As ever and always, I’m back with a week’s worth of gaming news I’ve spotted and thought I should share with you all!

And this one is a long one!

This one’s got a bit of everything, and it’s my twentieth of these posts! Hard to imagine so many of these have been posted so far, but one thing does remain – writing these makes me super happy to write. So, while we’re on the topic, thanks to all of you for even wanting to read along with these when I post them :)

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 (every time I make these, at least 4 GIFs end up being too big for Lemmy to upload, and it always makes me sad)

  • personal voice (I can’t help rambling, send help – this won’t be even slightly professionally written)

  • 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

General Gaming News:

GEX:

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The Gex trilogy has finally arrived on GOG and Steam. Will it cause a stir? I’d say…not, the games are just poor emulation in a new wrapper. Check the trailer and you’ll see something like polygon stabilization (‘jumping’ textures) we see DuckStation do so well (for ‘free’) is completely missing.

Anyway:

Everyone’s favorite tail-whipping, channel-surfing, gecko is back in a collection that features all of his best-selling adventures!

Interestingly, they opted to only use the U.S. voices for this one. The originals had different voices for different markets (Leslie Phillips in the U.K. and Dana Gould in the ‘States).

If you’d prefer something a little lighter, check AVGN’s video on YouTube where he plays the original three games and gives his (angry – it is the Angry Video Game Nerd, afterall!) reviews from three months ago. The link to that video is here!

Just check this image of this newly released Gex Trilogy, it’s directly from the Steam page!

Amazing:

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And of course, here’s the link to the GOG page for the game, too!

Starfleet Academy:

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Back in 1997 a game was released, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: the game simulates the life of a typical Starfleet cadet, with the player learning the basics of flying a starship and engaging in role-playing with a crew of cadets, with the eventual goal of becoming captain of their own ship. The game included full motion video featuring William Shatner, Walter Koenig and George Takei reprising their roles from the original television series and movies, and a multiplayer simulation mode allowing for up to 32 players.

It’s still available on GOG (because, of course it is!) but I’m sharing something interesting I found.

Nick Acosta, a big fan of the game, has remastered the opening to the game.

I’ve reimagined the opening sequence of the 1997 PC game Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, replacing its dated CG effects with recomposited footage from the original ILM model work used in the first six Star Trek films. I also created new matte paintings and redesigned interior backgrounds to better align with the look and feel of Starfleet in 2288.

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I’ve always loved this game and felt it was an underrated addition to the Trek timeline—bridging the events between Star Trek V and VI.

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Their work is incredible on this one, and seems as official as you could get.

Updates include:

  • Original physical models restored and recomposited
  • All 3D effects replaced with modern lighting and detail
  • New matte paintings for interiors and FX sequences
  • Production design aligned with the 2288 Starfleet aesthetic
  • Revised title sequence and updated credit order
  • I used an animated version of an unused Ralph McQuarrie Matte Painting of Starfleet Command from Star Trek IV

Of course, the link to it being shown off on YouTube is here, and really - you should click this and have a look. This is the kinda thing I love to find, fans caring so much about a fear-forgotten game that they take the time and effort to bring it to life again!

This is a fan preservation and restoration project—a tribute to the timeless quality of ILM’s practical model work and a chance to reimagine this scene using today’s compositing tools.

Nexus Mods Sold:

You’ve no doubt read all about that by now, it’s going to be old news but…it’s still big news to me. Nexus Mods has been sold:

In ‘An Update From DarkOne’, they stated:

After almost 24 years of running Nexus Mods, the time has come for me to step back from the day-to-day management of the site. This isn’t a decision I’ve made lightly - far from it - but one I think is in both my and the community’s best interests.

I started this project back in 2001, in my bedroom, with a 56k modem, an excitement for the upcoming release of Morrowind and with no grand ambitions or intentions. I didn’t set out to build a business, I just wanted to make a place where modders could share their work without worrying it would vanish into the internet either the next time a fansite went offline or a publisher decided they were done with it. That idea grew legs, sprouted arms, and turned into Nexus Mods.

