As is now a tradition (this is my 7th of these posts - after rejoining Lemmy just 28 days ago!) you’ll know the drill.

I want to at least try give a personal look at the news I’ve spotted in gaming and the Steam Deck which has interested me most. This isn’t anything refined, official (or possibly even ‘good’) - just me trying to bring that feeling back of old games sites, old games blogs. Before ads and begging for Patreon subs became a focus on a game site above the content.

Anyway, if you’re interested, grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit down for a read:

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Denuvo

A couple of games have a notable Denuvo DRM announcement.

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree drops Denuvo ahead of its launch. They wrote a rather detailed and clear post themselves, which they shared on Steam:

…the pessimist in me thinks maybe they realized that with the side-scroller coming to Switch any potential piracy on the title would be inevitable regardless. But…maybe they just do care what the community thinks, as they said in their announcement?

inZoi also was meant to ship with Denuvo, but made a similar announcement that they will in fact not be using it. The screenshots are from the announcement made by Kjun (Producer and Director):

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GOG News

Sudeki

You might have noticed that Sudeki which was removed from GOG has been relisted!

We’re all to familiar with the sad state of delisting games, and it always makes me sad to see the postings by GOG staff letting gamers know a title is being removed (remember, this is never GOG’s doing - it is entirely up to publishers)

But now we’ve got it back :)

As to why it was removed in the first place? No definitive answer exists, nor was any statement given explaining it back on removal. Though this page on delistedgames does at least in some way indicate some reasoning:

Sudeki was likely delisted after the expiration of Climax’s publishing deal with GOG.com. Climax Group does not appear to be dormant but their production has dropped significantly over the last few years. It’s possible that the terms of their agreement with GOG.com could be renewed and the game returned to sale in the future. However, it is also possible that Climax is winding down operations and the game could be delisted from Steam as well.

GOG Profit:

Seemingly, a bad year. You can read the full report here, if you have any inclination, but the most interesting numbers are the following:

GOG net profit in thousands PLN

• 2023: 10,255

• 2024: 1,134

Sales revenue:

• 2023: 234969

• 2024: 199,338

Quick GOG points of interest:

• The pre-order for System Shock 2’s 25th anniversary remaster is still love on GOG’s site, and the game is getting a lot of sim-fans very excited! Playable on June 26th this year!

• A fun thread is up on the GOG forum showing the idea of ‘pizza for GOG’s team’:

This is my ethical pressing, on GOG’s management to reward GOG’s Team with pizza.*

Please order a game for yourself up to $2.99. This will symbolize a slice.*

• If you want to order the team a ‘slice’ then you can do so with this thread here on the forum. Personally I think this is a lovely idea, in what it symbolizes

• A bunch of titles from Handy Games were added to GOG, including Meganoid, Sir Questionnaire, Gunslugs, Gunslugs 2 and Snake Core. All with some hefty discounts, too.

• Stellaris: BioGenesis (the new expansion for Stellaris) is also up for a pre-order. This isn’t me condoning pre-ordering - let’s face it these days the very concept is playing with fire. But it’s a good heads-up for what is coming. Of it they state:

In Stellaris: BioGenesis, step into the role of a master geneticist, sculpting the galaxy to your design with living ships, engineered ecosystems, and enhanced species. Forge new paths with unparalleled bioengineering tools to create a civilization that thrives on adaptability and evolution – or exploit these tools to dominate the stars.

More physical DVD covers:

My addiction is the fact that people create physical collections of their GOG games. To my knowledge (after lurking so many of these), most of the users do not include a backup of the install files in the case. This is purely for a display - to show their fav games on a shelf. And I love that.

I just adore how there’s a dedicated community who design print and display their fav modern GOG titles in DVD covers. For no practical use other than to look pretty!

Here’s a handful more I found :)

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FTL

A dedicated fan of the game FTL: Faster Than Light has released their own ergonomic community control layout. Considering how poor the controls are on the Steam Deck, it seems like FLT players are kinda head over heels with this idea, so I thought those few who might have missed it here might appreciate it, too.

Frictionless player experience for FTL Newbies and Veteran Space Captains alike. The “Steam Deck/Game Pad Layout”

Of it, the creator states:

"Being a long time fan of the game FTL, I was so excited to get it on my Deck. It was among the first few games I downloaded, and I fired it up not long after. I quickly discovered the countrol [let the record show this is not my spelling error, but the user’s!!!] scheme was nearly unusable. At least, it sure didn’t feel like a proper handheld hyperspace experience.

I’ve spent a few hours customizing my control layout for the Steam Deck. I’ve made a very user friendly and intuitive control scheme. Easy to start using but very practical. All the necessary actions are right where I feel they should be, with room to customize the controls to perfect your cockpit.

The layout is called: “Steam deck/Game Pad layout” by EPICMAN.

