GamingOnLinux spotted the first* scalper:

https://mastodon.social/@gamingonlinux/116817671387716292

*first I’ve seen

Weird to congratulate someone for randomly earning the right to buy a product…

But, ya know, congrats.

Full email:

You are on the waitlist for Steam Machine 512GB

When we did the one-time randomization of the list, your place in line ended up beyond the number of units we’ll have in this production run.

As we work our way through the reservation queue, some customers may cancel their reservations. If that happens, you may be moved into the reservation queue, and you’ll be notified via email that you have a reservation after all.

This is the only email you will receive about the results of the randomization. If you ended up with a waitlist spot for one or more models, you’ll be placed on the waitlist for the model that you were closest to the front of.

Just got my email. I’m on the waitlist, no date given.

Glad I got a BC250 to fiddle with. I know it’s not the same, but it still scratches an itch. Kinda worried that the Machine price may still go up in future production runs.

I trust you’re checking Is There Any Deal… Pragmata has had pretty consistent $10 off from other Steam key stores, including Fanatical right now.

*Budgie

FYI I don’t think you need to flash the BIOS for dynamic memory anymore, someone has figured out how to do it from inside Linux.

I used the links in the “Not always required” section of this page:

https://elektricm.github.io/amd-bc250-docs/bios/flashing/

Don’t worry, if it doesnt, some other much worse *-pocalypse will make it all moot!

Does Remote Play work for non-Steam games running in Steam?

You’re assuming there is an author…

Did this on Steam Deck. Holy shit 100GB download just to start the game followed by another 16GB download once logged in + glacial “verifying integrity” progress bar…

Enjoying the menu theme music though :)

Don’t announce a price and see every single comment section devolve into pricing discourse.

Before the comments just become another pricing argument, I want to say I’m still hyped. These look like really cool products.

Sure, with the caveat that everyone’s definition of “playable” is different.

I am using the latest Eden AppImage and a 1.4.2 ROM. I didn’t change anything in Eden besides controller setup and increasing the RAM to 8GB (this has to be done in the game config). This gets you fps in the teens and 20s.

Then I ran the NX Optimizer AppImage. I used the Steam Deck preset and chose the 2nd of the 2 TotK entries on the game menu. The only change I made was the lower shadows to 512x. I don’t know if that did anything… the shadows do look pretty bad. Then I clicked “Apply”. Note that if you have multiple emulators, NX is going to try to figure out which one to apply to. I’d get rid of anything that’s not Eden AND the settings folders that are in ~/.local/share.

NX adds a “mod” entry you can view and turn on and off in the game settings. It also installs something called UltraCam, and you’ll know that because it changes the game opening and adds UI elements. Now I have no clue what any of this stuff is doing. It’s poorly explained… Like is it just modifying emulator settings you could do yourself? Is it doing something to the ROM? No clue. You can make adjustments to UltraCam settings by hitting both triggers combined with left stick click. I changed resolution to 900p, and turned on FSR. But it’s unclear how much that helped.

Anyway, the result is a max, locked 30 fps. It will dip while shaders are caching and when you first use ultrahand and in villages and other areas with fire. It is not smooth by any means but it’s “mostly smooth”. Usually in the open world and in shrines it’s stable. There’s also some banding from what I assume is anti-aliasing, but I don’t see any turned on in any setting I can locate, so who knows.

Like I said, it’s good enough for me. Like you the ergonomics of the Steam Deck are so much better than Switch that I’ll take the compromise here.

They’ve published a bunch of updates, with pretty detailed change logs. Have you checked to see if they addressed that issue?

I haven’t got nearly that far. It’s an absolutely amazing recomp and I love that it exists, but as I’m fiddling with the controls and the camera and the combat I’m just thinking “Breath of the Wild exists, why am I doing this?”

Last month I finished up Transiruby, which is a really fun and breezy Metroidvania. The art style and the incredible chiptune soundtrack gave me big Axiom Verge vibes, despite being quite tonally different.

My June project is getting TotK emulation working satisfactorily, which finally happened last night after far too much trial and error. I know Nintendo’s lawyers have made everyone scared but the amount of vagueposting around this subject is maddening. This means I can likely sell my Switch as it was the only game I had left to play. It also means I have to play the first 10 hours of the game again…

I was confused by this news because I buy games cheaper from other retailers all the time, even Steam keys. I assume this about full retail price, but since PC games go on sale so often, it seems like “average retail price” can easily be lower through another store front.

I think anyone with a fairly basic understanding of economics (and that is admittedly a declining number in many places) understands the idea that “salaries and benefits are expensive”.

What he doesn’t explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big. Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?

He also doesn’t talk about anything outside of staffing, like marketing, cinematics, voice acting, localization, bribing Geoff Keighley…

This would all be more useful than the baby math lesson provided.

Oh yeah, I’d put up with weird looks for that + the more powerful chipset.

Still $999 here, although that’s for a more powerful processor. Those grips though, lol.