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 might lean towards a more Steam Deck-oriented post, but of course I'll inevitably deviate and ramble on and most likely cover everything but the Steam Deck. So let's begin!
Emulation:
NxEmu
Another Nintendo Switch emulator - NxEmu, which saw some focus and activity some time ago before seemingly disappearing into abandonment - has come back with a post sharing the dev will be refocusing on the project.
Personally, I recommend everyone focuses on the more reputable Switch emulator called Ryubing / Ryujinx. It is made with one of the original devs of Ryujinx itself, and the updates actually have substance - and you can see by the GitHub: work is consistent and constant on this one.
But back to the point of this, the NxEmu dev states: "the plan is to be able to run pre-decrypted games, so if people want to run a game it will have to be decrypted first with some other tool."
RCPS3 on Android
If you don't recognize the emulator name, it's an emulator for the PS3. This was announced, build and released (the alpha test build, at least) in less than a week. This is not perfect, and at the moment I'm going to look at it as more of a proof of concept than something you should really install, but it's still incredibly interesting news.
The original devs of RPCS3 stated around December that they wouldn't be entering the Android emulation scene because the fandom is toxic as heck, demanding as heck, and rather unpleasant. However, just a few months after that we see DH (a member) take the lead and release this for Android gamers.
Following though, is an image showing Dragon Ball Burst Limit demo booting in emulation:
Games News
Abuse
Do you remember the 1996 run-and-gun DOS game called Abuse? I sure don't, since I wasn't alive, but if you did and do, and want to re-play the game, a developer has cleverly removed the notorious 15 FPS lock on the game, and released it as an AppImage, DEB , RPM and tar.gz
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[If you want to see what the heck this all means, then this link to the YouTube video might be more suited to you, showing the 15 FPS locked version (original) and the unlocked FPS version (this mod)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwDu3ZNE68]
Heroic Games Launcher update
Heroic, "...a Free and Open Source Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime Games launcher for Linux, Windows and macOS. Also available on the SteamDeck!" has just released an update.
This is one of their biggest releases so far, and a lot of work has gone into this, especially considering the dev team's busy life and commitments outside of Heroic.
Some changes include:
- Env Variables in Known Fixes: Customize game fixes with environment variables for better compatibility.
- Launch Arguments via URLs: Pass game arguments directly through protocol URLs for streamlined launching.
- Steam Shortcuts for Uninstalled Games: Add Steam shortcuts for games you haven’t installed yet.
- Anti-Cheat Logging: Anti-cheat details now appear in logs for easier troubleshooting.
- Gamescope "Force Grab Cursor" Toggle: Prevent cursor escapes in full-screen games.
- GOG game setup improvements.
- DXVK-NVAPI Enabled by default for NVIDIA GPU users on Linux.
- Various UI improvements and other smaller updates.
Xbox Game Pass games leaving:
I personally both own a Series X console, and use the XBPlay program to play my Xbox games, and the Xbox Game Pass library. I use XBPlay on my Steam Deck. Their site can give you an idea of what they do, but the benefit to me (buying on Steam for a once-off $5 USD payment) is that it allows higher resolution upscaling that is possible just by streaming the games directly from a browser.
Anyway, back on topic, some big games are leaving the Game Pass library this month:
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Yakuza 5
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Yakuza 6
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Lies of P
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No More Heroes 3
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Evil West
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Solar Ash
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Spongebob Squarepants Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated
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MLB The Show 24
DREDGE MOBILE
DREGDE is my favorite game of a couple years back. Maybe in the top 3 of all time for me. It's the perfect combination of cozy and creepy - beautifully stylized graphics and art style, story and Lovecraftian horror.
The dev team (Black Salt Games, based in New Zealand) released their Android and iOS port of the game a couple of days ago. It's not a simple straight forward port process, they've gone to a lot of custom work on making the game perfect for the 'small screen'.
One Gamer Plays Epic's Free Games Each Week:
I've discovered one user on the Epic Games (unofficial) sub-reddit who came up with a plan to help them clear their backlog of games, and stop them buying more games.
Simply, they're going to play and review one of the games Epic gives away for free, each and every week. This was their New Years' Resolution:
"I need to branch out my video game taste, and I'm going to have quite a lot of free time next semester. However, there's a big problem. I'm a broke college student.
So I've resolved that for the first four months of 2025, I will play every free weekly Epic game to completion before the next one launches. That should be 17 games in 17 weeks. I'll make a post on this subreddit after finishing every game detailing my thoughts. I don't expect very many people to read, but this is mostly to keep myself accountable."
I find this amazing. And it's been fascinating (and helpful) to read someone's review of the games so far, meaning if they're terrible...I won't bother.
Quick Fire Interesting - Dot Points:
- 10 years ago, Steam announced the release of the Source 2 engine - free to use for all developers
- The Nintendo Switch was released 8 years ago now. Sure, they show their age, but they really did so much for the modern handheld gaming market (and I have a V2 on its way from Japan right now, for me to micro-solder a mod chip in for CFW when it arrives!)
- Both IndieGala and Fanatical have Robocop: Rogue City on heavy discount right now - at 90% off. The general consensus is though to hold off at least a day, so that the chance of it being included on Humble will be proven, or disproven
- Steam passed 40m CCU (concurrent users) for the first time. It's crazy to think their previous highest number a few short years ago (March 2020) was only 20m!
FUN!
Steam Deck Power Button:
This one is a specific and super amazing little one I found. An acquaintance on Mastodon shared with me this little creation they made for the Steam Deck's power button:
The user is @rusozoll@layer8.space on Mastodon.
(thanks for being able to share this!
Steam Giving a User $4,000 of Free Games:
A user named "Sonix" discovered a bug in Steam’s refund system that mistakenly refunded his money but let him keep the games. He reported the issue to Valve, and instead of punishing him, they thanked him for his honesty!
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Sonix now owns 37,474 games, making his collection one of the largest on Steam.
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now owns 20,898 DLCs.
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and 22,490 games on his wishlist.
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Despite having thousands of games, he primarily plays Dota 2 (76% of the time).
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His Steam account is Level 299, with 105 badges
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The estimated total value of his library is around $372,543.
His profile on Steam can be seen here
Sonic Unleashed:
I wrote a guide (which you can find here, with this link!) for running (installing) and playing the new recompiled PC port of Sonic Unleashed. If you're interested, take a look!
finally?
I hope you enjoy this. My plan is to just...post these when I get the urge to, with no fixed schedule (I know they've been far too regularly rapid lately. If you can think of any improvements you want me to make on them, or want to tell me off for formatting or some error in the post...do feel free!
And, you can reach me elsewhere:
(Matrix)
(Mastodon)
You've got a typo there, it's RPCS3, not RCPS3.
And you also have a type there! 😉