Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-23-2018, 04:21 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Steam Winter Sale Is Live: Great PC Game Deals On Thousands Of Titles
It's that time of year again, when Steam takes a large swath of the PC games in its massive library and drops prices. It's the Steam Winter Sale, and it's live between now and January 3. So if you could use some new games in your life and you're interested in saving money, check out what's on sale. There's a good chance you'll find something worth buying.
But first some freebies. When you check in on Steam between now and January 3, you can click on the Extremely Cozy Cottage of Surprises to receive free digital Steam Community items and DLC each day of the sale. It's obviously part of a plan to keep you coming back, but that's just business.
As for the games on sale, there are so many it's hard to choose where to start. But let's kick things off with the big games of 2018. Assassin's Creed Odyssey just came out a few months ago, but it's already available for the agreeable price of $30. Far Cry 5 is down to $28, while Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is discounted to $36. And if you want to get creative with your kills, you can't go wrong with Hitman 2, on sale for $42.
Some of the biggest indie games of the year are also on sale, including the challenging platformer Celeste for $16, the roguelike Metroidvania Dead Cells for $20, and the hole simulator Donut County for $9.75. And if you want to get mad at your friends, you can pick up Overcooked 2 for $19.
Even bigger savings are available on older titles. For instance, Prey will only set you back $15, while RPG fans can grab Divinity: Original Sin II for $29. Grand Theft Auto V is on sale for one of its lowest prices ever at $15, and Undertale is only $4.
You'll find more highlights from the Steam Winter Sale below, or you can check out the full list on Steam.
Feature: Vote For Your 2018 Nintendo Game Of The Year
Can you seriously believe it’s been a year since the 2017 Game of the Year awards? That’s right – it’s time for everyone to come together yet again and decide on their favourite games of 2018.
This year we’ll be doing things a little differently; instead of providing you with a limited shortlist we’ve opened things up so you can vote for any game in our database, which should include everything released in 2018. Remember, only games that were released in the UK or US first in 2018 are eligible. If you can’t find the game you want to vote for, please contact us so we can investigate.
Rules: You must be logged in to vote. You can only vote once per category but can vote for up to three games. Your first choice will receive 3 points, second choice 2 points and third choice 1 point. Votes will then be tallied and revealed on the 31st Dec. Voting will close at midnight, Sunday 30th Dec 2018.
Switch Retail Game Of The Year – 2018
Switch eShop Game Of The Year – 2018
3DS Game Of The Year – 2018
eShop Developer Of The Year – 2018
Please search for your favourite developer(s) by searching by the game title they released this year.
Art Style Game Of The Year – 2018
Multiplayer Game Of The Year – 2018
Overall Game Of The Year – 2018
If you have any issues voting for the game you want, simply contact us so we can investigate. Otherwise, get voting and let us know in the comments below your predictions on the results.
Razer Announces Xbox One Wireless Mouse And Keyboard, Coming Next Year
Razer has unveiled its newest wireless keyboard and mouse, which are specifically designed to work with Xbox One. Called Razer Turret, the mouse and keyboard set retails for $250 USD.
There's nothing stopping you from using the Razer Turret on a PC, but the mouse and keyboard come with certain features that make it ideal for Xbox One. The Turret comes with both Razer Chroma and Xbox Dynamic Lighting, which pair up and cause the keyboard to light up in sync with the games you play. There's also an Xbox dashboard key that allows you to immediately return to your console's home page.
The wireless mouse and keyboard offer up to 40 hours of play on one charge, with the keyboard and mouse having a lifespan of 80 million keystrokes and 50 million clicks respectively. Part of the keyboard can also extend, providing a smooth surface for the mouse--which is stylized after Razer's Mamba Wireless--so you can play with the Turret on your lap without a desk or a table if you prefer.
The Razer Turret is available for pre-order on the Microsoft Store, but it doesn't have a definitive release date beyond Q1 2019. There's currently a limited-time offer on the Turret where you net a $25 USD Xbox gift card with a pre-order.
