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This is so rad — and if you have a Quest 3 or 3S and a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee (1.02), you can try it too. It’s called Xelee, and yes, the mixed reality part is AI-coded: “Claude wrote every line of code.” The game part is from the Melee decompilation, though. I hope game companies are paying attention to the possibilities in this brave new world!
First announced in September, the headset has a recommended retail price of $99.99 and will be available starting November 19th (the same day GTA VI launches), with pre-orders opening at 10AM ET on October 29th.
Sony is promising to share more details on the step-up Pulse Edge headset model, which includes active noise cancellation and a detachable boom mic, ahead of its planned launch next year.
That’s according to analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, in a wider report on revenue from physical PlayStation games ahead of their elimination. 30 percent of Requiem’s PS5 revenue came from disc sales, exemplifying two trends Elliott finds: single-player AAA titles are especially reliant on discs, and the Japanese market is uniquely disc-centric.
[The Alinea Insight newsletter]
Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet has been “cooking up retro vibes” as part of Microsoft’s new Xbox Labs effort. The result is what looks like a vibecoded option to pick your dashboard on an Xbox console. This is simply an experiment right now and it’s not clear if we’ll ever see such an option, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma asks “blades on the web. Do we like this experiment?”
The new nine-piece collection created as part of a collaboration with Microsoft debuted at Ikea’s physical stores at the beginning of the month. But if you don’t have easy local access to meatballs and flatpack furniture, the Yxstaby collection, which includes accessories and furniture that draw inspiration from Xbox controllers, is now available through Ikea’s online store, too.
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While two colors have already sold out, Woot has the 8BitDo Pro 3 in grey for $46.99, 33 percent lower than the list price. This wireless controller is compatible with the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, as well as Windows, Apple, SteamOS, and Android devices. Despite its budget-friendly price tag, the Pro 3 is surprisingly well-equipped, with TMR joysticks, an included charging dock, and swappable buttons. Read our review.
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Digital Sun thanked Steam players for signing up for a first playtest of an upcoming game called ReVamp, but said that:
As stated on our socials, we’ve been concerned by recent news of games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published before the original is even out. With launch still months away, sharing a build with tens of thousands of players felt like too big a risk for ReVamp.
The studio adds that “We’d also love to see platforms keep strengthening protections for original work, so studios of every size can keep sharing their games early.”
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[Steam News]
Faraway, a game where you play as a shooting star and slingshot around other stars, is launching on November 5th on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S. The game blew me away in just a 10-minute demo last year, and I can’t wait to check out the full release.
The branding of the Hidisc HD-TCHD2MPDBK Type-C HDMI Mirroring Cable isn’t exactly simple, but if you’re looking for a Switch 2 dock that’s easy to stash they’re not going to get more streamlined than this. The cable’s launching in Japan for 1,980 yen (around $12.50) but you’ll need to connect and provide a USB-C power source in order for the Switch 2 to output video.
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The update for Housmarque’s intense PS5 shooter is out today.
If you missed the original versions, starting at 9AM PT/11AM ET today you’ll be able to preorder Analogue’s new Super Nt Plus and Mega Sg Plus retro consoles compatible with the cartridges from each respective platform. The new Plus versions come with several quality of life improvements including built-in wireless controller connectivity, USB-C power ports, and cartridge hot swapping.
Amazon started letting US and UK users stream games from Luna inside Prime Video in July, and today the feature will be available in Canada, France, Italy, and Spain to Amazon Prime subscribers on Fire TVs, Amazon says.
In November, Luna in Prime Video will launch in the remaining countries where Luna is available that don’t already have the feature: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden.
[Amazon Game Studios]
I’ve spent the past week testing Asus laptop instead of Asus handheld, so my X20 review got pre-empted. But since you can buy it for $1,300 today, here’s my insta-review: it’s not necessarily the new champ. It’s so refined, but I want to play Star Wars Zero Company right now. That game looks terrible here, but runs fine with the extra power of my Claw EX review unit.
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After being announced last June, you can now reserve Honeycomb Aeronautical’s $179.99 Echo Aviation Controller XPC without a deposit ahead of sales staring on November 20th. The gamepad swaps a standard layout for a collection of flight sim-specific controls like throttle levers, a trim wheel, rudder paddles, and even dedicated switches for deploying landing gear and applying an aircraft’s parking brake.
Nvidia’s new Arm-based laptop chip is an exciting new challenger, but exclusively for the high-end.
Following wearables with playable versions of Tetris, Mega Man 2, and Pong, My Play Watch’s latest timepiece comes saturated in Street Fighter II theming including various faces inspired by the game’s characters, a matching strap, and a version of the fighting game optimized for tiny touchscreen controls. You can preorder it now for $79.99 with shipping expected later this year.
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EasySMX’s upcoming $54.99 S05 Pro wireless controller doesn’t seem to leave out any features. It has a similar design to the X05 Pro, but with TMR sticks and more Switch features, like amiibo support, six-axis gyro, and one-button wake-up. More surprising are its two-stage Hall effect triggers that have dedicated rumble actuators (plus rumble in each grip). I’ll be testing it soon.
The first expansion DLC for post-post-apocalyptic roguelike Caves of Qud — one of my all-time favorite games — will let you play as a mutated plant or animal, among other new features.
Diaspora launches in Early Access on December 9th for $14.99. How many limbs can a puma have? Let’s find out.
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The website decomp.dev published a big statement following the recent influx of AI-assisted decompilations of games:
decomp.dev was originally designed to gamify decompilation: watching the progress go up was a fun way to stay motivated when every fraction of a percent took real human effort. Today, that same idea has warped decompilation into a hollow numbers game, exacerbated by folks who just want to burn tokens to make number go up or “port game to PC”, all else be damned. While the increased attention has brought in genuine folks who want to learn and contribute meaningfully, I believe that decomp.dev serving as a public index and leaderboard is now causing more harm than good.
