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

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Monday news, the third part:

New physics fighter Gladio Mori sends animators where they belong: The gladiator pit
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/new-physics-fighter-gladio-mori-sends-animators-where-they-belong-the-gladiator-pit/
Anybody who has ever watched a sword fight in a movie (or even fencing at the Olympics) has probably had that little voice at the back of their head saying "He was wide open! They could have ducked!". Well, murder-backseaters, you've got the chance to prove yourself that blade genius that you think you are in Gladio Mori, a physics-driven gladiatorial sandbox new to Early Access where you get to animate your own moves.

Antonblast comes out swinging to challenge Pizza Tower's chaotic platformer rule
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/antonblast-comes-out-swinging-to-challenge-pizza-towers-chaotic-platformer-rule/
It could be argued that Nintendo's truest legacy in games is in carving out fun new niches and then leaving them unfulfilled. There hasn't been a new Wario Land game since 2008, and fans of its anarchic, aggressive brand of kleptomaniacal platforming has been going hungry, last year's fantastic Pizza Tower aside. Enter Antonblast, ideally through a solid brick wall, leaving a big Anton-shaped hole.

Fallen Aces adds a pulp superhero hideout and a small, unfriendly dog
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/fallen-aces-adds-a-pulp-superhero-hideout-and-a-small-unfriendly-dog/
Bloody, creative little shooter Fallen Aces has a new update out that adds a between missions rest and relaxation area for you to take a break in, score some upgrades from, and try out your weapons in. The release also has player profiles, collectible comics to find around the city, and a new enemy type at the end of chapter 3—the hammer wielding Big Palooka.

Dragon Age: Inquisition's final expansion was going to force us to blow up our home base to kill a fan favorite Origins companion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-inquisitions-final-expansion-was-going-to-force-us-to-blow-up-our-home-base-to-kill-a-fan-favorite-origins-companion/
BioWare art lead Matt Rhodes just keeps coming with the development revelations about the Dragon Age series. As reported by Eurogamer, Rhodes shared some pieces of concept art for Dragon Age: Inquisition's Trespasser DLC that show a different, even darker ending for the status quo-upending expansion.

Pillars of Eternity director thought it had a 50/50 shot before it crowdfunded in 27 hours
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/pillars-of-eternity-director-thought-it-had-a-50-50-shot-before-it-crowdfunded-in-27-hours/
Though Obsidian Entertainment is now known for their shoot-the-moon success with Pillars of Eternity when the studio was at a low point, there was a time when a smart, nostalgic Kickstarter by a known company wasn't the guaranteed smash-hit success everyone assumes it would be now... and that was the era of uncertainty that Pillars of Eternity was pitched in.
In Issue 404 of Edge Magazine, Pillars of Eternity director Josh Sawyer noted that he thought the idea of a successful throwback CRPG was a good one, but couldn't guarantee its success. Though Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian's owner at the time and CEO to this day, was wary of crowdfunding, Sawyer said he "was actually ready to leave [the studio] to do it."
Despite that confidence, Sawyer still "thought there was a 50/50 chance that we would get funded in a month," and that "the fact that it was funded in 27 hours blew us away."

The actor behind Half-Life's G-Man based his iconic, halting delivery on the idea he was experiencing multiple timelines at once: 'His relationship to time is very different than you or I would think'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-actor-behind-half-lifes-g-man-based-his-iconic-halting-delivery-on-the-idea-he-was-experiencing-multiple-timelines-at-once-his-relationship-to-time-is-very-different-than-you-or-i-would-think/
As part of Valve's 20th anniversary Half-Life 2 documentary, Secret Tape (the same crew behind NoClip) spoke with some of the actors in the game's prominent roles. Among them, Barney Calhoun and G-Man voice actor Michael Shapiro explained some of his craft and theories behind the Half-Life series' iconic extradimensional stalker.

