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Patrick O’Rourke’s 5 favourite issues of 2024

Abstract

  • I transitioned from Editor-In-Chief at MobileSyrup to managing editor at Pocket-lint and again to EIC.
  • I loved taking part in Ship of Harkinian on the ROG Ally X, reliving Ocarina of Time.
  • I attended a surprisingly empty pop-punk competition and bought a personal live performance expertise (kind of).



2024 was a yr of change for me. I left my job because the Editor-In-Chief of MobileSyrup after working and serving to to construct Canada’s premiere expertise web site for greater than 10 years, for the gadgets managing editor position at Pocket-lint. I then discovered myself again within the EIC role a few months later, however this time at Pocket-lint.

I am thrilled to take the helm of a historic publication like Pocket-lint, and the stellar crew and I’ve large plans for 2025, together with content material that goals to supply a glimpse on the small however nimble editorial crew behind the positioning. This “my 5 favourite issues” story is an instance of this — and sure, should you’ve adopted my work up to now, you will recognize the format from MobileSyrup 😉. You will see different members of the Pocket-lint editorial crew’s 5 favourite issues tales hit the positioning within the coming days.

Outdoors of work-related modifications, there are a variety of issues I preferred this yr, starting from taking part in Ship of Harkinian (a PC port of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) on the ROG Ally X to the Fallout TV present and a surprisingly empty pop-punk competition expertise.


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1 Ship of Harkinian on the ROG Ally X

Reliving considered one of my favourite childhood video games has been a blast

ROG Ally X Zelda

In case you informed me a couple of months in the past that I might spend 30 plus hours taking part in Nintendo 64 basic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in direction of the latter half of the yr, I fairly merely would not consider you, however right here we’re. I’ve recognized about Ship of Harkinian, a PC port of Ocarina of Time, for fairly a while, however I’ve by no means bothered to get it up and working till just lately. It looks as if the right recreation to play on the Steam Deck OLED, however any time I appeared up the steps to get it engaged on Valve’s handheld, it simply appeared too difficult.


That is the place the Home windows-based ROG Ally X is available in. As a result of it runs Home windows 11 (which is each its greatest and worst function), you are able to do just about something you’ll be able to with a laptop computer on the hand-held, permitting me to get Ship of Harkinian and a 4K texture pack known as OoT Reloaded put in in just some minutes. Ocarina of Time has aged remarkably properly for a recreation that launched approach again in 1998, and that additional sheen of high-resolution textures and 60fps brings its visuals as much as par with its outstanding gameplay. I am stunned at how a lot I keep in mind about Ocarina of Time but additionally how a lot I’ve forgotten, particularly in the case of some puzzles early within the recreation (the variety of occasions I’ve wanted to make use of a walkthrough is embarrassing).

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2 Fallout TV present

I am nonetheless stunned at how a lot I loved it

Fallout TV show

Amazon

Until it is The Last of Us, I’ve just about given up on online game TV reveals, however I am glad I gave Amazon’s Fallout TV present a shot. It just about completely captures the sport collection’ tongue-in-cheek tone, and Ella Purnell (Lucy MacLean), Aaron Moten (Maximus), and Walton Goggins (The Goul 🥵) provide glorious performances. It’s kind of crude and shockingly gory at occasions, however there’s additionally coronary heart to it, identical to the long-running recreation franchise.


A part of why I feel the Fallout TV present works so properly is as a result of it is solely set within the recreation’s universe, giving its creators (which incorporates govt producer Jonathan Nolan) free rein to do just about no matter they need inside the confines of the sport’s universe. I am trying ahead to season 2 when it probably drops sooner or later in 2026. The Fallout TV present is out there to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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3 Attending All Your Buddies Fest

Getting a personal live performance from Gob was fairly cool

Silverstein playing at All your Friends Fest

I am a sucker for nostalgia, so when my companion managed to get her palms on VIP tickets to All Your Friends Fest, a pop-punk/emo competition that appeared prefer it aimed to be a smaller scale When We Were Young, I used to be all in. Then I came upon it was approach out in Burl’s Creek, a competition venue that is roughly two hours away from Toronto, and my pleasure shortly disappeared. Actually, at one level, my companion and I deliberate to skip the competition altogether, however I am very glad we did not.


As a compromise, we hit up solely the Friday date, and to my shock, the venue was just about empty. This gave us the prospect to look at Silverstein, Gob, Billy Talent, and extra, from the entrance row. In a approach, it virtually felt like a semi-private live performance expertise. I doubt subsequent yr’s competition can be as low-key, so I am going to all the time treasure having the chance to see a number of of the manufacturers I grew up listening to up shut and private. And hey, Gob could not have performed Ming Tran, however at the least I bought to hearken to Soda whereas standing 5-feet from the stage.

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4 Anbernic’s RG35XXSP taught me the significance of authenticity

Taking part in retro video games is all concerning the platform you are gaming on

RG35XXSP


RG35XXSP thumbnail

I used to suppose it was foolish to wish to play retro video games with old fashioned controllers or, on this case, a familiar-looking gadget. “It is the sport that issues, not the gadget,” was the opinion I held for years. Then I got here throughout Anbernic’s RG35XXSP, a retro handheld that is a bit of greater than impressed by Nintendo’s basic Game Boy Advance SP, the primary backlit Sport Boy launched in North America.

In case you put the 2 handhelds side-by-side, most individuals in all probability would not even have the ability to inform the distinction. Anbernic has recreated the GBA SP in a outstanding approach, proper right down to its clamshell design, button structure, and the a number of good software program tips it affords, like pixel scaling, a digital drop shadow border across the show, and extra. In some methods, I’ve discovered that taking part in GBA video games on a handheld with this acquainted design is a greater expertise than the far costlier and premium-feeling FPGA-based Analogue Pocket (you’ll be able to decide up the RG35XXSP for just $60). I can also’t complain concerning the numerous ROMs that will or will not be already put in on the RG35XXSP relying on what storage configuration you go for, or its small dimension, which makes it simple to take with me on work-related journeys (the above image is me gaming away on a airplane).


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5 Going to the Tea Home on the Royal Botanical Gardens

Testing flowers and consuming tasty treatsRoyal Botanical Gardens

I actually like expertise, and that is an enormous a part of why I bought into the journalism area. However I additionally like completely unplugging, flowers, gardening, and ingesting tea. In an effort to briefly disconnect from our busy lives, my companion purchased tickets to the Royal Botanical Gardens Tea House, a fantastically adorned and historic tea home situated in southern Ontario, for my birthday. For a couple of hours, we munched on scones, macarons, tarts, and extra, and, after all, additionally had tea. We then spent the afternoon wandering across the Royal Botanical gardens, testing the sprawling park’s strolling trails, beautiful flowers, and its tropical plant-filled greenhouse.

It was a brief respite throughout a yr that feels prefer it’s been completely continuous for the each of us, and at any time when I am having a troublesome day, I feel again to that very chill expertise and do my greatest to keep in mind that life is not all the time a relentless whirlwind.

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