They also increased prices in Canada, by 7-15% afaict.
eg: MX Master 3S went up ~14%, $140 to $160.

Per their website:

As a non-profit that engages with a number of stakeholder groups across Canada’s internet, CIRA believes that transparency is essential to good governance.

They also detail their compensation and expenses further down that page.

I would probably recommend Bazzite as a gaming (and user-friendly, in many ways) OS alternative instead of Pop!_OS.
It is very simple to set up and use, and comes with multiple gaming-related tweaks by default.

I might have a very odd bug, but VLC only plays one song normally and then any song after that is complete silence. No updates or reinstalls could fix it.
YMMV perhaps?

For those in Western Canada, a lot of these products seem to be available at London Drugs - I’ve found X-Pur and Curaprox at least.

Sorry, I won’t be able to help since I don’t have Blue Dragon, but when you mention making changes to config files, is that in reference to info in this thread / google sheets?

As enjoyable as ever to read!
I think you might have missed the link to Nightdive Studios’ future endeavours? Or Voyager is not showing it at least.

I almost didn’t mention my game of the moment - I’ve been diving deep into Hollow Knight on the Deck, I just wish it supported HDR but otherwise it’s an experience like no other.

That’ll give a good reason to take the Pocket out of its case :)

shmups.wiki is pretty awesome, especially when you’re trying to optimise scoring

I found this Proton issue specifically mentioning issues with Death Stranding: Director’s Cut.
FWIW, Death Stranding (non Director’s Cut) doesn’t support the DualSense either way AFAIK.

I guess, by some standards, I could be qualified as a collector - I buy games for OG hardware before playing them.
However, and I don’t believe I’m the only “collector” doing this, if a game is bad, didn’t age well, etc, I will definitely say so and likely would sell said game if I’ve no interest in playing it again.

Sure, there are collectors who don’t play games at all and review based on price, if that, but I know there are also people who do it like I do.

That sounds encouraging, thanks!
I’m not concerned about coil while, since I’d also be playing with headphones on, but that’s noted.
I read about recent developments wrt FSR4, it sounds like that’s potentially close to functional indeed.
RT performance is a downside, however AFAIK that’s par for the course with AMD on Linux?

I’m somewhat torn between getting a 9070 XT now, or getting a cheaper, used GPU while the experience and/or drivers get ironed out. My only real worry is GPU prices going up as a result of US tariffs, so I’m leaning towards 9070 XT rather than the alternative .

Thanks for your write-up!
About a month later, would you say the experience has gotten better? Did you encounter any issues?
I’m able to get a 9070 XT close to MSRP ($949 CAD + 12% tax), but I’ve seen conflicting reviews regarding current performance (or crashes) on Linux, so I’m not 100% sure this would be an ideal choice.

Yep, thanks - so far I’ve avoided any guides and went in completely blind, I’m starting to explore the map again for what I might have missed.

Rated playable even before any release date was announced, interesting.

I’m still playing Divinity: Original Sin II.
I also picked up Hollow Knight recently and I’m making progress, albeit painfully sometimes haha.

I got my launch day PS5 from London Drugs, it was the easiest (not that it was, by any means, easy) to order from at the time.

Thanks for your advice!

I looked a bit more into x3d CPUs and was able to find a 7800x3d for a great price on ebay, I snagged that.
I will be on the lookout for used GPU options.

I’m slowly continuing my playthrough of Divinity: Original Sin II and absolutely loving it.
I also recently bought Stardew Valley, finally, and started playing it a bit.
Last one, Mushihimesama as the c/shmups Game of the Month.

Voyager works perfectly fwiw