#Steam Deck case features

[crazydiscostu]

Jsaux Steam Deck Modcase Powerbank Kit

Unlimited POWWEEEERRRRRRRR! (comes with limitations)

The folks over at JSAUX have cemented themselves as a go-to supplier for innovative tech, specifically in the realm of Steam Deck accessories. Today we’re taking a look at their Steam Deck Modcase Powerbank Kit. C’mon…. Product supplied for review purposes The JSAUX Steam Deck Modcase Powerbank Kit is a comprehensive gaming accessory that offers everything you need to protect and elevate your…

[alphaman99]

FORGOTTEN HISTORY

A Daily Dose of History

Suggested for you  · 1d  ·

In 1920 the yacht building business that Bill McCoy operated with his brother Ben was struggling. So, Bill assessed the situation. He knew that he was a good sailor who knew how to make fast boats. And he knew that Prohibition had created a huge demand for liquor in the American northeast. Recognizing the business opportunity that presented itself, Bill McCoy seized it, becoming the king of the rumrunners, one of America’s most celebrated and notorious bootleggers.

McCoy bought a 127-foot fishing schooner capable of carrying 6,000 cases of alcohol and retrofitted it to make it one of the fastest commercial sailing vessels on the Atlantic coast. He registered his ship in Great Britain and renamed it “Tomoka.” He was in business.

He would load his cargo of spirits in Nassau in the Bahamas, then sail to the Jersey shore, anchoring between Sandy Hook and Atlantic City, just outside the three-mile boundary of international waters. Customers would come out to him in small boats that could evade the Coast Guard, and McCoy would sell them the booze in sacks that held nine bottles each. Ben McCoy would bring out supplies to the Tomoka, so that she never had to port.

McCoy made no effort to hide what he was doing. In fact, he welcomed the publicity. He boasted that he never diluted his product (as many bootleggers did), and that he never paid a dime to organized crime or to bribe law enforcement. And no law prohibited him from selling liquor in international waters. His enterprise was so successful that he soon added four more boats. In a little more than two years he sold an estimated two million bottles.

McCoy’s brazenness and his celebrity status infuriated government authorities, however, and they were determined to shut him down. In 1923, after first getting the tacit consent of British authorities, the Coast Guard was ordered to arrest McCoy, and to sink the Tomoka if he resisted.

On November 25 the Coast Guard cutter Senaca steamed out to the Tomoka and sent over a 15-man boarding party. When they were aboard, the commanding officer ordered McCoy to bring his ship into port. Instead, he set sail and raced away, with the boarding party still on board. The Seneca opened fire with her four-inch deck guns and the Tomoka’s crew answered with a machine gun set up on her forward deck. But as the shells from the Seneca started dropping closer to his ship, McCoy realized the game was up. He lowered his jib and surrendered. On board the Coast Guard found $60,000 in cash (about a million dollars in today’s money) and only 400 cases of the original 4,200 case cargo.

Once brought ashore reporters asked McCoy how he intended to defend himself against the charges. He answered with a smile, “I was outside the three-mile limit, selling whisky, and good whisky, to anyone and everyone who wanted to buy.”

But after two years of legal wrangling, McCoy ultimately decided to accept a plea bargain. He pled guilty to violating the Volstead Act and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

After serving his time, McCoy retired from rumrunning, returning instead to the boat building business. He also became a successful real estate investor and when Prohibition ended he cashed in on his notoriety by putting out his own brand of whisky, called “The Real McCoy” and featuring the Tomoka on the label.

William Frederick “Bill” McCoy, the King of the Rumrunners, died in Florida at age 71 on December 30, 1948, seventy-five years ago today.

[satoshi-mochida]

Card-en-Ciel demo launches September 4 for PC, September 5 for Switch - Gematsu

Inti Creates will release a demo for Card-en-Ciel on September 4 for PC via Steam and on September 5 for Switch, the developer announced.

The demo will feature two main dungeons from the full game, as well as one tutorial dungeon. Save data from the game can be carried over to the full game when it launches.

Get the details below.

■ A Card-Battling RPG Through the Eras of Gaming

Today, Inti Creates has announced a demo for their new card-battling RPG, Card-en-Ciel, will be available worldwide on September 4, 2024. This extensive free look at the game will give players a chance to get familiar with the gameplay and a head start to carry their data over to the October 24 release.

■ What is Card-en-Ciel?

Card-en-Ciel is a card-battling, roguelite RPG featuring over 300 unique cards and 50 vocal songs. Players take control of Neon, a private detective who specializes in solving cases that take place in the virtual net. He must restore order to an in-development game that is under attack by countless characters leaking from other games across history. Dive into virtual dungeons where each victory earn new cards to add to your deck, strengthen those cards, then take on the powerful protagonists of the invading games. Each card brings a new synergy to your deck, creating combos with each other and the special Muse cards, whose songs add new passive abilities that last for the entire battle.

■ Get an Early Start on Steam and Switch With the Demo

The free demo for Card-en-Ciel will release this September 4 on Steam and September 5 on Switch. Experience the deck-building, story, battles, and meta progression of the early dungeons just as they appear in the full release! Two main dungeons from the full version are available in the demo, plus one tutorial dungeon. Freely roam around dungeons and battle the enemies you choose. You can take as much or as little time as you need to recruit new cards to your deck before you take on the boss at the end! Recruit powerful Muse cards who begin performing when you meet their conditions, activating unique effects to enable your most degenerate combos. Try to find each of the Muses available in the demo and listen to their unique songs! With over 300 cards available in the game on release, you’ll be able to find around 100 in the demo. Your demo save will transfer to the full game, including the cards you’ve collected!

■ Gameplay Deep Dive

Card-en-Ciel features many unique systems, so we prepared a new trailer that gives them a close look. Learn about how you’ll take on the roguelite dungeons, power up your character at home base, and the excitement that awaits as you explore! Get acquainted with everything in store before the demo releases September 4!

Card-en-Ciel is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on October 24.

Watch a gameplay deep dive and new trailer below.