Their entire post is here, you should check it out if you’re interested!

Resetera users discovered that both new owners named by Dark0ne work for a company called Chosen.

It’s vague to what extent this is a sale. Dark0ne mentioned the owners have “changed hands”, but also mentions “I’ll also be working with the team to help guide the overall direction of the site, just without needing to be the person who signs off on every little thing and without taking responsibility for any and all things Nexus Mods”.

The Deck Trap:

This one’s…pretty typical of the Steam Deck community, you’ll see it generally fall into two categories: those who leave the Deck stock and just, idk, use it, and those who like to tinker. Then there’s this effort, which is tinkering x1000.

Snicker-Snack83 has created an all-in-one effort which, in their own words because they went into great detail, is:

This is the DeckTrap, as I’m calling it, and it’s a portable dock with a number of cool features.

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It doubles as a kickstand using the dbrand killswitch, with two HDMI ports, Ethernet, and an adapter for use with AR glasses. The battery is 20,000 mAh and all the cables are rated for 65 watts, with an on/off switch to ensure the dock doesn’t drain the battery when not in use.

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It’s something that anyone can build, but all the parts amount to $257, so making them would be kind of expensive. As someone who travels I find it very useful. It lets me use the XREAL glasses on the go without killing the battery and it doubles as a dock when on the go and you’re looking for a way to connect it to the TV.

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I’ve seen a ton of pointlessly weird and mean comments over this. What is it with gamers who like to just put someone down for sharing their work? It’s weird. This is specific, and they love it. They saw a problem with their own gaming, and solved it! Is it for me? No. But as someone who goes through airport security often with a suitcase full of suspicious looking tech (I’m a pen-tester who works red ream), I know how this kinda thing can grow!

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I love it!

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Next-Gen Minecraft (for consoles):

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Maybe some remember this. In 2017, Mojang announced the “Super Duper Graphics Pack” for Minecraft, promising enhanced visuals (including shaders) for Xbox consoles. However, this project was postponed to 2018 and ultimately canceled in 2019 due to ‘technical challenges in achieving consistent performance across devices’.

The community felt a little confused why a company like Microsoft, with its infinite wealth, didn’t focus on this idea a little more. Mojang is hardly an indie crew. But, it seems like some good things come to those who wait eight years.

Now, with this next-gen update, all 3,000 textures will be replaced with PBR materials (color, roughness, emission) optimized for Physically-Based Rendering, aiming to accurately simulate the physical behavior of the light source and materials to achieve realism. PBR materials are a very important step if you want to add ray tracing or even path tracing. Until now, Minecraft used only simple color textures, so renderers like the famous Nvidia Minecraft RTX didn’t work with the standard game.

The next-gen Minecraft renderer will be released on June 17, 2025, and will be enabled by default on Xbox Series X.

This is the 5-ish minute video they shared on YouTube, detailing a lot and showing what the update has done. Well and truly an interesting watch, even for me who is not a fan of Minecraft!

The Thing:

…or maybe, the thing about John Carpenter is that he is a gamer. He frequently shares his thoughts on games, what he enjoys, what provides a good atmosphere. I found that long ago in 2024 he enjoyed Prince of Persia’s The Lost Crown (I did too! I was sad to see the team didn’t get a chance to expand and refine with a sequel), and tweeted this one:

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That’s all, IDK, I just though it was neat!

Switch 2 + Staples:

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Did everyone see the drama that happened when the Switch 2 was released? GameStop stapled receipts on the Switch 2 box which damaged screens on launch day upsetting customers. Everyone blames GameStop (yeah, that’s valid), but I’d say some blame lies with Nintendo for having no buffer zone between the cardboard box’s lid and the console itself. It’s literally thin cardboard / soft cover / console screen.

Here’s an artcile (short one) on The Verge detailing that issue.

