As you're most probably used to by now, this is just my initial warning that what follows is my ranting and rambling about both Steam Deck-specific(ish) news, and general gaming news I've spotted and seems interesting to me.

I do my very little best to try make this feel a little like old gaming sites or old blogs. Old forum posts (none of the above I was alive to even witness, but I’ve archeologized – totally a word – enough of these from back in the days of old to know those are what I love the most, so...I try!

Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!

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Two bits of GOG News / Games / Facts / Fun

Konami Code

Here’s one I’m sure you already know, since its hardly a secret. Aside from being a platform where you can tens of thousands of games, GOG also hid an activation via the Konami Code in their website

From your games library, enter up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A and you’ll have two games appear within the secret screen in your browser to play there: Snake, or Pong!

Sierra On-Line

Back in 2022 GOG shared a wonderful blog post about the history of Sierra On-Line games. It covers a lot with links branching off – highlighting some games and some history in there:

It all started in 1979 with a text-based adventure game called Colossal Cave that Ken Williams brought to his home in Simi Valley, California. The game captivated his wife, Roberta, and inspired her to create an adventure game of her own. The title had a plot and art style inspired by Agatha Christie’s novels. Called Mystery House, the Williams family created the entire game from scratch. Thankfully it was a hit (with 15,000 copies sold) and it prodded them to get into the video game business full-time.

The blog post for this on GOG, is here in this link!

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

The latest update has arrived for Heart of Chernobyl. Patch 1.3 is here. It’s quite extensive this time around, so I won’t list them here (it’d take too much space!) but rather link you to the Steam page detailing them.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 not only suffers from me having to type the letters in with a full-stop between each letter, but it also launched in a fairly broken state. We all know who to blame this time, rather than the (sadly common now) tradition of releasing a game broken because they can, this time it was a real life warzone which affected their ability to make a game.

Hopefully this patch gets it to a space nice enough to enjoy the game even more than it has been (though...I have to admit, it’s too damn scary for me!) - the link to the post is here

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Hope Town

This is one of two games I’ve spotted on Kickstarter which might be interesting to some. The names and faces behind the game are interesting but the fact they’re stating this is a [spiritual?] successor to the ever-fascinating Disco Elysium (former Dying Light and Witcher 3 devs) is a bit sad. It looks to be true, but it makes me feel so frustrated when games have to promote themselves based on the success of other games, especially when they’re unique. Which this sure looks to be.

The Kickstarter link and page is here, which explains all, but I’ll include a few pictures because the art is wonderful:

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The Sinking City 2

I’m a big fan of Lovecraftian horror. Not so much the ‘getting scared’ side of it (I’m a wimp with scary games), but the setting, the atmosphere. The era in time.

The Sinking City (the first game) had a LOT of drama, but since their long battle with Nacon, the developers (called Frogwares) won, and are the sole publisher of the game. And you should Follow this link and read about their battles on a PC Gamer page, it’s a pretty fascinating story about the woes they were subjected to:

Anyway, tangent aside, their sequel to that game is on its way, and being funded this time, in part, by Kickstater.

From their Kickstarter page:

The Sinking City 2 is a third-person survival horror game, set in an otherworldly Lovecraftian version of the 1920s United States. Coming to PC (Steam, EGS, GOG), PS5 and Xbox Series

Experience a heart-pounding survival horror as you navigate the flooded streets of Arkham. Fight terrifying Eldritch abominations, face monumental beings beyond human comprehension known as The Great Old Ones, and investigate the dark mysteries gripping this forsaken place

The link to the Kickstarter page is here!

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Half-Life 2 RTX

This one’s something I’m sure everyone here has spotted. Having only just played through Half-Life 2 for the first time a few months back, even I was aware of any tiny bit of news or announcements on the series of games. This time it’s no different, I’d expect.

Anyway, from the Steam page:

Re-live the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed Half-Life 2 like never before, reimagined with RTX Remix. Featuring full ray tracing, remastered assets, and DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, this DLC is free for Half-Life 2 owners

The rating is currently ‘Mixed’ on Steam, with 1,840 reviews as of writing this nonsense up for you all.

The YouTube trailer 5 days ago is here, if you want to check it out

The Steam page’s link is here if you want to just jump straight on over to that, too

Personally, I am more excited by the coming re-release of the Raising The Bar – because just look at it, it’s BEAUTIFUL:

...and one more, unknown Valve artist working on Half-Life - April 8th 1998:

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Epic sale

This one’s for the 5 people here who care about Epic Games’ sales and have a library of purchased games (not just those we’ve claimed weekly for years!).

The sale starts on March 26th, but I also weirdly see in a search that there’s another on April 10th for some reason? IDK why. These sales used to be quite significant as they had their coupons involved, but having long-since killed those, well...I guess we’ll see what is worth buying when it happens!

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Switch cat

This one’s just...me spotting something I think is adorable, and thus subjecting you to it. This is ‘Switch Cat fanart’ by an artist whose username is shunixe, but also seems to be Xezeno Xezeno1 (which only reminds me of Xenomorphs and how much terror I subjected myself to when I played Alien: Isolation with the lights turned off, headphones on, and all alone. It was a mistake I made exactly once)

Anyway, THIS IS ADORABLE, LOOK AT IT!!!

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Metro

Metro has now turned 15 years old. And they’re having a 15th anniversary update (4A games)

The following text obviously comes from their page, but I encourage you to click the link at the end of me rambling to watch that video, running 3:56 seconds, which celebrates all their years.

*Hello everyone,  

We shared with you earlier this month that we wanted to tell you more about the status of our team and our future, so what better opportunity to do so as celebration of Metro’s 15th anniversary.   In honor of the incredible 15 years of Metro, we’ve created a video to celebrate our journey throughout the tunnels of the metro, made possible by our devoted community that have supported us along the way. This is our thanks to you, the players*

 The link is here for their post!

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Halt and Catch Fire

HCF, or "Halt and Catch Fire," was a term referring to a machine code instruction that caused a processor to stop normal operation and enter an unrecoverable state.

It came from early-early computing and is ended up being use to just...describe catastrophic system failures. It’s not a practical command, it just symbolized a dramatic crash or malfunction in computing systems.

Halt and Catch Fire is also one of my favorite TV shows ever made. A drama series set in the 1980s and 1990s, following a group of ‘visionaries’ in the tech industry during the rise of the personal computer and internet eras.

The IMDb page is here, if you want to see the amazing cast and read more

The trailer for season one is on YouTube, and I’m linking you here

Wait, why are you rambling about this? What’s it got to do with gaming?! - I can hear you screaming at your screen right now.

Well, follow this link to a Polygon article which details why HaCF has the best depictions of gaming in it (and it does, dear reader, it does!): it’s not about the game; it’s about what the game gets you to

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Codemasters delisted

Looks like a few EA Codemasters titles have been delisted from Steam - for those who are keeping track

• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
• Toybox Turbos
• Rise of the Argonauts
• Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins
• Damnation
• Hospital Tycoon It's a strange move, especially considering these are old, old titles now, but still a sad one to see them unavailable (legally)

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Digital Art / Gaming

First up is a set of images a talented designer made was this mock-up of how Steam would look if it was running on Windows 98 This artist goes by Blu-s_Attempt and kinda makes me sad that I'm living in a Windows 11 world, and not a 98 one. Three images, and as follows:

And one more:

this time some nice, nostalgic 2000's era ad mockups done by a talented design artist - RetroB0y, showing a glimpse of what it'd look like if the Steam Deck was released in the early 2000s. These remind me so strongly of the Sony PlayStation ads made and run in the early 2000s for the PS2 in magazines and other print media. No matter what, these are a treat!

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This week’s free games:

As ever, Epic gives a free game away, and (I know, the term ‘free’ here isn’t as free as it is with Epic’s) there is some from Prime Gaming. These are available if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, and are yours to keep forever, even if you no longer subscribe to the service.

Epic:

Jurassic World Evolution from 2021 is free this week. This seems a nice ‘get’, considering it is recent and is semi-well regarded, but one thing to remember is that you’re only getting the base game with this. The DLC mounts up immediately, and costs like $80,000 (slight exaggeration) to have everything.

If you are in Belarus, Russia then you’ll be unable to claim this game this week.

From Prime Gaming:

As always, Prime gives a few games each week, and to me is the best deal in gaming. I’ve been subscribed to Game Pass for a looooong time now, but this somehow feels like my fav option. Maybe because it lets me build up my beloved GOG library. Anyway, this weeks games are:

• March 20: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code]
• March 20: Mutazione [GOG Code]
• March 20: Figment 2: Creed Valley [Amazon Games App]
• March 20: Legacy of Kain: Defiance [GOG Code]
• March 20: Mortal Shell [Epic Games Store]

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How are you playing these on Linux / Steam Deck?

I’m glad you (probably didn’t, but shhh) ask me! Generally speaking, I play my GOG and Epic, and Amazon titles on my Linux desktop PC by using Heroic Games Launcher. For my desktop, nothing beats this.

Heroic is a Free and Open Source Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime Games launcher for Linux, Windows and macOS. Also available on the SteamDeck!

• The website is here, detailing all kinds of info, including FAQ’s, documentation and links

• Their Discord is here, with this invite, if you want to join in there

Personally, I love how Heroic have an arrangement with GOG themselves. Whereby if you purchase a GOG game through Heroic (or by an affiliate link they have set up), then Heroic will be a small portion of each sale to help support their service. To me that just makes my lil heart warm!

And on my Steam Deck, I mostly use Junk-Store (though I also have Heroic installed there, too!)

I actually shared a post recently about a big update Junk-Store did, but first I’ll expound a little on what Junk-Store is.

It’s a way to play Epic Games and GOG games on your Steam Deck – and my fav thing to share is how it makes it look like Valve made it themselves. It runs via Decky Loader, though in the future this will change as the developer is also working on a way so you can keep it running that way, or install it another.

At the moment though, from Decky you’ll find a section where all of your games library for Epic and GOG will appear showing the game art almost exactly as your games do in your regular Steam games library on the Steam Deck.

