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Steam goes live in China with 53 games only

Pranav Nalawade
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Steam goes live in China with 53 games only

The world’s most popular videogame storefront., Steam finally went live in China Yesterday with a special “Steam China” client. The difference between the International and Chinese version of Steam is enormous. The Chinese client feels nothing like the international version, rather it gives the early 2000s vibe with a barebone client with no extra bells and whistles. 

Steam China only has games that are approved by the Chinese Government. Hence a very limited number of games are unavailable. Right now only 53 games appear on the store, with more games to be added soon. Although some of Valve’s most popular games — CSGO and Dota 2, are already available on the Store. 

Other than a limited number of games, Steam China lacks community features such as chat, workshop, community forum, etc. While both versions differ greatly, Valve has linked both regions into one account. The game review system is also tied together meaning both versions can see and review the same game. Additionally, anyone who purchases a game in the international version will be able to play it in the Chinese version and vice-versa (limited to game availability in the region). 

With the launch of Steam China, Chinese players will finally be getting local servers and exclusive games. While the international version is still available in China, it is plausible that Valve might make it inaccessible and only offer the Steam China client in the country. If Valve decides to pull the plug on the international version in China, it might deal a heavy blow to many games that exploded in popularity due to Chinese players.

Russian esports audience has grown to 15.4 million people in 2020

Sajid Paik
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Russian esports audience has grown to 15.4 million people in 2020

Nielsen Sports, a leading provider of analytical information and statistics in the sports industry, shared the results of a new Russian esports audience research in his speech at the ESforce Morning Show online conference. According to the company, the audience of esports fans in Russia for 2020 increased by 28% and amounted to 15.4 million people aged 13 and over.

According to new research, among esports fans, 64% of men and 36% of women, the average audience income is 41,700 rubles per person. In 2020, Nielsen Sports analysts found a significant increase in fans: 25% of fans surveyed began to follow matches during the past year, of which 54% are girls and women.

Michael Heina, Head of esports International at Nielsen Sports‘ statement

“Esports has a strong fanbase in Russia and as our research shows it is still growing. The growth even got a boost during the global pandemic, as many people turned to gaming as a good and entertaining way to spend their time. And as the growing number of esports fans in Russia shows many of these gamers also discovered how fun it is to follow esports. But, it will be crucial for the rights holders to keep the fans interested and offer them many and attractive ways to engage with their favorite topic so they don’t lose interest.

But not only young males love esports, as many people think, we also see more and more female fans. This is a global trend but the effect is outstandingly strong in Russia”.

Sergey Barkhudaryan, Commercial Director of ESforce Holding said, “Such a significant increase in the audience was not a surprise for us, it is in line with our annual forecast for the development of the industry. The entire industry works every day to promote esports and fight for the attention of a wider audience. We try to be relevant to people of different ages, preferences, and interests.”

“ESforce is constantly working on studying the esports audience, as it is critical for us to be transparent and effective for our partners. Of course, our partners also play an important role in the growth of the industry, as they focus their advertising campaigns not only on the target audience of esports but also on a wider audience of their potential customers and consumers, thereby popularizing the industry. I am sure that in 2021 we will see even more new brands and interesting projects on the territory of esports.”

Garmin introduces an esports smartwatch that tracks heart rate and stress while gaming

Prateek Jain
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Garmin introduces an esports smartwatch that tracks heart rate and stress while gaming

American GPS maker and Smart-wristwear maker, Garmin has revealed a new esports smartwatch — the Instinct Esports Edition, a smartwatch designed to help players track and live stream their biometric data during play sessions. 

Garmin already produces Instinct Edition watches, but this Esports Edition is specially made with gamers in mind. The watch features a dedicated esports activity function on top of Garmin’s health and fitness tracking technology present on the base Instinct variants. The dedicated esports activity function allows the smartwatch to track and analyze heart rate and stress levels during gaming sessions. 

With the launch of the smartwatch, Garmin also introduced its brand new “STR3AMUP!” PC streaming tool. The StreamUp streaming tool is specially designed to work with the Instinct Esports Edition. The tool also allows users to live stream their biometric data to audiences.

The watch can be used in either smartphone or esports mode. Similar to other Gramin watches, in smartphone mode, the watch acts as a normal Garmin Instinct allowing users to sync their activity with the Garmin Connect app. While in Esports mode, the watch displays heart rate, stress levels, time of day, and a game timer.

In the press release, Dan Bartel, Garmin Vice President of Sales said:

Elite athletes around the world depend on Garmin products to monitor and improve their performance. With the Instinct Esports Edition, esports athletes can tap into that same technology to track and examine how their body responds to intense competition. Players can also use Instinct’s data to make adjustments in their daily lives, whether it be altering sleep patterns or activity levels, which can result in increased cognitive and physical performance during play.

The Instinct Esports Edition is available now in Garmin stores in select countries and will cost $299.99 (USD). It is available in a black and red color scheme and features a high-contrast display and a rugged light-weight design. The watch provides up to 80 hours of battery life in esports mode and up to 14 days in smartwatch mode.

