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CRKDs Nitro Deck turned my OLED Switch into an OLED Switch Lite, in a way. The Nitro Decks lightweight frame added chunkier grips to both sides of the screen, a more logical USB-C charging passthrough and substantial triggers, it felt like a proper controller enveloping my favorite Nintendo games. And you could get it in Gamecube purple. The company has since followed it up (after some experiments with the Neo S) with a plus version of the deck. The Nitro Deck+ is largely the same premise, a handheld deck for your Switch slate, no detachable Joy-Cons (and thus no drift) programmable buttons and I hate to write this a better hand feel. The biggest visual change is a shift to symmetrical thumbsticks, which make the Nitro Deck + look more like a knock-off Steam Deck than a Switch peripheral. Both joysticks have Hall Effect sensors, which are contactless. This means youre much less likely to experience any drift and the sticks should last substantially longer too. And coming from Joy-Cons, yeah, its a good thing. The shift stick placement is going to be divisive especially if youve been playing mostly on a Switch, with Joy-Cons. The stick is now above the A, B, X and Y buttons, making it look like a lot of the gaming PC slates out there. The company said this change was based on user feedback, but there is a learning curve, coming from either the base hardware or the original Nitro Deck. Ill be honest: I still miss the traditional asymmetric layout. There are four remappable back buttons, now joined by unusually placed Sidekick buttons next to each analog stick. Thats six extra buttons to play with. I tested them out, mostly for weapon swap-outs, but the regular button layout worked completely fine for most of my Switch game catalog. Image by Mat Smith / Engadget If youre playing a competitive shooter that might need more button shortcuts or any game that demands fast reflexes youre probably not using your Switch undocked. Honestly, barring Smash Bros., youre probably playing on a different platform. In their defense, however, you arent going to tap these buttons unintentionally. Thats something Id often do with the mostly flush S custom buttons on the back of the original Nitro Deck. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the trigger buttons, something that wasnt on the Nitro Deck at launch but is now available through a firmware upgrade. This is all done on device, by holding down the ZL (for example) and plus buttons for three seconds. The LED will flash cyan and then you can increase the distance needed to push the trigger by pressing the plus button, or do the opposite with the minus button. The Nitro Deck+ will indicate your setting by vibrating up to three times. Its nice to have this level of customization in a handheld console. It also helps that the triggers are solid. If anything, the Deck+s triggers seem to offer a bit more travel compared to the first model. Image by Mat Smith / Engadget Another improvement on its predecessor is that the replaceable thumbstick tops grip a lot better. The Nitro Decks tops tended to pop off as Id slide the Switch into my bag. A few times, theyd fly across the train carriage I was sat in. On the Nitro Deck+, theyre a tighter fit. My colleagues asked about changes to the rumble function, which Id already switched off when I first started testing. CRKD says it improved the adjustable rumble with the Nitro Deck+ with upgraded motors and drivers, and while the improvement to how it feels is subtle, the difference in noise isnt. The original deck was a loud, grumbling controller, while the Deck+ feels a lot closer to the Switchs HD rumble experience. The major benefits of the Nitro Deck are still here, of course. A chunkier body to grip, more substantial buttons and triggers, and a smarter USB-C pass-through for power, still at the top of the device, with an extra USB-C port to charge peripherals as you play. I cant say I regularly used many of those six (six!) new custom buttons, but dedicated Switch gamers may gain more utility from them than I did. Whether you should get the Nitro Deck+ or its predecessor hinges on what stick arrangement feels most comfortable. Thats the biggest difference and, for some, might be the biggest draw here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/crkds-nitro-deck-plus-review-140047889.html?src=rss
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It has somehow been nearly five years since work from home became such a norm (for obvious reasons) and companies are still competing to be glared at on your screen come 9AM Monday. Often, this involves copying each other's ideas because really how much can you innovate when it comes to work communication? The most recent example comes courtesy of Google, which has announced the creation of huddles. That's right, Slack users will recognize this because Google Chat will now have an identical tool with the same name as its competitor. So, how will huddles work on Google Chat? Basically, huddles are meant to replace those quick conversations you could have in person while passing by someone's desk or waiting to enter a meeting. Instead of scheduling an audio or video call, you can click on the phone icon in a chat and choose "start a huddle." This will create a space in the chat where you can quickly talk. As usual, you can also change it to a video call within the meeting. Again, this feature will be very familiar for anyone who has used platforms like Discord or Slack in the past. It will be available in one-on-one and group messages, as well as spaces. Anyone with a rapid release domain can expect to get it by December 20, while users with scheduled release domains will start seeing huddles on January 6. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-chat-adds-huddles-in-its-latest-attempt-to-be-like-discord-and-slack-133022129.html?src=rss
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No Man's Sky has finally overcome its less-than-nominal launch and reached a Very Positive rating on Steam, Hello Games founder Sean Murray announced on X. The rating means that 80 percent of the nearly 246,000 Steam reviews are positive. "Holy shit you guys it happened. All reviews: very positive. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea what this means to us." Many of No Man's Sky early reviews, Engadget's included, were along the lines of "this game looks great but it has a ton of issues." Those included the lack of a hyperdrive on new ships, resource glitches and multiplayer problems. At the same time, we called it "gorgeous, technically astounding, innovative and engaging." Holy shit you guys - it happened ALL REVIEWS: Very Positive Thank you Thank you Thank youYou have no idea what this means to us pic.twitter.com/Go0uyZHZA6 Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) November 27, 2024 Despite the many positives, No Man's Sky was saddled with an "Overwhelming Negative" rating on Steam shortly after launch. After two years it reached the "Mixed" level and hit "Mostly Positive" in 2021. "Each percentage point becomes exponentially harder as you move up the ratings," Murray said at the time. "This is why it's so rare for games to change their All-Time rating and why we'd assumed that we might never be able to." It went on to become a success with more than 10 million units sold, but users have argued that the game set a bad precedent. It was still somewhat unusual in 2016 to shell out $60 for a semi-broken game. Since it continued to sell, studios may have taken the wrong message that it's okay to release unfinished titles (Cyberpunk 2077, Overwatch 2, Halo Infinite, etc.) and fix them later. Still, no one can say that Hello Games didn't put in the work to get to this level, issuing no less than 35 free content updates over the last three years. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/no-mans-sky-finally-has-a-very-positive-rating-on-steam-after-8-years-130033575.html?src=rss
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