cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30575740

Another week has passed, and so it’s another excuse for me to post a bunch of gaming news I’ve spotted over the last few days! I’m sure most of you know the drill by now:

What are these posts?

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. Less demanding? 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)

• personal voice (I can’t help rambling, send help)

• 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.

A mixed bag of what I’ve considered news this week, so there really is a bit of everything ahead.

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

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Return of the Steam:

Both OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome have been reinstated back to Steam after being delisted. Nice and cheerful news, right?

Wrong. Especially in the case of the utterly adored Rollerdrome:

Pirate it. Entire team got fired after game released so why support 2k.

Seems like this one has a tiny (not tiny at all) bit of an angry audience who, while adoring and signing the game’s praises, loathe what has happened on the corpo side of things.

If you wanna know everything there is to know about this sad story, then watch this doco that Raycevick put together on YouTube, it’s such wonderful production value, and worth watching

• Rollerdrome holds a ‘Platinum’ certification by community ratings on ProtonDB, working great

• OlliOlli World also has a rating of ‘Platinum’ on ProtonDB, and the top-most comment with the users’ settings made me laugh

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DeckCube:

If you’ve ever wanted to have the best of the Steam Deck (portability) and the best of the GameCube (ahhh, portability via a handle?!) then this user – Otzedotze made a GameCube handle for your Steam Deck.

It works like 50% of the time. Then it falls off the Steam Deck and your Steam Deck falls to the floor. Good times. They’ve also shared the files on Maker World (under the name Bitz`Primmus) which you can find here with this link if you’d like!

It was already pointless on the GameCube — and now it’s even more useless on the Steam Deck. Especially since the Steam Deck version comes with the amazing feature of… falling off instantly! ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!

And, obligatory pictures:

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Deck Tag:

I have to ask, what did you do with the tag on your Steam Deck zip-lock?

This user took it to the obvious conclusion and has it where it belongs, I’d say:

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Epic Games ‘Free Games Program’:

It looks like Epic’s weekly free titles, which were suspected to end mid-this-year are maybe not stopping. We got a little scare when court documents from one of their many their skirmishes with Apple showed the end date of their freebies at mid-2025. Who’d have guessed, but taking one throw-away line in a dense document and guessing that spelled their end of their program...might have been wrong?!

Anyway, the clue we’re seeing that maybe the program won’t end is there being a special nomination in this year's DevGAMM awards for Indie Games on EGS, one of the requirements mentioned the option to choose to participate in EGS Free Games Program in 2026.

So...maybe? Maybe not? Who knows, that was all I could find. Anyway, here’s a link to the awards and here’s the image for you:

With games like GTA V, Control, and Death Stranding given totally for free, this service is amazing for gamers who’d not have the opportunity or means to experience these titles without it. Hate Epic all you want, it helps some!

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Download.it saves FilePlanet:

120,000+ Historic Gaming Files to Find a New Home

Download.it, the trusted multilingual software download and review platform, announces the upcoming merger with FilePlanet.com, to be completed on May 29, 2025. Over 120,000 historic FilePlanet gaming files, including rare demos, mods, patches, and promotional materials, will be preserved and remain freely accessible through Download.it's infrastructure.

Originally founded in 1997 and previously operated by IGN Entertainment Inc. (Ziff Davis), FilePlanet served as an essential resource for gamers, modders, and enthusiasts for almost 28 years. Facing permanent closure, FilePlanet was acquired by Download.it to ensure these files, many unavailable elsewhere, could remain accessible to gaming communities around the world.

Download.it, established as a reliable destination for software, apps, and game downloads for Windows, macOS, and Android platforms, has always emphasized free and convenient access without registration barriers or fees. This merger furthers the platform's commitment to digital preservation, combining resources to create one of the largest free download archives online: over 500,000 files totaling nearly 30TB of content.

Key facts about the merger:

• 120,000+ historic gaming-related files saved from FilePlanet
• Combined archive of 500,000+ files across both platforms
• Nearly 30TB of preserved digital content
• Free, no-registration-required access continues
• Automatic redirects preserve all historic links
• Starting May 29, users visiting original FilePlanet.com URLs will automatically redirect to equivalent pages at the new address, safeguarding decades of historic links and bookmarks.