How to connect your controller in COD Mobile

Divyesh Moghe
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How to connect your controller in COD Mobile

Activision has brought back the controller support for playing their famous title Call of Duty: Mobile using any official supported controller. Currently, players can use DualShock PS4 controllers[Except first gen.] and Xbox One controllers to play COD Mobile but some of the features are still capped.

This feature of operating COD Mobile using a controller was first introduced when the game was launched in October 2019 but it was removed without any complete explanation within a month. Since then, Activision did not state any reasons for over a year and has added it back without much commotion as well.

Any player who owns a controller can now enjoy MP and BR matches using the controller but it will not support operations while outside of the matches. Players will need to manually select the modes or loadouts or any other options in the game and the controller will only work when one enters matches.

How to use controller in COD Mobile

Steps to connect controller in COD Mobile

Using a controller is very easy. You just need to pair the controller with mobile device using Bluetooth and then enable a single toggle to gain access to the game using a controller. Follow these simple steps to do so:

  • Launch COD Mobile and go to settings.
  • Go to Controller section and enable the first toggle to use controller.
  • Connect your controller to the mobile device and then click on “connect” button. The connection status will be verified and you will be able to access the game using the external device.
  • You can also change setting configuration for different buttons under the same section. Select a combination you are comfortable in and jump in to the games.

This is a simple method though which you can use the controllers to play COD Mobile. If you have a wired connection, follow the same steps and instead of using Bluetooth, just plug in the cord. Remember that many functions in the in-game lobby cannot be accessed using a controller so use your phone when necessary.

Also Read | COD MOBILE ADDS A NEW BATTLE ROYALE MODE ‘BLITZ’.

Dexter joins Mousesports, Karrigan benched

Bharat Kotwani
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Dexter joins Mousesports, Karrigan benched

Mousesports on Twitter have announced the signing of Christopher “⁠dexter⁠” Nong to their CS:GO division.

Earlier today, the German Organization revealed their new In-game leader from down under. Dexter reportedly replaces Finn “Karrigan” Anderson on the starting five after the latter has been linked to lead FaZe Clan, his former team whom he represented from 2016-2018. This move was earlier reported by 1pv.fr, which now stands confirmed.

It seems that Karrigan who has moved on to the bench will no longer be renewing his contract with Mousesports ahead of the latter’s expiry in March. Under Mouz’s banner, the Dane steered his team to their first ever win at ESL Pro League Season 10 finals in Odense where they toppled Fnatic in the Grand Finale. This triumph was soon followed by yet another championship at the Cs_Summit 5 tournament despite using the services of their former coach Allan “Rejin” Peterson as a stand-in. Prior to this roster update, Mousesports had earlier parted ways with their Veteran Primary AWPer Chris “chrisj” de Jong to replace him with Frederik “⁠acoR⁠” Gyldstrand from MAD Lions.

Dexter joins Mousesports after showcasing an illustrious set of achievements while playing under the Oceanic team’s banner. The 26yo Aussie has relocated to Hamburg in Germany and has been practising with the rest of Mouz’s players. He will face off against his former teammates from Renegades in the upcoming IEM Katowice Play in on Feb 16.

Mousesports CSGO Team:

Christopher “⁠dexter⁠” Nong

  • Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool
  • David “⁠frozen⁠” Čerňanský
  • Aurimas “⁠Bymas⁠” Pipiras
  • Frederik “⁠acoR⁠” Gyldstrand
  • Torbjørn “⁠mithR⁠” Nyborg (coach)
  • Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen (benched)
  • Chris “⁠chrisJ⁠” de Jong (loaned out to FPX Esports)

Image Credits : Mousesports On Twitter.

Valorant Ranked Queues Temporarily Disabled by Riot

Sonu Banerjee
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Valorant Ranked Queues Temporarily Disabled by Riot

If you’re finding yourself unable to queue for a ranked game for the past few hours, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

Riot Games has temporarily disabled the ranked queues for their tactical shooter Valorant to fix an underlying bug with users’ custom settings in-game.

For the unaware, Riot has been investigating an issue where players’ custom keybinds and other in-game settings would automatically reset at the start of a game. It seems like this problem has led Riot to temporarily disable the ranked queue for Valorant to prevent putting certain players at a disadvantage in important games.

The ranked queue is expected to go back live as soon as the bug is fixed by the developers, which is likely to take a couple of hours at most.

Players can still queue for other game modes like Unrated, Spike Rush, or Deathmatch. However, the problem may still reoccur and you may have to readjust your in-game settings manually in case they are automatically reset.

How to unlock the new character Shirou in Free Fire?

Divyesh Moghe
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How to unlock the new character Shirou in Free Fire?

Free Fire has launched an innovative campaign to promote their latest update and new content added with it. Garena has decided to make their latest character named ‘Shirou’ to become free-for-all if the user base manages to cross a certain number of comments on their latest social media post. This is an interesting way to engage with the fanbase on social media and the response has been great so far. You can unlock Shirou for free in Free Fire if the post given below reaches a total of 200,000 comments.

