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

[JEMC]

Tuesday news, the second part:

Hatsune Miku is the icon for Fortnite Festival Season 7, and it might be the collab that finally convinces me to become a rockstar
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rhythm/hatsune-miku-is-the-icon-for-fortnite-festival-season-7-and-it-might-be-the-collab-that-finally-convinces-me-to-become-a-rockstar/
Fortnite Festival is rolling out Season 7 on January 14, and Epic Games have announced that virtual pop sensation Hatsune Miku is leading the charge. As someone who has actively avoided most things Fortnite, I hate to admit that this might be the thing that lures me in like a siren's song, but it was only a matter of time before it finally sunk its hooks into me.

Powerwash Simulator studio ends VR development, but at least there are no layoffs happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/powerwash-simulator-studio-ends-vr-development-but-at-least-there-are-no-layoffs-happening/
Powerwash Simulator was a surprise hit when it popped up in 2022, earning critical plaudits, enviable player numbers, crossovers ranging from Spongebob Squarepants to Warhammer 40,000 and even an academic thumbs-up from Oxford. Despite all that success, it hasn't been able to crack the thick-skinned nut that is virtual reality, and today FuturLab has announced that it's giving up.

Despite the big Baldur's Gate 3 update in the works, Larian says its 'full attention' is now focused on its next game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/despite-the-big-baldurs-gate-3-update-in-the-works-larian-says-its-full-attention-is-now-focused-on-its-next-game/
We still don't know how Larian plans to follow the massive success of Baldur's Gate 3, but whatever it is, it's now occupying the "full attention" of developers at the studio.
(...)
Anyway, while all this is going on, Larian has also been unable to stop fiddling around with Baldur's Gate 3. Despite being more than a year old now, developers are still releasing beefy updates for it, including one coming a little later this year that will introduce 12 new subclasses, crossplay, and a photo mode. You might reasonably wonder, then: Is Larian pulling a Haunted Chocolatier on us?
Apparently not. "Swen and the team[‘s]… full attention is focused on crafting their next title," a studio rep told VideoGamer. Unfortunately, we likely won't be hearing much more about it for a good while to come because Larian has also apparently moved into a "media blackout," meaning we'll all be waiting patiently and watching closely for someone to accidentally blab on social media—or perhaps in an awards acceptance speech, as the case may be.

High-flying RPG city builder Airborne Empire has launched on Steam, and it's testing my balancing skills in more ways than one
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/high-flying-rpg-city-builder-airborne-empire-launches-on-steam-and-its-testing-my-balancing-skills-in-more-ways-than-one/
My flying city in Airborne Empire is tilted at a 1 degree angle. That's not a big deal: it's barely detectable visually and it doesn't seem to be bothering my citizens. It sure is bothering me, though. I can't stop imagining one of my residents, after a hard day harvesting resources or battling pirates or working in the iron foundry, coming home, sitting down to relax, placing a pencil on the coffee table in his living room, and watching that pencil slowly roll away.
(...)
You can join me in obsessing over how level your own city is: Airborne Empire launched into early access on Steam today. It's the sequel to 2022's Airborne Kingdom, but there's a much, much bigger world to explore and now there's combat to consider, too: the realm is full of enemy airplanes, ground-based bandit colonies, and other hostile flying structures. Somehow, the game still pulls off a mostly chill and cozy vibe—except when something goes wrong and my flying city starts plummeting toward the ground.

Zerg Rush! Blizzard drops first cards from its StarCraft x Hearthstone crossover mini-set
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/zerg-rush-blizzard-drops-first-cards-from-its-starcraft-x-hearthstone-crossover-mini-set/
Hearthstone's "biggest mini-set ever" is set to launch next week, bringing Blizzard's legendary RTS StarCraft to the game with 49 new cards—four Legendary, one Epic, 20 Rare, and 24 Common—split across the three factions you know and love: Zerg, Protoss, and Terran.