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Epic Games

Sale:

The Epic Games Spring Sale has begun on their site, coming a day-and-a-bit earlier than it was expected to launch. Deals end on April 9th, at 11 AM ET. Some highlights for deals include:

• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered: -50% off

• Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut -33% off

• Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Ed. -50% off

• God of War -60% off

And so on and so forth. Worth a look, if you like deals.

Mobile:

Their mobile app (available on iOS and Android) now has a search bar! I mean…a low bar to celebrate (I’m also struggling to find a bar pun joke so I’ll abandon the effort here), but…they now have one.

They are also giving away mobile games each week now. Before it was monthly, but now each week you’ll be able to claim free games there - much like their PC games efforts.

You can currently claim Super Meat Boy Forever Mobile, and Eastern Exorcist, and in 16 hours or so you will be able to claim their next lot!

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Nintendo PlayStation

Well, if you don’t know the old history behind the greatest split-before-it-took-off gaming duo: Nintendo and Sony, then you can check these out:

• An overview of what the Nintendo PlayStation was

• An IGN article going into more depth on it here

• Ben Heck’s ‘teardown’ on the console via YouTube - this one is great, and in multiple parts!

…anyway. For the longest time, only one of these was known to exist, in people’s hands anyway. It sold for around $350,000 and I wonder if the buyer now regrets that because there has been another pop up that (to me, at least) looks far prettier!

Another of the prototype consoles created in the early 1990s has come to light, this one belonging to the PlayStation co-creator - Ken Kutaragi. Who kept it in his closet the whole time (which actually helped - no yellowing of the plastic!)

Only a handful of photos, which are:

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Itty-Bitty-Gameboy-Committee

On the theme of console hardware, I’m kinda enamored by the littlest Gameboy that ever lived, which I stumbled over.

This console is available on Aliexpress, and there’s apparently been a few YouTube videos on it like this one here, and yes…it’s a tiny way to play!

But this user (MrRetroplayer) shared:

I made a custom case for the Game Boy Mini, reminiscent of the original Game Boy box. Thanks to David for helping me find a case and personalize these stickers. I love how it looks now!

And the photos are adorable, and actually kinda cool.

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Pi Tin:

P.S. I’m also kinda in love with how cute the Raspberry Pi project: the Pi Tin is.

*"𝘗𝘪 𝘛𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘪 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝟤 𝘞…

…t𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝟤 𝘞 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘕𝘌𝘚, 𝘎𝘉𝘈, 𝘗𝘚𝟣, 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴/𝘔𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘕𝟨𝟦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴"*

Either 3DPrinting the enclosure, or using an Altoids tin of all things.

The link to the project is here

And some photos, of course:

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Burger?

Okay the last one, I shared this a few days ago and I can’t stop myself from doing so again.

So for my (𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨) list of quite odd consoles I’ve posted about, this one may take the cake (no lie)

A famicom/NES clone designed to have a burger’s pattern on it was canceled for release made by McDonald’s China themselves. It was cancelled and not ‘released’, but…obviously is still around to buy. Apparently for around $70 (I’d assume USD?):

This one reminds me of the recent Tetris made to look like a big chicken nugget:

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Genshin Impact Control:

For those who love Android gaming, and who love Genshin, you might be happy to know that they’ve added controller support for android. Finally.

To my understanding, they had some sort of “unspoken exclusivity deal” with Apple to only allow controllers on iOS devices (iPhone and iPad). Controllers have always worked on Genshin Impact with iOS.

The fact that they finally allowed Android to use controllers is probably a combination of many things. My guess is that it’s because iPhones are massively more popular in Asia, Genshin’s primary target audience; but Western fans (who are more likely to use Android than Asians are) essentially kept bugging them about it so much that they finally caved and gave us what we wanted.

Regardless, yay for Android!

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Nintendo Direct

Of the upcoming Nintendo Direct (3/27/25), Nintendo states:

"Tune in on March 27th, at 7 a.m. PT for a livestreamed Nintendo Direct, featuring around 30 minutes of upcoming games for Nintendo Switch. There will be no updates about Nintendo Switch 2 during this presentation.

Information about Nintendo Switch 2 will be shared on April 2nd at 6 a.m. PT in the Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 – 4.2.2025 presentation"

A link to which is here, for future reference

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POE patch is live:

• honestly I still have no idea what POE is. Is it Pillars of Eternity? Path of Exile? Edgar Allan?

Turn based combat seems to be the focus of what is making those who play the mysterious POE most excited. Whatever it actually is, I’ll leave this link for someone who might want to know

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Game Informer is back:

And the entire team has returned for its…return! Their ‘lost’ content has been reinstated: all reviews, interviews, videos, old crew and monthly magazines - all up and returned to the internet:

https://www.gameinformer.com/

There’s not much I can prattle on about for this, but there is a nice link to a nice and heartfelt video they posted on YouTube:

The link is here, so check it out!

