Long term support of tech and games
This week there have been a couple of things that have received meaningful updates even though I first got them a few years ago.
The first to mention is the game Rocket League. Sure, this is essentially a live service game after Epic Games purchased the developer Psyonix and turned the game free-to-play, but specifically it has finally received Switch 2 support. Whilst this is not a "Switch 2 edition", it now runs at 1080p 60fps in both docked and handheld modes (the latter having variable resolution). This is on trend with how Psyonix seem to deal with Rocket League as the PlayStation version of the game still doesn't have a "PS5 version", instead there is just the PS4 version that works better depending on which type of PlayStation you are playing on.
The other thing that has been updated is the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 (X[^1]) gaming headset. Some of the newer Arctis headsets now have a companion phone app so that you can quickly change sound profiles and settings when not connected to a PC. Which makes sense considering these are more aimed towards consoles. However, my pair, given its age, wasn't included in the list of compatibility. Annoying, but not surprising, as often this is the way of tech. If you want the latest features, you have to buy the latest version. Yet, coincindently when I happened to by using it with my laptop and decided to check the GG companion software I noticed that it had a firmware update. With it was the ability to now work with the mobile app. Not only did I get that added convenience but this also added the ability to assign different sound profiles to the 2.4g connection and the separate Bluetooth connection. Meaning that I can have the 2.4g set up to something gaming related and the Bluetooth to better suit listening to podcasts. One of the big selling points of this headset is the simultaneous connections. The other benefit was that my headset could now easily select pre-created game profiles. For example I can now easily select one for Arc Raiders which works remarkably well and sounds more engaging than the smiley preset I had been using.
SteelSeries were particularly bad when I first purchased a headset in 2020 when quality was pretty poor. The left earcup just didn't work and it was a real pain trying to get support to properly do anything. Eventually I did get a full refund, but it took about 6 months! Since then they have been acquired by the company that owns headset company Jabra. This is a rare instance where one tech company buying another actually benefitted everyone (at least from where I'm sitting). As, yes Jabra has moved away from consumer facing earbuds, but even though they were good, not enough people were buying them. So, they took that form factor and worked with SteelSeries to create gamer earbuds. And these seem to be selling pretty well, because they have a clear identity with less direct competition. Also, it seems that Jabra's quality control is having an impact, as I don't see as many complain about faulty products.
Anyway, I'm now going to get in some gaming and some rest before the first week of teaching for semester 2. It's going to be a busy one (again).
[^1]: The "X" version is for Xbox, but it just means that it can work across PC, PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox. Whereas the non-X version works with all others mentioned except Xbox because of the specific protocol Xbox uses.