Gameplay Deep Dive

English

Azure Striker Gunvolt Featured Game Introduction

[lonelyrollingstar]

God almighty what is wrong with open source devs? There’s so much OSS that’s legitimately great and much better than corporate alternatives functionally but have at best a borderline unusable UI. The devs of Moonlight (local game streaming client based on Nvidia Gamestream) have been pushing people to switch to Sunshine (FOSS version of Gamestream server) because Nvidia is discontinuing Gamestream and I’m all for it, but with Gamestream I just clicked “add game” and then pointed to the executable. Look at the fucking nightmare you have to go through with Sunshine:

It’s great to have access to advanced options like launching from a different working directory or adding command line arguments, but I have literally used non-PC CLI software from 40 years ago that has more intuitive and less obtuse ways of doing something as absolutely elementary as opening an executable. Adding tons of launch arguments for executables when out of style in like 1988, who in the living fuck needs so much control over launching background services and whether they continue running or not while the game is open that you not only add those features, you make them the only way to launch a game? And even that would be fine if they provided documentation, but the Sunshine wiki, which the program opens for you upon install, has literally no information on how to actually use their fucking program outside of tutorials for extremely specific use cases (like adding Gamepass games or Steam commands) and a handful of extremely abbreviated “app examples” that essentially show you how to type in the name and path and absolutely nothing else. After I dug through like 12 Reddit posts that all refused to talk about any use case other than the Steam Deck I reluctantly looked at a few tutorial videos and got nothing but some dipshit in a Nazi band shirt (five finger death punch, it was MiketheTech if you want to know who to avoid) and a few of the irritating screaming “HAAA-LOOUUUUU GOISE AND WALCOM TO MOY YU-CHUBE T’TORIAL” British dorks (who seem to be completely unavoidable in any genre no matter how many you block) who managed to fail at giving instructions on how to do anything beyond installing the server with a focus and intensity normally only seen in successes.

Anyway, it turns out you basically just have to paste in the full path to the exe as a command. So, essentially, that’s two hours of pure frustration straight down the shitter because open source devs absolutely refuse to consider user experience to be anything but unnecessary marketing fluff.

Sunshine has been out for almost two years and obviously had to have started even further back than that; the fact that this is still the basic user experience when they know people have no choice but to switch and even after they got an extra year and a half (3/4 of the app’s existence) beyond the EOL for Gamestream is fucking shameful. If you’re a developer and you think UX is anything less than the absolutely vital top priority it needs to be then you have absolutely no grounds to complain that OSS isn’t more popular, because you are literally the sole reason it isn’t.

[videogaems]

Steam Next Fest - June 2024

Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers It feels easy to say 'Balatro Clone'. BUT if you say that about this game, you are openly admitting that you only see playing cards and have no nuance, just like everyone said. Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers (Or D&DG as I'm going to refer to it, to save my little fingies the typing) is a roguelike blackjack battler. Those words feel confusing to stitch together but just follow me.

You choose your suit (different suits have different abilities, and the game equates this to difficulty) and begin playing blackjack against an opponent. You are always able to see their cards, unlike regular blackjack, and whoever of the two players wins does damage to the other players health pool, amounting to the difference between your final hands. Going over 21 results in your hand value being reduced to zero, in which case be prepared to take 17 full points of damage to the face.

As you win against opponents, you will acquire new cards for your deck, much like Balatro. Your opponents will also be acquiring these cards, much unlike Balatro.

There is also a mechanic of some cards being manually 'Exploited' (Read as: Activated), but in order to Exploit a Card, you must have Advantage (Read as: Points). This isn't explained well in the game *at all* in my opinion, but as you can see I figured it out using my brain and eyes, much to my chagrin.

I don't think I'll be Wishlisting D&DG, but it does the thing I like: It's a weird spin on a concept you know. And it works! I'll be curious to see if this catches on with the Balatro crowd, but I will certainly recommend it to roguelike and deckbuilding fans.

Dungeon Clawler I won't lie, when I saw that this was a dungeon crawler where you play a crane game to fight people, I automatically assumed this was my shit. I will say that it's kind of my shit, but it's not as 'my shit' as I originally thought it would be. Gameplay is cool and straightforward, you get two chances per turn to drop a claw into a claw machine and pull out symbols. The symbols you pull out will have some kind of effect (swords do damage, shields block damage, etc). By winning fights, you amass coins and new symbols to add to your crain machine that have varying effects.

By and large, the game is a cool idea but I'm not wild about execution. Now, Baron Mind® that this game is still in development so the following critiques may not apply someday BUT:

The art style is that kind cel-drawn images squash and stretch to imply movement, but it ends up kind of looking chinsey. It was the first thing I noticed, but maybe that's just because of how offput I am by that artistic choice.

Second, a banger of a soundtrack, even if it is just a remix of the Type B song from Game Boy Tetris, it's pretty good. But, zero sound effects. None at all, which filled me with discontent. I'm seeing attacks, I'm getting shields, I need noise.

Again, probably not a Wishlist for me but good execution on a great idea.

Tactical Breach Wizards

This was probably the breakout hit for me this Next Fest, and I will absolutely buy this day one (And hope the demo works after the fest is over). The third in the Defenestration Trilogy by Tom Francis - Which also includes Heat Signature (maybe one of my favorite games of all time) and Gunpoint (A game that, years after it came out, I found out I have a friend whose brother did the music - small world).

In Tactical Breach Wizards, it is the modern world, but magic exists. You are a team of magic users who are also a SWAT team. And when I say SWAT, I want you to imagine all the straight-to-DVD action movies that are marketed to the people who are military nerds, but never actually joined the military - It's that. I mean, one character is effectively Gandalf in Desert Camo with an M14 that has a staff sticking out of it, another has a wand with a laser sight and a silencer. It whips ass.

Gameplay is a lot like XCom, with one cool feature being that your wizard can see one second into the future, so after finishing your turns, you can forsee how the enemy will react, and rewind your turn as far back as you like, as many times as you want in order to achieve your desired outcome.

Honestly, I could rave about this game for a while. The gameplay, the style, the writing, everything is just aces, and this immediately breached the door to my Steam wishlist and killed everyone inside. Can't wait for August.

Caravan Sandwitch

I was unsure how to feel about Caravan Sandwitch. You play a girl who is returning to her hometown after a long time away, and reuniting with friends while driving a van.

The art style? Fantastic. Really just an absolute dream to look at and play. The setting? Eh... Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of games that don't hold your hand to explain the world lore, and just kind of let you figure it out through context. Caravan Sandwitch does try to do that, but it falls short, and you end up feeling like a third wheel to these characters, rather than being in the shoes of the character you're playing.

