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

[JEMC]

The long second part of the gaming news:

The creator of X-Com isn't worried about old fans not vibing with his new game: 'It's successful for people who have maybe not played any strategy at all'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/the-creator-of-x-com-isnt-worried-about-old-fans-not-vibing-with-his-new-game-its-successful-for-people-who-have-maybe-not-played-any-strategy-at-all/
"If they're into the traditional turn-based hardcore stuff, it might not be for them," says Julian Gollop, the man who gave us X-Com and ushered in decades of tense turn-based tactical challenges. He's talking about his new game, the colourful, easy going Chip 'N Clawz vs The Brainoids.

MindsEye's response was so mindblowingly negative its star thought 'I might never work in another game again'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/mindseyes-response-was-so-mindblowingly-negative-its-star-thought-i-might-never-work-in-another-game-again/
By all accounts, MindsEye was not a good game, and I doubt its ongoing updates will ever change that perception in the eyes of audiences everywhere. The Steam reviews are at 37%, 'Mostly Negative' and the Metacritic matches it exactly. People do not like this videogame.
In fact, they don't like it so much that star Alex Hernandez thought it might outright kill his videogame career. Hernandez, who played main character Jacob Diaz, said in a chat with Frvr that being, in essence, the public face of a failed videogame is a pretty tough thing to go through (even though Hernandez's performance was good, as far as I'm aware).

Old School RuneScape says no more Mr Nice Guy, it's time for permabans and confiscations if you're caught buying black market gold
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/old-school-runescape-says-no-more-mr-nice-guy-its-time-for-permabans-and-confiscations-if-youre-caught-buying-black-market-gold/
Old School RuneScape (OSRS) has a cancer, and that cancer is crime. Or, well, it's repeated violations of Jagex's terms of service, anyway. The game is beset by perfidious players who buy in-game gold and items off black market sellers using real-world money, a process called Real World Trading (RWT).
Okay, yes, some version of that happens in a lot of MMOs, but it's a particular thorn in the side for Jagex and its players, leading as it does to legions of bots infesting the game in order to vacuum up gold to sell later on. Now, Jagex has decided it's no more Mr Nice Guy time: the punishments for buying gold are getting harsher.

The Elder Scrolls Online studio head says Microsoft's brutal cuts were 'super emotional… it was awful'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/the-elder-scrolls-online-studio-head-says-microsofts-brutal-cuts-were-super-emotional-it-was-awful/
In July this year, Phil Spencer said Microsoft's gaming business has "never looked stronger" as he simultaneously announced an absolutely brutal round of layoffs. Several studios were closed outright, games were cancelled, and almost everything in Microsoft's portfolio was touched in some way, with the aftershocks still coming.
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"It was super emotional, it was awful," says Lambert, adding that he'd worked with some of those affected for over a decade. "But then after, you pick yourself up off the floor and [...] you realize that we have this responsibility to our community, to the game, to everybody else that is still there to move forward. That's really hard, but that's the goal, to continue to move forward and keep ESO going."

[UPDATED] Bungie responds to outrage over its microtransaction rug pull by giving players the chance to earn what would have been paid cosmetic armor in-game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/furious-players-accuse-bungie-of-secretly-moving-a-stunning-free-armor-set-into-the-eververse-store-so-players-have-to-pay-real-money-for-it-instead/
Recent updates Bungie has announced that as part of update 9.1.0.1, which launched today, the reskinned Iron Banner gear, which players discovered had supposed to be a cool armor set which was instead swapped into the microtransaction store, has been replaced by a different set from the Eververse store. Or, in another words, players will now be able to earn the cool gear in-game, as was originally intended, rather than being expected to shell out for it. Here's confirmation, which was buried at the bottom of the patch notes. "The visuals for the earned Iron Banner set have been replaced and will use those of the Ancient Majesty set." Over on X, the community team went into more detail about the controversy and future plans: "The overall balance in paid and earned armor cosmetics is off for this season and we're aiming to adjust our approach to earned rewards in the future." That post, and the rest of the patch notes, also mentions changes being made to the current power grind, which users have rightly called out for being miserable to the point of non-functional. It might feel like throwing a cup of water into a burning hourse right now, but it's something. As for the Ancient Majesty set, it's an absolutely gorgeous medievel theme (no wonder it was being sold), which you can check out on Hunter, Titan and Warlock via Light.gg.

Destiny 2's latest game-breaking bug: Players can no longer respawn in solo activities... Like, at all
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/destiny-2s-latest-game-breaking-bug-players-can-no-longer-respawn-in-solo-activities-like-at-all/
This afternoon my Destiny 2 clanmate texted me to say: "If you die in Solo Ops or Patrol you can no longer respawn". That can't be right, I thought. That would be such a fundamental bug that it would effectively break the game. Anyway, I loaded in, did some testing, and you can probably guess where this is going.