This UI is what I love most, it looks and feels and acts exactly as if it were made by Steam, for the Steam Deck. I love the library for the games. Installation is a breeze. It makes installing anything required to make the game play perfectly is as easy as one press (dependencies). You’ve also got some fun achievements that the dev has made himself, which is pretty damn fun to find inside JS.

Check this out, they have had a BIG update recently, and by ‘they’ I mean Eben – the solo developer who programs this. I wrote a post and shared it on Lemmy, so you can find it here with this link

• Their GitHub is here with this link

• This is their link to the Discord server. Handy to have, as users have a section where they share settings they’ve found work best for games they play from Epic and GOG

• Their website is here, if you want to read more

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Croc Legend of the Gobbos

The timeless cult classic Croc and its remastered version arrive on GOG on April 2nd!

“Words can't express how excited we are to welcome this gaming legend after almost 30 years”

The link to the GOG page is here, which is the only PC platform you can buy and play it on!

Here is a link to the trailer, four months back, on YouTube if you want to see it!

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Apple’s long-lost hidden recovery partition:

I know, this isn’t even vaguely gaming-oriented. But it’s super interesting, and I feel like there’s a nice intersection of gamers + tech-minded folk in here who might want to follow the link. Just a quick copy of the user’s post, then I’ll link you to what they’re talking about:

You might remember when I asked about looking for an unformatted Performa 550 a couple of months ago because I was looking for a lost recovery partition that Apple had a couple of technotes about. I wanted to share an update -- I was able to find what I was looking for thanks to a kind person here on this subreddit! It's nifty functionality I had never seen before that tries to save you if something gets messed up with your System Folder. I'm surprised Apple didn't continue forward with this on later models. If you want to try it for yourself, I uploaded a "factory fresh" hard drive image with this partition for preservation purposes. It works on lots of models, not just the 550. There is still an unanswered question about how the partition was originally created, so if anyone else has a Performa 550 that hasn't been formatted, I'd especially be interested in finding out if it has this partition, or even just if Apple Backup is a custom version/size that doesn't match any of the screenshots from my blog. It might also be interesting to find out if the Performa 575 had it too

If you love vintage Apple computers, then this is a must-read!

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Ryubing:

Ryubing is my choice of Ryujinx forks. It has at its helm a dev (GreemDev) of the original project. Let me start this short little bit off with a reminder that Ryujinx was not illegal, it was not shut down by court order or any breach of IP. It was an agreement the original dev made with Nintendo (which was rumored to be all kinds of things, but being based in Brazil, ‘the law’ wouldn’t be a factor even if they broke it. Brazil is fairly well known as the wild west of emulation.

Anyway, Ryubing got a DMCA from Nintendo, just another in a long list in the last few weeks which has received such.

• and as an aside, the EmuDeck team use Ryubing in EmuDeck now, and have done so for some time. So...that’s a fact!

Since their github page has been taken down, it is now here with this link, if you wanna read up

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Xbox was released in 2002:

This is a little late, but 4 days back, it was that day on which the original Xbox was released in Europe and Australia. 3 years of Xbox being on the scene (in those regions, at least!), which is incredible to see. While their news might be a little thin-icey lately...

I’d love to remind you that, 2002, Microsoft released a commercial for the original Xbox that was banned after the UK’s Independent Television Commission received 136 complaints - called 'Life is Short' (click this link to see it!)

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Super Famicom

This just...was interesting for me to see. I have a soft spot in my heart for gaming hardware I wasn’t even close to being alive for on release, especially when it combines with gray/beige coloring.

User chunk337 shared an image of the Super Famicom box. These were used in hotels in Japan, where you’d pay a certain amount for a certain play-time. I just love how utterly boxy this thing is, thought you might too!

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Quick-fire bits and pieces:

The PC Gaming Show:

The ‘Show returns this June! ‘New games, new trailers, new exclusives all coming this summer’ - showing on June 8th this year.

A link to more details and what will be showing is here, with this link!

RPCS3 Android

Android alpha 5 released for those who love gaming on their phones, and emulating there too!

The link to the release and notes is here

Space Marine 3 is official in development!

A link to the Warhammer Community post is here, if you want to read their own words!

Chrono Trigger Anniversary

Escape From Tarkov: Arena

Has been added to Epic Games store.

You can watch here, via YouTube if you’re interested

The classic game was released on March 11th 1995! So it’s now officially just over 30 years + one week old!

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Revolt

And, I’ll drop another reminder in here! My friend Gardiner Bryant set up a Revolt server for Steam Deck, Linux and general gamers. It’s built up a lot now, with 82 users in the sub. Plenty of them are devs and creators of some of the programs and applications you use on your Steam Deck (or Linux PC!), and...I’m hoping it’s a nice place for people to visit and chat.

Revolt itself is a FOSS alternative to Discord! You can read more about it via their site, which is linked in this sentence

The link to the Revolt server is here, if you want to join in, have a look, or chat games! I also wrote a post about it some time ago here on Lemmy, if you want to read a little more detail: The link to which is here!

Annnd finally, the server itself is at this link: https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

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What have you been playing?!

IDK, thought it might be nice if you wanted to share what you have been enjoying when it comes to video games! What game have you been playing? Enjoying? Not enjoying? Leave a comment, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear more about what the community here has been enjoying, please share it!

I’ve been enjoying a Nintendo Switch actually. I used to be obsessed with them had a lil collection, but I sold them all when I got my Steam Deck.

I recently bought a V2 Switch super cheap in Japan, and I’ve since installed a picofly mod-chip in it, so I can run CFW on there (themes on my Switch! How can you beat that?!)

I’ve been playing Metroid Prime: Remake on it, being one of my fav games. And on my Steam Deck I’ve started to enjoy Half-Life 2 again, and it runs oh-so-beautifully!

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And that’s it?

I think this might be the end of what I can ramble on about.

As always, any errors are my own, as with formatting. I do so hope you’ve found something interesting in here, by now maybe you’re aware I am oh-so-very tired of traditional gaming news outlets. They’re running with baked in advertisements, written by A.I. or generally such low-effort swill they’re ripping off a comment they spotted. I just want to at least try bring back the feeling of the old-old gaming blogs, where Patreon and support and donations and ads weren’t the focus of what you’re on a site to see!

If you wanna follow my inane gaming posts, then you can find me on Mastodon here:

<3

As you're most probably used to by now, this is just my initial warning that what follows is my ranting and rambling about both Steam Deck-specific(ish) news, and general gaming news I've spotted and seems interesting to me.

I do my very little best to try make this feel a little like old gaming sites or old blogs. Old forum posts (none of the above I was alive to even witness, but I’ve archeologized – totally a word – enough of these from back in the days of old to know those are what I love the most, so...I try!

Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!

---

Two bits of GOG News / Games / Facts / Fun

Konami Code

Here’s one I’m sure you already know, since its hardly a secret. Aside from being a platform where you can tens of thousands of games, GOG also hid an activation via the Konami Code in their website

From your games library, enter up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A and you’ll have two games appear within the secret screen in your browser to play there: Snake, or Pong!

Sierra On-Line

Back in 2022 GOG shared a wonderful blog post about the history of Sierra On-Line games. It covers a lot with links branching off – highlighting some games and some history in there:

It all started in 1979 with a text-based adventure game called Colossal Cave that Ken Williams brought to his home in Simi Valley, California. The game captivated his wife, Roberta, and inspired her to create an adventure game of her own. The title had a plot and art style inspired by Agatha Christie’s novels. Called Mystery House, the Williams family created the entire game from scratch. Thankfully it was a hit (with 15,000 copies sold) and it prodded them to get into the video game business full-time.

The blog post for this on GOG, is here in this link!

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

The latest update has arrived for Heart of Chernobyl. Patch 1.3 is here. It’s quite extensive this time around, so I won’t list them here (it’d take too much space!) but rather link you to the Steam page detailing them.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 not only suffers from me having to type the letters in with a full-stop between each letter, but it also launched in a fairly broken state. We all know who to blame this time, rather than the (sadly common now) tradition of releasing a game broken because they can, this time it was a real life warzone which affected their ability to make a game.

Hopefully this patch gets it to a space nice enough to enjoy the game even more than it has been (though...I have to admit, it’s too damn scary for me!) - the link to the post is here

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Hope Town

This is one of two games I’ve spotted on Kickstarter which might be interesting to some. The names and faces behind the game are interesting but the fact they’re stating this is a [spiritual?] successor to the ever-fascinating Disco Elysium (former Dying Light and Witcher 3 devs) is a bit sad. It looks to be true, but it makes me feel so frustrated when games have to promote themselves based on the success of other games, especially when they’re unique. Which this sure looks to be.

The Kickstarter link and page is here, which explains all, but I’ll include a few pictures because the art is wonderful:

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The Sinking City 2

I’m a big fan of Lovecraftian horror. Not so much the ‘getting scared’ side of it (I’m a wimp with scary games), but the setting, the atmosphere. The era in time.

The Sinking City (the first game) had a LOT of drama, but since their long battle with Nacon, the developers (called Frogwares) won, and are the sole publisher of the game. And you should Follow this link and read about their battles on a PC Gamer page, it’s a pretty fascinating story about the woes they were subjected to:

Anyway, tangent aside, their sequel to that game is on its way, and being funded this time, in part, by Kickstater.

From their Kickstarter page:

The Sinking City 2 is a third-person survival horror game, set in an otherworldly Lovecraftian version of the 1920s United States. Coming to PC (Steam, EGS, GOG), PS5 and Xbox Series

Experience a heart-pounding survival horror as you navigate the flooded streets of Arkham. Fight terrifying Eldritch abominations, face monumental beings beyond human comprehension known as The Great Old Ones, and investigate the dark mysteries gripping this forsaken place

The link to the Kickstarter page is here!

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Half-Life 2 RTX

This one’s something I’m sure everyone here has spotted. Having only just played through Half-Life 2 for the first time a few months back, even I was aware of any tiny bit of news or announcements on the series of games. This time it’s no different, I’d expect.