Visit FilePlanet's new home starting May 29 with this link

About Download.it:

Download.it is a multilingual software review and download portal, providing trusted, curated downloads for Windows, Android, and macOS users globally. Offering software, apps, games, utility tools, and now a historical gaming archive, Download.it serves millions of visitors with fast, reliable, and free downloads each month

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Sonic the Hedgehog’s New Home:

After a careful restoration in 2023, the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog statue from the now-closed SegaWorld London has found a new home inside Sega Europe’s recently relocated headquarters in Chiswick Business Park. Once a central attraction at SegaWorld (an ambitious arcade and theme park launched in 1996) the statue now stands in Sega’s modern office, surrounded by lame, personality-free things like ping-pong tables, relaxation zones, and a digital gallery.

Link to a video on YouTube which gives you an ‘inside look at SEGA’s brand new office, which runs for just over one minute

Originally thought lost after SegaWorld closed and transitioned into Funland Arcade, the statue resurfaced in 2019 thanks to Danny Russell from Sega Forever. It was restored by Croydon-based special effects studio 13 Finger FX, bringing new life to a cherished piece of gaming history. Sega Europe’s move to Chiswick, following two decades in Brentford, symbolizes a fresh chapter for the company—while also celebrating the return of one of Sonic’s most iconic UK appearances.

Before:

After:

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Stellar Blade’s Lock:

It seems Shift Up did indeed have discussions with Sony to get this resolved. There appears to be no change with any of the other region-locked games published by Sony on PC.

In a move no one really expected (since the opposite was announced only a week or so ago), we’ve now got Stellar Blade not enforcing Sony’s senseless region lock. It is now available in over 250 countries.

But:

• The rest of Sony’s own catalogue still does enforce their own PSN region lock
• Stellar Blade still has Denuvo DRM

There's also a demo available that's out now, if you'd like to try it out (on the Deck, too!):

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Nine Sols:

The adorable hand-animated, Japanese folklore-inspired (with very Sekiro-ish combat) Nine Sols has sold over 800,000 copies across all platforms now!

It’s been Red Candle’s own odyssey, six years, countless challenges, and now a sunlit horizon.

Thank you for walking this road with us, and for the chance to cross paths on the Way.

I also love how it’s dubbed ‘Taopunk’ – a fusion of Taoist philosophy and a cyberpunk setting: Eastern mythology + sci-fi bits and pieces.

If you enjoyed Nine Sols by the way, look up Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. While Nine Sols is reaction-based combat, Teal Lotus is more platforming, but both are beautiful in their setting.

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Xbox Handheld Sidelined:

Microsoft has apparently (though to be fair it’s not 100% confirmed, more like 75%) ‘temporarily’ shelved its upcoming in-house Xbox handheld device to focus on improving Windows 11 gaming performance. Especially for third-party devices like ASUS's Xbox-branded Ally model I shared a few News Posts ago - "Project Kennan."

While multiple prototypes for a Gen-10 Xbox handheld exist, internal priorities have shifted toward enhancing the software experience for Windows-based gaming handhelds, which let’s face it...sucks a lot and needs work.

The decision seems influenced by the rise of SteamOS, which offers better performance and battery life on devices like the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. Microsoft remains committed to developing its own handheld hardware in the future, but for now, it's leaning into partnerships and platform optimization.

Here’s an article on Windows Central, by Jez Corden which goes into way more detail about the fact it’s not confirmed-confirmed

And here’s one of the leaked Xbox-Ally-Kennan console images:

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Persona 4 Remake?

Voice actor Yuri Lowenthal has maybe released the fact there’s an upcoming P4 Remake coming, maybe out of spite? In a now deleted Bsky post, he just didn’t hold back:

So, I guess we’re now looking forward to that?

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Cyberpunk 2077:

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty has sold 10 million copies and Cyberpunk 2 has entered pre-production phase!

