Thursday news, part two:
Riot is flexing its anticheat Vanguard by placing a bounty of up to $100,000 for anyone brilliant enough to find and report gaps in the system
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/riot-is-flexing-its-anticheat-vanguard-by-placing-a-bounty-of-up-to-usd100-000-for-anyone-brilliant-enough-to-find-and-report-gaps-in-the-system/
Riot's anticheat, Vanguard, is a pretty sturdy system in the world of competitive multiplayer online gaming. Well, it would have to be—otherwise, Riot probably wouldn't offer $100,000 to anyone who could seriously pick it apart.
BioWare veteran Mac Walters will 'pause operations' at his new studio after NetEase ends funding just 1 year after it was founded
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bioware-veteran-mac-walters-will-pause-operations-at-his-new-studio-after-netease-ends-funding-just-1-year-after-it-was-founded/
It's been a rough week for BioWare veterans trying their hands at new things: Two days after former BioWare general manager Casey Hudson announced the closure of Humanoid Origin, former Mass Effect lead writer and creative director Mac Walters has been forced to “pause operations” at Worlds Untold, just one year after it was founded.
Baldur's Gate 3 is going out with a big bang by adding 12 new subclasses, so you can finally become a drunken master or maybe just befriend some bees, along with crossplay and a photo mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-is-going-out-with-a-big-bang-with-12-new-subclasses-so-you-can-finally-become-a-drunken-master-or-maybe-just-befriend-some-bees-along-with-cross-play-and-a-photo-mode/
When Larian said it was ready to "move on" from Baldur's Gate 3 back in March, rather than continue to work on an expansion that had started to morph into Baldur's Gate 4, I assumed that meant it would be winding down the updates, too. But since then we've seen a bunch of substantial patches, and we've just learned that another one is on its way. Yep, Larian just decided to chuck another 12 subclasses into the game, as well as some more treats.
"Before we bid Faerûn adieu in search of stranger shores," the new community update reads, "we have one more major patch waiting around the corner. Arriving next year, this update will introduce some of the most eagerly awaited features to BG3: crossplay, and photo mode, along with 12 new subclasses."
Terminally ill Borderlands fan says his trip to Gearbox to play Borderlands 4 'was truly an amazing experience'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/terminally-ill-borderlands-fan-says-his-trip-to-gearbox-to-play-borderlands-4-was-truly-an-amazing-experience/
Caleb McAlpine, a terminally ill "die hard Borderlands fan" who asked in October for a chance to play Borderlands 4 while he still can, has confirmed on Reddit that Gearbox came through in a big way, saying his experience at the studio was "just awesome."
The sorcerer build that once broke Diablo 4 is coming back better than ever
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-sorcerer-build-that-once-broke-diablo-4-is-coming-back-better-than-ever/
I spent all of Diablo 4's second season melting through monsters as a sorceress standing inside rotating orbs of lightning. Instead of casting spells at a safe distance, Ball Lightning sorcerers brought the magic with them. All it took was a little setup time to get the orbs flowing and then you could carve through dungeons faster than any other class. It was the best build by far and Blizzard made the surprising decision to let it slide for the season before getting nerfed.
Four more seasons have passed and Ball Lightning hasn't returned to the throne, but that's hopefully about to change. Blizzard is dumping buckets of buffs onto the skill for season 7, potentially bringing back one of the most popular builds in Diablo 4.
Instead of Minecraft 1.22, Mojang is releasing its next planned content 'drop' next week with the new Pale Garden biome
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/instead-of-minecraft-1-22-mojang-is-releasing-its-first-planned-content-drop-next-week-with-the-new-pale-garden-biome/
Minecraft is cramming in one more game update before closing out the year, Mojang announced today. The next Minecraft update, called The Garden Awakens, is coming next Tuesday, December 3.
