Well, it’s that time again for this last week’s interesting gaming news I’ve spotted!

I know a couple of days back I shared a GOG-specific News Post, but this time it’s back to the general everything-and-the-kitchen-sink collection I find.

Why even do this?

My aim for these News Posts in general though is to format them in a more clearly not a professional, but someone who cares about gaming manner than most gaming sites do now. Cozier? My ever-lasting inspo is the old, old video game sites, blogs and magazines that I never had the privilege of being alive for:

  • image/gif/link heavy (although GIF can be tricky on Lemmy, some big ones refuse to show, and ones I plan on including end up unable to upload, and this time around, not one GIF!)
  • personal voice (though as someone who has always written with plenty of dashs: - …I’m only just hearing they’re favored by A.I. text generation, so that’s concerning…)
  • mostly news or articles or points which you won’t find on normal gaming sites. These are the smaller, lesser things that I’m drawn to. I know you’ll have spotted the big news articles, so I’m hoping some of these smaller ones might have been missed by you.

I visited a few gaming sites this week, and was reminded how shit they are. Even the small, small ones have begging banners up the top wanting donations, support, Patreons, affiliate links, etc etc. I know why they’re there, but its annoying.

So grab a coffee? Or a tea? Or a fresh juice? And enjoy <3

General News:

ZOTAC:

ZOTAC showcased the prototype of their next-gen handheld running Linux at Computex 2025. Unique in that they’re the first two have two trackpads on their handheld, like the Steam Deck does.

It’s also nice to see it running Manjaro, which actually looks nice! Anyway, a handful of pictures here from someone who was getting a hands-on impression, it’s nice to see more in the handheld space!

Denuvo:

Irdeto’s shitty DRM has been removed from a few games this week, which is always, always nice to see!

(despite Stellar Blade’s developers claiming it performs better with Denuvo -__-) so, constantly running non-game code on top of the main executable, making it…better?!

Anyway, some Denuvo has been removed this week, including:

Emulation via Xbox:

If you didn’t see it, Microsoft is making ‘Developer Mode’ free next month for the Xbox consoles, removing the $19 USD fee.

Emulating all kinds of systems is possible on the Series X/S consoles, and also on the One X (and I think even the One?!), which you do by sideloading Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, in this case - emulators!!!

Systems that play and run well:

  • NES / SNES / Game Boy / GBC / GBA

  • Sega Genesis / Master System / 32X / Sega CD

  • Nintendo 64 – (runs well enough, though with some tweaks)

  • PlayStation 1

  • PlayStation Portable (PSP) (full speed on most titles)

  • Sega Dreamcast (not all games)

  • Nintendo DS – Playable with some touch/mouse emulation workarounds

  • Neo Geo / Arcade (MAME/FBA cores)

  • Atari, MSX, TurboGrafx-16, etc.

Systems that play, but maybe not perfectly:

  • PlayStation 2 (I found most games I was interested in worked really well, and there’s a ton of people who share their settings! The first time I finished MGS3 was on my Series X console maybe 2/3 years ago this way!)

  • Nintendo Wii / GameCube – Via Dolphin core in RetroArch, has decent performance all around, but not ‘perfect’.

  • Nintendo 3DS – Runs but limited by controls and UI workarounds and is kinda just not worth the effort in my opinion!

  • Sega Saturn – Some progress via cores like Yabause or Kronos, but compatibility varies.

A few years ago using your Xbox to emulate all kinds of games was super easy and free, done by Retail Mode. Then MS freaked out and only made it possible on ‘Developer Mode’ in mid 2023, which required that aforementioned one-off license.

Next month, it’s free for individuals, so…time to use your Xbox for emulation again! (I’d recommend it, anyway!)

An article sharing details on the fee being dropped is here via Windows own blog

And here is a link if you’d like to read more from a non-official source

And further, if you want to see what people can do with emulation on the Xbox, here’s a few video links on YouTube:

And finally, if you’d prefer a written guide (sorry, its on Reddit, I remembered it was a good source of information back when I was emulating on my Series X, and seems the most obvious community to link here!)

This guide has been posted detailing all that is needed to set up and run emulation, it is 'How To Activate Dev Mode And Install UWP Games And Apps’!

Original Far Cry Dev Build Found:

Yup, as the title shows, a few weeks ago someone bought and original Xbox dev kit and found an early development build of Far Cry on there! This is a pretty common occurrence actually, and whenever someone shares any dev kits of any kind, you’ll see comments leap in saying to preserve what is on there.

