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

[JEMC]

Wednesday gaming news, part two:

Duck dupe criminals nabbed: Embark is dishing out warnings and even ban hammers for miscreants abusing recent duplication glitches in Arc Raiders
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/duck-dupe-criminals-nabbed-embark-is-dishing-out-warnings-and-even-ban-hammers-for-miscreants-abusing-recent-duplication-glitches-in-arc-raiders/
It's no secret that Arc Raiders has had a tough run of it lately when it comes to bugs, particularly easily exploitable, game-breaking ones. Just last week there was an item duplication glitch which was (relatively) quickly hotfixed, only to be followed up by a similar exploit that granted free repairs, infinite ammo, and even broke magazine sizes. It was a lot for one week.
Embark promised at the time that there would be consequences, including bans, for those who abused these exploits, and the day of judgment has come.

Easy Anti-Cheat is coming to Rocket League, but Psyonix promises not to get all Fortnite with it and hose your Steam Deck and Linux installs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/easy-anti-cheat-is-coming-to-rocket-league-but-psyonix-promises-not-to-get-all-fortnite-with-it-and-hose-your-steam-deck-and-linux-installs/
It's 11 years old and Rocket League has decided it's had it up to here with cheating. In a post (actually an "article," which I guess the everything app has now) on X, the game's official account announced that, come April, Rocket League will be implementing Easy Anti-Cheat.

'We’re going to make some horrendous mistakes,' Peter Molyneux says about his upcoming swan song Masters of Albion: 'Horrendous, horrendous mistakes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/were-going-to-make-some-horrendous-mistakes-peter-molyneux-says-about-his-upcoming-swan-song-masters-of-albion-horrendous-horrendous-mistakes/
Masters of Albion is not only Peter Molyneux's final game (so he says, anyway), it's also a sort of getting-the-band-back-together moment with collaborators from the early days at Lionhead. All of which is apparently rather nerve-wracking: In an interview with The Game Business, Molyneux describes the team as "incredibly inexperienced," and warned that there will likely be some big bumps in the road "because we are going into a world we don't fully understand."

The best parts of my favorite World of Warcraft classes are being turned into new heroes for Fellowship's pre-season 2 update this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-best-parts-of-my-favorite-world-of-warcraft-classes-are-being-turned-into-new-heroes-for-fellowships-pre-season-2-update-this-week/
Nobody on the team making Fellowship would deny that World of Warcraft was a massive inspiration for the game—I know, because I've asked them about it. It's not just the art style, but the entire pitch for the game is what would happen if a popular activity in WoW was an entire game.
(...)
Fellowship is nearing the launch of its second season and the release of two new heroes: Xavian and Aeona. But before the full season comes out, it's going to drop them both in a "pre-season" update this week.

Thanks to Diablo 2, Blizzard might've found a way to fix Diablo 4's loot fatigue in its next expansion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/thanks-to-diablo-2-blizzard-mightve-found-a-way-to-fix-diablo-4s-loot-fatigue-in-its-next-expansion/
Ever since Blizzard started reworking the clunky parts of Diablo 4, one thing has remained constant: Monsters shower you with more loot than you can carry in your inventory.
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The upcoming expansion, Lord of Hatred, is hopefully going to fix that with the help of a crafting system taken straight out of Diablo 2. No longer will you toss less-than-perfect items in the trash; now you can stuff them into the Horadric Cube and gamble for big-ticket upgrades.

Huge new Avowed update adds New Game Plus, playable dwarves and Orlans, and quarterstaffs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/huge-new-avowed-update-adds-new-game-plus-playable-dwarves-and-orlans-and-quarterstaffs/
It's been exactly a year since Avowed released, and Obsidian has continued to support it with new classes, new skills, and better optimization. To coincide with the new PS5 edition, Avowed just got its biggest update yet, adding New Game Plus, three new playable races, and a new weapon class.

Valheim's creative director is still 'dedicated on Valheim every day' in addition to his new co-op dungeon crawler: 'We love making games so much that we want to make more games'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/valheims-creative-director-is-still-dedicated-on-valheim-every-day-in-addition-to-his-new-co-op-dungeon-crawler-we-love-making-games-so-much-that-we-want-to-make-more-games/
Developer Iron Gate Studios released Valheim into early access almost exactly five years ago, and the finish line may finally now be in sight: work on the survival game's final biome is underway and the launch on PlayStation and Switch 2 is planned for 2026. While there's been no official word, I wouldn't be surprised if Valheim's long-awaited version 1.0 finally arrived this year.
But a recent announcement from a few of Valheim's developers hasn't sat well with some players. Three members of Iron Gate's Valheim's team, including creative director Robin Eyre, have been working on a different game, co-op dungeon crawler Begraved, "in the evenings and on weekends."

Steam Next Fest hasn't even started, and its first must-play demo is already here
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/steam-next-fest-hasnt-even-started-and-its-first-must-play-demo-is-already-here/
Ten months from now, Titanium Court is going to win some game of the year awards.
I've played it for all of 90 minutes, but that was enough for me to confidently call this shot—Titanium Court has a magnetism to it that pulled me through the "interesting" to "this has the juice" pipeline at a speed I was not prepared for when I launched it on my Steam Deck at 5 pm on Friday.

Minecraft has revealed its final batch of baby mobs ahead of the spring update, and they might be the cutest ones yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecraft-has-revealed-its-final-batch-of-baby-mobs-ahead-of-the-spring-update-and-they-might-be-the-cutest-ones-yet/
Minecraft is hopefully gearing up to roll out its first drop of 2026 in the next month or so, and while it currently looks like we've only got a bunch of baby mobs on the way, I'm not complaining. I thought we'd peaked after it was announced that foxes would be getting new baby models, but having seen the latest announcement, it looks like we've got another thing coming.

After a glitch botched Overwatch's first big post-reboot event, it's sending out the rewards—including 14 lootboxes—out to players anyway
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/after-a-glitch-botched-overwatchs-first-big-post-reboot-event-its-sending-out-the-rewards-including-14-lootboxes-out-to-players-anyway/
Overwatch's grand return has, for the most part, been pretty damn good. I mean, it's not like the game ever went away, but it certainly feels like it's having a little resurgence since dropping the '2' in its name, adding five new heroes, and doing a big ol' overhaul of its UI. True 2026 is the new 2016 energy.
One unfortunate little hiccup, though, was a glitch that prevented players from making progress across the battle pass and its time-limited Conquest event. Things were mostly straightened out, but posts began cropping up across social media from people pointing out that the glitch had rendered it almost impossible to snag all of the rewards.
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As Week 2 of the event rolled in, it looked like Blizzard had no intention of rectifying things. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case. "To make up for the inconvenience, we will be granting all eligible players (ie. players who completed at least one event challenge in week 1) all the rewards granted by both faction passes as well as two prestige passes," a post on the Blizzard forums notes.