While you explore, the game will have pillows sitting about in hard-to-reach places that effectively serve as collectible lookout points, where your character will just chill and observe the surroundings. These moments are peaceful, and personally I'd love to see more games do something like this, in an effort to make the player really observe the effort put into the environment (A thing I fail to do often)

However, other than that, Caravan Sandwitch didn't really grip me and I probably won't keep up on it.

Dustborn

Another entry in forgettable-single-name-game-titles-that-are-portmanteaus. Dustborn has you follow a group of characters in a band, traveling across the country on a tour in an effort to get to Nova Scotia, which seems to be some kind of safe haven in a military-state America.

Again, the Art style in this game is fantastic, everything is very comic book stylized, even the button prompts, but the demo jumps between moments in the first couple hours of the game without giving you a lot of info as to what is going on. I was surprised when combat was introduced, and thrilled when it included a baseball bat that you can throw and retrieve like the Leviathan Axe in God of War. Well, not quite like the Leviathan Axe... it's posited that way, but ultimately ends up being a ranged attack that just automatically returns to you. Combat was very floaty and just didn't have that je-ne-sais-quois that makes combat feel good.

The game also contained a rhythm action sequence that was reminiscent of Gitaroo Man, another fave of mine, but that wasn't enough to make me want to follow up.

BUS: Bro U Survived

I dislike this game on name alone, and playing it didn't really help much. Points to it for having customization options to let me have a handlebar mustache, but this game just kind of boils down to a co-op zombie survival game in a cartoony style where you have to drive a bus sometimes. I only clocked 26 minutes in this game, and to be fair, I was playing solo (What, I'm supposed to make friends?), but this game didn't hold me for very long. Even as I write this I'm trying to remember much about it, and it just ended up being very forgettable.

Wizard of Legend 2

Hell yeah. HELL YEAH. I forget how I even found out about the original Wizard of Legend, but it's a fun roguelike that I recommend. I was unaware that a sequel was even in the works, so this was a delight to find out about, and an even bigger delight to play.

Players will play the role of a wizard attempting to complete a legendary challenge, with the idea that each run is a new wizard's attempt, since the last one died. Choose spells of different elements, speed, and power, and try to find combinations that mesh well together. I had a lot of fun using a wind vortex to pull all enemies to me, and then hitting the lot of them with chain lightning. Even for a demo, I could see myself sinking a lot of time into this (and I'm hoping it's still playable after Next Fest). This one makes the Wishlist for sure, and I'm looking forward to the release.

Aloft

I found Aloft very disappointing. Yet another first person crafting survival game with the hook being that eventually you make a glider that you can use to zip around the world.

The demo is in Alpha, as the devs will make known quickly, and the game made known to me quickly, since I encountered a bug early on that I had to visit the steam forums to make sense of. While going through the tutorial prompts, after collecting leaves and wood and shit like that, I was prompted to craft a Glider at the Glider station. Oh boy, it's finally my time to fly! But wait, I don't have a Glider Station. What's more, I can't build a Glider Station. Where is the Glider Station? Is this 'Glider Station' in the room with us right now?

Eventually I learned that this is a bug - the game is supposed to give you more prompts to guide you up the mountain in the game, where you will learn how to make the Glider station, and THEN you are supposed to get the prompt to build your glider. To drive that point forward: The. Tutorial. Is. Bugged. The thing that teaches you how to play the game does not work correctly. I know it's Alpha, and I know I don't make games, but this seems like such an oversight.

Finally, I made my Glider, and took off. It was... fine. The camera cuts to third person when this happens, but your character is so stiff and rigid flying around. It felt cool to zip around, but it didn't feel good if that makes any sense.

Maybe I'll circle back around on Aloft when it's in Beta or 1.0, but this just wasn't it for me.

Goblin Cleanup

But this was!!! Play as a goblin henchman whose job it is to clean up and reset all the traps in the dungeon before the next group of heroes arrive! For some reason, gamified mundane shit always gets me, and this game was no exception.

Goblin cleanup is almost beat-for-beat a reproduction of Viscera Cleanup Detail. Instead of a mop, you stab a slime and poke bloodstains with it until it soaks them all up (and dies?!). Instead of washing the mop, you feed the slime to a mimic, so on and so forth. Some improvements include:

Structure. You're given a list of tasks to complete, and they are checked off as you complete them. As a person with ADHD Inattentive Type, lists are key for me, so this was a big improvement over Viscera Cleanup Details approach of 'Clean until you're done and we'll tell you if you did good'. I'm neurodivergent with a praise kink, you've gotta tell me I'm doing good while I'm doing good.

Scanning. Hitting Q at any given point will highlight on your HUD where there are still items to be cleaned up. Massive improvement over Viscera Cleanup Detail, where you just have to kind of eyeball it.

I liked this! A lot! I could see myself buying this, or even just going back and trying to finish the level proper before NextFest is over.

Pawn Planet

I'm a massive mark for shop-owning games, and even more so if the game has a mechanic for haggling. Pawn planet has both, and by and large, I enjoyed it. The premise is simple, you run a pawn shop on a remote planet. Aliens come in an buy the stuff you have, or try to sell you things. When they approach the register you are given stats on the customer, like Anger, Knowledge, and Greediness. Using this, as well as the condition of the item you are buying or selling, you haggle on a price until one of you coughs up the cash. After the day is over, you can buy supplies to repair the items to make your money back.

Some days, there will be an auction at a storage planet where you roll the bones and bid on a Storage Locker of random items, storage wars style. Not going to lie, this had me hyped until I got fleeced on a board game I paid way too much for.

Other days, you will travel through a portal and ostensibly raid an alien base in order to murder civilians and take their stuff to sell. Okay, so the game doesn't say that, but the game also doesn't explain who these people are or why you are shooting them in the face. This section was underwhelming - The shooting isn't super tight, and you just sort of strafe and click on the aliens until they blow up. Not to mention there was some confusing placement of items in the alien base; Why are you putting what is obviously a safe in this room if it is not intended that I should try to crack it open and steal the rest of whatever was left in these creature's will?

Other bugbears included the fact that when you buy an item, only that item will come to your shipping bay, and you must remove it before you can buy another item. So in a situation where I needed three separate items, I needed to leave the computer, go to the shipping bay, retrieve it, and return to the computer... three separate times. Also, when traveling to the storage planet, I had to click where I wanted to go on my computer inside, then go outside to the spaceship to leave. These are small grievances, but the question and the sometimes vowel remains: Why?

