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Happy Friday! What are folks going to be playing this weekend?

At EVE Fanfest 2023, CCP Games unveiled EVE Vanguard, an Unreal Engine 5 powered sandbox multiplayer FPS 'module' for EVE Online.

Today, CCP Games unveiled EVE Vanguard, its next attempt at a first-person multiplayer shooter game integrated with EVE Online. Some players may still remember Dust 514, which attempted something similar but largely failed as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. CCP didn't stop trying and came up with the so-called Project Nova, though that one didn't even make it to launch.

EVE Vanguard is different in several ways, though. Firstly, it's being labeled an EVE Online 'module' and will be free for Omega subscribers; it's currently unclear whether the game can be purchased or accessed without the Omega subscription to EVE Online. Secondly, it's specifically targeting the PC platform.

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YouTube Trailer

SpaceX has received the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) approval to operate upgraded Starlink user terminals. These dishes are the first of their kind that will be deployed to users after SpaceX's partial buildup of its second generation Starlink constellation, and the approval came a couple of days back. SpaceX had filed two applications with the FCC, for user terminals that are designed to operate in one place and its Earth Stations in Motion (ESIMs) that are for users who want to use Starlink while on the go. The latest application for the user terminals also shows that SpaceX plans to launch a new portable terminal with lower power.

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The latest user terminal application granted by the FCC features a new dish that SpaceX describes is for mobile use. These terminals have been collectively dubbed as fixed terminals (UT3) and they come in two variants. Each of these has two versions, one for consumer users and the other for occupational users.

UT3 version 2, the mobility version, significantly reduces the transmit duty cycle or the time the dish spends communicating with the orbiting satellites for its consumer variant. Its duty cycle is 9.7%, while the current Starlink dish, commonly called the flat dish, has a duty cycle of 14%. UT3 also reduces the maximum power sent to the antenna at 1.37 Watts and reduces the EIRP to 33.2 dBW.

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Focus Entertainment and DON'T NOD are thrilled to reveal an extensive overview of their upcoming title Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. The immersive and poignant narrative driven Action-RPG where you hunt and battle supernatural threats to alter a tragic fate revealed itself in a detailed Gameplay Overview Trailer (watch it below). The title is coming November 7th to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and pre-orders are now available on all platforms, with a Collector's Edition and the Red Echoes Edition exclusive to the Focus Store!

A journey between love, life, death and sacrifice
You play a couple of Banishers, Antea Duarte and Red Mac Raith, experienced spirit hunters, sent to New Eden to lift a mysterious curse and solve haunting cases. But after an ill-advised attack, Antea is killed and becomes one of the ghosts she loathes. Torn between their vows to protect the living from malicious spirits and the nightmare of Antea's condition, you must make hard decisions: Will you honor your Banisher oath or sacrifice the living in a desperate bid to bring your beloved back?

Trailer

At 22.5 x 9 x 3 cm, the Ayaneo Air 1S is more like a Nintendo Switch than a Steam Deck. In fact, it's a touch smaller than the Switch. Or slightly bigger than a medium-large banana. The retro model I've got in for review weighs only ~405g on my scales, which is a little heavier than my Switch at around ~400g but far lighter than my Steam Deck at ~650g. There's even a thinner and lighter model, the Air 1S Thin, though that's a limited edition.

Point is, it's a handheld gaming PC that feels more like a handheld gaming device of old than any other I've used. It's a powerful GameBoy Advance, and boy, is it powerful.

The Ayaneo Air 1S may look like it needs a downgrade to stuff all its parts into that tiny shell. But, no. It comes with the same AMD Ryzen 7 7840U chip found within the AOKZOE A1 Pro or the OneXPlayer OneXFly. That's a full eight-core, 16-thread Zen 4 processor. I still can't really believe that sort of spec comes in a compact PC at all. It's paired up with a Radeon 780M integrated graphics, powered by 12 RDNA 3 CUs—four more CUs than the Steam Deck's RDNA 2 chip.

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Kirby & the Amazing Mirror launches on Nintendo Switch via the $49.99 / £34.99 / €39.99 Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription on September 29.

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• Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
• WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania
• Kuru Kuru Kururin
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Metroid Fusion
• Super Mario Advance
• Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
• Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
• Fire Emblem
• Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

First announced back in 2021, Star Wars Eclipse has remained largely a mystery since its striking first reveal. Last year, developer Quantic Dream quashed rumours the game had been delayed and was suffering development trouble, noting it had yet to announce a release date. In a subsequent interview, Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere said Eclipse would retain Quantic Dream's fundamentals despite being an action-adventure game at heart.

But 2023 has so far been a no-show for Star Wars: Eclipse, leaving some to wonder what’s happening with the game. During a recent interview with IGN at Tokyo Game Show 2023 in Japan, Lisa Pendse, Vice President of Marketing for Quantic Dream, described development as “simmering”.

“Can I say it still exists? Because it exists,” Pendse said when asked for an update. “It's just not ready. It's simmering.”

