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

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The second part of the gaming news:

As Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's latest DLC launches, Warhorse reveals its grand plan for the future: 'We want to establish ourselves as the new kings of RPGs'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/as-kingdom-come-deliverance-2s-latest-dlc-launches-warhorse-reveals-its-grand-plan-for-the-future-we-want-to-establish-ourselves-as-the-new-kings-of-rpgs/
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was a huge improvement over the original, earning an impressive score of 90 from Joshua Wolens in our Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review. But developer Warhorse Studios isn't satisfied with making one of the best games of 2025, planning nothing less than to claim the RPG throne for themselves.
Speaking at a preview event for KCD 2's upcoming Mysteria Ecclesiae DLC (via GamesRadar) communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling laid out Warhorse's battle plan. "We, at Warhorse Studios, absolutely feel at home in the RPG genre. We want to establish ourselves as the new kings of RPGs."

CD Projekt 'hacked time and space' to cast Charles Dance in The Witcher 3, because they needed an announcement before the countdown on their website reached zero
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/cd-projekt-hacked-time-and-space-to-cast-charles-dance-in-the-witcher-3-because-they-needed-an-announcement-before-the-countdown-on-their-website-reached-zero/
On August 14, 2013, CD Projekt announced that veteran British actor and screenwriter Charles Dance (Dracula, Game of Thrones, The Crown) would be playing the ruthless Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr var Emreis—an impressive addition to The Witcher 3 cast and a role that fit Dance like a glove. At that time his character Tywin Lannister was a fan favourite for viewers of Game of Thrones, and hadn't yet been unceremoniously killed off while on the privy. Life was good.
The announcement contained a quote from Marcin Blacha, lead writer on The Witcher 3, expressing that it was a "dream come true for the team here at Red to be able to work with such an accomplished actor and magnetic personality." But according to CD Projekt's English adaptation director, Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz, getting Dance on board was akin to diffusing a ticking time bomb.
>> Speaking about Game of Thrones, CDPR was also thankful that it made dark fantasy popular (link).

Welp, says Sony, sure looks like buying Bungie didn't work out
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/welp-says-sony-sure-looks-like-buying-bungie-didnt-work-out/
Bungie's been having a rough old time ever since its 2022 acquisition by Sony: there have been multiple rounds of layoffs, a delay to the seemingly ill-fated extraction shooter Marathon, and then earlier this year a report quoting employees as saying morale is in "free fall." Well, the latest out of Sony isn't going to help that.
In its latest financial report Sony says that Bungie has failed to meet targets and Destiny 2 is underperforming (thanks, IGN). The report includes a 31.5 billion yen (approx. $204.2 million) "impairment loss" that it attributes to Destiny 2 failing to hit targets, (...)
>> We all know they paid too much for Bungie.

Marvel Rivals is adding a 'non-combat map' where players can 'hang out, dance, watch videos, read books, and let your imagination run wild'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-is-adding-a-non-combat-map-where-players-can-hang-out-dance-watch-videos-read-books-and-let-your-imagination-run-wild/
Marvel Rivals season 5 is set to go live on November 14, and yes, Gambit and Rogue—Mr. and Mrs. X, as Guangguang, aka creative director Guangyun Chen, describes them—are finally set to take their place in the lineup. But more interesting to me is the addition of a new map based on New York's Times Square, which will be a "non-combat map" where people can just hang out and be cool.

'I think we're in the fight of our lives': Fired Rockstar employees and IWGB are confident the GTA 6 developer will be held accountable for its alleged union busting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/i-think-were-in-the-fight-of-our-lives-fired-rockstar-employees-and-iwgb-are-confident-the-gta-6-developer-will-be-held-accountable-for-its-alleged-union-busting/
The fallout from Rockstar's firing of over 30 employees last week continues as workers gather outside the offices in protest of what the Independent Workers' of Great Britain (IWGB) union alleges was a "brazen" act of union busting. YouTube channel People Make Games spoke with some of the developers and IWGB organizers about how they're fighting back against the Grand Theft Auto 6 developer and what happens next.

