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

[JEMC]

Monday news, the second part:

Marvel Rivals devs conducted 'exhaustive research' to come up with the game's roster of heroes and abilities so it could live up to 'exceptionally high player expectations'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-devs-conducted-exhaustive-research-to-come-up-with-the-games-roster-of-heroes-and-abilities-so-it-could-live-up-to-exceptionally-high-player-expectations/
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From the start, I was impressed with how the 35 heroes currently in Marvel Rivals all managed to stand out with different strengths and playstyles. There were no copypaste stand-ins, and while there are a couple of shared abilities like double jumps or stuns, every hero ends up feeling unique.
Now, this didn't just happen by chance—in an interview with Unreal Engine, the lead technical designer Ruan Weikang describes just how much hard work went into creating each hero, their memorable abilities, and the Team-up abilities that have become so integral to the game.
>> Given the success of the game, seems that they made a good job with that research. By the way, there’s a leak about a new PVE mode.

Sweet liberty, the Illuminate are moving an entire wormhole across Helldivers 2's galaxy map to slam dunk it into Super Earth like a basketball
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/sweet-liberty-the-illuminate-are-moving-an-entire-wormhole-across-helldivers-2s-galaxy-map-to-slam-dunk-it-into-super-earth-like-a-basketball/
Oh, sweet liberty above—so, you know that big space hole that Helldivers 2 players accidentally tore open back in June of last year? Firstly, stop giggling at the phrase 'big space hole', it's undemocratic.
Secondly, I officially rescind my advice to stop worrying about it, because the Illuminate are, uh, moving it. Towards Super Earth. They're trying to take the thing and just… dunk it into our planet like a basketball. I think we have made some mistakes.
>> And JOEL stars in a video reflecting on the first year of the game

Rocksteady is looking to make a new singleplayer Batman game, but Warner's Wonder Woman game is struggling
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/rocksteady-is-looking-to-make-a-new-singleplayer-batman-game-but-warners-wonder-woman-game-is-struggling/
The good news out of Warner Bros. Games, according to a new Bloomberg report, is that after the flop of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady Studios is looking to make a new singleplayer Batman game. The bad news, however, is pretty much everything else.

MultiVersus is somehow using its dying breath to go full looney tunes and put out what may be one of its best patches, and now fans want it to be saved
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/multiversus-is-somehow-using-its-dying-breath-to-go-full-looney-tunes-and-put-out-what-may-be-one-of-its-best-patches-and-now-fans-want-it-to-be-saved/
MultiVersus may be saying "That's all folks!" one last time at the end of May, but that doesn't mean it's going down without a fight. In fact, it may have just used its dying breath to actually rally a small group of players to come to its defence with its fifth and final season implementing some major improvements.

Balatro 1.1 will include new jokers plus a revamp of a really confusing existing one
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/balatro-1-1-will-include-new-jokers-plus-a-revamp-of-a-really-confusing-existing-one/
In a new interview with Bloomberg, Balatro creator LocalThunk revealed some new details about the chaotic poker roguelike's major gameplay update coming later this year. Now titled update 1.1, publisher Playstack first revealed that more Balatro would be headed our way in 2025 back in August.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick takes a moment to remind us once again that 'there's no such thing' as artificial intelligence
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/take-two-ceo-strauss-zelnick-takes-a-moment-to-remind-us-once-again-that-theres-no-such-thing-as-artificial-intelligence/
It's fair to say that the use of generative AI in game development is not widely liked: Just witness the backlash when its presence is even suspected. On the other hand, it's not going away, and a significant portion of game developers are already using it in some capacity. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently shared some interesting thoughts on the matter: In an interview with GamesIndustry, he said it's not something to worry about because AI doesn't really exist at all.

Superb Bloodborne-inspired racing game Nightmare Kart is getting free DLC featuring sniper rifles and supercharged penny farthings
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/superb-bloodborne-inspired-racing-game-nightmare-kart-is-getting-free-dlc-featuring-sniper-rifles-and-supercharged-penny-farthings/
Bloodborne on PC may remain the dominion of dreamers and madmen, but in lieu of FromSoftware's gothic action-RPG finally discovering our eldritch realm, we always have Nightmare Kart. The tongue-in-cheek kart racer (which was originally titled Bloodborne Kart before Sony performed a legal visceral attack on its nomenclature) arrived on PC last year, wowing players with its comprehensive blend of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk racing contraptions. Featuring 15 tracks and 21 racers, all for the low, low price of free, it quickly garnered an 'overwhelmingly positive' rating on Steam.
Now, developer LWMedia has formally announced an expansion to Nightmare Kart, playfully titled "The Old Karts". This addon, which like the base game will be available for free, is set to add a whole new 'mini campaign' to the game, alongside new tracks, racers, karts, powerups, and game modes.

Resident Evil Re:Verse is reversing right off Steam, as Capcom claims it has served its 'original, celebratory purpose' despite mostly negative reviews
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/resident-evil/resident-evil-re-verse-is-reversing-right-off-steam-as-capcom-claims-it-has-served-its-original-celebratory-purpose-despite-mostly-negative-reviews/
Resident Evil Re:Verse, Capcom's deathmatch spinoff of its iconic horror series, will reverse its last roundhouse later this year, as the publisher has announced it's ceasing all service for the game in June.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's latest update leads with a fancy datavault for your battle-barge, but I'm far more interested in the new tyranid unit with a cannon on its back
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/warhammer-40-000-space-marine-2s-latest-update-leads-with-a-fancy-datavault-for-your-battle-barge-but-im-far-more-interested-in-the-new-tyranid-unit-with-a-cannon-on-its-back/
I'll be honest, I almost passed on writing about Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's datavault update. I like libraries as much as the next introvert, but they don't exactly make for gripping headlines (unless it's a library of digitised videogame magazines, that stuff rules). But then I discovered the datavault update doesn't just expand your in-game battle-barge with a fictional archive. It also adds a hulking new tyranid enemy with a massive biological gun on its back. Talk about burying the lede, Saber Interactive!

Update: The PlayStation Network appears to be coming back online after nearly a day's outage, but there's still no word from Sony on what happened
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-playstation-network-has-been-taken-completely-offline-across-all-platforms-for-more-than-half-a-day-preventing-online-gaming-streaming-store-purchases-game-updates-and-more/
The PlayStation network has been completely borked for 16 hours and counting at the time of writing, first going offline at 1 AM CET / 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT on February 8. Sony has yet to provide an explanation for the outage, which affects PSN logins and services across all platforms, including PS5, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PC. Update 2/8/2025, 3:00 PM CT: Some of PC Gamer's PS5-havers are once again able to access PSN, while I can also get to it on my PS4, and we're hearing scattered word to that effect on social media as well. Sony's PSN status page, however, is still reporting outages across all services. Sony has still not explained what caused the outage, but an ill-timed scheduled Twitter post about upgrading your PS5's hard drive on the Ask PlayStation support page has certainly made for a bad look. Update 2/9/2025, 11:00 AM CT: PlayStation Network services appear to be fully back up and running with still no word from Sony on what caused the outage—Sony has only said it was an "operational issue." Sony will be giving 5 free days to PlayStation Plus members as recompense.