They shared the chat using Google’s built in sharing feature, so it seems legit.

It rapidly became one of my favorite single player games of all time after I bought it in late 2020. However, it is fundamentally a hiking simulator with a light sprinkling of open world stealth/action/horror gameplay and some innovative passive online multiplayer mechanics.

So, it might just not be your cup of tea. Especially if you don’t like simulation / management games such as fight simulator 2020, FTL, etc. However, if you enjoy meditative or atmospheric games, such as dear ester, fallout 3, valheim, Firewatch, maybe give it a shot when it’s on sale. The world building is fantastic, and the vibes are sublime.

As far as I know, this hasn’t been mentioned, but I hope it launches for PC day 1. I’ve played DS1 through twice on steam deck. That said, DS2 may require an upgrade.

He is not

I didn’t realize that it sold so well! That’s good to hear it is successful. I’m not over the moon with the game, but I did get 30 hours or so out of it, and don’t think it’s bad at all. My biggest annoyance was that it felt too similar to AOE 2, which I saw as the superior game at launch. Still, that’s a bit of bias from an old gamer, lol. I think it’s fun!

Definitely! Just to clarify, I think that good RTS games make good esports, but fundamentally on the basis is being carefully made, captivating, and nuanced. I think an overt focus on developing an RTS as a esport tends to lead to low risk, streamlined designs which while fun, lack some of the staying power that older, more established titles have. Perhaps, I’m disillusioned about the genre in general, and that’s not the case!

Also, yeah 3d can be good, but I do think that Sprite based graphics are easy to parse and very pleasing to look at. I wish we had a healthy balance of the 2. 2d also tends to look more, evergreen, with 3d RTS looking dated on release due to the quantity of animated units. Though, strong art design would help offset this.

I disagree with this premise. I think games like age of empires and StarCraft had mass appeal and success. They brought in audiences who don’t normally like games, and broadly were well received by young, old, and different genders. Especially age of empires 2.

Modern RTS games are just (mostly) sloppy, unfinished, cashgrabs with no vision. They suffer the most from the transition to 3d as well. If a major studio actually put work and time into a polished, 2d, isometric, RTS that wasn’t solely focused on being an esport, I think there is a major vacuum for them to fill.

Man, if I was personally responsible for laying off 1500 people, I’d flush myself down a toilet. People like this guy are just shit.

In some respects, I can see this. Games such as unscrupulous MMOs are often carefully engineered to distort your ability to manage time and money. However, many games are still produced as entertainment products meant to compete on a basis of artistic or entertainment value. The addictive aspect doesn’t come from a manipulative design, but Rather just plain old fun, and in those cases similar arguments could be made about strawberries or books.

I would like to reiterate that there are addictive video games which really do try to manipulate you. Just like how a breakfast cereal might market itself as healthy and balanced while loaded with sugar and deceptive portion sizes, leading to unhealthy habits, a money first video game will contain elements carefully crafted to distort player’s perception and reasoning.

It’s just… All mixed together.

No, just a misleading title. He basically said, the PlayStation is core, but we have a future on all platforms. Absolutely nothing changed or is changing. This is not in any way news.