One of the most beloved hardcore board games of all time is getting a Steam version
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/one-of-the-most-beloved-hardcore-board-games-of-all-time-is-getting-a-steam-version/
There's a class of board game so complex that even successfully completing a game becomes a heroic accomplishment of logistics and human endurance. Among the most revered of those offerings is Twilight Imperium, the legendary sci-fi strategy game of galactic conquest, commerce, and political scheming that's earned its place as the 6th highest rated game on BoardGameGeek—and its 4.34 / 5 complexity rating.
Soon it'll be a bit easier to enter the arena of galactic grand strategy without an Olympic swimming pool-sized dining table, because Twilight Imperium is coming to Steam.

Diablo 4's new 'Chaos armor' is a card game-inspired response to criticisms over boring seasonal powers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4s-new-chaos-armor-is-a-card-game-inspired-response-to-criticisms-over-boring-seasonal-powers/
For the first time in a while, a Diablo 4 season won't just be about fancy new powers for your build. In season 10, or the Season of Infernal Chaos, the best loot in the game can drop as "Chaos armor", allowing you to use items in ways you never could before.

Escape from Tarkov owners will have to buy it again if they want to play through Steam, and the Steam version will require a Battlestate account anyway
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/escape-from-tarkov-owners-will-have-to-buy-it-again-if-they-want-to-play-through-steam-and-the-steam-version-will-require-a-battlestate-account-anyway/
Escape from Tarkov is finally crossing the Rubicon into a 1.0 release on November 15, and it just unveiled something that might be a little surreal if you've followed the game's eight years in early access: its very own Steam page, where it'll soon have achievements, the Steam overlay, friends list integration and all that great stuff.
This will be most exciting if you don't own Escape from Tarkov yet and have been holding out for this very moment. If you already own it and want to play it through Steam, though, you'll need to buy it again and link your Steam account to your existing Tarkov profile, Battlestate confirmed in a blog post.

The next Silksong update helps the bosses but does little to allay our own, interminable suffering
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-next-silksong-update-helps-the-bosses-but-does-little-to-allay-our-own-interminable-suffering/
The first Silksong patch was released last week and, among other things, nerfed a couple of the tough early game bosses like Moorwing and Sister Splinter. But if the patch notes for Silksong's second update are any indication, Team Cherry doesn't intend to keep dialing down the difficulty. If you were hoping for some more boss nerfs or perhaps fewer obstacles on the way to bosses, then give up all hope ye who enter here.
No, the latest Silksong patch—which is currently live in the public-beta branch on Steam, but will roll out officially in the coming days—is mostly about making sure the bosses themselves don't keep making dumb mistakes.

Don't get stuck grinding in Borderlands 4's version of the Hinterlands—in fact, you're screwing yourself out of EXP if you try to do every sidequest before beating the main campaign
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dont-get-stuck-grinding-in-borderlands-4s-version-of-the-hinterlands-in-fact-youre-screwing-yourself-out-of-exp-if-you-try-to-do-every-sidequest-before-beating-the-main-campaign/
Borderlands 4 is great, but it doesn't quite make the best first impression. There's nothing necessarily wrong with its first zone, The Fadefields, but it's definitely the most droll place to quest in Kairos. You could be Mad Max-ing it with Zane and Moxxi in the Burn, after all.
The problem with the Fadefields is it's big, fairly visually nondescript, drenched in sidequests, and—oh god, it's the Hinterlands. We've done a Hinterlands again.
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Borderlands 4's postgame progression system, specialisation points, don't unlock until you've beaten the campaign—no matter your current level. Beat the campaign at level 30? You get specialisation points. Beat it at 40, like I did? Specialisation points.

Rejoice, Counter-Strike's grenades now sound crisp and clear as a chorus of angels—plus subtick shooting is either better or the fanbase is experiencing a shared delusion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/rejoice-counter-strikes-grenades-now-sound-crisp-and-clear-as-a-chorus-of-angels-plus-subtick-shooting-is-either-better-or-the-fanbase-is-experiencing-a-shared-delusion/
If there's one thing, one single thing, that's stopped me from going pro in Counter-Strike 2 all these years, it's the audio on those grenades—fuzzy and low-fi, like it was recorded by the Elephant Six Collective. Atrocious mids, swampy highs, lows with the callous insouciance of a neglectful husband*. I refuse to subject my ears to that.
Well, now I won't have to, and my CS2 career can finally bloom. In an update earlier today, Valve announced that the game's 'nades are almost irresponsibly hi-fi. They "now have unique higher-fidelity sounds for draw, inspect, pin-pull, and throw." Our long national nightmare is over.

Gearbox breaks out some free loot because Borderlands players have already looted over 750 million items, half a million of which were from trash cans
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/gearbox-breaks-out-some-free-loot-because-borderlands-players-have-already-looted-over-750-million-items-half-a-million-of-which-were-from-trash-cans/
The big theme in the first week of Borderlands 4? Whether you're talking about technical issues or character builds: it's busted. There are so many broken builds it's untrue, and players are running around with "infinite damage" builds that nuke bosses in under 10 seconds… which is either great or terrible, depending on your mood.
But it's probably why, in the first week of release, players have fought bosses 63 million times and defeated 55 million of them. Pretty good hit rate, and the numbers come from developer Gearbox itself, which has released a loot package for all players to celebrate… erm, all the looting.