BATTLETECH's first-ever expansion adds new gameplay, depth, and over 30 hours of new content to your mercenary experience. Introducing Flashpoints: high-stakes, branching short stories that link together mercenary missions, crew conversations, special events, critical choices, and rare bonus rewards to take BATTLETECH's endgame and Career-Mode gameplay to the next level. Flashpoints embroil you in the feuds and machinations of the various Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, and are designed to keep even the most hardened mercenary commanders on their toes. In addition to narrative twists and turns, some Flashpoint stories feature consecutive deployments in which players can?t repair or heal between missions, while others feature infiltration contracts that restrict the tonnage of deployable BattleMechs.
A collaboration between legendary game designer Richard Garfield and Valve, Artifact promises the deepest gameplay and the highest-fidelity experience ever seen in a trading card game.
What was the year’s most fun multiplayer game that secretly ruins friendships? What was the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate moment? What was the best game of 2018? These questions keep our panel up at night. Host Chris Slate and guests Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang from Nintendo Minute need their rest, so we asked our trustworthy listeners to vote on the answers in this special year-end episode.
Highlights from Ghost Recon Wildlands Special Operation 3 Update
Calling all Ghosts!
In Special Operation 3, Silent Spade, veteran Ghost Scott Mitchell is calling on Nomad to help rookie John Kozak investigate a plot that links the Santa Blanca Cartel a nuclear threat. Uncover this action-packed plot and complete the mission to get the Cloaking Device Backpack, which will boost your stealth. Experience this free new content and much more as part of Ghost Recon: Wildlands Year 2.
Free Mission: Silent Spade
Ghost Leader Scott Mitchell is calling on Nomad and his team to help rookie John Kozak investigate a plot that links the Santa Blanca Cartel a nuclear threat. Uncover this action-packed plot and complete the mission to get the Cloaking Device Backpack, which will boost your stealth.
Photo Mode
Capture your favorite moments from Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands with our new Photo Mode.
PvP Events
Events are gameplay modifiers voted on by players that are applied to all Quickplay matches while the Event is active. Be sure to catch them while they’re live; each Event is only up for 60 hours!
Open to Player Vote: Players have two weeks to vote between two possible events. They can only vote once
Time-Limited: Events happen once every two weeks and last 24 hours
Restricted Gameplay: Quickplay rules are altered (example: shotguns only, thermal goggles always on, etc.)
Rewarded with Prestige: Players get 200 Prestige Credits each time they vote and 50 for every win
New Classes: Vanguard and Sharpshooter
Vanguard uncovers hidden enemies by using his Sensor Grenades, highlighting hostiles for his team. Sharpshooter charges his shots by using his Long Range Specialist ability. At full charge, his next shot negates the effects of sway and bullet drop.
New Maps: Lithium Mine and Outskirts
This map is set on a Lithium Mine on the Western edge of Koani in northern Bolivia. Featuring wide-open spaces mixed with closed and tightly packed warehouses; Lithium Mind offers opportunities for the Marksman class and close quarters combat teams to excel.
The Outskirts map is located on the edge of a Santa Blanca compound near the La Cruz refugee camp. The forest offers many opportunities for flanking, while close quarters combat rages in the nearby base. Tall buildings in Outskirts are the perfect spot to set up a sniper to pick off enemy opponents out of cover.
Year 2 Pass
Year 2 Pass holders will get the Infantry Pack free with Special Operation 3. Year 2 Pass holders will also get one week early access and an instant unlock for to the two new Ghost War classes, starting on December 11th.
Updated Prestige Economy
We will be introducing an update to the Prestige Economy in Special Operation 3, including all Battle Crate items will have a chance to drop in Prestige Crates, improved odds for Legendary and Epic item drops, increased duplicate compensation, and increased Prestige rewards for completing Challenges
To learn more about Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, please keep an eye on ghostrecon.com and visit our official forums. We also invite you to join the discussion on Twitter by tagging @GhostRecon or by using #GhostRecon. To keep track of your stats and find other Ghosts to join your taskforce, log in to the Ghost Recon Network and download the Ghost Recon HQ App.
Daily Deal – Space Engineers and Medieval Engineers Advertising App, 60% Off
The Steam Community has spoken, and we are proud to announce the finalists for The Steam Awards 2018 — but we still need your help choosing the winners!
Voting will open on December 20th, at the start of the 12th annual Steam Winter Sale. Vote in each of our 8 categories to share your top Steam games and developers from 2018 and obtain this year’s set of trading cards.