Anyway, from the Steam page:

Re-live the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed Half-Life 2 like never before, reimagined with RTX Remix. Featuring full ray tracing, remastered assets, and DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, this DLC is free for Half-Life 2 owners

The rating is currently ‘Mixed’ on Steam, with 1,840 reviews as of writing this nonsense up for you all.

The YouTube trailer 5 days ago is here, if you want to check it out

The Steam page’s link is here if you want to just jump straight on over to that, too

Personally, I am more excited by the coming re-release of the Raising The Bar – because just look at it, it’s BEAUTIFUL:

...and one more, unknown Valve artist working on Half-Life - April 8th 1998:

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Epic sale

This one’s for the 5 people here who care about Epic Games’ sales and have a library of purchased games (not just those we’ve claimed weekly for years!).

The sale starts on March 26th, but I also weirdly see in a search that there’s another on April 10th for some reason? IDK why. These sales used to be quite significant as they had their coupons involved, but having long-since killed those, well...I guess we’ll see what is worth buying when it happens!

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Switch cat

This one’s just...me spotting something I think is adorable, and thus subjecting you to it. This is ‘Switch Cat fanart’ by an artist whose username is shunixe, but also seems to be Xezeno Xezeno1 (which only reminds me of Xenomorphs and how much terror I subjected myself to when I played Alien: Isolation with the lights turned off, headphones on, and all alone. It was a mistake I made exactly once)

Anyway, THIS IS ADORABLE, LOOK AT IT!!!

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Metro

Metro has now turned 15 years old. And they’re having a 15th anniversary update (4A games)

The following text obviously comes from their page, but I encourage you to click the link at the end of me rambling to watch that video, running 3:56 seconds, which celebrates all their years.

*Hello everyone,  

We shared with you earlier this month that we wanted to tell you more about the status of our team and our future, so what better opportunity to do so as celebration of Metro’s 15th anniversary.   In honor of the incredible 15 years of Metro, we’ve created a video to celebrate our journey throughout the tunnels of the metro, made possible by our devoted community that have supported us along the way. This is our thanks to you, the players*

 The link is here for their post!

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Halt and Catch Fire

HCF, or "Halt and Catch Fire," was a term referring to a machine code instruction that caused a processor to stop normal operation and enter an unrecoverable state.

It came from early-early computing and is ended up being use to just...describe catastrophic system failures. It’s not a practical command, it just symbolized a dramatic crash or malfunction in computing systems.

Halt and Catch Fire is also one of my favorite TV shows ever made. A drama series set in the 1980s and 1990s, following a group of ‘visionaries’ in the tech industry during the rise of the personal computer and internet eras.

The IMDb page is here, if you want to see the amazing cast and read more

The trailer for season one is on YouTube, and I’m linking you here

Wait, why are you rambling about this? What’s it got to do with gaming?! - I can hear you screaming at your screen right now.

Well, follow this link to a Polygon article which details why HaCF has the best depictions of gaming in it (and it does, dear reader, it does!): it’s not about the game; it’s about what the game gets you to

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Codemasters delisted

Looks like a few EA Codemasters titles have been delisted from Steam - for those who are keeping track

• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
• Toybox Turbos
• Rise of the Argonauts
• Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins
• Damnation
• Hospital Tycoon It's a strange move, especially considering these are old, old titles now, but still a sad one to see them unavailable (legally)

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Digital Art / Gaming

First up is a set of images a talented designer made was this mock-up of how Steam would look if it was running on Windows 98 This artist goes by Blu-s_Attempt and kinda makes me sad that I'm living in a Windows 11 world, and not a 98 one. Three images, and as follows:

And one more:

this time some nice, nostalgic 2000's era ad mockups done by a talented design artist - RetroB0y, showing a glimpse of what it'd look like if the Steam Deck was released in the early 2000s. These remind me so strongly of the Sony PlayStation ads made and run in the early 2000s for the PS2 in magazines and other print media. No matter what, these are a treat!

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This week’s free games:

As ever, Epic gives a free game away, and (I know, the term ‘free’ here isn’t as free as it is with Epic’s) there is some from Prime Gaming. These are available if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, and are yours to keep forever, even if you no longer subscribe to the service.

Epic:

Jurassic World Evolution from 2021 is free this week. This seems a nice ‘get’, considering it is recent and is semi-well regarded, but one thing to remember is that you’re only getting the base game with this. The DLC mounts up immediately, and costs like $80,000 (slight exaggeration) to have everything.

If you are in Belarus, Russia then you’ll be unable to claim this game this week.

From Prime Gaming:

As always, Prime gives a few games each week, and to me is the best deal in gaming. I’ve been subscribed to Game Pass for a looooong time now, but this somehow feels like my fav option. Maybe because it lets me build up my beloved GOG library. Anyway, this weeks games are:

• March 20: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code]
• March 20: Mutazione [GOG Code]
• March 20: Figment 2: Creed Valley [Amazon Games App]
• March 20: Legacy of Kain: Defiance [GOG Code]
• March 20: Mortal Shell [Epic Games Store]

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How are you playing these on Linux / Steam Deck?

I’m glad you (probably didn’t, but shhh) ask me! Generally speaking, I play my GOG and Epic, and Amazon titles on my Linux desktop PC by using Heroic Games Launcher. For my desktop, nothing beats this.

Heroic is a Free and Open Source Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime Games launcher for Linux, Windows and macOS. Also available on the SteamDeck!

• The website is here, detailing all kinds of info, including FAQ’s, documentation and links

• Their Discord is here, with this invite, if you want to join in there

Personally, I love how Heroic have an arrangement with GOG themselves. Whereby if you purchase a GOG game through Heroic (or by an affiliate link they have set up), then Heroic will be a small portion of each sale to help support their service. To me that just makes my lil heart warm!

And on my Steam Deck, I mostly use Junk-Store (though I also have Heroic installed there, too!)

I actually shared a post recently about a big update Junk-Store did, but first I’ll expound a little on what Junk-Store is.

It’s a way to play Epic Games and GOG games on your Steam Deck – and my fav thing to share is how it makes it look like Valve made it themselves. It runs via Decky Loader, though in the future this will change as the developer is also working on a way so you can keep it running that way, or install it another.

At the moment though, from Decky you’ll find a section where all of your games library for Epic and GOG will appear showing the game art almost exactly as your games do in your regular Steam games library on the Steam Deck.

This UI is what I love most, it looks and feels and acts exactly as if it were made by Steam, for the Steam Deck. I love the library for the games. Installation is a breeze. It makes installing anything required to make the game play perfectly is as easy as one press (dependencies). You’ve also got some fun achievements that the dev has made himself, which is pretty damn fun to find inside JS.

Check this out, they have had a BIG update recently, and by ‘they’ I mean Eben – the solo developer who programs this. I wrote a post and shared it on Lemmy, so you can find it here with this link

• Their GitHub is here with this link

• This is their link to the Discord server. Handy to have, as users have a section where they share settings they’ve found work best for games they play from Epic and GOG

• Their website is here, if you want to read more

---

Croc Legend of the Gobbos

The timeless cult classic Croc and its remastered version arrive on GOG on April 2nd!

“Words can't express how excited we are to welcome this gaming legend after almost 30 years”

The link to the GOG page is here, which is the only PC platform you can buy and play it on!

Here is a link to the trailer, four months back, on YouTube if you want to see it!

---

Apple’s long-lost hidden recovery partition:

I know, this isn’t even vaguely gaming-oriented. But it’s super interesting, and I feel like there’s a nice intersection of gamers + tech-minded folk in here who might want to follow the link. Just a quick copy of the user’s post, then I’ll link you to what they’re talking about:

You might remember when I asked about looking for an unformatted Performa 550 a couple of months ago because I was looking for a lost recovery partition that Apple had a couple of technotes about. I wanted to share an update -- I was able to find what I was looking for thanks to a kind person here on this subreddit! It's nifty functionality I had never seen before that tries to save you if something gets messed up with your System Folder. I'm surprised Apple didn't continue forward with this on later models. If you want to try it for yourself, I uploaded a "factory fresh" hard drive image with this partition for preservation purposes. It works on lots of models, not just the 550. There is still an unanswered question about how the partition was originally created, so if anyone else has a Performa 550 that hasn't been formatted, I'd especially be interested in finding out if it has this partition, or even just if Apple Backup is a custom version/size that doesn't match any of the screenshots from my blog. It might also be interesting to find out if the Performa 575 had it too

If you love vintage Apple computers, then this is a must-read!

---

Ryubing:

Ryubing is my choice of Ryujinx forks. It has at its helm a dev (GreemDev) of the original project. Let me start this short little bit off with a reminder that Ryujinx was not illegal, it was not shut down by court order or any breach of IP. It was an agreement the original dev made with Nintendo (which was rumored to be all kinds of things, but being based in Brazil, ‘the law’ wouldn’t be a factor even if they broke it. Brazil is fairly well known as the wild west of emulation.

Anyway, Ryubing got a DMCA from Nintendo, just another in a long list in the last few weeks which has received such.

• and as an aside, the EmuDeck team use Ryubing in EmuDeck now, and have done so for some time. So...that’s a fact!

Since their github page has been taken down, it is now here with this link, if you wanna read up

---

Xbox was released in 2002:

This is a little late, but 4 days back, it was that day on which the original Xbox was released in Europe and Australia. 3 years of Xbox being on the scene (in those regions, at least!), which is incredible to see. While their news might be a little thin-icey lately...

I’d love to remind you that, 2002, Microsoft released a commercial for the original Xbox that was banned after the UK’s Independent Television Commission received 136 complaints - called 'Life is Short' (click this link to see it!)

---

Super Famicom

This just...was interesting for me to see. I have a soft spot in my heart for gaming hardware I wasn’t even close to being alive for on release, especially when it combines with gray/beige coloring.

User chunk337 shared an image of the Super Famicom box. These were used in hotels in Japan, where you’d pay a certain amount for a certain play-time. I just love how utterly boxy this thing is, thought you might too!

---

Quick-fire bits and pieces:

The PC Gaming Show:

The ‘Show returns this June! ‘New games, new trailers, new exclusives all coming this summer’ - showing on June 8th this year.

