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

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Friday gaming news, the second part:

'Man, I wish we didn't have to turn on Secure Boot': Battlefield 6 technical director knows the anti-cheat measure is a pain, but believes 'the trade off was worth it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/man-i-wish-we-didnt-have-to-turn-on-secure-boot-battlefield-6-technical-director-knows-the-anti-cheat-measure-is-a-pain-but-believes-the-trade-off-was-worth-it/
If you were hoping that Battlefield 6 would ease up on its Secure Boot requirement ahead of launch, I'd stop holding that breath.
Battlefield Studios has reaffirmed its requirement for the BIOS-level setting, which some fans complained was incompatible with their system or required jumping through too many hoops just to try the game.
>> They also know that the settings menu was a mess, and it will still be at launch.

In a major win for playing Battlefield 6 however the heck you want, EA just confirmed Portal servers are actually persistent: 'It's always listed in the browser for easy access'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/in-a-major-win-for-playing-battlefield-6-however-the-heck-you-want-ea-just-confirmed-portal-servers-are-actually-persistent-its-always-listed-in-the-browser-for-easy-access/
The Battlefield 6 server browser had my curiosity, but now it has my attention: Battlefield Studios just confirmed that servers spun up in its "Portal browser" can be made persistent. Theoretically, that means the Portal browser will behave like a classic FPS browser, allowing someone to host a "24/7 CAIRO ONLY" server that won't disappear after everybody goes to bed.

We almost got a third-person horror Call of Duty set in Vietnam with 'stuff you've never seen before', but instead we just got more Modern Warfare
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/we-almost-got-a-third-person-horror-call-of-duty-set-in-vietnam-with-stuff-youve-never-seen-before-but-instead-we-just-got-more-modern-warfare/
As of 2023, Sledgehammer Games has worked on not one but two versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but I would have been much more interested to play the studio's original pitch to Activision: a third-person CoD in a "scary version of Vietnam".

My inner Morrowind sicko is howling over the new game from the Dread Delusion devs, a turn-based RPG where you play a theatre troupe fighting demons
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/my-inner-morrowind-sicko-is-howling-over-the-new-game-from-the-dread-delusion-devs-a-turn-based-rpg-where-you-play-a-theatre-troupe-fighting-demons/
"In this dying age, only pockets of humanity remain. There was no apocalyptic event to speak of; only the cruel march of time and the inexplicable infertility of the world," reads the blurb. "Accursed creatures stalk the barren lands between settlements, which are themselves terrible places; squalid, medieval and mostly ruled by tyrants."
An accurate description of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire*, but also the copy for Entropy, the next game from Lovely Hellplace, the dev behind the incredibly weird and much-beloved Dread Delusion. Where Dread Delusion was a first-person, open-world RPG, Entropy is a throwback to the RPGs of yore: a turn-based, party-based thing where you and your crew venture across the land to stop a demonic threat.

Borderlands has been too hot, too cold, and will now be just right, says Randy Pitchford: 'We can see those times we've gone too far'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/borderlands-4-has-been-too-hot-too-cold-and-will-now-be-just-right-says-randy-pitchford-we-can-see-those-times-weve-gone-too-far/
Turns out, videogame development is a lot like porridge, and it can take a bit of fiddling to get things right. And if you think that doesn't make sense, you might not be Randy Pitchford, who said something similar in a Future Games interview with the Gearbox boss himself.

'No more James Sunderland': After a successful Silent Hill 2 remake, Bloober Team is ready to move on and 'treat ourselves'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/no-more-james-sunderland-after-a-successful-silent-hill-2-remake-bloober-team-is-ready-to-move-on-and-treat-ourselves/
It seems like only yesterday that Konami announced Bloober Team would be developing the Silent Hill 2 remake, a decision that, while at first questioned by horror fans, soon seemed like the right call once players actually got their hands on the remake.
But Bloober Team couldn't just bask in the success of the Silent Hill 2 remake forever; no, there was a point during its development where it became clear that now was the time to move on to the next venture.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a new 'high difficulty mode' in September, including an 'endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/elden-ring-nightreign-is-getting-a-new-high-difficulty-mode-in-september-including-an-endless-battle-for-those-seeking-even-greater-thrills/
Back in 2024, as the soulslike difficulty discourse once again reared its silly head, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said FromSoft "could just crank the difficulty down," but warned that doing so "would break the game itself." That doesn't seem to be a concern going the other direction, though, as Bandai Namco says a new "high-difficulty challenge mode" called Deep of Night is coming to Elden Ring: Nightreign in September.

Fed up with 'living in fear' of mass layoffs, Diablo developers take action against Microsoft: 'We are ready to begin fighting for real change'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/fed-up-with-living-in-fear-of-mass-layoffs-diablo-designers-take-action-against-microsoft-we-are-ready-to-begin-fighting-for-real-change/
The Diablo team is the next in line to unionize at Blizzard. Over 450 developers across multiple disciplines have voted to form a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and they're now the fourth major Blizzard team to do so.

We're still feeling aftershocks from Microsoft's destructive July layoffs and cancellations
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/were-still-feeling-aftershocks-from-microsofts-destructive-july-layoffs-and-cancellations/
Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics has imposed another round of layoffs, putting an undisclosed number of people out of work in the face of "evolving business conditions."
>> Quick reminder that they were co-developing the new Perfect Dark.

The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 development teams continue to grow as CD Projekt's headcount expands to nearly 800
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-witcher-4-and-cyberpunk-2-development-teams-continue-to-grow-as-cd-projekts-headcount-expands-to-nearly-800/
The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 are still a long way off, but CD Projekt is slowly but surely ramping things up. The company said in its H1 financial report today that the development teams for both game have continued to expand, and that further "gradual growth" is expected by the end of the year.