Tech

Valve’s standalone headset, codenamed “Deckard”, has long been rumored, and speculation has continued since data miners first discovered relevant information in January 2021. Recently, the whistleblower and data miner “Gabe Follower” once again broke the news that Deckard will be released before the end of 2025 and priced at $1,200.

Gabe Follower posted on his X platform: “Multiple sources have confirmed that Valve plans to release a new standalone wireless VR headset (codenamed Deckard) by the end of 2025. The current price of the complete package is $1,200.”

Gabe Follower also revealed that Valve will release “finished” games or demos specifically for Deckard.

Notably, Gabe Follower pointed out that the $1,200 price “will be sold at a loss” and speculated that Deckard will use the same SteamOS as Steam Deck handheld, but adapted for VR.

Gabe Follower claimed that “one of the core features is to play flat games already on Steam Deck on VR big screen, without the need for a PC.” He also said that closed-door demos may begin soon.

Gabe Follower has accurately leaked multiple Valve projects in the past, including information about Counter-Strike, Half-Life and Valve’s upcoming PC shooting MOBA game Deadlock, but still recommends treating this news with caution.

Even if this leak is not inside information, Valve is clearly preparing XR-related products. Leaked 3D models hidden in the November 2024 SteamVR update appear to show a new VR motion controller called “Roy”.

Roy controller is different from the standard VR motion controller layout and seems to provide a more traditional gamepad-style button layout, which will enable a 1:1 input experience between flat games (in a virtual environment) and Steam Deck.

Persistent rumors claim that Deckard may include PC VR wireless streaming capabilities, eye tracking, and perspective AR capabilities, which may make it a competitor to Meta Quest and/or Apple Vision Pro.

This is not the first time Valve has tried gaming peripherals. Valve released the Valve Index in 2019, which was the best VR headset on the market at the time and priced at $999. The headset was bundled with Half-Life Alyx, but sales were poor. Valve’s Deckard may be able to bring new surprises to the gaming industry, but how many players will really buy it is unknown.

Even if you don’t play games, you must have heard of Monopoly Go. As a Go game with Monopoly Go stickers as its core, you can earn money and interact with friends and family from all over the world while exploring the ever-expanding universe of Monopoly Go!

This multiplayer board game was developed by Hasbro. If you don’t know Hasbro, then you must know Transformers, Power Rangers, or My Little Pony. All of the above are products under Hasbro.

It is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923, and owns trademarks and products such as Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast.

According to what we know, Hasbro's digital game revenue in 2024 reached 472 million US dollars, of which $112 million came from Monopoly Go, a ratio of up to 25%. As we all know, Hasbro has very famous IPs and products, so what exactly makes this free game so profitable for the company?

Possible Reasons

Large Number Of Fans

According to the Guinness World Records, this is the most popular board game, no doubt about it! The huge fan base has made Monopoly Go more and more well-known, and it has become popular all over the world in less than half a year since its launch.

You can experience the classic fun and visual effects in this game, or you can socialize with friends. You and your friends make full use of this multiplayer mini-game, temporarily stop pranks, and work together to get fun and rewards. It’s like a snowball effect, old players bring new players into the industry, and finally everyone is addicted to the world of Monopoly Go.

Paid Items

Although Monopoly Go is a free game, you can also spend real money to get some in-game items, such as Monopoly Go stickers or dice.

It is worth mentioning that another feature of Monopoly Go is the recurring mini-game Treasure Hunting, where players can find hidden items through the game to get rewards. Like other activities, these mini-games have themes and can only be played for a short time, usually a few days. All Treasure Hunting revolves around the basic gameplay, that is, clicking on the squares on the grid to reveal the items. During this period, players can get more dice from the store to get limited items.

Team Strength

Data shows that Hasbro’s business digital and licensed game revenue increased by 22% year-on-year to US $471.7 million. The revenue growth is undoubtedly inseparable from the collaborative efforts of the entire team. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks expressed pride in the team's efforts, which not only improved operational efficiency but also significantly improved the performance of the toy business.

Similarly, the developer also said that it will expand the coverage of intellectual property through excellent partnerships, continue to focus on operational rigor and predict the future of games.

Unfortunately, overall, Hasbro’s full-year revenue fell 17% year-on-year to US $4.1 billion, which Hasbro attributed to the divestiture of E One. Therefore, we also speculate that Hasbro will focus on mobile games and digital entertainment in the future. Monopoly Go may become Hasbro’s top flower.

Warner Games has had a very bad fate in recent years. The consecutive failures of Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights have made them tighten their game business, and many games that are being developed or operated have announced their cessation. Wonder Woman, which was still in normal development some time ago, also received bad news.

