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

[JEMC]

The second part of the Monday gaming news:

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check has been wishlisted on Steam 1 million times, and will be published in November by Devolver Digital
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/quarantine-zone-the-last-check-has-been-wishlisted-on-steam-1-million-times-and-will-be-published-in-november-by-devolver-digital/
It's not even out yet, but zombie base management sim Quarantine Zone: The Last Check is already a certified hit. Its demo, released in May, attracted hundreds of thousands of players (myself included), received great reviews and lots of attention on social media—and has now infected over a million Steam wishlists.
>> The biggest complain from players is... the supply cart.

Elden Ring Nightreign is finally adding its missing duos mode on July 30
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-nightreign-is-finally-adding-its-missing-duos-mode-on-july-30/
While Nightreign's 5 million players have clearly proven the Elden Ring experiment a successful one, the co-op spinoff has still had one glaring flaw: No duos. Today, we know when Nightreign's original sin will finally be set right. Two-player mode is coming with patch 1.02, which will arrive in less than a week.

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader dev Owlcat comes out swinging in support of Stop Killing Games: 'Every player deserves lasting access to what they’ve paid for'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/warhammer-40k-rogue-trader-dev-owlcat-comes-out-swinging-in-support-of-stop-killing-games-every-player-deserves-lasting-access-to-what-theyve-paid-for/
Stop Killing Games' quest to get publishers to, get this, stop killing games trundles on. In fact, things are going quite well: the campaign's EU initiative recently hit the 1.4 million signatures milestone, which should be enough—fingers crossed—to get it over the hurdle and off to the European Commission, which will have six months to reply to it.
All that gathering momentum has attracted attention. On the one hand, you've got people like Ubi boss Yves Guillemot cautiously opining that "nothing lasts forever." Of course, he probably would be iffy on it—the inciting event for Stop Killing Games as a whole was Ubisoft's shutdown of The Crew.
On the other hand, you've got folks like Owlcat, the developer behind Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which has taken to Bluesky to give the campaign its full-throated support.

The majority of teams in the top 100 for Destiny 2's latest contest mode raid cheated—and as an MMO player, I am neither shocked nor surprised
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-majority-of-teams-in-the-top-100-for-destiny-2s-latest-contest-mode-raid-cheated-and-as-an-mmo-player-i-am-neither-shocked-nor-surprised/
It is with grim solemnity that I must share some terrible news: Destiny 2 has cheaters in it. Quite a lot of cheaters, actually—in fact, the majority of players in a top 100 ranking for the contest mode of The Desert Perpetual raid are stinkin', filthy, no-good hackers, why I oughtta.
As spotted by @aquativityy on X (thanks, Forbes), RaidHub's top 100 leaderboard has narced tremendously on the top percentile of the Destiny 2 playerbase. You can see a full Google doc being assembled in real-time here, which has spotted some blatant signs of skullduggery.

Gabe Newell says he founded Valve after Doom showed him Microsoft 'was missing the opportunity' offered by the internet: 'I was willing to sort of put my money where my mouth was'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/gabe-newell-says-he-founded-valve-after-doom-showed-him-microsoft-was-missing-the-opportunity-offered-by-the-internet-i-was-willing-to-sort-of-put-my-money-where-my-mouth-was/
We all know the story of how Valve was founded. Gabe Newell, born beneath a rainbow on Mt Paektu, was visited by an archangel in his quarters and charged to build Half-Life. Then he was charged to build a Half-Life patch tool called Steam that remains inexplicably popular to this day. In return, he was blessed with 800 sacred knives and a superyacht, which he uses to travel the globe like Cain, battling his enemies.
Or so I thought, anyway. But in a new interview with YouTuber Zalkar Saliev (TikTok, IG), Newell chatted about the circumstances that led to Valve's birth in much more mundane terms. Turns out, the germ that would become Valve got its start when Newell—then working at Microsoft—was trying to convince people that maybe not every app needed its own bespoke interface and approach to graphics acceleration tech, and how he convinced them using Doom.
>> Another story: he wanted to be a doctor before he went to visit his brother at Msoft.

Dune: Awakening 'temporarily' disables Steam Family Sharing, potentially through the end of 2025: 'We have unfortunately seen this feature abused frequently'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dune-awakening-temporarily-disables-steam-family-sharing-potentially-through-the-end-of-2025-we-have-unfortunately-seen-this-feature-abused-frequently/
Survival MMO Dune: Awakening got off to a strong start in June, but here at the tail end of July it's gotten stuck in a bit of quicksand. Even making changes to the controversial chopper-heavy endgame hasn't stopped recent Steam reviews from sliding to "Mixed," and despite several patches to squash exploits and hackers, cheating and griefing remains a problem.
A bit more bad news arrived today: Steam Family Sharing for Dune: Awakening has been switched off.
"We would like to share a quick update on cheats and exploits and inform you that we’re temporarily disabling Family Sharing," publisher Funcom posted on Steam and Discord, adding that it relates to the effort to prevent cheating: "We have unfortunately seen this feature abused frequently."

Fans claim Blizzard's new Diablo Immortal x Hearthstone art was made with generative AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fans-claim-blizzards-new-diablo-immortal-x-hearthstone-art-was-made-with-generative-ai/
The ear is the most convincing part of Reddit user Ipyreable's post that claims artwork posted by official Diablo Immortal social media accounts was created with generative AI. Human ears simply do not look like that, even in the fantasy universes of Warcraft and Diablo.

