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

[JEMC]

Friday gaming news, part two:

Critical Role's Matt Mercer and Laura Bailey are hosting this year's Future Games Show summer event
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/critical-roles-matt-mercer-and-laura-bailey-are-hosting-this-years-future-games-show-summer-event/
The hosts for Future Games Show's summer showcase have been revealed, and this year we can expect to see Laura Bailey and Matthew Mercer take the stage to guide us through a plethora of video game trailers, interviews, and news. Over 40 games will be featured in this year's showcase too, so if you've been waiting for an update on something there's a strong chance you'll get one here.

A year after Bandai Namco killed its anime MMO, Blue Protocol is getting a second, different anime MMO in the same universe
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/a-year-after-bandai-namco-killed-its-anime-mmo-blue-protocol-is-getting-a-second-different-anime-mmo-in-the-same-universe/
In August 2024, Bandai Namco announced that it was shuttering service and cancelling Europe and US launch plans for Blue Protocol, its anime action MMO that had been playable in Japan since 2023. Players grieved. They wept. In January, they danced in their virtual world's final moments as Blue Protocol went offline forever.
You can imagine my confusion, then, when I received a press release saying that an anime MMO called Blue Protocol: Star Resonance is launching later this year.
After a bit of forensic work, I've pieced together an explanation. Prior to Blue Protocol's shutdown in 2024, Chinese developer Shanghai Bokura Network published a press release announcing that it was developing a new mobile game set in the Blue Protocol universe. Following the closing of Blue Protocol, that mobile game's development was expanded, eventually becoming Blue Protocol: Star Resonance.

Dune: Awakening beta players extracted nearly 9 million liters of blood last weekend, enough to fill 3 Olympic-size, extremely gross swimming pools
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/dune-awakening-beta-players-extracted-nearly-9-million-liters-of-blood-last-weekend-enough-to-fill-3-olympic-size-extremely-gross-swimming-pools/
Funcom has shared some stats on the Dune: Awakening beta that took place last weekend, and players certainly got up to some bloody business. The only substantial water supply in the early game is the blood of your enemies, and in four days of the beta players extracted 8,715,331 liters of blood from fallen foes (and potentially a few unlucky desert mice).
>> Feeling thirsty?

Hideo Kojima says most Death Stranding playtesters told him 'it was a terrible game,' and he's a little bummed Death Stranding 2 is testing way better
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hideo-kojima-says-most-death-stranding-playtesters-told-him-it-was-a-terrible-game-and-hes-a-little-bummed-death-stranding-2-is-testing-way-better/
No matter what reactions a Hideo Kojima game elicits from you, we can all appreciate swinging for the fences. Death Stranding is the sort of game that, in our profoundly risk-averse business, should have never gotten the sizable Sony-backed budget it did, but such is the power of Kojima's name.
Still, I have to imagine someone at Sony broke a sweat when they learned they were funding a delivery simulator that's light on action and heavy on contemplative vistas, especially considering how the first Death Stranding tested before it came out. In a recent interview with Edge Magazine (as shared by GamesRadar), Kojima revealed that most playtesters were repulsed by his post-Konami debut.

Civil war breaks out in Helldivers 2 as players spawn infinite mechs to crash each other's games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/civil-war-breaks-out-in-helldivers-2-as-players-spawn-dozens-of-mechs-to-crash-each-others-games/
Helldivers 2 players are pleading for people to stop using a newly discovered infinite Stratagem glitch that lets you shower planets in airstrikes.
Something went very wrong with the last patch and messed up how Stratagems normally work: Using a simple combination of inputs, you can now spam them until the game can't handle it anymore. There are videos of people spawning in dozens of ships and explosions that cause their frame rate to tank. Unsurprisingly, this has caused problems for public games. Also unsurprisingly, that's not stopping players from having a field day with it.

Bungie confirms it stole art once again, will undertake a 'thorough review' of Marathon assets
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/artist-accuses-bungie-of-stealing-her-designs-for-marathons-art-i-am-tired-of-designers-from-huge-companies-moodboarding-and-parasitising-my-designs-while-i-struggle-to-make-a-living/
Bungie is, once again, being accused of using the designs of an independent artist without permission, pay, or attribution. In a post on X earlier today, visual artist Antireal said that Marathon's environment art uses design elements pulled directly from her 2017 poster designs.
(...)
Bungie has issued a statement via the @MarathonDevTeam account on X. "We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game," the statement reads.

After Helldivers 2, Arrowhead's next game will be '100% funded by ourselves', though CEO Shams Jorjani says there's no hard feelings over Sony's boneheaded PSN shenanigans
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/after-helldivers-2-arrowheads-next-game-will-be-100-percent-funded-by-ourselves-though-ceo-shams-jorjani-says-theres-no-hard-feelings-over-sonys-boneheaded-psn-shenanigans/
Infinite stratagem glitches aside, Helldivers 2 really does seem to've pulled up from some pretty dire times after a chaotic first year. Even if it hadn't, though, Arrowhead would've still very much enjoyed the uproaring success of its first months, which saw it hitting a massive all-time peak of over 450,000 players on Steam alone.
That success, per some Discord messages by Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani, has paved the way for an entirely self-funded game in the studio's future. In response to a player asking Jorjani to make sure the studio's next game is playable in all regions, he replied: "The next game is 100% funded by ourselves so we'll call 100% of those shots."

And now, the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• Raw Fury’s Publisher Sale is here with up to 90% discounts during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250516_raw_fury_publisher_sale

+Steam

• New World: Aeternum is going to be 30% off until the 19th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063730/New_World_Aeternum/
• Last Epoch wil have a 20% discount until the 22nd of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/899770/Last_Epoch/
• The Early Access title FOUNDRY will be free to try during the weekend and 50% off until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/983870/FOUNDRY/
• Martha Is Dead gets a 70% discount until May 22: https://store.steampowered.com/app/515960/Martha_Is_Dead/
• No Place Like Home will be 60% off until May, the 28th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1472660/No_Place_Like_Home/
• House Flipper 2 will also be free to try during the weekend and will have a 35% discount until the 29th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190970/House_Flipper_2/
• Doors: Paradox is going to be 50% off until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1622770/Doors_Paradox/
• Shotgun Farmers features a 60% discount until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/604240/Shotgun_Farmers/
• And these are the new sales/events:
  • Publisher Hooded Horse puts its games on sale, up to 50% off. The length of the deals vary between some that will end tomorrow and others that should last until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38719421/sale/maysale2025
  • Stardock puts its Galactic Civilization franchise on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 22nd of May: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/28974/sale/galcivfranchisesale
  • Kepler Interactive puts its games on sale, up to 90% off. Fro mwhat I’ve seen, the length of the deals vary between those that will end on the 22nd and the ones that will end on the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Kepler2025
  • Yogscast Games celebrates its Camp Yog’25 Sale where you’ll find demos of some of its upcoming games and also up to 90% discounts that will last between the 22nd and the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/CampYogSale
  • And finally, there’s the Metaroot Publisher Sale… that’s already listed but won’t start until later today for I don’t know how long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1733110/Of_Life_and_Land/

And that’s it. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.