That’s...honestly a lot, but it’s amazing to read on each, too. Their only DLC (having planned two, but dropped the second) selling so much is well and truly deserved. Phantom Liberty is worth its weight in gold!!!

You can read all about it in CD Projekt Group’s Q1 2025 Earnings report here, if you’re so inclined.

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The Witcher:

To start with, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold 60 million copies! An insane number that is very nearly matching that of Skyrim!

Also just announced is the fact that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting cross-platform mod support:

We will introduce cross-platform mod support for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S later this year. For the first time, creating, sharing, and enjoying mods for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be easier and more accessible than ever.

More information will be released in time, but for now you can check their link here to read more!

Annnd if that’s not enough Witcher for you, you can watch their 10th Anniversary Celebration with the devs:

It’s been 10 years since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released. To mark this occasion, we invited some amazing people who worked on the game to travel back in time and share some stories.

...with this link here to YouTube. It goes for 20:33 and is well worth your time!

...and lastly, I just love this art by IfrAgMenTIx, and had to leave it here below:

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Selaco:

I’ve rambled about Selaco a million times now, since it is pure sorcery what the devs have done with the GZDoom engine to make a game look this good, but I’m gonna do it again:

• Check out their Early Access trailer they released 12 months ago, and be impressed!

The story takes place during a violent invasion on Selaco, a massive space station sheltering the last refugees after Earth’s fall just a few years prior. You play as Dawn Collins, an ACE Security Captain who, with her recent promotion and high level security clearances, is digging deep into the truth behind Selaco's murky history. Before she can finish her investigation, Selaco is rocked by explosions and armed invaders.

Find the game’s Steam listing here if you’d like to see/read more about Selaco itself

Anyway, the devs have announced that Selaco has a huge update (V0.90) and a sale (their highest discount yet!) on Steam at the moment. I’d list some, but the list and changes are sooooo extensive, you’re better reading them here:

Read the whole extensive patch notes and announcement here

And check Digital Foundry’s video on the game, with how impressed they are with it!

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2005’s Punisher (a ‘definitive’ version):*

This is a very specific one I stumbled over, but there’s always a chance that there’s a fan of the 2005 PS2 game The Punisher in here. The user Javi096 has done their best to compile the best-of-the-best replacements to make that game the ‘ultimate’ version it can be. Pointless even writing this paragraph, just read the user’s notes on it:

Hey everyone! I’ve shared this with some Punisher communities, thought I’d share it here in case there are any fans and because I did this all off a steam deck.

Over the last year or so I’ve been trying to put together what I feel is a content complete edition for the PS2 version of the classic Punisher game. Back in the day it was heavily censored and lacked exclusives from the PC version such as exclusive costumes for The Punisher. Thanks to the texture replacement feature and luck finding texture rips of the exclusive costumes, I was able to bring those costumes to the PS2 version for the first time ever! I even took it a step further and added additional costumes to give the game a nice variety of content.

In the files I included there is a cheat file to remove the censorship and add additional violence to the game. As well as an HD texture pack created by Bl4ckH4nd over at GBAtemp. Instructions are included how to set it all up.

(note, the link to the pack they’ve compiled is here with this link to their Google Drive)

Lastly, this link is to a new mod that’s been created that further restores cut content and adds even more blood and gore

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Thai Prime Minister & Game Boy:

There’s not much I can think of to say about this either, it’s just amazing: one of the reporters interviewing Thailand prime minister has a ‘camera’ you’ll recognize:

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Reshade 6.5 releases:

ReShade is basically a powerful graphics tool that lets you add custom post-processing effects to most PC games. Think of it like Instagram filters, but way more advanced and applied live while you play.

What it does:

It "injects" itself into the game's rendering pipeline. This allows it to grab the image right before it's shown on your screen and apply a wide variety of visual effects (called shaders).

Common things people use it for:

• Color Correction: Make colors more vibrant, change the mood (e.g., desaturate for a gritty look, add a warm tint).

• Sharpening: Make blurry textures look crisper.

• Depth of Field (DoF): Create cinematic blurry backgrounds/foregrounds.

