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 Wednesday gaming news:

When Assassin's Creed's infamously dull main character was finally killed off, voice actor Nolan North didn't find out until a fan told him about it on Twitter
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/when-assassins-creeds-infamously-dull-main-character-was-finally-killed-off-voice-actor-nolan-north-didnt-find-out-until-a-fan-told-him-about-it-on-twitter/
Desmond Miles? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Assassin's Creed's original protagonist stood at the centre of the series' story from the 2007 original to Assassin's Creed 3. I remember him being pretty roundly mocked at the time, and wasn't much of a fan myself. This was partly because players only controlled him during the series' divisive Animus sections, where the games would yank you of their gripping historical settings to wander around sterile laboratories while NPCs yammered exposition at you.
But it was also because poor Desmond had all the charisma of a boiled cauliflower. This despite being voiced by Nolan North, best known for playing Uncharted's effortlessly charming thief Nathan Drake. Ubisoft tried to spice up Desmond's adventures in later games, but never really achieved this, ultimately opting to bump off Desmond in Assassin's Creed 3. Apparently, this came as a surprise to North, who didn't find out that Desmond was dead until a fan told him on Twitter.

Overwatch 2's newest hero has roots in one of the best PvE missions I played 7 years ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2s-newest-hero-has-roots-in-one-of-the-best-pve-missions-i-played-7-years-ago/
Overwatch 2 has finally confirmed who Hero 45 is going to be, and the statue in Stadium's Colosseo map was right: the next hero will be a female gladiator called Vendetta who goes by the name of La Lupa, The Wolf.
(...)
But the most interesting aspect of this hero was her brief flashback midway through the reveal trailer. Reflecting on all that her deceased father taught her, she ends with how it's important not to underestimate an opponent, as we see her dad, Antonio, fall out of a window, after being shot in the head.
This isn't just a tragic backstory wedged in to add some weight to the new hero, but a callback to one of my favourite PvE missions from seven years ago. Way back when in 2018 (I can't believe this is seven years ago now), Overwatch launched the second Overwatch Archives event, Overwatch Retribution, which saw Genji, Moira, Cassidy, and Reaper fight through omnic grunts to find a gangster—Antonio.

Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wanted to buy Minecraft until he found out Notch was leaving and Microsoft was offering a billion dollars more: 'I'll go airplane shopping with you, but you've gotta take that offer'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/former-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick-wanted-to-buy-minecraft-until-he-found-out-notch-was-leaving-and-microsoft-was-offering-a-billion-dollars-more-ill-go-airplane-shopping-with-you-but-youve-gotta-take-that-offer/
Over a decade ago, when Minecraft studio Mojang was still a plucky independent outfit enjoying the fruits of developing one of the most successful games of all time, it unsurprisingly had a bunch of suitors. And one of them was Bobby Kotick.
>> He also says that, wait for it, Elon Musk would be “the best owner of any game company” (link), which is surprising... until you realize who is saying it.

The developer of 80 Days was once invited to pitch a Doctor Who game, but never heard back from the BBC afterward: 'Technically, we're still waiting for a reply'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/the-developer-of-80-days-was-once-invited-to-pitch-a-doctor-who-game-but-never-heard-back-from-the-bbc-afterward-technically-were-still-waiting-for-a-reply/
80 Days may still be the best-known game from narrative maestros Inkle Studios. But the developer's most ambitious game is probably Heaven's Vault, a sci-fi archaeological adventure about piecing together an ancient alien language.
Phillippa Warr gave it an impressive score of 88 in PC Gamer's Heaven's Vault Review, stating it "does a beautiful job of letting you unlock a language, and thus a dialogue of sorts, with the past, via a wonderfully engaging protagonist."
Yet had Inkle's original plans come to fruition, Heaven's Vault would have been quite a different experience. This was revealed in a Bluesky post by Inkle's narrative director and writer Jon Ingold, where he stated that "Heaven's Vault started out as a Doctor Who game".

