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Weekend Gamer: Play Anywhere

Xbox Play Anywhere Details Buy once, play anywhere Games that support Xbox Play Anywhere play on PC and Xbox console at no additional cost. Progress goes with you Pick up where you left off on PC, Xbox console, or supported handhelds - bringing all your saves, game add-ons, and achievements with you. Xbox Play Anywhere badge 1,000 games and growing Games that support Xbox Play Anywhere have a badge in the Store on xbox.com, console, and PC. Read More Xbox The much-rumored Xbox Handheld, codename Keenan, is coming to us closer than you think (I first mentioned this in Nov 2024)! The details are exclusively from a report …

I’ve been a big fan of Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA) program for a few years now, and was happy to hear from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in California, that Xbox announced over 1,000 titles (they’re also counting the future titles South of Midnight and Doom: The Dark Ages) are now Xbox Play Anywhere.

As you can see from the marketing, “Buy once, play across PC, Xbox consoles, and supported gaming handhelds.” That ‘handheld’ wording is probably referencing the ROG Ally or the future Xbox Handheld.

The announcement via xbox.com:

As we touched on earlier this week, there are now over 1,000 developers utilizing Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA) for their games, bringing their amazing experiences to players across a variety of devices they own.

If you’ve never heard of XPA before, let us give you a refresher: when you buy a digital game that supports XPA through the Xbox Store or the Windows Store, it’s available to play on your Xbox console, Windows 10/11 PC, and supported handheld gaming devices at no additional cost. Even better, your progression comes with you across all platforms.

Yes, lately the only titles I will buy are the ones with Play Anywhere, because it was basically a two-for-one-deal for me. I buy the game once on the PC and it will automatically show up on my Xbox. However, there are some problems with XPA, and I’ll address them below.

First of all, not all games are XPA compatible, as you can see from that 1,000 number (it was much, much lower prior to this announcement). This is due to the game developers needing to opt-in to the XBA terms of service. Also, I suppose some developers wants you to re-buy their game on the Xbox.

The other problem is I bought some games on the Xbox consoles, and they do not show up on my PC Xbox App. In order to take advantage of Play Anywhere, you must purchase the game on the PC using the Windows Store. I don’t know why it’s a one-way street, so now I will only buy Xbox games using the Windows store.

This brings me to the last problem with Xbox Play Anywhere – they rarely have any good or decent sales on the PC store. You see regular weekly sales on the Xbox consoles (and they’re often much cheaper) than the PC store. The last time I bought something on the Xbox App was during Black Friday, and the discount weren’t even that great.

Right now, I don’t have a large Xbox library, but as more titles are available as XPA, going forward, I would prefer to buy those titles on Xbox, vs Steam… although I hate to say it, but currently, but lately, my go-to launcher is the Epic Games app (I currently have 515 titles). I’m currently playing Vampire Survivors, thanks to getting the game for free last year.

Every week I am adding a free title on Epic Games. This week the free game is Jurassic World Evolution 2, which originally came out in 2021 for full price. While I’m not really that interested in playing a dinosaur game… I still add the game to my library. Who knows, maybe in a few months or years, I will check it out when I’m bored.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Weekend Gamer: Xbox Keenan

Codename: Keenan Read More Xbox One and a half month into Xbox Game Pass, I’m happy to report that it is an insane deal. It doesn’t even make any sense how MicroSoft is even making money off Game Pass… …

The much-rumored Xbox Handheld, codename Keenan, is coming to us closer than you think (I first mentioned this in Nov 2024)! The details are exclusively from a report via Windows Central. It’s set to be released this year (probably before Christmas to make for the maximum sale) and it is as much as I suspected: MicroSoft is just going to get a manufacturer to make their handheld. I think they are going to partner with Asus, who make the ROG Ally (my favorite handheld), to redesign an Xbox-branded ROG Ally. There will be some key difference, probably the branding and also that Xbox Button that you find on all their controller. The Xbox button would bring up a hotbar – similar to what you get when you’re playing on an Xbox Series X or S.

So why do I think MicroSoft is going with Asus? Simply because Lenovo has already partnered with Steam for their Steam-only device of their Legion Go S, which I mentioned in Jan 2025. On the same logic, perhaps it would also make sense that Lenovo will offer both a Steam Edition and Xbox Edition, with that custom Xbox Button for their Legion Go S.