• Ambient Occlusion (AO): Add subtle contact shadows for more depth.

• Anti-Aliasing: Smooth out jagged edges, often better than in-game options.

• Film Grain, Bloom, Lens Flares: Add stylistic touches.

In short:

It lets you customize how your games look, often dramatically improving visuals, making older games look newer, or just tweaking things to your personal taste.

Change log here if you’d like to read more of what has changed on this version

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Custom PlayStation 2 Slim shell:

I just loved how this one looks, thought someone might be interested in this! The link to it is available free here, if you wanna click it!

They’ve also included the STEP file in this, if you wanted to remix or build something off it!

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Steam Deck – watercooled:

IDK, I’m just going to copy their words for this one too. I found this user who posted: I built a custom water cooling loop for my Steam Deck using leftover parts from an old PC build. I also played around with overclocking and undervolting, and I was pretty fascinated.

The Steam Deck community is filled with the tinkering sort, and these kind of projects are usually more of the ‘because I could*, not should!

Anyway, here’s their efforts in their own words (and pictures!)

System Modifications:

I used the Smokeless UMAF Runtime Patcher to modify the BIOS and raise the TDP limit from the stock 15W to 27W. CPU overclocked from 3.5 GHz to 3.6 GHz. GPU overclocked modestly from 1.6 GHz to 1.7 GHz. I also applied a slight undervolt of -10 mV to the CPU, GPU, and SoC.

Why only +100MHz OC?

I know the Deck can handle more, and I’ve tested higher overclocks — but I decided to scale things back and prioritize balance between CPU and GPU performance.

My thought process was: if I overclock the CPU too aggressively, it might draw so much power that the GPU wouldn’t have enough TDP headroom left — and vice versa: if the GPU draws too much power, the CPU could become the bottleneck. Since both components share the same power budget (even with the raised 27W limit), pushing one too far can end up starving the other.

So instead of having one component run much faster while the other gets throttled, I chose to modestly overclock both by 100 MHz. This way they can operate more evenly under load, and the system stays stable, responsive, and cool.

Thermal Results (with custom loop)

All temperatures are measured while gaming in Full HD (1920×1080) resolution via HDMI output — not the Steam Deck’s native display. That higher resolution puts extra load on the system, making these results even more impressive: Idle temps:

• ~27–29 °C (depending on room temp)
• Doom Eternal (medium settings): ~40–45 °C under load
• Helldivers 2 (low settings + internal upscaling): ~50–55 °C
• Max temp observed, even during long sessions: never above 60 °C

Notes & Observations:

I probably didn’t win the silicon lottery — I tried undervolting more, but my system became unstable very quickly, so I couldn’t take it much further than -10 mV on CPU, GPU, and SoC. Still, the small undervolt runs completely stable with no negative effects. System feels snappy, stable, and most importantly: quiet and cool. Water cooling on a handheld is obviously overkill, but it was a fun project and I love the results.

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Game Pass in May:

Just a handy graphic, to show what was generally regarded as an amazing and hard-to-beat month of Game Pass titles, and a handful which are still to arrive:

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Expedition 33 sells 3.3 million:

Expedition 33 has sold (over this number, by the time you’re reading this!) 3.3 million copies. Have you played it? Are you obsessed? Its funny how a turn-based game has made such a stir in all the gaming circles lately!

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LEGO Gear Rex:

A little while back I shared a fun alt LEGO build I spotted. One takes (in theory, in practice I have no idea how people can figure these out!) an existing LEGO set, and builds something entirely different out of each piece in the set.

(that post, where the user takes a safari set and makes Shagohod from MGS is here if you want to take a look)

Anyway, I found another one, this time Metal Gear Rex being made from the LEGO set for a Millennium Falcon.

IDK how people work these out, this is amazing to me, esp since I am a massive MGS fan.

The instructions / page on how to is here on rebrickable if you want to see it all, including a YouTube video on it!

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PS2 on my Steam Deck:

I’ve been revisiting my RetroDECK set-up on my Steam Deck in the last few days. I was emulating a huge number of Switch games on my Deck, but having long since re-joined the Switch hardware world with an OLED I chipped (for that lovely custom theme CFW world), I’ve gone back and removed 99% of them from my little library and instead am focusing on PS2 (and PS3) titles instead.

