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

[JEMC]

Tuesday gaming news, part two:

Randy Pitchford says sifting through the loot in Borderlands 4 is tickling a fundamental part of you: 'Our brains need to do it, and our brains like doing it, and we’re better off when we do it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/randy-pitchford-says-sifting-through-the-loot-in-borderlands-4-is-tickling-a-fundamental-part-of-you-our-brains-need-to-do-it-and-our-brains-like-doing-it-and-were-better-off-when-we-do-it/
Borderlands 4 is here, it's a hit, and… oh. On PC it continues to be plagued by performance issues, is currently sitting at "Mixed" reviews on Steam, and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford still has access to his X account and is still giving out bad advice.
Pitchford can't help himself, but he comes across way better in an actual conversation than his social media persona might suggest. He recently did an interview with the BBC to discuss Borderlands 4, and Gearbox's history more generally, in which he basically humblebrags about what Borderlands gets right, during which I think he claims it basically encapsulates the human experience?

A new co-op RPG is coming for World of Warcraft by offering endless MMO dungeons without the MMO grind
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-new-co-op-rpg-is-coming-for-world-of-warcraft-by-offering-endless-mmo-dungeons-without-the-mmo-grind/
I've been impressed by Fellowship ever since I first got my hands on it last year. The pitch for the game is one I'm surprised nobody ever thought of: MMO dungeons without the MMO.
Imagine a typical MMO party—one healer, one tank, and some damage-dealers—and then give them names and characteristics that resemble MOBA heroes. That's Fellowship, a hero-based co-op RPG where parties of four clear through increasingly difficult dungeons and collect loot.

RPG vet Josh Sawyer keeps things like Fallout and D&D grounded in history because 'Once things get too magical… it's impossible to bring it back down to Earth'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/rpg-vet-josh-sawyer-keeps-things-like-fallout-and-d-and-d-grounded-in-history-because-once-things-get-too-magical-its-impossible-to-bring-it-back-down-to-earth/
Slap Josh Sawyer's name in the credits of a game and I will, at the very least, pay attention to it. The guy's earned it: with directorial credits on Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, and Pentiment, his batting average on 'helming games that enter the Joshua Wolens pantheon of faves' is Gibson-level high (I admit it, I Googled 'highest batting average ever').
A big reason for that is a shared approach to history and worldbuilding. The games Sawyer's worked on feel believable and grounded in a way many other fictional settings don't*, and the man himself says he takes a consciously materialistic approach to worldbuilding, one that has defined his career for a long time. "As weird as it would sound", he told our Ted Litchfield at this year's GDC, "going all the way back to Icewind Dale, I at least thought about it.

The original Fallout's lead developer says China nuked first, vault suits were meant to be 'extruded' by a machine, and yes Sugar Bombs are a Calvin and Hobbes reference
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/the-original-fallouts-lead-developer-says-china-nuked-first-vault-suits-were-meant-to-be-extruded-by-a-machine-and-yes-sugar-bombs-are-a-calvin-and-hobbes-reference/
The original Fallout's lead developer Tim Cain has dropped another in his long-running series of videos discussing the earliest games in the series, and with this one, he's definitively answered one of the big questions about how everything kicked off. Well, kinda.

Arrowhead is delaying Helldivers 2 updates to fix its performance problems: 'We're focusing way more on addressing these issues to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arrowhead-is-delaying-helldivers-2-updates-to-fix-its-performance-problems-were-focusing-way-more-on-addressing-these-issues-to-make-sure-this-sort-of-things-doesnt-happen-again/
The last major update to Helldivers 2, Into the Unjust, caused all sorts of performance problems that developer Arrowhead said were a result of unaddressed technical debt. As the game grew in size and complexity, it became increasingly unstable, and Arrowhead said in September that it had plans to address it.
Arrowhead dropped a new video today that covers how future updates will roll out. In order to fix the most egregious issues and to keep the game stable, game director Mikael Erikkson says major new updates will be a little slower to appear.

Skyrim's lead designer reckons open world games are 'almost a cliché statement' these days, and that Skyrim owes its continued popularity to a focus on player agency: 'We didn't put anything off limits'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/skyrims-lead-designer-reckons-open-world-games-are-almost-a-cliche-statement-these-days-and-that-skyrim-owes-its-continued-popularity-to-a-focus-on-player-agency-we-didnt-put-anything-off-limits/
Few games enjoy such a long stay in the conversation as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of the biggest and most celebrated fantasy RPGs ever released. And release it did, again and again—but it's hard to blame Bethesda for all those re-releases. The game's community is so enthusiastic that modders are practically making entire games in the snowiest slice of Tamriel, and there's no sign they'll slow down any time soon.
It's something that leaves Skyrim's lead designer Bruce Nesmith "eternally shocked," as he told FRVR: "By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, ten. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?"

