July is winding down, and so is summer gaming. There have been some big Steam sales, free games on Epic Game Store, and a bunch of new games to play. I hope you’ve had a lot of quality gaming time! Especially those of you who are starting school again soon. Before you head off to play some games, take a minute to get caught up on the biggest PC gaming news stories with this week’s News Breach!
Corsair brings Origin PC into the fold
Corsair has made its name with gaming accessories like keyboards, RAM upgrades, and a lot more. Now, it has joined forces with the custom PC makers Origin PC. Corsair sells individual PC upgrades for the do-it-yourselfers who like to build their own rig. However, that has isolated it from the market of people who would rather buy something pre-made and avoid the risks that can come with building PCs. Enter Origin PC, who will now enable Corsair to get a foot into that market. Corsair made sure to explain that Origin will still include hardware offerings from across the industry in its custom rigs. It will not be required to give Corsair hardware preferential treatment when building PCs.
This is an extremely smart move on Corsair’s part. Corsair exists in a very crowded space that is the gaming hardware industry. It previously stood on the same playing field with other brands, but some of those (such as Logitech) have started to pull ahead. Diversifying the company’s portfolio of offerings, then, is a good call. And ‘diversifying’ is the key word there. It’s not bringing on a brand known for the same hardware it currently ships. Origin PC tackles a market that Corsair doesn’t operate in. As such, these two can now chip away at the market share in two sectors.
On top of that, Corsair can start to introduce itself to consumers who buy a pre-built PC from Origin. I know that the plan is for Origin to be able to use hardware from other companies. However, now that Corsair will serve as an in-house provider of hardware to Origin, it can provide some essentials at a much cheaper price. I would bet we start seeing more Origin PCs shipping with Corsair RAM or cooling systems.
And don’t forget the possibility of Black Friday (or similar holiday) deals where you could buy an Origin PC and get a Corsair NIGHTSWORD gaming mouse for free. Those who have bought rigs from Origin will find exposure to Corsair products now more than ever. If they ever decide to start swapping parts in and out, they will be more likely to grab newer Corsair hardware since they’ve used it in the past. It all seems like a good way to bring attention back to the company’s brand.
RuneScape is getting a finale for a quest 17 years in the making
RuneScape has served as many players’ go-to MMORPG since back around the turn of the century. Back in 2002, Old School RuneScape‘s first story quest, Plague City, released. Now, 17 years later, that story has come to a close with the final quest in the line, Song of the Elves. Finishing this is no easy feat. You’ll have to beat the storyline’s other Elven quests and the Making History mission. Then, you’ll need to reach level 70 in the Agility, Construction, Farming, Herblore, Hunter, Smithing, Mining, and Woodcutting skills. At least Jagex has given players plenty of time to do all of that.
It seems like every other week, we catch wind of a multiplayer game or server shutting down. As such, it’s really something else to consider how long RuneScape has lasted. Not to mention the fact that it’s free. New expansions like this don’t rake in the cash like World of Warcraft expansions do. They’re meant for current players to have fun with and to bring back those who might have fallen away. I’d say it’s worth taking a minute to appreciate the fact that Jagex did this to complete an experience for players rather than take a slice from their bank account.
Dying Light 2‘s changing world detailed
Dying Light is one of my favorite games of all time. Showing off your parkour skills as Kyle Crane while avoiding a legion of the undead is such a cool fusion that’s really never been done before (at least on the same scale). When I was younger and wanted to go into game design, I had an idea to create a first-person freerunning game set in the zombie apocalypse. Luckily, Techland beat me to it, because that team did a much better job than I would have.
After the success of Dying Light, many of us eagerly awaited news of a sequel. Techland finally provided this to us at E3 2018. Since then, we’ve had a slow-drip of information on the game. We know that the protagonist is named Aiden and that he’s infected with the same virus as the zombies. We also know that the world will change depending on some of the choices the player makes, for better or for worse. This week, Dying Light 2‘s director Tymon Smektala spoke to the scale that they’re aiming for with this adaptive world. He explains that he wants players to be able to “climb to the top of the highest building, look around and go: ‘Wow, I made this. What surrounds me is the outcome of my choices.'”
Smektala explains that the team at Techland didn’t plan on including this at the onset of development. Rather, they wanted to keep pushing the project forward and managed to do so thanks to improvements to their in-house game engine. The decision to create a constantly evolving world only happened around two years ago. Smektala believes that fans will have to play the game twice to see everything the game has to offer.
I can’t help but love Techland’s decision to change their development roadmap to include such a big feature. Dying Light 2 was probably in development for a year or more (assuming work on the sequel started soon after Dying Light‘s The Following DLC). Who knows what work they’d already completed that needed altering to make this work. That’s all for the better, though, since having a world that adapts to the player’s actions will most often prove a more engaging experience.
For instance, during a demo for the game, Techland showed how players will have the choice to decide how to regulate the clean water supply. Making it more accessible to everyone leads to a happier populace and a city filled with flora again. Restricting it fills people with despair, but could have hidden benefits like clean water lasting longer since it’s been rationed. I can’t wait to see what other choices we’ll find in Dying Light 2!
That’s News Breach, folks!
These were some of the biggest PC gaming news stories this week. Don’t forget, you can peruse all of the happenings of the week in our news section. See something in there that catches your eye? Have some thoughts on the stories mentioned above? Leave us a comment about it down below!
Published: Jul 27, 2019 12:00 pm