Of course, maybe Xbox would just go with a fairly unknown company… for example, MSI (maker of The Claw) will do anything to stand out with a partnership with Xbox. To be perfectly honest, it’s probably Xbox’s best interests to just partner with everyone, so they can dominate the handheld landscape. If anything, I want MicroSoft to produce a lean, mean operating system specifically for video games for the handheld.

I’m in the process of moving, so I don’t want more stuff… but hearing about this Xbox handheld, I will break my rule and buy this – just to see what Xbox can bring to the table with their official handheld!

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Weekend Gamer: Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity: Collector’s Edition Details Play as any one of six races: Human, Aumaua, Dwarf, Elf, Godlike and Orlan. Utilize five core skills to overcome any situation: Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival. Deep character customization: Build a character as one of eleven classes such as Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard. Sculpt your own story: Side with various factions using a reputation system, where your actions and choices have far reaching consequences. Explore a rich and diverse world: Beautiful pre-rendered environments laced with an engaging story and characters bring the world to life. Read More Pillars of Eternity I am loving the RPG game Pillars of Eternity, which just came out yesterday. Since I'm a big fan of Black Isle's Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, I felt right at home with Pillars. This game plays like ..…

Back in late October, I started re-playing the original Pillars of Eternity with the intention of beating it. I did technically “rolled credits”, but it wasn’t an ending that I wanted. So I restarted the game to beat it properly, because I was going to skip over Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Originally excited for the game, but after seeing all the negative reviews, I’ve decided to not play it at all.

To be fair, not all the reviews were negative. All the positive reviews are from people who weren’t fans or didn’t play previous Dragon Age games. All the original Dragon Age fans absolutely hated The Veilguard. They said it’s an OK game, but it’s doesn’t deserve the Dragon Age name.

Anyway, back to Pillars of Eternity, you might remember that I first bought the game in March 2015, and did put in some hours into the game. I got to the third (and final) act of the game, but for whatever reason, I never finished the game. I think, perhaps, I got stuck and didn’t know where to go next.

Continuing the game save that I started in 2015 was not possible, because I have very poor memory and didn’t know what was going on. So, I had to restart the game with a new character build.

I have to say that the game aged very well. It’s still a very good game, especially because the graphics look so good! I put in another 40 hours and now I’m starting Act III, about the same spot where I left off in my original game. This time, however, I also bought the two expansions: The Winter March I and II, so before I finish the game, I will start the Winter March.

Also, I wasn’t one of the Kickstarter that helped launch Pillars of Eternity, but I did end up buying a used copy of Collector’s Edition (this was only available to backers). The big box didn’t really have anything that amazing: a DVD of the game, a “cloth” map, an instruction manual, and an apology letter from the developers saying the DVD will be sent later. I did research and found out that I was missing a thank you postcard, a patch, a mousepad, and a guidebook. I didn’t really mind it, because I only paid $25 for the Collector’s Box. I might try and track down that guidebook later.

Anyway, I stopped playing Pillars when I came down to Jacksonville, simply because my save files are on my desktop computer in Minneapolis, because I was playing it on Xbox App. I’ve already put in 112 hours into the game, I feel like I’ve beaten the game, my character is God-like… I think I can put a pin in it and can rate the game highly recommended for fans of top-down role-playing games.

I will started playing Pillars of Eternity 2 soon-ish.

P.S. GOG, for some reason, is not tracking my achievements for Pillars of Eternity for the GOG version.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Weekend Gamer: Go! Go! Zo!

      Weekend Gamer here.

      With CES (Consumer Electronics Show) coming up on January 7, I am hearing all these rumors about what to expect in the popular computer handheld market: Lenovo Legion Go S (two variants), Legion Go 2, Atari Gamestation Go, Zotac Zone 2. If true (or false), I will update this article with additional details after January 7.

Legion Go S Read More Lenovo Legion Go As you know, I recently purchased the Lenovo Legion Go, and I’ve been enjoying it. Of course, as soon as I bought it, there’s already rumors of a Legion Go 2, which may come out in 2025. The biggest feature will likely be a … Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

LEGION GO S
lenovo.com

      In my original rumor in November 2024, I mentioned that the we’re getting a “Legion Go Gen 2 and Legion Go Lite”. It would seem that not only are we getting two new Legion Go’s, but three.

      There will be two Legion Go S, a black one running SteamOS and a white one running Windows 11. As I previously mentioned, the S models are smaller, with no detachable controllers, and less powerful than the regular Legion Go… so I am not interested in this. The only way I would be interested in the S model is if the price is attractive. For example, I had no interests in the Xbox Series S model, but when I saw it on sale for $199, I bought one (even though I already had a Series X).

