games

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/61066449

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/61065843

This little handheld console has been so great. My PC and Steam Deck must be so disappointed with me.

Retro consoles set up video

I had been following r/SBCgaming for a while and never felt the need to play very old console games. But now it seems that these consoles have really come a long way in what they can play. I saw reviews for the Retroid Pocket 5 and thought it looked amazing. Then I saw the prices of the Retroid Pocket 4 pro and it was a no brainer.

I bought the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro on eBay for £120 (probably could have gotten it cheaper, but I rushed to buy this). The fact that such a tiny and pocketable handheld can run Nintendo Switch games (less demanding ones) really blows my mind. I carry this with me everywhere. It fits in pretty snug trouser pockets and is only slightly bigger than my phone (although my phone is an S23 Ultra with a chunky case). I’ve had it for over 2 weeks and I’m still in the honeymoon phase and using this instead of my gaming PC or Steam Deck. I’m discovering consoles I never owned (3DS and Wii games). The fact that it plays Android games as well is such a great bonus (mainly Balatro with save game sync online) is such a great bonus. It has WiFi 6, hall effect analog sticks (much better than the Switch!), an IPS display, headphone port, analog triggers, bluetooth 5.2 and a decent battery. This this has no business being this good.

For anyone else interested:

· If you’re looking for an affordable, pocketable console with good performance then the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro is amazing and I would recommend it. Buy this on eBay as people are unloading these to upgrade to the new console.

· If you want better performance then the Retroid Pocket 5 has a better SOC and much better screen, but is twice the price and much less pocketable. Order on AliExpress when there’s a sale/coupons.

· Buying a console like this is a bit like adopting Linux.... You’ve got to be willing to tinker and troubleshoot. It took me hours to set it up (use this guide) and I still haven’t sorted out Vita emulation.

This is a device I didn’t know much about and really didn’t expect to enjoy this much. If you haven’t come across these little consoles, definitely take a look! If you want to test the waters and see if this is for you, then starting with emulation on your phone will is a good way to start.

Review video

Retro Pocket 5 review video

Video comparison

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2584510/Telegraphist_1920_Beats_of_War/?rdt_cid=5572165876394024361

alt link: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/IY75p

Between Battlefront 3 getting cancelled near the finish line, DICE abandoning BFII in favor of Battlefield 2042 (a misfire, to say the least), the Battlefront Collection launching in a piss poor state, and now the PC servers getting hacked (who knows if the same will happen on console), Battlefront is a truly cursed series.

The only positive is that EA no longer has exclusivity over Star Wars. which means Disney could have someone who actually cares make a BF3/spiritual successor.

after all, they'd probably want to emulate the success of Marvel Rivals with Star Wars

First FREE expansion for Vampire Survivors, based on Square Enix’s hit franchise SaGa, is available today on everything

With 12+ new characters, 16+ new weapons (including a new Glimmer mechanic), a World-Weaving Stage, a bunch of new remixes, and so much more to discover

I hope the final battle against 40 commoners and one knight is as fun to play as it's funny to me

Gamers need to wake tf up and realize that they caused this.

This no longer has anything to do with Nintendo.

gaming influencers like Charlie, Mutahar and (As much as I hate him) Asmongold need to start speaking out if they care about gaming., Instead they are pretending this has nothing to do with politics and is just "Nintendo greed".

Digital game prices have been going up for a while too because of inflation. Inflation that the man the gamers elected promised would go down, not made worse with tariffs.

You can't keep hiding behind this copium anymore. You caused this. Take some damn responsibility, cut it with he bigoted "Anti-woke" bullshit and join us against Trump and Elon

Blades was perfect. No i didn't need my knockoff mii on the screen and laggy windows 8 ui. It used the full screen to display every bit of information clearly in a way xmb ass could only dream of.... Oh what's that? Did you order some loooooong menu? We all want some loooooong menu to scroll through. FUCK OFF WITH THE NESTING.

UI is reactionary we must return to cli

a daily challenge with a leaderboard a la Slay the Spire with randomized run parameters would be so fun. that would become my subway crossword.

I guess it would have to be "unlockable" so as not to spoil any of the unlocked cards etc? that's the only bit of friction I can think of - StS has "rare" cards but nothing the player needs to unlock.

... Mario Kart Galaxy on the Switch3 and languishing into total anguish.

A little bit of digging after the review went up quickly revealed why he's such a polarising character. Luckey, who now runs military contractor Anduril Industries, has previously referred to himself as a "radical Zionist" and, in a 2024 interview, claimed that "societies have always needed a warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence on others in pursuit of good aims. You need people like me who are sick in that way and who don’t lose any sleep making tools of violence in order to preserve freedom." Er, yikes?

I refuse to believe this magazine existed, this is just cursed

ULTIMATE PC GAMING AUTHORITY

For a magazine from 2007-2008 it's interesting how dated and 90s these covers feel. Like who the hell was still saying "frag" when Bioshock was coming out?

Orange Box? Left 4 Dead? These aren't even GFWL titles, come on guys

Edit: Link to archived .pdfs if you're morbidly curious https://archive.org/details/games-for-windows-2-jan.-2007/07_Games_for_Windows_007_Jun_07/

Sorry in advance but, this might be a bet vent-y

Marvel Rivals fans always try to justify the character designs for the female characters (which I'll admit, can be a bit goonarbait) by bringing up either Daw or Amari from Concord and literally ONLY THOSE 2 and going like "you see what happens when you don't have attractive characters" but they often forget that

1. LITERALLY NOBODY ASIDE FROM SONY EXECS WANTED CONCORD

2. Mei from Overwatch is also kinda bulky and a lot of people love her

3. just because your game has attractive characters doesn't mean it'll do well or be good. look at First Descendant. it's lost nearly all it's playerbase going from a 270,,000 peak to a 9,000 player 24 hour peak. having attractive characters didn't help that game

4 . When bringing up concord. It's not the the characters were unattractive. It's that they looked bad. Those are in fact two separate things. I don't think anyone is going to tell me the cast of Team Fortress 2 are hot. But they look great as characters. Each is fun to look at, expressive, oozes personality, and is easily identifiable. Concord's designs just looked like a shitty Guardians of the Galaxy knockoff . Porting the body and face of an OF model into the game wouldn't have changed that.

The player base for this game really does mostly suck doesn't it; good to know at least Paradox isn't chuddy at least.