The Independent Insight

Giving truth a voice

The New Valve’s Steam Deck – Released Date, Price and Specs

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For the PC gamers who are still trying to find an alternative for a mobile device that could access their well-invested Steam account whenever they go, the Steam Deck could be the answer. Now the question is how reliable this new device is compared to the other consoles on the market? 

Specs

Valve has been partnering with AMD to create a custom chip that runs a Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 GPU. Fitted with 16GB of LPDDR5, the users will expect a smooth gaming experience. Although it came with a 7-inch display, it still doesn’t output in 4K resolution. It will feature a 1200×800 pixels display with 16:10 aspect ratio. Valve had claimed the battery should last around 7 or 8 hours on a full charge.

From the physical appearance, it is kind of resemble the Switch but it has dual touchpad just under the thumb stick. As we speak of the thumb stick, I feel the location is too far on the upper side. I am not sure if this could be a minor drawback among the user but we’ll see more on the reviews once it available.

Cloud Save

The Steam Deck will support a cloud save. So you don’t have to worry about the game progress that can be accessible between the deck and the PC. The deck will also support other Steam features such as the Steam Chat and Remote Play.

External Hardware

One thing about the PC gamers, they are always prefer the usual mouse and keyboard control. But don’t worry as this Steam Deck will support the external mouse and keyboard thanks to the fully-fledged USB-C ports that contain HDMI, Ethernet and USB data, as well as standard Bluetooth that has been missing on the Switch for years.

An external docking system will also available for separate purchase. As Switch’s docking system, this will connect the console to the TV seamlessly.

Price

The Steam Deck will be available on three variants with the starting price at $399 (64GB), $529 (256GB) and $649 (512GB), which the memory could be expanded through microSD. They are a bit pricey isn’t it? This has also been confirmed with Valve’s CEO, Gabe Newell, who said that Valve designed the whole system with “very aggressive” pricing in mind

The consoles will first roll out to the US, UK, Canada and EU region in December 2021, with other areas in 2022.

Comparison

The price range is a bit expensive when compared to other high end consoles available on the market. Is it worth it to buy the console with that price tag? Keep calm, and see the comparison below. 

The New Nintendo Switch OLED – Released Date, Price, Comparison.

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I have been following the Switch development since I first heard the rumours of “Nintendo Pro” two years ago. This week, Nintendo has finally announced a new Switch model with a 7-inch 720p OLED display that will be launched on October 8th this year with $349.99 price tag in North America and £309.99 in the UK. Is this the Nintendo people are talking about?

Hardwares

Switch OLED will still be using the NVIDIA Custom Tegra processor but the new model has bigger storage at 64 GB internal memory, double the Switch OG and Switch Lite. Although you can still push up the storage with microSD, it is good to have extra internal memory.

Display

Switch OLED will not support 4K gaming. But the major selling point for this model is the OLED display. With 7-inch size, this new model will have the largest display size among the Switch family.  Here is the comparison on the display specs between the Switch OG and Switch Lite.

  • The new Nintendo Switch OLED console has a 7-inch OLED multi-touch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280x720p
  • The standard Nintendo Switch console has a 6.2-inch LCD multi-touch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280x720p
  • The handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite has a 5.5-inch LCD multi-touch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280x720p

According to Nintendo Life, the OLED display offers illumination on a per-pixel basis, meaning each pixel on the screen can be illuminated individually. Conversely, LCD screens rely on illumination from larger backlights which can result in light spill and dark areas of the screen that appear ‘grey’ rather than black.

Although this new model has the same battery capacity at 4310 mAh, the OLED display can offer longer battery life compared to LCD depending on the usage. Another new feature that I love on this new model is the new adjustable stand. This new stand is more stable and easy to adjust compared to the OG model.

Joy-Con

I saw people complaining on the Joy-Con which has this “drifting” problem as their console gets older. This issue has been around for years among Nintendo users. From what I read, Nintendo has changed their policies and offered to repair the problematic Joy-Con controllers for free. 

Unfortunately, Nintendo has confirmed that this new model will still use the same Joy-Con model as Switch OG. For sure this is not something that people are expecting with the new model.

Dock Station

Another new feature that we will be expecting on this new Switch is the new dock that has been redesigned with a built-in LAN port, compared to the Switch OG, where the users need to buy a LAN adapter separately. Like the Joy-Con, the dock will also be compatible with the older version of Switch. This new dock system will be available for purchase on Nintendo’s official website.

Overall, this new model would be worth buying for those who are just starting to explore the Nintendo system. For people that already have their Switch OG, I personally think that it is not worth an upgrade. The OLED display will surely provide a more vibrant graphic in handheld mode but when the Switch is connected to the TV (which most of the users did all the time), the display doesn’t matter anymore. It will always depends on your needs. For me personally, I am happy enough with my Switch Lite as I need a light and mobile console that I can use while travelling.

Is It Still Worth Buying a PS4 in 2021?

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When Sony released the new generation of gaming console PS5 at end of last year, the demand was so huge not only among the hardcore gamers but from the “newbies” in gaming. To get a hold on the new console is a painful process as Sony only allocates a certain number of units for each and every country in their pre-order. 

There are several factors that contribute to this problem; the global shortage of chips due to Covid-19, high demand from the people in this pandemic situation and of course political reasons when the previous U.S president Donald Trump declared a trade war with China. 

So the million dollar question is when will the PS5 be fully ready as its predecessor? Unfortunately there is no certain timeline to this question and even Sony’s chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki said that their supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with the demand for the next 5 years!

So we have three choices; to compete in the frustrating pre-order which you will definitely lose to the Lazada bot or to buy the console through the scalper with higher price or just stick to the PS4. I personally chose the latter, to stick with my 1st gen PS4. 

