Steam Deck / Gaming News #5
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Great to see another update. One of my buddies is practically a game industry savant so I always feel a bit out of my depth with him. Reading this is my cheat sheet for talking points with him.
Who do you know of that talks about games as art? That's more my focus, and the only one that really seems to tick that box for me is Noah Gervais - and he's great, but I would love more variety if you know anyone doing pieces like that.
Hmmm that's pretty specific!
I'd look at:
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Cara Ellison. She's touched on it before, that I've noticed when writing for The Guardian - how strong videogames are for the medium of telling stories, and also for expressing art.
-
Matthewmatosis on YouTube, does some great work on at least the artistic choices teams make when creating the games
-
Critical Distance is a good site, critiquing games as a serious art form
I mean...this is in my eyes, and in my experience reading them. The thing about art is though...it's so damned subjective, so what I found related to that point, you might find is totally, totally off-the-mark!
Hope it helps, a little though!
-
-
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.
Despite this, I am ๐ด๐ฐ 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!
-
Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!
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!!!
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 allโbetter 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
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.
-
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."
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:
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 Franรงois 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.
Franรงois 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.***
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 developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: ๐๐ก๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ฅ; ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด
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:
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!
Saving this post to read in the evening! (Working atm). Do you do this every week/ month?
I wonder whether itโs worth to get the Steam Deck (PC games + Emulation). However also debating about the Switch 1 (or 2). Just donโt know how to do the mod-chip (and if it will be available on the 2).
-
-
Saving this post to read in the evening! (Working atm). Do you do this every week/ month?
I wonder whether itโs worth to get the Steam Deck (PC games + Emulation). However also debating about the Switch 1 (or 2). Just donโt know how to do the mod-chip (and if it will be available on the 2).
Well, you've got a lot of options!
Since getting my Steam Deck, I sold my Switch collection, since (for the most part), emulating Switch games are a breeze. Theres obviously ones which perform poorly, but the vast, vast majority run so well!
You can always get the original launch model of Switch - you can jailbreak it with a little 'jig' and its the easiest thing in the world. No mod chip required. There's even tablet-only ones, even OLEDs on aliexp if you want to have someone do they hard work for you, too!
The Steam Deck is incredibly hard to beat - Steam games, GOG, Epic and Amazon games. Emulation. Its a lot of gaming
(And as to frequency posting these? Lately, every 3 or 4 days!!!)
-
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.
Despite this, I am ๐ด๐ฐ 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!
-
Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!
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!!!
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 allโbetter 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
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.
-
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."
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:
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 Franรงois 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.
Franรงois 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.***
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 developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: ๐๐ก๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ฅ; ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด
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:
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!
About the GoG store's second class treatment: it's always worth it to email the publisher and ask them if they plan on updating their game on GoG!
I did exactly that a few months ago when I wanted to buy I was a teenage exocolonist - emailed Finji and let them know that their game was not up to date on the platform I wanted to buy the game on. They replied rather quickly and the game was updated a few days later. It was very nice because the game was on sale and, thanks to their quick reply, I was able to not miss the sale.
-
-
Well, you've got a lot of options!
Since getting my Steam Deck, I sold my Switch collection, since (for the most part), emulating Switch games are a breeze. Theres obviously ones which perform poorly, but the vast, vast majority run so well!
You can always get the original launch model of Switch - you can jailbreak it with a little 'jig' and its the easiest thing in the world. No mod chip required. There's even tablet-only ones, even OLEDs on aliexp if you want to have someone do they hard work for you, too!
The Steam Deck is incredibly hard to beat - Steam games, GOG, Epic and Amazon games. Emulation. Its a lot of gaming
(And as to frequency posting these? Lately, every 3 or 4 days!!!)
Thanks for the response!
You are right that the Steam Deck is hard to beat due to availability of games, platform and emulation (though considering the instance Iโm in, Iโll acquire games a different way).
Iโm uncertain due to the fact thereโs a lot of uncertainty about the emulation of the Switch 2 games.
Tried getting the original switch but, Iโm a sucker for OLED screen (if I can afford it, I want it hah).
-
Hmmm that's pretty specific!
I'd look at:
-
Cara Ellison. She's touched on it before, that I've noticed when writing for The Guardian - how strong videogames are for the medium of telling stories, and also for expressing art.
-
Matthewmatosis on YouTube, does some great work on at least the artistic choices teams make when creating the games
-
Critical Distance is a good site, critiquing games as a serious art form
I mean...this is in my eyes, and in my experience reading them. The thing about art is though...it's so damned subjective, so what I found related to that point, you might find is totally, totally off-the-mark!
Hope it helps, a little though!
It does! Thanks, looking forward to the next dispatch ^^
-
-
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.
Despite this, I am ๐ด๐ฐ 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!
-
Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!
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!!!
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 allโbetter 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
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.
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New folder: retrodeck/cheats/ for easier cheat file updates (MAME, RetroArch, PCSX2, PPSSPP, MelonDS)
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Added CLI arguments in RetroENGINE: --set, --open, --factory-reset, and improved --reset.
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Steam integration: RetroDECK can now auto-add to Steam with preconfigured gridart and inputs.
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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."
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:
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 Franรงois 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.
Franรงois 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.***
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 developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: ๐๐ก๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ฅ; ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด
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:
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!
I worked with the RetroDeck and underlying EmulationStation devs on a bug and they were incredibly cool and welcoming. I didn't really have time to start taking on other tickets, but their documentation and availability made it easy to find the problem, get a workaround, and submit a fix.
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I worked with the RetroDeck and underlying EmulationStation devs on a bug and they were incredibly cool and welcoming. I didn't really have time to start taking on other tickets, but their documentation and availability made it easy to find the problem, get a workaround, and submit a fix.
I know Lazorne is on here, so I have no doubt this comment will make them smile!!!
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Thanks for the response!
You are right that the Steam Deck is hard to beat due to availability of games, platform and emulation (though considering the instance Iโm in, Iโll acquire games a different way).
Iโm uncertain due to the fact thereโs a lot of uncertainty about the emulation of the Switch 2 games.
Tried getting the original switch but, Iโm a sucker for OLED screen (if I can afford it, I want it hah).
I'm a sucker for OLED screen
R.E. the OLED, you can write me on Matrix if you're there (or join the Revolt server!) and I can help you with a pointer for it!!!
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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.
Despite this, I am ๐ด๐ฐ 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:
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Traveller's Rest - currently also on sale with -33% off on GOG!
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Caves of Qud (which took like 10 years to get its 1.0 release!
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!!!
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 allโbetter 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
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.
-
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."
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:
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 Franรงois 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.
Franรงois 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.***
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 developers are currently getting an engine upgrade: ๐๐ก๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ฅ; ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด
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:
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!
Your formatting has really improved, looks great and is easy to read. A lovely addition to Lemmy.
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