So, what I do is:

• I use RetroDECK on my Steam Deck, I much prefer this over EmuDeck as it doesn’t break every week or two. It’s stable and lets me run everything including my ROMs, emulators, bios, mods, texture packs etc all from one SD card – with ease. Link to their site here

• I grab HD texture packs for the PS2 games I’m enjoying the look of, to try out in the ‘best that they can be’ kinda way. These texture packs act as higher res textures replacing the originals in the games, it can go from a few hundred mb all the way up to the most I’ve found, being 29GB on a Silent Hill title. Download the HD Texture Packs, place in folder, apply in settings and it looks pretty. Here’s a great collection of these packs if you’re curious, on archive.org

• And of course I tweak the settings in PCSX2, the PS2 emulator, and upscale the output to what feels nicest to me.

I’m kinda new to the PS2 library. Or not new just...I’ve never really dived in to it, besides some of the obvious big titles. Anyway, here’s what I’ve got so far, just...coz I’ve written all of this and now I’ve got to make some kind of conclusion to my ramble:

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DOOM Promo:

This one was spotted in Barcelona (in Plaza Drassanes) and is obviously a paid, commissioned advert – but a wonderful one, regardless.

Celebrating the latest DOOM game (The Dark Ages):

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Game Informer Archive:

The Game Informer archive just got upgraded with its entire backlog, so if you’ve nostalgia or curiosity over the 1990s and gaming, then this will be a winner for you!

Since Game Informer’s return in March, we’ve offered a backlog archive of all our magazine issues going back to 2012. With today’s expansion of that archive, we’re now growing that archive to include all Game Informer magazine issues, going all the way back to issue number 1, first published in 1991.

You can do so by following this link to their own announcement, which then directs you where to go

Or, if you don’t want to have to create an account to see them (which you are required to, silly Game Informer), then you can just read the entirety of Game Informer on RetroMags instead:

The link to which is here!

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That’s all, I think?!

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Despite having a ton more to write and share, I do think sometimes that maybe too much is too much. I’m edging closer to 4,000 words in this post so far, so...maybe I’ll leave it here!

If you’d like to read my previous Gaming News posts (they’re mounting up in number now!), then you can find them here:

• Steam Deck / Gaming News #2
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #3
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #4
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #5
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #6
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #7
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #8
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #9
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #10
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #11
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #12
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #13
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #14
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #15
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #16
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #17

If you’d like to see more of my odd gaming things I find or never-shut-up-about, then you can find me on Mastodon:

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30260407

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

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General News:

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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!

• Here is a YouTube video showing it off

• Here’s their site

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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:

• Dragon Quest III HD Remake has been stripped of the DRM

• ENDLESS Dungeon also - Turns out the latest Windows 11 update wasn’t playing nice with it, causing crashes for some players. So, we’ve taken it out to help keep things running smoothly

• FANTASIAN Neo Dimension – removed due to license expiry

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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:

• This one is a full set-up video, but shows you what is possible for Dolphin specifically

• And a general one here

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'!

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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.

• You can watch it here if you want!

• And here is a link to archive.org where the Far Cry build has been shared to

...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

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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:

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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

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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)!!!

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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!

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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:

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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!

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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.

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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:

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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?

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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.

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Some Quick News Dot-Points:

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• 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!

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Just For Fun:

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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:

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What have you been playing?!

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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:

• Steam Deck / Gaming News #2
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #3
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #4
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #5
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #6
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #7
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #8
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #9
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #10
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #11
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #12
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #13
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #14
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #15
• Steam Deck / Gaming News #16

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!!!

With the launch of Call of Duty Season 4, Activision quietly put adverts inside loadouts for Black Ops 6 and Warzone, sparking a backlash in the process.

Big Friendly Guide.

The genre is the studio's "niche"

The highly-requested relay system is nearly here

Nintendo is still testing the 15,000+ game Switch library with the Switch 2.