      I am also not interested in running SteamOS on the Legion Go S, because I want to GOG or Xbox Game Pass… however, I can see why people would want a better Steam handheld. The current Steam Decks are old, by technology’s standards, and from my understanding, Valve (the maker of Steam), will not release new Steam Deck 2 for another few years.

      What I am really interested in is the Legion Go 2 with a new AMD Z2 chip. I like the first one, but I want a bigger, faster, and kickass version. I hope Lenovo fix everything wrong in the new version. For example, maybe add a second fan or redesign the Legion Go for better cooling. Right now, my Legion Go overheats due to the SSD running too hot and the device’s inability to cool it with one fan.

Gamestation Go Read More Arcade1Up So, I accidentally bought my second Arcade1Up, an Atari's Asteroids machine. Of all the cabinets that Arcade1Up released, this was my least desirable.…

GAMESTATION GO
atari.com

      Atari will be heading into the crowded handheld market with their new Gamestation Go, announced via a twitter post.

      Look, I have absolutely NO INTEREST in this. Here is the reason why: the Gamestation Go is not going to be very powerful. It doesn’t have to be to run 50 year old games. Plus, I am assuming this thing can ONLY RUN Atari games. You know what else can run Atari games? The ROG Ally or Legion Go!!!

      Before I dismiss it, I will confess that the reasons why people will want the Gamestation Go is that there are controls unique to old Atari games. Such as a trak-ball, padding, and the 10-key numpad that you see in the image. Most modern handhelds won’t have those unusual controllers, so if you are hardcore serious about your old Centipede or Breakout games… yeah it makes sense that you would want a Gamestation Go. Me? I’m going to hard pass on this.

Zotac Zone 2 Read More Nitro Blaze 7 In other PC handheld news, Acer has also entered the crowded handheld market with the announcement of the Acer Nitro Blaze 7, via their website. There’s nothing really new or interesting here …

ZOTAC ZONE 2
zotac.com

      The Zotac Zone came out last year. The only thing that sets it apart is the AMOLED screen and control dials and two trackpads and webcam. This thing is truly a mini-laptop… and comes at a cost of nearly $800. Even if you wanted one, you currently can’t even buy it. I’ve looked online, it’s just not available to buy as of this writing (January 2025).

      Despite not being able to buy it, Video Cardz is reporting that we are already getting a Zotac Zone 2 with an upgraded Ryzen AI 300 chip and upgraded RAM and SSD.

      The thing is, how do you know you have the Version 2 vs the first version? Does it come in white or have some sort of distinguishing look to set it apart?

      Like all these new PC handhelds entering the market in 2024 and 2025 (such as the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 which was announced last year), I feel like it’s already too late. By now, every gamer who wanted a handheld already put their money in a device. I mean, I, as the Weekend Gamer, have already purchased a Steam Deck, a ROG Ally, and a Lenovo Legion Go. I don’t really need another handheld… unless you’re going to offer me some insane deals or have a feature that really stands out.

      I will add that I get why these PC manufacturers want to get into the handheld action. If you make gaming laptops, it just makes sense to reuse or design it in a way to fit in a handheld device. Just because I don’t need a gaming laptop, there is always someone out there that needs a laptop. The same can be said for a gaming handheld. Also, you know what they say, the more the merrier. In this case, if that means cheaper prices with more competition, I am all for it.

      There’s no rumors of ROG Ally 2 appearing at CES… but who knows? Maybe we might get an announcement. Based on the release of the ROG Ally X in May 2024, we may start seeing a new ROG Ally release every year on the anniversary of the ROG Ally. That means we probably won’t see the ROG Ally 2 until June 2025.

     

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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TekTok: Candy Con and Standard Notes

Read more Technology.

Candy Con Features Wireless: Wireless freedom with Bluetooth 5.0 delivering lag-free connectivity up to 25ft. 10 Hr Battery: Long-lasting power with a built-in 600mAH battery offering up to 10 hours of uninterrupted playtime. Triggers/Buttons: Take your gameplay to the next level with precision Linear Triggers, Turbo options and 2 x Programmable Back Buttons. Rumble: Dual Rumble with 3 levels of vibration. Motion Controls: Gyroscopic Motion Controls Your Controller: Personalize your controller with a full line of swappable faceplates, d-pads and thumb sticks – sold separately. NOTE: CANDY CON controllers are compatible with Switch and PC. Hall Effect Thumb Grips as Standard: Hall effect joystick adopts magnetic induction principle, close to 0 wear and tear under normal use, effectively prolonging the life of the joystick. Drift resistant, 5 million service life. High smoothness paired with joystick algorithm. Read More Xbox These custom Xbox Design Lab Controllers can get very expensive. If you want metallic triggers, that’s an extra $10. If you want rubber grips, that’s extra… You can go all out and spend about $200 on a controller. …

Candy Con
candyconlab.com

This may be a Gamestop exclusive, as I cannot find this Candy Con for sale anywhere, including Amazon, which will only show you candy corn.

