Hi, hello, welcome to a new edition of the overkill digest newsletter.
I'm back from my week-long trip in the woods of France, where I was armed with two handhelds (XBOX ROG Ally X, and the AYN Thor), a bunch of e-ink devices (reMarkable Paper Pro Move, Boox Go Color 7), my FiiO M21 music player, and old-school playing cards. And yet, I mostly spent my “gaming-time” playing Balatro and iScopa on the iPhone.
I tried to play some XBOX ROG Ally X, but the internet in that house was so bad. Some of the games I pre-installed didn't run, either because they needed a good internet connection (I had hoped to play Arc Raiders) to work, or because they wanted to install an update. So I gave up on using it.
Back in Luxembourg, I spent this whole morning doing all the paperwork that my accountant needs to close down the company. I'm hoping to get these steps over by the end of the year, so I don't have to start 2026 with yet another thing on the plate.
I also heard from my friend Manu that he has started work on the new design for overkill. I haven't seen anything yet, and I don't even know if he is still working on it or gave up (I heard that coding for Ghost, the system running this website, isn't the easiest thing to do).
As for a final update, I got the Boox Palma 2 Pro this week. I've been setting it up, fighting with a few weird settings, and tomorrow I'll check if I can get a second SIM card for my mobile phone number, so that I can use it with 5G.
I've got a bunch of things to review now, and I am still off from my work-work next week, so that time will be used to play video games and write, write, write.
All that being said, let's get to this week's news:
🚀 Big Moves
The Switch 2 is outselling the OG. The Switch 2 sold 10.36 million units in 5 months, which the Switch 1 needed about ten months for. Nintendo also shared they sold over 20 million software units, aka about 2 games per sold console. Which fits with my own usage, as I bought two games so far (Cyberpunk 2077 and Mario Kart), though I plan to pick up Pokémon and that new Hyrule Warriors game.
Because of these high numbers, Nintendo revised its forecast from 15 to 19 million for its fiscal year (ending in March 2026). Honestly, crazy numbers, knowing that there aren't any real Switch 2 exclusive games out there yet.
The Steam Deck lets you finally download games with its screen off. It took Valve way too long to add this feature, let's be honest.
The way this works is that, after opting into the beta, when you hit the power button, the Steam Deck asks you if you want to continue downloading or send your device to sleep. In this mode, when you move a stick or click a button, the Steam Deck will show the download progress bar.
Then, if the device drops below 20% battery life, the Steam Deck goes to sleep properly.
Again, this took way too long, but I hope Bazzite will add this feature ASAP!
🎮 Platform Updates
Cloud Streaming comes to PlayStation Portal. One more “finally”. And the very first time, I genuinely want to pick up a PlayStation Portal.
Sony may be working on PS5/PC cross-buy. While we're talking Sony, this is big if true.
I still would take this with a Mount Fuji-sized pile of salt, but I also somehow think this might just be real, because of one specific reason: Xbox.
Microsoft has clearly embraced its “everything is an Xbox” logic at this point. Sony doesn't need to do the same, but if everyone is going to buy PCs (in whatever form factor, be it towers, laptops, or handhelds) to get the “Xbox experience”, the Japanese developer could easily compete with Microsoft by simply adding its catalogue to PC. Because then, “everything is an Xbox, and every Xbox is actually a PlayStation”.
💻 Hardware & Software
The Anbernic Dual-Screen handheld is cheap AF. The RG DS starts at $94 and goes up to $124, which will also net you a 256 GB microSD card, which, to be fair, is not something I'd buy from Anbernic but rather straight from one of the manufacturers.
This low price won't net you the most powerful device, as it is equipped with a Cortex-A55 processor, 3 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of built-in storage. Also, both the 4-inch displays max out at 480p.
But all that should be more than enough to play Nintendo DS, which this thing is made for.
The AYANEO Pocket Vert is an overkill Game Boy-clone. I quite liked the Pocket DMG. I'm not sure I'll like the Pocket Vert, though I'm only basing this on the industrial design of this Game Boy-like handheld.
It looks like AYANEO took the DMG and combined it with the S2 but removed what made the S2 work (good d-pad, good face-buttons). It's still too early to judge, but I'm a bit meh on this front.
The AYANEO Next 2, meanwhile, looks like a beast. AMD Strix Halo, dual trackpads, 8-way d-pad, large battery, and probably a price point of close to $2000 if not more.
I'll keep an eye on this one.
📌 Quick Hits
- A new Nintendo app lets you buy digital Switch 2 games from your phone. This app was previously only available in Japan.
- Affinity on Linux shows you how to install the graphics suite on Linux. I'm still brainstorming on my “Linux for a month” experiment, but this thing would make my life much easier.
- AirPods Live translation is coming to the EU. I need to get new AirPods.
Dig the format? Hate it? Hit those feedback buttons below and let me know what's working.
🔮 Looking Ahead
- Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition drops tomorrow, even though no one asked for it.
- Anno 117: Pax Romana will take over all my time starting Thursday.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 releases on November 13.
Ok, that's all. Thanks for reading!
See you,
Kevin