Category: Tater News

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

AYN Odin 3 Setup Guide

https://retrohandhelds.gg/ayn-odin-3-setup-guide/

Meet the AYN Odin 3 — the Android handheld that doesn’t just walk into the room… it own it.

Packed with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, this thing could probably run Cyberpunk 2077 if you whispered nicely. But here’s the twist: it ships barebones. No pre-loaded ROMs, no bloatware — just a sleek slab of power waiting for your magic touch. Perfect if you’re the type who likes to build your own gaming kingdom from scratch.

Here’s how to tame it:

• Grab Obtainium — the secret sauce. Import their pre-built “Emulation Pack” and boom: RetroArch, Dolphin, PPSSPP, and more are one click away. No more hunting down .apks like it’s 2012.
• Get a TPU grip — the stock case is fine, but that chunky handle? Pure comfort for 3-hour Zelda marathons.
• Grab an SD card — your 256GB internal? Save it for Steam streaming. Keep ROMs on a SanDisk Extreme.
• Docks are golden — your Odin 2 dock? Still works. No need to buy AYN’s official one unless you really like branded plastic.

Pro tip: You’ll need BIOS files for PS2, Switch, and PS3 — Google is your friend (and legally shady). And yes, EmuDeck works now… but only if you pay. Worth it? Depends on how much you hate reading manuals.

Bottom line: The Odin 3 isn’t just a handheld. It’s your personal arcade, console, and PC rig — all in one shiny Android package. And it’s just getting started.

📰 New article from TorrentFreak

Strike 3’s Piracy Litigation Campaign Broke More Records in 2025

https://torrentfreak.com/strike-3s-piracy-litigation-campaign-broke-more-records-in-2025/

Let’s be real: if you’ve ever clicked “Download” on a porn site without a VPN, Strike 3 has your IP address—and possibly your dignity.

In 2025, the porn studio behind Milfy and Tushy filed a record-breaking 4,088 lawsuits against anonymous BitTorrent users, pushing its total lawsuit count past 20,000 since 2017. That’s more than half of all U.S. copyright cases last year—and almost 70% of those cases were settled out of court for a few grand each. Think of it as a high-tech toll booth: pay up, or risk your name being plastered across court records next to “unlawful download of adult content.”

But Strike 3 isn’t just chasing lone pirates anymore. This year, it went full David vs. Goliath—suing Meta for $359 million, accusing the tech giant of using its films to train AI models like LLaMA. Meta’s defense? “Yeah, some employee probably downloaded it for… personal use.” (Cue the awkward shrug.)

Whether this is a bold stand against AI piracy or another clever settlement play, one thing’s clear: Strike 3 doesn’t sleep. And if you’re still torrenting in 2026? You might just be the next John Doe.

📰 New article from RetroRGB

RetroTINK 4K “Energy Normalization” Scanlines

https://retrorgb.com/retrotink-4k-energy-normalization-scanlines.html

Happy New Year, retro gamers—your CRT glow just got a serious upgrade.

Mike Chi’s RetroTINK 4K just dropped firmware v1.9.9.7, and it’s packing a sweet new feature: Energy Normalization. Think of it as the ultimate CRT cheat code—soft, dreamy scanlines that actually don’t make your screen look like a dimly lit basement. Previous “Energy Conservation” scanlines? Great for realism, but they drained the brightness like a dying NES battery. Now? You get that lovely analog blur plus your pixels’ full luminous glory.

Here’s the magic:

• Classic Scanlines + Energy Normalization = Soft edges, no black crush.
• Works in HDR and SDR (just set your gamma to 2.2–2.4 for best results).
• Ditch the old “Red Bleed” feature—it was never quite right anyway.

Mike’s go-to setup? Classic scanlines + dense mask + TV BFI (on LG Max) + SDR. It’s like smuggling a 2003 CRT into your modern TV—without the weight, heat, or cord chaos.

If you’ve been waiting for scanlines that feel right—not just look like a filter slapped on—this is it. Grab the update, crank up your favorite SNES game, and thank Mike for not letting us forget what pixels used to look like… before everything was too bright and sharp.

Get the update here — your eyes will thank you.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Manba One Review: An Odd One

https://retrohandhelds.gg/manba-one-review/

Let’s be real: no one asked for a controller with a screen… but now that it exists, we kinda can’t look away.

Enter the Manba One—a $70 beast that looks like a regular gamepad… until you notice the tiny 2-inch screen glowing on its face. It’s like if a Switch Pro Controller and a smartwatch had a baby, and that baby was obsessed with customization. Need to remap buttons mid-game? No PC needed. Want to tweak vibration or RGB lighting while waiting for your Steam library to load? Done. It’s the controller version of “I don’t need help, I’ve got an app for that.”

