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

[JEMC]

Tuesday gaming news, the second part:

Steam's latest mini-hit is Mage Arena, a voice-powered spellcasting game that costs $3
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/steams-latest-mini-hit-is-mage-arena-a-voice-powered-spellcasting-game-that-costs-usd3/
"Fireball! Freeze! Magic Missile!" I yelled about 47 times yesterday playing Mage Arena, the voice-powered wizardry game currently shooting up the Steam charts. I convinced some friends to pick up the $3, early access arena shooter based on the strength of the "say spells to cast them" pitch alone, and the verdict is in—Mage Arena is a blast.

A 'slavish clone': Sony is suing Tencent over a game that looks startlingly similar to Horizon Zero Dawn
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/a-slavish-clone-sony-is-suing-tencent-over-a-game-that-looks-startlingly-similar-to-horizon-zero-dawn/
Apparently Sony had the same reaction as the rest of us when Tencent announced a game that looks shockingly similar to Horizon Zero Dawn. It's suing the Chinese tech company over the open world game, which like Horizon is set in a lush post-apocalypse and stars a woman with a bow who fights and tames animals made of metal.
>> They pushed too far and Sony got them. Anyway, curl-6 has made a thread about this.

'Maybe I've directed my last game,' Dead Space creator Glen Schofield says after being unable to secure funding for his new project: 'With the industry on pause, AAA feels like it's a long ways away'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/maybe-ive-directed-my-last-game-dead-space-creator-glen-schofield-says-after-being-unable-to-secure-funding-for-his-new-project-with-the-industry-on-pause-aaa-feels-like-its-a-long-ways-away/
After a long career in videogames that took him from Ren and Stimpy and Rocky and Bullwinkle to Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol (seriously, check his credits), Glen Schofield might have finally reached the end of the line. In a message posted to LinkedIn (via VGC), Schofield said he'd been working on a new idea but "decided to walk away" after he couldn't raise the funding he was looking for, and admitted that "maybe I've directed my last game."

Quarantine Zone was almost a zombie-free sim about managing a warehouse
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/quarantine-zone-was-almost-a-zombie-free-sim-about-managing-a-warehouse/
Something curious happened in mid-2024: everyone went crazy over a little game called Supermarket Simulator. There's never a shortage of quirky little games about doing real-life jobs, but for some reason this particular retail sim about stocking shelves and waiting on customers blew up big—and that didn't just draw the attention of players, but other developers.
That includes Stas Staryk, who had been doing corporate VR training and outsourced work for Epic Games, but wanted to make his first game with the company he'd co-founded, Brigada Games. A game like Supermarket Simulator had a lot of appeal, Staryk told PC Gamer this week.

Some lucky souls will get hands-on with Silksong within weeks, with the Hollow Knight sequel confirmed to be playable at Gamescom 2025
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/some-lucky-souls-will-get-hands-on-with-silksong-within-weeks-with-the-hollow-knight-sequel-confirmed-to-be-playable-at-gamescom-2025/
Mortals will have their first chance to play Hollow Knight Silksong in less than a month from now. The sequel will appear at Microsoft's Gamescom booth on August 20 and 21, and will be playable on both PC and the forthcoming ROG Xbox Ally, which will also make its hands-on debut at the convention.

Xbox is rolling out age verification in the UK with some social features blocked for young users, and no, you can't use Death Stranding to get around this one
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/xbox-is-rolling-out-age-verification-in-the-uk-with-some-social-features-blocked-for-young-users-and-no-you-cant-use-death-stranding-to-get-around-this-one/
The UK has just recently passed the UK Online Safety Act, and despite almost 400,000 signatures being signed to repeal it, the UK government has stayed firm on its implementation.
Discord recently fell in line with this act, requiring age verification for certain servers, but unlike that, Xbox's new 18+ moderation can't be worked around with a few stills of Sam Bridges from Death Stranding. I know. I checked.
>> I’m posting it in case it expands to the Msoft Store and some online modes of their games.