In today’s overkill digest, we look at Switch emulation on iPhones, the brilliance of EmuDeck’s new Retro Library, and rumors of a portable PS6.
Hi, hello, welcome, good day, and all that.
This is overkill digest, a newsletter about tech, gaming and my weird obsession with Oblivion Remake rumors (soon!!! More below.).
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Ok, that is all, let's get to this week's content:
🚀 Big Moves
- You can now emulate Switch games on iPhone... in the EU. To celebrate its first anniversary, the devs of the alternative App Store, AltStore PAL, have added AltStore Classic as a downloadable app inside AltStore PAL. Yes, it's as confusing as it sounds, but basically, AltStore Classic is the original alternative app store, that you needed to install with the help of a computer. But since the EU allows alternative app stores on iPhones, you can now simply install Classic directly through PAL (Inception, anyone?). The advantage of using Classic is the ability to run JIT (Just-in-Time compilation, basically good stuff for emulation). MeloNX, a Switch emulator for iOS, takes advantage of that JIT feature, so now you can run Switch games on your iPhone, if you are in the EU. (But if you are not, here are the steps for you.)
- EmuDeck adds a Retro Library right into Gaming Mode. I don't know how I've missed this news last week, as these are literally my hands in the video. This is a great update that I've been testing, and it's how I now start most of my ROMs on the Steam Deck. Instead of going through something like ESDE (I still want my ROMs separate from my games), I can now just open Retro Library, and boom.
🎮 Platform Updates
- The PS6 Portable will run PS5 games, apparently. I don't really know where the rumors came from, but apparently the next PlayStation will be portable? Or at least, that there will be a portable version of the PS6. According to "leakers" (take it all with a truckload of salt for now), it'll run PS5 games, just not at the same resolution/FPS. I'm guessing we still need to wait a couple of years, but I'm totally here for a portable PlayStation (and portable Xbox for that matter; just make everything portable).
- Bazzite now supports the MSI Claw. Since we're still waiting for a proper release of SteamOS for other platforms, Bazzite is the next best thing. Now with Bazzite 42, we get official MSI Claw support, updates from Fedora 42 (which Bazzite is based on), and more. If Game Pass would just come to Linux, I'd run this as my main OS on my Gaming PC.
💻 Hardware & Software
- The PS5 is more expensive in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In the EU and the UK, "only" the digital version got a price increase of £40 and €50 respectively. Australia and New Zealand meanwhile have to fork over $830 (Australia) and $950 for a standard one, and $750 (Australia) and $860 (New Zealand) for a digital one. No price increase in the US (yet?).
- I reviewed the Kindle Scribe 2. Originally shared to overkill Premium members, here is the full review of the Kindle Scribe 2.
- How to jailbreak your Kindle. On the topic of the Scribe, Dammit Jeff shares the rundown (via his video) on how to jailbreak Kindles as a guide here on overkill. Want to make your Kindle even better? This is how.
🎲 Playthings
- The Oblivion Remaster might totally release tomorrow. My hype levels are so damn high. Skyrim (modded) is my most played game ever. On all platforms, I probably have thousands of hours into the game. But I've always preferred Oblivion. The Shivering Isles is probably my favorite quest-line in all of gaming. So the rumors pointing to a shadow drop tomorrow have me so damn excited. It all looks to be true, as first we had leaked screenshots, then a chatbot confirming the release date, and finally the rumors saying that we'll even get all DLCs. But if you are as much an Oblivion fan as me, rejoice, since we'll get double the Oblivion thanks to the upcoming fan-remake (which is still in development).
- This game is Ludo but roguelike. As I have no clue what Ludo is, I’ll let Chris have this one: Ok, first up, I’m kinda surprised Kevin never played Ludo as a kid, but hey — I just thought this upcoming roguelike looked kinda neat. One for the wish list maybe.
- Diablo IV's first collab is with Berserk. Yeah, let's be honest, this one makes sense.
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🔒 Premium Deep Dive: Assassin's Creed is NOT better as a solo protagonist game
This week, Polygon published the following article:
Tyler Colp
It's completely wrong...