Games: Payphone Go, GCompris, Valve, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 08, 2026

• BoingBoing ☛ Payphone Go is a scavenger hunt for California's last payphones

  The rules are simple: create an account, get a 9-digit player ID, find a payphone on the in-game map, dial (888) 683-6697 (frec call) from the phone, and punch in your ID. The system identifies which payphone you're calling from. The first caller to each phone earns 20 points, the second gets 10, the third gets 5, and everyone after that earns 1. First callers can also leave voicemails that show up for future visitors — digital graffiti on analog infrastructure.

• FOSDEM 2026

  This year I had the chance to attend my first ever FOSDEM. My main objective there was the

  GCompris workshop in FOSDEM Junior track. It was an experimental one with the initiative

  from the organizer since it was only the third year that this track existed.

  The workshop had way more adult attendees interested in GCompris for their children than

  children themselves. So, naturally, it turned more into a dev room than a workshop.

  Me, together with the organizers came to a conclusion that GCompris isn't fit for the

  FOSDEM Junior, at least not in the form of: short presentation -> hands free experience.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ Valve reconfirm the Steam Frame, Steam Machine and Steam Controller are due in 2026 | GamingOnLinux

  Valve put up their Steam Year In Review 2025 and initially, they made it seem like their hardware plans were a lot more uncertain but they've since clarified.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Valve changes Steam Machine release date to this 'year,' second change as AI-fueled memory and shortage crisis deepens — official announcements went from "early 2026" to "first half of 2026" to "this year"

  Valve's latest announcement puts the Steam Machine release for "this year," after changing the console's expected arrival date from the first quarter to the first half of 2026.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Nintendo sues the US government over tariffs — Japanese videogame giant seeks 200 billion refund with interest

  Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on March 6 in the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking a refund of tariffs it paid under President The Insurrectionist's executive orders.