This one gets a rec from me, I didn't spend too much time with it but I did enjoy it overall. Hoping that the finished product has a bit more polish.

The Alters

From the trailers I've seen of this game, it seems cool, but I didn't get far enough in the demo to really see the meat and bones. Which is to say I didn't get far enough to see any of the titular Alters. I, instead, ran headfirst into some radiation at some point, and lost about 10 minutes worth of progress that I just didn't have the nerve to redo, so I bailed. Luckily, these NextFest demos seem to not have expired, so maybe I'll go back and give it another shot.

In the meantime, there are a lot of Death Stranding vibes, a game I loved, and a base building mechanic similar to XCOM, yet another game I like. I think this has legs, and I enjoy the idea of alternate versions of the main character helping him out, but again - I didn't get there.

I dunno... seems neat.

Demonschool

This came at the recommendation of a friend, and I simply could not wrap my head around it. I'm a real sucker for teenagers at a weird school doing paranormal stuff, but the combat system felt very obtuse. One character only buffs, and two characters only attack. You choose the actions they will take but just kind of clicking around (not actually selecting the skills, just sort of running the character into targets), and then they play out those actions once your turn has concluded. Which I sort of get why, but it's still very disorienting. I only stuck around for two combats, so I can't say this is for me, but if you're into visual novelesque storytelling with Into the Breach Combat, this may be your cup of tea.

Reka

I think I remember seeing a trailer for this game during the Wholesome Direct or Cozy Direct or whatever the hell in 2023, but it seemed cool, and it is. This is effectively a base building game, except you're a young witch training under Baba Yaga and the base is a giant chicken house that you can drive around. It's pretty tight. Your character only looks like a haunted doll, regardless of what features you choose, and the controls are very floaty but I think this has a lot of potential. My first action once getting my Bird House was to see how big I could make the platform it sits upon, and the answer is 'pretty big'. This was one of a few demos that I actually saw through to the end, so I think that says quite a bit. Hoping the full release has some meat on these Chicken House Bones.

Thank Goodness You're Here!

I'm going to file this one under Biggest Disappointment of the Fest. I typically try to give games about 15 minutes at least so I can get a feel for what they're doing. This demo was 13 minutes long. It being by the creators of Untitled Goose Game had me excited, but ultimately you just kind of run around and slap things and everyone has a funny British accent. I was very un-wowed by the game, and very wowed when the demo ended so abruptly. Oh well, I suppose.

Tiny Glade

Not so much a game as it is a toy, but oh boy is it a fun one. Intuitively whip up little castles with no problem, and then walk around with them in the first person. I was so charmed by this that I called my artist wife in to sit down and take a look at it, and I didn't need to explain anything about it before she had build herself a little castle. You build little castles! What's not to love? I'm hoping there's more to it in the full release, or at the very point that the price point reflects what it is exactly.

Tiny Bookshop

Another one I saw in a cozy direct that I had my eye on that ended up kind of falling flat for me. This game boils down to a shop simulator, which I'm a huge fan of, obviously. But then there's the whole aspect of have percentages of book genres, and how many books you have affecting your likelihood to sell... it just didn't hook me in the way I hoped. The art style, however, was very good, and it's a delight to look at. This might be another one I take a stab at when I'm in the right headspace.

Wild Bastards

I heard Void Bastards was good, but I never actually played it. Wild Bastards seems pretty neat though... you are a couple of Wild West Robots (hell yeah) who are venturing across the galaxy and resurrecting your dead team members with a magic ship. Levels consist of beaming down to a planet and taking out enemies meticulously while not being killed yourself. You can only take down two team members at a time, but you can hotswap between them which is a neat mechanical way of changing weapons. Unfortunately, once I got my third team members, I was summarily shithoused by a bunch of plants and my run was ruined. Still, I had a lot of fun and I will be keeping a close eye on this one. Maybe not a day one buy, but certainly something to pick up.

That's my NextFest, folks. Love it or hate it, I love videogames and I like that demos are coming back in vogue. Til next time.

[pocketbelt]

TUNIC (PC/Steam Deck)

A Christmas gift from my good friend David; he's now 2-for-2 for gifting Zelda/Souls hybrid indie games whose stories feature the defiance/escape of death as a major element starring cute little animals

This one is one of "the greats"; this is a game that should be used as an example when talking about certain types or genres or styles of game, and very specifically TUNIC's puzzle aspect should be regarded as one of the best around (and the competition is fierce). While it takes obvious visual cues from the original Legend of Zelda in particular, and its combat is openly inspired by Bloodborne (note the meters and the limited health-refill potions), and it does this side of the game well, TUNIC's real strength comes through in its puzzles and its conceit of discovering and solving mysteries.

There's an in-game manual whose pages you find individually throughout the game world, drawing from the likes of Zelda 1's manual, from the time where game manuals would often be partly game guides in their own right; maps, enemy descriptions, what your objectives are and should be and so on are all in the manual. The twist is most of the manual, like 99% of the in-game text, is in a made-up language that only occasionally gives way to real language (so single English words, in my case, like suddenly seeing "CHECKPOINT" printed in the middle of a sentence). The idea is you have to infer from context, observation, the provided illustrations and the scraps of words you can understand to figure things out. It's that thing that FromSoft's Miyazaki has discussed, of reading Dracula in English but not knowing enough or being able to find enough to read all of it and filling in the gaps himself; in this case, TUNIC's creator Andrew Shouldice drew from his experience of reading old game manuals as a kid and not being able to read all of the words, and also not having the context to frame what he was reading and seeing anyway.

It captures that perfectly; especially if you know your videogames, you can from context, the scraps of pages you can find, the illustrations and more glean what's going on in any given area and what the broader plot is even with only a scant few words here and there to go off of. In addition to the perfect aesthetic capture of an old game manual, pages occasionally have been marked, annotated or drawn on with a pen or such to clue in to more things and secrets, it's great.

It reminds me particularly of the AVGN video about Swordquest, an old aborted series of Atari games based around completing sections of the game to get page numbers for the game's comic book manual, using the hints and clues of one to solve the other and vice versa, to decode a secret message for a real-world contest. Just the experience of having game and manual as a pair, solving both by jumping back and forth to get a complete picture, it's an idea I've loved the concept of since seeing that video, and TUNIC is more or less exactly that, but the added touch of most of it not being in plain text, of needing to be interpreted, really does spice it up even more.

