Monthly Archives: July 2021

This week Valve announced that they’re going to be entering the handheld gaming space by launching their premium Steam Deck handheld console later this year.

The handheld will be running a custom version of the Steam OS, but players will be given the option to load whatever operating system they want (including Windows). The console will feature users’ entire Steam library of games and will come in three different variations: a 64GB, 256GB, and a 512GB model.

The hardware is pretty beefy outside of the NVME hard drives, with Zen 2 + RDNA powering the handheld. For comparison's sake, this is the same backbone that the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X use for their consoles. Additionally, the Steam Deck will feature Micro SD card compatibility and will have a 40Whr battery that’ll provide between 2-8 hours of charge.

The screen in the device is a 1280x800 pixel touchscreen with 60Hz refresh rate. A dock will also be made available to connect the device to a monitor

This week it was revealed that a demo of Super Mario Bros. 3 programmed by Id Software for the PC was donated to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

The demo was worked on by Id in 1990 as a peek at how the popular Nintendo Entertainment System game could have run on PC systems. The demo was ordered by Nintendo, but the concept was ultimately scrapped with only limited Mario games coming out (which were mostly educational in nature).

The game never came to fruition but was a prototype that showed that games could run relatively smoothly on PC hardware. This was actually an achievement, as during this time many platforming games ran choppily. Examples of this can be seen in games like Mega Man, which were ported to PC and then quickly abandoned.

Speaking to Ars Technica, Strong National Museum of Play Digital Games Curator Andrew Borman said, “The individual who donated it was a game developer. It wasn’t something I expected to see in this donation,

WNBA player Candace Parker made history this week by being selected by 2K Sports as the first female cover athlete for the NBA 2K series of games.

Parker will be featured on the Gamestop-exclusive version of NBA 2K22 when it releases on September 10^th. The custom cover is meant to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the WNBA, the first women’s professional basketball league to launch in the United States.

In a tweet, Parker commented on her achievement, writing: "Extremely proud and humbled to be the first female cover athlete in the history of @NBA2K. I’m honored to work with a company that’s investing in women and betting on us to succeed. I’m hoping there will be many more badass females to follow.”

There will be multiple covers of the game releases, with Luka Doncic, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Rui Hachimura all getting covers as well.

Parker, 35, is currently a Center for the Chicago Sky. She spent the first

This week Nintendo announced the upcoming release of a new Nintendo Switch console, which will bring an OLED screen on the tablet along with a larger screen and larger internal storage.

The move comes after more than a year of speculation that Nintendo would be releasing a new console, although many were anticipating 4K gaming capability. This new model will feature 64GB of internal storage and will feature a 7-inch OLED display on the tablet portion of the system.

The console will be launching on October 8^th and will come in at a hefty $349.99. By comparison, this is $50 less than the disc-less version of the PlayStation 5 and is $49.99 more than the Xbox Series S, which has the ability to play some limited 4K games.

Still, Nintendo was keen to tout the upgrade, with Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser nothing: “The new Nintendo Switch (OLED model) is a great option for players who want to experience the new vibrant screen when playing in handheld

A week ago news website PlayStation Lifestyle reported that there was a company named Simulmedia that was looking to implement mobile-style advertisements into console games. In that report, the company claimed that EA signed a deal to work those ads in. This week, EA denied those reports and said that they’re not currently looking at those style ads in games.

The rebuttal came after the story gained traction, with EA saying that they haven’t signed any type of agreement with Simulmedia and that they’re not going to be putting paid ads into games in the way

At this point, Simulmedia has not issued a comment on why they said that they’re working with EA. The company also said that they’re working with Hi-Rez Studios, who’s known for putting out the games Smite and Paladins.

A statement from EA regarding the matter read in part: “Following incorrect reports suggesting that we are looking to introduce ‘TV-style’ commercials into our games, we wanted to clarify that in-game

Sony is joining the game of purchasing third-party studios, as it’s been announced that the company is purchasing Finnish game developer Housemarque, who recently released the PS5 exclusive Returnal.

The purchase price wasn’t known as of press time, but the announcement was made via the PlayStation Blog, wherein Hermen Hulst welcomed the Resogun designer into the fold. The company will now be making exclusive releases for the PS4 and PS5 platforms, with the possibility of games also being ported to PC after initial launches.

In the blog post, Hulst wrote in part: “Today I’m thrilled to welcome a new member to the PlayStation Studios family! I have been a fan of Housemarque since the studio’s early days when they introduced Super Stardust HD to PlayStation fans. Housemarque’s recent release of Returnal proves the studio is one with incredible vision, capable of creating memorable new games that resonate with our community. This addition enhances the creative force of PlayStation

After last year’s disaster that was the reveal of Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, and Microsoft gave the game a new reveal at E3 2021, showing off a game that certainly looked better than the version shown a year ago.

Players were treated to an in-depth trailer during the Xbox + Bethesda Showcase, which showed off the campaign as well as multiplayer mode. The game looks much better than last year’s showcase, which was widely panned as looking like something that could have come from the Xbox 360 era. Visuals are much better, with 4K and a stable performance presence on the screen.

In addition to the standard campaign mode that continues the story of Master Chief, we also got a full in-depth look at the game’s multiplayer, which is where most players will be spending their time with this game. The online mode will feature a Battle Pass that you purchase and will not expire. The price for the Battle Pass isn’t known, but we do know that there won’t be the standard seasons that

Bethesda’s upcoming science-fiction RPG Starfield was shown briefly at E3 2021, and the company revealed that it’ll be a console exclusive for Xbox.

This isn’t a huge surprise, given that Microsoft purchased Bethesda in 2020 for a whopping $7.5 billion. Still, the fact that Bethesda games are still coming to PS5 left a possibility that the game could have been making its way to other consoles.

Microsoft opened its joint press conference with a trailer of Starfield, but that reveal was actually leaked a few hours in advance. Footage for the game was in pre-alpha, meaning that everything shown off likely won’t be in the same form when the game releases. During the trailer we saw a pilot working a spaceship located on a rocky planet, taking off and setting course for new destinations before teasing the title.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard said that there are currently four different Bethesda-related studios working on the game, indicating that they’re confident