Anyway, GameStop have leaned into their own issues and have made a pretty funny ad about it. Here you go:

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Coincidence:

VERY briefly, also spotted a user sharing this and it made me laugh:

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Improvements:

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The developer of the insanely popular Expedition 33 have stated that they’re working on various bits and pieces:

Bonjour! We’re currently exploring a wide range of future improvements — from accessibility features to new content and all sorts of bits and bobs we’re actively assessing. Naturally, this also includes expanded localisation options!

While we don’t have specific timelines or confirmed languages to share just yet, we wanted to let you know that it’s very much on our radar. Wheee!

Their statement which I’ve copied is here, on Bsky

EmuReady is Ready:

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This one is for those who love the SBC gaming handhelds, but there is plans for this to end up on Decky Loader, for the Steam Deck. The release post is so detailed and nice that I’m not even going to bother annoying you with my own words, I’ll just (painstakingly) format it so it looks pretty here on Lemmy. I’ll make a couple of changes (remove some words and embed the links), but nothing changes anything here:

emuready.com is a platform designed to help users share and find emulator compatibility reports more effectively.

After a lot of feedback, 1000 commits later, EmuReady is now live for everyone to use! By the way, it’s open source, so if you want to contribute, check out the GitHub repo. (leaving a star on the repo means a lot to me and helps others find it!)

Features:

  • Share emulator settings to get your game running
  • Upvote and downvote reports to help others find the best settings
  • Search for games and emulators to see compatibility reports/listings
  • Configurable your profile with devices and socs you use to only see relevant reports * Performance ratings - See if a game runs “Perfect” or “Potato Quality” before you waste 3 hours tinkering
  • Custom fields for every emulator - Because some emulators have 47 different graphics settings and we’re not animals
  • Device/SoC/Emulator/Console filtering
  • Dark/Light mode

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Coming soon:

  • Trust system (probably shipping tomorrow) - Build reputation by contributing quality reports and get access to approve others’ reports, add devices, and more (so this platform isn’t held back by how much time I have to spend on it)
  • The EmuReady Mobile app (very early stages)
  • A Decky plugin for the Steam Deck

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Maybe Coming:

  • Automated settings export/import (I am experimenting with this for the emulators that support a config file, but it is not a priority right now)

Never Coming:

  • Ads.

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If your device isn’t included yet, please send a message in the discord server or create a GitHub ticket and I’ll add it :)

  • Most Played at Next Fest:*

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June’s Next Fest is, as we all know is a week‑long digital showcase on Steam—held three times a year (usually February, June, and October), where players can download and play hundreds or thousands of free demos of upcoming PC games, watch developer livestreams, and add their favorites to wishlists .

Next Fest exists to give developers early feedback and build hype, while giving gamers a no-cost chance to explore and discover new titles before they launch, like the age of gaming long before my time, when demos were typical!

Anyway, Steam shared a post giving the top 50 most played demos!

Experience intense action brought to life with diverse, unique characters. Read your enemy’s attacks and strike back for maximum impact in Vindictus: Defying Fate. Immerse yourself in signature combat and a gripping narrative.

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Wildgate is a PVP multiplayer shooter that blends tactical ship-to-ship combat with fast-paced first-person action. Evade deadly environmental hazards, search for powerful weapons and ship upgrades, and be the first crew to escape with the Artifact… or the last crew left flying.

Jump Ship is a mission based co-op PvE for up to 4 players, where you are the crew of a spaceship. Transition seamlessly from crewing the ship to on-foot exploration and space walks. Engage in intense battles both on the ground and in space, and always keep your ship upgraded and intact.

4 Player co-op survival horror game. When the cursed rain falls, ‘Mimesis’ appear, perfectly imitating your teammates, bringing a new level of tension you’ve never experienced before.

Martial arts meets music video in Dead as Disco, a neon-drenched Beat ‘Em Up where every punch, kick, and combo syncs to the music. Join Charlie Disco on a quest to confront the villainous Idols and reunite the band.

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…figured I’d add the top 5 here for the heck of it (yes, it is an excuse to share some GIFs), but check this link out as it has the whole top 50 covered.

The Loss of Pak-Sen Lim:

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Malaysian-born British actor Pik-Sen Lim died on Monday, June 9 at the age of 80. Lim had an extensive career in British theater, film, and television. PC Gamer readers will recognize her as the narrator of Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3’s opening cutscenes.

