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

[JEMC]

And here’s part three:

Bandai Namco leads the way in game and entertainment patents in Japan, taking the crown from Sony Interactive Entertainment
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/bandai-namco-leads-the-way-in-game-and-entertainment-patents-in-japan-taking-the-crown-from-sony-interactive-entertainment/
A Japanese analytics agency, Patent Result, has published this year's rankings of domestic game and entertainment companies by the 'strength' of patents they hold, via Automaton. Patent Result values a company's quality over quantity and the strength of the ideas being brought to the table, so the ranking is based on both "the quantity and relevance of their patents".

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is bringing back some iconic maps from Black Ops 2 for Endgame: 'You might even find a little piece of Hazard'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-black-ops-7-is-bringing-back-some-iconic-maps-from-black-ops-2-for-endgame-you-might-even-find-a-little-piece-of-hazard/
We have T-minus three days until Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 releases. Players have been gnawing at the bars of their enclosure to get back into the fray since the beta ended over a month ago, so I'm sure it'll come as a relief to many.
But there's not just a new multiplayer and campaign for players to look forward to—this time, Treyarch is also introducing Endgame.

CD Projekt struggled to sell partners on The Witcher 3 because its gameplay was 'pretty standard' and they didn't believe it could combine storytelling with a cinematic open world
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/cd-projekt-struggled-to-sell-partners-on-the-witcher-3-because-its-gameplay-was-pretty-standard-and-they-didnt-believe-it-could-combine-storytelling-with-a-cinematic-open-world/
It's hard to imagine anyone not having faith in The Witcher 3, an RPG that has dominated the genre for the last decade. But that was the situation CD Projekt found itself in when it was trying to sell the idea to prospective partners during development.
Despite finding success with the original Witcher and its follow-up, The Witcher 3 was grander, more ambitious and certainly more expensive to put together. And not everyone was convinced a story-driven open world was going to work.
>> He also recons how he made the life of the team members harder because he pointed out that if there was water, they had to add swimming and underwater locations (link).

CD Projekt's co-CEO says The Witcher 2's momentous midgame choice was an 'experiment' and now regards it as a 'waste of resources'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cd-projekts-co-ceo-says-the-witcher-2s-momentous-midgame-choice-was-an-experiment-and-now-regards-it-as-a-waste-of-resources/
While it has long been overshadowed by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's gargantuan success, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings remains a great RPG in its own right. In fact, in some ways it was more daring and ambitious than its bigger, beardier brother.
Most notably, none of the decisions you make in the Witcher 3 are as momentous as the game-changing choice at the heart The Witcher 2, where choosing to help one of two characters in a fight led to a second act viewed from completely different perspectives. Roughly 90% of The Witcher 2's second-act strands are unique, each with its own locations, key characters, and quests.
I've always wondered if CD Projekt will commit so wholly to an in-game decision again. But according to CD Projekt's co-CEO Adam Badowski, such an eventuality is unlikely.

CD Projekt Red just bagged one of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's lead designers for The Witcher 4 and suddenly I'm far more interested in Ciri's upcoming adventure
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cd-projekt-red-just-bagged-one-of-kingdom-come-deliverance-2s-lead-designers-for-the-witcher-4-and-suddenly-im-far-more-interested-in-ciris-upcoming-adventure/
I am approximately eight months late to the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 party but I am having an absolute whale of a time so far. It's both obtuse and devilishly moreish in a way that caused me to sink 20 hours into the thing in just two days, and I haven't felt this much comfort from videogame jank since I first popped a copy of Skyrim into my Xbox 360 instead of going to school.
It's managed to get its hooks into me far more than The Witcher 3 ever did despite my repeated attempts to love the game (sorry to our unofficial PC Gamer mascot Geralt of Rivia) but I'm certainly far more interested in the upcoming The Witcher 4 now that CD Projekt Red has managed to scoop up some major talent from KCD2 developer Warhorse.

'We want skate to be great': Full Circle is handing out condolence rewards to players affected by game-breaking bugs, but still hasn't actually fixed them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/we-want-skate-to-be-great-full-circle-is-handing-out-condolence-rewards-to-players-affected-by-game-breaking-bugs-but-still-hasnt-actually-fixed-them/
It's been nearly two months since skate dropped in Early Access, and it hasn't exactly been the seamless skating experience a lot of us expected. Between bugs turning your character into a lump of voxels and making any tricks impossible, to progression issues that stunt your growth as San Vansterdam's greatest skater, it's safe to say that skate has plenty of creases that the developers are desperately trying to iron out.
However, to thank the millions of people who have been jumping in, the team shared in a blog post that each player can expect a decent number of rewards. This includes 2000 Tix to unlock rewards in the battle pass and 500 SVBs to spend on whatever cosmetics you fancy for your character and board in the in-game store. The only catch is that the Tix needs to be used on the battle pass before the end of Season 1, which concludes in the first week of December.

'No one truly knows what kind of game will succeed': Former PlayStation boss says that bigger companies should 'invest in smaller, experimental projects' to promote creativity
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/no-one-truly-knows-what-kind-of-game-will-succeed-former-playstation-boss-says-that-bigger-companies-should-invest-in-smaller-experimental-projects-to-promote-creativity/
Ex-Sony Interactive Entertainment head honcho Shuhei Yoshida thinks that bigger companies should do more to invest in "smaller, experimental projects" because at the end of the day, nobody really knows what kind of games are going to pop off with the masses.
>> He also talked about the Korean indie scene and how Stellar Blade has impacted their confidence (link).

Minecraft's Mounts of Mayhem update will include Netherite horse armor, which still won't convince me to take my noble steed to the Nether but is a nice touch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecrafts-mounts-of-mayhem-update-will-include-netherite-horse-armor-which-still-wont-convince-me-to-take-my-noble-steed-to-the-nether-but-is-a-nice-touch/
Taming a horse in Minecraft is one thing, but trusting yourself not to kill it while you're out adventuring is another. As much as I love the convenience of not having to carry myself across the overworld by foot, the stress I feel each time I misjudge a jump and end up falling into a hole or ravine, or being stuck outside as it starts getting dark, definitely makes me question why I wanted a horse in the first place. For clumsy people like me, horse armor is a must for keeping my mount safe. But no amount of armor could convince me to take my noble steed to the Nether.
Minecraft's next game drop, Mounts of Mayhem, is going to tempt me to try riding my horse into the underworld with new Netherite Horse armor. Similar to the Netherite tool set and the human Netherite armor, it'll beat diamond as the strongest material. Lava is my mortal nemesis, which is a feeling reciprocated by many, but this could be the convincing I need to feel a little more confident in my ability to take my horse to battle with hordes of zombies and make it home in one piece. I can't guarantee it though.

Phasmophobia's latest update introduces a spooky diner, bringing the game one step closer to its 1.0 launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/phasmophobias-latest-update-introduces-a-spooky-diner-bringing-the-game-one-step-closer-to-its-1-0-launch/
Between staying up all night, trudging endlessly through potentially haunted rooms, and having your dinner scared out of you by some spectral horror, ghost hunting is hungry work. So it's little wonder that the next stop for Phasmophobia's spook sleuths is an all-American diner. Gastronomic pitstop Nell's Diner is the latest map added to Kinetic Games' supernatural sensation, and you can take a seat in one of its haunted booths right now.