Welcome to The RoundUp! This is our monthly news post summarizing the past month in PC gaming, PC tech and new Thermaltake products. On this RoundUp for June: both the PlayStation and EA event announced a bunch of cool upcoming new games, and it looks like the end is nigh for Mixer. All that and more, in the RoundUp for June, 2020!
PC GAMES RELEASED
Riot Games’ insanely popular Valorant officially came out of Beta on June 2nd, releasing with a new mode, agent and map.
There were also some incredibly stunning indie games released this past June. Single player underwater adventure game Beyond Blue released on June 11th. And gorgeous survival sandbox Among Trees released on June 14th.
Also on June 14th, Altus’s classic JPRG Persona 4 Golden dropped for PC.
GAMES NEWS
Covid-19 Related News
CES has announced that they are still hoping to go ahead with their live show in January 2021, despite concerns Covid-19 might still be an issue. The group overseeing the event have stated that, “safety, security and health and are always a priority”.
EA sports will be providing the crowd sounds for the crowd-less English Premiere League matches, beginning June 17th. Sky Sports hopes this will help evoke the atmosphere of the Premier League, despite the empty stands.
PAX West, PAX Australia and EGX have teamed up to create a 24-hour online event called PAX online. This online event will run from September 12th until September 20th, and be free to watch. It will feature: panels, concerts, competitions and even an online merch store.
Games Announced
This month was a BIG month for new game announcements!
First, came the announcement of the latest in the Project Cars series, Project Cars 3. The game is due for release on August 28th.
Additionally, a trailer dropped for a spin off to the popular Vampire: The Masquerade – Blood Lines series. This game centres around Werewolves though, titled Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The trailer did not reveal a release date.
A few throwback trailers also hit us right in the feels. The cult-classic 80’s platforming Alex Kidd is getting the remake treatment. As well as a game version of the popular cartoon Samurai Jack, titled, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. Neither trailer provided a release date though.
The next installment in the Sniper Ghost Warrior series is due to arrive this Autumn (Spring for us). The game is titled Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, and looks like it will return to its roots after the lackluster Sniper Ghost Warrior 3.
It looks like a rumored Crysis remake is coming sooner than we thought! The game is reportedly due to release on July 23rd, 2020, with a game play trailer premiering on July 1st.
Lastly, another popular racing series announced a new game. The trailer for Dirt 5 dropped, showcasing the incredible talents of actors Troy Baker and Nolan North in leading roles. The game will release on October 9th.
A number of Games coming to PC were announced during the PlayStation event also.
Firstly, they showed a trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil 8, which looks incredibly chilling. In this game we’re back with 7’s protagonist Ethan Winters, following the next stage in his horrific journey.
My personal favourite from the event was Arkane’s Deathloop. This 70’s themed shooter has your character looping back in time every time they die, resetting the day. It has a Dishonoured feel, mixed with the style of Austin Powers, and it looks amazing!
On the more indie side of things, developer KO_OP’s Goodbye Volcano High, looks like it won’t leave a dry eye in the house. This game features animal hybrid characters and promises an incredible coming of age story featuring a, “queer narrative created by a diverse team”.
The final instalment in the new Hitman trilogy will release in January 2021. The new trailer features number of gorgeous locations as well showcasing Agent 47 doing what he does best, sneaking around and looking badass.
Lastly, EA held their own online event also.
The main take away from EA Play 2020, was that a ton of their games which had previously only been available on their own platform Origin, are coming to Steam. This includes the popular Sims 4, Titanfall and my personal favourite EA series, Dragon Age. They also showcased a number of cool looking upcoming games including the Tim Burton-esque Lost in Random, and Skate 4. They also released a new trailer and more information about the upcoming Star Wars: Squadron, due to release on October 2nd, 2020.
General Games News
Time to round out our games news with everything that didn’t quite fit anywhere else!
Hero pools in Overwatch are officially GONE! Everywhere apart from The Overwatch League will be without hero limitations now. So, feel free to instalock Genji in every game to your hearts content.
WB Games is announcing something at a DC event in August. Everyone has their fingers crossed this means Rocksteady will FINALLY announce a new Batman game, after months of teasers on social media. Additionally, Warner Brothers have registered both Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad game domains. Hopefully, we find out more in August.
Developer of The Order 1886, Ready at Dawn, have been acquired by Facebook. The studio will continue its work on Lone Echo 2, the game they had been making prior to the buyout, but will then be absorbed into Oculus Studios, who make games for the Oculus VR headset.
Everyone was excited to see a that new Crash Bandicoot game announced recently. But sadly, it seems there would be no love for the PC, only revealing the game would release on PS4 and Xbox One in October. Buuut, good news! Publisher Activison have stated that they are evaluating the idea of other platforms. So, keep your fingers crossed Crash fans!
A Disco Elysium TV series might be on the horizon. The popular RPG has joined with production company DJ2 entertainment, to eventually make a TV series based on the game. The production currently is still now meeting with potential writers to pitch the project later in 2020.
Popular game maker Hideo Kojima has set internet conspiracy theories ablaze again. He recently tweeted a picture that featured a BB from Death Stranding, leading some to believe a sequel might be on the way. As Kojima is notoriously cryptic in his clues, we may not know for certain if this is actually a clue, or just a red herring, for a long time.
