I just play Steam Deck and write about gaming + Linux a lot
“For some people the choice to use a bot or not is a choice of having the job, or not.”
That would be Gardiner’s side of the article. I contributed by wroting two sections on this one:
Just to explain whose take is whose for this little article, at least.
But I do still think search would be nice
I gave them all my feedback, and they have said that firmware updates will bring this and other features in as improvements. This isn’t in users’ hands yet, so (ironically) my waffling review actually did some help for them and users who end up with them!
No, this is the on/off (and lock) switch, by pressing it in, but it is the volume wheel!
Hi there!
I am not Gardiner, but he is one of my best friends! While you’ll know Gardiner from his YouTube (I assume!), he and I run the site together, equally. His focus will be no surprise to you, but mine is almost entirely the gaming scene, and then some forays into new things :)
I had a LG G6 for awhile, which had the lovely focus of quad-DAC and made sound beautiful
Such a shame they no longer make phones :(
Edit: worth saying: thanks for posting this though, I am interested in seeing gadgets and it is an interesting design and has unique features.
Thank you! Don’t worry, zero offense taken! These things are pretty niche these days, so you’re well and truly in the majority with that POV!
I can take my phone and stream music from my server. If I really want to I can download to the phone (simple drag and drop KDE connect style or syncthing if I want to go that route). I use only FLAC by the way.
This is the important part here, the quality of those files is dependent on the DAC your phone has. Phones don’t place much emphasis on high-quality DAC implementation because they’re built more for things like for convenience, battery life, and mass-market audio (think Bluetooth earbuds and streaming compression). They’ll play your FLACs for sure, but the internal DAC and amp stage are usually an afterthought rather than a focus.
This one’s built around the Cirrus Logic CS43198 chip, which has one purpose in life: make sound good!
In the end these won’t be super convenient for most. But there’s plenty of people who want to drop using their phone for everything now, or who want to try out a new way of listening to music.
A few months back I had a grand plan about buying a ton of options, going from entry level to high-end, a refurbished and done up iPod, a Zune, a feature on the PSP’s sound capabilities…but after two or three I got distracted
Reviewing this was a pleasure, and reminded me why something like this little fellow is magic for music. The sound difference between FLAC on this V.S. streaming is enormous!
I’m so glad you liked my artivle/review/impressions! :)
You can check it from the source themselves
Good point, I should have been a little clearer with my wording. The hypervisor technique itself isn’t a Linux invention, and you’re right that the underlying method originated from Windows research.
The Linux angle is more about how the community has been applying it now: using Proton/Wine compatibility layers to run Windows games on Linux in a way that interacts differently with Denuvo’s checks. That distinction is what made it interesting from a totally Linux gaming perspective, especially given how unusual it is for Linux compatibility layers to become part of the discussion around a major DRM breakthrough.
I’ll update the article wording because “Linux-based breakthrough” makes it sound like Linux created the exploit itself, which isn’t what I intended!
Dodi was lovely. At the time he was literally getting married (the day before, of or after…I forget exactly which!), in Egypt which is his home. FitGirl is far funnier than I expected, we used to check in every now and then, but that has long-since ended. She’s also got an iron-clad no press rule nowdays. Empress was brilliant, I’ll fight tooth and nail on that, in the early days she was brilliant. But…that ‘front’ wasn’t put up, she was and is quite ‘unique’ in her views.
There was a few others too, I found it really interesting to reach out to these names, they were all just quite surprised because few ever did!
Oh how fun, you shared the same comment on two posts. Here’s the same reply I left on your other one:
Hi there!
I’m the author. Not only have I chatted to Voices, but I did an AMA with Dodi, organized the same with FitGirl (which didn’t actually happen), and even chatted to Empress. Which…wasn’t very fun. I’ve interviewed KaOs and also the gentleman behind Ghost eShop for jailbroken Switches. This is just to say I know the scene, and I know the people.
Denuvo has been almost universally cracked since the start of this year, author sounds pretty out of date to be talking as if this is a recent development.