A link to more details and what will be showing is here, with this link!

RPCS3 Android

Android alpha 5 released for those who love gaming on their phones, and emulating there too!

The link to the release and notes is here

Space Marine 3 is official in development!

A link to the Warhammer Community post is here, if you want to read their own words!

Chrono Trigger Anniversary

Escape From Tarkov: Arena

Has been added to Epic Games store.

You can watch here, via YouTube if you’re interested

The classic game was released on March 11th 1995! So it’s now officially just over 30 years + one week old!

---

Revolt

And, I’ll drop another reminder in here! My friend Gardiner Bryant set up a Revolt server for Steam Deck, Linux and general gamers. It’s built up a lot now, with 82 users in the sub. Plenty of them are devs and creators of some of the programs and applications you use on your Steam Deck (or Linux PC!), and...I’m hoping it’s a nice place for people to visit and chat.

Revolt itself is a FOSS alternative to Discord! You can read more about it via their site, which is linked in this sentence

The link to the Revolt server is here, if you want to join in, have a look, or chat games! I also wrote a post about it some time ago here on Lemmy, if you want to read a little more detail: The link to which is here!

Annnd finally, the server itself is at this link: https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

---

What have you been playing?!

IDK, thought it might be nice if you wanted to share what you have been enjoying when it comes to video games! What game have you been playing? Enjoying? Not enjoying? Leave a comment, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear more about what the community here has been enjoying, please share it!

I’ve been enjoying a Nintendo Switch actually. I used to be obsessed with them had a lil collection, but I sold them all when I got my Steam Deck.

I recently bought a V2 Switch super cheap in Japan, and I’ve since installed a picofly mod-chip in it, so I can run CFW on there (themes on my Switch! How can you beat that?!)

I’ve been playing Metroid Prime: Remake on it, being one of my fav games. And on my Steam Deck I’ve started to enjoy Half-Life 2 again, and it runs oh-so-beautifully!

---

And that’s it?

I think this might be the end of what I can ramble on about.

As always, any errors are my own, as with formatting. I do so hope you’ve found something interesting in here, by now maybe you’re aware I am oh-so-very tired of traditional gaming news outlets. They’re running with baked in advertisements, written by A.I. or generally such low-effort swill they’re ripping off a comment they spotted. I just want to at least try bring back the feeling of the old-old gaming blogs, where Patreon and support and donations and ads weren’t the focus of what you’re on a site to see!

If you wanna follow my inane gaming posts, then you can find me on Mastodon here:

<3

This is obviously a promotion for the game at launch, when it went live there were no reviews, but the reviews are coming in now, and are giving a rating of Very Positive (with 283 ratings at the time of writing this!)

"Seat customers, serve drinks, and manage chaos with up to 4 players! Keep the peace by considering customer types while seating them. Survive disasters, handle quirky customers, and design the perfect venue to keep the party going!"

Basically it's being reviewed as a lot like Overcooked, in gameplay and looks.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2796010/Party_Club/

Doing the bare minimum here and just posting this by copying and pasting the announcement - and prettifying the formatting, because a direct copy paste bastardizes the layout here on Lemmy!

---

🎉Junk Store v1.1.9 release now available in Decky Testing store. 🎉

🩹 Umu-ProtonFixes are now working as it should thanks to GloriousEggroll! If you are using GE-Proton, known fixes will now automatically be applied to games with known issues.

💻 Improved compatibilty with Junk Store on NixOS.

📰 What's Changed

💾 Allow correct setting of game drive for installed games outside of prefix by u/GloriousEggroll in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/69

💻 Switch to #!/usr/bin/env bash over #!/bin/bash for better nixos compat by PartyWumpus in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/62

🔤 Ignore case while ordering by u/Ugzuzg in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/78

🏎️ Fixed issue with F1 Manager 24 from Epic Games not launching. https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/issues/84

Due to how Legendary caches meta-data, you will unfortunately need to unistall and reinstall this game for this fix to take effect.

🌼 Fixed issue with Garden Story from Epic Games not launching.

If you have this installed and not applied the workaround, you need to reset launch options for this fix to take effect.

🙏 New Contributors 🙏

GloriousEggroll made their first contribution in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/69

PartyWumpus made their first contribution in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/62

Ugzuzg made their first contribution in https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/pull/78

Full Changelog:

https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/compare/beta-0.9...1.1.9

Legendary Flatpak Update

The Legendary flatpak update addresses the following issues:

🏎️ Fixed issue with F1 Manager 24 from Epic Games not launching. https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/issues/84

🛠️ Fixed issue with Illuvium missing an EGS parameter.

👾Gog Extension Update v0.1.7

Umu-ProtonFixes is now applied to gog thanks u/GloriousEggroll

Fixed issue with v1 manifest games with inconsistent language naming. This issue prevented the installation of 600+ games.

Recently reported games are: Gex & F.E.A.R. Platinum Edition.

Other potential games affected by this are: The Wolf Among Us & Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest.

We would appreciate any feedback on the new versions of Junk Store and gog extension.

NOTE: Make sure you reinstall the dependencies after you have updated everything in Junk Store.

If you are having issues installing the dependencies please use this workaround in konsole: Dependencies Install Error - Manual Installation via Konsole

Please alert us to any issues or bugs:

Report bugs on github: https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore/issues

If you are having issues please post a support ticket on discord or the reddit page - reddit.com/r/JunkStore

Last but not least we would really, really appreciate any test reports on the Junk Store Decky PR. The process has changed to get things merged to the Decky Main store; there is now only a 2 week window to get testing reports before the PR is marked as stale and removed. We would love some community support with this process to ensure that there are no issues with the code.

Link to Junk Store Decky PR: https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-plugin-database/pull/782

Link to Decky Testing Report Template: https://wiki.deckbrew.xyz/en/user-guide/testing

Thank you

The Junk Store Team

(end of post!)

---

Anyway, I've used Junk-Store for well over a year now, and I swear by it. To me the benefit is how while running from within Decky, the library you're presented (of your Epic Games titles, or GOG) looks exactly as it does in your regular games' library on the Steam Deck.

It feels like an extension of what is already there, as stock and pretty as if it were official. It makes playing your claimed (or bought) games a breeze.

Here's a video showing Heroic and Junk-Store on the Steam Deck, with details on each - its a YouTube link!

And another by another YouTuber, doing something similar!

Yes, GOG is a once-off payment of $6.00 USD, for me that's more than worth the time they dev puts in to the work, just like XBPlay (upscaling Xbox games through cloud gaming on my Steam Deck!) was a once-off payment, to me I feel like I'm getting a steal.

Anyway, a heads-up for those who run it (or want to!), a nice update has been made!

(also, not my picture I attached to this. It belongs to one from the Junk-Store - Annie!

As you're most probably used to by now, this is just my initial warning that what follows is my ranting and rambling about both Steam Deck-specific(ish) news, and general gaming news I've spotted and seems interesting to me.

This time around though, if you'll indulge me I might highlight some of my favorite people? Alongside news that is, of course.

Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!

---

What have you been playing?

This one's just...me asking some of my friends what they've been playing and enjoying lately on Steam Deck or otherwise. You'll maybe recognize some of them, so if you'll indulge me:

imLinguin (Heroic Games Launcher)

Eben Bruyns (Junk-Store)

AA (Decky Loader)

Gardiner Bryant (YouTube)

Noah (SteamDeckHQ)

Lazorne (RetroDECK)

This is...a bit of 'fluff' I know, but at least to me it's interesting to see what the people behind the channels, sites and programs you love are playing. Sadly lots who answer tell me that there's little time to actually play the games, but also that the coding itself can become a game to them. Anyway, thought you might be interested in these!

---

GOG + Control

Easily one of my favorite games of the last few years: Control: Ultimate Edition has a new significant update:

https://controlgame.com/control-march-2025-update-notes-pc/

But...as per usual, GOG users do not get the update at the same time as other platforms like Steam and EpicGames do.

And...sad to say, if at all. No word yet on the 'when'. GOG has a reputation for being 'second-class citizens' with updates from publishers.

There is a thread on GOG's forum showing just how second-class GOG users can be treated - with updates being either delayed or never released on the platform. Again, this is not GOG's doing, but those responsible for the games. Here's a link to the latest page on that thread here

Despite this, I am 𝘴𝘰 excited to revisit one of my fav games on SteamDeck!!

Fingers crossed this update once it hits GOG will sort out one very annoying program, the propensity for the game to crash with the Anchor boss. It's been known and complained about for an eternity here, but we can hope!

(actually, ironically there is a way to pass that as it stands, in the least polished way possible:

---

Notable GOG games updates:

There's some recent updates (since we've last spoken), which will be the least interesting thing possible to read, but I somehow find it very fun to share.

I like to keep track what I have installed, and what I think there's a good chance others may also, and note their updates. The following is also an embedded link to their GOG store page:

• Traveller's Rest - currently also on sale with -33% off on GOG!

• Tunguska: The Visitation

• Mark of the Deep (a kinda fun Metroidvania-ish game)

• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

• Coridden (one of my fav recent ARPG's!)

• Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!

• Star Trucker (which I got way into on Game Pass, the devs are also posting regularly, everywhere, it's nice to see them so happy with their hit!

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

• A TON of LEGO games I'm just way too lazy to create individual links for, but here's a recent Mastodon post I did on this very topic

---

Emulation News

Citra:

Switch emulation on Android just got multiplayer for the very first time! This is for multiplayer with multiple devices (somewhat similar to what we saw with Citra), using the Citron emulator.

Have you tried this, flw? ...no. But I find it interesting!

Should I emulate BoTW on Switch, Flw? No! Emulate the Wii U version, it is SO much better!!!

The interesting thing to me is that Android Authority published a story on this. Its interesting to me to see a mainline site like this is reporting on what a couple of years ago was a very niche subject! This link is to the article, if you wanna check it out

---

Campho Advance:

The Campho Advance is a special Game Boy Advance cartridge that allowed users to make video phonecalls via landlines. It was released in 2004 by a Japanese company called Digital Act. Although it may seem strange and bizarre to have such a device on a portable gaming console, the GBA helped reduce cost and provide a simple user-interface. It's one of the rarer peripherals out there, with only about 10,000 units produced (and less likely ever actually sold).

