u/BlakkMajik3000

I am officially declaring the start (in my mind) of #MRBA

That stands for "Make Releases Boring Again"

This was prompted by a Release Engineer job posting that was your usual "just be on 24/7 on every communication channel during release windows". So every few months, you over activate my nervous system and it takes until the next release for it to finally calm down only to be activated again? No thanks.

I need to be doing automation, environment config hardening, observability tweaking. Not "monitoring Slack in case someone reports an issue". 😒

Releases need to be boring. The more boring, the more both dev AND ops sleep. With the added bonus of not over-rewarding heroics. 😏

Release day hype/fanfare/stress is for shit like clothing, games, etc. Not the newest feature for your internal app with 10 users.

After messing with my ROG XBox Ally for a couple of weeks, it really makes me sad to go back to my Series S and not see my Steam games there. The XBOX FSE makes my whole collection visible and it’s hard to use an interface that doesn’t do the same.

Here’s to hoping this is exactly what Helix is moving toward.

Side note: I know the technical reasons the Series don’t support PC games, so no need to explain. I love my series S.

I have access to most COD games in some fashion. However, I recently tried BO2 on PC and let’s just say I wasn’t able to find a game quickly.

I know the BO 1&2 rerelease will have new servers for PS5, but none for Xbox, which is weird to me.

So looking for legacy titles that have a decent player base with minimal to no cheaters/hackers on Xbox specifically.

After some time with the Deck, I decided to finally marry my Xbox and PC games under one hood, so I traded my 512GB LCD SD for a XA.

Overall, I am happy with the upgrade. Also, since I trust ASUS with my first born, I figured their first-party accessories would be on-point.

After spending $70+tax on the official hard case, I must admit this thing is frustrating as hell to use. It feels way too snug, and my system always seems to be turned on whenever it's been zipped completely for more than a few minutes. On top of that, the zipper feels way too hard to fully zip to the point I'm already afraid I'll break it. It sometimes seems like whoever designed it said "Make it 5% smaller than the size of the actual device for a really snug fit".

The SteamDeck case was way more optimal (and it came with the system 😒, but I digress), so I'm looking for a similar form factor. Slim, easy to throw in a bag/backpack and go. I've looked around at others and it seems like the cases from the ever so dependable JSAUX are the way to go. They have a slim one that I have my eye on (preferred over the bulkier "stacked" one). Any other suggestions or opinions?

My current lineup when playing solos:

Kawhi, Giannis, Mitchell. I think it gives a good blend of offense and defense. Sometimes I’ll swap out Giannis for Wemby, but I’m already bored of all the Wemby users (Spurs are my team too, and yes I am devastated by the Finals result. 😭).

In a side note, I generally squad up as Giannis or Kawhi.

A couple of years ago, I bought a RPF due to the form factor. I wasn’t in love with the “sliding joysticks”, but everything else was aces.

Then I got the dreaded hinge crack. As I already had a Portal, I didn’t think much of fixing/replacing. Then I got a Razer Edge and then a Steam Deck, which was added to my launch model PS Vita and buried way in the back my OG Nvidia Shield portable (yea, the clamshell joint that’s stuck on like Android 5 or some 😂).

After getting rid of my PS5/Portal, I was left with a smattering of devices that did certain things well, but I still didn’t have that singular “going out, need something to throw in the bag”. No matter what I took with me, it was never ideal.

So for months, I watched and watched RPF2 listings hoping to snag one that either wasn’t over inflated or took weeks to come from China.

As luck would have it, I was randomly on FB Marketplace and saw someone in my area selling one for roughly retail. I figured “I can pay retail and get one a few miles away, or I can hope the high shipping costs/waiting was worth it. Met up, exchange, and now I have my RPF2. The joysticks were really my only complaint on the original, so the new model is about as perfect as I can think. Possibly an option to place the sticks on the bottom? We’ll see.

My handheld lineup is now just my SD and my RPF2. I keep the Shield portable for nostalgic reasons and because the controller is probably still my favorite to this day.

So, back in Retroid camp. Simply emulation/cloud streaming for now. May play around with an alternative OS at some point (especially if Google keeps adding police to Android), but I’m content for now. Open clamshell, launch ESDE, done.