Voting closes January 3rd and winners will be announced early February 2019. Good luck to all of our nominees!
Nominees for Game of the Year
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
HITMAN™ 2
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Nominees for VR Game of the Year
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
VRChat
Beat Saber
Fallout 4 VR
SUPERHOT VR
Nominees for Labor of Love
Dota 2
Grand Theft Auto V
No Man’s Sky
Path of Exile
Stardew Valley
Nominees for Best Environment
The Witcher® 3: Wild Hunt
Subnautica
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Far Cry 5
DARK SOULS™ III
Nominees for Better with Friends
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Siege
PAYDAY 2
Dead by Daylight
Overcooked! 2
Nominees for Best Alternate History
Wolfeinstein II: The New Colossus
Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey
Hearts of Iron IV
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI
Fallout 4
Nominees for Most Fun with a Machine
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Rocket League
NieR:Automata
Factorio
Space Engineers
Nominees for Best Developer
CD PROJEKT RED
Ubisoft
Bethesda
Rockstar Games
Digital Extremes Ltd.
Square Enix
Capcom
Paradox Interactive
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Klei
Notes on Best Developer category:
“Best Developer” proved to be a highly-contested category with a lot of close calls among the top nominees. As a result, we expanded the set of nominees to 10. In addition, we’ve excluded ourselves from this category. We appreciate the love you’ve shown us, but we want to honor the other awesome developers on Steam, so we have excluded Valve from the final tally.
Black Ops 4 Patch Notes Detail Armor Changes, Weapon Camo Support For Blackout
Following the release of Operation Absolute Zero on Xbox One and PC, Treyarch has rolled out another update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. This one focuses primarily on tweaking armor durability and repair in Blackout mode, but it also makes a handful of changes specific to the PC version of the game.
As Treyarch detailed on Reddit, armor has been given an all-around nerf in Blackout mode. The durability of Level 2 and 3 armor has been reduced to match that of Level 1 armor, while the number of armor plates that can be carried at once has dropped from 10 to five.
Moreover, Treyarch has increased the amount of time it takes to use an armor plate by one second. The developer has also "slightly increased" Paladin weapon damage against armor.
"While we're pleased to see Armor lasting through more than one gunfight with this redesign, we agreed that Level 2 and Level 3 Armor was a bit too durable," Treyarch wrote. "With the durability dialed back on these, players should be able to destroy their enemies' Armor more frequently."
Along with the armor adjustments, Treyarch has added Weapon Camo support to Blackout. Now, players can apply any Camos they've earned in multiplayer, Zombies, or the Black Market to their weapons in the battle royale mode. The developer has also addressed a handful of issues across all platforms, including some stability improvements to the newest Zombies chapter, Dead of the Night.
In terms of PC-specific changes, Treyarch has fixed a bug that prevented players from changing their reticle color, as well as one "where a console prompt would be displayed in the tutorial screen when opening the Create-A-Class menu for the first time." You can find the full patch notes for the December 19 update on Reddit.
Hardware Review: To Enjoy The New BittBoy, You’ll Need To Get Your Hands Dirty
If you cast your minds back a short while, you’ll recall that we reviewed the BittBoy Portable Video Game Handheld, a dinky little Game Boy clone that came packed with 300 NES games, many of which were pretty dire – not to mention legally questionable. Despite this, we couldn’t help warming to this truly pocket-sized portable, thanks in no small part to the excellent IPS screen rechargeable battery. Tantalisingly, the unit came with a slot in its casing into which a MicroSD card would fit, but inside there was no actual card-reading tech – it was a tease, but one which the console’s manufacturer would eventually remedy.
You see, the ‘New’ BittBoy has just launched and it does support MicroSD cards – in fact, if you don’t insert one, it’s little more than a paperweight. This new model doesn’t have any games pre-loaded – a handy way of avoiding any potential legal action from copyright holders – but instead expects buyers to get their hands dirty by loading up ROM images for NES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games.
Before we get into that, it’s worth noting that the New BittBoy has a larger 2.4-inch IPS LCD screen this time around, and it’s fantastic. Colours really pop and viewing angles are superb; it really says something about how far screen tech has come in the past few years that a device which costs $40 can ship with such an amazing display.
