Ninja Makes Huge Debut on YouTube

The sudden shutdown of Mixer left many gamers wondering what would happen to some of the platform’s biggest stars, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins among them.

Of course, all of the big names were released from their contracts as we reported but the speculation was more about where these streamers would go. Back to Twitch? As anyone who has followed his career can tell you, that might be an awkward move for him. After all, they parted on somewhat awkward terms.

Then again, the Facebook Gaming alternative wasn’t really viable – for multiple reasons.

Given such a narrow range of options, it only makes sense that Ninja decided to throw his hat in with YouTube. It’s a savvy move for multiple reasons and we’ll tell you why.

For one, YouTube is much, much more than gaming and, with an audience generator like Ninja joining its gaming arm, YouTube looks set to extend its reach even further.

Yet, no need to worry, YouTube hasn’t inked some kind of exclusivity deal with Ninja. He just chose them over the competition. That probably pays more free dividends to YouTube than we can imagine and the service seems to be more than happy to have him on board, even in an unofficial capacity.

Talia Yates, a rep from YouTube, said they welcome him on board.

Even before going live on the service, he had amassed 24 million followers.

Chief executive of the livestreaming services provider StreamElements Doron Nir said to the New York Times, “The power in the livestreaming gaming industry has gradually shifted from the platforms to the creators since they now have more options for where to build their brand.”

“While lucrative exclusivity deals are commonplace we expect to see the rise of transcendent creators. These are individuals who are able to be bigger than any one platform with the freedom to reach a much broader audience by leveraging all of them. Oprah, Ellen and Bill Simmons have all exemplified the benefit of not tethering themselves to a single platform, and Ninja can easily follow suit,” he continued.

Looking ahead, most analysts expect that Ninja and those like him will avoid exclusivity agreements and, instead, will likely use a multiplatform approach. For one, it might not be more lucrative to do that, but it is way more diversified.

And it isn’t just the streaming aspect of everything that makes creators money. As more and more Internet personalities break out into the mainstream, the more they become like other celebrities out there. Endorsements, sponsorships, and other business ventures are part and parcel with streaming success no matter what platform you use as a host. It will be interesting to see how companies like Twitch and YouTube monetize this moving forward.

As for Ninja, in particular, the move to Mixer was a smart career decision for one simple reason: He got to keep most of his contract money without having to fulfill it. Now he’s not only free to do as he pleases but also can weaponize that capital to help advance his other ventures.

Viotek’s 144 Hz 4K Gaming Monitor Arrives

A budget friendly brand with unheard of specs for even from top brands!

Monitors are a pretty big deal and for a solid reason. After all, no one cares about your powerful graphics card if it is being displayed like a watercolor painting. Even so, monitors are not a cheap accessory and, as Viotek’s latest shows, they’re definitely not without their own complications.

We might be entering a new promised land for resolution in gaming monitors as Viotek’s latest promises 4K at 144 Hz – something pretty much impossible with most of the equipment on the market right now.

So how does it work?

Since it can’t promise that kind of refresh rate using any cables out there right now, Viotek has the novel solution of using not just one but two cables to make sure its monitor delivers the promised performance.

That is, the monitor requires two DisplayPort 1.4 ports to get 140 Hz. Just one cable puts out 120 Hz. The 27-inch GFI27QXA also happens to be a pretty decent monitor all around as many reviewers are pointing out. It supports G-Sync and Freesync from 48 Hz to 144 Hz as well as a sturdy stand and a glare shield. In other words, Viotek has covered most all of the necessary bases. That’s probably a good thing because they’re not asking for just a few pennies.

But, as with anything hardware-related, the final and most pressing question for many of us is the price. At $750, the Viotek isn’t a cheap alternative by any means but, then again, what it is promising is different from most others out there on the market. That has a price, too.

If you are interested this monitor is available on amazon.

Does the new Viotek 4K monitor sound like something you would like to own? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.

Also, don’t forget to check out all of our other awesome video game articles by clicking here.

Cyberpunk 2077 Official Trailer and Release Date

Cyberpunk will arrive November 19th. Pre-order bonuses available.

After getting delaying the launch a little bit, the CD Projekt team has released the official trailer:

There’s a few pre-order bonuses floating around as well for the game. You could get a free steel book game case if you pre-order with Best Buy. The other option is Gamestop which will offer you a Samurai medallion gift.

