The game maker Valve has had a pretty strong start to the year. Its first Steam Deck handheld gaming PC, starting at $399, was met with positive reviews around its launch last month. Now its popular Steam online gaming store is arriving for new devices too — namely, Chromebook laptops powered by Google’s Chrome OS. …
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How good can VR look? That answer has a sliding scale. Most everyday headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 look sharper and better than ever; others, like the HP Reverb G2, take another leap for simulation accuracy. Then there’s the Varjo Aero, a $1,990 headset arriving by the end of this year — where image quality (and price for the non-business …
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This summer, a lot of people are going to actual places in the real world. I’ve visited one really memorable place in the virtual world: the Museum of Other Realities, an app available on SteamVR that’s hosting a joint showcase of immersive art and storytelling through July 17. The XR3 Festival, a joint production between Cannes XR, Tribeca, and the …
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Now that E3 2021 has wrapped up, gamers have an eclectic batch of releases to wish list — with Nintendo announcing some noteworthy surprises on the Switch and Microsoft serving up new Xbox titles left and right. For the vast majority of the games announced at this year’s E3, you’ll need to mark your calendars for this fall, with many …
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Happy Friday, cheeps! I’ll be on vacation all of next week, but the Cheapskate newsletter and deal text alerts will keep coming, courtesy of some deal-finding colleagues. In the meantime, here’s wishing you a fun, safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend! To kick things off, there’s an interesting Fitbit Sense deal at Kohl’s right now. The smartwatch is on sale …
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In an effort to bring more games to Windows 10, Microsoft is updating its store terms to give PC game developers a larger share of game sales. Starting Aug. 1, developers will take home 88% of their sales revenue. Typically, developers take home about 70% of profits from each game sold on various platforms. But recently, that’s been changing: Like …
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It’s no secret that I consider tabletop gaming a great antidote to too much screen time. Especially if you’re into RPG, exploration or tactical games, increasingly sophisticated board games have captured a surprisingly mainstream audience and satiated the need for new stay-at-home entertainment in the past year. One of my favorites has always been the series of Lovecraft-inspired games from …
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Dec 2020 Nov 2020 Going hands-on with the new M1-powered Apple MacBook Air feels very different from using any previous MacBook Air, even the early-2020 Intel version I tested alongside it. But that mostly comes from the new MacOS Big Sur experience, more than the hardware changes inside. Big Sur is a huge change for the Mac, with new visual …
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There are dragons pretty much right away. The dungeons may have to wait for a bit later, because some Cthulhu-esque monster is sticking a brain slug in my eye. No, it’s not a Ceti Eel, it’s a Mind Flayer’s parasite. And this is all part of the cinematic dragons-versus-a-giant-flying-airship cinematic opening of Baldur’s Gate 3, probably the most anticipated PC …
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If you’re looking to dive into VR, there are a few basic choices: pick a standalone experience like the Oculus Quest headset, go with a game console like the PlayStation VR or go with the most flexible experience by hooking into a PC. HP’s newest VR headset, designed with both Valve and Microsoft, aims to be the best VR gaming …
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