Some people that I know are asking me if it is still worth buying the PS4 in 2021 and some are asking if now is the right time to sell their PS4 before its value depreciates and upgrade to PS5.  My short answer is yes, PS4 is still relevant today due to several reasons:

Game Library

The main reason why people are buying the game console is of course to play the game, although we can also stream Netflix with the PS4. The game library for PS4 is huge with thousands of games since it was released back in 2013 until today. 

I agree that at some point the new upcoming game will no longer be available on the PS4 platform due to the outdated hardware and technology capabilities. But in the meantime, the AAA game from Sony’s first party is still available on this platform such as the Spiderman Miles Morales, God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West. 

Gaming Community

When we compare the gaming community on PS4 vs PS5, for sure the PS4 will have a bigger community as it was released for quite some time now. This community is important for people who love online gaming and trading console’s equipment and games. I myself did some trading on PS4 games before with other gamers and got a lot of good games and other accessories with a cheap bargain price. Over the time, the new release game is getting more and more expensive (maybe due to the new technology used to make the game I guess) and it is always good to interact with the community to get the best deal and save money unless you are the Henry Golding in Crazy Rich Asian.

Durability

In my gaming friend list on PS4, I am kind of rare because I still use the 1st fat version of PS4. The others are using the slim and pro version. So far, my 1st gen console did not have any problem and damage (I hope I don’t jinx this) and I am truly happy with the console performance and durability. 

To think that the new complex games such as the Ghost of Tsushima or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are still playable smoothly without any issue on my console with 6 year old hardwares is really fascinating and worth it. 

Market in Malaysia

Some people might say what is the point of buying a console that will be obsolete in 1 or 2 years. Yes, as I said before, at some point we need to upgrade the console to cope with more advanced games. But don’t worry because we have a good market in gaming consoles in Malaysia. I still remember that I sold my PS3 back in 2014 for RM 600. So you can always sell the console on Mudah or Carousell to gain a good amount of money to the right buyer. One thing you need to understand is not all people out there could afford the newest console on the market. The demand will always there and you can sell your console to gain funds for your next upgrade.

6 Games With Massive Map

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Early this month, I had the chance to take the first look on the Unreal Engine 5 premiere, a powerful gaming engine that able to generate the gaming base system by using the real-world photogrammetry, making the graphic to be more realistic and wider gaming world.

Here are the top 6 video games that has powerful and massive map that I ever experienced.

1. Red Dead Redemption II

Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in October 2018, a sequel from the first Red Dead Redemption that was released 8 years before. The graphic of this game is so good that I personally did not find any bugs throughout the playtime. The map is massive with about 75 square kilometers of land that is double the map of Skyrim.  

Since the beginning, Rockstar has made it clear that they are not planning to release any expansion map for this game but focusing on the online gaming experience. Hopefully there will be major future update like they did with GTA V that can enhance the map of the game.

2. Cyberpunk 2077

Just hearing on the game’s name is enough to make certain gamers to flip their tables. Regarded as the flop game of the year, Cyberpunk 2077 was released on December last year by CD Projekt. The game’s release date was delayed 3 several times because of the pandemic and if I can quote the cliché excuse from developer, “we are currently working from home”. That’s not all, the fans was furious with the game with many complaints on the unrealistic physics, lagging and bugs, forcing Sony to remove the game from PSN and fully refund the gamers.

Despite all that, it doesn’t change the fact that this game has a wide open world map that about 100-110 square kilometers.

3. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is one of the most hype game that people was talking about last year (including me). It was released on November 2020 by Ubisoft.  The game was set in a Anglo-Saxon era with Eivor, a Viking as the main character of the game.

The total map size of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is 140 square kilometers across all 5 areas and it’s mostly landmass. This makes it the biggest Assassin’s Creed game to date, surpassing the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 

On May 13, 2021, Ubisoft has released an expansion pack Wrath of the Druids that includes a new map of Ireland, making it even bigger than before. The Ireland map adds a hefty four new regions to the existing Valhalla map. I will for sure will buy this expansion pack.

4. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

The flight simulator from Microsoft is simply the best flying simulator in the market. The Flight Simulator 2020 was developed by Asobo Studio. It was released on August 2020 on PC and will be available on Xbox platform on late this year. 

Microsoft has revived its Flight Simulator series after more than a decade, promising gamers a replica of the entire globe to play on. It does so using new AI-driven technology – one that needs a constant fast internet connection to work at its best. 

The map size of this game is about  510,072,000 square kilometer; the exact replica of the planet earth to give more realistic flying experience. For those who interested with this simulator, you will need a high end PC for better flying experience.

5. Minecraft

Minecraft is the place where you could build your own kingdom, a perfect game for people to kill time with their creativity. The game was released in November 2011 by Mojang.

For Minecraft’s fans, you will notice that the map for this game is so wide and massive that it seems impossible to reach the edge of the map. The Minecraft world was made up of 256 blocks from the sky to the ground. While, horizontally, the world is 60,000 kilometers by 60,000 kilometers, making a total 600 million square kilometer landmass that 7 times bigger than Earth!

In December last year, Connor Hamilton from Australia has made the longest tunnel in Minecraft creative mode by record of 300,000 blocks in 3 hours.

6. No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky was developed by Hello Games and was released on August 2016. The objective of the game is very simple – to travel inter-galaxy, and explore the planets found. 

The game  has been regarded as a game that’s as infinite as the universe itself, or close to it, with over 18 quintillion (18 zeros) planets scattered across its virtual galaxies. 

On 2nd June, No Man’s Sky’s Prisms was rolled out as a major free update that overhauls the game’s visuals. Prisms has enhanced the new weather effects including dimensional rain, which refracts the light. Caves can be explored underground, with dynamic lighting that dramatically impacts how the biomes look.