Yep they work great and they’re ubiquitous. Xbox360 gamepad might be cheaper than one from a newer console model. I finished Elden Ring with one 100% on Linux.

Satisfactory usually pulls me back for some Ficsmas construction. Though since v1.0 released I’ve been enjoying a lot more than that.

I’ll second Shapez as a great game if you like building and optimizing factory conveyors. Especially for $1.

The sequel is in early access and went 3D with improvements on basically everything.

I haven’t played StarCraft since like 1999 but that actually makes sense. Huh.

It’s not a binary choice. And that also doesn’t explain why after like 2 dozen major updates and expansions, some core systems are still absolute garbage. Like learning an alien language literally one word at a time from one person at at a time. Or why running is still interrupted by tiny changes in floor height. Or why you can break down salt to get oxygen and dihydrogen.

Oh? Have they fixed some of the core features? Is running no longer clunky and terrible? Is learning an alien language not an obnoxious chore? Do space stations in different systems actually offer anything new or are they still identical? Can planets have more than 2 biomes now (one on land and one underwater)?

Otherwise, last I played it was not a very good game.

I could go give it a negative review if that would help you feel more grounded.

Just kidding, congratulations :)

Yeah, in GTA IV, Niko doesn’t have any character stats, and his appearance never changes except for whatever clothes you buy. I assume it’s the same for the 3 protagonists in V.

It’s my favorite of the series, though I never played V.

San Andreas struck a great balance between serious and ridiculous. Some of the gang rivalry story hit pretty hard for its time, but also there was a mini Las Vegas and a goofy jetpack and tons of dumb Cluckin’ Bell jokes. It even had RPG elements like CJ getting more fit if you work out or fat if you fed him tons of fast food. Not everybody loved this and not surprisingly it was cut from later entries but I thought it added to the world. And the map was great, lots of variation between city and countryside. Great soundtrack too, rivaled only by Vice City IMO.

IV just didn’t do it for me. The phone (cousin Roman!) was obnoxious, the cars felt too heavy, the story just wasn’t very funny, and the map was pretty much all city.

Maybe I’d enjoy V since it’s huge and supposedly the vehicles are more fun, but I hear the story isn’t great.

when has long-term growth and stability ever been prioritized over short-term wins in the games industry?

I dunno, maybe Valve’s entire approach to Linux and devices. Maybe GOG’s dedication to only selling DRM-free games. You’d think PC Gamer magazine would be well aware of these.

I don’t know what GOG galaxy is but I assume it’s a storefront like Steam.

Yep, basically that. No you don’t need it to launch games, I would skip it if this is your only game from GOG.

Sounds like if you run by opening Galaxy and hitting play, it won’t be the native version and will run through Rosetta 2 but if you run it from your applications folder it’s the native version. This is a bit odd because that makes it sound like by default what you have installed is BOTH versions which sounds like an awful waste of disk space

I don’t game on Mac these days but that seems very plausible.

If you do want another launcher option, Heroic works on Mac. I’m not sure if it gives any different options on what version to install. https://heroicgameslauncher.com/

In contrast to this exec and many of the responses, another Steam Next Fest is happening right now! Go play free demos of upcoming games, 99% of which are Indies you’ve probably not yet heard of.

Have you had that happen with Microsoft / Rockstar / Ubisoft / EA / whatever accounts? That was my actual question.

Nah, IMO that’s pretty reasonable. I would say “mad” here means someone bought the game and then gave it a negative review over the account linking.

Are people this mad about Microsoft accounts? I picked up Forza Horizon 4 and couldn’t play at all until I signed in with one. However I already had one from using OneDrive.

Rockstar too. Can’t even play RDR2 solo without creating an account.

I do hate Sony extra because they’re the fuckwits behind some particularly stupid DRM schemes. But some of the games they’ve been publishing lately are good and very welcome on PC aside from this account crap.

Yes, you said that. I’m just giving my perspective on the bullet points you listed.

Your point has some validity for sure, but IMO Hello Games did a poor job with many of these things. And that’s overlooking that basic foot traversal in the game is awful.

suit/ship/multi tool/exocraft grind

That’s an awful grind, not fun at all. You have so little control over it in this game. Suit for example… you can only buy 1 slot per space station (plus one from the Anomaly) and it’s the exact same in every single system.

find cool planets

I want to enjoy this, but there aren’t enough biomes on any planet. They’re huge but super homogenous. No glaciers or rivers or waterfalls or anything.

build bases

This is okay. The parts are awkward but it’s not the worst system.

guild missions

These were just RNG “collect/kill X” trash when I played them.

anomoly missions

These are the best always-available missions. But they get repetitive quickly too and the rewards aren’t very good.

expedition

These are the best thing the game offers IMO, mostly due to having a one-off story and unique rewards. But the actual missions are kind of just a clunky scavenger hunt.

If ammo got simplified then I’m sure weapon condition / repairs got the axe too. Wish is fine I suppose. But hopefully attachments like scopes and suppressors and grenade launchers are still included, those were great.

On ammo I’d be okay with simplifying NATO vs Warsaw Pact rounds because that’s a bit hard to track for anyone unfamiliar, but as you say I liked the overall immersion of matching bullets to the gun.

I’m hoping the PC modding scene takes off because that will let us customize all kinds of things.

I’ll second this entirely.

Prey 2006 is a slightly gory boomer shooter with interesting topsy-turvy levels, gravity tricks, a few cool enemies and guns and powers, and a campy alien abduction / invasion story. It might be a little underrated in its genre. Definitely fun.

