Nope, 8bitdo (via their eshop) ships directly from China to Canada, alongside a number of other countries.
The change is only wrt shipping to US.

Not exactly, you need Steam to install it, but then per PCGW’s wiki:

DRM-free when launched directly via <path-to-game>\SwGame\Binaries\Win64\SwGame-Win64-Shipping.exe while EA app is not installed.

I can’t confirm for Steam, since I only have the game on EA app, but the game’s wiki page on PCGW shows the same DRM-free info (with correct launch steps).

You’re right, they do - this Steam DRM-free games list shows Jedi Fallen Order is the most recent DRM-free EA published game on Steam afaict.
Same goes for DRM-free games on the EA app.

Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion

Mostly went for Novice so far, but I also gave 1.5 a try - Stage 4 striked.

They also increased prices in Canada, by 7-15% afaict.
eg: MX Master 3S went up ~14%, $140 to $160.

Per their website:

As a non-profit that engages with a number of stakeholder groups across Canada’s internet, CIRA believes that transparency is essential to good governance.

They also detail their compensation and expenses further down that page.

I would probably recommend Bazzite as a gaming (and user-friendly, in many ways) OS alternative instead of Pop!_OS.
It is very simple to set up and use, and comes with multiple gaming-related tweaks by default.

I might have a very odd bug, but VLC only plays one song normally and then any song after that is complete silence. No updates or reinstalls could fix it.
YMMV perhaps?

For those in Western Canada, a lot of these products seem to be available at London Drugs - I’ve found X-Pur and Curaprox at least.

Sorry, I won’t be able to help since I don’t have Blue Dragon, but when you mention making changes to config files, is that in reference to info in this thread / google sheets?

As enjoyable as ever to read!
I think you might have missed the link to Nightdive Studios’ future endeavours? Or Voyager is not showing it at least.

I almost didn’t mention my game of the moment - I’ve been diving deep into Hollow Knight on the Deck, I just wish it supported HDR but otherwise it’s an experience like no other.

That’ll give a good reason to take the Pocket out of its case :)

shmups.wiki is pretty awesome, especially when you’re trying to optimise scoring

I found this Proton issue specifically mentioning issues with Death Stranding: Director’s Cut.
FWIW, Death Stranding (non Director’s Cut) doesn’t support the DualSense either way AFAIK.

I guess, by some standards, I could be qualified as a collector - I buy games for OG hardware before playing them.
However, and I don’t believe I’m the only “collector” doing this, if a game is bad, didn’t age well, etc, I will definitely say so and likely would sell said game if I’ve no interest in playing it again.

Sure, there are collectors who don’t play games at all and review based on price, if that, but I know there are also people who do it like I do.

That sounds encouraging, thanks!
I’m not concerned about coil while, since I’d also be playing with headphones on, but that’s noted.
I read about recent developments wrt FSR4, it sounds like that’s potentially close to functional indeed.
RT performance is a downside, however AFAIK that’s par for the course with AMD on Linux?

I’m somewhat torn between getting a 9070 XT now, or getting a cheaper, used GPU while the experience and/or drivers get ironed out. My only real worry is GPU prices going up as a result of US tariffs, so I’m leaning towards 9070 XT rather than the alternative .

Thanks for your write-up!
About a month later, would you say the experience has gotten better? Did you encounter any issues?
I’m able to get a 9070 XT close to MSRP ($949 CAD + 12% tax), but I’ve seen conflicting reviews regarding current performance (or crashes) on Linux, so I’m not 100% sure this would be an ideal choice.

Yep, thanks - so far I’ve avoided any guides and went in completely blind, I’m starting to explore the map again for what I might have missed.