First of all, I own a lot of controllers. May over a dozen controllers, mostly Xbox and Switch controllers. Why do I have so many? Most of them are because of the art and design. For example, I own at least three Fallout controllers, including the recent limited edition Xbox Design Lab Controllers.

Anyway, recently, I made an impulse purchase of the Candy Con when I saw the Transformers Soundwave Combo Pack. This is a pre-designed set that you can use with the base Candy Con controllers. The base unit, which comes in black or white, will cost $35, and with the Transformers faceplates (held in place with magnets), it’ll cost you another $17, for a total of a little over $50.

What I like about this design is obviously you can mix and match the controller to your preference. Not feeling Soundwave today? You can change it up to Hotrod’s design, etc.

The other cool thing is that you can use this as a wired USB-C, or you can use it wireless using the PC dongle or Bluetooth. The advertisement on the box says for Nintendo Switch or PC, but if you use the wired USB-C to your Xbox, I’m sure it’ll work just fine as it uses the standard controller configuration (although I have not tested this out myself). There is a button on the back of the controller, default to PC, but you can move it to Switch.

Since the controller was designed as a Switch controller, it does come with Dual Rumble and Gyroscopic Motion Controls, which I personally don’t care for.

The triggers use Linear Triggers as well as Hall Effect Thumb Grips (this means no stick drift).

Overall, I think for the price, this is a good product, especially for the customization. My only complaint is that wireless dongle is very large and I wish there was a way to store the dongle on the controller, when I’m not using it. I just know I will lose the dongle.

The other thing I didn’t care for but the select and menu button are tiny buttons at the bottom of the controller with a “-“ and “+” icon. There is also middle button is not label; I have no idea what this button does. I am assuming this is the share button (screen capture or video recording).

I have never used the back macro buttons, but I like the fact that it’s there. The way I use my controllers, I never feel the need to create a custom function.

Standard Notes About Standard Notes Standard Notes is a private and secure end-to-end encrypted notes app. It allows you to write and sync your notes across all your devices, including your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web browser. Private means your notes are end-to-end encrypted, so only you can read your notes. Even we can't read the contents of your notes. Simple means it does one job and does it well. Standard Notes is a safe and lasting place for your life's work. Our focus is making it easy to write notes wherever you are and syncing them with encryption to all your devices. Our users love us for: • Personal Notes • Tasks & Todos • Passwords & Keys • Code & Technical Procedures • Private Journal • Meeting Notes • Cross-platform Scratchpad • Books, Recipes, & Movies • Health & Fitness Log Read More Google Keep I also like the mousepad, but it doesn’t always work with all the applications. For example, it doesn’t seem to work with Google’s Keep. I am assuming it will work better with native Apple Applications, such as Safari or their iOS Mail App. …

Standard Notes
standardnotes.com

Ever since I said goodbye to Google (because they were demanding $50 a month for their services), I have been searching for a Google Keep alternative. What I like about Google Keep was that it was non-formatted text and I can sync and access my notes on my phone to my desktop PC. I used to use Apple’s Notes App, but since they updated to rich (formatted) text, it became unusable to me. I can’t use Microsoft’s One Note either because there’s no way to remove formatting.

The best plain text-only application I have found is called Standard Notes, available for free on iOS, MacOS, Android, and Windows. I love this software! I use it to take quick notes on my phone, and when I’m at home, I can access those notes on my computer. If you don’t want to install their application, you can sign in on their web interface, just as long as you remember the link or bookmark it.

Again, I’m only interested in the plain text aspect. I copy and paste things from the web and I do not want or care for the formatting, so Standard Notes is the perfect program for me.

Here’s my workflow. I will take quick notes on my iPhone at a concert. Maybe during the show, I might look up a lyric online. I’ll copy the title of the song and paste it in Standard Notes. You can understand why I do not care for any formatting, because I’m only interested in the text. Now that I have all my notes, I will access it on my desktop at home.