In that way it's one of those games that feels like a celebration of the artistry of the medium; not just what you can do with the mechanics and structure of a game, but with elements of them that have since faded from use. To consider the manual a key part of the game itself, part of the text, that's something you don't get any more, it's something of a lost form of art, or at least a lost part of the medium.

A beautiful little game. Go in knowing little more than what I've said here, like all great puzzle games.

[linuxgamenews]

POSTAL 2 latest update also brings Steam Deck compatibility

POSTAL 2 game gets a free anniversary update with Steam Deck support, Linux, and Windows PC. All of these changes are due to the hard work and dedication of the developer team at Running With Scissors. Available on Steam, but has a massive discount on GOG or Humble Store. POSTAL 2 is a first-person shooter game that has been around for 20 years. Also selling 5 million copies but still making waves. You know, the one with the Supreme Court case and a Guinness World Record for "Most Critically-Divisive Video Game." The good news is that there is a free anniversary update out on Steam for Linux and Windows. So if you're still a fan or if you've never played it before, now's the perfect time. It's still hard to believe the game is in the Guinness World Record for being the most controversial. The creators of POSTAL 2, Running With Scissors, are celebrating the game's 20th anniversary by introducing a huge update. Since this adds a bunch of new features and upgrades. They even made sure it work great on Linux powered Steam Deck. They're adding a Two Weeks in Paradise mode and a Classic mode to the base game. So you can mix things up and play it like it's the good old days. Plus, they're adding in-game day selection and more. For starters, Running With Scissors restored the original number of particles for blood effects. So now it's going to look even more realistic when you destroy enemies. And they improved the Muzzle Flash Effects, due to make it more exciting when you shoot guns.

POSTAL 2 - Official Trailer (2015)

But that's not all! They also added new weapon options, like using Cat Silencers on more weapons. And even dual-wielding Sawn-Off Shotguns. Plus during the apocalypse in the game, the bystanders are going to use more weapons too. So get ready for some real chaos on Linux. In POSTAL 2, you play as a guy named Postal Dude, and you have to complete daily chores like buying milkm getting autographs from TV stars, and returning library books. But things can get crazy! You can use guns or choose to be peaceful and avoid violence. The game is all about the Linux player's choice and expression. The new update has features like Crackola and weapon vending machines. There are new cheats and even special behaviors for experimental cats. There are also some restored voice lines for Postal Dude that were previously unused. POSTAL 2 is a game that some people really love, and others really hate. It's known for being really funny, but also violent and controversial. Yet it's still a popular game after all these years. The POSTAL 2 free anniversary update is available now. Priced at $9.99 USD / £8.50 / 9,75€ on Steam. But you might want to grab the 90% discount on GOG or Humble Store for a limited time.

[flawedamythyst]

I posted 550 times in 2022

That's 25 more posts than 2021!

56 posts created (10%)

494 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@raedear

@forpiratereasons

@winterhawk-olympic-bang

@snake-snack-stede

@thirdspin

I tagged 367 of my posts in 2022

Only 33% of my posts had no tags

#our flag means death - 173 posts

#the old guard - 62 posts

#marvel - 40 posts

#ofmd - 30 posts

#whob - 27 posts

#my fic - 25 posts

#winterhawk olympic bang - 19 posts

#immortal husbands - 16 posts

#winterhawk - 14 posts

#nicky/joe - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#i try to be normal about it all but also there is a part of me that would really like her to get divorced and go back to her maiden name

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I need you all to know that I am 11 working days away from leaving my public-facing job at the UK's largest military charity, yes the one with 'royal' in the name, the Queen as our patron and a supporter base that is largely elderly and very patriotic, and I am taking it as a personal insult that the Queen has chosen to make those last days a living hell for me. I am going to have so many phone calls where I'll have to be 'saddened by this great loss' and 'touched by your kind words'.

Just...why would the Queen pick on me like this? What did I ever do to her?

17 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

#4

This is SV Tenacious, the only tall ship in the world designed and built to be sailed by a truly mixed ability crew, including including disabled people, those with mental health conditions or long-term ill-health issues. She has features such as wheelchair lifts and wide decks that provide equal and easy access throughout the ship, a speaking compass that enables those with visual impairments to steer the ship and signage in braille, guidance tracks, tactile stair strips and raised directional arrows on handrails for people with visual impairments.

I’ve sailed on her several times, and seen wheelchair users go up the mast and visually impaired people steer her into harbour, and the impact on people’s self-confidence that being a full part of the crew, able to take part in every aspect of sailing a ship, has on people.

All her voyages had to be cancelled over the pandemic, and now the charity that runs her, the Jubilee Sailing Trust, are facing administration if they can’t raise a certain amount by Thursday 14th. If they do, it will be a huge loss for a lot of people.

I realise this is a difficult time, financially, for lots of people, but if you can spare anything to help keep them going, please do, or even just share this post in case others can help. This charity means a lot to me and my family.

You can donate here.

They’re currently ringfencing donations made so if they do go into administration, anything you donate will be refunded.

20 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

#3

The Old Guard | Joe/Nicky | Teen | 21,249 words

Three different times, hundreds of years apart, when Nicky waited for his soulmate timer to tick down to zero.

“Ah, so you are soulmates,” said the scientist, Kozak, turning Joe’s wrist in the restraints to see his zeroed numbers. “We weren’t sure.”

 She was holding a scalpel in one hand. Nicky couldn’t take his eyes off it, knowing that it was going to be slicing into Joe’s flesh soon.

 “We’ve never kept a secret of our love,” said Joe. “Nicky is everything to me. And you’re intending to hurt him. How do you think that will end for you?”

 Kozak gave him a dismissive look, one which Nicky was sure she would come to regret. “I’ve always wondered how these work,” she said, looking back down at the faint red of Joe’s numbers. “They make no biological sense, you know."

Written for @oldguardbigbang

With art by @iwritesometimes

24 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

#2

Marvel | Clint/Bucky | Explicit | 48,865 words

Written for @winterhawk-olympic-bang

Clint and Bucky have been fucking after missions for a while but as long as Bucky tells himself they’re just buddies letting off steam, he can pretend it doesn’t mean anything queer. Which works great, right up until it doesn’t.