But Prey 2017 was more of a clever stealth action / psych horror title in the vein of Deus Ex and of course System Shock. Brilliant interconnected level design, a deep story, a good (though not super original) roster of guns and superpowers, some tricky puzzles, and a few interesting and enemies. It gets a good amount of love but I still think it deserves wider recognition as an excellent game.

It’s frankly stupid that they have the same name.

I remember enjoying the elemental guns (Maliwan) a lot in both BL1 and BL2. It’s a shame it took till the Pre-Sequel to add ice!

I’d argue the throw-to-reload mechanic isn’t in other games because it’s a gimmick.

The other letdowns in BL2 were A) the Hyperion “reverse kick” guns that were only accurate after you emptied most of the magazine, and B) the 3-barrel Gattling guns with magazines that were way too small to be worth spinning up. I swear these together were 25% of my pickups and just a waste of time. It feels bad to die while you’re actively holding the trigger right in the baddie’s face.

Many of the legendary guns and unique grenade effects were pretty fun in BL2 though. Those were both solid improvements.

I thought the weapons were a big step down in BL2. I swear 50% of the guns I found were gimmicks (e.g. throw it as a grenade to reload) but not actually all that effective.

Torgue weapons were especially bad. Yeah I know everyone loves Mr. Torgue and explosions are fun, but those guns are so inaccurate they can’t hit anything >2 meters away. I’d take a weapon that can reliably hit a target any day.

The devs also got rid of the Atlas and S&S brands from BL1. Those were almost always my pick unless so it was a real letdown to see them missing in BL2.

I almost forgot about SimEarth. For some reason I was allowed to play it in grade school computer lab. I wish they would remake it so I can recreate my sentient cephalopod uprising, except with graphics that aren’t complete ass.

I never played SimLife. But no, Spore is really not like SimEarth at all. As the other person said, Spore is disappointingly shallow on all levels.

Does it have to be set in America? I’d think the genre could work almost anywhere with technological cities.

Yep it’s Elden Ring for me too. I’ve been running my second character (pure sorcery) on and off for a while but the hype has me back in it. I’m a little tired of the gameplay and way more into the lore now. Hoping the new weapons and abilities give it a fresh feeling.

Oh man, enjoy. In some ways RDR2 is the best game ever. Some of the side encounters and story twists are top notch, and the game is gorgeous even on my ancient PC or Steam Deck. For some reason I stopped playing halfway through (I think I got distracted by Deep Rock Galactic over the holidays) but really need to pick it back up.

Ugh yeah that’s tempting to reinstall once again. Last time I did the Call of Chernobyl mod which combines all three game maps and was pretty awesome. I hear Anomaly is really good too.

I’m curious how the latest version runs. I haven’t tried it since the Unreal Engine 5 update. Kinda waiting to jump back in at the 1.0 release.

Ok that’s how you do a modkit trailer. The horse on the roof! 🐎🤣

Exactly. It’s even easier for me to put their games on an Ignore List than for them to insert ads.

In the end, this will probably end up being nothing more than an inconvenience to Spencer, as he can repair it with just a few clicks if he has enough materials in his inventory.

I don’t play 76 so whatever, I just think this is a bit funny.

The article seems to say otherwise.

I wouldn’t trust Unity for a split second after the licensing fiasco a few months ago.

Been looking for a non-paywalled link…

This article is garbage and the headline is misleading. https://youtu.be/6zkkJtCh22E?si=4DiCNZJgOY4AzxXK

Developer Intercept Games does indeed seem to be getting shut down :( There’s coverage at Eurogamer and lots of other sites, mostly pointing back to Jason Schreier (paywalled ofc because it’s fucking Bloomberg).

It’s not at all clear what that means for the game. “Safe” seems unlikely.

Damn, I really hope this isn’t true. I just started playing (even though my PC is below spec and I have to run it at potato quality) and I was having fun with the improvements over the original. I’ve followed the development and yeah initial launch was way premature but the 0.2 For Science! update looked to have turned things around.

But staff departure postings on LinkedIn are a very bad sign…

Steam Deck had a bunch of cool tech launch both with it and soon after it launched, like Steam Input.

Steam Input actually started years ago with the Steam Controller 🙂 Valve has been quietly improving it for a long time now, and it’s only gotten better with the Deck. SI is the #1 most underrated thing in gaming I swear.

But yeah the Steam client has quietly and steadily improved on Linux, even in the past 6 months. I saw issues with storage sizes, graphical bugs, page loading errors… and nearly all of it fixed now. It’s in a good state.

FYI games on Steam don’t actually have to use any DRM. e.g. Kerbal Space Program – you can download it, close the Steam client, copy it to another folder, unplug your network cable… then go launch the .EXE from its directory and play anyway.

worst pieces of software ever conceived

Oh you sweet summer child. You’ve clearly never used Peoplesoft, or the shovelware packed with printer drivers, or browser add-ons from the Netscape days, or the horrible CD burner programs pre-installed on PCs in the 90s…

It’s not innovative anymore

What have you been smoking? That’s just plain wrong. See my other comment for examples.

That’s the thing. You can launch Steam and have it just get the hell out of your way, and go enjoy your games. You don’t really have to interact with any of the features on a regular basis. For many players, that’s perfect.

But it’s actually been incredibly innovative. Proton has made Linux gaming a reality when it previously seemed impossible. Remote Play Together is basically wizardry. Steam Input is fucking brilliant and lightyears beyond other control customizations. These things are available to every Steam user gratis if you want them.

(fixed minor typos)