High on Life: What We Know So Far
I hadn’t watched this year’s Gamescon, but thanks to Steam Deck HQ, they did a quick summary of the games presented. One particular game that caught my eye was High on Life. It’s a humorous FPS with aliens. The gun the main character uses has a personality and talks to him. Per the Steam store page description:
Humanity is being threatened by an alien cartel who wants to use them as drugs.
Weekly News Recap (Moar Steam Deck Invites, Cemu Available For Linux, Humble Summer Sale)
Steam Deck Deck client beta gets a new configurator for desktop mode Deck invites are on the rise! I did a review of a stand/USB-C hub combo. Probably better off getting a JSAUX dock or the like new Spider-Man Remastered update further improves Deck support Steam Deck 2 is coming, based on the new booklet by Valve, although this had already been confirmed way back in November Linux Hardware don’t get the Tuxedo Pulse Gen 2 Linux Games 24 new games this week Software Updates GE-Proton7-30 adds Amazon Games compatibility and Protonfix for Flatout Ultimate Carnage Cemu 2.
Steam Deck Client Beta Update Replaces Big Picture Configurator in Desktop Mode with a New Configurator
Today’s beta Deck client update mostly focuses on bug fixes, plus the styling of command names in Steam Input has been improved. Patch notes are as follows:
General
Fixed scrolling on home recommended screen due to discovery queue Fixed issue where What’s New section was not populated properly Steam Input
Replaced the Big Picture configurator in desktop mode with a windowed view of the new Configurator. This currently only applies to desktop mode on Steam Deck.
Steam Deck Stand with USB-C Hub: Review
It’s nice to see third-party manufacturers come up with their own solutions ahead of the first-party release. In this case, since Valve has indefinitely delayed their docking station for the Steam Deck (and there’s still no news of it since), there’s other solutions that we can use in the meantime. I got in touch with Steve from Etsy (DeadEyeVR). Though he mostly specializes in VR products, he happens to have a Steam Deck hub available, and he was willing to send a review unit over.
Cemu Now Open-Source and Available for Linux
One thing that always turned me off about Cemu – the Wii U emulator – was the fact that it was closed-source. Nearly eight years after the creation of the emulator, it is now fully open-source and licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.
Not only this, but the emulator now has Linux builds available, although for the time being you’ll have to compile the emulator from source:
Right now you still have to compile Cemu yourself for most distros.
Denuvo Now Supposedly Protecting Nintendo Switch Games from Being Emulated
Denuvo knows how to ruin everything about the digital gaming economy. Just a few months ago they started DRM’ing DLC. Now they’re expanding to emulated Nintendo Switch games. How on earth they’re going to be able to figure that out is beyond me.
By preventing piracy on Switch while blocking unauthorized emulations on PC, studios are able to increase their revenue during the game launch window, which is the most important period in regard to monetization.
Tuxedo Pulse Gen 2: Not Worth Your Time
The Pulse by Tuxedo Computers is a thin, quiet laptop that boasts a great battery life. Improvements over the last-generation model include a larger screen with a higher refresh rate, as well as a USB-C port with DisplayPort 1.4 support. Unfortunately as far as the positive traits go, that’s just about it. It’s probably one of the most broken, frustrating laptops I’ve ever had to deal with.
Specs The second-generation Pulse comes in a 15.
GE-Proton7-30 Released, Adds Amazon Games Compatibility and Protonfix for Flatout Ultimate Carnage
Small update to GE-Proton today. Besides the usual components being upgraded to the latest git (dxvk, vkd3d-proton, wine), some other features have been added. Patch notes are as follows:
protonfix for Flatout Ultimate Carnage (single player only) added – thanks Ranplayer Amazon games patch added (this is mainly for possible future compatibility, please use wine-ge for non-Steam games) wine-staging ddraw-Device_Caps and ddraw-version-check patchsets disabled in favor of new Proton ddraw changes.
Q4 Deck Invites Are Going Out Already!
In the Q4 category while waiting for your Deck, yet somehow you still got an email? It’s not a mistake! Valve’s Lawrence Yang mentioned on Twitter:
Hi all, a few of you may have received an order email for your “Q4 window” Steam Deck reservation today. This wasn’t a mistake! Production has outperformed our estimates, and we’ll be moving more Q4 folks into the Q3 window.
Wow. Production is scary fast.
Weekly News Recap (Pine64/Manjaro Fiasco, More Steam Deck Invites, Linux & Chill/Thrill Bundle)
Steam Deck stable Deck client update improves the offline experience and adds keyboard fixes stable SteamOS update adds workaround for RDR2, improves performance for Forza Horizon 5. The beta Deck client adds a bunch of Steam Input improvements Pierre-Loup Griffais has teased an update to the Arch base…finally the Lifesaver is a pretty nice accessory to have when you forget to zip the case even more Deck invites are coming out!