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

[JEMC]

Thursday gaming news, part two:

Helldivers 2 devs say players are 'absolutely right to expect better' after latest update's crashes and stumbles—promise mid-October patch and 'better communication'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-devs-say-players-are-absolutely-right-to-expect-better-after-latest-updates-crashes-and-stumbles-promise-mid-october-patch-and-better-communication/
Helldivers 2 is in the "it's so over!" part of the chart again, unfortunately. Despite its latest patch being a ton of fun, the entire engine is also buckling and groaning under the weight of extreme technical debt.
(...)
Well, Arrowhead has noticed your concerns. In a recent post to the Helldivers 2 Discord, community manager Baskinator relays: "We know many of you have been experiencing issues, including performance drops, stability hiccups, freezes, and the annoying audio bugs.
"We’ve seen the feedback across Discord, forums, Reddit and our dashboards. You’ve been loud, clear, and absolutely right to expect better. We also recognise that our recent updates haven’t hit the mark, and our silence hasn’t helped. That’s on us. We read all of it, and we are hard at work creating a roadmap to address this."

Payday 2 gets a new DLC subscription service, and it's a pretty good deal but a lot of players are mad anyway
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/payday-2-gets-a-new-dlc-subscription-service-and-its-a-pretty-good-deal-but-a-lot-of-players-are-mad-anyway/
With Payday 3 still struggling badly, Starbreeze has made the surprising and somewhat confusing announcement that it has launched a brand-new subscription service for its predecessor Payday 2—which, for the record, is still going gangbusters.

Monster Hunter Wilds' FF14 crossover update and Omega hunt lands on Monday, but we're still waiting until December for those much-needed performance improvements
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-ff14-crossover-update-and-omega-hunt-lands-on-monday-but-were-still-waiting-until-december-for-those-much-needed-performance-improvements/
During its pre-TGS showcase stream earlier today, Capcom announced that the next major Monster Hunter Wilds update, featuring Final Fantasy 14 collaboration content, will launch on Monday, September 29. First revealed back in August, Title Update 3 will add Eorzea-themed hunts, equipment, and cosmetics, which—while appreciated—still leaves Wilds' glaring performance issues largely unaddressed.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 devs 'straight up turned down' skin deals with 'big, big brands' following Tactical Beavis backlash
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-black-ops-7-devs-straight-up-turned-down-skin-deals-with-big-big-brands-following-tactical-beavis-backlash/
In 2023, our Morgan Park wrote about the phenomenon of Cosmetic Uglification, in which shooters of the modern era are inevitably swallowed by a rancid mire of crossover skins until they've lost all semblance of a cohesive visual identity. In the years since, things have only become more dire, culminating in Black Ops 6 reaching the damning aesthetic nadir of Tactical Beavis.
Thankfully, the higher powers doing the decisionmaking in the shooter market have finally clocked that a lot of people hate this shit. In an interview with Dexerto's CharlieIntel, Treyarch senior director of production Yale Miller said Activision has cancelled crossover skin deals to focus on cosmetics that "make sense for Black Ops 7."

'Unauthorized' AI-generated voices in Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered have been removed
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/unauthorized-ai-generated-voices-in-tomb-raider-4-6-remastered-have-been-removed/
A month after the actor who provided the French voice of Lara Croft issued a cease-and-desist to Aspyr over its use of AI-generated voice lines in Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, the studio has confirmed that the "unauthorized AI generated content" has now been removed.

Wolverine claws more people in the head in the new Marvel's Wolverine trailer than I think he did in all the comics I read as a kid
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/wolverine-claws-more-people-in-the-head-in-the-new-wolverine-trailer-than-i-think-he-did-in-all-the-comics-i-read-as-a-kid/
I'm no prude, I promise—but I was honestly a bit surprised the new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine is so, like, bloody. Wow.
I realize Logan has razor-sharp claws that snikt out of his hands, and his whole deal is using them to cut people up into multiple pieces. I also know a couple of the Marvel movies have gone deep into R-rated territory and shown him popping his claws through people's domes. I somehow just wasn't expecting the game to be quite as graphic as it is.

We finally saw ZA/UM's Zero Parades in action and even though it's extremely Disco Elysium, the protagonist couldn't be more different
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/we-finally-saw-za-ums-zero-parades-in-action-and-even-though-its-extremely-disco-elysium-the-protagonist-couldnt-be-more-different/
It's true: If you squint at the gameplay footage of ZA/UM's Zero Parades, all you'll see is Disco Elysium with a different coat of paint. It's set in an isometric city covered in rust and filth, is intensely detailed with surreal art, and sticks all its dialogue on the right side of the screen.
However, the Disco Elysium comparisons don't seem to apply to protagonist Hershel Wilk, who appears to be a relapsed spy called back in to assemble a squad. I don't think that you'll be waking up hungover and naked in your hotel room at the start of Zero Parades. Hershel, the two off-screen characters in the State of Play trailer explain, hasn't been around for five years, but is still considered one of the best.

PSA: Don't turn off motion blur in Silent Hill F unless you want some weird visual glitches
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/psa-dont-turn-off-motion-blur-in-silent-hill-f-unless-you-want-some-weird-visual-glitches/
Though I did notice traversal stuttering when I played Silent Hill F, the biggest technical issue I had was unrelated to the framerate. On a semi-regular basis I'd see everything suddenly shrink to fit the top-left quarter of the screen, except for the UI, with a flickering smear of colors filling the rest of my view. Others on the team didn't experience this bug, but I saw it pop up all the way through my time in haunted Ebisugaoka.
Turns out my habit of switching off motion blur without even thinking about it whenever I see it in the options menu is the problem, which I wish I'd known 20 hours ago when I started the game. Leave motion blur on and apparently you'll never experience this particular glitch.
>> The same problem is mentioned in the DSOGaming mod article, with two screenshots showing the same effect.

Despite all appearances, upcoming F2P open-world RPG Ananta isn't a gacha game—only charging for cosmetics and furniture
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/despite-all-appearances-upcoming-f2p-open-world-rpg-ananta-isnt-a-gacha-game-only-charging-for-cosmetics-and-furniture/
I wrote about Ananta yesterday, and while I'm all for its slurry of genres and inspirations, I'm eating humble pie as I write this one. I have thoroughly and completely judged a book by its cover.
Despite having all the hallmarks of a Zenless Zone Zero, or a Genshin Impact—that is to say, being a free-to-play RPG with cute anime girls in it—Ananta won't actually be a character-based Gacha game.
That's per a news story by Famitsu (thanks, Automaton) discussing its upcoming October issue. Relieving me of a bit of my embarrassment is the fact that the magazine itself also seems surprised, here's a quote (via machine translation):

Remember that great Friday the 13th game that got shuttered? The same studio is doing it all again, except this time it's Halloween
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/remember-that-great-friday-the-13th-game-that-got-shuttered-the-same-studio-is-doing-it-all-again-except-this-time-its-halloween/
Developer Illfonic last month announced a game based on 1978 horror classic Halloween, and now we've got a look at it. The game looks a lot like the studio's own (excellent) Friday the 13th adaptation and is set in the small town of Haddonfield, recreated with real period style. It's primarily an asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, where the masked killer Michael Myers hunts down four residents, though this time around there will also be a singleplayer component recreating scenes from the film.

I have to say that I'm surprised that none of the new games announced or trailers became a new thread on the site. But hey we got one about d*cks' size and age...