Gamestop Pre-Order Bonus

Amazon has the standard game available for pre-order for only $49.94. You’ll get the standard edition bonuses below.

The game comes with the following physical items:

– Case with game discs

– World Compendium detailing the game’s setting and lore

– Postcards from Night City

– Map of Night City

– Stickers

Digital goodies included:

– Game soundtrack

– Art booklet featuring a selection of art from the game

– Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook

– Wallpapers for desktop and mobile

Intel Core i5 9600K on Sale for $175!

Although it may be a last generation Intel desktop chip, it is no slouch. With 6 cores and and a base clock of 3.7GHz and boost clock of 4.7GHz the price drop from $259.99 to $174.99 makes it the perfect option if you are planning a budget build with a z390 Motherboard. With this price drop it will allow you to invest in other parts of your PC Build!

Here is the link to the deal: https://bhpho.to/2NpGkoh

Also they offer free shipping for any order over $49.00

EA Origin Games Moving to Steam, Including APEX

EA announced back in October 2019 that they would be moving many games to Steam.

Many of those games are now available on the Steam store. As a bonus they are discounting a ton of titles on the steam store as well! You can snag star wars, need for speed, battlefield titles, and more!

APEX Legends will also definitely be moving to steam and the store page is already available but listed as TBA.

The common question is – will you still need Origin?

Unfortunately, yes, you will still need Origin installed and running to play these games even if they were bought and installed on Steam. A common model used by other publishers like Ubisoft’s Uplay. However, you still reap the benefits of Steam’s download servers and stability. I often have problems with many other publisher’s launchers, and steam has remained the best in functionality and stability. Steam also never fails to give me MAX download speeds on games.

New Releases

Even without APEX, lots of titles are already available. A Way Out is exclusively a 2 player co-op game where you explore prison life and try to escape. I’m personally excited to try this one out.

Titanfall and APEX!

Legends of Runeterra Review

Does the world need another fantasy-based card game?

Card games are a genre that has transitioned into the digital era with grace but also with a lot of legacy features that some of us don’t really find appealing.

Sure, you can justify that the business models that underpin games like Hearthstone by pointing out all of the free content you get but it still makes it a bit annoying to have to shell out cash each and every time you want to upgrade your deck.

At least with a physical game you have cards to hold. In the virtual world, you have nothing other than a printout of your receipt (if you want that).

One game that is charming enough to make us forget the DLC tax that holds it all together is Legends of Runeterra, a fun deck game based on the League of Legends IP.

You don’t need to be familiar with that game, but it might help make everything click with you that much more. One thing that we had a hard time wrapping our head around is the “why” behind this game. Does the world need another fantasy-based card game?

The jury is still out on that and it is a shame that almost any contender in this genre is compared with the aforementioned Blizzard property or the real OG, Magic the Gathering.

It might strike you as a copy of something superior at first glance, but what we have on offer here is innovative enough to warrant a second look.

For one thing, the action of the game moves much faster than either of the other games we mentioned. There is some tie in with the League of Legends lore but it won’t impact the game nor how you play it.

Again, we enjoyed how it assumed we knew nothing about one of the world’s biggest multiplayer games and that helped acclimate and establish the game as its own thing.

Another thing that we appreciated is that the game somewhat holds your hand or even helps guide your strategy.

A gameplay feature called the “Oracle’s Eye” will show you the impact of your moves down the road and this gives you loads of insight into how the mechanics of everything works. It’s pretty invaluable, especially if you’re not familiar with this kind of card game.

Graphics are serviceable if somewhat bright and generic from some perspectives. Overall, Legends of Runeterra delivers where it matters but there is one nagging issue.

The purchase of new cards is just a frustrating feature for a video game. We get it: If you’re used to this kind of thing, that mechanic probably isn’t a big deal. And for gamers raised in mobile ecosystems, the occasional purchase is justified. But when you’re trying to fall in love with a game and decide whether or not you want to put more of your time into it, the last thing you want to think about is a potential tax on your fun.

Because let’s face it, you’re going to have to upgrade your deck eventually. That’s just the way these games are. If you can stomach that, then Legends of Runeterra offers just enough of a change in the core game play that we think it merits a look.

Valorant Releasing TODAY. Patch Notes Out.

Valorant full release on June 2nd, 8 AM ET alongside big patch.

Riot has already released the patch notes for us to study before hopping back on!