Free Fire is well-known for its avid methods to entertain the user base. Most of this entertainment is confined to the in-game ecosystem and rarely makes it out of Free Fire. Some freebies are given away during the esports tournaments but this time, they have decided to include social media.

Shirou is the latest character that is about to be launched in Free Fire with the next seasonal update. This character has built up a lot of hype for now and has an interesting kit that might pursue many to buy it whenever it goes public. Most of these characters are paid and can only be unlocked by spending a large number of diamonds but after a long time, Garena has decided to make a fan-favorite character completely free.

In the post, Free Fire India Official has announced that players can unlock Shirou for free by participating in a new online event. In this event, players need to comment on the post and after reaching 200,000 comments, the new character will be available for free for the server

How to unlock Shirou in Free Fire

You can follow these simple steps given below to unlock Shirou for free:

  • Step One: Follow Free Fire India official Instagram handle.
  • Tag three friends and then comment your UID
  • After the post reaches 200K comments, you will get Shirou for free.

There is a small catch in this event. Players need to complete the goal of reaching 200K before 11th February 2021. A complete day is still available to complete this task so tag your friends and inform everybody about this giveaway to get Shirou for free.

Also Read | FREE FIRE COBRA APK DOWNLOAD LINK

What is xQc’s Valorant Rank?

Sonu Banerjee
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What is xQc’s Valorant Rank?

Félix “xQc” Lengyel, who’s also known as “xQcOW”, is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch and the second-most subscribed streamer on the platform. If you’ve been following the Twitch star for a while, you’re probably aware of his recent shift from Overwatch to Valorant.

This transition led many fans to wonder what the competitive rank of the 25-year-old was in Riot’s tactical shooter. If you’re having the same question, don’t worry. We have you covered.

xQc Valorant Rank

The current competitive rank of xQc in Valorant is surprisingly just Silver, which is one of the lower ranks in the competitive spectrum, just after Iron and Bronze.

This might catch many of his fans off-guard since xQc used to be a professional Overwatch player not too long ago. However, unlike Overwatch, xQc doesn’t seem to be playing Valorant competitively. He hasn’t been regularly playing Valorant either, which can explain his somewhat mediocre ranking in the shooter.

This doesn’t mean that Silver is a bad rank, though. In fact, a good portion of the total Valorant player base exists in Silver and its adjacent ranks.

Pokimane launches new YouTube channel

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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Pokimane launches new YouTube channel

Twitch star Imane Anys aka Pokimane has started a now YouTube channel focused on all her non gaming related content namely vlogs and videos of her interests.

Pokimane has been at the helm of the streaming industry for so long and over the years she has occasionally pushed content that lies outside the domain of gaming. For those who have been following Pokimane on her journey to the top knows that she enjoys making videos/vlog besides gaming and her new YouTube channel ‘Imane’ is aimed towards just that.

“I essentially wanted to create this channel just for it to be a place where I could share random non-gaming related things that don’t go on my main channel,” she said.

“I think it’s pretty clear what the YouTube algorithm prefers, and when being a content creator is your job, admittedly, you do feel some pressure to kind of abide by certain guidelines or post content that you think will perform.

“But I wanted to create a channel where I could just post for the sake of enjoying what I’m posting and sharing things that I love. I think [that] is what content creation ideally should be. So, that’s what I want this channel to be for me.” added Anys.

The first video on the channel is her describing the course of action she has decided for it. The main purpose was to separate her gaming content from everything else. The channel is an instant hit, her first video clocks over 200,00 views with over 70,000 subs with more imminently on the way.

Genshin Impact update 1.4 leaks hint at upcoming events and challenges

Mohammed Sadiq
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Genshin Impact update 1.4 leaks hint at upcoming events and challenges

Having recently received the 1.3 update, Genshin Impact players can look forward to exciting new additions in the next update that is expected to be released sometime around March as Genshin receives an update every 6 weeks. Although contents from 1.4 were already leaked prior to update 1.3’s release, more details have surfaced since then.

According to said leaks, 1.4 might feature a new challenge mode dubbed “The Oceanid” which is supposedly tougher and will feature new attacks and players will be rewarded with adventurer’s experience, rank exp, hero’s wit, wanderer’s advice, and companion experience and the event will cost 40 resins every time they attempt it, which may or may not be changed in the final release. Characters like Diona, Keqing, Lisa, Fischl, and Ganyu will get 30% water resistance and elemental recharge. 

1.4 will also feature a Windblume Festival that will consist of a mini-game where players will have to shoot the correct balloons within the given time limit and is playable in co-op.

Interestingly, 1.4 will offer another challenge where players will have to face off against an empowered Oceanid and they will be able to claim it as their pet that can talk. Though there have been conflicting reports regarding its name as various sources have suggested different names for it.

There have been reports of new 5-star weapons and playable characters but so far nothing has been confirmed. 1.4 still looks interesting regardless, but these leaks should be taken with a grain of salt as these mechanics and features are subject to change when the update rolls out publicly.

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