I'm kinda hoping someone will point out this feature already exists, but I wish there was a way to subscribe to a topic. Right now it feels like multiple instances are forming their own, say, gaming community, and it feels like this is splintering the community rather than growing it?

Other than that, I actually really like the decentralised nature -- and, while this is likely due to the very early nature of things, man is it nicer here. Weirdly feels like early Slashdot days...

After religiously following the order number tracking efforts on the Steam Deck subreddit (finally got mine May '22) it's been my 'clearing the backlog whilst sitting with the significant other' device...heavily punctuated with Vampire Survivors and, lately, Diablo 4. It's a great little roguelike device -- stuff like Cult of the Lamb, Spelunky 2, and Rogue Legacy 2 -- that I can just play for a few minutes wherever the Heck I'd like.

I still find it like holding black magic. I'm a software engineer, and I understand how it works, but playing a Windows port of a PS4 game (like Horizon) in Linux in my hands is something I don't think I'll ever not be impressed by!

Once I heard this version, any version without the theremin just felt...empty?

Making a top-level reply as I seemingly cannot reply directly to anyone who posts from kbin.social? Is this a federation issue -- or have I somehow set something up wrong?

@[email protected]:

I annoyingly couldn't see your image until I viewed your comment on kbin itself. Anyway, you say 'simple', but you may have put more effort in than me ;)

@[email protected]:

There are quite a few nice RPi projects, that's for sure...! Other than a RPi4 mini NAS-like server, I've got a couple of RPi Zeroes around the house for a house-wide music system.

If you find your RPi again and you wanted to make it a retro machine, as others here have mentioned you certainly don't have to go the whole hog; you could just install a pre-sorted distro (like RetroPie), hook it up to a TV, and use USB controllers.

Prey is a fantastic game -- and unfortunately the last Arkane game I 'clicked' with, and a good part of that is likely due to Prey being a spirtual successor to System Shock 2, and Dishonored being the successor to Thief. The roguelite DLC for Prey isn't bad either! I really wanted Harvey Smith to work on a successor to Deus Ex, but, oh well...

My other half and kid got me a Father's Day card and gift (whoopee cushion) last week. Their mistake; I expect another this week!

I admit I'm the same, mostly through habit, but that'll come to a stop once Sync stops working.

I'm mostly switching between the System Shock Remake (one of my Kickstarters finally coming through...) and Aliens: Dark Descent -- which is far better than I was expecting. The only real sticking points so far is the squad acting as 'one' (it's a pro and a con), and the sheer RNG of alien movements -- hit the RNG just right and you'll go from a Hunt event, straight into a difficulty increase, straight into a Boss encounter...!

Every now and then I turn off my ad-blockers (Pi-Hole, ABP, uBlock Origin, and Ghostery) for a particular site that I feel bad for blocking...and then re-enable them all once all the adverts -- and sheer volume of trackers -- spew data left, right, and centre. Unfortunately ad-blockers are just like condoms: they keep your machine virii-safe[r]. Much better use of your time, and likely better for a creator's pocket, is supporting them via Pateron or whatever gubbings they offer.

I also have an alternative use for uBlock Origin too -- blocking webpage elements on certain sites (such as WRC) that like to spoil things on their landing page when all you want to do is login and watch the event without being spoiled...!

I've played Diablo since the first one (back when my harddrive capacity was smaller than the CD the game was on!), but couldn't believe how many people mentioned that D4 felt great on a controller, even if they usually played with K/M. Seemed alien to me.

Goddamn were they right. Not only does it run very well on SD (I lock mine to 40FPS), but it really does suit a controller well. I might even switch to an XBox pad when playing on my main machine...!

Things are certainly pricier these days, that's for sure. Depending on what country you're in you might be able to find a decent arcade supplier for the sticks/buttons -- and even the cabinet itself (I used Arcade World UK.

For the actual system itself there's plenty of options these days, and a Raspberry Pi is more than capable to power most emulators. For the wiring of sticks/buttons, YouTube has a good chunk of resources.

Given cost, it might to wise to start with the RPi set-up, and if you're happy with how that works, look into getting the arcade 'shell' for it :)

I had it on the ZX Spectrum, where it was still absolutely vicious but not all that colourful! Seven year old me never completed it, even after I got it on Amiga, but I might just give it another go on seeing this. ...I can still hear the theme tune...!

I understand you don’t and that’s fair enough

Yup, shot your opinion down hard didn't I? More like I said I understand you don't agree, but maybe tone down your vitriol. I'm not sure how I could have been more accommodating of your opinion without, well, joining your echo chamber.

Try not to pull an emergency stop with that decoration, yeah.

Also, I didn't create this to argue with people who do like their vinyl; I just wanted to promote some form of discussion in the new community. I'm glad you're enjoying the discs you've got.

I fell into the SE pit a little while back. I really enjoyed it being such a long slog with long-term objectives, but then after a while it felt like I could play a few hours after work and get nowhere. If you want your Factorio game to feel like it'll never end, and there always being something else to work towards, it definitely scratches that itch!

Soundtracks filled front-to-back with bangers that have stuck with me over the years:

Sonic Mayhem's Quake 2 -- and, of course, Trent Reznor's Quake. 植松 伸夫 -- Final Fantasy 7. Grant Kirkhope/Graeme Norgate's GoldenEye 64. Max Lichtenstein's Pax Imperia 2. Richard Joseph's Chaos Engine. Just about anything Mick Gordon touches. ...aaaaand just about every Mario, Metroid, Sonic, DOOM (Heretic included), Command and Conquer, Advance Wars...

The only downside was I had to cut up a copy of Killing Joke to achieve it...!

To be fair, that's all this is -- it's an RPi3 with a monitor, with the sticks/buttons plugged into a USB device. I originally wanted to build a proper tall cabinet for it, but I knew I'd never really have the room for it!

It's my little one that gets the most use out of mine too, that's for sure.

As @[email protected] said elsewhere I think I enjoyed building it more than actually sitting down to replay something specific. It doesn't help that I have a million other little projects (game programming, music production, model painting, sim-racing...!) that become more interesting as I make progress on another...

Still, I'm glad my darling daughter and her friends get use out of the machine!

I totally get that, and if I had the space I'd do the same. That said, I've done almost the same; listening to the albums loud whilst looking through the new booklets...just no spinning vinyl part. It's always cool when the physical packaging is something more than just media, but CDs used to be just as good there too (albeit smaller I guess). I think most CDs that came out 1995-2010ish had effort put into the packaging. Hell, even DVDs like 'And All That Could Have Been' came with that see-through plastic message from Trent which was cool. I get that the subtle crackle of vinyl might elevate the vibe and listening experience though. ...maybe one day... (if the vinyl doesn't warp due to sunlight...)

Experiencing a new album physically is something painfully missing from the ease of just buying digital music though.

For classics like Out Run, or something else?