Valorant is back at last after being down for a few days to get ready for the full release. There is quite a big patch alongside the release which includes many character re-balances, map updates, a new map, and new agent.

You can read the entirety of the patch notes from Riot, but here are some big changes:

  • New agent Reyna
  • Heavy nerfs to Sage – longer healing orb cooldown, less barrier health & duration (Ouch, my main)
  • Raze blast pack radius reduced
  • Jett smoke duration up to 7 seconds
  • Phoenix blaze duration increased and longer flash duration
  • Omen heavily reworked
  • New map Ascent
  • Mid on Split is more open now
  • Lots of performance/bug updates
  • New spike rush game mode
  • No ult charges for dying not caused by enemy players

There won’t be any competitive mode upon release, as expected. This allows some time to ensure that everything is stable after release and new non-beta players have a chance to get acclimated to the game.
I’m pretty bummed that Sage got nerfed and the new buffs to all the offensive heroes might make the game lose some of its defensive centric tactics, but we’ll see how it pans out this week.

Get ready to play here if you haven’t already installed the game.

Valorant Beta Over, Releases June 2nd

The Valorant beta ended on May 28th, so what’s next?

After grinding ranks in Valorant beta, it has come to an end and unfortunately all of that hard work will be wiped for the full game release. But, beta testing is always a crucial step in any game and the Riot team has made great efforts towards bug fixes, game balances/enhancements, and improving security from hackers.

Some Beta Stats

There will be another update that coincides with the release, along with a new agent that was teased in their release trailer. Also featured was the title of their first season, which will be “Ignite”. We don’t have a detailed list of updates officially from Riot yet for the release patch, but there are talks of some buffs to Omen’s abilities (teleport will stay the same). Also the new agent may have some sort of vampire-esque skills (lifesteal?).

Either way, I am pumped for the release! The game had a rocky start with bugs, an abundance of crashes, and terrible Vanguard implementation, but most of it seemingly seemed to be worked out by the end of beta. The game grew on me, and I find myself wanting to play it now that it’s gone.

Catch you all on June 2nd. See the trailer below.

Valorant Release Trailer

Razer’s New 300hz Blade Pro

Are 300 Hz displays and 10th gen Intel processors enough to get consumers to pick up the Razer Blade Pro 17?

That’s what the company hopes and they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the project in order to woo the often fickle PC consumer back to Razer.

A notch above the Blade Stealth and Blade, the Blade Pro 17 is the one with the big 17 inch screen and it comes in three hot configurations that are all ready to burn a hole through your wallet.

These are the $2,599.99, $3,199.99, and $3,799.99 version with the cheapest variant rocking the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q and the middle-tier and top-tier iterations use the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q.

All share the same CPU, a Intel Core i7-10875H, and 16GB DDR4 RAM. The models also share the same battery, a 70.5 WHr, and the same wireless Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0.

The cheapest and middle versions of the Blade Pro 17 use a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD for storage while the top-of-the-line model uses a 1TB PCIe NVME SSD.

The Razer Marketing Video of Razer Blade Pro 17

When it comes to the display, the Blade Pro 17 truly distinguishes each model from one another with different variants geared towards gamers who really care about this kind of thing.

The cheapest and middle versions of the computer come with a 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080, 300 Hz display while the most expensive version has a 17.3-inch, 4K, 120Hz.

Basically, the display is pretty amazing at any level. But that’s also where we had our biggest issues with the product. More on that later.

To round out the Blade Pro 17’s list of features, you get an SD card reader, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, RJ45 Ethernet,  HDMI, Thunderbolt 3, and  2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports.

The Razer Blade Pro 17 should start shipping to consumers and retail outlets later this month. In our opinion, it’s a pretty solid offering and we think the specs justify themselves.

The prices are also not uncommon for this kind of laptop and we didn’t really expect Razer to engage in intense price competition. What we did expect were the specs and the display, in particular, and that’s where we are concerned.

Can a gaming laptop consistently maintain 300 Hz over its lifetime?

We doubt it. Thermal throttling should become an issue because that’s a ton of power just to the display alone without even considering the rest of the power-hungry components that make up this system.

Outside of that, though, we’re impressed. If the system holds up when it starts to be subjected to real world conditions across multiple users, then we’ll change our mind but, for now, we’re cautiously optimistic.

Some people might take a wait-and-see approach as a verdict to not buy the product but, really, we just want to make sure its capable of delivering on the promises it is making.