I understand what you are saying, but it also assumes surrendering to AI. Many of us are planning to avoid, boycott, and fight that slop to our dying breath. AI needs to be unpopular and unprofitable. The technology isn’t going to disappear, but we can make sure it’s not socially acceptable to steal from or replace humans with expensive, inefficient, misanthropic, planet-killing software and hardware. Progress is being made and it’s important to understand that — just like crypto — this is a fight we can win.

Tim Sweeney is a nazi pedophile, so this tracks.

Tim Sweeney also just announced that he is pedophile and a nazi.

Let’s get those numbers down. We all knew Tim Sweeney was a creep, but he also just announced that he’s a pedophile and a nazi.

Nintendo has no excuse not to include one.

They do have an excuse.

I love Pi, but the price of the 5 is unreasonable. Since RPF spun hardware into publicly traded a for-profit business, I expect it will only continue to get worse.

Steam Deck is the answer for now. You may still be able to get one of the discontinued LCD models on the cheap, but GamePass is now as expensive as buying a game every month, so it’s better to buy than subscribe. They also make excellent PCs and homelab devices. We bought several LCD versions for the lab instead of Pi 5s, because they are such a good deal.

Star Citizen works well on Linux via a community-maintained tool called LUG. Getting other fancy peripherals like head tracking requires some creative use of a Windows VM, because those peripheral makers don’t support Linux. If Squadron 42 ever actually materializes, then the community will have it covered.

I backed it a lifetime ago and have gone back and forth between “it’s a scam” and “maybe it could happen” so many times that I just don’t care any more. As broken as it is and as slow as progress has been, there has never been anything like it. I check in a couple of times every year and usually have fun seeing the sights for a week or two. I think I’ve had enough enjoyment from it to justify my original cost.

Even though their goals are unreasonable, irrational, and completely mad, they have somehow managed to fund stable development for over a decade and have actually made meaningful progress. Will I live to see it realized? Who knows. I wish them luck for both their sakes and the people who spent big money on this ridiculous dream, but unlike many others, I have no hard feelings personally. I’d like to see it realized someday, but I have no more money to give them even if I wanted to.

I played the game very shortly after release and I read all the newspapers. There was a lot of storytelling going on in them and they definitely weren’t this. Was some prerelease build or placeholder texture? Because if so, this controversy is pedantic, puritanical, witch-hunting garbage, and I say that as someone who is violently anti-AI.

I’m confused. Is his girlfriend Vanduul?

They were purchased by Monotype, a global font monopoly, and the whole “buy all competition, send prices into the stratosphere, then sue whoever can’t pay the extortion or change their fonts” is Monotype’s entire M.O. Every country on the planet should be breaking them into a hundred pieces and locking up their executives for the rest of their lives.

After a decade? I hope it cost them millions in licensing fees and lost sales.

Someone didn’t live through the 80s, I see.

Game awards are ridiculous, but I will never forget Expedition 33. It deserves all the accolades it has earned and achieved.

Remember when Elon Musk called that diver a pedo and got sued because it wasn’t true?

Saying malicious things that aren’t true is slander. Simple math.

So slander is cool? You seem to think that slander is cool.

My understanding is that the game is a surrealist-horror social commentary, like something David Lynch would do. I see a lot of people in these comments making some very wild claims and assumptions based on a build the developers were coerced into putting together early in development and which does not actually exist. The developers know they are pushing boundaries and that is the whole point, they even said they would change anything if Valve requested it since the build they were told to send was so early and quickly assembled. Instead, Valve gave no feedback at all and blacklisted them without recourse.

Since Steam is effectively a monopoly - though earned on merits instead of anticompetitiveness - being rejected without recourse or discussion is a death sentence and Valve should not have that power. Generally, I am violently opposed to anyone having the ability to dictate what qualifies as art, but when it’s a company that has captured an entire market crushing an indie developer for being too avante-garde while that company actively distributes basic porn, I must call bullshit. This is an abuse of their monopoly and it needs to be called out and punished.

I don’t have the stomach to play it, but I bought a copy on GOG to support the devs. As a consumer I prefer GOG, but for developers, being blocked from Steam is death. Potentially literal death, since we are discussing peoples livelihoods.

It’s not a game yet. You must have a high tolerance for serious problems and no expectation of making any kind of personal “progress.” But if you go in for the vibes and have others to vibe with, there is nothing else like it.