Why? - because this is gaming history, like what we’re seeing in this Far Cry build, you get to see how the game is made in the different stages, and preserving what would otherwise be lost is so, so imporant.

They shared:

I acquired an Xbox Development Kit recently and found this development build of Far Cry on it, there is no audio in this build and the FPS are dropping when looking at the trees, thought some of you might find this interesting.

Dumped from an old Crytek Development kit - dated October 27 2005. This build was created after Far Cry Instincts launched (Sept 2005) and appears to be an attempt to port Far Cry to the Original Xbox which was scrapped possibly in favor of the XBLA (Far Cry Classic) version on the Xbox 360.

Since sharing it, they’ve been in touch with Modern Vintage Gaming (MVG) on YouTube, who has long-since made their video on it.

…and lastly, Wired wrote an article back in 2018 called ‘The Teens Who Hacked a Video Game Empire—and Went Too Far’ which covers the story of some people who obtained and utilized Xbox 360 dev kits, leading to the discovery of unreleased game builds.

The link the that one, is here on Wired

Dev Kits:

Funny that when I searched recent dev kit news, I found this person who found a entire box of these in a warehouse. One thing to note is that he is wearing gloves and does not in fact have carrot-hands:

These however, while still being in the dev kit family (and still going for a fair price-ish, around $150 USD each), aren’t the true deviest of dev kits.

These ones are the CAT-R models, they’re regular Wii Us that just have a different DVD drive that can read dev disks. Here’s some mentions on them on the gbatemp forum

The rare ones are the CAT-DEV and the most desirable the CAT-SES with the HDD since they can often contain super interesting data.

One More (Xbox) Thing…

I just wanted to share this effort, too. As you’ll no doubt know, I just LOVE custom builds and hardware hacks on consoles – I love how people make them their own, design print and use their own housings, and make what is already amazing even more personalized. This is made by the user KierzXCV, and is an unfinished product (they’re still tweaking, and even apologize for the ‘spaghetti wires’!!!)

I found this so called Xbox Mini build, and I LOVE it, first some photos:

Here is the shell they used (and changed themselves)

I changed quite a few things as you can see including lowering the controller ports and adding a screen. My printer is a Bambu Lab A1 with a 256x256 print bed. This allowed me to split the front into 3 pieces with tabs that gets rid of the split where I placed the screen and make it look more one piece. This is where the 2 tone colours come from without the need of a multi extruder.

Added the LCD which is a 16x2 screen (will be doing a 20x4 update also, but can’t use the standard ones a lot of people use on the regular Xbox’s even when board is trimmed down as still the rear PCB is too tall). The XBMC4GAMERS LCD file is easily edited to accommodate for what you want displayed. The console itself it TSOP modded with Cerbios, so I used a AladdinXT to drive the screen thanks to Ryzee119

I’ve also added a Pico W as a wireless controller adapter inside the case with a switch on the rear that allows you to go between regular ports, or the Pico W. Soldered my data lines from the controller port to TP2 and TP3 on the Pico W. The fork that allows the onboard Bluetooth of the Pico W to be used can be found here. This meant I didn’t need a seperate adapter and it is only the Pico W unit that’s worked in.

And to finish off, I’m just gonna say please ignore some of the spaghetti wiring. It’s still in test phases and very unlikely to be final print lol.

Witcher 3 – DRM:

I just love this one, a little note left in the game which is a nod to how DRM-free gaming is the way to go (being the ethos on which GOG is built!) – this is just…idk it makes me smile, so here it is:

Steam Deck Delivery Girl:

Everyone’s fav art of 2024 – the Steam Deck Delivery Girl - was the mascot for the sales on Steam last year, all created by nemupan (link to their bsky page is here, if you want to see their ‘thank you’ post once they were all done!)

Luckily one cosplaying fan, n8sniper, has brought her to life, with a little photoshoot (their first ‘pro’ shoot!) that is just…I can’t even express how well done it is!

Here’s some of her photos of the efforts:

Xbox Retro Classics:

A few days ago, with no fanfare, Xbox announced a whole new additional benefit to Xbox Game Pass: the Retro Classics

Discover timeless classics and hidden gems with Game Pass. Retro Classics includes over 50 restored and ready-to-play games available for Xbox Game Pass members. Power up your play with community challenges, competitive leaderboards, all-new challenge modes, high-score rankings and more.

Play over 50 classic games from Activision like Commando, Grand Prix, Kaboom! Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat, and Pitfall!