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EmuDeck:

4 days back we saw an update to EmuDeck. Version 2.4:

• Integration selection

• Auto add ESDE to Steam

• New Bios checker

• BYO Citron

• Azahar

• New wiki: manual.emudeck.com

• New Emulators for EmuDeck Windows : Model 2, Supermodel y BigPemu

A feature reel is here, on YouTube via this link

And if you’re wondering if people had issues with the update, and if it broke some users set-ups? Yes. Yes it did. But of course, Y.M.M.V.

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Junk Store:

Speaking of updates, Junk Store (playing Epic Games titles and GOG games on the Steam Deck) has shown what is coming up (at least in part) for what’s next for Junk Store.

I shared a dedicated post about that here on Lemmy early this morning, so you’ll be able to see it here if you’re inclined to read more details.

The long story short though? Junk Store is changing with a lot coming to how things work. I’d encourage you to check it out.

[SDHQ posted an article[(https://steamdeckhq.com/news/junk-store-is-coming-back-with-new-features/)

As did Gaming On Linux

…though neither add anything at all to the initial post. Just…read the post.

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FitGirl

If you know, then you know. But if you don’t? FitGirl is a repacker of games - for games piracy. This isn’t a piece on FitGirl, but instead I wanted to mention that someone donated 0.5 BTC Bitcoin her. That’s rougly 42K USD.

That’s a lot of games the donator could have just bought. Regardless, this is the biggest donation I know of to a piracy site.

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Emulation

Dolphin now boots every Wii game

“The Daring Game For Girls” was the final Wii game listed on the Dolphin wiki that would flat-out not even start under normal circumstances, hanging right after the initial Wii remote safety screen unless the CPU was underclocked to 6%. However, a game patch has now been included in Dolphin to allow the game to finally boot.

This was the last Wii game marked as broken. The only other things left in the category are Triforce games and the Wii U Menu redirect channel (yes, you can actually install it on an original Wii. It hangs in Dolphin while it restarts a real Wii).

Now, to be clear, there are games that still don’t really get that much further - Active Life: Magical Carnival, Jerry Rice & Nitus’ Dog Football and Diatomic still cannot get in-game. Still, a notable milestone none the less.

Azahar 2120 - 3DS - (the first stable release!) has been released

This changelog treats the merge of PabloMK7’s fork and Lime3DS as a base upon which all of the changes listed here are applied. The changes added in Lime3DS and PabloMK7’s fork during 2024, alongside the changes introduced in Azahar, will be discussed in more detail as part of our first progress report.

• A link to the GitHub is here if you want a read

Azahar also recently posted a blog post, which I found to be interesting:

Citra: 1 Year On (One Final Look Back) - this is the link to it if you’re curious

Cytrus (3DS emulator) v1.0.1 has been released by Sudachi dev

ytrus is a Nintendo 3DS emulator for Android, Linux, macOS and Windows written in C++

“Cytrus with the SDL3 migration (and Qt6 technically) is now available on GitHub GDrive for Windows and macOS. This is just a test right now. ︀︀ ︀︀Proceeding a successful test, this will be used in Folium. ︀︀Please test audio, input and video. All work on my system but who knows” - Sudachi dev

Downloads available for Windows and macOS: https://github.com/cytrus-emu/cytrus/releases/tag/v1.0.1 (GitHub errors out when uploading the file, Google Drive will be used for now)

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Some more ‘old’ Steam Deck ads

Last time I posted the first two of what a designer created: mock-ups of ads done in the style of early 2000’s for the Steam Deck. To me, they’re most similar to the aesthetic employed by the various advertising agencies Sony used to promote the PlayStation 2.

All done by RetroB0y, these are fantastic, and there’s 4 more to share here for you:

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HP Omen Handheld

Well, don’t get excited, this is just their reasoning why there isn’t any such device. Yet anyway:

Unfortunately this came from an XDA page which is now showing a 404 so…that’s gone

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One Last Thing

All apologies if this isn’t the typical amount of things I find interesting, but…still its fun to share them here.

As always, any errors are mine, formatting might be awful (or maybe not?!) and I hope you’ve all been well.

…but that last thing? Share what you’ve been playing! I’d love to hear what games you’ve been enjoying recently: be they AAA, AA, indie or emulated retro (or even that new level - the AAAA!)

It’s so fun to hear what people enjoy playing the most. Personally I’ve been enjoying:

• Half-Life 2 for only the second time. It’s so damn good. Playing this on my Steam Deck!

• Mario Odyssey on my Switch. It’s just so damn cute. Then I’ll try the first Xenoblade - I’ve never played one of those before!

So what about you? What have you been playing?

And lastly, if you wanna find me, I’m on Mastodon more than anything:

<3