World of Warcraft Legion Remix is suffering from a problem MMO players rarely experience: Too many tanks
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-legion-remix-is-suffering-from-a-problem-mmo-players-rarely-experience-too-many-tanks/
Blizzard recently opened the gates on a renewed version of an old World of Warcraft expansion, giving players the opportunity to blast through familiar quests and dungeons with way more power than they had back in 2016.
For many players, WoW Legion Remix is an opportunity to collect achievements and cosmetics they previously missed—or the new ones Blizzard added on top. Many of them require completing raids and dungeons that take full groups, but finding parties has proven to be a problem in the early stage of the event.

Minecraft's Mounts of Mayhem drop is now available to test, including sailing with the nautilus and a brand new weapon enchantment
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecrafts-mounts-of-mayhem-drop-is-now-available-to-test-including-sailing-with-the-nautilus-and-a-brand-new-weapon-enchantment/
Minecraft's Mounts of Mayhem drop will mark the game's fourth update this year, and even though we've only got surface-level information about what's included, a few of its most appealing features are now available to test with Java edition. This includes getting hands-on with the brand new Spear weapon, alongside a new weapon enchantment we haven't heard about yet: the Lunge.

Tavern Keeper's Next Fest demo, which now has an endless mode, might just steal hours of your time making custom decor alone
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/tavern-keepers-next-fest-demo-which-now-has-an-endless-mode-might-just-steal-hours-of-your-time-making-custom-decor-alone/
Tavern Keeper is a game I've been excited about for a while and, in fact, have raved about on this very site before. It's had a long old development, taking around 10 years on the path to release—and will continue to amble into Early Access.
But it's a cosy sort of amble, the kind a hobbit might take on the cobbled path to their humble hole, because let me tell you: I think this game is going to be very good. The demo, which you can play as part of Steam Next Fest, already promises a really endearing management sim.
>> The game already had a demo during another Steam Next Fest, but it didn’t have an endless mode.

Battlefield 6's already mountainous grind is being stifled by assignments failing to track
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/battlefield-6-assignments-not-working-tracking/
One of the biggest pain points of Battlefield 6's launch (second only to broken weapon bloom) is just how much of a grind you've got to get through to unlock all the best guns, their attachments, and the remaining class gadgets. It's no wonder the Portal has been inundated with XP farms to the point that it quite literally doesn't function properly right now.
Of course, there are the assignments. Ahh, the assignments. Completing odd and often challenging tasks has always been one of the highlights of the series for me, but Battlefield 6's assignments are very grindy, and there are a good few that are very hard to complete by yourself.
The biggest issue right now, however, is that it's a Sisyphean task: there's a prevalent bug preventing assignments tracking whatsoever for some players, or not tracking accurately in other cases. Healing 5,000 damage from teammates or getting kills while buffed by a stim is one thing, but when none of it is counted and you're not making any progress at all, it's a frustrating mess.
>> Let’s hope they fix it soon, like the bug that killed your momentum when jumping with melee weapons, that has been dealt with (link). Oh, and here’s a fix for its blinding brightness (link).

Ubisoft surprise-revives its neglected Splinter Cell middle child on Steam, puts it on sale, then slaps a Uplay requirement on it so you don't get too excited
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/ubisoft-surprise-revives-its-neglected-splinter-cell-middle-child-on-steam-puts-it-on-sale-then-slaps-a-uplay-requirement-on-it-so-you-dont-get-too-excited/
In what I've chosen to interpret as a reward for all my good deeds on Earth, Ubisoft has inexplicably revived the neglected middle child of the Splinter Cell series (which is, itself, the neglected child of Ubisoft's franchise line-up). Pandora Tomorrow is back, baby: it's been wordlessly listed on Steam at a 40% discount (and even cheaper on Ubisoft Connect) without so much as a how'd-you-do. It is officially Pandora Today.

RPG developer Owlcat launches free game dev learning resource: 'A rising tide truly lifts all ships'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/rpg-developer-owlcat-launches-free-game-dev-learning-resource-a-rising-tide-truly-lifts-all-ships/
Cyprus-based game studio Owlcat, which is currently working on a sci-fi RPG set in the world of The Expanse, has partnered with other studios and publishers to launch GameDev Learning Drop, a free directory of resources for game developers.
(...)
The directory can be found on a dedicated webpage hosted by Owlcat, and the current offering includes "over 350 learning resources" which cover "game design, programming, narrative design, project management, and more," says the studio.