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

[JEMC]

And the third, and last, part of today’s gaming news:

Age of Empires 2's quest to conquer the strategy globe continues unabated as The Three Kingdoms DLC invades ancient China this May
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/age-of-empires-2s-quest-to-conquer-the-strategy-globe-continues-unabated-as-the-three-kingdoms-dlc-invades-ancient-china-this-may/
Age of Empires 2 simply cannot be stopped. 26 years on from the game's original launch, and six years since the release of its almighty Definitive Edition, real-time strategy's most benevolent tyrant is still getting the kind of support that would put most live-service games to shame.
Only last month, developer Forgotten Empires unleashed a patch so colossal it has already entered the annals of the series' history. Now, the studio's gearing up to release another massive slice of DLC in just over three weeks' time.

Marvel Rivals sneakily implements 'butt patch' that cakes up every male character in the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-sneakily-implements-butt-patch-that-cakes-up-every-male-character-in-the-game/
The Marvel Rivals devs must know their audience because the latest patch features an asset update that has fans cheering—for cake.
When season 2 of Marvel Rivals kicked off last week, players noticed some of the game's character assets looked a little more fleshed out, specifically the male characters' butts. While it might not outshine Emma Frost's famous thighs, the "butt patch" has finally delivered on fans' demands for cheek equality for the male characters.
>> Players must have a fixation with asses, as they have a theory that some suits make butts bigger.

The underrated, open world, hoverboard FPS gem of 2024 just got a free update with new guns and islands for its cloud archipelago
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-underrated-open-world-hoverboard-fps-gem-of-2024-just-got-a-free-update-with-new-guns-and-islands-for-its-cloud-archipelago/
Open-world, co-op, hoverboard FPS Echo Point Nova has just received a surprise free update that adds two new weapons to the game, rebalances an existing one, and expands the shooter's stunning world of floating islands.

As promising RTS Stormgate nears 1.0, the 'entire narrative structure of the campaign' has been rewritten, says Frost Giant
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/as-promising-rts-stormgate-nears-1-0-the-entire-narrative-structure-of-the-campaign-has-been-rewritten-says-frost-giant/
Frost Giant has announced that Stormgate's getting a fully-revamped campaign for its 1.0 release. The overhaul will touch every aspect of the campaign, from characters and voices to mission structure and how you manage your army.

'It’s about to get even darker, more disturbed, and violent': Barotrauma's Calm Before the Storm update introduces new PVP outpost and alien ruins
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/its-about-to-get-even-darker-more-disturbed-and-violent-barotraumas-calm-before-the-storm-update-introduces-new-pvp-outpost-and-alien-ruins/
If you've ever wanted to perish in undersea alien ruins on one of the moons of Jupiter, now's your chance thanks to the latest update for 2D co-op horror game Barotrauma.
The "Calm Before the Storm" update brings a slew of new features to support your frightening submarine expeditions on Europa, including a new mission, alien ruins, a ruin-themed outpost for PVP, additional modules for abandoned outposts, updated level backgrounds, and the ability to set up a "reserve bench" for bots.

Data sleuth discovers that Sekiro's inexplicable, skyscraper-sized rope man who gives you a lift to Heaven might have once been a boss fight or level unto itself
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/data-sleuth-discovers-that-sekiros-inexplicable-skyscraper-sized-rope-man-who-gives-you-a-lift-to-heaven-might-have-once-been-a-boss-fight-or-level-unto-itself/
Longtime FromSoftware dataminer Zullie the Witch has uploaded a new video that interrogates one of the studio's most memorably strange non sequiturs: The giant guy made of rope who carries you from the kingdom of Ashina to the celestial Fountainhead Palace. It seems like there was once much more to Mr. Rope-a-Dope than we saw in the final game.

Blue Prince was made possible by creator's Magic: The Gathering fan site: 'Now you know why I had to put up a lot of ads'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/blue-prince-was-made-possible-by-creators-magic-the-gathering-fan-site-now-you-know-why-i-had-to-put-up-a-lot-of-ads/
Blue Prince, a mind-bending mix of roguelike, deckbuilder, and puzzler—one where you draft the rooms of an enormous mansion and assemble them piece-by-piece, to be slotted together like riddle LEGO—has been claiming the minds of PC Gamer's more intellectually inclined staff.
(...)
A list of these accolades can be found on the humble Mythic Spoiler website, a page that posts a bunch of Magic: The Gathering Card images for easy and straightforward viewing and browsing. Why? Because the site's creator, Tonda Ros, is the puzzle savant behind Blue Prince.

'EA always preferred Mass Effect, straight up': Dragon Age creator reveals that his and Mass Effect's team 'didn't get along' at BioWare, as EA played favourites with its children
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/ea-always-preferred-mass-effect-straight-up-dragon-age-creator-reveals-that-his-and-mass-effects-team-didnt-get-along-at-bioware-as-ea-played-favourites-with-its-children/
It sure seems like the sun is setting on Dragon Age—with Veilguard falling short of expectations after years in development, EA seemingly learning exactly the wrong lessons, and sweeping layoffs including senior talent, I'm not holding my breath for the future. In my view, Veilguard was a semi-decent action RPG with a fumbled story, which just wasn't enough.
David Gaider, who authored the series but left Bioware in 2016 after Dragon Age: Inquisition, has revealed two truths. The first, not-so-shocking one, is that EA didn't really know what to do with Dragon Age (something you could glean from context)—the second, more shocking one is that BioWare was completely split down the middle circa 2010-2016, divided into two studios. Studios that, according to him, kinda resented each other.

Date Everything, the dating sim where your whole house becomes dateable, finally has a release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/date-everything-the-dating-sim-where-your-whole-house-becomes-dateable-finally-has-a-release-date/
Dating sim Date Everything, the game where you can literally date everything, has finally received a release date after it was delayed at the start of this year. Officially slated for a June 17 launch, it's finally time to mark our calendars for the release of what could become one of the best, most obscure, dating simulators of all time.

'Trust continues to be tampered with': A thread about SBMM in the upcoming Battlefield game is the final straw as an EA community manager lets loose on leakers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/trust-continues-to-be-tampered-with-a-thread-about-sbmm-in-the-upcoming-battlefield-game-is-the-final-straw-as-an-ea-community-manager-lets-loose-on-leakers/
The next Battlefield game has been in an early playtest for a while now, with EA deciding to take a new angle on community testing by introducing its Battlefield Labs initiative, a new way for players to test out potential features for the upcoming game. The only problem being that, despite an NDA, participants have been leaking footage of the untitled game all over the place, to the disdain of EA.
This has been a recurring problem, but it seems like we found the final straw: Players openly discussing potential SBMM features. Rumours about the next Battlefield having SBMM started to spread like wildfire, with most players responding negatively, saying that it's either not needed or it makes matches worse. In a Reddit post, one player shares a PSA from David Sirland, Battlefield's lead producer, trying to calm tensions by effectively saying that all of this is temporary and being done with a light touch. But when grumpy commenters take to the replies to complain, the community manager steps in.