This is how I use Standard Notes, so I am happy with the bare-bones features. However, if you wanted to use it as journaling book or edit and create formulas and rich formatting, you have two additional paid options: Productivity and Professional.

If you want to use rich text or 2FA authenticator services, offline file access, and other features, it’ll cost you $90 or $120 a year. The prices are competitive with, say Evernote, which is $129.99 a year for personal, and $169.99 a year for professional.

Right note, Standard Notes is running a Black Friday Sale, so the prices are half-off at $45 and $60, respectively.

I don’t need all the bells and whistles; the free plain text note syncing is exactly what I need.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

vu ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Black Friday Week

Black Friday 2024 Read More Black Friday With Black Friday coming up this Friday (November 25), we are already starting to see some really good deals on Bluray/UHD discs. Some of my favorite A24 films are on sale, including X, Everything Everywhere All At Once …

If you’ve been paying attention, Black Friday (and Cyber Monday it goes without saying), have been happening earlier and earlier every year. Last year, I said deals were happening as early as November 1, 2023.

This year, it appears that deals were introduced very early, as retailers were stocking up products in anticipation of big sales. If you have all these inventories – why not start selling them at a discount? It makes sense to me, sell as much and often as possible.

I did look at what all the major retailers are discounting. Amazon is already discounting all their branded-products, like the Kindles or their Ring cameras. I wouldn’t be surprise if they discount their new Colorsoft, which is getting terrible reviews due to the yellow bar at the bottom of their readers. As it turned out, this is a hardware defect, because of an inferior yellow-ish glue they were using, and the yellow light is showing up. The crappy thing about Amazon is that they are not listing prices until you click through their product page. Most of the time I find myself disappointed in their discounts, which are generally 20% off.

I am mostly interested in getting SSD storage for my Legion Go. For the speed (“speed up to 7200MB/s”), this KingSpec 2TB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 SSD for $168 is a good deal, typically these drives goes for $200. There is a much slower drive (“2,500 MB/s”), selling at $125.

The two popular sizes are 2280 (laptops) and 2230 (portable handhelds), so it’s somewhat annoying that the Legion Go is using the odd size of 2242. You can buy a $10 adapter that extends the drive 2230 drive to 2242, so that’s something to consider if 2230 drives are cheaper.

I’ve mentioned this before, but personally speaking, I won’t buy from Amazon on Black Friday or their semi-annual Prime Day sales, because a few years ago, it was an absolute disaster. Things that would’ve taken one day or, at the most, two days to deliver, were taking twice as long, if not a week. And amidst all the orders and deliveries… Amazon lost not one, but two packages (delivered to a different address).

Google will likely discount their Pixel 9 phones to something like $100 or $150 off. For years, I thought the Pixel phones were a bargain, but starting last year (or the year before), their prices skyrocketed to $1,000 for the Pro Line. At that price, why not just get an Apple iPhone?

I would look at Google discount their Pixel Tablet. I don’t need another tablet, but what’s cool about the Pixel Tablet is that you can turn it into a Smart Home controller or photo frame or calendar using their dock view. If they sell it for $200 or less, I just might buy one.

Apple doesn’t really do sales… however some retailers like Best Buy and Amazon are selling this year’s 11 inch iPad for $500. I love my iPad, I use it every day, so if you don’t have an iPad, I think $500 is a fantastic price. If you can afford it, I would recommend the larger 13 inch at $600. The larger display makes watching movies and reading comic books more pleasant. I’m quite happy with my 2020 iPad 12.9, it does everything that I need it to do and is a great alternative to a laptop (especially with the magic keyboard).

For many years, the sales were on big televisions and laptops, and sure, we got plenty of that. I really think the big entry to this year are the PC handheld gaming devices. I was excited to see that Target was stocking three major PC handhelds in stores: Claw, Legion Go, and ROG Ally. This is near or alongside the Xbox and PlayStation.

With Black Friday in mind, I think Lenovo made the smart move and discounted their $700 Legion Go to $550, which, at that price, now I’m interested. And I did make an impulse purchase. Some gamers reported that using an extra discount on Target Circle and an additional discounting using their Target Red Card, they were picking up the Legion Go for as little as $500. What a deal.

You must remember, this is a full Windows 11 PC, but in a small compact design. You can even remove the controllers and use it as a regular tablet PC, I’m serious. I currently have the Legion Go in the official Docking Station (with 4k monitor, keyboard and mouse) and using it as third computer.