The opening cinematic to Dark Souls III is here, if you’d like to view it

Her imdb page link is here, if you’d like to see her career

Farthest Frontier Delay:

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Farthest Frontier has pushed back their long-anticipated 1.0 launch until October 2025. They stated that they need time for polish, bug fixes, optimization and posted an updated Road to V1.0 (which you can read here with this link)

Farthest Frontier, from their own game page:

Protect and guide your people as you forge a town from untamed wilderness at the edge of the known world. Harvest raw materials, hunt, fish and farm to survive. Produce crafted items to trade, consume, equip and fight with as you battle for your survival against the elements and outside threats.

It currently holds a Very Positive rating on Steam, with 18,769 reviews (all time)

3DS at Bob Dylan:

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Just another funny quick one, saw this shared about – someone spotted taking a photo at a Bob Dylan concert with their 3DS. Not only that, but taking it a step further and using the circle pad pro attachment!

Epic Games Delisting:

Epic has removed Dark and Darker from sale on the Epic Games Store, thankfully if you have purchased the game you will be issued a full refund.

Dark and Darker:

An unforgiving hardcore fantasy FPS dungeon PvPvE adventure. Band together with your friends and use your courage, wits, and cunning to uncover mythical treasures, defeat gruesome monsters, while staying one step ahead of the other devious treasure-hunters.

It currently holds Mixed (all time reviews) and Mostly Negative (recent reviews) on Steam, so…maybe you’re not missing out on much. Here’s the statement Epic made:

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Epic’s Languages:

Epic has also added additional language support to their launcher, but not their website (yet). The languages added are:

  • Bulgarian “bg” *Czech "cs"
  • Danish "da"
  • Dutch "nl"
  • Filipino "fil"
  • Finish "fi"
  • Hindi "hi"
  • Hungarian "hu"
  • Indonesian "id"
  • Malay "ms"
  • Norwegian "no"
  • Portuguese (Portugal) "pt"
  • Romanian "ro"
  • Swedish "sv"
  • Ukrainian “uk”

This information is from the developer documentation which you can read with this link on Epic’s site.

Animal Crossing / Gamecube / Decompiled!

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Another monumental fan effort has been achieved. The team behind the Animal Crossing decompilation have reached 100% progress on recreating the game’s code. This isn’t a full 100%, as noted by project creator Cuyler, who states that there’s still work left to do, but it means Animal Crossing for the GameCube can be modded fully, and soon ported to other platforms, once released. Additionally, the same team has been working on backporting and translating content from the Japanese-exclusive Dobutsu no Mori e+ into a project called Animal Crossing Deluxe.

It’s my pleasure to announce that as of <t:1750082820:R>, Animal Crossing’s decompilation hit 100% matching and linked game code. While not fully 100%, the way the game is set up means that we can fully mod the game. There’s still some work to do on supporting libraries like the GameCube SDK, among others. However, this does not impact modding. HUGE shoutout to everyone who contributed and supported the project along the way! This has been 2.5 years in the making! I’ll have a more fitting announcement when we hit complete 100% in the future!

GameSieve Updated:

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GameSieve is, in the developer’s own words:

Full-text search for the entire GOG game catalog, with advanced filters and price-tracking for 12 currencies. I’ve tried to optimize for information-density without reducing usability. I also put a lot of effort into correcting and enriching the data from GOG’s API. Lots more of all of that to come.

They’ve made a lengthy post for what’s next, and what’s been happening with their site, and I’m just going to copy it (almost) verbatim – I love this site, and use it all the time, and I definitely recommend you visit and bookmark if you’re a regular GOG user!

Anyway, in their own words:

Nearly two months ago, I launched GameSieve, my independent price tracker, game discovery service and improved search engine for GOG. In the weeks since then, I’ve been building some frequently requested quality of life features and new abilities. Highlights include:

  • The ability to remember preferred defaults. This could be just the country for which you want to see prices listed, but it becomes particularly useful if there are genres or developers which you never want to see (cough whale rock cough). Just exclude them all, and then click the “remember” button underneath the applied filters.

