Besides the usual slew of news regarding games, we had some truly unexpected bombs in the world of gaming consoles with Valve making a huge push toward portable PC gaming. Besides that, Netflix is set to become a big player in the gaming subscription area. Read on to find out more.
Steam Deck is a portable gaming PC from Valve
Nintendo: No Switch Pro. Valve: We’ve got you
If you are among gamers who were disappointed by the lack of “Pro” in the new Nintendo Switch model, you’re gonna love this one. Valve has announced a new portable device called Steam Deck that boasts high-level graphics and the ability to connect to larger screens. It’s essentially a powerful, handheld PC that boasts a quad-core Zen 2 CPU and 8 RDNA 2 compute units of GPU.
Valve is offering 3 versions of the console at various price points depending on the amount and type of storage. The pricier options will be equipped with NVMe SDDs which will somewhat boost load times. The developers view the Steam Deck more as a PC than a console, and it will even support all sorts of peripherals that you expect a PC would. It’s a definite surprise and some heavy competition for the Nintendo Switch, given the rich library of games and an excellent price point. For more on that, check out our original news coverage.
Netflix will reportedly soon offer games with its subscription
It will reportedly be a part of the existing subscription
A recent report by Bloomberg claims that Netflix will include video games in the biggest streaming service in the world “within the next year.” If reports come to fruition, Netflix will follow Google entering the space in recent years to challenge Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Microsoft and Sony already have their own streaming services alongside their traditional consoles.
Netflix has been dancing with the video game space for a long time now and this seems like a logical continuation of their service. What remains is the question of what kind of games the subscription will offer and will Netflix charge an additional fee for it. So far, things indicate that the games will be available as a part of the existing subscription. If so, Netflix could become a huge problem for the existing subscription-based services. We’ll just have to wait and see. For more information, check out our original news coverage.
Gundam Evolution FPS Coming in 2022
Giant robots in a competitive FPS? Sounds good
Bandai Namco has just announced that it is currently working on a brand new competitive Gundam title, Gundam Evolution. While a new Gundam game from Bandai is nothing strange, this one breaks the mold by being a free-to-play first-person shooter, releasing on Windows 10 PC sometime in 2022.
This is completely in line with Bandai’s previous statements about making a Gundam e-sports title. With that in mind and looking at the trailer, the game seems to go all-in on that. It’s insanely fast-paced and seems to draw inspiration from popular titles like Overwatch and Valorant. To find out more information and check the trailer for yourself, check out our original news coverage.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown will feature a smaller map
Smaller but denser map
The all-new Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is taking place on Hong Kong island, fully recreated and polished in 1:1 scale. While that might sound enormous, when you only look at the roads, it’s not as large as you might think. In fact, it’s 27 times smaller than Test Drive Unlimited 2.
While this might sound like it takes two steps back for the franchise according to Google, Hong Kong Island has an area of 78.5 km², which is comparable to Forza Horizon 4 with more or less 71 km². So not that bad after all. Besides, it’s highly probable that a smaller map will enable developers to cram more details into every inch. For more information, check out our original news coverage.
Rainbow 6 Extraction has been delayed again
Still no luck for Rainbow 6 fans
This year really is absolutely marred with delays and it’s now losing yet another high-profile game. Ubisoft has delayed Rainbow 6 Extraction until 2022. This is the second time that the developers have delayed the game. In addition, Riders Republic, a Ubisoft original title, has had its launch moved back from September 2 to October 28.
Formerly known as Rainbow 6 Quarantine, this isn’t the first time that the tactical shooter has faced a delay. Ubisoft originally planned to launch the game in 2020. Like many other projects, the global pandemic forced the developers to move back its release date. While the game has received a slight delay, fans eager to play the game have the opportunity to participate in a closed beta preceding launch. For more information on that and the game in general, check out our original news coverage.
Pro Evolution Soccer changing its name and going free-to-play
Konami is making an effort to make this one a different beast
Say goodbye to the most epic of gaming competitions between Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer. The latter is becoming a whole different deal by changing its name to eFootball and becoming a free-to-play title when it releases later this year. Alongside that announcement, Konami released a roadmap for the game where full cross-platform play is the main highlight.
PES has been a regular annual title from Konami since 1995, with the last two releases including the eFootball in the title. For the first time in the series, eFootball will be built on the Unreal Engine; it will release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X & S, Xbox One, PC (Steam and Windows 10), iOS, and Android will release later in the year. For more information, check out our original news coverage.