While I was at another Target (on a different week), I noticed that they were running low on stock both the Claw and the ROG Ally (with the Legion Go sold out), because those other devices were also on sale at $349 and $529.

PC Handheld at Target

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Weekend Gamer: Legion Go 2, Nitro Blaze 7, and Xbox Handheld

Lenovo Legion Go Read More Lenovo Legion Go You know I’ve been interested in the Lenovo Legion Go since August 2023, and now, in November 2023, the Legion Go is out now. In my original writeup, I said that Lenovo is somewhat late to the game …

As you know, I recently purchased the Lenovo Legion Go, and I’ve been enjoying it. Of course, as soon as I bought it, there’s already rumors of a Legion Go 2, which may come out in 2025. The biggest feature will likely be a new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme CPU (all the current AMD-based handhelds are using the Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip). Only the MSI Claw uses an Intel chip.

If the Z2 Extreme chip becomes available, you bet Asus will be releasing their ROG Ally 2 in competition. Right now, their ROG Ally X is only a small improvement over the original ROG Ally. I do own the original Ally, so I never bought the X, even though I did want it for the USB4 and massive battery.

For the Legion Go 2, I’m sure it’ll match the 24GB Ram and storage option. I hope they decide to stick with the large 8.8 screen (perhaps go OLED?), as the 1600p screen is the Legion Go’s biggest advantage over all the handhelds. I honestly don’t care for the detachable controllers, but I would love for Lenovo to introduce new and different controller styles. Perhaps open it to third-party accessory makers. May also give us a fingerprint reader for faster login, or face ID (but that would mean putting in a camera and that might be too much).

Lenovo Product Listing

So why are we so sure that a Legion Go 2 is in the works? It’s because Lenovo Product Listing for their official USB-C Dock lists Legion Go Gen 2 and Legion Go Lite. The rumor for the Lite version is that it’s a smaller device and you can’t remove the controllers. It’s also supposed to be cheaper, given the smaller screen… Either way, now that I own a Legion Go and the Legion Go Deck, I’m looking forward to the new Legion Go 2 version.

Speaking of Xbox, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, he has confirmed the company’s plan to release an Xbox handheld. Xbox Handheld? Let’s goooo!

If Xbox gets in the game, pardon the pun, they will likely develop a “light” version of Windows. You know, something like what the Xbox is currently using, but designed for a small screen? That would mean that the Xbox will have a massive advantage over all the current handhelds right now. The number one issues people have with PC gaming handhelds is Windows 11 wasn’t designed for small screen. You often need a physical keyboard and mouse.

Acer Nitro Blaze 7

In other PC handheld news, Acer has also entered the crowded handheld market with the announcement of the Acer Nitro Blaze 7, via their website.

There’s nothing really new or interesting here, it’s a 7” inch device with a 144Hz 1080p display with an AMD Radeon™ 780M Graphics. The other thing is that Acer didn’t create the device, they’re just putting their name on it and re-selling it to the American market. Extreme Tech mentioned that, “It turns out this device is a rebranded Terrans Force product.”

Right now, they didn’t announce a price, but since they saved so much money just re-branding the Terrans Force Handle 7, I wonder if they can price this at $500 or less and they can really be a true competitor to the Steam Deck. Remember, that stupid White Steam Deck is nearly $700.

Anyway, below is a breakdown of the ROG Ally vs the Legion Go specs, with yellow highlights for the pros. I hope that Lenovo will keep the price to less than $700, but inflation prices and bigger upgrades, I suspect it will likely be $800 or more. I hope not, because I already called Sony greedy for asking $700 for PS5 Pro (and not throw in a disc drive or a vertical stand!)

Guess what? The Legion Go and ROG Ally can play PlayStation games (via Steam).

Specs	ROG Ally	Legion Go	ROG Ally X
Image
Colors	White	Black	Black
Processor	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme
RAM	16GB DDR5	16GB LPDDR5X	24GB DDR5
eGPU	RG Mobile	USB4 (2x)	USB4 (1)
Storage	512GB m.2 2230	512GB m.2 2242	1TB m.2 2280
Display	7” 1080p VRR	8.8″ QHD (2560 x 1600) 144Hz	7” 1080p VRR
Battery	40 Wh	49.2 Wh	80 Wh
O/S	Windows 11	Windows 11	Windows 11
Price	$700	$700	$800
Date	June 2023	Oct 2023	June 2024

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Weekend Gamer: PS5 Pro

PS5 Pro Read More Sony Still, you know I’m still somewhat interested in seeing the next generation of gaming consoles… and today, Sony showed up what the upcoming PS5 will look like. And holy crap, it is so ugly. …

I’ve made it known in the past that I find that Sony is greedy, especially in their PlayStation department. Here is the latest proof: PlayStation 5 Pro for $700, a $200 markup from the PS5 Slim that was released in Nov 2024.

