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

[JEMC]

Surprising no one, here’s the Monday news, part three:

Valorant dev accepts there's too much random crap cluttering up the screen: 'The balance team generally agrees with this take'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valorant-dev-accepts-theres-too-much-random-crap-cluttering-up-the-screen-the-balance-team-generally-agrees-with-this-take/
Valorant is one of those games where, every time you look, it's somehow very different. Riot has maintained a ferocious pace of updates since launch, introducing new agents, abilities and maps alongside a cavalcade of cosmetics: if you're not embedded in the scene, keeping up can be absolutely dizzying.
And recently a specific grumble has acquired some traction among players. Even when you are embedded in the scene, and know about the newest agents and their abilities, the sheer amount of utility spam in the game now can make things hard to parse.

KOTOR remake returns for annual tradition of reminding you it's still alive, but no you can't hear anything more about it until it comes back next year to say it again
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kotor-remake-returns-for-annual-tradition-of-reminding-you-its-still-alive-but-no-you-cant-hear-anything-more-about-it-until-it-comes-back-next-year-to-say-it-again/
A long time ago (September 2021) in a galaxy far, far away (a PlayStation Showcase) the mad lads at Aspyr announced they were remaking Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's brilliant Star Wars RPG from 2003. Which probably wasn't a great idea, because the project has spent the entire four years since then falling down the stairs and smashing into every step along the way.
(*** a brief summary of what has happened ***)
It's enough of a calamity to give Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 a run for its money, but fear not! Saber has returned for its annual reminder that the game is, despite appearances, still alive. In a chat with Game File, Saber CEO Matthew Karch confirmed that, yes, the KOTOR remake was still in development somewhere in its offices, but that the studio wants to let Disney take the lead on talking about it.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure reportedly a 'large loss' for Square Enix, says analyst, who adds: 'The company's IP fundamentally varies too much between good and bad'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/life-is-strange-double-exposure-reportedly-a-large-loss-for-square-enix-says-analyst-who-adds-the-companys-ip-fundamentally-varies-too-much-between-good-and-bad/
I confess, dear reader, I was a little confused by the concept of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure from the get-go. As PC Gamer's own Mollie Taylor said during a https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/life-is-strange-double-exposure-is-a-little-deja-vu-in-places-but-its-changes-have-me-excited-in-a-big-way/review, "remind me to never become besties with Max Caulfield, lest I end up dead in a ditch somewhere."
(...)
Mollie still quite enjoyed it in her review, even if she wasn't "sure it's a game I needed". That same decent-but-not-necessary result has, as reported by Japanese analyst Hideki Yasuda (via TheGamer), led to a "large loss".
In his analysis on the Japanese gaming industry as a whole, Yasuda states that a recent financial meeting at Square Enix saw company president Takashi Kiryu claim that the publisher's smash hit of Dragon Quest 3 was "offset by the large losses of 'Life is Strange: Double Exposure'."

Age of Empires 2 team continues to cook while delivering 'legendarily long' 8,000-word patch notes about 'the biggest updates' the 26 year-old game has ever had
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/age-of-empires-2-team-continues-to-cook-while-delivering-legendarily-long-8-000-word-patch-notes-about-the-biggest-updates-the-26-year-old-game-has-ever-had/
I know a guy whose only game is Age of Empires 2. He's been playing it for about 25 years. He doesn't have a gaming PC, doesn't have a wider interest in gaming, and when I once mentioned Age of Empires 3 he said "oh yeah I heard they made another one" and that was the end of the conversation.
(...)
The latest patch notes for AoE 2: DE are among the most gargantuan I've ever seen. The developers themselves admit they're "legendarily long", but the "cherry on top" is that they'll soon be "releasing one of the biggest updates Age 2: DE has ever had!"

Inzoi is giving eager life simmers another free taste of its gorgeous character creator, with a bonus build mode demo for the architecture nerds
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/inzoi-is-giving-eager-life-simmers-another-free-taste-of-its-gorgeous-character-creator-with-a-bonus-build-mode-demo-for-the-architecture-nerds/
In less than two weeks, The Sims is finally getting some much-needed competition: Inzoi's launching into early access on March 28. For those who are already foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a more realistic life sim, though, good news. Krafton is giving folk the chance to dive into a couple of its creators before the big release… if you watch a bunch of streamers, that is.

Monster Hunter Wilds players wonder if frenzied monsters are a little undercooked, as one slaps a sickly bird into a fine paste in just 25 seconds
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/monster-hunter-wilds-players-wonder-if-frenzied-monsters-are-a-little-undercooked-as-one-slaps-a-sickly-bird-into-a-fine-paste-in-just-25-seconds/
Monster Hunter Wilds players are now fully sinking their teeth into the endgame—and while the discourse over difficulty proceeds apace, one thing seems apparent: Frenzied Monsters are, uh, kind of wimps. Some mild spoilers for the post-game campaign of Monster Hunter Wilds to follow.