Star Wars Eclipse is a new action adventure game set in the High Republic era of Star Wars, a golden age of Jedi hundreds of years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. While a lavish teaser trailer paints a thrilling picture of the game’s setting, details are still scarce.

In an interview with IGN last year, Quantic Dream’s development chief David Cage reiterated that Star Wars: Eclipse will be markedly different from Detroit: Become Human, which released on PlayStation 4 back in 2018 and PC the year after.

Maybe the first rule of Fight Crab was that you don't talk about Fight Crab, because I somehow completely missed the 2019 original. Up until I got my hands on its sequel at Tokyo Game Show this week the only battles with crabs I’ve ever known were written about in multiple chapters of the Motley Crue biography. But after going pincers-on with Fight Crab 2 I now consider myself an instant fan. It seems brilliant and utterly bonkers in the best way possible.

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The control system is simple, at least if you want it to be. While I’m told there’s a more advanced control setup for crab-fighting connoisseurs, I opted for the ‘Modern’ control setup during my short demo. In this setup you steer your crab around with the left stick, use the left and right triggers to attack with whatever weapon you have equipped in each claw, and hold the two shoulder buttons to block. There’s slightly more to it than that such as the ability to pinch and hold enemies or throw weapons as projectiles, but the bottom line is you need to use your considerable heft and consistent attacks to tip your opponent over and keep them on their back until they’re down for a short three-count.

YouTube Gameplay

Enotria checks all of the soulslike boxes. It has stamina-regulated combat, with different weapons sporting various weights and animations, the greatsword being my favorite. It has dangerous enemies of various shapes and sizes, including jerky mini-bosses and a truly mean boss. You’ll collect “souls” that can be used to upgrade your character, so long as you don’t get killed, drop them, and fail to retrieve them before getting killed again. You’ll activate “bonfires” that serve as checkpoints and rest stops between legs of the sometimes stressful adventure. If you’ve played any of these in the past decade or so, you’ll know these are as basic to the sub-genre as boost pads are to kart racers.

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Is Enotria: The Last Song the next great innovation in the soulslike? I don’t know yet. But it's amazing how some sun and color can make the slower paced dungeon crawling that the genre is known for feel brand new. Activating environmental puzzles to reveal alternate routes or secrets has a lot of potential for fun exploration opportunities. Masks serving as de facto classes thanks to their proprietary groups of traits and bonuses help encourage different kinds of play, but maybe not different enough, and the Mask Line special abilities really spice combat up but require you to already be doing well in order to get access to them. Enotria will have plenty of time to rehearse for showtime between now and when it hits the big stage next year.

YouTube Video

Sea of Thieves is set to add one of its most significant updates yet: solo play.

Ever since Rare’s multiplayer-focused pirate adventure game launched in 2018, the developers have faced questions about the addition of solo play. Now, it’s finally coming as part of Season 10 in December. Finally, you won’t have to worry about rival pirates stealing your hard-earned treasure!

In a post on Xbox Wire, creative director Mike Chapman explained the decision. “Just as we hope that the Skull of Siren Song will encourage competitive play, we recognize that for some players, a quieter, more independent experience can be preferable,” Chapman said.

“That’s why, in December, Season 10’s third major feature will introduce an entirely new game mode that grants players the ability to sail the Sea of Thieves alone or with a crew of friends, within their own private game session.”

Solo play comes as part of the Safer Seas feature. It’s intended to offer a “gentler” introduction to Sea of Thieves for new players, as well as a quieter map for existing players who want to play their own solo adventures.

Recently at the Tokyo Game Show Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais spoke to CNBC about PC gaming and Steam Deck, here's what was said during the interview.

• When talking about the power of SteamOS - "we would like to work with other hardware manufacturers, so they can adopt SteamOS in the future".
• On VR: "for Steam Deck we don't really have a VR story to it, but it's definitely something we want to explore more in the future".
• For the future: "we're not really seeing growth stop after COVID, so for us it's really important to keep working on the current version of the Steam Deck, put together software updates we just released a big SteamOS 3.5 update that's added new features we're going to keep doing that - but also work on the hardware side supply chain, retail presence, work with distributors to get the Deck available worldwide and expand its audience so we're going to be focusing on that short term - in the future we're looking at the PC market and where technology is going and see if there's any interesting opportunities there".
• When asked about console cycles, games being higher-end and Steam Deck upgrades: "right now we're looking at this performance target that we have as a stable target for a couple years, we think that it's a pretty sweet spot in terms of being able to play all the experiences from this new generation and so far the new releases coming out have been great experiences on Steam Deck. We're working with developers on future releases and we're monitoring the feedback there but so far it's been pretty good on the horsepower front".

Twitter Thread

Even though Valve only just recently put SteamOS 3.5 into preview for Steam Deck, they're not done with improvements elsewhere with a new Beta Client release doing a bit of a Gyro overhaul to the Mouse mode.

Patch Notes