The $700 Pro doesn’t even have a disc drive, which comes standard in the Xbox Series X (for $500). You’ll have to spend another $80. The Pro doesn’t even come with a vertical stand, that’s going to cost another $30. If you want another controller, that’s going to cost you (now) $75, due to a $5 increase in prices. Remember, PS5 new games costs $70. Maybe get PS Plus for $18 a month… All in all, it’s going to cost you about $1,000 (including taxes).

If you do a similar breakdown of Xbox’s ecosystem: Xbox Series X for $500, disc drive for $0, stand for $0, controller for $60, one game for $70, Game pass for $12… so you’re looking at about $650.

I think for that $1,000 for the PS ecosystem, why not just get a really nice PC? I’m not saying get the ROG Ally X, but even that priced at a hefty $800, that will run any PC games (including some PS5 games that are sold through Steam and GOG). Plus, it’s a PC, so it opens up to more possibilities, such as using it as a desktop computer, running Office Suite or photo/video editing software… whatever you can do on Windows, it’s possible on the ROG Ally X.

I even bought (and still using) my Lenovo Legion PC with Nvidia 3060 for $850. I’m sure by now, you can even get that computer for cheaper than the PS5 Pro.

I guess as someone who has access to PS games via my PC, I’m definitely not interested in paying that much money for a PS5 Pro (or even a regular PS5). If I want that console experience, I also have an Xbox Series X (and S), which I think has better value over the PlayStation.

Compare	PS5 Pro	Xbox Series X	ROG Ally X
Price:	$700	$500	$800
Release Date:	07 Nov 2024	10 Nov 2020	22 Jul 2024
Optical Disc	No, but can be added on for $80	Yes, 4K disc player	No, but is supported for external drives for $50
CPU/GPU	AMD 8-core Zen 2 CPU; 4GHz, RDNA 3 GPU	AMD 8-core Zen 2; 3.8 GHz, 3.6 GHz with SMT	AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme Processor
Memory	16GB of GDDR6	16GB of GDDR6	24 GB LPDDR5-6500
Storage	2TB of SSD storage	1 TB NVMe SSD (with Storage Expansion Card option)	1 TB SSD (with SD card expansion)
Resolution	4K	4K	1080p
Backward Compatible	Games (limited), works with previous controllers and accessories	Games, works with previous controllers and accessories	Games, works with most Windows Games

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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Gamescom Opening Night Live (20 August 2024)

Gamescom ONL Gamescom ONL Game List InZoi Sniper Elite: Resistance Borderlands 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Goat Simulator Rematered Persona 3: Reload - Episode Aigis Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Dying Light: The Beast The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Infinity Nikki Arc Raiders Path of Exile 2 King of Meat Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Mecha Break Reanimal Dune Awakening Marvel Rivals Genshin Impact Naraka Bladepoint Sid Meier's Civilization 7 Starfield Monument Valley 3 Batman: Arkham Shadow Monster Hunter Wilds Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Secret Level Towerborne Age of Mythology: Retold Masters of Albion Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Little Nightmares 3 Squid Games: Unleashed Dark and Darker Mobile Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Mafia: The Old Country The First Berserker: Khazan Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred World of War: The War Within Unknown 9: Awakening Read More Game Awards I normally don’t do live streams, but when I got home from work today, YouTube was heavily promoting the livestream of The Game Awards (happening at exactly the time I turned on my computer). …

Gamescom is one of the world’s largest events for computer and video games, and it is taking place right now in Germany. As the resident Weekend Gamer, I’ve always been interested in this 15-year-old event, but this is the first year that I live-stream their event, courtesy of The Games Award. With various live-streaming partners, including Games Award, Twitch, and IGN, I’m certain this Gamescom 2024 will surpass the 13 million views from last year.

Starting Opening Night Live, August 20, was Kyle Bosman, who did a pre-show top list and introduction.

Canadian game journalist and television presenter, Geoff Keighley was the main host of the event. He previously hosted/produced The Game Awards, as well as hosts of Summer Game Fest, E3, GameTrailers TV, and G4tv.com. Keighley is a genuine video game fan, and fans and developers loves this guy.