Just as he’s trying to distance himself from Clint to avoid the mess he’s made, an altercation with a mutant ends with both of them sent back in time to the place Bucky still considers home: 1939 Brooklyn.

Trying to lay low and not fuck up the timeline, they're forced to depend on each other to survive in the past. While Bucky slowly starts to work through his issues, Clint throws a wrench in the works by making pals with the guys next door - a much younger Bucky and Steve.

Been waiting to post this for so long! Hope you all enjoy it! Mind the homophobia tags.

Also keep an eye out the fantastic embedded art by @kangofu-cb and @claraxbarton!

73 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Is there any greater AO3 crime than marking a fic as Complete when it isn’t?

146 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[yaboybats]

(ANON hands to YABOYBATS a coupon with the label "For one post about warship design, 1863-1910")

Good news, this is a buy one get [UNKNOWN] free!

Imma start with ironclads and keep going until I run out of things to say.

So! It's the 1860s. The Industrial Revolution (and its consequences) have already happened, the Bessemer process has made steel and high quality refined iron easier to create than ever, and steam engines are powering all sorts of things.

Warships however... still look an awful lot like your classic age of sail multi-decked monstrosity. Because they are! Outside of the introduction of rifled cannons and explosive shells, things really haven't changed much. In fact, quite a few admirals were against the use of explosive shells since they made outright destroying a vessel from range instead of conducting honorable boarding actions much more possible. (it is very difficult to sink something less dense than water by poking holes in it) The main method of steam propulsion is paddle wheels, which are great for river boats, not so much for warships. Restricts firing arcs and is positioned in such a way that it's very vulnerable to getting cannonballed into scrap quite fast.

So that leaves us with wooden warships with sails and broadsides. Broadsides were a good way of putting as much fire in one direction as possible, but only worked sideways. (Sides of ships are broad.) Sails restrict how you can, well, sail. The wind is a fickle mistress.

So where do you go from here? Well, not too long ago, the british had the idea of sticking iron on the side of barges they were using for shore bombardment. As it turns out, iron is a lot less explodey than wood. The french had the idea of doing this to a proper warship (called the Gloire) and the british, always one to one up the french, made their own. These were still generic sailing ships, just with iron armor on the sides. Iron cladding, you could say. Ironclads!

These ships, to be frank, weren’t that great. They were still wooden sailing ships with broadsides and had quite a lot less firepower than their contemporaries owing to their increased weight.

The americans, busy with their civil war, had some ideas. I will broadly classify these as casemate and monitor designs.

The confederacy, desperate to break the union blockade, had to get weird. Using captured and homemade hulls, they slapped on railway iron hulls. The most famous of these designs was the C.S.S. Virginia. This casemate design solved several of the above problems. It had a propellor, broadsides with swivel guns (guns with variable mounting. In this case multiple firing ports offset at angles on the bow and stern), and casemate armor. This is sloped armor with firing ports. It also had a ram, which didn’t do much, though that didn’t stop it from becoming popular.

It proved devastatingly effective, causing the greatest loss of life in the US navy until pearl harbor at its first and only showing, the battle of hampton roads. Only the smokestack wound up suffering significant damage after combat with an entire fleet of wooden sailing vessels.

Casemate vessels were used by both sides. The union obviously had more, and mostly used them for shore bombardment, much like the original british vessels.

The monitor design is much more interesting. So named for the first such vessel, the U.S.S. Monitor. The Monitor featured the first gun turret put to sea. It was a low and flat ship, other than retractable smokestacks, an armored “pilothouse” where the ship was steered and captained, and the turret itself. The goal was that the turret could fire in any direction while the ship can have any heading. They ended up unable to fire over the pilothouse because it deafened the captain and didn’t fire over the smokestacks.

The union made a great many monitors (some super-monitors had multiple turrets for some ungodly reason). They weren’t very seaworthy, but they were far more advanced than… anything else in the world.

After all this, everyone realized that propellor driven ironclads with a turret was a great idea. Except some dude in england who did a hybrid sail ironclad with the turret in the middle deck. It sank and he died. He deserved it. Fucking moron.

From here until the pre-dreadnought era in the 90s, everyone is trying everything all at once. Shit gets wild. People love rams. People don’t love torpedoes even though they SHOULD. Guns get bigger and quicker firing. Ships gets dramatically weirder until steam engines stop sucking as much. The united states really like monitors for some reason.

Part two will cover important things like weapon development around this time because that feeds into a lot of the other stuff needed for pre-dreadnoughts and dreadnoughts.

[novumtimes]

Xbox console sales continue to nosedive as Activision boosts earnings

Are new Xbox Series X consoles a pointless endeavour? (Microsoft) Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to save Xbox from disaster, as the company records another significant drop in hardware sales. If it wasn’t clear already, from the talk of next generation hardware and marketing beats downplaying the console, the Xbox Series X/S has been a significant flop. The console’s decline is on display in Microsoft’s latest financial report, for the quarter ending June 30, 2024, which saw hardware revenue drop 42% year-over-year. This follows the company’s previous quarterly results where sales dropped 31% over last year. These results are especially bleak considering it’s only been four years since the Xbox Series X/S launched. For context, sales of the Nintendo Switch, seven years into its lifecycle, recorded a drop of only 12.6% year-over-year in Nintendo’s latest financial report. Elsewhere in Microsoft’s financials, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard has helped to paper over the cracks. Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Game Pass, was up by 61% over the previous year, but Activision Blizzard contributed 58 points of net impact to this number, so it only went up by 3% if you remove that from the equation. It’s a similar picture in terms of gaming revenue, which went up by 44% overall. Without the acquisition of Activision Blizzard however, which contributed 48 points of net impact, Microsoft gaming revenue would have been down 4%. While Microsoft didn’t reveal specifics in terms of Game Pass subscriber numbers, it did highlight a statistic around monthly active users across platforms – which now includes Amazon Fire TV sticks. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, said: ‘We now have over 500 million monthly active users across platforms and devices. Our content pipeline has never been stronger.’ Along with highlighting the Fallout TV show, which apparently caused hours played for Fallout on Game Pass to increase ‘nearly five times’, Microsoft specifically mentioned Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 as a reason for optimism, which will launch on the subscription service day one on October 25, 2024. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 will undoubtedly be a significant boon in terms of financials, as one of the biggest franchise’s on the planet, but it’s another case where the acquisition of Activision Blizzard – which cost Microsoft $69 billion – is propping up shortcomings elsewhere. Earlier this month, Xbox announced plans to increase prices across all Game Pass tiers, which will come into effect from September 12. Microsoft is also launching a new white, discless version of the Xbox Series X, alongside a 2TB black version, later this year. It’s unlikely that these new consoles will have any significant impact on hardware sales numbers though, especially as Microsoft continues to push its multi-platform strategy and tease its next generation plans. More Trending Read More Stories Last month, Xbox boss Phil Spencer stated that the company is working on a handheld device, following the success of the Switch and Steam Deck. Black Ops 6 will probably keep Xbox’s financials ticking along (Activision) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE : Older Xbox One consoles are not updating making them offline-only MORE : Reminder: Microsoft is shutting down Xbox 360 store forever from today MORE : ‘We’re not blessed with big marketing budgets’ admits Xbox Europe boss Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they’re seen on the site. Privacy Policy » This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Source link via The Novum Times

