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Wednesday news, part two:

'I can buy like 2 hot dogs': Mouthwashing's dev celebrates over 1 million Spotify downloads for the game's soundtrack
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/i-can-buy-like-2-hot-dogs-mouthwashings-dev-celebrates-over-1-million-spotify-downloads-for-the-games-soundtrack/
Mouthwashing is one of the most unsettling yet coolest games to release in 2024. And as if it hadn't already ticked most of my boxes, this horror game also has a brilliant soundtrack that has attracted mass attention.

As Guild Wars 2 continues to refine its new annual expansion cycle, today's major update adds its first raid in over 5 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/as-guild-wars-2-continues-to-refine-its-new-annual-expansion-cycle-todays-major-update-adds-its-first-raid-in-over-5-years/
Last year, Guild Wars 2 switched to a new annual expansion cycle—swapping out the sporadic expansions of old for more regular, smaller releases. Expansions now launch with two open world maps and a handful of new features, and then gets filled in across the rest of the year through major quarterly updates.
The first of this new style of expansion, last year's Secrets of the Obscure, suffered from being ArenaNet's first attempt at working to this scale—attempting to cram too much story into too little space, with later updates suffering for it. This year's expansion, Janthir Wilds, is a clear attempt to evolve and adapt—to take what the studio learned and to move forward with something that better fits the new structure.

Overwatch 2's new tank hero will be playable for a short time only this Friday, and so far, Hazard looks like he'll be a treat for brawlers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2s-new-tank-hero-will-be-playable-for-a-short-time-only-this-friday-and-so-far-hazard-looks-like-hell-be-a-treat-for-brawlers/
Overwatch 2's new tank hero Hazard, who was teased in the trailer for Season 13, will be available to play for everyone one day only this Friday before he gets added permanently in Season 14, which is only 21 days away. All we have to go off of right now is a short hero trailer, but it actually contains loads of information if you read between the lines.

Control 2 is an 'action RPG,' Remedy says, but unfortunately it doesn't explain what exactly that means
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/control-2-is-an-action-rpg-remedy-says-but-unfortunately-it-doesnt-explain-what-exactly-that-means/
We don't know much about Control 2 except that it's happening and will be self-published by Remedy rather than an external partner, as was the case with the original. But Remedy dropped an interesting tidbit as part of today's big Capital Markets Day presentation, revealing that the new game will be an "action RPG."

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 crashes on takeoff thanks to massive server woes, devs say they're working on it: 'The team is on it, and we will keep going'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-crashes-on-takeoff-thanks-to-massive-server-woes-and-microsofts-advice-isnt-great-just-keep-waiting-until-something-happens/
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is out today, and it's not going well. Installation issues are being widely reported, and while Microsoft has some advice, it is unfortunately just this: Keep waiting until something starts happening.
Update: The developers have streamed a brief explanation (embedded above) of the launch issues, which involve a database cache that's been "completely overwhelmed" by the launch, causing "extremely long initial loading," or a failure to load entirely, and missing content. "We know everybody, a lot of people, are frustrated," said Flight Sim head Jorg Neumann. "We're really sorry, we want to apologize ... The team is on it, and we will keep going." Updates will be posted to the game's https://x.com/MSFSofficial">official social channels.
>> So, they learned nothing from the launch of the last game.

No Diablo 4 player will have to suffer its most grueling grind again thanks to a hidden perk with its new free character boost
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/no-diablo-4-player-will-have-to-suffer-its-most-grueling-grind-again-thanks-to-a-hidden-perk-with-its-new-free-character-boost/
I won't lie, I'm a little bitter that anyone who plays Diablo 4 from now on won't have to spend hours undertaking its most grueling grind. Back in my day, we had to open up a guide and play Where's Waldo before Diablo 4 really began. Now Blizzard is seemingly acknowledging how much it sucks to run around clicking statues for a minor, but necessary, benefit.
Starting today, the hunt for Altars of Lilith is over. Anyone who owns Diablo 4 can boost one character to level 50 on the 'eternal realm', or the non-seasonal mode, and receive a full set of legendary items, a bunch of gold, and the account-wide bucket of stats you get for clicking all 160 Altars of Lilith. And if you own the Vessel of Hatred expansion, you can boost a second character too.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will give away inactive character names in December, so if you want to protect your own personal Glup Shitto you better log in before then
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/star-wars-the-old-republic-will-give-away-inactive-character-names-in-december-so-if-you-want-to-to-protect-your-own-personal-glup-shitto-you-better-log-in-before-then/
The venerable MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic has a big update coming in December that will add a pile of new weapons, armor, mounts, overworld missions, and some big visual updates to boot. It looks like it could be a good reason for lapsed players to jump back in, but if you're part of that crowd you might want to make your return before the update goes live, or you could end up losing your character name.

Path of Exile 2 developer finally reveals how much it'll cost to play in early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2-developer-finally-reveals-how-much-itll-cost-to-play-in-early-access/
Next month, Path of Exile 2 will finally arrive. The long-awaited sequel will start as a paid early access game until it eventually transitions to the same free-to-play model as the original. Developer Grinding Gear Games has been quiet about the specifics of the launch, but yesterday it confirmed how much early access will cost in a post on X.

Early plans for Half-Life 2 sound wild, including visits to cities like Chicago and LA, several Combine bases, and a sequence where a plane crashed into a skyrise that was cut after 9/11
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/early-plans-for-half-life-2-sound-wild-including-visits-to-cities-like-chicago-and-la-several-combine-bases-and-a-sequence-where-a-plane-crashed-into-a-skyrise-that-was-cut-after-9-11/
Thanks to Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the Half-Life 2 beta leak from 2003, we've had a few little looks at concepts Valve considered for the FPS sequel but had to cut during development. For instance, thanks to files found in the leaked version, we know there were plans for a level set on an icebreaker ship that would lead to a mini-submarine trip to an underwater base—an idea that ended up being re-used in the Half-Life 2: Episode 3 synopsis, and the fan game based on it.
The recent 20th anniversary documentary has shone even more light on the earliest plans for Half-Life 2. Interestingly, those early plans weren't doing much to build on the plot of the first game. "The first two years we tried a lot of things," says writer Marc Laidlaw, "and a lot of those story arcs that we had initially didn't have really any carryover from Black Mesa or any of that."

Baldur's Gate 3 defies the laws of physics by being a single-player RPG with more daily users in 2024 than its release year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-defies-the-laws-of-physics-by-being-a-single-player-rpg-with-more-daily-users-in-2024-than-its-release-year/
Baldur's Gate 3, pound for pound, has had more daily users in 2024 than in 2023, which feels a little bit like setting a coin spinning, going on holiday for a week, and then coming back only to find it still whirring away on your table.
That's as per Michael Douse, Larian Studios' director of publishing, who revealed some numbers on X today. According to him, Baldur's Gate 3 had 3% more daily peak concurrents, 20% more daily active users, and a 61% bump in daily Steam Deck users—in the second year of its release.

I've already played Stalker 2 for 50+ hours, and I promise you'll have a better time if you play with Ukrainian voice acting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ive-already-played-stalker-2-for-50-hours-and-i-promise-youll-have-a-better-time-if-you-play-with-ukrainian-voice-acting/
It's brilliant, bizarre, and a little busted, but I love Stalker 2. Which is lucky, since I've spent pretty much the entire past week doing almost nothing but play it. And now here I am, aglow with the wisdom of over two full days in Chornobyl’s exclusion zone, to give you my number one tip for playing. The one thing you should do before all else to make sure you have a good time.
For the love of god, switch the voiceover language to Ukrainian.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.