Studio Wildcard remains quiet on Ark 2's release date, but just revealed a two-year roadmap for Ark: Survival Ascended
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/studio-wildcard-remains-quiet-on-ark-2s-release-date-but-just-revealed-a-two-year-roadmap-for-ark-survival-ascended/
Back in the olden days of 2020 there was some exciting news for people who love dinosaurs and families: Ark 2 was coming and Vin Diesel was coming with it. Vin Diesel, shirtless, riding a dinosaur? Sounded like a certified bop.
Since then, however, we've heard less and less about Ark 2. The sequel to Ark: Survival Evolved was originally announced with a 2023 release date, which was scuttled and then re-announced for the end of 2024. But as 2024 ended, Ark 2 wasn't released. There wasn't any explanation about another delay from Studio Wildcard (at least none I've seen), no announcement in the official Discord, and no revised release date.

Evidence mounts that Marvel Rivals stealthily places losing players in bot matches, and I know because I'm the loser
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/evidence-mounts-that-marvel-rivals-stealthily-places-losing-players-in-bot-matches-and-i-know-because-im-the-loser/
You might've seen rumblings over the holidays that Marvel Rivals is serving players easy bot matches when they go on a losing streak. That's the sort of claim I usually take with a grain of salt in competitive shooters—yes, bots masquerading as real players are unfortunately common in some of the most popular games around (especially in battle royales and mobile games), but it's also true that players often misidentify actual humans as bots to explain why their team is underperforming.
That was not the case with Reddit user ciaranxy's lengthy post on the Marvel Rivals subreddit called "Everything You Need to Know About Marvel Rivals' Secret Quickplay Bots." They were not crying bot, but laying out the results of over a week of testing. ciaranxy determined that Rivals is more than happy to throw losing players a bone by giving them some easy bots to stomp on, but only under certain conditions

'He was trying his best'—Palworld had a lone server guy trying to keep the game afloat during its 2 million player launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/he-was-trying-his-best-palworld-had-a-lone-server-guy-trying-to-keep-the-game-afloat-during-its-2-million-player-launch/
While Palworld's player count has calmed down in the time since its release, it's still carved a cosy little niche for itself on Steam. SteamDB has it hovering between 20,000 and 50,000 players over the past few months, with a big bump to around 200,000 in December 2024 due to the release of a major update, Feybreak.
Still, that's small change compared to the onslaught of players during its launch. Palworld rose into viral stardom to the tune of 2 million concurrent players in January 2024—which is huge, with other games, such as Helldivers 2, buckling under comparatively smaller weights. In a recent interview with Polygon, John 'Bucky' Buckley, the game's community manager, paints a picture of panic at the studio.

Path of Exile 2 devs acknowledge the endgame is 'too severe' but are sticking to their guns because 'the whole death actually mattering thing is actually important'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/path-of-exile-2-devs-acknowledge-the-endgame-is-too-severe-but-are-sticking-to-their-guns-because-the-whole-death-actually-mattering-thing-is-actually-important/
Path of Exile 2's first major patch of the year will arrive later this week, with developer Grinding Gear Games saying it will address several common complaints about the game, with more improvements to come. One of the big sticking points for players has been endgame maps, which director Jonathan Rogers says it aims to make "more rewarding" through tweaks to loot and monster numbers, and the feel of the endgame in general. The thing is, though, that some of the stuff people are complaining about is also the point of the game.

'I think geniuses come up with terrible ideas, too': Former senior artist at Bethesda likens Todd Howard's struggles with complete creative control to George Lucas
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/i-think-geniuses-come-up-with-terrible-ideas-too-former-senior-artist-at-bethesda-likens-todd-howards-struggles-with-complete-creative-control-to-george-lucas/
I think, with the appropriate amount of hindsight, we can all agree that Starfield didn't take off as the multi-year industry titan that Bethesda was hoping it would be. While I, and plenty of other players, got a reasonable amount of enjoyment out of it, it wasn't quite in line with the studio's other heavy-hitters. The post-launch support hasn't been (inter)stellar either, and its first DLC, according to our Shattered Space review, hasn't done enough to bring it back to life.
There are about a dozen reasons you can cite as to why this was the case, but one that appears to be a reoccurring theme between former developers is the studio—or, rather, the studio's head honcho, Todd Howard—suffering from success. So sayeth Dennis Mejillones, a character artist who worked at Bethesda for over 12 years, including work on Starfield itself, during an interview with Kiwi Talkz.