Seems there was about 20 games released this year with Denuvo. Voices has changed the scene a lot, but he can only do so much. Now he’s using A.I. to help with his process this is speeding up a ton, but he cannot possibly keep up with ‘demand’ as it were. I found four he’s done, for 2026 releases:
It certainly hasn’t been “universally cracked”. It will get quicker, but it is still an effort. One game every two weeks or so at the moment.
universally cracked
This is not only a stretch, it isn’t true. The fun thing is that he has cracked 2026’s build, and then their updated build, then a day one release. From a technical POV, it is super interesting to see.
Hey there.
No, it is not easily removed within days. I’m more impressed than most by Voices, but he has cracked four games released in 2026 so far.
Is this just an ad?
It is news. Did you know this before my post? If not, we call this ‘learning something from news’
Hi there!
I’m the author. Not only have I chatted to Voices, but I did an AMA with Dodi, organized the same with FitGirl (which didn’t actually happen), and even chatted to Empress. Which…wasn’t very fun. I’ve interviewed KaOs and also the gentleman behind Ghost eShop for jailbroken Switches. This is just to say I know the scene, and I know the people.
Denuvo has been almost universally cracked since the start of this year, author sounds pretty out of date to be talking as if this is a recent development.
Seems there was about 20 games released this year with Denuvo. Voices has changed the scene a lot, but he can only do so much. Now he’s using A.I. to help with his process this is speeding up a ton, but he cannot possibly keep up with ‘demand’ as it were. I found four he’s done, for 2026 releases:
It certainly hasn’t been “universally cracked”. It will get quicker, but it is still an effort. One game every two weeks or so at the moment.
universally cracked
This is not only a stretch, it isn’t true. The fun thing is that he has cracked 2026’s build, and then their updated build, then a day one release. From a technical POV, it is super interesting to see.
“Excellent write-up! SBCGaming is one of the communities I miss most and I love your breakdown.”
Thank you! Sorry you’ve had to give up some communities, but it is nice that you’ve stayed strong and landed here in stead. I do share each retro handheld review I do on here, so you’ll see them over time as a (terrible) consolation prize! I have the TRIMUI Brick Hammer Pro U, the Retroid Pocket Nova, Anbernic’s RG 55G1 and…one more I forget still coming to review, too :)
“Should ‘Pro’ denote an upgrade? Probably; but things are really hinky in the electronic parts department, and a more comfortable playing experience is likely worth it to some.”
I think that is the finnicky part. No one really finds this a ‘Pro’ upgrade, but for what it does (especially PSX on this for me), it is a beautiful and fun time :)
Thanks for reading through and enjoying it. I appreciate it!
Thank you so much, you’re right! I appreciate it, edit has been made :)
(and sorry, weird thing to get wrong!)
I think the trigger sound is so funny. For some it is the literal devil (me), for others they enjoy the sound of it working (you), the nice thing I’ve found is two layers of kapton tape in there make it what I prefer. So there are options!
I’d love the PS2/Original Xbox (even X360) era games on my lap…
PS2 and some original Xbox games are doable! Take the Retroid Pocket 5 or 6 for example. My 6 I reviewed played at the screen’s limit without breaking a sweat (5x upscale), and the Odin 3 Max I reviewed managed upscaling to 4K on the Elite chip. Original Xbox games are a mixed bag though, emulation development for that platform is very far behind PS2 or GCN. Sadly :(
(and thank you, as always for reading along! I appreicate it so much!)
I use my Brick Hammer almost daily! I love that handheld so much, to me it might be the perfect premium feeling device.
https://gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-with-the-trimui-brick-hammer-metal-perfection/
I reviewed that one some months back!
Of the two, if you are happy without sticks and a smaller screen (you need good eyes!), then the Brick Hammer is the better of the two.
That said the Brick Hammer Pro U will be on its way to me to review soon, so I’ll see how they did with the metal body and twin sticks with their very first Android effort soon enough :)
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Time for you to get it back out, maybe get a new adapter card for that micro SD, and then enjoy some games again!
(And yes, dead easy. Just copying two files over, not even ‘all the stuff’!)
Go get it out!
I think PSPs are super viable, even today. I use mine more than two of the retro handhelds I have which run 16GB of RAM. Looking forward to how you find it regardless though, after such a long time of not using it
That and the ending (V for Vendetta) were the sections I wrote in this article. Because as soon as I saw the news, it was all I could think of :(