His co-host was Sjokz (Eefje Depoortere) who is a Belgian tv presenter and eSport player. She currently hosts multiple League of Legends World Championships.

The majority of ONL were just video game trailers, with some spots for interviews with game developers: Peter Molyneux talking about his upcoming Masters of Albion game, Blizzard’s rep talking about Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, a pre-recorded Troy Baker voice over on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Nick Baynes’ pre-recorded introduction to Mafia: The Old Country.

Personally speaking, of all the games that were announced and shown, I wasn’t particularly interested in any of them, except perhaps the Diablo expansion (but I’ve already talked about it previously).

Keighley closed the ONL with somewhat of an advertisement for his upcoming Games Award 2024, which is premiering on December 12. He said that it will be the special 10-year anniversary of the Games Award, and that he planned on something very special for the event. I’m certainly interested.

There’ll be two more days of Gamescom, and I’ll definitely check them out. I don’t know if I’ll be live-streaming them, but I’m definitely going to watch it at a later date. I’m interested in seeing what Xbox has to say, since they now own Bethesda and my favorite game series, Fallout.

As far as predictions for the next couple of days, someone said that they’re predicting Nintendo Switch 2, which I highly doubt. That’s because Nintendo has been very tight-lip about it, and the only announcement will be coming from them through their own Nintendo Direct. The chance of the Switch 2 is 0% in my opinion.

The other predictions I’ve read is that there’ll be a new Tomb Raider game. I can see this happening, only because the trilogy from Crystal Dynamics was so beloved and fans (including myself) are just itching to play something new. Since I’m a fan, I want to believe this, so I’m giving it a 30% chance that this might happen.

Since Xbox is so invested in Gamescom with two days of game announcements from the studio, I would probably bet we’ll hear something new for the Elder Scrolls series… or even just mention that they’re working on a new single-player Fallout game. After all, it’s been 9 years since Fallout 4, I want something new for the ten-year anniversary. That’s my prediction, I give the Elder Scrolls thing at least 75% confidence.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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Gamescom Opening Night Live (20 August 2024)

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Read More Dragon Age Anyway, I am really enjoying Dragon Age: Inquisition at the moment. Even if the game is not my all-time favorite game, it is certainly my favorite game of 2014! Dragon Age: Inquisition is currently on sale on EA's Origins system for $39.99 …

I previously mentioned that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf coming out in early 2025…. Well, there’s a couple of changes since then. Electronic Arts (EA) announced that the name is now called Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and it is coming out October 31, 2024.

After watching the game trailer, I can’t say that I’m excited about the game or the name change. “Dreadwolf” sounds so cool, while “Veilguard” sounds boring. Also, the art style looks cartoony, like something like World of Warcraft, which I personally do not find appealing.

Of course, I’ll still give it a chance, but given that it’ll cost $70 on launch, I might wait for the reviews before pulling the trigger. Traditionally, I would wait for a sale, which may happen six months or one year after launch. I can (and will) wait, because I find the new “standard” pricing of $70 is just too much for the asking.

When I bought Dragon: Inquisition in 2014, it was $40. In just a decade, the gaming inflation price has nearly double. The more it costs, the less I’m likely to buy. After all, I have years and years of video games (over 1,600 games) that I can always go back and re-visit… including re-playing Dragon: Inquisition, now with all the bugs stamped out with all the DLC.

Speaking of pricing and costs of games… check it out: Epic Games is giving away The Callisto Protocol for free on August 22. This game is actually very good, despite the clear and obvious Dead Space influence.

The story behind this game, as I understand it, was that EA was not going to make a Dead Space 4, so the Dead Space series creator, Glen Schofield and his team formed a new studio and worked on The Callisto Protocol.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition and The Callisto Protocol free on Epic Games

Unfortunately, EA decided they were going to remake the original Dead Space game around the same time. Both The Callisto Protocol (Dec 2022) and Dead Space (Jan 2023), came out around the same time and I read that basically no one bought The Callisto Protocol.

In fact, I didn’t buy The Callisto Protocol until December 2023, because it was on sale on Steam, and I thought it was pretty decent. I didn’t understand why no one liked the game. I thought it was a hard game… and maybe it was a little too much like Dead Space, that perhaps they could have gone in a different direction. Also, I didn’t like the name, I had a hard time remembering what it was called, and may have referred to the game as “the Dead Space knockoff game.”

Anyway, for the price of $0.00 on August 22, I wholly recommend checking it out.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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