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

[JEMC]

The Friday news!

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Monster Hunter Wilds shoots past 1.1 million players on Steam alone in its first 7 hours, making it Capcom's most successful PC drop by over 500,000 hunters and climbing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-steam-concurrent-player-record/
Short of a catastrophic server meltdown, it was almost inevitable Monster Hunter Wilds would smash its way into the Steam record books. But I didn't think it would happen this fast. As of 10:05 pm Pacific on launch day, Wilds has snatched a spot among the most-played games on Steam, surpassing the all-time peak player records of Baldur's Gate 3 (875,343), Hogwarts Legacy (879,308) and New World (913, 634) to take the #10 spot. As of this writing, 920,464 hunters are online beating up their first Chatacabra (or, more likely, messing around in the character creator).
Update, 3:26 am PT: It's not even been 24 hours since Monster Hunter Wilds' PC release—but it's very, very nearly scraped close to 1 million players on Steam in its first six hours. As mentioned in the original story below, Capcom's megafauna-filled mega-release shot to the top 10 rankings of the most-played PC games of all time on Steam in less than two hours.
Update, 4:15 am PT: Barely half an hour ago, I wrote the sentence "I feel like I should note it's not even the weekend yet. So long as things continue, punching through that 1 million ceiling is entirely possible." As if egging on a violent god who struck me down for my hubris, Monster Hunter Wilds had another bump, shooting it to an all-time peak of 1,110,210 at the time of writing. This makes it Capcom's most successful Steam release by over a factor of two, as you can see in the screenshot below.

California Fire Relief Bundle offers Tunic, Skatebird, Catlateral Damage, and hundreds of other games for just $10
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/california-fire-relief-bundle-offers-tunic-skatebird-catlateral-damage-and-hundreds-of-other-games-for-just-usd10/
The wildfires that raged across parts of California are now fully contained, but caused billions of dollars in damages and left behind devastation that will take years to recover from. To aid in the effort, Itch.io is offering a new California Fire Relief Bundle containing hundreds of games, plus digital comics, books, and other content, for a minimum purchase price of just $10.

The Humble Store has two sales:

• The Adventure Aways Sale has games up to 97% off during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/adventure-awaits-sale/
• The new weekly deals have up to 98% discounts during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/on-sale-now/

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is The Jackbox Party Pack 7, with a 45% deal during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-jackbox-party-pack-7.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.6632 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-6632
Highlights
Game Ready

• FragPunk
• Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced
• Monster Hunter: Wilds
• Split Fiction

Game Performance (Arc B-Series)

• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (DX12)
  • Up to 6% average FPS uplift at 1440p with Highest settings
  • Up to 9% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Highest settings
• Black Myth: Wukong (DX12)
  • Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1080p with High settings
• Monster Hunter: Wilds (DX12)
  • Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1440p with Ultra settings

Game performance (Intel Core Ultra Series 2)

• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (DX12)
  • Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Medium settings

Fixed Issues
Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Terraria (DX9) may exhibit flickering corruptions in full-screen mode.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Monster Hunter Wilds already has more than 30 mods, with 2,600 downloads between them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-already-has-more-than-30-mods-with-2-600-downloads-between-them/
Modders are not missing a beat with Monster Hunter Wilds. At time of writing the game hasn't even unlocked yet for plebs like me who don't have pre-release access, and yet there are currently 33 mods on the Nexus Mods page and the number keeps going up.
The highlight so far is Kitty Big, a mod that makes your palico sidekick upsettingly large. Like, you're going to have to hunt twice as many monsters just to feed that thing. I don't want to think about the kitty litter situation.
Predictably there are also a number of nude mods, but there are also handy cheats like Infinite Consumables and Damage Adjuster, which notes in the description that it's "intended for solo play" and you shouldn't go making all your weapons deal more damage before you jump into public multiplayer. To be fair, you can also use that mod to make things harder for yourself if you want more of a challenge.
Finally, the Toggle HUD and DoF mod will let you take nicer screenshots without all that UI clutter getting in the way, whether or not you're also making use of the multiple nude mods that already exist. Honestly, you people. At least you could mod Thomas the Tank Engine in before all the horny stuff.
>> The article has a screenshot of the Kitty Big mod.

GAMING NEWS

Terminator 2D: NO FATE is an amazing 2D retro action platformer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/terminator-2d-no-fate-is-an-amazing-2d-retro-action-platformer/
Reef Entertainment has announced a new 2D retro action platforming game that is set in the Terminator universe, Terminator 2D: NO FATE. Terminator 2D: NO FATE feels like the game we’d get in the 16-bit/32-bit era. And you know what? I’m really excited about it.
>> G2ThaUNiT made a thread about this new game.

Blades of Fire is a new action game from the devs behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/blades-of-fire-is-a-new-action-game-from-the-devs-behind-castlevania-lords-of-shadow/
505 Games has revealed a new game from MercurySteam, the team behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Clive Barker’s Jericho. This new game is called Blades of Fire, it’s a third-person action game, and you can find its debut gameplay trailer below.

Hogwarts Legacy February 27th Patch Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/hogwarts-legacy-february-27th-patch-released-detailed/
Avalanche Software has released the February 27th Patch for Hogwarts Legacy, and shared its complete changelog. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.

First gameplay trailer for Prologue: Go Wayback!
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-gameplay-trailer-for-prologue-go-wayback/
PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions has released the first gameplay trailer for Prologue: Go Wayback!. Prologue: Go Wayback! is a single-player open-world survival game coming to Steam Early Access in Summer 2025.

Last edited by JEMC - on 28 February 2025