Development Termination

Warner Bros. recently confirmed that Wonder Woman game produced by Monolith Productions has been canceled, and studios such as Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB San Diego will be closed.

Warner said that this decision was based on “strategic direction adjustment” and that it would re-examine the development studios and investments in the future, focusing on core IPs - Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and DC, to create better game content.

Player Reaction

The cancellation of Wonder Woman has sparked a lot of discussion among players. Vara Dark released a video commenting on the current status of Warner’s game business. She pointed out that Warner Games has been in a state of turmoil in recent years, with multiple projects performing poorly, including a loss of $100 million for Multiverse Battle Royale, and the huge losses brought by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The total impairment of the entire game business has exceeded $300 million. She believes that the cancellation of Wonder Woman has undoubtedly made the situation worse.

Vara Dark also mentioned that many players, including herself, were disappointed with the decision, especially for Rocksteady’s Batman series. She believes that Warner has obviously allowed “suspicious people” to control these studios, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad has problems, and Monolith is facing a similar fate, and even the studio has been closed. This means that we may never see Monolith bring new works such as First Encounter Assault Recon or Middle-earth. She thinks this is both regrettable and sad.

Vara Dark also recalled Nemesis system introduced by Monolith in Middle-earth. This innovative mechanism gave the enemy a unique personality and behavior pattern, greatly enhancing the immersion and playability of the game. Although Monolith has applied for a patent for this system, this idea may now be buried by Warner.

Vara Dark also questioned Warner’s strategy of building games around core IPs. Because both Wonder Woman and Middle-earth are developed based on these IPs, the practice of shutting down Monolith seems extremely contradictory. She pointed out that since Wonder Woman debuted in 2021, Warner has hardly publicly shown any gameplay or character models, and the game has undergone multiple remakes. She speculated that Warner may have planned to transform it into a live service game from the beginning, but after seeing the poor performance of games like Multiverse Smash, it chose to return to the stand-alone mode. Frequent direction adjustments ultimately led to the game’s difficult birth.

Warner Bros.’ plan is to continue developing Batman series of games. This time the game will be set in the future and accepted by the studio that created the Batman Arkham series. The game is expected to be released after 2027. I hope this Batman will not suffer the same fate as Wonder Woman.

As you explore Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll inevitably encounter Orin the Red, one of the most formidable foes in the game, even more difficult to defeat than Netherbrain in Honour Mode. This is because of its combination of unstoppable stacks, powerful boons, and abilities like Power Word: Kill and Bhaal’s Edict, which makes her difficult to defeat unless you’re in the strongest possible party.

But now, there’s an easier way to defeat Orin the Red without having to see her terrifying Slayer form, by disguising yourself as Orin’s clone and then killing her. If you face this encounter, follow this guide to defeat this powerful enemy and claim the final loot.

Steps

First, you’ll need to defeat Orin in Rivington by casting a high-damage ability on her while she’s disguised as Lens the Journalist and using non-lethal attacks. Make sure you hit it for a few hundred times, so that you don’t trigger the dialogue with Orin. Then Orin’s undisguised form will appear, and after the previous operation, even if you hit this enemy’s health to 1, it will not trigger the dialogue response.

Afterwards, Orin will appear in the party camp disguised as an orphan named Yenna, but this also requires some triggering conditions: first, the entire camp is infiltrated by Orin, and Lae’zel, Halsin, Minthara and Gale are all away from the camp. This mechanism theoretically works for all replaced characters, but you need to lock the target in advance, otherwise you may accidentally hurt your teammates.

When you use an Illithid Power called Ability Drain, the character replaced by Orin will appear with a red mist effect, which can be used to identify the disguised person. If you want to kill this disguised Orin with one blow, you may need to set up some explosives or use some very powerful attacks, which will at least ensure that you deal with many damage to it.

Once you defeat the pretender, you will receive a notification that Orin has been defeated, but oddly, you won’t find her body in the camp. This requires you to go to Bhaal’s Temple, where you’ll see a pile of blood clots where Orin usually stands, including one of her Netherstones, which will require you to defeat some of her followers, but this will be much easier than fighting Orin.

Although Orin’s shapeshifting ability is threatening, you can use some strategies to resolve it cleverly. For example, you can completely avoid defeating Yenna, the disguise of Orin, before entering Bhaal’s Temple, and instead knock her unconscious but not fatally, so that you and Orin will be forced to fight you as Yenna in the final battle, which will put the entire battle under your control.

In addition, you can also release area skills such as fireballs or acid sprays to cause splash damage to the positions of your bound teammates, which will bypass the invincibility mechanism that Orin has when she becomes Yenna and directly causes more damage to her. When you use this kind of operation repeatedly, you will find that the entire battle has not entered a very difficult stage.