'The age of gameplay mechanics has already passed' says Shadow of The Colossus director as he praises Katamari Damacy creator's new game for not being systems-driven
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-age-of-gameplay-mechanics-has-already-passed-says-shadow-of-the-colossus-director-as-he-praises-katamari-damacy-creators-new-game-for-not-being-systems-driven/
Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi is known for making unusual games, and his latest digital escapade To a T is no different. Players assume the role of a teenager stuck in a T-pose as they try to navigate everyday life via interactive scenes like brushing their teeth and eating breakfast.
(...)
This simple, thematically driven approach also enamoured another venerable Japanese developer, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda. Recently, the two got together with Denfaminicogamer (via Automaton Media) to chat about To a T's design, leading Ueda to declare that "the age of gameplay mechanics has already passed".

After a forgettable launch, Ubisoft's Avatar game is getting a huge new update later this year, introducing new game plus and a third-person mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-a-forgettable-launch-ubisofts-avatar-game-is-getting-a-huge-new-update-later-this-year-introducing-new-game-plus-and-a-third-person-mode/
I liked Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora more than I expected I would when it rumbled into Steam's digital jungle back in 2023. (...)
In fact, I was surprised the game's launch was so muted, squeezed into the end of December with seemingly little marketing fanfare from Ubisoft. It seemed like the game was fairly quickly forgotten about too, generating relatively little discussion, and without much evident support from developer Massive beyond releasing a couple of paid DLC patches.
But quiet doesn't necessarily mean inactive, and it seems Massive has been busy behind the scenes. An update released in April overhauled the game's Hunter's guide, and now Massive has revealed an even larger update coming later this year, one that will add two of the community's most hotly requested features to the game.

Crash Bandicoot's original lead programmer reckons the overhauled N. Sane Trilogy 'got almost everything right' except for one tiny detail: 'they completely botched how jumping works'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/crash-bandicoots-original-lead-programmer-reckons-the-overhauled-n-sane-trilogy-got-almost-everything-right-except-for-one-tiny-detail-they-completely-botched-how-jumping-works/
Crash Bandicoot's overhauled N. Sane Trilogy was generally well received when it released back in 2017, and marked the first time that PlayStation's jorts-clad mascot somersaulted onto PC. But there has long been suspicion that something ain't right with Crash's jumping in Vicarious Visions' remake, with numerous Reddit threads complaining that the game's platforming is weirdly trickier than it was back in the PlayStation era.
Various theories have been floated regarding why this might be the case. User Kunikunatu suggested it could be due to changes to Crash' hitbox a few years ago, and back when the N. Sane Trilogy launched, KillingLechu pondered whether its "hold X to jump higher" mechanic might be "a little bit overworked."
Well, it turns out that KillingLechu may have been onto something, if the words of Naughty Dog co-founder and original lead programmer Andrew Gavin are anything to go by. In a post on LinkedIn, Gavin wrote that the Crash Bandicoot remake "got almost everything right. Except the most important 30 milliseconds."

Total War: Warhammer 3's siege rework beta is live now and runs into August, letting you have your say on pocket ladder prohibition, battle AI improvements, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-3s-siege-rework-beta-is-live-now-and-runs-into-august-letting-you-have-your-say-on-pocket-ladder-prohibition-battle-ai-improvements-and-more/
Total War: Warhammer 3's Siege Rework beta has officially begun digging its sapper's tunnels beneath the walls of the base game. Creative Assembly is currently testing numerous major changes to how sieges function, opening the overhaul up for players to try themselves and provide feedback.

Remember the guy who lost a bitcoin wallet worth millions in a landfill? There's a game about that now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/remember-the-guy-who-lost-a-bitcoin-wallet-worth-millions-in-a-landfill-theres-a-game-about-that-now/
One Man's Trash is a game inspired by that one guy who lost hundreds of millions in bitcoin in a landfill and then later tried to buy the landfill.
In it, you dig into a junk pit with a vacuum "in a desperate (and probably delusional) hunt for your lost 'PitCoin' fortune."

Bethesda promises 'exciting things' ahead for Starfield while releasing the teeny-tiniest patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bethesda-promises-exciting-things-ahead-for-starfield-while-releasing-the-teeny-tiniest-patch/
After no news on Starfield at the Xbox Games Showcase last month, Bethesda has finally given fans the briefest of updates on the game's future. In the patch notes for update 1.15.222 posted on Steam on July 22, Bethesda stated, "We’re continuing work on future updates and will share more about the exciting things we have planned for Starfield in the coming months."

Rematch devs call it a 'samurai game' and give a timeline for player reports, new ranked queues
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/rematch-devs-call-it-a-samurai-game-and-give-a-timeline-for-player-reports-new-ranked-queues/
Small-squad soccer game Rematch has blown up—no, really, it's huge—over the last month since it released.
Fascinatingly, developer Sloclap was also responsible for Sifu, the time-bending 2022 kung fu game. In a recent Reddit post updating Rematch's now quite large community on its development, Sloclap addressed its opinion about the relationship between the two as fighting games of a sort.

Techland bumps back Dying Light: The Beast release by a month 'to allow for extra polishing work'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/techland-bumps-back-dying-light-the-beast-release-by-a-month-to-allow-for-extra-polishing-work/
Fans of Dying Light 2 will have to wait a little bit longer for the highly anticipated DLC-turned-sequel Dying Light: The Beast. Developer Techland announced on July 24 that the game's release date has been delayed by four weeks, moving it back to September 19.