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

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Tuesday news, the second part:

AGDQ 2025 kicks off this weekend, featuring an Elden Ring saxophone boss rush, an 'All Romances' run of Fallout: New Vegas, and some of the worst games ever made
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/agdq-2025-kicks-off-this-weekend-featuring-an-elden-ring-saxophone-boss-rush-an-all-romances-run-of-fallout-new-vegas-and-some-of-the-worst-games-ever-made/
Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), a yearly speedrunning event raising money for the Prevent Cancer foundation, is ringing in the new year January 5. In case you're unfamiliar, AGDQ is a yearly charity event that sees speedrunners chewing through a buffet of games, streamed live to an eager audience.

Ex-Bioshock lead Ken Levine says the problem with AAA games is how risk-averse they've become: 'If you don't innovate, especially in games, you start losing people'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ex-bioshock-lead-ken-levine-says-the-problem-with-aaa-games-is-how-risk-averse-theyve-become-if-you-dont-innovate-especially-in-games-you-start-losing-people/
Ken Levine, creator of the Bioshock series, has had a bit of a long road to walk in order to release his studio's upcoming game, Judas. It's been in development for at least eight years, after Take-Two shut down Irrational Games in 2017 and booted up Ghost Story Games thereafter. We didn't hear much about it until 2022, where it was slated to be "coming soon". Turns out, "coming soon" meant three years, with Judas slated to release March 2025.
While reflecting on the time he's been given to complete the game, and speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Levine was also asked whether he figures more conventional development cycles are too much of a pressure cooker for most developers.

BioShock maestro Ken Levine says Judas will double down on reacting to player choices because it's the future of games: 'I've never been a big fan of cutscenes because they're not interactive'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bioshock-maestro-ken-levine-says-judas-will-double-down-on-reacting-to-player-choices-because-its-the-future-of-games-ive-never-been-a-big-fan-of-cutscenes-because-theyre-not-interactive/
The idea that games should center "player choice" and react meaningfully to our decisions is repeated so often it's become a cliche, and BioShock creator Ken Levine has been a leading figure in that department—his games are all about moral decisions and meta-commentary on free will and game design. In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz about the state of the industry and his upcoming game, Judas, the director revived the topic, but he hasn't given us the stock 'your choices matter' marketing promise here, admitting that choice continues to be a "hard problem" to solve even after 50 years of videogames.

Marvel Rivals admits that it accidentally banned some players for trying to run the game in a different operating system, which isn't cheating
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-admits-that-it-accidentally-banned-some-players-for-trying-to-run-the-game-in-a-different-operating-system-which-isnt-cheating/
Marvel Rivals community manager announced this morning that it has accidentally flagged a whole load of innocent players as cheaters and, as a result, banned their accounts all because of a mix-up in operating systems.
"Recently, we've received feedback from players regarding an issue where some individuals playing in compatibility layer programs have been mistakenly flagged as cheaters, even without using any cheating software," the community manager, who goes by James, says in a post on the game's public Discord. "This has resulted in bans. We sincerely apologise for this situation and want to assure you that we do not and will not ban players who are playing fairly and without cheating."

Marvel Rivals season 1 starts on January 10 as Dracula and Doctor Doom team up to 'disrupt the moon’s orbit' and unleash an army of vampires on New York City
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marvel-rivals-season-1-starts-on-january-10-as-dracula-and-doctor-doom-team-up-to-disrupt-the-moons-orbit-and-unleash-an-army-of-vampires-on-new-york-city/
The Fantastic Four will take their place in Marvel Rivals on January 10, to fight for truth, justice, and extreme stretches against the diabolical duo of Doctor Doom and Dracula.
Yes, I'm talking about that Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who has a long-standing if relatively low-key history as a Marvel Comics villain. In season 1 of Marvel Rivals, he and Doctor Doom have teamed up to enact a nefarious scheme seemingly inspired by none other than Montgomery Burns: They've somehow messed with the moon's orbit, "plunging the city into eternal night" in which an army of vampiric creatures can roam freely and do... whatever it is they do. Probably nothing good.
>> They’ve also talked about the first balance patch.

Mister Fantastic will be Marvel Rivals' first duelist vanguard hybrid who can deflect Iron Man's ult and stun enemies into one another—in other words, he's busted
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/mister-fantastic-will-be-marvel-rivals-first-duelist-vanguard-hybrid-who-can-deflect-iron-mans-ult-and-stun-enemies-into-one-another-in-other-words-hes-busted/
Ahead of the Fantastic Four joining Marvel Rivals in Season 1, we've got a short sneak peek at what Mister Fantastic's kit is going to be like, and from the look of things, he's going to be a powerful duelist and a massive pain in the arse.

Helldivers 2 director decides to kick off 2025 by wading into a conversation about DEI: 'Make good games, don't make a contemporary political statement'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-director-decides-to-kick-off-2025-by-wading-into-a-conversation-about-dei-make-good-games-dont-make-a-contemporary-political-statement/
After sparking a fury by saying developers should "make good games, don't make a contemporary political statement," Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt now says he was referring only to commentary made "outside the theme of the game."

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says violence will be the default in AAA RPGs as long as we keep buying it: 'Companies don't make them because they feel like it. They make them because they sell'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fallout-co-creator-tim-cain-says-violence-will-be-the-default-in-aaa-rpgs-as-long-as-we-keep-buying-it-companies-dont-make-them-because-they-feel-like-it-they-make-them-because-they-sell/
After thousands of hours spent in combat with orcs, androids, and enemy militants, I'll admit that it's gotten harder to find novelty in videogame violence. While Steam overflows with trucks, farms, and city builders for when I've grown battle-weary, violence overwhelmingly remains the basic mode of interaction, even in AAA RPGs that tout player freedom. No matter how fantastic a world big-budget RPGs might imagine, they rarely imagine one where it's not just a matter of time before the swords are pulled back out—and Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says that's not going to change as long as we all keep buying it.
>> He has also shown some pictures of the old days.

Civilization 7 senior historian prays it'll be a 'gateway drug' into textbooks: 'I teach undergraduates in my other life, and my God, man, they don't read'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civilization-7s-lead-historian-prays-itll-be-a-gateway-drug-into-textbooks-i-teach-undergraduates-in-my-other-life-and-my-god-man-they-dont-read/
The Civilization games are full of historical information, but it's mixed together and cut with fantastical contrivances that make it fun to play—which is how I recently went toe-to-toe with Harriet Tubman as Han Dynasty emperor Niccolò Machiavelli when I played Civilization 7 for this month's PC Gamer cover feature. The games aren't history tutors, but Firaxis senior historian Dr. Andrew Johnson, who's also an associate professor at Stockholm University's Department of Social Anthropology, hopes the studio's passion for history inspires some of us to pick up a book. It's the whole reason he does the job.

Minecraft creator Notch says that he 'basically announced minecraft 2' with a Twitter poll and a commitment to making a spiritual successor
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecraft-creator-notch-says-that-he-basically-announced-minecraft-2-with-a-twitter-poll-and-a-commitment-to-making-a-spiritual-successor/
Original Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has stated on Twitter that his next game will be a Minecraft spiritual successor and that he "basically announced minecraft 2." Notch had run a Twitter poll asking followers to weigh in on whether he should keep his in-development project's current direction, or put it on the shelf to make something more like Minecraft.