Take on friends, rivals or the entire world with unique challenges – or dive in solo – and collect achievements. Save your progress and continue later for the first time for many games.

Available for Game Pass members to play on console, PC, and on supported devices with cloud gaming.

They plan to expand the lineup with nothing being removed (unlike how Game Pass operates, where a game is eventually removed from the service – except for first party games of course), aiming for over 100 titles soon enough.

There’s a link here to purexbox’s site which has the full current collection of titles, which I find easiest to look at when toggling ‘reader view’ on your browser

Elden Ring’s Numbers:

ER has had the numbers crunched by Alinea Analytics and we get to see Elden Ring’s player distribution by platform (Steam, Xbox & PS), and a little more data including wishlists. Steam is the clear winner, obviously, accounting for 43% of the game’s 36 million players, but I found this one interesting (and unsurprising)!!!

Unpredictable Indie Industry:

Veteran indie developer Dan Marshall from Size Five Games chatted about the unpredictable nature of achieving success on Steam in today’s saturated gaming market.

He noted that traditional strategies for indie game visibility, such as wishlists and influencer endorsements, are no longer effective (which took me by susprise, but maybe that damn influencer freight train is slowing down?!). Marshall pointed out the randomness of which games gain popularity, citing the success stories of Balatro and Vampire Survivors as examples. Despite their modest initial appearances, these games found large audiences through word of mouth, but also that success is difficult to replicate.

I found this one a great read, and I rarely find good articles these days, the article itself is on PC Gamer and really worth a read!

Custom Covers:

I know, I know, I can’t stop myself sharing custom game covers. I just find them so nice to see!

A user by the name of artninjaguy shared his custom-made cases for loose games he had:

I got some aftermarket dust sleeves for the cartridges and designed theses end labels for them. All I had to do was print them out on some good quality paper and stick them on the spines with some double-sided mounting tape. They’re not identical to the original boxes for the games, but I tried to design them with a similar visual identity to the retail boxes. I’m quite happy with how these turned out and they seem to be holding up pretty well.

And here they are:

SAG-AFTRA, A.I. and Darth Vader:

The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has filed an ‘unfair labor complaint’ against Epic Games. The problem (they say) centers on Fortnite’s use of an AI-generated voice for the character Darth Vader, which mimics James Earl Jones’ iconic portrayal. Despite J.E.J (and family) ‘selling off’ his voice for use by A.I.

The union though, contends that Epic implemented this A.I. voice without prior negotiation, violating fair labor practices. This complaint is making plenty chat about the ongoing tensions in the entertainment industry regarding the use of AI and its impact on creative labor. The verdict though? I think its going to go nowhere and fall flat, they (SAG-AFTRA) seem to be scrambling to do something, and picking an odd one to do so with.

But I guess we’ll see!

Epic’s Mystery:

And again, Epic have shared some teaser of the next week’s free games. The ones they’ve given away during their big sale lately have been great games, so we’ll see if this coming week’s two titles (and a phone game as well) will be up to that level of quality or not.

Here’s their own teaser image. If you can guess it from this, for God’s sake consider working as a code-breaker, because I haven’t the foggiest notion on what it can be.

System Shock 2 25th Anniversary:

With the game’s remaster for the 25th anniversary just around the corner (arriving on June 26th!), Nightdive has showed a few pictures, these of the enemies you’ll be encountering. I’m so excited to buy this one on GOG, anyway, pictures:

Steam News (Compiled):

A bunch has happened for Steam over the last week, and I have no doubts you’ve read your fill on each of them. So I’m just going to throw a paragraph on each ‘thing’ they did here so you can read a brief summary – otherwise it’d seem like I’m ignoring the ‘biggest’ news and that’s weird. Right?

SteamOS Compatible:

Valve has expanded its game compatibility ratings by introducing a new “SteamOS Compatible” label. This system assesses whether games function properly on SteamOS-based devices, evaluating aspects like game and launcher functionality and anti-cheat support. Titles meeting the criteria will be marked with a blue checkmark, complementing the existing green checkmark for Steam Deck Verified games. Valve anticipates approving over 18,000 games with this new rating, aiming to ensure a seamless gaming experience across various SteamOS devices

SteamOS Everywhere:

Valve officially, and finally expanded SteamOS support to third-party handheld gaming PCs with the release of SteamOS 3.7.8.