Satisfactory gets weird for a month with the adorable, festive FICSMAS event
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/satisfactory-gets-weird-for-a-month-with-the-adorable-festive-ficsmas-event/
Satisfactory released its big 1.0 update this year to pretty much universal acclaim from critics and record player numbers, the blend of first-person survival and factory building giving a unique flavor that's hard to put down once you get going. I think some of us figured that'd be it, but now developer Coffee Stain Studios has rolled out a revamped and upgraded version of their FICSMAS holiday event for its 1.0 version. Having happened throughout early access, FICSMAS is an in-game holiday that releases giant gifts, surprises, and an entire new research tree of stuff to mass produce for the pure holiday spirit of it all.

Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/blizzard-is-delisting-the-og-warcrafts-from-gog-but-gog-says-its-gonna-preserve-them-forever-anyway-hands-out-a-discount-and-announces-new-policy-for-its-preservation-program-to-boot/
Thank god for corporations, eh? Blizzard has acted swiftly to put an end to the scourge of people not spending $40 (£35) on its recent remasters of Warcraft 1 and 2. The studio is delisting the original versions of those games from GOG, ensuring no innocent consumer will accidentally pick up DRM-free, classic editions of those games for $15 (£12) when they could be spending a bunch more on Blizzard's own storefront. Phew.
Warcraft 1 and 2 will leave GOG this December 13, exactly one month after Blizzard surprise-dropped its remasters of the games, but if you already own the games—or buy them before the 13th—you won't lose access. GOG is actually launching a discount code, MakeWarcraftLiveForever, that you can use to knock $2 (£1.50) off the Warcraft 1 and 2 bundle if you pick it up before D-Day (the D is for delisting).
(...)
Well, props to GOG: it's promising to keep maintaining Warcraft in perpetuity for everyone who picked it up before the delisting. "Once the game obtains a badge, we pledge to maintain its compatibility even if it gets delisted from the store," it says, "This means that owners of those titles can still expect a seamless experience and tech support for those titles," up to and including dealing with changes to Windows that muck with old games' playability.

How two secret Stalker 2 hacks cut my loading time from 5 minutes to 52 seconds and got me in the Zone faster
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/how-two-secret-stalker-2-hacks-cut-my-loading-time-from-5-minutes-to-52-seconds-and-got-me-in-the-zone-faster/
As soon as I read our official Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review I knew I needed to play this long-in-the-making sequel. However, like many PC gamers will no doubt have experienced, it's not exactly been smooth sailing at launch, with would-be Stalkers having to fight through a plethora of game-breaking bugs and mega patches to find fun and immersion.
There's another thing that's also been dampening my enjoyment of Stalker 2 as well—just how long I've been having to wait to actually get playing it. Thanks to a smorgasbord of intro videos as well as a forced Unreal Engine 5 shader compilation every single time you boot up the game, it's been a severe trial of patience, and especially so when trying to play on my gaming laptop, which isn't as fast and powerful as my main rig.
But, luckily, there is now something that all Stalker 2 PC gamers can do about it, with two simple Stalker 2 hacks (both take seconds), allowing the complete removal of both the game's forced intro videos and shader compilation. And, let me tell you as someone who has just done this himself, the results are superb. Check out the videos below for conclusive proof, which show me loading Stalker 2 on my gaming laptop both without and with these hacks in play.

Russian disinfo is trying to spark a boycott of Stalker 2 by claiming it's going to draft you into the war in Ukraine somehow
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/russian-disinfo-is-trying-to-spark-a-boycott-of-stalker-2-by-claiming-its-going-to-draft-you-into-the-war-in-ukraine-somehow/
Not for the first time, Stalker has found itself at the centre of a Russian propaganda campaign against Ukraine. As reported by 404 Media, journalists have recently been opening their inboxes to find a curious anomaly: a video purportedly from Wired that claims Stalker 2 is helping the Ukrainian government "locate citizens suitable for mobilization" using data-mining technology that's impossible to turn off.