I pop in once or twice a year to see the progress. It’s been a long road, but progress is being made. Someday it will be a real game, I just don’t know if I’ll live to see it. 😅

P.S. Never bother with “free fly” events. Their servers can’t take it. I’m surprised they still do those since the experience gets so bad that it must be turn off more people than it sells.

FYI, it’s working great for me on Cachy right now.

I personally think that Proton has ended the need for Linux-native builds, but I wouldn’t be opposed to Linux native games that skip Windows entirely.

Chromatic aberration and film grain. If your game has either of those and no way to turn them off, I wish you a slow, painful death and I will probably refund it.

Anything from Paradox, but right now it’s Europa Univeralis V. I really like some of their grand strategy staples, even if it’s an abusive relationship where they sometimes release updates that make the games worse and annoy you into buying overpriced DLC to make the last update slightly less bad. The new Crusader Kings 3 DLC is excellent, though. I hope they do more like that.

Even on sale their second-run PC releases are more expensive than what I would normally tolerate for a new full game. Then there is Stellar Blade, which is also infected with Denuvo malware. They could be doing much better.

Ori. Both of them.

They are works of high art.

Maybe they’ll give it to The Chinese Room who will turn it into a walking simulator with a smidge of awful, repetitive combat mixed in.

E33 is the only game to have ever made me ugly-cry, and it did it multiple times. That alone secures it a place in my personal pantheon. I didn’t love the combat system, but I will admit that’s because I have never liked JRPG systems, and I eventually grew to be okay with it. The game was a work of art and passion that we rarely ever see, and that came through.

A seller doesn’t get to walk in your home, hand you a check and take your couch. The same should not be allowed for digital goods. A voluntary refund should never revoke ownership rights. But we don’t actually have ownership rights any more, do we? Or any rights.

They are also hellbent on infecting everything they touch with Denuvo malware. I haven’t bought anything of theirs in years for that reason alone.

I am not sure anybody is surprised, but I am happy to see so much solidarity.

I’m hoping that that ARM support on the new VR headset means a Steam Phone may be in the works.

Steam does a lot of shitty things — including using gambling mechanics on kids and failing to moderate the neo-nazi clubhouse that are their forums — but they are not a monopoly and do not behave in a monopolistic or anticompetitive manner whatsoever. Their success and market share is genuinely earned on merits.

Personally, I would prefer GOG, but many games don’t release there, or release there much later. Epic could compete, but their heart is clearly not in it as they refuse to give customers features they want out of a platform and do engage in anticompetitive practices.

I still enjoyed Elden Ring, but I agree completely. I prefer the metroidvania world design of earlier From Software games. The sense of progression is one of the best parts of those games, and Elden Ring’s open world robs the it of a lot of the magic of earlier titles, where discoveries were around every corner and in every nook and cranny. I never felt the same joy of exploration and hard won progress as I did in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro.

There was a time when I could not have imagined liking those kinds of games. My partner got me Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition and I hated it. Hate may be too kind a word for how I felt. I’ve always loved metroidvanias and the style seemed right up my gothy, witchy alley, but I couldn’t get past the first basic zombie.

Then we watched a bunch of videos and realized that the game was designed to be played slowly and deliberately. There were no “junk” enemies and paying careful attention at all times was the game. When it clicked, it clicked, and now From Software games are my favorite.

Remaining developers have begun openly protesting the company.

https://www.dexerto.com/gta/protests-erupt-at-rockstar-games-offices-accusing-gta-6-developers-of-union-busting-3280277/

Fairphone has partnered with Amazon. They are no longer remotely fair. Look elsewhere if you want ethical hardware.

If you are organizing a union NEVER EVER use company controlled channels to communicate about it. This is organizing 101.

At the same time, make sure that whatever you do use is private and secure. Union reps will warn you about how companies spy, and it is not paranoia.

That is exactly what happened. All corporations operate like this. They know what they are doing is illegal, so they just use words to warp reality however they like. It’s the Republican strategy.

I am looking forward to Light No Fire and have played countless hours of Minecraft and Star Citizen.

“Too big” doesn’t exist as long as I am enjoying myself.

I asked about them earlier this evening and was considering getting their new printer. I didn’t really need one, anyway. They just seem fun.

You know what isn’t fun? Genocide. Fuck genocide supporters.

I played a little of the open beta. It was an interesting concept, but it was very dull and the PvP was toxic and a turnoff. I won’t be playing again.