The controls? Solid but not spectacular. Hall-effect sticks glide like silk, triggers are light and clicky (good for racing games), but the D-pad feels like it’s walking through mud. And those macro buttons? Cute in theory—annoying in practice. I accidentally mashed them while trying to jump in Hades. Twice.

But here’s the kicker: the screen. It’s not just a gimmick—it’s useful. Pairing devices, checking battery, adjusting settings—all on the controller. No software installs. No laptop drama. For folks who hate fiddling with drivers, this is a dream.

Is it perfect? Nope. It’s bulky, the dock does jack-all beyond charging, and those trigger stops are just noisy. But if you want one controller to rule them all—and you’re okay with a little extra weight and screen glare—you won’t find a better option.

Verdict: Weird? Yes. Worth it? Maybe—if you’re the type who enjoys tweaking your gear like a tech wizard. 🎮✨

📰 New article from RetroRGB

Weekly Roundup #494

https://retrorgb.com/week494.html

You know you’re living in the golden age of retro when your gaming setup includes a CRT beam emulator, a NES-style Raspberry Pi case, and fuzzy bear slippers. RetroRGB’s latest Roundup is basically a love letter to nostalgia—with a side of obsessive tinkering.

First up: Krikzz dropped the Everdrive GBA Pro, a sleek little device that lets you play every GBA game without cart swapping. Meanwhile, Tito rebuilt his Virtual Boy—yes, that gloriously painful 3D console—and made it look like a prop from a sci-fi movie. And if you’ve ever wondered how the NES changed gaming history, there’s a deep dive on its untold story that’ll make you see those 8-bit pixels in a whole new light.

But wait—there’s more. Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation spilled tea on preservation efforts, Sega Channel is now playable on MiSTer (yes, Sega Channel), and Duckstation added a GPU toggle so you can tweak your PS1’s visuals like a pixel wizard. Oh, and there’s now an app that simulates the glow of old CRT TVs on Windows. Because why just play games when you can feel the vibe?

And yes, they made fuzzy bear slippers. You’ll thank us later.

Support RetroRGB if you love this stuff—your wallet won’t miss it, but your retro soul will.

📰 New article from TorrentFreak

2025: Two Decades of Piracy Reporting: TorrentFreak’s Retrospective

https://torrentfreak.com/2025-two-decades-of-piracy-reporting-torrentfreaks-retrospective/

20 Years of Piracy: From Torrents to AI, We’ve Come a Long Way

Remember when downloading a movie meant wrestling with eXeem’s adware and praying your ISP didn’t throttle you? Fast forward to 2025, and now AI models are trained on pirated books—and the RIAA is suing Spotify scrapers.

The early 2000s were wild: The Pirate Bay rose like a digital Robin Hood, Comcast sabotaged uploads with fake network signals, and the “Mega Song” featuring P. Diddy somehow got made (and then vanished). By 2016, giants like KickassTorrents and ExtraTorrent fell one by one—not because people stopped pirating, but because the legal hammer got heavier.

Then came 2020: lockdowns sent piracy soaring 40%, YouTube-dl got yanked from GitHub, and the world realized: we don’t need torrents anymore—we just need a shady app that says “stream for free.”

Now? AI companies are quietly slurping up pirate archives like Books3. Z-Library’s seizure felt like the end of an era—until Anna’s Archive scraped 86 million Spotify tracks. Cue a 750-million URL takedown campaign. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are reviving SOPA-style site blocks like it’s 2012.

The lesson? Piracy didn’t die. It evolved—into algorithms, shadow libraries, and corporate paranoia. The war’s not over. It just got weirder.

And we’re still here to report it.

📰 New article from Wololo.net

Homebrew Release: Warnel Chawpiovs (PC, Nintendo Switch)

https://wololo.net/2025/12/31/homebrew-release-warnel-chawpiovs-pc-nintendo-switch/

🎉 New Year’s Eve gift? Meet Warnel Chawpiovs—a homebrew Marvel Champions digital clone that’s equal parts brilliant and chaotic.

If you’ve ever stared at a board game rulebook like it was ancient hieroglyphs, this is your lifeline. Warnel Chawpiovs (yes, that’s the real name—no typos) automates the nightmare of Marvel Champions’ card mechanics so you can focus on punching Loki in the face instead of counting action points. Works on PC, Switch (if you’ve hacked it), Mac, Linux—even Android if you’re brave enough to tap with your thumb.