  • Sorting by price, discount, release date (original or on GOG) or title (added to the existing default of sorting by price improvement).

  • Showing included products and goodies.

  • Filtering for GOG’s new bundles with dynamic pricing.

  • Filtering GOG’s new modded games.

  • Filtering by age rating.

  • I’ve recently created a GameSieve sub-reddit for those interested in following the details of ongoing development. See the changelog for the full details of everything that’s new.

The big thing I’m aiming for (which based on initial exploration looks feasible, but will still take a long time to implement correctly, and might still prove to be too complex) is the ability to create various types of lists and then filter by them. I’m quite ambitious there, hoping to eventually allow for wishlists (imported from gog, optionally managed (with priorities) on gamesieve), owned games (on gog or elsewhere), lists of games you never want to see and maybe public “gog mixes”.

I’m actively asking for feature requests, both in general, and for such lists. (It really helps me to have a thorough understanding of a wide range of desires and usecases - what are you trying to do, what information do you need to see for that to work? The more details the better!) Feel free to drop them here, or on the roadmap

I make no promises about what I’ll implement, but almost all of what I’ve added since launch was caused by someone asking for it, or at least voicing a desire which made me realize (how) I could implement a related feature.

And that’s that one!

Kernelbay:

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I spotted this game and had to share it, because of how unique it looks and feels to me. There’s (apparently, thought it has to be small and niche) a small but growing trend of games running as overlays on the desktop instead of full-screen apps.

These games float above the desktop, partially transparent, blending into the background while you work. They act more like ambient experiences…always there, but never demanding attention.

This developer is creating Kernelbay, a cozy idle fishing game built around this idea.

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It runs as a transparent window, with your fisher upgrading gear and exploring tiny handcrafted dioramas while you go about your day.

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Their Steam page is here, wishlist it I guess if you’re interested!

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(I did try attach two GIFs here, to show it in action - but both being around 19mb was too much for Lemmy to be able to upload, sad)

Borderlands 4 DRM:

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Borderlands is shipping with Denuvo DRM (yuck), but they’re also applying Symbiote (2K’s custom DRM) – so I suppose we can see why their recommended specs for playing Borderlands 4 are on the higher side.

So, UE5’s often-poor performance + two DRM’s running in the background + higher rec’s for specs?

Hmmmmmmmm.

RetroAssembly:

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There’s a new web-based ‘retro game cabinet’ concept which as launched. Arianrhodsandlot shared a quick post on RetroAssembly, which is just getting started. Again, in the dev’s own words:

Hi! I’m excited to share RetroAssembly, a web-based retro game collection cabinet. It lets you play and organize games from classic consoles—right in your browser. No installs, just upload your ROMs and play!

Price: $0 – RetroAssembly is completely free and open-source. I originally built this for my own use, and now I’m excited to share it with the community.

Getting Started:

  • Visit retroassembly.com
  • (Optional) Try the demo games
  • Login to upload your own ROMs and play instantly in your browser—no extra software needed!

Key Features:

  • Supports NES, SNES, Genesis, GameBoy, Arcade, and more
  • Auto-detects and displays beautiful box art for your games
  • Save and sync your progress, resume anytime
  • Some emulators support gameplay rewind
  • Navigate your library with keyboard or gamepad (spatial navigation)
  • Retro-style visual shaders for that authentic vibe
  • On-screen virtual controller for mobile play

Here’s a link to their GitHub

Here’s a link to their Discord

…and if you do try it out, let me know what you think! I’d be curious (haven’t the time myself at the moment!) how it runs and looks!

FBC: Firebreak Launches:

Remedy’s new multiplayer game, FBC: Firebreak has launched everywhere (for free, if you have Game Pass!) and reviews are rolling in. FBC is a three-player cooperative first-person shooter set within ‘a mysterious federal agency under assault by otherworldly forces’. If you’ve played Remedy’s brilliant game Control then you’ll have an idea of the setting, it’s that game’s universe this one’s set in.