Post Malone is getting his own Hunt: Showdown season where he plays a cursed circus ringmaster
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/post-malone-is-getting-his-own-hunt-showdown-season-where-he-plays-a-cursed-circus-ringmaster/
Last week, we all learned that Grammy-nominated songwriter Post Malone's favorite FPS is Hunt: Showdown 1896, telling Crytek in an interview that he's logged 400 hours in the extraction shooter since he discovered the game this year. Now we know what Malone and Crytek's new friendship was building to: a new season of Hunt called Post Malone's Murder Circus.
Elon Musk says too many game studios are owned by giant corporations so his giant corporation is going to start a studio to 'make games great again'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/elon-musk-says-too-many-game-studios-are-owned-by-giant-corporations-so-his-giant-corporation-is-going-to-start-a-studio-to-make-games-great-again/
X owner Elon Musk has taken a brief break from posting racism, transphobia, and conspiracy theory nonsense to say that gaming has become too "woke" because the industry is dominated by massive corporations, and so he is going to use his own massive corporation to start a new game studio powered by AI "to make games great again!"
>> Don’t be surprised if this is the first and last time I post anything about this nonsense. Except if/when it closes.
'Holy s**t you guys—it happened': 8 years after a terrible launch, No Man's Sky has reached a Very Positive rating on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-s-t-you-guys-it-happened-8-years-after-a-terrible-launch-no-mans-sky-has-reached-a-very-positive-rating-on-steam/
Cyberpunk 2077 is often held up as the greatest redemption arc in videogame history, but I think No Man's Sky has a legitimate claim on the crown too. More than eight years after it landed with an ugly thud on Steam—a "supernova of negative backlash and disappointment," as we put it at the time—Hello Games' sci-fi exploration epic has clawed its way up to a "very positive" rating on Steam.
>> Congratulations. They’ve worked hard for this.
Diablo boss triggers mass eyeroll after wondering out loud if 'we could normalize Diablo-like for ARPGs that follow the Diablo formula'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-boss-triggers-mass-eyeroll-after-wondering-out-loud-if-we-could-normalize-diablo-like-for-arpgs-that-follow-the-diablo-formula/
Diablo is an ARPG, a term that is admittedly fraying at the edges like an overworn bag. We obviously mean different things when we talk about action RPGs like Diablo, and action RPGs like The Veilguard, but it's a genre descriptor we use nonetheless. It's like CRPGs—yes, CRPG means something specific (an isometric RPG with a big story that's typically either turn-based or uses real-time pause) but the words contained within the acronym are borderline useless. 'A roleplaying game you play on your computer' is about the broadest umbrella you can open without getting a call from NASA for mucking up their satellite images.
You could argue that, being the genesis of the genre, Diablo has the rights to a soulslike naming convention. Unless, of course, you're the general manager of the series at Blizzard, in which case wondering out loud about whether we could all pretty please start naming future ARPGs after you is, well, a little desperate. Cringe, as the kids might say.
Palworld puts the Nintendo lawsuit aside and dev takes a pop at 'the haters' as it announces both a Terraria collaboration and by far its biggest island yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/palworld-puts-the-nintendo-lawsuit-aside-and-dev-takes-a-pop-at-the-haters-as-it-announces-both-a-terraria-collaboration-and-by-far-its-biggest-island-yet/
One of 2024's early and surprise big-hitters was Palworld, the game that swiftly became known as Pokémon with guns (even though it's much more of a survival-type experience). Success was instantaneous, with the game's ridiculous sights especially suited to streaming, and since launch developer Pocketpair has maintained a steady rhythm of new content (the game remains in early access).
Then, Pokémon turned its guns on Palworld. (...)
But why the doom and gloom? Pocketpair seems to have half-expected something like this from the start, and has responded by… doubling down on new Palworld content. The studio has announced that Palworld will receive a new island in a December update, apparently "the largest, harshest and most mysterious” yet, alongside what look like new Pals and Tower Bosses. The announcement adds that this new island will be "about six times bigger than Sakurajima", a map previously added to the game in June.
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