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

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Thursday news, part two:

Valve is changing the way it updates Deadlock 'to help improve our development process', so you can say goodbye to the regular biweekly posts
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/valve-is-changing-the-way-it-updates-deadlock-to-help-improve-our-development-process-so-you-can-say-goodbye-to-the-regular-biweekly-posts/
For the last few months, Valve has been releasing updates for Deadlock every two weeks. It's an impressive schedule that saw the game improve significantly over a short time with more detailed map finishes, new ways to traverse the buildings, and regular fine-tuning of hero abilities. That's not a sustainable pace in the long-term, though, and Valve knows it.

Ken Levine never expected Take-Two to shutter Irrational after Bioshock Infinite: 'The decision was made at a corporate level'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/ken-levine-never-expected-take-two-to-shutter-irrational-after-bioshock-infinite-the-decision-was-made-at-a-corporate-level/
The latest issue of Edge magazine includes a retrospective interview with Ken Levine, going over his career from Looking Glass Studios to Ghost Story Games and the upcoming Judas. When it gets to the latter, Levine's first game since the release of Bioshock Infinite, the director opens up about the subsequent closure of Irrational Games, which it's fair to say came as something of a shock: Both to the studio's staff, and the wider industry.

WoW's finally upgrading its dreaded swirlies so players can actually tell where it's safe to stand
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wows-finally-upgrading-its-dreaded-swirlies-so-players-can-actually-tell-where-its-safe-to-stand/
World of Warcraft's patch 11.1, which is currently available on the public test realm and will shortly be rolled-out to all players, looks like it's fixed one of the game's most enduring issues: swirlies. These are ground markers that telegraph incoming damage to players, such as an AoE boss attack, and basically they've always been a bit of a pain to make out when amidst the cavalcade of other effects the game's typically throwing up during such encounters.
There are a number of UI mods to counteract the issue but Blizzard's decided to fix the problem at source, with the new patch giving swirlies a much clearer and more defined outline. The difference between old and new is immediately obvious, which is a tremendously good thing given that the whole point of these things is to tell you where not to stand if you want to live.

NetEase pulls funding for another studio: Former Halo Infinite design head says Jar of Sparks is 'halting work' while it looks for a new publisher
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/netease-pulls-funding-for-another-studio-former-halo-infinite-design-head-says-jar-of-sparks-is-halting-work-while-it-looks-for-a-new-publisher/
NetEase launched a new game studio called Jar of Sparks in 2022, headed up by Halo and Destiny 2 veteran Jerry Hook. The goal, NetEase said at the time, was "to create a new generation of narrative-driven action games, with immersive worlds that will be filled with moments that gamers will want to share with each other." But just a couple years down the road, that's all come to naught, for now at least, as Hook announced on LinkedIn (via VGC) that Jar of Sparks is halting work while it tries to find a new publisher.

Marvel Rivals' most-picked hero also has one of the lowest win rates
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-most-picked-hero-also-has-one-of-the-lowest-win-rates/
We're still two days out from Marvel Rivals' first major seasonal update, which will add Reed Richards and Sue Storm to the lineup, but NetEase just introduced a new feature that's arguably of greater importance to players: a living webpage showing every hero's pick rate and win rate, divided by mode and platform.
>> Talking about Sue Storm, now you know whose ass was used for the character.

Marvel Rivals patch has way more nerfs and buffs than we thought: A whopping 24 heroes are changing this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-patch-has-way-more-nerfs-and-buffs-than-we-thought-a-whopping-24-heroes-are-changing-this-week/
Earlier this week, NetEase said Marvel Rivals season 1 patch would target key heroes for nerfs and buffs, including dominant long-range duelists Hela and Hawkeye. Turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg: the upcoming patch will nerf or buff a total of 24 heroes (over two-thirds of the roster) and adjust several seasonal bonuses.

Splash Damage says layoffs are likely as the Transformers game it announced in 2022 is cancelled
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/splash-damage-says-layoffs-are-likely-as-the-transformers-game-it-announced-in-2022-is-cancelled/
Splash Damage has announced that it has cancelled development of the online action game Transformers: Reactivate, and that layoffs at the studio are likely as a result.

After 15 years, Minecraft has finally added two new pig variations: The warm pig and the cold pig, meaning I can delete one mod off my list
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/after-15-years-minecraft-has-finally-added-two-new-pig-variations-the-warm-pig-and-the-cold-pig-meaning-i-can-delete-one-mod-off-my-list/
Minecraft started 2025 off with a bang by adding falling leaves, new flowers, and the absolute pinnacle of development, different pig variations. Now, instead of just having the boring old pink pig in your farm, you can also keep the cold pig and the warm pig in the pen alongside it.