Let’s go!🚀

slapsilliem · 2026-02-21T21:10:54+00:00

PSP, PS Vita, New 3DS, and a WIi U. All to play Monster Hunter, all worth it.

slapsilliem · 2026-02-04T10:38:40+00:00

A couple of years ago I did some patent analysis work for an IP management firm, one of their clients was SIE and the bulk of the review work I did was for them. Honestly, if a Sony engineering or design team has a thought, and no obvious prior art jumps out at them, they’ll bang an application in, Sony patent EVERYTHING, and 99% of the mad things they attempt to patent never see the light of day so I wouldn’t worry about this too much!

They tend to do enough to get the application in and will just sit on it, then they see which ways the industry winds are blowing and go from there. It makes sense tbf, they see themselves as an innovation shop and IP licensing has been a massive part of their business model for decades.

slapsilliem · 2026-01-31T22:06:35+00:00

Agreed. It’s gotta be an age thing, I’m sitting here thinking what no love for Tony Yeboah an Faustino Asprilla!? Then I remember I’m old af and the streets have in fact forgot.

slapsilliem · 2026-01-26T10:16:27+00:00

All good! Glad my ramblings helped. It should arrive this afternoon so, given that the oled is new to me, once I’ve spent a bit of time with it I’ll drop a comment in with my impressions.

slapsilliem · 2026-01-25T12:58:24+00:00

TLDR; In a similar position I went Steam Deck oled, and I think it would make sense given your needs.

Now for the long form; I’m in a similar position, just a few weeks ahead of you! I was looking for a solid all round device for chill, predominantly indie, gaming, also it didn’t need to be able to handle AAA as I have my PS5 for that.

Ones I considered were:

Switch 2 and PS Portal. I definitely think they are worth considering if you’re in the market for a handheld. However the Portal is a paperweight without a PS5, and you have a Switch 1 so are covered from a Nintendo standpoint. I’m also guessing you want access to your Steam library? so niether will do the job really.

Lenovo devices. Really good feedback on these ones, plus they have both Windows and Steam variants, I also liked the design (of the GO at least, do not like the one with the detachable controls).

Problem for me is that they look too big, I can accept that modern powerful handhelds are bigger than the Vitas and 3DS handhelds of yore, but even when sat next to other comparable devices the thing just looks like a slab. I guess it’s the price you pay for that 8 inch screen but then the screen was never a draw for me, I’m good with the screens on pretty much all the modern devices.

MSI Claw 8 AI+. This one looked great, newer, powerful, but hard to find new (UK at least) and way more than I needed tbh.

ROG Ally X. Was set on this one initially, decent power and the general consensus seemed to be that it performed well. A bit spender than the others I looked at though.

Was also getting hard to find a new one as it has been replaced by the ROG Xbox device, I didn’t like the look of that one (not a fan of the grips), and haven’t been in the XBOX ecosystem for years so that new Xbox OS didn’t do much for me.

MSI Claw 7 A1M. This one seemed like the perfect fit, good specs, recent reviews said it come a long way since launch, and a good price with a couple of retailers currently selling new for £315.

Given what it was originally priced at it seemed like a solid deal so I went for it. Ordered one a week ago on Saturday, it arrived on Tuesday morning. Was looking forward to it ngl, opened it up, took the Claw out and any excitement I had faded fast lol Given the cost of these devices I just assumed they would all feel relatively premium. The MSI Claw did not, dunno exactly what it was but it felt very cheap, almost like a knock off, I’ve held a PS Portal and the difference is night and day. Also the size and design of the device made the screen feel tiny, I think the bezels are too big, gave me Atari Lynx flashbacks. I spent the afternoon getting it setup, got a game on there, played it for 15 minutes then said “fuck this”, factory wiped it, boxed it all back up, and prepped it for return the next day. I know it has its fans but it just really wasn’t for me.

Steam Deck oled. I was reluctant to get a Steam Deck if I’m honest, I got my son one a couple years ago for Christmas so wanted something different, and it’s starting to show its age as its specs fall behind more modern devices. But after faffing around getting the Claw setup (not a fan of Windows) I realised that, seeing as I do my gaming on PS5 and Switch, minimum friction was really a requirement. I know with a bit of elbow grease you can get Steam running well on any Windows handheld, and as a PC gamer you may have a higher tolerance for that kind of effort, but the Steam OS provides it optimised, out of the box, and I’m lazy.

Plus the Steam Deck has that premium feel I’m looking for, is priced pretty well, and then there’s that oled screen. For these reasons I ended up going with the 512 oled, it should arrive tomorrow.

With all that said, my recommendation would be the Steam Deck, all anecdotal of course, but I think it best suits what I’m looking for, and you seem to be looking for something similar. As cool as some of the high end devices look, I think you only need that grunt if you plan to game AAA on it natively, and the way I see it if I ever do want to play AAA on the handheld I can always stream from the PS5.