Additionally, the Campho Advance was formerly one of the last officially licensed cartridges that had remained completely undumped. Previously, there was simply no information whatsoever about its ROM anywhere, meaning it hadn't been preserved at all. Thankfully, last year I was able to make a homebrew program that extracts data from the cartridge. I still need to make some tweaks to the homebrew dumper, but hopefully others will finally be able to make their own dumps too.

Without the ROM, it wouldn't have been possible to emulate the Campho Advance. Support has been added to GBE+ so that now everyone can virtually recreate the Campho Advance experience. What once started as a humble Game Boy emulator a decade ago today functions as a real-time videochat program. And if you think that's crazy, just wait until you see GBE+ start emulating TV stations...

Link to full article, and you really should read up on this! is here

---

Cemu:

A new release is out for Cemu, for Android: 0.1 (known as the experimental release). With Cemu coming along and RPCS3 on the horizon, the people who enjoy emulating on their Android phones must be very happy!

Here's a link to the GitHub page, if you're curious!

---

The Steam Deck and Emulation

This is just...a great and detailed video I spotted getting shared about earlier by 'TechCravers'. I've never watched any of their content before, but this was a great spot to start. This is just...copied straight from their video description:

In this video, I break down why the Steam Deck is STILL the king of emulation in 2025! From Game Boy to Wii U, this handheld can do it all—better than any other device on the market. With amazing community support, constant software updates, and unmatched performance for the price, no other handheld even comes close

If you're interested in what is a great deep-dive into Steam Deck emulation as a whole, then the YouTube link is here!

---

RetroDECK new update - 0.9.1b:

If you know me at all, or even if you've just skimmed my words here or on Mastodon (or...if there might be some of you who remember my Reddit days), you'll know I adore RetroDECK. It's been my emulationer (totally a word) of choice for such a very long time now.

Their new update's patch notes are here in this link, but I'll brutalize them and try trim the more note-worthy bits here in some dot points:

• New folder: retrodeck/cheats/ for easier cheat file updates (MAME, RetroArch, PCSX2, PPSSPP, MelonDS)

• Added CLI arguments in RetroENGINE: --set, --open, --factory-reset, and improved --reset.

• Steam integration: RetroDECK can now auto-add to Steam with preconfigured gridart and inputs.

• RetroAchievements support added for PPSSPP and Dolphin.

Flw, why should I opt for RetroDECK over EmuDeck? ...I hear you ask

Luckily, the team answered that themselves, leaving me to be luxuriantly lazy and just screenshotting it to paste here:

...but personally, I just love how it gives me two options: an all-in-one emulation suite, where all my games are within their various emulators within RetroDECK from the homescreen on my Steam Deck, and if I add some to 'favorites' then I get them added individually to my games library.

I love how it stores my emulators, bios, ROMs, mods, files...all of it on my SD card (how I choose to have it run).

I love that it only has stable releases. This means you won't get each emulator's updates as they update, but I've seen EmuDeck break too many times to think that's a good idea.

IDK. I just love it. Try it out!!!

---

Square Enix staff + a old game cache:

"Members of Square Enix recently made a remarkable discovery upon opening an old storage container at work that had been shut for close to 20 years: a cache of pristine, retro games that includes titles released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, DOS computers, N-Gage, Nintendo Wii, and Amstrad CPC, among other platforms."

I literally ripped that paragraph from their article, the full thing is here but...that's basically the best of it!

This following link is better though, since you get a video of them showing off what is there:

And this is the link (a LinkedIn link

---

FF VII: Rebirth

Got a update specific to the Steam Deck (always lovely to see!) which made the download size smaller than before. Another few fixes are included, but to me this is the focus, going from 144.2GB to 88.1GB (phew, at least it's not at God of War: Ragnarok's 177GB -_-)

---

Path of Exile 2:

An update was also seen for this one recently:

• Fixed Steam Deck and other Linux Wine-based clients being incorrectly warned for modifying the client.

Nice to see Grinding Gear Games is supporting Steam Deck, but...it still looks awful on said Steam Deck, so....that didn't change I guess

---

Maxima:

This is just a...brief teaser for something you can't see yet. Maxima is on its way, being a replacement for EA's Origin launcher, made so you can skip using it and just enjoy the games yourself.

One of the devs has shared this link for the GitHub, but it's one to keep an eye on and not live yet:

https://github.com/ArmchairDevelopers/Maxima/

"Maxima - It's the farthest you can get from the Origin"

Yay!

---

XenonRecomp - the 360 games tool

This one might be of interest to the more technical-minded (which, on Lemmy...seems to be everyone?) but here's the 'about' (and follow it the GitHub)

*XenonRecomp is a tool that converts Xbox 360 executables into C++ code, which can then be recompiled for any platform. Currently, it only supports x86 platforms due to the use of x86 intrinsics.

This project was heavily inspired by N64: Recompiled, a similar tool for N64 executables.*

And the link to the GitHub for it is here!

---

Acclaim Entertainment:

Acclaim has been 'reborn' as a new kind of publisher. They're now focusing on retro games titles. Reviving classic franchises specifically

The link to a article about the announcement is here!

---

Ubisoft execs on trial:

No better time to boycott Ubisoft, if you're not already, as former Ubisoft bosses go on trial in France over alleged harassment.

***Thomas François is alleged to have habitually watched pornographic films in the open-plan office and commented on the appearance of female employees, whom he routinely insulted.

François is being prosecuted for an attempted sexual assault when he tried to forcibly kiss a young employee during a Christmas party as she was held by other colleagues.***

Full article here, which is a sobering view of what people have to deal with, and how disgusting people in power can be over others

---

The Ori Series:

The two Ori games have now sold over more than 15 million copies!!!

"Not too shabby for a Metrodvania and a genre we were told is dead when we started to work on it!"

---

Selaco + testers:

One of my fav efforts of programming in a game in recent times has been Selaco which was made using the GZDoom engine. The way they made that game look on that engine is absolute magic.

A kind of beautiful mix of modern style, and the obvious (now I learn is called 'boomer shooters') retro game-play mechanics - and I tell everyone I know to play it!

The launch trailer, which was 9 months ago, is here, I recommend you all watch it if you don't already know Selaco!

The developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: 𝘎𝘡𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝟦.𝟣𝟥; 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴

The link where they announce looking for play-testers is here, and will take you to their Steam announcement of such

---

Death Stranding 2

You've no doubt seen the (in true Kojima style!) 20875073456045 hours long trailer which just came out for the game, but most fun for me was seeing this post by Kojima on Bluesky sharing some of the merch:

---

Revolt

There's a server my friend Gardiner Bryant started only a few days ago. You'll find it's small, with few people there, but we're all rather lovely (if I do say so myself). All of the names from the beginning are some of the users in this server, if you want to drop by and say anything. But otherwise it deals with:

• Steam Deck
• Linux
• Gaming
• General chat

If you'd like to join us, then the link is here:

https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

Yes, it is on Revolt. There is two options available for Android users, the official one and a community-built one. Neither of which I've even tried yet, I just access it via the website!

If you want, you can check out a recent post I made on it here on Lemmy to read more!

---

I think this might be it?

...as ever, formatting, spelling and general crazy errors are all mine. I do hope you enjoy this. This was 2,317 words up to that last sentence, so...clearly I can't edit myself at all.

If you've any suggestions, criticisms (I see you, anonymous down-voters -_-) or anything to share, the comments under here are a great place to do it!

Hope you enjoy! <3

As you're most probably used to by now, this is just my initial warning that what follows is my ranting and rambling about both Steam Deck-specific(ish) news, and general gaming news I've spotted and seems interesting to me.

This time around though, if you'll indulge me I might highlight some of my favorite people? Alongside news that is, of course.

Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!

---

What have you been playing?

This one's just...me asking some of my friends what they've been playing and enjoying lately on Steam Deck or otherwise. You'll maybe recognize some of them, so if you'll indulge me:

imLinguin (Heroic Games Launcher)

Eben Bruyns (Junk-Store)

AA (Decky Loader)

Gardiner Bryant (YouTube)

Noah (SteamDeckHQ)

Lazorne (RetroDECK)

This is...a bit of 'fluff' I know, but at least to me it's interesting to see what the people behind the channels, sites and programs you love are playing. Sadly lots who answer tell me that there's little time to actually play the games, but also that the coding itself can become a game to them. Anyway, thought you might be interested in these!

---

GOG + Control

Easily one of my favorite games of the last few years: Control: Ultimate Edition has a new significant update:

https://controlgame.com/control-march-2025-update-notes-pc/

But...as per usual, GOG users do not get the update at the same time as other platforms like Steam and EpicGames do.

And...sad to say, if at all. No word yet on the 'when'. GOG has a reputation for being 'second-class citizens' with updates from publishers.

There is a thread on GOG's forum showing just how second-class GOG users can be treated - with updates being either delayed or never released on the platform. Again, this is not GOG's doing, but those responsible for the games. Here's a link to the latest page on that thread here

Despite this, I am 𝘴𝘰 excited to revisit one of my fav games on SteamDeck!!

Fingers crossed this update once it hits GOG will sort out one very annoying program, the propensity for the game to crash with the Anchor boss. It's been known and complained about for an eternity here, but we can hope!

(actually, ironically there is a way to pass that as it stands, in the least polished way possible:

---

Notable GOG games updates:

There's some recent updates (since we've last spoken), which will be the least interesting thing possible to read, but I somehow find it very fun to share.

I like to keep track what I have installed, and what I think there's a good chance others may also, and note their updates. The following is also an embedded link to their GOG store page:

• Traveller's Rest - currently also on sale with -33% off on GOG!

• Tunguska: The Visitation

• Mark of the Deep (a kinda fun Metroidvania-ish game)

• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

• Coridden (one of my fav recent ARPG's!)

• Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!