The update introduces official support for the Lenovo Legion Go S and improved compatibility for devices like the Asus ROG Ally (which I will always curse because I bought the first edition and had it nuke my SD cards) and the original Legion Go. Users can now install SteamOS on these AMD-powered handhelds using Valve’s provided recovery images and installation instructions. The update also brings enhancements such as a new “SteamOS Compatible” game library tab, Bluetooth microphone support in desktop mode, and a battery charge limit feature to prolong battery lifespan.

Steam Client Update:

On the 20th, Valve released a new update to Steam, with some nice improvements and changes:

  • Enhanced controller hotplug detection for certain third-party devices.

  • Reduced memory usage of steamwebhelper when launching games or switching to/from Big Picture Mode.

  • Fixed issues where games failed to connect to the Steam process under specific conditions.

  • Resolved problems with game preloads showing 0bps disk activity.

  • Addressed rare crashes of steamwebhelper when switching to/from Big Picture Mode.

…and more, but there’s a few for you!

Neural Interface Project: Starfish:

Valve is developing a neural interface project named Starfish, focusing on creating a specialized ‘electrophysiological’ chip designed to record and stimulate brain activity. While specific details are limited, this seems to work with Valve’s long-term interest in brain-computer interfaces, and IDK, I think I trust this (only slightly, tbh) more than Elon’s weird brain-chips.

Some Quick News Dot-Points:

  • SteamOS 3.7.8 the update (Go Country) which I covered a few points above has arrived to the ‘stable’ channel. Lots of tweaks and additions in this one (way too many to mention), and I’m sure 99% of you have already noticed this and read all about it. For the 1% who have not, the link to Steam’s own changes are here if you’d like to read them!

  • Fantasy Life i by Level 5 has now sold over 500,000 copies! Fans of the original on DS have come out alongside new fans who are purely PC gamers and…just love it!

  • Game Boy (Nintendo Online) have added some games for May 2025 with Nintendo Classics: GRADIUS THE INTERSTELLAR ASSAULT, SURVIVAL KIDS, Kirby’s Star Stacker and The Sword of Hope. Trailer on YouTube is here for the announcement!

  • Sifu was offered by Epic Games (again) to claim for free, as a part of their May Sale. The game runs so well on the Steam Deck, and if you’re not already claiming the Epic titles they give away each week, you really should be. This was given away alongside Deliver At All Costs, which is given away right as it launched. They’ve done this for two other titles, but the only other one I remember off-hand was Cigni which was given away as it launched. You can read more about Epic’s weekly free-to-keep games here!

Just For Fun:

I’ve been enjoying the odd emulated older system game lately, when I have the time (as ever, I use RetroDECK to emulate anything on my Steam Deck) - and I’ve found some nice, fun old images. IDK, make you all smile or something:

Melissa Joan Hard playing Sega Dreamcast:

Christian Bale playing Amstrad CPC:

Link to the Past in 3D:

This one was made out of sandstone! …who knows how, but its amazing.

Send in my next patient:

  • 14" TV with built-in Dreamcast from 2000:

What have you been playing?!

I love to ask this, because it’s fun to me, by this stage I recognize user-names, and I like to see what games everyone is playing

  • AAA (or even AAAA)
  • AA
  • Indie
  • Emulated
  • Retro gaming on actual hardware

Anything of the above, I’d love to hear what you’ve been playing!

I’ve enjoyed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West lately. I bought it super cheap on Steam a month or so back, and have been playing a little bit each day on my Steam Deck (of course)

Aside from an odd warning at the start (press ‘b’ twice and it disappears), and one instance of Trip getting stuck behind a ladder she needed to climb - requiring a restart, I just have had no issues. I’ve also used a mod from Nexus which replaces the videos with upscaled 1080 versions too, which while not strictly necessary…helps it look pretty. Really recommend the game!

I’m looking at other games of the same vintage - kinda the PS3 era, Remember Me is one option I’ve found, it looks fun!

I’ve also been playing Super Mario Wonder on my CFW Switch OLED. I’ve really loved getting back into the Switch, I swore off it completely when I got my Steam Deck and culled my collection, but having one again? Makes me happy!

…so, what have you been playing?!

Previous News:

if you want to quickly jump to all the other News Posts I’ve shared here on Lemmy, this will make it easier:

My Mastodon:

I share every day on there, mostly gaming news and all kinds of nonsense, if you wanna have more of this kind of thing? Then feel free to follow along there!

I hope this has been fun, thanks as always for letting me share these!!!

  • Zealousideal_Fox_900@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    I like seeing the up-n-coming consoles, and emulation becoming easier again :D Loved the Steam Delivery Girl mascot, she was very cool, and seeing what she would look like IRL is very interesting.