Tag: steam

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AFTech Review: Lenovo Legion Go

Big ideas shackled by gremlins galore

Lenovo’s big swing into the growing handheld PC space is exactly that: a huge, chunky multi-tool with a gorgeous screen that’s one keyboard away from being a workable laptop. The Switch-like (Switch-esque? Switch-ish?) controllers detach from the sides and reveal themselves to be a collection of programmable buttons and integrated scroll wheels. And one becomes an ergonomic mouse? You have to admire the absolute lunatic who pitched this to the top brass at Lenovo, wide-eyed in a manic haze, muttering promises of what what going to be stuffed into this handheld. 8.8 inch screen! 1600p resolution! At 144Hz?! With a full-fat Windows 11 install, 16GB RAM, and a Z1 Extreme processor that can rock up to 5GHz??!

Well, it turns out all this is true, and it’s a remarkable feat of engineering. Inside the rather functional design is an absolute beast of a system. Technically. The problems arise, though, when you actually try to use it, and the shortcomings reveal themselves all too readily.

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Awesome Friday Games Podcast: ‘Virtual Virtual Reality’ and ‘Half-Life: Alyx’

Virtual Virtual reality & Half Life: Alyx

Hello and welcome to a new episode of our games podcast! This week I travel deep into the Grid for a VR special, with Oculus Quest’s answer to Portal (yes, really), and then a reminder of why Valve is the best in the business of games design. Put on your VR headset of choice* and join me!

*VR headset not required

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Game Review: Carrion is a slippery, skittering delight

Carrion

That horrible feeling that sometimes follows a decent mid-afternoon nap – who am I, where am I, where is everyone – is the starting point for Carrion. Except here you need to add what am I, as your first action is to slop across the floor in a clot of slopping tendrils, with a tiny razor-lined mouth in a perpetual silent scream. And that feeling never fades, instead driving you forward with a singular motivation: get out. 

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Review: Crimsonland (PS Vita, also available on PS4 and PC)

Crimsonland banner

As I got into bed last night I slipped my hand under the covers and something buzzed against it. I instinctively yanked my arm away while something black and striped and angry crawled out from underneath the duvet and headbutted the light in determined repetition. I wish I could say that my response was calm and measured, but it was more like Free Willy jumping out of the aquarium with a high-pitched yelp to match. It was dealt with.

Now, imagine that scenario but you’re in the middle of a swarm of *hundreds* of these bastards and all you have is an machine gun. Or replace the bugs with zombies, or lizard men, or tiny red demons, or mechanical spiders that split into *more* spiders, and more spiders, and *more* spiders, when you destroy them. Welcome to *Crimsonland*, where *Borderlands* meets *Earth Defense Force* in a bloodied frenzy.

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Valve Teases Announcement; Here Comes The Steam Box!

Steam

Well now, this is interesting. There have rumours circulating for a *long* time that *Half-Life* developers and operators of Steam, Valve, are preparing to shift into home console production with a TV box that would let you play all your Steam games from the comfort of your sofa. The hype train gained even more speed last week when owner Gabe Newall said that open-source operating system Linux was “the future of gaming” and they were working on a way to get it into people’s living rooms.

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Awesome: A Look at How The Steam Box Will Redefine Consoles

Valve

[T.C. Sottek Writing for The Verge](http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958162/valve-steam-box-cake):

> Valve is trying to build a game console that you haven’t seen before: something that brings the PC (the big thing sitting on your desk) and the traditional console (the little thing sitting under your TV) together into a single device. A device that will run Valve’s Steam platform: the biggest digital game distribution service on the market, with upwards of 50 million users. (By comparison, Xbox Live has somewhere around 40 million subscribers.) But what does that really mean?

> […]

> Based on what Valve has told us, its Steam box will — like a console — be something small and quiet that you can fit near your television while you kick back on the couch with a wireless controller. Like a PC, it will let you buy and download your games as many times as you want without needing any discs, and choose from a vast library of free game customizations. The Steam Box will also include a few unique twists, like controllers that can passively sense your feelings (biometrics), and wireless technology that can connect the console to several rooms and screens in your house at the same time.

> Valve is shopping for the right ingredients — the features, parts, and partners — to make the Steam Box a reality. But why would a software company like Valve, known for its game-making chops, want to bake its own consoles and controllers? Let’s look back at 2012 to find out.

It’s a long article so be sure to get comfy before you sit down to read, but do sit down to read because it’s a nice rundown of everything that seems to be going on.

I, for one, can’t wait for this thing.

[source: [the verge](http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958162/valve-steam-box-cake)]