Vivaldi is closed source and based on Chromium (albeit modified), so it does not sound all that appealing. As long as uBlock origin, NoScript and Tampermonkey can unleash their full potential in Firefox, I’m likely to stick with it.

NGL, I’m really digging what they are showing in this marketing campaign.

You could buy the game on Steam, get the source code archive and then refund I guess. Or keep it anyway to play, I understand it’s quite good.

$200M ain’t no pocket change. One would hope such high-profile failures as this or Avengers would curb execs enthusiasm for live service games, but I’m not holding my breath.

I have noticed that trying to return to gaming mode after a long period in desktop mode triggered a reboot more often than not. My impression was that Steam updates that occur in desktop mode would trigger a restart, when attempting to return to gaming mode. That made the SD feel janky, with long restart times.

Don’t get me wrong, I found the SD to be a very versatile device, priced very competitively (compared to low-end gaming laptops for example). I will likely buy its successor if and when it comes out. As a portable gaming device, it’s the best deal around. As a daily driver PC, it’s okay but not great.

I’d say there is nothing too wild about my peripherals: 1080p60 display, USB mouse and keyboard and the occasional PS4 controller. Everything is indeed pretty much plug n play. However in my experience things go south after a while (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) and get fixed after a full restart cycle. Hard to say where it comes from exactly but the dock is a prime suspect.

Bought these to make the most out of those shipping costs. I do not tinker all that much, but having adequate tools like those certainly is a big help.

I also used them to replace the sticks of a Nintendo Switch joy cons with hall effects ones. I saw that similar components are available for the SD, but I currently have no drift problem, so …

I am not aware of better options than the Huaying fan for an OG Steam Deck LCD. Did you have something specific in mind ?

It was OK but not great. I used the official dock and had frequent peripherals issues which could were only solved by rebooting both the SD and the dock. Turning it off and on again is more a Windows that a Linux thing usually, so that was disappointing.

On the software side, the “flatpak” way of applications delivery usually works well, except when the Discover “store” randomly chooses to offer downgrades instead of upgrades. I used software such as Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, OpenShot, OpenRGB, LosslessCut, LocalSend with no hassle.

As expected, gaming performance on a 1080p screen was not as smooth as the native SD screen resolution. I would not recommend it for games needing a bit of oomph unless you are fine with sub 30fps.

Not sure what you mean. I got this one: https://www.ifixit.com/products/steam-deck-original-model-fan?variant=39723201658983

Erm, that’s quite the bare bones trailer we’ve got here, somewhat underwhelming. Not every trailer is going to be Long Live the Lich or War Eternal, but come on.

It was setup as a desktop PC for my kid, (official dock, 1080p display, kb+m) for the last year and a half. Bit of an experiment on my part here, because I was curious to know if it was really viable.

The short answer is: yeah, kinda, but with big caveats.

The long answer is:

• It’s alright to watch youtube, browse the web and such.
• It’s perfectly fine for creative tools (GIMP, OpenShot, Libreoffice, etc).
• It’s unsuited for games kids actually want to play (no Fortnite, no more Roblox as of this year, no Valorant, etc).
• It’s surprisingly unreliable. We have had frequent issues (once every two weeks or so), with peripherals suddenly stopping to work for no apparent reason, or the system being slowed waaaay down. Turning it off and on again worked most of the time, but that is not something I expected from a Linux-based machine.

This is actually more to my taste than the crossword, thanks !

Hopefully this is more fleshed out than the first game’s basic horde mode.

I will admit that Outward is something of an acquired taste. It’s not a looker for sure, and starts a bit harsh, difficulty-wise. However it has surprising depth and a true sense of discovery. It is very rewarding once you really get into it.

Plus it really shines in co-op play. It is the closest thing I know of, that can be compared to “Skyrim, but co-op”.

I stand by my recommendation as it is very much a “B game” and pretty unique.

Here are a few picks off the top of my head:

• Control: TPS, open-ish world, present day setting, solo only
• Deep Rock Galactic: FPS, mission-centric, sci-fi setting, solo & co-op
• Generation Zero: FPS, open world, sci-fi setting, solo & co-op
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits: Action-Adventure, open-ish world, fantasy setting, solo only
• Outward: RPG, open world, fantasy setting, solo & co-op
• Remnant: From the Ashes / Remnant 2: TPS, open-ish world, sci-fi & fantasy setting, solo & co-op

Story-wise EDF 6 is a sequel to 5, which was a reboot. The in-game ridiculous storytelling through radio communications is part of its charm, I find.

A few too many superlatives in their pitches for my taste. Not a bad idea overall, though the bias in favor of Rust is strong. Did it really become the go-to (heh) memory safe programming language for performance ?

Not sure what you are referring to. The refund policy on Steam is the same for any games, early access or not. The game’s version number or finished state makes no difference.

Maybe you are thinking of the pre-purchase situation, where you can refund up to 14 days after the game’s release, instead of the date of purchase.

Oooh I really liked the first one. Slept on it for years then played it on Steam Deck. It was a perfect game for a portable gaming system.