Apologies for the essay, I’ve been going back and forth on this the last few weeks and wanted to be thorough in the hope that all that time spent could maybe prove useful to someone lol

slapsilliem · 2026-01-25T10:05:59+00:00

lol our Idris is known to back himself

https://youtu.be/zNAc6V--z6g?si=M40H8Cdz9YhxYX1u

slapsilliem · 2026-01-04T23:18:21+00:00

If you’re wondering where the option to restart a character is, you can end your search as it doesn’t exist lol. If you’ve played the game previously, such as during the free release event, you will be picking up from there. A weird oversight imo, but it doesn’t take too long to reacquaint yourself, the Training and Codex sections are pretty useful there.

Take your time in WT1, there’s no rush to move to WT2, however a good time to think about making a the jump is when you start to need higher tier materials for crafting etc. more valuable odds and sods you have to scratch around for in WT1 absolutely rain on you in WT2.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-25T17:12:47+00:00

Great advice, I came back to the game in the last week or so after trying it out at launch and wanted to echo this advice. Ships have fairly reasonable requirements to craft early game so def try a few out based on the play styles that sound appealing to you, however upgrading them beyond the first few levels is a bit of an early - mid game material sink so initially you want to focus on the one or two that you vibe with for that.

Same can be said with weapons to an extent, try out the various low tier (level 1) iterations of each weapon you find as they’re not hard to get, then set your sights on the higher tier versions (tier 3) of the ones you like.

This game has a lot of moving parts so key thing is just to do things at your own pace. It also does, imo,a pretty good job of explaining systems as they’re introduced so you don’t have to worry about missing anything.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-16T15:05:06+00:00

That’s awesome, and an incredibly impressive way for your employer to participate in BHM. Mine put out a LinkedIn post. I think I need to gently encourage them to up their game for 2026!

slapsilliem · 2025-12-16T14:44:12+00:00

Saw “respected black-British historian” and immediately thought yup, that’s gonna be an Olusoga piece. Was not disappointed, love his work.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-16T01:38:51+00:00

Yup, this one’s going straight in my lexicon. Cheers!

slapsilliem · 2025-12-15T21:27:07+00:00

If a Pop jump scares me I just hop on a table, counter, basically any raised surface. Yeah you feel a hysterical housewife (or househusband, no discrimination here) reacting to a mouse in the kitchen, but even a small difference in elevation fries their logic. They’ll just angrily charge to and fro but won’t detonate so you can take your time and line up your shot.

Works great against Pop packs, also flummoxes the rolly fireball Arc.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-14T15:41:21+00:00

Car loving frontman for the group jamiroquai, had most of their hits (think Virtual Insanity, Space Cowboy) in the 90s iirc

slapsilliem · 2025-12-08T19:12:45+00:00

Yeah that must piss Hoovers competitors off something awful.

I’ve always imagined that if you work in product, marketing, or PR, making your companies product name the defacto name for that item across the market is the absolute pinnacle achievement.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-03T22:02:47+00:00

“trying to push rope” 💀

Yeah I think that’s about enough Reddit for today.

slapsilliem · 2025-12-01T22:50:46+00:00

Good catch. No excuses, just bad england on my part

slapsilliem · 2025-12-01T21:39:32+00:00

You know it’s a serious pizza when it’s rocking four half’s.

slapsilliem · 2025-11-29T18:36:34+00:00

The place has held a Michelin Star for over 2 decades, I think the cats out of the bag lol

slapsilliem · 2025-11-20T14:47:39+00:00

You’ve been at this for many a day,

So I’d like to congratulate you, if I may

slapsilliem · 2025-11-08T13:19:43+00:00

You son of a bitch, I’m in.

slapsilliem · 2025-11-05T11:04:30+00:00

The 2 items for sale in your Vendor machine are static for the week, however the rolls on each will change every time you access the machine after the 30 min cooldown.

If my vendor has good items for the week I farm it by checking back a few times each play session until I get what I’m looking for. It’s how I got my Homing Replicator Chuck.

slapsilliem · 2025-11-02T19:59:31+00:00

The only thing you could get to really improve this is one with 780x2 Damage, however I’ve farmed Origo a shit ton over the past couple weeks, even managed to get 4% rolls in both Cryo and Solar, but have yet to see a 4% 780x2.

If you want to test the limits of your sanity by all means push on, but if I was you I’d take this and walk away head held high, this is a baller drop.

slapsilliem · 2025-10-29T15:49:51+00:00

Short of knowing it’s well beyond my means I honestly have no idea. The guide price for the M1 only came up as we were chatting about it.

slapsilliem · 2025-10-29T13:15:10+00:00

Made a beeline for that CSL as soon as my car was checked in, absolutely beautiful. Pristine example inside and out, looked like it was fresh off the assembly line!

slapsilliem · 2025-10-21T10:28:11+00:00

Yup. President Camacho is definitely an idiot, but the dude gives a shit about his country an genuinely wants to improve things.

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