The other big news is that the console is packing the very capable AllWinner F1C500S system-on-a-chip – it’s not the most powerful piece of silicon on the planet but it more than gets the job done here. Elsewhere, the 3.5mm headphone socket remains in place, and this doubles as a composite AV output if you fancy running this on your TV – the image quality is predictably poor, however. The internal lithium battery has been boosted from 500mAh to 700mAh, but that still only results in around three hours of use between charges (it comes with a Micro USB cable) – pretty much the same as the original BittBoy.
The New BittBoy comes with a suite of emulators under the ‘Miyoo’ banner: NES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color. All you need to do is drag-and-drop your ROM files onto a MicroSD card and insert it into the console – the Miyoo software will automatically sort the files into their respective systems, which are then presented in three different categories from the main menu.
During play, hitting the ‘R’ button located beneath the screen brings up the emulator’s sub-menu. From here, you can adjust the ratio of the screen (‘Full’ stretches the image out so it uses all 2.4-inches, while ‘Default’ aims for the original aspect ratio, leaving black borders around the image). You can also create and load save states – which is vital as in-game saves don’t work – and toggle between the console’s display and your TV when using the AV-out cable. Holding down the R button in-game will return you to the main menu.
Outside of this menu, all other functions are mapped rather clumsily to button combinations. ‘Select’ and either A or B held together raises and lowers the volume, while ‘Select’ and either TA or TB (two additional buttons which simply replicate the action of the A and B buttons in-game) changes the brightness. It’s not an elegant system and the lack of any instructions in the box means you’re largely ignorant of such shortcuts.
So how does the New BittBoy actually perform? Well, getting it to play nice with a MicroSD card could well be your first battle. We tried three different Samsung cards (1GB, 8GB and 32GB) and only the 32GB card worked; with the other two, the console simply paused on the boot screen and refused to load up the Miyoo emulator menu. There doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rules on which cards work and which don’t, but we’d recommend going for one with a relatively fast read/write rating (our 32GB card was an Evo variant). If your card was purchased in the past few years, you should be fine.
Once you’ve gotten past that potential hurdle, it’s relatively plain sailing. The New BittBoy recognised every ROM we threw at it and performance is generally good, especially on NES games; switch the viewing mode to ‘Default’ and you get an almost pixel-perfect replication of what these titles looked like running on a proper TV. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, which, even when running in ‘Default’ video mode, have an odd distortion effect which makes everything shimmer when there’s movement. It’s a real shame as it makes some titles look downright ugly, although they’re all perfectly playable. Interestingly, Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation doesn’t seem to be quite as smooth as NES emulation in the Miyoo software; during Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition we noticed a small amount of stutter when moving around the game world, and audio is also rather patchy.
Speaking of which, the New BittBoy’s mono speaker is surprisingly powerful but awfully tinny. There are a few bum notes as far as audio emulation is concerned, but sometimes it feels like it’s the fault of the speaker rather than the software, which makes certain notes seem more painful than you remember. Playing via headphones isn’t much better.
Other things to note: built quality is predictably average; there’s a lot of light bleed through the plastic casing and there was a large speck of dirt under the screen on our review unit, which we’d have to take the console apart in order to remove. These issues aside, the New BittBoy is exactly how you’d expect a $40 portable console to feel – cheap, but not so cheap that you wouldn’t dare take it out of the house. In fact, the New BittBoy makes for the perfect travelling companion, as it’s small enough to fit in your pocket and will slip into your bag without you even noticing – in fact, it would probably get hopelessly lost in most rucksacks. It’s a shame that the battery life isn’t better, but you can always carry a spare; the battery is user-serviceable and is actually an aftermarket replacement for the one inside the Game Boy Advance SP.
As with the original BittBoy, we can’t help but warm to this revised product, despite the obvious legal issues involved with sourcing ROMs to play on it – a process which, in 2018, has become a lot more difficult thanks to Nintendo’s moves to shut down sites which illegally distribute its software. Given this moral quandary, you may wish to avoid the New BittBoy if you’d rather keep your hands clean; for less ethically-minded individuals, however, this is a cheap way of keeping your hands busy when you’re travelling and rediscovering some classic titles in the process.
