We just spoke with Sword, the man behind the PS2 emulator for PS5, PS5SX2, in his very first interview! Tagging some folks who might think this is interesting: @jeffgerstmann.com @grubb.wtf @danryckert.com @pcgamer.com @contricode.bsky.social

The Raytrace@theraytrace.com · 6h ago

New on The Raytrace: Sword got PS2 discs playing on jailbroken PS5s. That's about 234,000 downloads in six weeks, and his PS3 port is aimed at Christmas. "Nobody asked me a single question, so thank you for actually asking." https://theraytrace.com/long-exposure/ps5sx2-sword/

New on The Raytrace: Sword got PS2 discs playing on jailbroken PS5s. That's about 234,000 downloads in six weeks, and his PS3 port is aimed at Christmas. "Nobody asked me a single question, so thank you for actually asking." https://theraytrace.com/long-exposure/ps5sx2-sword/

Sword got PS2 discs playing on jailbroken PS5s. His PS3 port is aimed at Christmas

In a written interview, the developer behind PS5SX2 and PS5SX3 talks about getting PCSX2 running on the PS5, how he uses AI, the session reports behind his fixes, Sony, and why nobody in the media had asked him a question.

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Five new games you probably haven't heard of yet, Nov 6: Same Time Next Week, Lanternwake, Optimum Digger, Stagehand and PlayASM. Starting with Same Time Next Week: A hand-drawn, single-player therapy visual novel in which you play a therapist for seven people nobody else listens to.

First Light: new games worth your time

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SEC filing: Turtle Beach filed Form 10-Q on Nov 5: 10-Q. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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Fresh out of the release pile for Nov 5: La Abadía del Crimen 2600, Trenchline: WWI Voxel Trench Defense, Orbit Flick, Off - Balance and Skip reading.

First Light: new games worth your time

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 is the highest-rated game of 2026 on Metacritic, at 96 from 81 critic reviews. Digital Foundry calls it one of Nintendo's best-looking games ever. It launches Thursday.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is 2026's highest-rated game on Metacritic, at 96

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First Light for Nov 4. Today's dig through the new releases turned up Channel 58, Alchemisand, ☠️ GLOOMKEEP DEMO (C64) ☠️, Polybius— P-017 and The Long Way Back.

First Light: new games worth your time

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Discord gift cards are now sold in stores and online in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Balances can go toward Nitro, Shop items, Server Boosts and in-game items, but can't be spent in Discord's iOS or Android apps.

Discord gift cards now sold in stores and online in six countries

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First Light, Nov 3. On today's table: The Glassblower, Grandma's Paper Effigy Shop 奶奶的纸扎铺, Lanebreaker, Frontline: Grozny 1995 and CROSSSECTION — The Greyworks.

First Light: new games worth your time

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Nintendo has revealed the development team responsible for creating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake. https://bit.ly/3WKEaGN

New on The Raytrace: an interview with SirDiabo, who built GithubLauncher, the app that downloads, updates and launches recomps and PC ports straight from GitHub. He made it as an example. GitHub now counts about 198,000 downloads. 🧵

SEC filing: Microsoft filed Form 424B2 on Nov 2: 424B2. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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Five new games you probably haven't heard of yet, Nov 2: Line Two, ひきこもり Hikikomori, Oweynagat, The Northern Circuit-Alpha and Deadweight. Starting with Line Two: A short, top-down 2D horror hide-and-seek game in which the player and a slasher villain are on a phone call the whole time.

First Light: new games worth your time

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The number of game pages being created per-day has doubled in the past 2 months

Fresh out of the release pile for Nov 1: FERRUM, Mara’s Abyss - DEMO, StarQLider, 底に空 体験版 / A Sky at the Bottom Demo and Hot Wax 🔥. Starting with FERRUM: FERRUM is a free, browser-playable survival and factory-automation game.

First Light: new games worth your time

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First Light for Oct 31. Today's dig through the new releases turned up ASCII-Farfields, WITCH 2, Paper Plane Pilots, HE IS TYPING: MOONLIGHT / 月光 and Ever Spire. Starting with ASCII-Farfields: A free, browser-playable first-person exploration game rendered as a 3D ASCII world in a single HTML file.

First Light: new games worth your time

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The Denoiser is The Raytrace's weekly newsletter: the week in video games, minus the noise. The lead credited to whoever broke it, new games nobody paid to put there, the paper trail and more. Every Friday morning, free.

The Denoiser: the week in video games, minus the noise

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Piko Interactive told The Raytrace that unauthorized ports of Jim Power, Sword of Sodan, Exploding Fist and Target Renegade got takedown requests, and those who ignored them got DMCA notices, mostly on itch.io. Its own Game Boy Advance version of 8 Eyes, Piko said, "was done with AI decomp."

Piko Interactive names ported games, says it sent DMCA takedown notices

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Labor board filing: Unfair labor practice charge against the employer at Microsoft; Xbox; Activision Publishing, Inc.; and Blizzard Entertainment, as joint and single employers and in their individual capacities as employers (Austin, TX), case 16-CA-398121, filed Oct 28. 10,000… Source: the NLRB

Records: the industry's paper trail

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SEC filing: GameStop filed Form 25-NSE on Oct 30. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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First Light, Oct 30. On today's table: Still, Desktop Under Water, 17:47, Deep Bloom and UAP Flight Physics.

First Light: new games worth your time

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SEC filing: Roblox filed Form 8-K on Oct 29: Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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SEC filing: Roblox filed Form 10-Q on Oct 29: 10-Q. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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New on The Raytrace: an interview with Maddie Thomas, who runs Tanooki Studios on her own and built Decomp Buddy, a free app that puts 2,218 decomps, recomps and PC ports a click away. Coming soon: a companion phone app.

Decomp Buddy puts 2,218 decomps and recomps a click away. Next: a phone app to install them

In an email interview, Maddie Thomas, who runs Tanooki Studios alone, reveals Decomp Buddy's companion phone app and talks about AI-written install plans, credit for the scene's developers, and lesson...

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SEC filing: Microsoft filed Form 424B2 on Oct 29: 424B2. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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Five new games you probably haven't heard of yet, Oct 29: Ronin of Ash (Demo), A Mosquito and a Truck, The Last Train — Free Demo, Defrag and Void Signal. Starting with Ronin of Ash (Demo): A 2D samurai metroidvania with an ink-painted look and boss fights.

First Light: new games worth your time

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SEC filing: Microsoft filed Form 8-K on Oct 28: Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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SEC filing: Microsoft filed Form 10-Q on Oct 28: 10-Q. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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SEC filing: Logitech filed Form 10-Q on Oct 28: 10-Q. Source: SEC EDGAR

Records: the industry's paper trail

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Ripalda built RecompStore, a recomp store for jailbroken PS5s. Now he's bringing it to PC with RecompLauncher. We talked curating 200+ recomps, porting Xbox 360 games to the PS5, AI, Sony, and why every game starts with your own copy. theraytrace.com/long-exposur...

Ripalda built a recomp store for jailbroken PS5s. Next up: RecompLauncher, for PC

In an email interview, the developer behind RecompStore, Porpoise and RecompLauncher talks about curating recomps, porting other people's Xbox 360 work to the PS5, AI, Sony, and why every game starts ...

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