• Star Trucker (which I got way into on Game Pass, the devs are also posting regularly, everywhere, it's nice to see them so happy with their hit!

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

• A TON of LEGO games I'm just way too lazy to create individual links for, but here's a recent Mastodon post I did on this very topic

---

Emulation News

Citra:

Switch emulation on Android just got multiplayer for the very first time! This is for multiplayer with multiple devices (somewhat similar to what we saw with Citra), using the Citron emulator.

Have you tried this, flw? ...no. But I find it interesting!

Should I emulate BoTW on Switch, Flw? No! Emulate the Wii U version, it is SO much better!!!

The interesting thing to me is that Android Authority published a story on this. Its interesting to me to see a mainline site like this is reporting on what a couple of years ago was a very niche subject! This link is to the article, if you wanna check it out

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Campho Advance:

The Campho Advance is a special Game Boy Advance cartridge that allowed users to make video phonecalls via landlines. It was released in 2004 by a Japanese company called Digital Act. Although it may seem strange and bizarre to have such a device on a portable gaming console, the GBA helped reduce cost and provide a simple user-interface. It's one of the rarer peripherals out there, with only about 10,000 units produced (and less likely ever actually sold).

Additionally, the Campho Advance was formerly one of the last officially licensed cartridges that had remained completely undumped. Previously, there was simply no information whatsoever about its ROM anywhere, meaning it hadn't been preserved at all. Thankfully, last year I was able to make a homebrew program that extracts data from the cartridge. I still need to make some tweaks to the homebrew dumper, but hopefully others will finally be able to make their own dumps too.

Without the ROM, it wouldn't have been possible to emulate the Campho Advance. Support has been added to GBE+ so that now everyone can virtually recreate the Campho Advance experience. What once started as a humble Game Boy emulator a decade ago today functions as a real-time videochat program. And if you think that's crazy, just wait until you see GBE+ start emulating TV stations...

Link to full article, and you really should read up on this! is here

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Cemu:

A new release is out for Cemu, for Android: 0.1 (known as the experimental release). With Cemu coming along and RPCS3 on the horizon, the people who enjoy emulating on their Android phones must be very happy!

Here's a link to the GitHub page, if you're curious!

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The Steam Deck and Emulation

This is just...a great and detailed video I spotted getting shared about earlier by 'TechCravers'. I've never watched any of their content before, but this was a great spot to start. This is just...copied straight from their video description:

In this video, I break down why the Steam Deck is STILL the king of emulation in 2025! From Game Boy to Wii U, this handheld can do it all—better than any other device on the market. With amazing community support, constant software updates, and unmatched performance for the price, no other handheld even comes close

If you're interested in what is a great deep-dive into Steam Deck emulation as a whole, then the YouTube link is here!

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RetroDECK new update - 0.9.1b:

If you know me at all, or even if you've just skimmed my words here or on Mastodon (or...if there might be some of you who remember my Reddit days), you'll know I adore RetroDECK. It's been my emulationer (totally a word) of choice for such a very long time now.

Their new update's patch notes are here in this link, but I'll brutalize them and try trim the more note-worthy bits here in some dot points:

• New folder: retrodeck/cheats/ for easier cheat file updates (MAME, RetroArch, PCSX2, PPSSPP, MelonDS)

• Added CLI arguments in RetroENGINE: --set, --open, --factory-reset, and improved --reset.

• Steam integration: RetroDECK can now auto-add to Steam with preconfigured gridart and inputs.

• RetroAchievements support added for PPSSPP and Dolphin.

Flw, why should I opt for RetroDECK over EmuDeck? ...I hear you ask

Luckily, the team answered that themselves, leaving me to be luxuriantly lazy and just screenshotting it to paste here:

...but personally, I just love how it gives me two options: an all-in-one emulation suite, where all my games are within their various emulators within RetroDECK from the homescreen on my Steam Deck, and if I add some to 'favorites' then I get them added individually to my games library.

I love how it stores my emulators, bios, ROMs, mods, files...all of it on my SD card (how I choose to have it run).

I love that it only has stable releases. This means you won't get each emulator's updates as they update, but I've seen EmuDeck break too many times to think that's a good idea.

IDK. I just love it. Try it out!!!

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Square Enix staff + a old game cache:

"Members of Square Enix recently made a remarkable discovery upon opening an old storage container at work that had been shut for close to 20 years: a cache of pristine, retro games that includes titles released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, DOS computers, N-Gage, Nintendo Wii, and Amstrad CPC, among other platforms."

I literally ripped that paragraph from their article, the full thing is here but...that's basically the best of it!

This following link is better though, since you get a video of them showing off what is there:

And this is the link (a LinkedIn link

---

FF VII: Rebirth

Got a update specific to the Steam Deck (always lovely to see!) which made the download size smaller than before. Another few fixes are included, but to me this is the focus, going from 144.2GB to 88.1GB (phew, at least it's not at God of War: Ragnarok's 177GB -_-)

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Path of Exile 2:

An update was also seen for this one recently:

• Fixed Steam Deck and other Linux Wine-based clients being incorrectly warned for modifying the client.

Nice to see Grinding Gear Games is supporting Steam Deck, but...it still looks awful on said Steam Deck, so....that didn't change I guess

---

Maxima:

This is just a...brief teaser for something you can't see yet. Maxima is on its way, being a replacement for EA's Origin launcher, made so you can skip using it and just enjoy the games yourself.

One of the devs has shared this link for the GitHub, but it's one to keep an eye on and not live yet:

https://github.com/ArmchairDevelopers/Maxima/

"Maxima - It's the farthest you can get from the Origin"

Yay!

---

XenonRecomp - the 360 games tool

This one might be of interest to the more technical-minded (which, on Lemmy...seems to be everyone?) but here's the 'about' (and follow it the GitHub)

*XenonRecomp is a tool that converts Xbox 360 executables into C++ code, which can then be recompiled for any platform. Currently, it only supports x86 platforms due to the use of x86 intrinsics.

This project was heavily inspired by N64: Recompiled, a similar tool for N64 executables.*

And the link to the GitHub for it is here!

---

Acclaim Entertainment:

Acclaim has been 'reborn' as a new kind of publisher. They're now focusing on retro games titles. Reviving classic franchises specifically

The link to a article about the announcement is here!

---

Ubisoft execs on trial:

No better time to boycott Ubisoft, if you're not already, as former Ubisoft bosses go on trial in France over alleged harassment.

***Thomas François is alleged to have habitually watched pornographic films in the open-plan office and commented on the appearance of female employees, whom he routinely insulted.

François is being prosecuted for an attempted sexual assault when he tried to forcibly kiss a young employee during a Christmas party as she was held by other colleagues.***

Full article here, which is a sobering view of what people have to deal with, and how disgusting people in power can be over others

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The Ori Series:

The two Ori games have now sold over more than 15 million copies!!!

"Not too shabby for a Metrodvania and a genre we were told is dead when we started to work on it!"

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Selaco + testers:

One of my fav efforts of programming in a game in recent times has been Selaco which was made using the GZDoom engine. The way they made that game look on that engine is absolute magic.

A kind of beautiful mix of modern style, and the obvious (now I learn is called 'boomer shooters') retro game-play mechanics - and I tell everyone I know to play it!

The launch trailer, which was 9 months ago, is here, I recommend you all watch it if you don't already know Selaco!

The developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: 𝘎𝘡𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝟦.𝟣𝟥; 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴

The link where they announce looking for play-testers is here, and will take you to their Steam announcement of such

---

Death Stranding 2

You've no doubt seen the (in true Kojima style!) 20875073456045 hours long trailer which just came out for the game, but most fun for me was seeing this post by Kojima on Bluesky sharing some of the merch:

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Revolt

There's a server my friend Gardiner Bryant started only a few days ago. You'll find it's small, with few people there, but we're all rather lovely (if I do say so myself). All of the names from the beginning are some of the users in this server, if you want to drop by and say anything. But otherwise it deals with:

• Steam Deck
• Linux
• Gaming
• General chat

If you'd like to join us, then the link is here:

https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

Yes, it is on Revolt. There is two options available for Android users, the official one and a community-built one. Neither of which I've even tried yet, I just access it via the website!

If you want, you can check out a recent post I made on it here on Lemmy to read more!

---

I think this might be it?

...as ever, formatting, spelling and general crazy errors are all mine. I do hope you enjoy this. This was 2,317 words up to that last sentence, so...clearly I can't edit myself at all.

If you've any suggestions, criticisms (I see you, anonymous down-voters -_-) or anything to share, the comments under here are a great place to do it!

Hope you enjoy! <3

So...this one is a bit left-of-field.

A friend of mine (Gardiner Bryant of YouTube - who reports on Linux and the Steam Deck) has started a Revolt server.

What is Revolt?

It's kinda like a FOSS alternative to Discord. You'll see the layout is almost a direct copy, and it's far less polished...but then again you haven't got the downsides of Discord's constant upselling either:

https://revolt.chat/

Why is this relevant?

...I can hear you ask? Well, so far its just a few developers and creators in there, but I thought of all spaces...maybe those very devs and creators whose work you use and watch...well it might be nice to join in there?

My personal friends who are in here so far are:

• imLinguin whose GitHub is here - but you may know most as a developer of Heroic Games Launcher

• Eben Bruyns whose GitHub is here - but you may know best as the dev of Junk-Store

• Gardiner himself, of course whose YouTube link is here,

• Jason Evangelho who is the senior contributor of gaming at Forbes - and hasn't read my message yet telling him to join the server so...I'm not even sure why I'm writing this, but regardless his link to his credentials is here

What is the damn link to the damn server, woman?

https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

I mean, you will have to make an account on Revolt, but it might be interesting to some here. You're all very welcome!

So...this one is a bit left-of-field.

A friend of mine (Gardiner Bryant of YouTube - who reports on Linux and the Steam Deck) has started a Revolt server.

What is Revolt?

It's kinda like a FOSS alternative to Discord. You'll see the layout is almost a direct copy, and it's far less polished...but then again you haven't got the downsides of Discord's constant upselling either:

https://revolt.chat/

Why is this relevant?

