Valve to hold 'Steam Next Fest' in June

Valve has just rebranded the Steam Game Festival into the Steam Next Fest. It will take place from June 16 to June 22. You can expect tons of demos, discounts, and game streams from six-day event. The event will happen almost simultaneously as the all-digital E3 2021, which is happening from June 15 to 17.

Why the name change? Valve's announcement reads: "We've renamed the Steam Game Festival to more directly communicate its focus. Explore and play hundreds of game demos, watch developer livestreams, and chat with the teams about their games in progress, coming soon to Steam."

Source: Games Radar

Steam adds expanded Xbox controller support

A beta update for Steam offers gamers who use Xbox controllers additional features. Those who use the Xbox Elite controllers can use Valve's software to bind the controller's rear paddles in controller configurations, offering more flexibility when using extra inputs on the accessory.

Users can also bind the Series X gamepad's share button in controller configurations and use more than four Xbox controllers on the platform simultaneously. Games that use the Windows.Gaming.Input API also gets support for trigger rumble now.

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'Wattam' will no longer be an Epic exclusive, comes to Steam on Dec. 18

Wattam, a whimsical, friend-making game, will no longer be an Epic Games Store exclusive come December 18. The title from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi will debut on Steam just a little over a year after it first came out on EGS.

The game is a bit unusual as you play the Mayor, who aims to befriend over 100 characters, including animate and inanimate objects (think noses, toilets, phones, etc.). The gameplay is varied, too. You're expected to do everything from dancing to exploding, with a drop-in, drop-out co-op mode that lets you share this experience with others. As Engadget points out, it seems timely to reintroduce this game to a new audience as we try to look for connection in the middle of a pandemic that keeps a lot of us isolated.

'Mechwarrior 5' Steam version, DLC release pushed back to spring 2021 to avoid 'Cyberpunk 2077'

Source: Piranha Games

Piranha Games doesn't want to go against CD Projekt Red's highly anticipated title and has opted to push back the release of an expansion for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries and its Steam and GOG versions. Instead of a December 10 release for the Heroes of the Inner Sphere DLC, it'll come out in the spring of 2021. 

"Any developer wants their titles to get as much attention as possible, and obviously sharing a release date with Cyberpunk was less than optimal," the studio noted in a blog post. "Day one sales and marketing are so important to a successful product launch, and we believe that rescheduling our release date will allow MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries to have the opportunity and attention it deserves."

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