[jcmarchi]

Steam Deck OLED Announced

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/steam-deck-oled-announced/

Steam Deck OLED Announced

Valve has unveiled its first upgraded iteration of the Steam Deck. Dubbed simply the Steam Deck OLED, the new handheld features several technical and form factor improvements, and it goes on sale next week.

As the name implies, the device boasts an HDR OLED screen to produce more vibrant colors. It also boasts a larger battery for an increased charge – 30-50% more battery life depending on the game, with Valve pointing out that the OLED screen consumes less power.

The device also includes an updated and more efficient AMD APU and Wifi 6E, resulting in downloads up to three times faster for increased bandwidth and lower latency. Steam Deck OLED also runs cooler thanks to its bigger fan and improved thermals. Overall, the device is 5% lighter than the original model.

Steam Deck OLED becomes available on November 16. It comes in three models based on storage and add-ons, including one Limited Edition variant featuring a different color scheme. Here’s a breakdown of the specs and price of each one:

512GB OLED – $549.00

512GB NVMe SSD

1280 x 800 HDR OLED display

7.4″ Diagonal display size

6 nm APU

Wi-Fi 6E

50Whr battery; 3-12 hrs of gameplay (content dependent)

45W Power supply with 2.5m cable

Carrying case

Steam profile bundle

1TB OLED – $649.00

1TB NVMe SSD

1280 x 800 HDR OLED display

7.4″ Diagonal display size

Premium anti-glare etched glass

6 nm APU

Wi-Fi 6E

50Whr battery; 3-12 hrs of gameplay (content dependent)

45W Power supply with 2.5m cable

Carrying case with removable liner

Steam profile bundle

Exclusive startup movie

Exclusive virtual keyboard theme

Limited Edition Steam Deck OLED

Limited Edition 1 TB OLED – $679.00 (available only in the U.S. and Canada)

1TB NVMe SSD

1280 x 800 HDR OLED display

7.4″ Diagonal display size

Premium anti-glare etched glass

6 nm APU

Wi-Fi 6E

50Whr battery; 3-12 hrs of gameplay (content dependent)

45W Power supply with 2.5m cable

Limited Edition carrying case with removable printed liner

Steam profile bundle

Exclusive startup movie

Exclusive virtual keyboard theme

Once it launches, Steam Deck OLED will become the default Steam Deck moving forward as Valve is phasing out the original LCD models. As such, the first generation Steam Decks have been permanently discounted: $349 for the 64GB LCD, $399 for the 256GB LCD, and $449 for the 512GB LCD. These models will be available until they’re out of stock. You can wishlist and read more about Steam Deck OLED on its official Steam store page. 

What do you think of the Steam Deck OLED? Will you be upgrading from your original model or is this enough to get you to buy the device for the first time? Let us know in the comments!

[ovenbakeriesmachine]

Oven Making Machine & Ovens Bakery and Bread

1.       Oven-Making Machines:

Manufacturing ovens, especially industrial ovens used in bakeries, involves specialized equipment and processes. These machines are designed to create ovens of various sizes and types, including deck ovens, convection ovens, rotary ovens, and more. Here are some key aspects related to oven-making machines:

·         Design and Fabrication: Oven-making machines are responsible for shaping and welding the oven's components, such as the interior baking chambers, heating elements, insulation, and exterior casing.

·         Control Systems: Modern ovens often incorporate advanced control systems for precise temperature regulation and automation. Oven Making Machine may also include control panel assembly and wiring.

·         Safety Features: Safety is paramount in oven production. These machines should ensure that safety features like emergency shut-off systems and temperature monitoring are integrated into the ovens.

·         Testing and Quality Control: Before ovens leave the manufacturing facility, they typically undergo rigorous testing to ensure they meet quality and safety standards.

·         Customization: Some oven-making machines are adaptable to create custom ovens tailored to a bakery's specific needs, such as size, type, and features.

2.       Ovens in Bakery and Bread Production:

Ovens are a critical component in bakery operations, especially for bread production. Here are some key points related to ovens used in bakeries:

·         Types of Ovens: Bakeries use various types of ovens, including deck ovens, rack ovens, convection ovens, and rotary ovens. Each type serves different purposes and has specific features.

·         Baking Techniques: Different bread varieties require specific baking techniques. For instance, hearth bread like baguettes is often baked in deck ovens with stone hearths for a crusty exterior, while convection ovens are suitable for even baking in pans.

·         Steam Injection: Many bakery ovens are equipped with steam injection systems to create the ideal environment for baking bread. Steam helps develop a crisp crust and gives bread its characteristic texture.

·         Temperature Control: Precise temperature control is essential in bakery ovens. Bakers monitor and adjust oven temperatures to achieve the desired results for different bread recipes.

·         Loading and Unloading: The way bread is loaded and unloaded into ovens varies depending on the oven type. Rack ovens have racks that are wheeled in and out, while deck ovens often require manual loading with a peel.

·         Capacity: Bakery ovens come in various sizes to accommodate different production volumes, from small artisan bakeries to large-scale commercial operations.

3.       Online Search: Start by conducting an online search using relevant keywords. Use search terms like "oven-making machine manufacturer," "bakery oven supplier," and "bread-making machine prices." Specify your location if you're looking for local options, such as "oven-making machine manufacturer in Patna, Bihar."

