hardware like a gaming handheld, perhaps?
But old Phil is after "geographic diversity" in Microsoft's gaming moves. That means he's got his eyes open for more potential acquisitions even as Microsoft is still digesting the absolutely enormous bite that was its purchase of Activision Blizzard last year.
>> Here we go again…

Hundreds of ZeniMax workers go on strike to protest Microsoft 'dragging their feet' on negotiations over job security and remote work
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hundreds-of-zenimax-workers-go-on-strike-to-protest-microsoft-dragging-their-feet-on-negotiations-over-job-security-and-remote-work/
Hundreds of members of the ZeniMax Workers United union have gone on strike today to protest the "lack of progress" in negotiations with ZeniMax parent company Microsoft, as well as the company's recent "unilateral decision" to outsource QA work amidst widespread layoffs in the videogame industry.

The First Descendant announces 'important news': it's getting official 'jiggle physics,' which it somehow didn't already have
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-first-descendant-announces-important-news-its-getting-official-jiggle-physics-which-it-somehow-didnt-already-have/
Somehow, it turns out that The First Descendant, the game PC Gamer's Morgan Park called "dollar store Destiny starring exclusively hot people," does not have jiggle physics. I know this because, as noticed by GamesRadar, a developer has announced on Discord the "important news" that The First Descendant is getting jiggle physics.

The remake of one of the best cult classics from one of the best years in gaming just dropped, and I have become 9 years old again
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/the-remake-of-one-of-the-best-cult-classics-from-one-of-the-best-years-in-gaming-just-dropped-and-i-have-become-9-years-old-again/
30 years ago, we experienced one of the best years in the history of videogames. It's actually wild how many all-time greats landed in 1994. Genre-defining—heck even genre-creating—classics were just being flung at our heads with wild abandon.
X-COM, Warcraft, Doom 2, TIE Fighter, Super Metroid, EarthBound, Final Fantasy 6, System Shock, Wing Commander 3, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, Master of Magic, Theme Park, Beneath a Steel Sky, Tekken—and this is just a taste of what we were playing three decades ago.
But for 9-year-old Fraser, who had very limited spending money, it was all about one game: the peculiar French action-adventure romp, Little Big Adventure. (...)
The remake, Little Big Adventure – Twinsen's Quest, is out today, and I am experiencing a nostalgia overdose. It has changed quite a bit, from the art direction, which makes the world a bit more exaggerated and cartoonishly colourful, right down to the mechanics, but so much of what enchanted me the first time around perseveres—just with less of the stuff that frustrated me.
>> While the link lists the Steam page, it’s also available at GOG.

Black Ops 6 players can calm down because the devs have confirmed that the 'Assault Rifle changes have not made headshots less effective'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/black-ops-6-players-can-calm-down-because-the-devs-have-confirmed-that-the-assault-rifle-changes-have-not-made-headshots-less-effective/
After weeks of teasing new maps for multiplayer and hinting at new Zombies features, we've finally got the full scope of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's season 1 patch notes, and there is a lot to unpack.

The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted returns with announcements and reveals galore this December 5
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/the-pc-gaming-show-most-wanted-returns-with-announcements-and-reveals-galore-this-december-5/
We all know Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a pyramid of motivations—ranging from basic stuff like warmth and safety to abstract things like love and self-actualisation—that forms the core of human motivation. But where is Maslow's hierarchy of wants? He never made one; it would only have had one thing on it anyway: more videogames.
And guess what? We know exactly which videogames would top that pyramid. The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted returns this December 5 at 12pm PST, 3pm EST, 8pm GMT and 9pm CEST, hosted by the inimitable Frankie Ward and narrated by BG3's Amelia Tyler, to present the 25 most-anticipated games coming to PC, as assembled by our shadowy council of games industry experts, superstars, panjandrums, and luminaries.

Former Borderlands 3 creative director is working on a 'secret' multiplayer shooter at a new studio founded by developers tired of 'huge budgets and recycled mechanics'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/former-borderlands-3-creative-director-is-working-on-a-secret-multiplayer-shooter-at-a-new-studio-founded-by-developers-tired-of-huge-budgets-and-recycled-mechanics/
Former Borderlands 3 and Elder Scrolls Online creative director Paul Sage is heading up a new studio called Ruckus Games, which is now working on a "secret multiplayer title" in which players will "smash, grab, and grow" as they fight back against a mysterious attack on their heartland America hometown.