...I can hear you ask? Well, so far its just a few developers and creators in there, but I thought of all spaces...maybe those very devs and creators whose work you use and watch...well it might be nice to join in there?

My personal friends who are in here so far are:

• imLinguin whose GitHub is here - but you may know most as a developer of Heroic Games Launcher

• Eben Bruyns whose GitHub is here - but you may know best as the dev of Junk-Store

• Gardiner himself, of course whose YouTube link is here,

• Jason Evangelho who is the senior contributor of gaming at Forbes - and hasn't read my message yet telling him to join the server so...I'm not even sure why I'm writing this, but regardless his link to his credentials is here

What is the damn link to the damn server, woman?

https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

I mean, you will have to make an account on Revolt, but it might be interesting to some here. You're all very welcome!

So...this one is a bit left-of-field.

A friend of mine (Gardiner Bryant of YouTube - who reports on Linux and the Steam Deck) has started a Revolt server.

What is Revolt?

It's kinda like a FOSS alternative to Discord. You'll see the layout is almost a direct copy, and it's far less polished...but then again you haven't got the downsides of Discord's constant upselling either:

https://revolt.chat/

Why is this relevant?

...I can hear you ask? Well, so far its just a few developers and creators in there, but I thought of all spaces...maybe those very devs and creators whose work you use and watch...well it might be nice to join in there?

My personal friends who are in here so far are:

• imLinguin whose GitHub is here - but you may know most as a developer of Heroic Games Launcher

• Eben Bruyns whose GitHub is here - but you may know best as the dev of Junk-Store

• Gardiner himself, of course whose YouTube link is here,

• Jason Evangelho who is the senior contributor of gaming at Forbes - and hasn't read my message yet telling him to join the server so...I'm not even sure why I'm writing this, but regardless his link to his credentials is here

What is the damn link to the damn server, woman?

https://rvlt.gg/dqJT3rJH

I mean, you will have to make an account on Revolt, but it might be interesting to some here. You're all very welcome! <3

First Things' First:

Maybe you're used to all of this now, but my attempt is to share an older style of gaming news post. Something maybe a lil bit like the old gaming blogs / news sites that the internet used to have. Casual, opinion-based, image-heavy and maybe-filled-with-things-you-already-spotted.

This week's edition is far less themed (you'll notice the last few have been a bit Steam Deck-oriented) than those before. This one is purely interesting little things I've spotted. There is still Steam Deck content in here, but not as that's-it-folks as the last was.

I hope you might grab a coffee, settle in and enjoy these bits and pieces!!!

---

Physical Gameboy (DMG) bricks (literally)

Stumbled over an interesting idea: someone who made literal bricks look like original Gameboys. The website linked at the end is murder on the eyes - seriously, the font used is just straight from Hell itself. But there is a couple of interesting videos in there too, worth looking at.

Here's some photos I grabbed to attach here, where the font is far more sane for your eyes:

And the link to their page is right here!

---

The Sony PlayStation 3 has new system update – 4.92 – 19 years after release

The system software update 4.92 improves system performance, according to the patch notes, and also renews the Blu-ray player encryption key to allow for disc playback.

Updates of this sort are an annual occurrence, as the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key regularly expires - it's a copyright-protection technology that requires a key to be set on both the disc and the console in order to play new films. Will this affect the process to jailbreak a PS3 (good old HEN)? No, they're just going to take some time to make it right. Here's a photo for those who are into the jailbreaking scene, and want to read the news:

The link to an article on is here if you want to read more

---

Sega is Metacritic’s highest-rated publisher for 2024.

This will probably come as no surprise, on reflection. With games like Metaphor ReFanzio, Persona 3 Reload, Atlus: Unicorn Loverlord, SMTVV...their ‘stable’ of releases for the year was extremely strong.

Interesting to me is seeing how strong Sega is in the industry after pivoting away from hardware/consoles so, so many years ago. Especially considering the ‘talk’ about Xbox’s plans in the future (I know, all just talk, but they’re definitely one to keep an eye one)

Here’s a link to Metacritic if you want to see all the rankings, and more detail

---

KCD II coming to GOG

For those of us who prefer DRM-free gaming (and you should) - Kingdom Come Deliverance II is coming to GOG on March 28th! This is wonderfully quick, by memory the first took longer to get to GOG after release on Steam. KCD II has so much going to it, the optimization makes it run incredibly well on Steam Deck and is currently sitting at Very Positive on Steam, with 53,473 reviews on Steam.

I’ve already bought it on Steam, a rare buy there since I buy 99% of my games on GOG. And being the wuss I am, I’ve downloaded a few mods on it, too. I love what they’ve done, but some bits are a touch too sim-ish for me.

Regardless, this is just great news to see it coming to GOG!

---

Prime Gaming giveaways this month:

Available Now (March 6th)

• Saints Row: The Third Remastered [GOG Code]
• Mafia 2: Definitive Edition [GOG Code] 
• Crime Boss: Rockay City [Epic Games Store] 
• Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master [Amazon Games App]

March 13th

• Wall World [Amazon Games App]
• Syberia: The World Before [GOG Code] 
• Endling – Extinction is Forever [Amazon Games App] 
• Dark Deity: Complete Edition [GOG Code] 
• Beholder 3 [Amazon Games App] 

March 20th

• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code] Note: The Wolfenstein: The Old Blood offer is available only in Prime Gaming regions where the game is also offered via the Microsoft Store. Prime Gaming offers may sometimes vary by region. See primegaming.com for more details.
• Mutazione [GOG Code]
• Figment 2: Creed Valley [Amazon Games App] 
• Legacy of Kain: Defiance [GOG Code] 
• Mortal Shell [Epic Games Store]

March 27th

• The Forgotten City [Amazon Games App]
• Deus Ex: Invisible War [GOG Code] 
• Session: Skate Sim [Epic Games Store] 
• Let’s Build A Zoo [Epic Games Store] 
• Gamedec – Definitive Edition [GOG Code]
• The Wisbey Mystery [Legacy Games Code] 

---

Next week's free Epic Games title:

Will be Mortal Shell! Free from March 13th to March 20th. This (like a few others so far this year) have been repeats of games already given out over 2022. Nice for those who missed them!

Further, for those keeping count:

Epic Games free for one day previously, and have not not been repeated yet → waiting for their weekly giveaway.

2021 - Shenmue 3, Neon Abyss, Vampyr, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Salt of Sanctuary.

2022 - Sable, Them's Fightin' Herds (now free), Lego Builder's Journey, Encased, Mortal Shell (coming free).

2023 - Melvor Idle, Art of Rally, Human Resource Machine, Cursed to Golf, Cat Quest, Saints Row (2022), 20 Minutes Til Dawn.

2024 - Vampire Survivors, Astrea: Six Sided Oracles, TerraTech, Wizard of Legend, Dark and Darker - Legendary Status, Dredge, Ghostrunner 2, Hot Wheels Unleashed, Kill Knight, [REDACTED], Sifu.

---

Dark and Darker pulled from Epic Games Store

Dark and Darker has been taken down from Epic Games Store amid ongoing legal dispute.

Developers of Dark & Darker used to work at Nexon, under Nexon they were making a game called Project Q I think, can't really remember the name, either way, that project got cancelled so the development team decided to just up and leave and continue making the game and eventually it would become Dark & Darker.

Tldr:

The legal issues come from the developers using the information they had from their time working at Nexon, any work they had done under Nexon was deemed Nexon's property, so when the developers left they started using the same assets for common items, they would recreate systems they made essentially copying their own work, but their own work wasn't legally theirs. So when Dark & Darker was on the uprising, Nexon sued the devs for Copyright Infringement. That failed but they were on the hook for Corporate Espionage since they took trade secrets and used it in their own product.

Link to an article hosted on pcgamesn.com

---

Legacy of Kain

Sadly the Legacy of Kain writer, Jim Curry has passed away. Along with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Curry wrote Akuji: The Heartless and handled marketing for the Gex games.

I’m unsure whether he kept up with the industry or news surrounding Kain, but if he did, it would have been nice for him to see the recent remaster of Legacy of Kain.

This is obituary for him, worth a visit if you’ve the interest

---

Oldest active MMO

Tibia - the oldest active MMO is adding a new 'vocation' to the game, 28 years after release in 1997. Known more in Brazil, Mexico and Poland as a bit of a cultural phenomenon, it's had a dedicated and steady player base for all these years. Previously the vocations were:

• Knights
• Druids
• Paladins
• Sorcerers

But now a new one is coming to the mix: 'monk'. Interesting news for a VERY niche passion for some!

---

FSR4:

AMD have collaborated with Sony to create 'FSR4'.

For anyone who thinks this may benefit the likes of current gen base PS5, then it is very unlikely as they are using the 2-generation old RDNA 2 architecture which doesn't even have the required AI Hardware cores to run PSSR let alone the heavier FSR 4.

This collaboration, project amethyst is likely going to benefit console gamers likely for the next generation with PlayStation 6.

Link here (Yahoo) for anyone who wants to read the announcement in full

---

RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business

One of the most surprising 'AA' games we saw recently in 2023 was RoboCop. The dev is known for their take on '80's cinema / games of that subject (having done the same for Terminator), and Rogue City took a lot of gamers by surprise.

It played extremely well on the Steam Deck, was nicely optimized, and felt extremely polished for a (admittedly 'on rails') game of their budget.

A trailer for the follow-up has been released, and looks just as fantastic, you can click this link to view it on YouTube if you'd like!

---

Nintendo DS

This is just...lovely. An artist shared their work ('ParkingFee6960') which they made in Art Academy on their Nintendo DS. I just thought it was beautiful, and wanted to share it!

---

Path of Exile Update:

Path of Exile 2 update featured Steam Deck specific patch. Interesting for Steam Deck fans, this one fixed Steam Deck and other Linux Wine-based clients being incorrectly warned for modifying the client.

Here is a link to the note showing the update!

---

Steam Deck + gboperator

User Bitz`Primus has "...designed a bracket to use my gboperator on my steam deck. Finally gameboy games on the go"

A link to their makerworld page on it, with more photos is here, if you want to check it out more!