Battlefield 6 is putting on a week-long free trial to celebrate the latest seasonal content, which brings the warzone to an affluent Californian neighbourhood
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/battlefield-6-is-putting-on-a-week-long-free-trial-to-celebrate-the-latest-seasonal-content-which-brings-the-warzone-to-an-affluent-californian-neighbourhood/
The latest update for Battlefield 6 adds new seasonal content for the main multiplayer and Redsec. And to celebrate all this new content, Battlefield 6 will also be putting on a free-to-play event for a week, to show off some specific maps and modes.

Delta Force devs apologise after Facepunch Studios exec accuses them of stealing assets from Rust: 'If you wanted to collab, you should have reached out'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/delta-force-devs-apologise-after-facepunch-studios-exec-accuses-them-of-stealing-assets-from-rust-if-you-wanted-to-collab-you-should-have-reached-out/
Team Jade released a new trailer for its military FPS Delta Force earlier today, kicking off the new 'Asarah' Season that introduces a new map for its Battlefield-style Warfare mode and an event for its extraction-themed Operations mode. Soon after the Chinese company came under fire from the COO of Facepunch Studios, Alistair McFarlane, as he accused Delta Force of nabbing an asset from Facepunch's survival game, Rust.
(...)
A few hours after these posts, McFarlane provided another update, explaining that the Delta Force team "reached out and has apologised" and that the "matter is resolved." McFarlane also praised the cinematic where the rogue asset had appeared, adding that "hopefully next time we see a Rust Hazmat in their next season."

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says today's games suffer from trying 'to be everything for everyone' when they should be learning from '80s games: 'These games were really focused, because they had to be'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/fallout-co-creator-tim-cain-says-todays-games-suffer-from-trying-to-be-everything-for-everyone-when-they-should-be-learning-from-80s-games-these-games-were-really-focused-because-they-had-to-be/
Today's games have forgotten the lessons of history, according to veteran RPG developer and Fallout co-creator Tim Cain. In a YouTube video uploaded this week in response to a viewer who asked whether old games could offer any "lost wisdom" for today's game developers and designers, Cain responded with an emphatic "Yes."

Valve accidentally steps on the make-up deal it offered to the indie game whose 2024 release was ruined by a Steam bug: 'I really get the feeling that Planet Centauri is cursed'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/valve-accidentally-steps-on-the-make-up-deal-it-offered-to-the-indie-game-whose-2024-release-was-ruined-by-a-steam-bug-i-really-get-the-feeling-that-planet-centauri-is-cursed/
You may recall the sad case of Planet Centauri, an indie 2D sandbox game that spent more than a decade in development, amassed well over 130,000 wishlists, and then struggled to gain traction when the 1.0 release happened earlier this year because a bug in Steam prevented the it's out announcement email from being sent to people who'd added it to their wishlists. Ouch.
Honest mistake, though, and to Valve's credit it offered developer Permadeath a small makeup: an opportunity to spotlight Planet Centauri as one of Steam's Daily Deals, "as a way to help make up for lost visibility."
The studio has since moved on to other things, because there really wasn't any choice in the matter, but despite some misgivings it did eventually decide to take Valve up on the offer. So, as reported by Polygon, a little over a month ago Permadeath signed up for the Daily Deal spotlight on one of the dates offered by Valve: November 12.

Darktide's second new class is the Hive Scum, its first dual-wielder and drug fiend
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/darktides-second-new-class-is-the-hive-scum-its-first-dual-wielder-and-drug-fiend/
Normally crime happens before the police arrive, but Darktide's done things a little bit differently. Its first DLC class was the law-enforcing Arbites, and its second has just been announced as the law-breaking Hive Scum. Though technically, the Hive Scum is also here to enforce order—they're fixers working for the crime lords of Tertium Hive who have realized plague daemons are bad for business.

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted adds a great quality-of-life feature from the console port: a sun vacuum
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-adds-a-great-quality-of-life-feature-from-the-console-port-a-sun-vacuum/
While players weren't happy with things being left out of EA's remaster of Plants vs. Zombies, post-launch support has since restored the dynamic audio and made a few other improvements. In the most recent update, which brings it to version 1.4, the sun vacuum from the console versions finally arrives on PC—as do more hotkeys, bug fixes, and Remote Play Together.