TGO Daily | Friday July 16, 2021 | Steam Deck Revealed
In the news: Steam Deck details revealed, Resident Evil Re:Verse delayed considerably, and Call of Duty Warzone getting its biggest balance update yet.
TGO Daily | Friday July 16, 2021
✏️ From the Author
The weekend is coming and I am very relieved it’s finally here. As you’ve probably noticed, the newsletters were coming later this week than normal. I have been simply exhausted from getting very little sleep. As I work 10 hour shifts during the Summer, that means I have Friday off, so I’ll be sleeping in and trying to reenergize.
We’re celebrating my niece’s 2nd birthday this weekend and, if you remember from last weekend, I’ll be going out again for more pictures with my Crew! That’s right. I have a Crew now. I’m pretty hip n’ happenin’.
I’m set up for another fun weekend and I’m excited about it! I’m hoping there will be less spiders this time though…
Until next time,
Brandon
Steam Deck Officially Revealed
We now have details on Steam’s version of the Switch - the Steam Deck. The great thing about this handheld device is that it does its best to put the power of a computer in your hands.
Quickfire details:
The Deck uses SteamOS 3.0, but reports say that the OS can be wiped and replaced with Windows (or another favorite OS). The ability to control your OS and use the device as a handheld computer opens a lot of possibilities, from doing schoolwork, watching shows and gaming (of course).
The battery will provide 2-8 hours of gameplay - this, naturally, will vary based off of what you’re doing/playing on the device.
The screen is 7”, same as the newest Switch OLED.
It will also have a separate release of a dock that will allow players to hook up external displays, USB devices, etc.
It has two analogue sticks, two touch pads, analogue triggers, ABXY face buttons, four rear buttons, and gyro controls.
The Deck is built for your Steam Library, but the device is still very much a PC. You can install browsers, do homework, attend a meeting, and even download other game stores and play their games.
The Steam Deck will ship this December with varied storage options priced at: $399USD/£349 (64GB eMMC), $529USD/£459 (250GB SSD) and $649USD/£569 (512GB SSD).
Brandon’s Thoughts: The short version of this is: It’s a handheld PC, and that’s just freaking awesome. It’s got some good hardware in it to make it a solid PC & handheld gaming device for when you’re on the go. My only concern is the battery life, but I’ve never had my OG Switch die on me when in handheld, so I don’t think this one will give me any problem. Everything about this seems like it’s going to be big and it makes me interested to see how popular this is going to be once December rolls around.
Resident Evil Re:Verse Multiplayer Delayed
Last we heard of the multiplayer mode coming to Resident Evil Village, we were going to expect it some time this month. Capcom has updated us that the multiplayer mode will now launch in 2022.
Re:Verse hit some mixed fan responses from its beta test back in April, where it had such prevalent matchmaking issues that they ended up pulling the beta after only 7 hours of uptime.
Re:Verse was planned as a 6v6 deathmatch mode where you play as an iconic Resident Evil character from the series. There’s no telling if Capcom plans to simply work on the matchmaking issues or try and revamp parts of the mode. All they’ve said regarding it is that they plan to, “smooth gameplay experience”.
Brandon’s Thoughts: Capcom confirmed last month that a DLC for Village was in the works as well, so this may now be taking precedent after how well Village was received. Mind you, that’s just speculation. We’ll have to wait and see what Capcom plans to do with Re:Verse as we get closer to 2022.
Call of Duty Warzone Getting Big Balance Update
In what Raven is calling “the biggest balance update in the history of Warzone”, they have made substantial changes to nearly every gun in the game. Raven stated that the reasoning behind the changes is to increase the game’s average time-to-kill. This means that the time it takes to kill an enemy will increase and be slower than prior.
With this patch, Raven hopes to balance all guns to make every weapon a viable choice. They also will be changing hit multipliers on torso to be less damaging, requiring better precision from players to secure kills faster.
“We will continue to compress outliers, both over and underperforming, until each Weapon is viable at the very least. We do not want players to feel they are at a distinct disadvantage for not conforming to the generally accepted 'best weapon'.”
If you look at the notes and see your favorite gun(s) being nerfed, I’d recommend to not get too upset just yet. Raven seems keenly aware that it’ll take more work to tweak things just right. If we give it time, they’ll have enough data to see how things are performing and be able to adjust from there.
🔦 Article Spotlight
Xbox’s boss is worried that gaming is losing its history | VGC
Phil Spencer discusses the history of gaming and the criticalness of preserving what we can before the ability to access it is gone.
💡 Read More
Super Mario Bros. speedrunner sets new blindfolded world record. Speedrunner Crescendo beat the game in 11 minutes and 55 seconds. The previous record belonged to dodai, who achieved a time of 14 minutes and 46 seconds back in 2016.
Netflix has hired a former EA executive to lead its expansion into gaming.
Pokémon Unite launches for Nintendo Switch next week. You knew I’d include this - I’m excited for this game! Coming to Switch July 21st.
👋 Say Hello!
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Thanks for the read <3