This Week In PC Gaming is an easy way to catch up with all of the news that you might have missed this week, organized in such a way that you can get a brief overview on all of the stories and from there jump to the ones you're interested in (links are above). And if you are so inclined you can also find out what happened the previous week by going here.
An avalanche of news and announcements appeared this week so this one's going to be a bit larger than usual but that does mean there's a lot more interesting things to see, let's get started:
Windows 10 & Xbox One exclusives confirmed for 2016
Earlier this week Mike Nicholas, from the Xbox team, talked about various statistics and accomplishments but more importantly gave us the lineup of Windows 10 & Xbox One exclusives for 2016 as well as a time frame when each of those will be releasing.
The biggest surprise was probably the confirmation of Keji Inafune's ReCore as a PC title rather than just an Xbox One exclusive as it was first announced. You can find the full list in the link above.
Door Kickers 2 has been announced
For those that haven't heard about it, Door Kickers is a real time strategy game where you control a SWAT team during a tactical intervention in hostile territory. Good planning, tactics and execution are all equally important if you want to make it out alive given that you are almost always outnumbered.
And now, after being a huge success on Steam, Door Kickers is getting a sequel that plans to transfer the game in to 3D allowing for better use of vertical space, among other features.
AMD has unveiled a new GPU architecture
The new Polaris GPU architecture promises a historic leap in performance per watt for everything from gaming PCs to laptops and tablets.
In a demo showcase they compared one of their new Polaris based GPUs with Nvidia's GTX 950 and the results were rather interesting with the Polaris GPU's power consumption being ~86 and GTX 950's ~140 watts, quite the difference.
Wii exclusive A Boy and His Blob is coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Vita
A Boy and His Blob is a charming puzzle-platformer with some great visuals and interesting narrative wrapping all of it together. It released a couple of years ago on the Wii to some rather good reviews but given that it was a Wii exclusive it faded from public memory rather quickly.
Luckily the port will be coming on January 19th and will feature HD graphics, 1080p resolution and 60 FPS support. As of right now however the price point is unknown.
Rise of the Tomb Raider release date & PC system requirements released
Rise of the Tomb Raider is set to arrive on the PC this January 28th and despite Windows 10 being featured prominently in some advertisements Tomb Raider won't be exclusive to it.
As for the PC system requirements only the minimum has been released and its about as what you expected, a fairly standard mid-ranged rig is required.
Oculus Rift pre-orders are live
You can find all of the details as well as how to pre-order your own copy over at the Oculus website though be warned, it is quite pricey at $599 and €699 for us in the EU (without shipping).
While the price might be a shocker for some people I do also have a piece of great news: everyone who pledged enough on the Kickstarter to receive a development kit will be granted a unique Kickstarter-themed Oculus Rift for free as thanks for supporting the company from the very beginning.
After the initial announcement of the Psychonauts 2 crowdfunding campaign it managed to raise $1,500,000 in a single day, a massive accomplishment.
Things have since then slowed down but Psychonauts 2 has still reached its crowdfunding goal and currently sits on $3,500,000 with one day left. So if you were itching for any of the backer-exclusive rewards now is your last chance.
Old school Runescape has received an expansion
Apparently the Old School (2007) version of Runescape is not just well populated but thriving given that they've just received the first part of a bigger expansion.
The first expansion chapter titled Zeah: Great Kourend is adding new ways for players to level up their skills, a new landmass and bustling city to explore as well as five great houses to appease in order to make a name for yourself.
Final Fantasy IX is coming early 2016
At the time of the announcement it has only been 7 days since the Final Fantasy IX PC & mobile port was unveiled and we already have an estimated release date and list of features.
According to the newly added Steam page Final Fantasy IX will be arriving on PC in early 2016 and will feature improved graphics as well as Steam achievements, five gameplay modifiers (such as the advertised no encounter mode), autosaving and more.
The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ will be paid DLC
The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ DLC will bring with it new items, bosses, enemies, a bestiary, a couple of unannounced features and most importantly full mod support and the ability to edit any part of the game.
The reason its going to be a paid DLC is because the team is treating it as a full blown expansion rather than a small patch so if Afterbirth itself was any judge expect great things from Afterbirth+.
Far Cry 3 Primal release date & PC requirements released
After appearing out of nothing a month ago Far Cry Primal underwent a rather large announcement spree. The release date is set for February 24th for the PS4 and Xbox One with the PC following shortly on March 1st. You can find the PC requirements in the link above.
Besides simply releasing information about Far Cry Primal Ubisoft also did a two hour long showcase of the game so I'd suggest you give that a look as well.
Pillars of Eternity: White March part 2 is being delayed
The White March part 2 was slated to arrive this month but is instead being delayed until February 16th in order to get it as polished up as it can be.
Expect to see new areas to explore, monsters to bash down, companions to chat up as well as a conclusion to the story that began with White Marsh part 1.
Dragon's Dogma might be getting a sequel
In a recent interview the Dragon's Dogma team gave to PC gamer they've talked about various aspects of development and their thoughts on Dragon's Dogma in general. Its rather short and gives a good insight in to how the team functions so I'd suggest you go ahead and read it if you're interested in Dragon's Dogma.
But the most important part of the interview is that the team said they're very much so interested in making a Dragon's Dogma sequel and that its chances will depend greatly on how well the game goes over on PC. So here's to hoping it ends up going well because I would love to see more Dragon's Dogma.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - first story chapter is coming in February
Anarchy in Paradise is the first out of seven chapters that will be coming to reinforce The Old Republic in 2016 and it will be completely "free" for all subscribers.
Along with the expansion announcement Bioware started up a subscription rewards program where you can pick up some unique and cool cosmetics as well as special missions. The full details are in the link above.
Punch Club is a boxing tycoon & management RPG that was originally slated to release on January 25th but tinyBuild & Lazy Bear Games promised they would instead release it as soon as Twitch manages to beat the entire game, no small undertaking when you have thousands of people at the wheel.
But in a rather impressive feat of organization the Twitch community not only managed to beat Punch Club, they did it in under two days! As soon as the announcement broke that Twitch had managed to best the game it was released on Steam as promised and you can now grab it yourself.
Deadbolt - from the creators of Risk of Rain has been announced
Deadbolt is coming to us from the extremely talented team behind Risk of Rain who managed to create quite the exciting roguelike action game.
Deadbolt is set to continue that legacy as its a stealth/action hybrid where you play as the Grim Reaper himself and try to quell an undead uprising through sneaking, stabbing and plenty of shooting.
Desolus has been announced - an indie puzzle/exploration VR game
It is a great thing indeed to see indie developers ready to take the plunge in to VR gaming because they're the ones that are going to be pushing the boundaries and taking risks.
One such indie game is Desolus, a rather pretty & very stylish first person puzzle/exploration hybrid where you are able to harness the power of a black hole in order to absorb and redirect the power of the stars.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is likely coming to PC
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture had a Steam database listing for a long time now but everyone simply assumed this was a leftover from before the Chinese Room partnered with Sony and made their game a PS4 exclusive.
Since then there were rumors of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and a few other games being ported over to the PC, and while the fact that the game now has a store-front banner image in the Steam database isn't definitive proof I think we can safely assume that the PS4 exclusive "walking simulator" will be making its way to the PC sometime soon.
That is it for this rather eventful week. If you're interested in more information on any of the stories simply click on the links above and you'll be taken to a more detailed article on the topic.