4.       Visit Manufacturer: Explore the websites of manufacturers that specialize in industrial bakery equipment. Many manufacturers provide detailed information about their product offerings, including oven-making machines, oven bakery machine, and bread-making machines.

5.       Manufacturers and Suppliers: Once you've identified potential manufacturers and suppliers, reach out to them directly. You can usually find contact information on their websites. Send inquiries about the products you're interested in, request price quotes, and ask about specifications and available models.

6.       Compare Offers: Receive quotes from multiple manufacturers and suppliers, if possible. This will allow you to compare prices, equipment specifications, and any additional services offered. Consider factors such as warranty, maintenance, and customer support.

7.       Consult with Industry Experts: If you're unsure about the specific equipment you need or want expert advice, consult with industry experts, such as bakery consultants or professionals with experience in commercial baking. They can provide valuable insights and recommendations.

[richdadpoor]

Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Steam Deck looks bad but plays great

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a delight on Steam Deck — even though I sometimes can’t tell what’s going on. I suspected that might be the case going in. Everything I had seen about Baldur’s Gate 3 before I downloaded it promised a vast, sprawling adventure, and all the streams of the game I watched on Twitch featured incredibly detailed characters and worlds. I’m sure most of those streamers were running…

[linuxgamenews]

Things are bound to get hilarious soon with The Jackbox Naughty Pack

The Jackbox Naughty Pack game unleashes a date for the release on Linux, Steam Deck, Mac, and Windows PC. Thanks to the creativity of Jackbox Games, Inc. Due to make its way onto Steam. Jackbox, the studio behind a decade of party game favorites, unleashes the heat with their latest release date for The Jackbox Naughty Pack. Releasing on September 12, 2024, this collection is Jackbox’s first foray into adults-only territory. So it’s going to get wild on Linux and Steam Deck. The Jackbox Naughty Pack includes three new titles, each designed for mature audiences, and it already unleashes its ESRB rating of M for Mature and PEGI 16+. It’s a bit of a departure from the studio’s usual teen-friendly fare, but that’s what makes it exciting. And don't worry, it’s packed with the features you’ve come to know are here too. Such as easy log-in with QR codes and tools to keep your live streams free of unwanted interruptions. Plus, there’s also full support in multiple languages including English, Spanish (both Castilian and Latin American), French, Italian, German, and Brazilian Portuguese.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack already unleashed an Official Trailer

Now, let’s talk about what's new:

Fakin’ It All Night Long (Social Deduction) If you loved the original Fakin’ It, get ready for its cheeky sequel. One player is the Faker each round, and it’s up to everyone else to figure out who’s fibbing. With prompts like “Put a finger up for every public restroom you’ve used today,” things are bound to get hilarious. A new “remote play” mode means you can play with friends even if you’re not in the same room. The Jackbox Naughty Pack unleashed a design for 3 to 8 players, so gather your crew and start faking!

Dirty Drawful (Drawing, Guessing) Dirty Drawful is the spicier sequel to Drawful, and it’s all about who can draw the most convincing (or the most ridiculous) pictures based on their “not-safe-for-work” prompts. Whether you're drawing or guessing, the goal is to make everyone believe your prompt is the real deal. Like Fakin’ It All Night Long, this one also works best with 3 to 8 players.

Let Me Finish (Debate) Ever wondered about life’s most absurd questions? In Let Me Finish, you’ll be debating the important stuff like, “Where is this mailbox’s butt?” or “How does this avocado get aroused?” It’s all about making your case and convincing your friends to see things your way. This is perfect for 3 to 8 players who love to debate the weird and wonderful.

Wishlist Now:

The Jackbox Naughty Pack is up for Wishlisting on Steam right now, so if you're looking to unleash some laughs to your next game night, this pack has you covered. Make sure to follow Jackbox on social media for the latest updates as we get closer to launch day. So, mark your calendars for September 12th, the release date for The Jackbox Naughty Pack, will unleash for you. Available on all major platforms, including Linux, Steam Deck, Mac, and Windows PC, priced at $23.50 USD / £18.51 / €21.69).

[gadgetsboy]

Meet Razer's Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed Earbuds

While Razer is known for its wide range of gaming PCs and laptops, the brand also deals with a lot of accessories as well, including wireless (and wired) audio products. With that said, Razer's Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed earbuds are aimed at winning over gamers with their unique design, as well as a rich set of audio features. Should you get them? Let's take a look. Design Right off the bat, you can see that the Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeeds come with the trademark Razer design language, which features RGB chroma lighting, this time on the sides of the earbuds. This lighting is customizable, so users have a bit more freedom when it comes to how they want their earbuds to look. At the same time however, Razer has adapted a bit of minimalism with regards to how the earbuds look - similar to other wireless earbuds on the market, the HyperSpeed earbuds come with a rather long stem, as well as a glossy black design that adds a touch of elegance to an otherwise gaming-centric look. As for the charging case, Razer has also opted for a more simple look - there's an LED indicator in front, and the case also comes with a USB-C port, and wireless charging support. Features Razer has packed the HyperSpeed earbuds with a ton of features. As with most other premium earbuds on the market, the HyperSpeeds feature active noise cancellation, as well as ambient mode for added transparency, and even gaming mode which is designed to reduce latency. Additionally, there's also support for Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.4 GHz connectivity, as well as THX® Certification. The earbuds are compatible with different devices and gaming platforms, including desktop PCs, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck, laptops, and even smartphones. Should you wish to pair them with a device that lacks native Bluetooth connectivity however, Razer has included a dongle which will be able to serve as a point of connectivity between the earbuds and the main device. As mentioned earlier, the earbuds will come with support for both wired USB-C charging via the case, as well as wireless Qi charging with compatible wireless chargers. In terms of battery endurance, the HyperSpeed earbuds can last for up to 24 hours with top-up charges from the case, although this number will vary depending on usage, as well as ANC features. Availability If you want to grab a pair, the Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed earbuds are priced at around $199.99, meaning that they are set to compete against the likes of Apple's Beats Studio buds, Airpods, and other contenders like Samsung's Galaxy Buds series and the Pixel buds Pro. Of course, the added visual flair does make the HyperSpeeds a rather tempting choice, especially for users who are after a more gaming-inspired aesthetic. Read the full article