But here’s the twist: it doesn’t hold your hand. You still need to know how the game works. No baby steps—just pure, unfiltered card chaos.

Switch version? Slow. Like “please overclock your console or risk falling asleep mid-turn” slow. Multiplayer? Broken. But hey—it’s a labor of love from one fan to another. And if you really want to play with friends? There’s already a better digital version out there. The dev admits it. With a grin.

Download it, tinker with it, report bugs (gently), and maybe—just maybe—help make multiplayer work. Or just enjoy soloing Galactus on your Switch while sipping eggnog.

🎮 Free. Open-source. Slightly unhinged. Perfect for 2025.

📰 New article from Wololo.net

Wololo, did you leave the scene ?

https://wololo.net/2025/12/31/wololo-did-you-leave-the-scene/

Wololo’s gone quiet—but he hasn’t vanished.

The man who once ruled PlayStation hacking blogs with PSP Go exploits and Vita hacks is stepping back, not out. After 20 years of being the go-to source for console secrets, he admits: “I just can’t git gud anymore.” Modern PS4/PS5 exploits? Too complex. Time? Too scarce. And when top hackers gently told him he didn’t get it… well, that stung.

But here’s the twist: he’s not quitting the scene—he’s pivoting. No more technical deep dives. No more blog posts drowned in AI crawlers sucking his content dry while killing his site’s speed. Instead? He’s working on a homebrew game—for PC and Nintendo Switch. Yes, really. The granpa who started it all is still tinkering in the basement.

The internet he loved? Dead, he says—replaced by AI-generated noise and Discord echo chambers. And honestly? We get it. But Wololo’s legacy isn’t in blog traffic stats—it’s in every kid who downloaded Wagic back in 2007 and thought, “Wait… I can make my own games?”

So no, he didn’t leave the scene.

He just swapped his keyboard for a joystick.

And we’ll be waiting for that Switch game.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

GAMEMT E3 Vigor Pre-Orders Open, Starting at Just $45

https://retrohandhelds.gg/gamemt-e3-vigor-pre-orders-open-starting-at-just-45/

Let’s be real—another retro handheld? Again? But wait… this one costs $45.

Enter the GAMEMT E3 Vigor: a cute, pill-shaped pocket beast that looks like a cross between a PSP and a tiny unicorn (yes, really). For under $50 with the code ROYIBEILA02, you get a 3.95-inch 720×720 screen, 1GB RAM, and a MediaTek MT6592 chip—possibly the first handheld to use it. That’s… weirdly exciting? Or terrifying? Maybe both.

It’s not a powerhouse, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s designed for PSP and PS1 gems, with a clean launcher, microSD support, and a 5,000mAh battery that’ll outlive your willpower to stop playing Metal Gear Solid. The design? Sleek, flat-backed, and available in Purple/White or Black—because nothing says “I’m a 2005 kid trapped in 2025” like pastel electronics.

No gameplay footage yet (just a demo of the menu—yawn), but if it runs Gran Turismo like a dream and doesn’t melt in your pocket, this could be the sleeper hit of 2026. Pre-orders are live. Shipping in 10–15 days. Or earlier, if the universe feels generous.

$45 for nostalgia? Sign me up. 🎮💜

📰 New article from RetroRGB

NES-Style Raspberry Pi 5 Case w/ Heatsink & Fans

https://retrorgb.com/nes-style-raspberry-pi-5-case-w-heatsink-fans.html

You know what’s better than a Raspberry Pi 5? A Raspberry Pi 5 that looks like it stepped out of your childhood NES closet.

Enter the Geeek Pi NES-style case — under $20, packed with a heatsink, fans, and enough thermal pads to soothe your Pi’s post-workout soreness. It’s sleek, retro-futuristic, and somehow makes your $35 computer feel like a collector’s item. Bonus: it even comes with a rear power button… which, let’s be honest, no one ever uses. (We all just yank the plug like it’s 1998.)

The case says it’s only for Pi 5s, but we’re pretty sure a Pi 4 could sneak in too — if it’s willing to risk the fan connector drama. And that mysterious front hole? Still unconfirmed. Alien communication port? Dust trap? Secret snack compartment? We may never know.

What we do know: it’s functional, affordable, and gorgeous. Pair it with a right-angle USB-C cable (because cables that stick out like awkward elbows are a crime), slap on your favorite OS, and suddenly your living room looks like it’s hosting the 1987 Nintendo World Championships.

TL;DR: If you love retro vibes and don’t want your Pi to look like a lab experiment — this case is your new best friend.