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

[JEMC]

Tuesday gaming news, the second part:

The PC Gaming Show returns June 8 with great hosts, amazing games, and a live on-air PC build and giveaway
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/the-pc-gaming-show-returns-june-8-with-great-hosts-amazing-games-and-a-live-on-air-pc-build-and-giveaway/
We've been doing this PC gaming thing for ages now. Yonks. I was definitely doing it, like, in January even. And yet despite our platform of choice's long and glorious reign, people still look at you funny when you tell them you built your own PC. 'Are you a warlock?' they ask, 'some kind of messenger from a realm beyond our own?'
Yes, but that's besides the point. Building a PC is a cinch these days, which is why we're making it a lynchpin of the upcoming and glorious return of The PC Gaming Show this June 8. We'll be covering ourselves in thermal paste and reseating more RAM than you can shake a stick (of RAM) at in an event that will also feature over 70 games from studios like Ubisoft, 11 Bit, CCP Games, Failbetter, Krafton, and plenty more besides.
The festivities will be presented by PCGS veterans Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Mica Burton, and Frankie Ward, who'll be peeking through their fingers as Verified PC Gaming Experts assemble a beast of a machine we're calling 'The Rig.' Even better, once we've made sure the monster gets past the BIOS screen we'll be shipping it to one lucky winner watching the show. If you love viewing and/or possessing absurdly powerful PC hardware, you can't afford not to tune in.

Kojima says his next espionage game will keep us waiting another '5 or 6 years', but then he might finally get around to directing a movie: 'I’m getting older, and I would prefer to do it while still young'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/kojima-says-his-next-espionage-game-will-keep-us-waiting-another-5-or-6-years-but-then-he-might-finally-get-around-to-directing-a-movie-im-getting-older-and-i-would-prefer-to-do-it-while-still-young/
There is, as ever, a lot going on in the world of Hideo Kojima. In an interview published in a recent issue of French film magazine Le Film Français, Kojima spoke about his ongoing projects (via VGC): There's Death Stranding 2. There's the Death Stranding film adaptation in production at A24. And of course, there's Physint, Kojima's upcoming return to the tactical espionage action that secured his global reputation.
Unfortunately, Kojima told Le Film Français that it'll probably take the better part of a decade before we can play his Metal Gear successor. "Besides Death Stranding 2, there is Physint in development," Kojima said. "That will take me another five or six years."

Haunted looking art director livestreams apology for Marathon theft scandal, but chat is merciless: 'Would write an original comment, but I don't see any good ones to plagarize'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/haunted-looking-art-director-livestreams-apology-for-marathon-theft-scandal-but-chat-is-merciless-would-write-an-original-comment-but-i-dont-see-any-good-ones-to-plagarize/
Last week Bungie was accused of using the designs of an independent artist, Antireal, without her knowledge or permission. It's a pretty cut-and-dry case: elements of Marathon's environment art unquestionably copy iconography from posters designed by Antireal in 2017. It didn't help that several of the game's art team also follow her accounts on social media.
(...)
That mea culpa was followed last Friday by a livestream in which game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joseph Cross directly addressed the controversy, beginning with another prepared apology from Cross before the pair fielded questions. I will say upfront that this is in places uncomfortable viewing: Cross is clearly exhausted and looks miserable throughout. Regardless of how this plagiarism accusation plays out, and how Antireal is compensated, it is obvious these events have taken a considerable personal toll on Bungie's staff.

SAG-AFTRA files unfair labor practice complaint against Epic over Fortnite's AI-powered Darth Vader: 'We must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/sag-aftra-files-unfair-labor-practice-complaint-against-epic-over-fortnites-ai-powered-darth-vader-we-must-protect-our-right-to-bargain-terms-and-conditions-around-uses-of-voice-that-replace-the-work-of-our-members/
Last week, Epic was forced to deploy a hotfix to prevent Fortnite players from tricking its newly-added AI-powered Darth Vader from swearing and saying slurs with James Earl Jones's voice. Today, AI Vader is the source of yet another controversy: SAG-AFTRA has filed unfair labor practice charges against Epic Games, alleging that the Fortnite publisher's use of AI-generated voice constituted "unilateral changes" to terms and conditions of employment covered by union bargaining.

A week after launch, my new favorite gungy, Condemned-style horror-brawler has its first patch and the promise of yokai-punching spiked knuckles on the way
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/a-week-after-launch-my-new-favorite-gungy-condemned-style-horror-brawler-has-its-first-patch-and-the-promise-of-yokai-punching-spiked-knuckles-on-the-way/
Survival horror dungeon crawler Labyrinth of the Demon King is neck-and-neck with Avowed and Oblivion Remastered as my personal game of the year so far, which I absolutely did not expect when I loaded it up on my Steam Deck before a flight (I ended up playing it all five hours). But even more surprising is that its small development team is already promising new additions just a week after launch.

Borderlands is the latest battleground for Steam review bombing, but the justification is extremely flimsy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/borderlands-is-the-latest-battleground-for-steam-review-bombing-but-the-justification-is-extremely-flimsy/
A rather sensational YouTube video appears to have set off a mild Steam review bombing directed at the Borderlands series.
In March, Borderlands YouTuber Hellfire posted a video called "Take Two Spies on Borderlands Players," and in it they highlight the differences between the game's original end-user licensing agreements and the new one Take-Two applied to it, which it applies to all of its games.
We should all be vigilant about what's in the EULAs we agree to for our games, as they can contain genuinely objectionable stipulations, but it's also true that the internet has a habit of overreacting to normal terms and conditions. Hellfire spends the bulk of the 16-minute video pointing out things that aren't actually as damning as they seem to think they are.

Helldivers 2's new update Heart of Democracy finally adds urban city maps, SEAF redshirts to make you look cool, giant Illuminate sky worms, and civilians to protect from friendly fire
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2s-new-update-heart-of-democracy-finally-adds-urban-city-maps-seaf-redshirts-to-make-you-look-cool-giant-illuminate-sky-worms-and-civilians-to-protect-from-friendly-fire/
Helldiver—bad news, Super Earth is officially under attack. As theorised in a leak last week, the big weapon customisation update wasn't the last we'd see out of Shams Jorjani and his team of professional trouser-browners. An official title update for Helldivers 2, Heart of Democracy, is now here.
With it come fully-urban city maps. These are a step up from the Illuminate townships we've seen before. We're talkin' skyscrapers, we're talkin' streets flooded with civilians, we're talkin' SEAF Redshirts who are just going to be there to make you look good—I mean, er, die in valor for the glory of managed democracy. Yeah.

I accidentally forgot to start the Soviet Union in this excellent free game about the Russian Revolution
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/i-accidentally-forgot-to-start-the-soviet-union-in-this-excellent-free-game-about-the-russian-revolution/
If there's one thing I've learnt from my time with sims like Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and that one game that gave me the historic opportunity to be the first person to write "Rudolf Hilferding" on this website, it's that I wouldn't cut it in a time of crisis. Material conditions would slam-dunk me into the dustbin of history like Kobe Bryant. I just don't have the mettle that let figures like Napoleon, Alexander, or Caesar steer the ship of state so effortlessly in periods of tumult.
The latest game to remind me of this? Social Democracy: Petrograd 1917, another incredibly me-coded, free, and browser-based gem from the same dev—Autumn Chen—who made the aforementioned Rudolf Hilferding sim. Where Chen's last game had you try (and fail, in my case) to keep the German Social Democratic Party alive and thriving in the chaos of the late Weimar Republic period, Petrograd puts you in charge of one of several competing parties in the months leading up to the Russian Empire's October Revolution in 1917.