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

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Monday gaming news, the second part:

'It's not player friendly': EA boss says making The Sims 5 is 'not a good idea for our community' because players have over 10 years of spiritual, mental, and financial investment
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-sims/its-not-player-friendly-ea-boss-says-making-the-sims-5-is-not-a-good-idea-for-our-community-because-players-have-over-10-years-of-spiritual-mental-and-financial-investment/
EA continues to be rather confusing about what the future of The Sims looks like, but one thing remains clear: The Sims 5 ain't happening, and the series as we know it now is going to become something very different.

One of Elden Ring Nightreign's returning Dark Souls bosses launches into the stratosphere halfway through the fight to hide that he gets replaced by a second, smaller guy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/one-of-elden-ring-nightreigns-returning-dark-souls-bosses-launches-into-the-stratosphere-halfway-through-the-fight-to-hide-that-he-gets-replaced-by-a-second-smaller-guy/
Prolific FromSoftware dataminer Zullie the Witch is back with another interesting piece of Elden Ring Nightreign esoterica: The version of Dark Souls 3's Nameless King you fight on foot is different than the one riding the dragon, and FromSoft had to get creative with how it hides the transition.

'It has to be grounded': Battlefield 6 devs say cosmetics won't be as goofy as Call of Duty, but that sounds almost too good to be true
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/it-has-to-be-grounded-battlefield-6-devs-say-cosmetics-wont-be-as-goofy-as-call-of-duty-but-that-sounds-almost-too-good-to-be-true/
For a certain kind of FPS fan, Battlefield 6's big multiplayer reveal is hitting at the perfect moment. Call of Duty is firmly in its slop era, leaving DICE and co. with an opening to be the only big-budget FPS around that doesn't devolve into a clown show of ugly premium skins like CoD's Beavis and Butthead or Rainbow Six Siege's Rick & Morty collection.
>> What will be grounded is the storage needed for the game, that can go as low as 55GB (there are options).

Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down, but Valve says payment processors 'specifically cited' a Mastercard rule about damaging the brand
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-nsfw-games-being-taken-down-but-valve-says-payment-processors-specifically-cited-a-mastercard-rule-about-damaging-the-brand/
Two weeks after Valve confirmed it had removed a pile of NSFW games from Steam because of pressure from credit card companies—and one week after Itch.io followed suit—Mastercard has released a statement denying responsibility for the takedowns, saying it "allows all lawful purchases" to be processed through its systems.

Pathfinder's space opera spin-off is getting its own videogame, an RPG called Starfinder: Afterlight
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/pathfinders-space-opera-spin-off-is-getting-its-own-videogame-an-rpg-called-starfinder-afterlight/
Paizo's tabletop RPG Pathfinder has made it into videogames several times, and while we don't talk about the MMO, Owlcat's CRPGs have done its flavor of crunchy classic fantasy justice twice now. Pathfinder's science-fantasy spin-off Starfinder is about to take its turn being digitized in an upcoming videogame by Barcelona studio Epictellers Entertainment.

The Elder Scrolls Online 'isn't going anywhere,' new ZeniMax boss says: 'The studio is continuing to work hard on new features, adventures, and improvements'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/the-elder-scrolls-online-isnt-going-anywhere-new-zenimax-boss-says-the-studio-is-continuing-to-work-hard-on-new-features-adventures-and-improvements/
A month after Microsoft pulled the plug on an in-development MMO at ZeniMax Online Studios, new studio head Jo Burba has posted an update promising that The Elder Scrolls Online remains safe and secure.
"Please allow me to assure you, the ESO community, that the game isn’t going anywhere, and the studio is continuing to work hard on new features, adventures, and improvements," Burba wrote. "We said that there’s big changes to the world of Tamriel on the horizon, and that hasn’t changed. We will be sharing more about those soon."

It's a bad day for BioShock fans: BioShock 4 studio heads have been removed as development struggles, while a BioShock remake in development has been cancelled
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/its-a-bad-day-for-bioshock-fans-bioshock-4-studio-heads-have-been-removed-as-development-struggles-while-a-bioshock-remake-in-development-has-been-cancelled/
It's been six years since 2K Games confirmed that BioShock 4 was in development at newly formed studio Cloud Chamber, and despite all that time passed it sounds like we've got a lot of waiting left. A new Bloomberg report says the in-progress game recently failed a review by 2K executives, leading to the removal of studio head Kelley Gilmore and shift of creative director Hogarth de la Plante to a publishing role, as well as a planned overhaul of parts of the game itself.

Setting up trade routes is gaming catnip to me, so I'm pouncing on this beautiful city builder on Steam that has some strong Catan vibes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/setting-up-trade-routes-is-gaming-catnip-to-me-so-im-pouncing-on-this-beautiful-city-builder-on-steam-that-has-some-strong-catan-vibes/
I don't know exactly why, but the idea of setting up trade routes is like catnip to me. Little horse-drawn wagons? Shipments of lumber or wool or vegetables? Resources trundling between cities? Yeah, I'll play a game where that happens.
Let Them Trade, as you can probably guess from the title, is all about that trading life. You build little medieval cities on a beautiful map, assign them specialties like farming, fishing, or woodcutting, link them together through roads and bridges, and set up trade networks so that resources can get from the places they're produced to where they're needed most.

Death Stranding 2's vtuber cameo is only the beginning of more anime girls appearing in your favorite games, Hololive CEO says
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/death-stranding-2s-vtuber-cameo-is-only-the-beginning-of-more-anime-girls-appearing-in-your-favorite-games-hololive-ceo-says/
Death Stranding 2 is stuffed with all sorts of ridiculous cameos, but one of the most bizarre inclusions is extremely popular Japanese-speaking vtuber Usada Pekora. Even though it's no surprise at this point to see Hideo Kojima find a way to insert his favorite celebrities into his games, the CEO of the company Pekora streams for is aiming to have many more collabs in the future.
Speaking to PC Gamer in a recent interview (through a translator), the CEO of Cover, the company that owns vtuber agency Hololive, Motoaki Tanigo, said introducing vtubers to gamers is a big goal right now.

'Chat do I go to the office on Saturday to fix this:' The clock is ticking on Peak accidentally hitting players with a map that's impossible to beat
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/chat-do-i-go-to-the-office-on-saturday-to-fix-this-the-clock-is-ticking-on-peak-accidentally-hitting-players-with-a-map-thats-impossible-to-beat/
If your next Peak run looks impossible, it just might be. On Saturday, dev Aggro Crab posted a screenshot of an impossible-to-reach campfire that spawned on top of an unclimbable tree. Peak is challenging, but it's not supposed to be quite that challenging.
Aggro Crab explained the glitch in a post on X (with a string of crying emojis): "A modder in discord has informed me that in two days there will be a map where the campfire spawns in an unreachable tree. chat do i go to the office on saturday to fix this."
It's worth pointing out that this funny (and frustrating) glitch isn't in the game just yet. Peak's procedurally-generated maps update on a daily timer, so the map with this campfire glitch isn't live yet. It will be in a couple of days if the devs don't fix it..