Daily Briefing: Tuesday 19th October

Steam Deck rating system will show which games work on it

The prospect of going through every single game on Steam is a fairly daunting one but that's exactly what Valve are doing to prepare for the upcoming launch of the Steam Deck. A new rating system is currently in the works that will easily inform Steam Deck owners which game are best suited for play on the new hybrid system. Valve are currently in the process of marking each game with on of four ratings intended to communicate how smooth a playing experience it will offer on Steam Deck.

• These ratings will appear right next to games as users browse Steam using the device, which means players should have a decent handle on how well a certain game will run on Steam Deck before paying for it. These tags will also appear in the user's library, meaning you'll be able to easily tell how well your existing library will fare on the go. The four ratings are Verified (works perfectly), Playable (fine but may need some user-end adjustment), Unsupported (just doesn't work on Steam eg. any VR title), and Unknown (hasn't been checked yet). Neat.

PS5 faceplate company taunt Sony following legal challenge

Back in February, Canada-based gaming peripheral firm Dbrand announced a range of black PS5 faceplates called Darkplates. The $50 plates evidently struck a chord with a section of the PS5 population who were happy to have a new console but unhappy that it looked like the offspring of an air conditioner and a dialup modem, and were sold out for months on end. Over the weekend, Dbrand released a statement confirming that those original Darkplates were "dead" following a threat of legal action by Sony.

• So far, so typical petty corporate nonsense, but this is where it gets interesting. Dbrand also announced the new Darkplate 2.0 in a via a very smug post to their subreddit and their own official website - both posts are titled "Checkmate, Lawyers." The new $70 Darkplates have a new vent and come in additional colours included a nifty PS1-inspired colour scheme. More importantly, Dbrand say these new plates are safe from future lawsuits because they carry an entirely original design that Sony can't touch. They may still try, but if they do Dbrand say "they'd better be ready to pay our legal fees."

Elden Ring is delayed but it's not as bad as you think

This week sadly kicked off with the news that Elden Ring (y'know, FromSoftware's new thing that just so happens to be one of the most anticipated games in years) is getting a delay, but it's not that bad. The game has been pushed from its January 21st launch day to February 25th, so just over a month. A statement from game's official Twitter account confirms that the delay is because "the depth and strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations."

• There's something very notable in that message. Typically, and especially these past few years, whenever a game is delayed we hear the same "further polish required" or "pandemic pressures and remote working" rational but FromSoftware haven't used any of that. Instead, they've essentially said that the game is bigger than they thought it was and need more time to get their heads around it. If this is the case, you have to wonder whether an extra month will be enough, though FromSoftware's titles being rather janky at launch has become almost endearing. At any rate, Elden Ring will hold a network test in November on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5 and players can sign up via the official website for a chance to get in and nosey around early.