Currently the game is sitting on ‘Mixed’ reviews on Steam, with under 1,000 being submitted. PC Gamer has given it 60/100 (which some take to mean a terrible, terrible, scathing review but to me, idk, 60/100 seems like a fun time?)

I suspect Remedy might have seen this title as a passive income – skins and micro-transactions are the bread and butter of the gaming industry these days, but…we’ll see if FBC stays the course and sticks around I suppose.

Marathon Delayed:

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Looks like Bungie and Sony have delayed the rather universally hated Marathon ‘reboot’ (hard term to use, since it has nothing to do with their classic, old, single-player titles of that name) It is now delayed indefinitely. Terrible reviews of their closed Alpha tests, a shitty account by an artist where Marathon displayed stolen art assets, it’s not hard to see why this has been delayed.

“Through every comment and real-time conversation on social media and Discord, your voice has been strong and clear. We’ve taken this to heart, and we know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion. After much discussion within our Dev team, we’ve made the decision to delay the September 23rd release.”

My Interview:

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My friend Gardiner Bryant asked me if I’d like to post the occasional thing to his website. For now, some of the interviews I do with developers (typically Steam Deck / Linux / gaming) are going to start popping up on there and…that’s kinda exciting!

To start with I’ve shared an interview you’ll only read there, with another friend of mine, Eben Bruyns who created Junk Store. He and I did that early last year (-ish, my memory of exactly when is hazy!), and roughly covers things like:

  • What Junk Store is
  • Development motivation
  • How the project evolved
  • What its like to develop a program for Linux
  • Challenges he faces, UI/UX

…and so on. I’d love it if you’d read through, it’s 15 or 20 mins worth of back-and-forth between he and I!

Of course, the link to it is here!

My next interview:

I’ve approached a developer of a program for the Nintendo Switch. I understand this one might be a sensitive topic for some, but stick with me for the moment.

They run a very successful app, a program which replicates the look and feel of an official Nintendo program, but allows users to download and install games and DLC to their jailbroken Nintendo Switch for free. And they are 100% a pirate. The level which they’re operating is, at the peak, around 1 petabyte of data per month, so this one’s no small fry.

I wanted to ask them about their motivations, their reasons for creating and maintaining such an idea, their experiences with being devs and gamers, how (or *if) they justify what is stealing, whether it is an ideal which motivates them or the money, and the threat of Nintendo’s lawyers.

This isn’t condoning the project (the opposite, I won’t share the name of it, nor that of the developer), it’s something as far as I can tell hasn’t been done before. I can see why it hasn’t, but to me this is the interesting thing – a peek behind a curtain of a shadowy service. I wanted to know the how and the why, so I asked!

This won’t be posted for a few days, and will only be shared on the c/games Lemmy community (since it is outside the scope of others I post to!)

Prime Gaming’s Bonus:

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With Amazon’s Prime Day, they’ve released a bonus pack of games out of the blue as a giveaway.

If you’re unaware (and are one of the three here on Lemmy who don’t pick up a pitchfork whenever I share anything about Prime Gaming), Prime Gaming is a bonus for your Amazon Prime subscription. Each week they give a handful of game codes away for you to keep forever. GOG, Epic Games and Amazon titles are yours to keep. I’ll be crucified for saying it here, but to me its the best deal in gaming at the moment, purely because of the GOG games you get.

This bonus day of games includes:

  • Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered (GOG)

Play the original three Tomb Raider Adventures: For the first time ever, play the complete experience with all expansions and secret levels on modern platforms in this definitive collection. Prime members and Luna+ subscribers who claim Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft can link their Luna and GOG accounts to play via Luna in supported countries.

  • Saints Row 2 (GOG)

Saints Row 2 brings true freedom to open-world gaming. Players can play as who they want, how they want, and with whomever they want in this sequel to the much acclaimed and tremendously successful Saints Row. Prime members and Luna+ subscribers who claim Saints Row 2 can link their Luna and GOG accounts to play via Luna in supported countries.

