GamerBraves Newsletter vol. 1 - All aboard the Steam Deck?
Giving out game codes to celebrate!
Welcome to our inaugural issue of the GamerBraves Newsletter!
Once again, huge thanks for subscribing to us. We hope that you’ll continue to support us as we embark on a journey of diving into the world of video games, internet happenings and pop media. Don’t hesitate to drop us some feedback as this experience is yours for the making.
This week, did you know that Tokyo 2020 Olympics played video game tunes during its opening ceremony? If you own a Switch, have you given Pokémon Unite, the Pokémon equivalent of DOTA a whirl yet? Before that, let’s have a look at the Steam Deck.
Can the Steam Deck kill the Switch?
The Steam Deck is Valve’s handheld PC. Despite not being a console, comparison between it and the Nintendo Switch has set the internet on fire. The PC vs console war has once again been reignited, its embers pretty much stoked thanks to the disappointment many gamers had over the Switch OLED announcement.
The question still remains, can the Steam Deck ‘kill’ the Switch?
Highly unlikely.
The target market of the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch varies quite heavily. In a way, Steam Deck’s greater competition will probably be Microsoft and already established PC brands. Switch owners will not be able to play the majority of their favourite games on the Steam Deck anyway. This is not that big of a problem for Nintendo, since the vast majority of customers purchase the Switch just for exclusives like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the first place.
Sure, being able to substitute a CPU when you have a monitor and keyboard is pretty sweet, but the Steam Deck’s biggest issue is optimisation. Some of the most popular PC games at the moment are highly competitive in nature, like League of Legends, Valorant and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. While it is not impossible, it would be extremely difficult to steal the big audience and hope that a joystick can outperform a mouse in terms of responsiveness.
Historically, Valve has tried to enter the console wars before, but many of their previous offerings fell out of the radar. Devices such as the Steam Link and Steam Machine fared poorly and failed to receive the proper support from Valve, eventually leading to them being sent to the cold storage.
As it stands, the Steam Deck’s challenge is to find a niche for itself, which is probably indie PC titles, since those games do not take up as much space, especially when you consider its cheapest iteration only has 64 GB of storage. It will definitely be outperformed by PCs and gaming laptops for multiplayer games—the only question is if it can get enough support to survive mostly on single-player titles.
We do hope that the Steam Deck would not fizzle out of popularity, since it is a very cool concept on paper. It will definitely not kill the Switch anytime soon, we just hope that Valve follows through and keep supporting and optimising it to be a solid alternative for PC gamers.
This week in:
Nearly 20 video game soundtracks, from Final Fantasy to Monster Hunter.
A possible contender to join the Pokémon VGC?
Being able to manage an all-female football team is awesome. We just hope that the next FIFA or PES would let us play as them.
The Brave Room - Our latest podcast episode
Mecha fan meets mecha fan in this episode of The Brave Room, as our host, Wan, encounters his own species, Gundam Kopi’O’s Amir, as they dissect the latest Netflix Gundam movie, Gundam Hathaway.
Deals of Temptation
Get these games for less:
Age of Wonders: Planetfall (75% off)
Discounted price: RM 20.00 | Original price: RM 80.00 | Deal lasts until August 3rd.
Everspace (85% off)
Discounted price: RM 8.40 | Original Price: RM 56.00 | Deal lasts until August 3rd.
Blasphemous (60% off)
Discounted price: RM 23.60 | Original Price: RM 59.90 | Deal lasts until August 3rd.
Free Game Giveaway
Congratulations for reading all the way towards the end! As a reward for supporting our launch issue of the GamerBraves Newsletter, you stand a chance of winning Marvel’s Avengers!
We will be randomly selecting two readers to receive 2 Steam codes for Marvel’s Avengers. Lucky winners will be able to redeem the game for free on Steam.
Winners will be notified via email 24 hours after this newsletter has been sent. Please reply to the notification email within 72 hours of its sending and the game code will be sent to you. Failure to do so will result in another reader being selected as the winner.
Sneak Peak to Next Issue
Punishing Gray Raven, deemed a worthy competitor against MiHoYo’s Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact was review bombed upon release. Is this a case of sabotage, or something much darker?
Find out next Wednesday!
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Honestly i didn't had much expectations first when i was about to read this newsletter, but actually after it i can't wait for the next one!
The newsletter format is lit AF. Having a fun time reading it due to it's simple and nice format. Keep up the good work team!