---

Ballistic Moon closes

Until Dawn Remake Developer Ballistic Moon “Effectively Closed”

Article here, because this is the end of my post and I've lost the energy to write my own thoughts

---

And...I suppose that's it!

As ever, I hope these might be interesting to some. They're just some fun things I've spotted, and I do so enjoy putting these together. Was it a full week since my last one of these, where I promised I would thereon-in make them weekly? No. No it is not.

Is that just an excuse to link you to my last one of these news posts (click here!)?

Yes, yes it is.

Any errors, they're all mine. Any weird formatting - yup blame me. But...I hope you enjoyed this regardless? LMK! And, as ever, if you wanna lurk my Mastodon, it's here:

First Things' First:

Maybe you're used to all of this now, but my attempt is to share an older style of gaming news post. Something maybe a lil bit like the old gaming blogs / news sites that the internet used to have. Casual, opinion-based, image-heavy and maybe-filled-with-things-you-already-spotted.

This week's edition is far less themed (you'll notice the last few have been a bit Steam Deck-oriented) than those before. This one is purely interesting little things I've spotted. I hope you might grab a coffee, settle in and enjoy these bits and pieces!!!

---

Physical Gameboy (DMG) bricks (literally)

Stumbled over an interesting idea: someone who made literal bricks look like original Gameboys. The website linked at the end is murder on the eyes - seriously, the font used is just straight from Hell itself. But there is a couple of interesting videos in there too, worth looking at.

Here's some photos I grabbed to attach here, where the font is far more sane for your eyes:

And the link to their page is right here!

---

The Sony PlayStation 3 has new system update – 4.92 – 19 years after release

The system software update 4.92 improves system performance, according to the patch notes, and also renews the Blu-ray player encryption key to allow for disc playback.

Updates of this sort are an annual occurrence, as the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key regularly expires - it's a copyright-protection technology that requires a key to be set on both the disc and the console in order to play new films. Will this affect the process to jailbreak a PS3 (good old HEN)? No, they're just going to take some time to make it right. Here's a photo for those who are into the jailbreaking scene, and want to read the news:

The link to an article on is here if you want to read more

---

Sega is Metacritic’s highest-rated publisher for 2024.

This will probably come as no surprise, on reflection. With games like Metaphor ReFanzio, Persona 3 Reload, Atlus: Unicorn Loverlord, SMTVV...their ‘stable’ of releases for the year was extremely strong.

Interesting to me is seeing how strong Sega is in the industry after pivoting away from hardware/consoles so, so many years ago. Especially considering the ‘talk’ about Xbox’s plans in the future (I know, all just talk, but they’re definitely one to keep an eye one)

Here’s a link to Metacritic if you want to see all the rankings, and more detail

---

KCD II coming to GOG

For those of us who prefer DRM-free gaming (and you should) - Kingdom Come Deliverance II is coming to GOG on March 28th! This is wonderfully quick, by memory the first took longer to get to GOG after release on Steam. KCD II has so much going to it, the optimization makes it run incredibly well on Steam Deck and is currently sitting at Very Positive on Steam, with 53,473 reviews on Steam.

I’ve already bought it on Steam, a rare buy there since I buy 99% of my games on GOG. And being the wuss I am, I’ve downloaded a few mods on it, too. I love what they’ve done, but some bits are a touch too sim-ish for me.

Regardless, this is just great news to see it coming to GOG!

---

Prime Gaming giveaways this month:

Available Now (March 6th)

• Saints Row: The Third Remastered [GOG Code]
• Mafia 2: Definitive Edition [GOG Code] 
• Crime Boss: Rockay City [Epic Games Store] 
• Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master [Amazon Games App]

March 13th

• Wall World [Amazon Games App]
• Syberia: The World Before [GOG Code] 
• Endling – Extinction is Forever [Amazon Games App] 
• Dark Deity: Complete Edition [GOG Code] 
• Beholder 3 [Amazon Games App] 

March 20th

• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code] Note: The Wolfenstein: The Old Blood offer is available only in Prime Gaming regions where the game is also offered via the Microsoft Store. Prime Gaming offers may sometimes vary by region. See primegaming.com for more details.
• Mutazione [GOG Code]
• Figment 2: Creed Valley [Amazon Games App] 
• Legacy of Kain: Defiance [GOG Code] 
• Mortal Shell [Epic Games Store]

March 27th

• The Forgotten City [Amazon Games App]
• Deus Ex: Invisible War [GOG Code] 
• Session: Skate Sim [Epic Games Store] 
• Let’s Build A Zoo [Epic Games Store] 
• Gamedec – Definitive Edition [GOG Code]
• The Wisbey Mystery [Legacy Games Code] 

---

Next week's free Epic Games title:

Will be Mortal Shell! Free from March 13th to March 20th. This (like a few others so far this year) have been repeats of games already given out over 2022. Nice for those who missed them!

Further, for those keeping count:

Epic Games free for one day previously, and have not not been repeated yet → waiting for their weekly giveaway.

2021 - Shenmue 3, Neon Abyss, Vampyr, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Salt of Sanctuary.

2022 - Sable, Them's Fightin' Herds (now free), Lego Builder's Journey, Encased, Mortal Shell (coming free).

2023 - Melvor Idle, Art of Rally, Human Resource Machine, Cursed to Golf, Cat Quest, Saints Row (2022), 20 Minutes Til Dawn.

2024 - Vampire Survivors, Astrea: Six Sided Oracles, TerraTech, Wizard of Legend, Dark and Darker - Legendary Status, Dredge, Ghostrunner 2, Hot Wheels Unleashed, Kill Knight, [REDACTED], Sifu.

---

Dark and Darker pulled from Epic Games Store

Dark and Darker has been taken down from Epic Games Store amid ongoing legal dispute.

Developers of Dark & Darker used to work at Nexon, under Nexon they were making a game called Project Q I think, can't really remember the name, either way, that project got cancelled so the development team decided to just up and leave and continue making the game and eventually it would become Dark & Darker.

Tldr:

The legal issues come from the developers using the information they had from their time working at Nexon, any work they had done under Nexon was deemed Nexon's property, so when the developers left they started using the same assets for common items, they would recreate systems they made essentially copying their own work, but their own work wasn't legally theirs. So when Dark & Darker was on the uprising, Nexon sued the devs for Copyright Infringement. That failed but they were on the hook for Corporate Espionage since they took trade secrets and used it in their own product.

Link to an article hosted on pcgamesn.com

---

Legacy of Kain

Sadly the Legacy of Kain writer, Jim Curry has passed away. Along with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Curry wrote Akuji: The Heartless and handled marketing for the Gex games.

I’m unsure whether he kept up with the industry or news surrounding Kain, but if he did, it would have been nice for him to see the recent remaster of Legacy of Kain.

This is obituary for him, worth a visit if you’ve the interest

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Oldest active MMO

Tibia - the oldest active MMO is adding a new 'vocation' to the game, 28 years after release in 1997. Known more in Brazil, Mexico and Poland as a bit of a cultural phenomenon, it's had a dedicated and steady player base for all these years. Previously the vocations were:

• Knights
• Druids
• Paladins
• Sorcerers

But now a new one is coming to the mix: 'monk'. Interesting news for a VERY niche passion for some!

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FSR4:

AMD have collaborated with Sony to create 'FSR4'.

For anyone who thinks this may benefit the likes of current gen base PS5, then it is very unlikely as they are using the 2-generation old RDNA 2 architecture which doesn't even have the required AI Hardware cores to run PSSR let alone the heavier FSR 4.

This collaboration, project amethyst is likely going to benefit console gamers likely for the next generation with PlayStation 6.

Link here (Yahoo) for anyone who wants to read the announcement in full

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RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business

One of the most surprising 'AA' games we saw recently in 2023 was RoboCop. The dev is known for their take on '80's cinema / games of that subject (having done the same for Terminator), and Rogue City took a lot of gamers by surprise.

It played extremely well on the Steam Deck, was nicely optimized, and felt extremely polished for a (admittedly 'on rails') game of their budget.

A trailer for the follow-up has been released, and looks just as fantastic, you can click this link to view it on YouTube if you'd like!

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Nintendo DS

This is just...lovely. An artist shared their work ('ParkingFee6960') which they made in Art Academy on their Nintendo DS. I just thought it was beautiful, and wanted to share it!

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Path of Exile Update:

Path of Exile 2 update featured Steam Deck specific patch. Interesting for Steam Deck fans, this one fixed Steam Deck and other Linux Wine-based clients being incorrectly warned for modifying the client.

Here is a link to the note showing the update!

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Steam Deck + gboperator

User Bitz`Primus has "...designed a bracket to use my gboperator on my steam deck. Finally gameboy games on the go"

A link to their makerworld page on it, with more photos is here, if you want to check it out more!

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Ballistic Moon closes

Until Dawn Remake Developer Ballistic Moon “Effectively Closed”

Article here, because this is the end of my post and I've lost the energy to write my own thoughts

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And...I suppose that's it!

As ever, I hope these might be interesting to some. They're just some fun things I've spotted, and I do so enjoy putting these together. Was it a full week since my last one of these, where I promised I would thereon-in make them weekly? No. No it is not.

Is that just an excuse to link you to my last one of these news posts (click here!)?

Yes, yes it is. Any errors, they're all mine. Any weird formatting - yup blame me. But...I hope you enjoyed this regardless? LMK!

And, as ever, if you wanna lurk my Mastodon, it's here:

GitHub link to Nintendo's claim - all the details you need are here

The emulator forks which are being taken down are as follows:

Despite this, the one fork that continues, and will continue without takedown is Ryubing - by Greemdev. This is created by an original member of the Ryujinx team. It's safe, the code is beyond reproach (and violates zero laws or Nintendo code) and actually brings helpful updates.

Still...shitty news. And more indication that the Switch 2's architecture will be damn similar to that of this current Switch. Them taking emulators down means the upcoming games have a solid chance of being emulatable on release. But...that's my own (and others') conjecture, so we'll see when the time comes.