So it's another weekend and here we are with yet another WRUP on the WRUP Network. Not that much to talk about this time I think. There's the Steam Deck and the Malaysian Govt. smashed a bunch of mining rigs.
Right, the Steam Deck, an upcoming handheld from Valve looks like it'll actually be a pretty cool little machine in a similar looking package as the Switch, but much more powerful. Steam Deck will use a four core, eight thread AMD Zen 2 APU with 8CUs with up to 3.5 GHz processing speed and 1.6 GHz GPU speed. It'll have 16GB of DDR5 RAM and run a 1200x800 display on a seven inch screen (that's diagonal of course) at 60Hz. The battery is said to last up to eight hours of game play and there's an "Alt mode" with a USBC wired connection that provides higher refresh rate and resolution up to 8k. This seems to work by plugging in to a desktop PC and running games from there while the Steam Deck handles your Steam menu and friends list. There are different tiers to consider, because of course there are, when it comes to device storage. The base model will use a 64GB drive while the mid range has a 256GB solution and the high end model has a 512GB drive. The base 64GB drive uses eMMC while the larger units are faster NVMe SSD's. Should you desire more storage, you have the option of buying micro SD cards, though your mileage may vary while playing games from them.
Valve has stated that the Steam Deck will basically be a small handheld PC and should be treated as such. It will come with Steam OS installed, but you're free to install a different OS should you should choose and you'll be allowed to run third party apps as well, yes even EPIC Games Store, GoG Galaxy and so on will run on a Steam Deck. If you're planning on installing Windows 10 (or this silly new 11 version that nobody asked for) you're going to want the biggest storage you can get. Units start at $399 for the base model, mid range will cost you $529 and the highest end model will set you back $649. It's expensive for a handheld, but it's more than just a simple handheld and considering the current prices of individual PC components these days (not to mention supply availability) maybe it's a good choice. Head on over to the website and take a gander
The Malaysian Govnt. Put the ol' kibosh on a whole bunch of illegal mining rigs and you can watch in a video as a steamroller does the handy work. What makes it illegal? Well, how about eight people stealing a staggering two million dollars worth of electricity from the grid in just three months? Yep, that'll get your computer run over by heavy equipment in Malaysia. Here it is as provided by PC Gamer
I'll leave you with a pretty astonishing video from NASA of space craft Juno navigating Ganymede and Jupiter in an animation that uses actual images sent by the craft as it cruised by. Seriously guys, I hope you like fruit 'cos this is bananas.
What are we playing, I hear almost nobody asking
Greywolfe: biomutant! i'm nearly done with all the side quests, so that means it's almost main quest time. that and arthur: the quest for excalibur. i did a LOT of mapping out last week and i think i have the world more-or-less all sorted, so it's time to start actually tackling some puzzles.
AJ: Still collecting spirits in Smash Bros. I may also play a little Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to tide me over until I get around to picking up the new Skyward Sword port.
Scrooloose: I started F1 2020 and it's more or less just F1 2019 so that's cool I guess. Not bad by any means but I'd rather have just picked up F1 2021 and skipped this one. MechWarrior 5, still going and collecting hero mechs. Maybe I'll actually get a couple of new videos on the YouTube channel... I don't know, don't hold your breath.
Tru: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I was able to even get the Joy-Cons that are Zelda Themed, so, excited to play one of the few console Zelda games I never got to play.
Yoda: Finally got a Ring that puts my Kuno one AP Bracket short of softcap gear level. Which means it's time to go to zones I could barely kill the mobs in before and see how much I wreck shop now :p