'Every game company is now using AI': Nexon's CEO defends the use of generative AI in game development in the wake of Arc Raiders' controversy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/every-game-company-is-now-using-ai-nexons-ceo-defends-the-use-of-generative-ai-in-game-development-in-the-wake-of-arc-raiders-controversy/
Arc Raiders has taken the gamers by storm, achieving more than 700,000 concurrent players over the weekend, beating Helldivers 2's player record, and just generally proving that extraction shooters can indeed be fun. But all of these successes have unfortunately been mired by Embark Studio's use of generative AI for its voice acting.
To this end, Nexon's CEO Junghun Lee recently addressed Nexon's projects (which include Embark's The Finals and Arc Raiders) and his stance on using AI in making videogames in an interview with Game*Spark (via Automaton): "First of all, I think it’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI. But if everyone is working with the same or similar technologies, the real question becomes: how do you survive? I believe it’s important to choose a strategy that increases your competitiveness."
>> Saying those kinds of things don’t help his case because: A) The assumption that everyone uses it is wrong; and B) Even those that use it, don’t use for the same thing as them.

Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney wades into the Arc Raiders AI voice debate with an imaginary scenario predicting 'infinite, context-sensitive, personality-reflecting dialog based on and tuned by human voice actors'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/epic-games-boss-tim-sweeney-wades-into-the-arc-raiders-ai-voice-debate-with-an-imaginary-scenario-predicting-infinite-context-sensitive-personality-reflecting-dialog-based-on-and-tuned-by-human-voice-actors/
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has waded into the furor over the use of generative AI for videogame voices, saying the technology presents an "opportunity for in-game voice and voice actors," with games that could potentially have "infinite, context-sensitive, personality-reflecting dialog based on and tuned by human voice actors."

Elden Ring Nightreign DLC is hot dropping with new bosses and characters right before the end of the year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-nightreign-dlc-is-hot-dropping-with-new-bosses-and-characters-right-before-the-end-of-the-year/
The time has come for Elden Ring Nightreign's DLC. FromSoftware dropped a jam-packed trailer at Sony's State of Play today that has glimpses of a transformed map, new characters, new bosses, and enemies returning from the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

Coffee Talk will open the doors to its next instalment on March 5, taking us to the series' most exciting location yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/coffee-talk-will-open-the-doors-to-its-next-instalment-on-march-5-taking-us-to-the-series-most-exciting-location-yet/
There comes a time in your life when all you can think about is packing up your belongings, moving to a new place, and opening a coffee shop. It sounds like the kind of thing I'd persuade myself everyone feels when in reality that's just not the case, but the love for the Coffee Talk series suggests otherwise. This set of comforting, coffee shop simulators lets you live out this fantasy, master the wizardry of latte art, all while befriending your customers and unravelling their stories along the way.
However, the next chapter of the Coffee Talk series will whisk us to a much more lively location: the bustling city of Tokyo. And, as announced during the State of Play on November 11, we can expect to embark on this all-new adventure on March 5. But despite its busy setting, Coffee Talk Tokyo will still offer "a cosy place to be" for anyone who passes through its doors, which is bound to be a welcome relief in a virtual rendition of the most populated city in the world.

Monster Hunter Wilds' first Elder Dragon is finally landing in December along with some much-needed optimisation focused on reducing the game's ridiculous load on our poor CPUs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-first-elder-dragon-is-finally-landing-in-december-along-with-some-much-needed-optimisation-focused-on-reducing-the-games-ridiculous-load-on-our-poor-cpus/
Capcom has revealed when we'll finally be able to take on our first Elder Dragon in Monster Hunter Wilds during this week's State of Play Japan, though I'm more interested in the mysterious performance improvements the developer is promising will arrive along with it.