The above are some strategies and specific methods for you to defeat the very powerful Orin in Baldur’s Gate 3 at this stage successfully. In general, you can rely on these strategies and skills to help you complete the combat tasks in the game, but you must first enhance the character’s damage ability and defense ability, which is the most important. I wish you a happy game!

Do you like team battles? Do you like bright and vivid game colors? Do you want to feel the tense and exciting escape atmosphere in the game? Enter Apex Legends and all these needs will be met! What’s more interesting is that if you have recently started playing Apex Legends or paying attention to related information, you can also hear the game’s new theme song CHAMPiONS!

The theme song was created by the Japanese metal band SiM. In terms of musical style, it is a vibrant folk song. The inspiration comes entirely from the background world view and other settings of Apex Legends. It aims to use SiM’s unique artistic style to show you a crazy but attractive Apex Legends from the auditory perspective.

Where Was CHAMPiONS’ First Performance?

The song was first revealed in a post published by Apex Legends on its official X account on January 23 this year. The real global premiere was on the fourth day of Apex Legends Global Series 4, which was February 1, and this series was held in Sapporo, Japan.

As the largest game market for Apex Legends in the world, it is not surprising that the competition is held in Japan. The singer SiM band, which is also from Japan, not only adapts to the game in terms of music style but also has many members, including the lead singer who are loyal players of the game.

How Was The Performance?

On the day of CHAMPiONS’ performance, the atmosphere reached a new climax under the background of the game contest that had lasted for many days. There were not only fans wearing their favorite game team uniforms but also enthusiastic players who directly cosplayed game characters. As the music sounded, the enthusiasm of the crowd on the scene could almost ignite the entire Sapporo!

There is no doubt that SiM used CHAMPiONS as the beginning of the performance, satisfying the game fans who had been looking forward to it for several days and showing the charm of Apex Legends in the field of music. The song’s English lyrics even directly referenced lines from the game, further evoking cheers from the players and audience. The band then performed their own hit song The Rumbling, released in 2022, which is also one of two songs SiM has produced for the popular anime Attack on Titan.

SiM Band And Apex Legends

SiM lead singer MAH said that he has been playing Apex Legends almost since its release, so it was a very special and surprising experience to be able to write a song for the game with his partners, not to mention the opportunity to perform it for the first time directly at the competition.

Interestingly, the night before the show, lead singer MAH and guitarist SHOW-HATE also played Apex Legends in a tournament held for content creators, ALGS commentators and specially qualified fans.

In short, as video games develop, both its derivative competitive games and game music are gradually forming their own markets and audiences, thus feeding back to the gaming industry and benefiting both sides.

According to Clawsomegamer, a recent study shows that 40% of PC players play less than 5 hours a week, while console players play slightly more than PC players. In addition, 39% of console players play 10 hours a week.

Players Don’t Spend Much Time Playing Games

Key points of the study:

• Two-thirds of PC and console players play less than 10 hours a week.
• 36% of console players play less than 5 hours a week.
• 40% of PC players play less than 5 hours a week.

This study raises an important question: Are games too long now? Is this the reason why players play less? Is the game too long?

The study believes that many modern 3A games are too long for players with daily jobs. The data also supports this view, showing that most players (especially PC and console players) play less than 10 hours a week, and a considerable number of them even play less than 5 hours.

This means that 100-hour RPGs, sprawling open-world games, and bloated online service models are no longer viable for most players.

The problem isn’t just that games are too long, but that people generally believe that games have to be big to be worth the money. The report notes that the average length of games is increasing year after year, but not all players are able to complete these lengthy games. Trophy and achievement data also confirm this: as game time increases, completion rates decrease, and players are less likely to buy sequels.

Games Need To Change

Some recent games, such as Avowed, have begun offering players the choice of a 15-hour lightweight narrative experience or a 40-hour cinematic adventure, which may be one solution.

If more games adopt this model, it may narrow the gap between time-poor players and those who prefer longer experiences.

Another revelation is that the game industry should rethink its obsession with game length. Instead of extending game time with resource-consuming filler content, it is better to sell shorter, more compact experiences. For older gamers who have jobs, families, and other responsibilities, their time is not so flexible.

In addition, games should also focus on cultivating their own players. Each generation of players has its own game. Mario, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, League of Legends, Fortnite... Players will not and cannot play your game all the time. Instead of filling the game with redundant and complicated content, it is better to focus on how to attract new players. Just adding to old games will only result in players who want to play not having time to play, and players who have time not wanting to play.