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

[JEMC]

Welp, here’s part three of the news:

A Marvel Rivals player has uncovered 'one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities a game can have' that'll let cheaters take over your PC and find your passwords
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/a-marvel-rivals-player-has-uncovered-one-of-the-most-dangerous-vulnerabilities-a-game-can-have-thatll-let-cheaters-take-over-your-pc-and-find-your-passwords/
Marvel Rivals has overcome a couple of difficulties since it was released at the end of last year. This mostly involved improving performance or sorting out technical issues with the breakable environment or individual hero abilities, but now it looks like its security will be the next hurdle the devs need to overcome.
A YouTuber who goes by Shalzuth revealed that he's found a vulnerability in Marvel Rivals that hackers can use as a doorway to take over your PC. The video details the issue without giving any technical details, which could then be used to harm other players. "Please note, this isn't about fearmongering," Shalzuth says. "It's about understanding how this class of vulnerability works and why it's so important for game developers to design hotfixes and patch updates in a secure and safe way."

Final Fantasy 14 promises crackdown on stalking exploits with actual solutions now, rather than politely asking the plugin creator to stop
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-promises-crackdown-on-stalking-exploits-with-actual-solutions-now-rather-than-politely-asking-the-plugin-creator-to-stop/
Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida has commented yet again on the controversial plugin that surfaced earlier this year, which exploited Dawntrail's new-and-improved blacklist system, allowing users to read an account ID and therefore stalk a character and all of its alts.
Thankfully, what Yoshi-P has to say this time is a lot less nothingburger than the forum post he penned a couple weeks ago, essentially saying the team was considering taking drastic measures such as… asking the plugin users to stop. This time, speaking during the latest Letter from the Producer livestream, Yoshida revealed counter-measures would be introduced, starting in Patch 7.2 releasing in late March.

WoW has raised over $2 million for charity CureDuchenne by selling a cute little fox, after being inspired by The Remarkable Life of Ibelin documentary
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-has-raised-over-usd2-million-for-charity-cureduchenne-by-selling-a-cute-little-fox-after-being-inspired-by-the-remarkable-life-of-ibelin-documentary/
Blizzard has raised over $2 million for the charity CureDuchenne, using the seemingly irresistible lure of microtransactions for good. World of Warcraft players accomplished this via The Reven Pack (a cute little fox companion and a backpack to go with it), which Blizzard donated 100% of the purchase price of to CureDuchenne.

Vanished for a year, early access dev returns to announce a crisis taught them 'videogames ain't it' and end development on 'singleplayer EVE' they've been making since 2017
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/vanished-for-a-year-early-access-dev-returns-to-announce-videogames-aint-it-and-end-development-on-singleplayer-eve-theyve-been-making-since-2019/
I've always had a soft spot for Astrox Imperium, an early access game that first hit Steam all the way back in 2019 (though its first YouTube devlog hit two years before that), and that aimed to be, in the words of every other review on its page, a "singleplayer EVE Online".
(…)
My kind of thing, but alas, it's reached the end of the road. Sole developer Jace Masula returned after over a year's absence yesterday to announce that, basically, they were done with videogames. "I've had a few unfortunate things happen that remind me what is really important in life," they wrote "and video games ain't it."

Hi-Rez will only be giving 'minor updates' to Smite and Paladins now it's laying off around 70 employees, but don't worry, Smite 2 is the 'primary focus of the newly streamlined operations'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/hi-rez-will-only-be-giving-minor-updates-to-smite-and-paladins-now-its-laying-off-around-70-employees-but-dont-worry-smite-2-is-the-primary-focus-of-the-newly-streamlined-operations/
Hi-Rez, who some of us on staff haven't exactly forgiven for slowly dropping Tribes: Ascend way back when, has more or less proven that time is a flat circle by doing almost the exact same thing with its current games, Smite and Paladins.
That's as per both a message posted to Hi-Rez's eSports Discord, shared here by Smite pro Hayzer, and comments provided to Kotaku from the studio's president Stewart Chisam. The message, from an admin named Hinduman, reads: "Smite 1, Paladins and Rogue Company servers will remain available for the foreseeable future, but no further major updates are currently planned for these games.

Sports Interactive announces the shock cancellation of Football Manager 25, but fans are weirdly pleased: 'Better to be honest and admit a mistake'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/sports-interactive-announces-the-shock-cancellation-of-football-manager-25-but-fans-are-weirdly-pleased-better-to-be-honest-and-admit-a-mistake/
Sports Interactive has announced the shock cancellation of Football Manager 25, an unexpected and in the context of the series unprecedented decision. Football Manager games have been coming out like clockwork since 2004 under SI and SEGA, never missing a year in those two decades, and even the initial delays to FM25 were unheard-of for the series (the release was pushed back twice, and caused considerable fan grumbling). But no-one expected an outright cancellation.
>> Uff. Ka-pi won't be happy about this.

And these are the weekend deals at Steam (GOG has no new deals):

+Steam

• Disney puts its games on sale with up to 75% discounts until February, the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/DisneySale2025
• HELLDIVERS 2 will be 20% off until the 12th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/553850/HELLDIVERS_2/
• Dovetail Games celebrates the Festival Of Rail with up to 90% discounts. The Steam page says it will last until the 10th, but some items will be on sale until the 11th and even the 13th, so whatever: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/FestivalOfRail2025
• To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sunless Sea, its developer/publisher puts its games on sale with up to 75% discounts until February 13: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/sunlesssea10thbirthday
• Green Hell will be free to try during the weekend and 67% off until the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/815370/Green_Hell/
• For the fans of pinball games the Pinball FX/Pinball M franchise is on sale, with its DLCs up to 80% off until the 17th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/pinballdailydeal2025
• The Yogacast Games X Gamesky Sale is here with up to 95% deal until February, the 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/423471/sale/yogscastxGamersky
• Developer/publisher Devcats (yes, all its games feature cats), puts its game on sale with up to 50% discounts until the 20th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/DEVCATSSALE2025
• And Publisher 2K celebrates its 20th anniversary with a sale, putting its games up to 95% off until February 20: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/2K20thAnniversary

That’s all folks. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.