Tuesday news, the long part two:
'Cheating and exploiting undermine the integrity of our game': Over 600 Star Citizen accounts have been suspended for racking up in-game currency
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/cheating-and-exploiting-undermine-the-integrity-of-our-game-over-600-star-citizen-accounts-have-been-suspended-for-racking-up-in-game-currency/
Star Citizen has had a massive problem with cheaters exploiting systems to get more in-game currency for months now, but developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has finally addressed the issue and suspended over 600 accounts.
Dungeon Clawler is a roguelike claw machine game, which is just as frustrating and moreish as it sounds
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/dungeon-clawler-is-a-roguelike-claw-machine-game-which-is-just-as-frustrating-and-moreish-as-it-sounds/
Let me tell you something, dear reader—I am not a person blessed with good luck. When I play roguelikes, TTRPGs, or TCGs, I will always get thrown into the grinder by the fates themselves. Bad card draw, low RNG rolls, and propensity to always roll natural 20s on things that don't matter, before stumbling into a dinky 4 when the world's at stake.
So when I took Dungeon Clawler—a "claw machine rougelike"—for a spin after its appearance in Steam's Next Fest last week, I was expecting to be frustrated and, let me tell you: Yes, I was. But with that frustration came the inevitable desire to keep shoving nickels into the proverbial machine.
Embracer has closed Alone in the Dark studio Pieces Interactive
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/embracer-has-closed-alone-in-the-dark-studio-pieces-interactive/
Pieces Interactive, the developer of the Alone in the Dark reboot that launched earlier this year, has been shut down by parent company Embracer Group.
Word of the closure came via Pieces Interactive's Twitter feed, which posted an image containing the studio's logo and the message "Pieces Interactive: 2007-2024. Thanks for playing with us."
>> Sad news.
Manor Lords players overwhelmingly vote against changing historically accurate yet NSFW character name
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-players-overwhelmingly-vote-against-changingerasing-historically-accurate-yet-nsfw-character-name/
Everyone loves a hero (...)
You probably already know who I'm talking about: Cuntz.
(...)
But is too much Cuntz a bad thing? Some members of the community have already grown tired of the sheer amount of Cuntz references, since a poll posted to the official Discord by the developer asked if the name should be replaced with a less disruptive name like Konrad.
The anti-Cuntz movement was defeated, however, and quite soundly. With over 8,000 votes, 85% of players chose to keep Cuntz in the game, with only 15% wanting the name removed.
Paradox cancels life sim Life by You, CEO says they gave the studio 'a fair shot' but now 'believe it is better to stop'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paradox-cancels-life-sim-life-by-you-ceo-says-they-gave-the-studio-a-fair-shot-but-now-believe-it-is-better-to-stop/
Less than a month after the highly anticipated life sim Life By You was delayed without a new release date, Paradox has announced that the whole project has been cancelled.
"Sadly, we’ve decided to cancel the release of our long-awaited life sim Life by You," says a message on the Paradox forums, attributed to deputy CEO Mattias Lilja. "This was an incredibly difficult call to make and is a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community's expectations."
>> The game must be really f*cked up if they’ve decided to not only kill the game, but also close the studio.
Todd Howard responds to controversy over Starfield's $7 mission: 'We hear the feedback'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/todd-howard-responds-to-controversy-over-starfields-dollar7-mission-we-hear-the-feedback/
In the wake of a controversial release of a single Starfield mission costing $7 as part of the game's new Creations program, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard says the studio "hears that feedback" from unhappy players and will "take a look at that and how we deliver content like that" in future releases.
Just days after saving the children, Helldivers 2 players are ordered to annihilate bug children in a weeklong nuke-a-thon
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/just-days-after-saving-the-children-helldivers-2-players-are-ordered-to-annihilate-bug-children-in-a-weeklong-nuke-a-thon/
Helldivers 2 celebrated a moral victory last week when the community made the collective decision to save scores of innocent Super Earth children instead of unlocking a new stratagem. Taking strike three on the Anti-Tank Mines suggests we really must not care about new forms of minefields, but it's also a sign that the Helldivers player base has a soft spot for kids. Well, human kids.
In a cruel and unfortunately funny inversion of fates, Super Earth's newest major order is to wipe millions of Terminid children off the face of the galaxy.
>> And for some reason, Pilestedt has had to come up and say that he’s not the only responsible of the balance patch that dropped last week.
Bandai Namco just surprise-dropped 2 classic Baten Kaitos RPGs on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bandai-namco-just-surprise-dropped-2-classic-baten-kaitos-rpgs-on-steam/
Eleven whole months ago, a South African ratings board indicated that the Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster collection existed for PC, despite 2023's Bandai Namco only announcing it for the Nintendo Switch. That's a long time for a PC release to be MIA with no other sign it exists, but all of a sudden, whammo, here we are—Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 are out on Steam right now, after being released on the Nintendo Switch last September.
'Work with the players ... otherwise you shouldn't be doing it': Heads at Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios say you ought to 'really mean it' going into early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/work-with-the-players-otherwise-you-shouldn-t-be-doing-it-heads-at-baldur-s-gate-3-developer-larian-studios-say-you-ought-to-really-mean-it-going-into-early-access/
Baldur's Gate 3 had a long early access period—opening its doors in October 2020 before finally dropping in August 2023, almost three years (1,031 days, to be exact) later. It was a vastly different game to what it is now. (...) "I don't think [early access] is the future of, because you never know what the future will bring," Vincke answers. "For us, it's been really good—I heartily recommend it, but you really have to mean it when you go in there. You have to work with the players on making your game better, otherwise you shouldn't be doing it."
>> They’ve also revealed that they had hundreds and hundreds of character concepts for its companions.
Todd Howard confirms that Starfield will get more DLCs after Shattered Space for 'hopefully a very long time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/todd-howard-confirms-that-starfield-will-get-more-dlcs-after-shattered-space-for-hopefully-a-very-long-time/
As we near the release of Starfield's upcoming story expansion, Shattered Space, players are beginning to wonder what, if anything, comes next. But instead of just opting for regular updates, Todd Howard confirms that not only is another DLC planned for after Shattered Space, but that expansions could become a yearly occurrence.
Todd Howard says Bethesda won't be remaking the first Fallouts because 'some of the charm of games from that era is a little bit of that age'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/todd-howard-says-bethesda-wont-be-remaking-the-first-fallouts-because-some-of-the-charm-of-games-from-that-era-is-a-little-bit-of-that-age/
Bethesda CEO Todd Howard recently granted an interview to YouTuber MrMattyPlays, in which among other things he addresses the controversy over Starfield's DLC pricing and some of Bethesda's future projects. But there's also room for some chatter about the past and, with the TV series putting the post-apocalypse back on everyone's minds, the original Fallout games, developed by Black Isle Studios but now owned by Bethesda.
Cities: Skylines 2 warns players about an oncoming 'death wave' that'll kill your elderly, 'The older your citizens are, the more severe it will be'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/cities-skylines-2-warns-players-about-an-oncoming-death-wave-thatll-kill-your-elderly-the-older-your-citizens-are-the-more-severe-it-will-be/
The next patch for Cities: Skylines 2 will be Economy 2.0, which will be released in the upcoming week. But before we can enjoy everything on offer, publisher Paradox Interactive wants to highlight a couple of life-and-death issues.
No one's saves should be broken, but that won't stop the upcoming Economy 2.0 patch from messing with your files: "Any saves that you have built and played on before the patch will be affected by the changes brought by the patch," a Paradox Interactive blog post says. "We wanted to share a list of things you might encounter while loading up your save after the Economy 2.0 patch."
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