  • TOEM (GOG)

Set off on a delightful expedition and use your photographic eye to uncover the mysteries of the magical TOEM in this hand-drawn adventure game. Chat with quirky characters, solve their problems by snapping neat photos, and make your way through a relaxing landscape! Prime members and Luna+ subscribers who claim TOEM can link their Luna and GOG accounts to play via Luna in supported countries.

  • Star Wars Rebellion (GOG)

It is a time of great upheaval. The first Death Star has been destroyed, marking a major victory for the Rebellion. But the Empire remains strong. As commander, you must choose to take control of either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire. Your goal: complete domination of the galaxy.

  • Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (GOG)

After a catastrophic alien invasion of Earth, the Saints have been transported to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. With homies new and old, and an arsenal of superpowers and strange weapons, they must fight to free humanity from alien overlord Zinyak and his alien empire, saving the world in the wildest open world game ever.

  • Dungeon of the ENDLESS – Definitive Edition (Amazon Games)

Dungeon of the Endless is Amplitude Studios’ take on the demanding Roguelike genre, mixing in Dungeon-Defense mechanics for a unique gameplay experience.

Of them all, I’m actually going to say TOEM is my fav (and I am a HUGE Lara Croft fan!)

It’s a perfect game for the Steam Deck, cozy and interesting and hand-drawn, too. I love this game so much, you’ll have such a nice time playing through, I can’t recommend it enough

Xbox’s Next Console:

Xbox has released a…idk what to even call this, a ‘hype’ trailer? A promise of what is next? Xbox is patnering with AMD for their next generation system (Xbox console, handhelds, phone gaming, streaming, PC and so on).

We’ve established a strategic, multi-year agreement with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices, including our next-generation Xbox consoles. Together, we’re delivering deeper visual quality, immersive gameplay, and AI-powered experiences - grounded in a platform designed for players, not tied to a single store or device, and fully compatible with your existing Xbox game library.

But what has most talking is the (seemingly throwaway) line in their statement:

Not locked to a single store

Is this the much talked about Steam integration? I’d doubt it (what manufacturer will let you use their service to give money to another platform?!), but…I do hope I am wrong!

Anyway, here’s the link to the video they uploaded onto YouTube: Xbox + AMD: Powering the Next Generation of Xbox

GoldenEye 64 DD44 3D Print:

Just something fun, I noticed a user by the name of Arniel86 made a great 3D print of one of the weapons from the old Nintendo 64 game:

Was an interesting design to work with, looks nothing like the TT-33 its supposedly based off. But I chose to keep it looking as in game as possible.

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The link to their MakerWorld page where the files are free is here, if you’d like to see more or start your own print!

Hades II Update:

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Hades II which is still in Early Access (but which plays like a damned fully finished game, albeit one without a proper ending so far) has released another big update. Titles Spread Fear in The Unseen:

Our third Major Update for Hades II is finally here, focused on expanding core combat, Guardian encounters, and character relationships, with lots of new visual flair!

Their change-log and notes are extensive, so you’d be better checking them out on Steam with their announcement:

Which is through this link here!

And here is the update trailer on YouTube!

That’s Enough!

I think I’ve ranted enough here by now. I still have more interesting bits and pieces I’ve come across, but I’m told quite often how my posts take a looooong time to get through, and if I keep it up then it’ll never end!

What have you been playing?

One thing I can’t leave out, is asking what you’re all playing right now! I’d love to know what (if anything!) you’re enjoying!

I’ve actually started God of War. Somehow I never really gave it much time, giving up before that opening tree sequence each time, but out of the blue I stuck with it and I’m having a great time. I’m playing that on my desktop PC (for the highest possible fancy settings) and have been enjoying a few of the WipEout games emulated via RetroDECK

But what about you? AAA? AAAA? AA? (this is getting odd), indie? Emulated? Tellll meeee!!!

Previous Posts:

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

Mastodon:

I do tend to post there each day, 99.99% gaming nonsense. If you want more of this, then come drop by!

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