Borderlands 3 will not Launch with Cross-play

Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, talked about cross-play would be included in Borderlands 3. He was so adamant in the feature that he said it was a “prerequisite.” However, just because the CEO said something doesn’t mean things will happen.

As reported by Gamespot, a 2K representative stated that “Cross-play is something we’re looking at closely, but we don’t have anything to confirm or announce at this time.” This news comes out after the Microsoft Store pre-order page stated that cross-play was a feature. It has now been removed.

Cross-play between consoles and PC is a new luxury in the online game world. The most popular multiplayer games such as Minecraft, Fortnite, and Rocket League have the feature.Hopefully it can be included in Borderlands 3 in the near future as I would love to play with people of all consoles.

Twitch continues to dominate the Game Streaming Service

Video game streaming has become a bigger entertainment on the internet. There are so many different games to watch, personalities, and styles of playing. As game streaming has become more popular, more alternate streaming sites have showed up. YouTube Game Streaming has been around for a few years but recently Google shut down YouTube Gaming because it confused users. Facebook Gaming is the newest competitor and it can connect already fans of the games to streamers. Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, is the most popular service. Most of the audience data comes from StreamElements. StreamElements is a new growing streaming service. It started back in late 2017 and it allows streamers to show games through multiple channels; including Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. It also has a professional interface and helps provide useful data to streamers.

Who has the biggest audience?

According to the Wall-Street Journal, Twitch maintains the highest amount of game audience with 70% of hours watched among all services. 2nd is YouTube which had 19.5% of audiences according to StreamElements. Facebook Gaming has approximately 5% while Microsoft Mixer has 3%.

It will be interesting to see if the other platforms can take more of an percentage from Twitch. The platform still has the easiest streaming service, search functions, and most importantly: a dedicated gaming audience. While there are many people use YouTube and Facebook, a huge percentage aren’t dedicated or people who enjoy games. Twitch started with a core audience in mind and has continually improved their services for viewers. Many online personalities also have their core audience on Twitch. Unless the company does something horrendous that would deter the personalities, I think Twitch will remain top dog.

 

Nintendo Switch Lite is a handheld only Switch

A handheld only Switch!

Nintendo Switch is finally announcing a new version of it’s console. Rather than a Pro or an upgraded version, it is a handheld only Switch, aka Nintendo Switch Lite. It will release this September 20th for $199.99.

What are the Differences?

The Nintendo Switch Lite can only be played in handheld mode. It can not connect to a Switch dock to project the gameplay on a television. The Joycons are not detachable; however, it can connect to external Joycons, the Switch Pro Controller, and the Poke Ball plus. It can still connect to Wifi, Bluetooth, and NFC. It will also have a D-PAD!!!

It also has longer battery life. According to Nintendo, it should last for 3 – 7 hours. It isn’t too much longer than the original. It also comes in three colors: turquoise, gray, and yellow. I imagine future Nintendo Switch Lites will come with special designs for special editions.

Some features it doesn’t have are the HD Rumble support or the IR camera included in the normal Joycons for the Switch. This means it won’t work for certain games such as 1-2 Switch or Super Mario Party when using the attached Joycons. It’s not a huge feature to lose but it can take away from certain games. New Nintendo Switch games will come with a sign in the back on whether the game is “handheld compatible.”

Now that Nintendo has announced a cheaper Nintendo Switch option, will you buy one?