Finally, some sad delay news.
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope is delayed. The game was initially due to release in Summer 2020 (Winter for us), but will now be looking at an Autumn 2020 release (Spring).
And lastly, after stating a month ago this would not be the case… Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed AGAIN! Citing needing more time to balance, fix bugs and polish everything off, the game is now due to release on November 19, 2020.
CONTROVERSIAL NEWS
In the latest issue of DMCA strikes, this time the copyright claimers are hitting Twitch. Recently, Twitch sent out thousands of emails alerting creators to the claims, often sourced from short 30 second user created clips from upwards of 2 years ago. Twitch’s only real response is to delete all your old clips and not use music you don’t own in streams anymore. This is a real bummer for many content creators, who felt very let down by Twitch’s lack of action.
A Riot Games executive has resigned from his position in the company, following some very insensitive comments. The ex-executive shared and commented on Facebook in regards to the killing of George Floyd. In response to his comments, Riot Games committed to donating 1 million US dollars to charities helping with the Black Lives Matter movement, and vowed to do their part to help end racism.
In recent days, numerous people online are speaking up about their experience with abuse, assault and number of other horrid incidents while in the gaming industry. Some big names who have been accused include game writer Chris Avellone, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail. Companies such as EA have made pledges to investigate all allegations of misconduct and sexual abuse in light of recent accusations.
Twitch has suspended Donald Trump’s channel. It is unknown how long the channel will be down. The suspension was due to ‘hateful conduct’.
Finally, popular streamer Dr. Disrespect has been banned from Twitch. No reason for the ban was provided. But it seems his entire channel has disappeared entirely from Twitch.
TECH NEWS
The CEO of Intel Robert Swan issued that benchmark numbers shouldn’t be the main focus for products. Swan stressed that the focus should be shifted to how each product can individually benefit their customers.
Also in Intel news, their upcoming Tiger Late CPUs will be including hardware safeguards. Their new security measure titled, “Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology”, aims to protect your CPU from some common malware attack methods.
Moving over to AMD news now. Recently, a spur of rumours circulated stating that AMDs Zen 3 Ryzen 4000 CPUs would be delayed. However, AMD have come out and stated that the rumours are entirely false and they remain on schedule for a 2020 release.
Additionally, AMD’s Ryzen 3000XT chips are still on track to release on July 7. The Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT and Ryzen 5 3600XT boast faster clock speeds for a very reasonable price.
If you’ve been feeling like your internet is being throttled lately, you might be right. Due to the excess strain on the internet due to so many people working from home, some neighbourhoods in the US have been affected by throttling due to high usage. It’s possible this has happened worldwide too. A few months ago, we reported on how Netflix and YouTube worldwide were lowering their default quality for similar reasons.
A new SSD from Samsung is due to release before the end of August. The Samsung 980 Pro SSD is a PCIe 4.0 SSD, and is promising storage performance yards ahead of everything else on the market.
It seems Google Chromes’ incognito mode, isn’t quite as incognito as you think it is. The feature still collects your data even when in the private browsing mode. The fine print basically states that it’s the same as normal mode, but it will just remove traces of that session from your device or machine afterwards, and any cookies won’t follow you to another session. So, yes… Google still know exactly what you’re watching and is taking notes. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Lexar have announced it’s first DRAM products for desktops and laptops. Not a whole bunch is known about the DDR4-2666 memory kits, but it looks like the well-known USB brand is looking to shake things up in the memory sphere once again.
Growing live streaming platform Mixer is shutting down, and everything on the platform is being shifted to Facebook gaming. The announcement has seemingly surprised a lot of its high-profile users, including Ninja and Shroud, who both very publicity moved over to the platform from Twitch.
Microsoft is officially shutting down all of their physical stores. This comes after closing their stores worldwide in March due to Covid-19. A few big locations will transform into Microsoft Experience Centres.
The first standalone Oculus headset, the Oculus Go, is being retired. Due to the success of the Oculus Quest, the older Go model sadly didn’t stand a chance. Oculus will instead be focusing on their Rift and Quest headsets going forward.
THERMALTAKE NEWS
Over here at Thermaltake, things have been relatively busy this past June.
One of our biggest new releases was our stunning ToughDesk 300 RGB gaming desk! This sit/stand desk is the perfect new addition to your gaming setup! We also released the stunning, compact PF1 power supply! This PSU is fully modular, and non-RGB for those of you who prefer a simpler look. Early June also saw the release of our stunning helicopter inspired AH T600 and the versatile Level 20 RS cases.
On the blog, here are some stories you may have missed! I counted down a list of 7 games that deserve the remake/remaster treatment. I also listed some of my personal favourite mods for the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, for my fellow mod enthusiasts out there. Lastly, I discussed picking between building a PC vs buying one.
Over on our YouTube Channel, we created an awesome How to for creating your own custom coolant colours! We also made a fun video listing 5 tools to make building PC’s ten times easier. Lastly, we filmed another build parts guide for you guys, creating a stunning micro-case build for $1500!
If you want even MORE content from us, remember to go give our podcast Thermal Talk a listen! Check out all our episodes on your podcast platform of choice: Spotify, SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
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