Replace mega corp with ‘a publicly traded entity’ and you’re spot-on the money.
There are a very few studios that aren’t beholden to the whims of vulture capitalist investors, and they’re the only ones still putting out absolute bangers (Larian), upholding their promises (Hello Games) or keeping the entire gaming industry from consuming itself in a blaze of pure shitfuckery (Valve).
I think the biggest hurdle against transitioning away from Windows to Linux for most government offices isn’t the OS itself - but rather the MS Office suite!
You’d honestly be surprised how pervasive Excel is amongst white collar workers; and I think the biggest hurdle is the uncertainty of compatibility (of formulas, macros, workbook links etc.) from Excel to Open/Libre Office alternatives.
Very true, same applies to the ESRB in the US. The ESA literally only formed the organisation to self-censor rather than leave it to the Gov’t following outrage over Mortal Kombat — if I’m remembering correctly?
Here in Australia, the ACB is a government body — but just about as useless, if not even more so! For the longest time, we had to have our games additionally censored because they were viewed as for children and therefore couldn’t depict excessive violence, any sexual themes or drug use. Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City were notable examples.
What am I getting at, even I don’t know. I guess to say that both implementations can be shit…? 🤷🏻♂️
Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers, Ren & Stimpy, etc.
That was a rabbit hole to fall down, unlocking so many childhood memories! For some reason, I thought those were all by Klasky Csupo, turns out I totally misremembered… 😅
May as well throw CatDog onto that list too, I sing the theme song to my daughter to make her laugh…
I kinda feel sorry for later generations, there really is no way that modern kids animation holds a candle to what we millennials got to experience.
Until Samsung (in particular) actually deliver on their stated promise, I’ll remain skeptical.
Especially as less than a year ago iFixIt had to terminate their relationship/agreement because Samsung failed to deliver on their promises to aid in end-user repairs.
For all their myriad of flaws, Apple at least has a proven track record of providing long term security and feature updates.
Didn’t know about the NES game, thanks for the heads-up! It looks like it was only released in Japan and based on the original Kyatto Ninden Teyandee version, and not the deranged English dub.
Even calling the original series notionally relevant is probably a stretch, it wasn’t even renewed for a second season! 🤣 But I guess we have its general failure to thank for setting in the Rube Goldberg series of events which led to the absurd English dub?
While the win is good, the fact that it’s still a PEGI 12 game while FIFA is a PEGI 3 shows what an absolute joke the whole process is.
Australia had to deal with similar levels of bullshit for way too long before our ratings board finally capitulated to common sense and introduced an R18 rating (for games like The Last of Us, not even XXX content!).
We have an endemic gambling problem too, so I don’t foresee much common sense coming out of that mob anytime soon - either.
The now I hear about GTA6, the more confident I get that my pessimism towards this franchise’s future is warranted.
No Dan Houser, no Lazlow Jones, hell - probably NONE of the same dev team at all from GTAV (let alone earlier).
This is likely going to end up some weird “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” style monster where some gatcha/shark card filled “live service” is going to go around masquerading as the next entry in this franchise.
Bully is absolutely brilliant, and largely as slept on compared to its GTA brethren.
You can also check out Red Dead Revolver, Manhunt and The Warriors to experience the rest of what amounted to Rockstar experimenting with various gameplay mechanics before implementing them into the GTA-series proper.
Have you given any thought to switching to a LTSC version of Windows 10 Enterprise? There are a few trade-offs from what I can see, but at least it eliminates the issue of no security updates for up to 5 more years.
I’m still mulling over the pro’s and con’s - curious on what you think.
It’d hopefully allow you to keep Civ6 multiplayer going for the time being until (if/when) the Linux issues get solved?
I’m a PC that’s not currently “compatible” with Windows 11, because I’m too lazy/refuse to enable TPM 2.0 in my BIOS.
Given how much of a pain in the ass my work machine is with Win 11 — I’d honestly rather switch to Linux than deal with it on my home system.
I’ve been tinkering with my Steam Deck for almost a year, and haven’t been able to accidentally brick it - it’s definitely come a long way from where it was back in my uni days (early 00s).
I’m sure there would be a few, surely? Multi-million dollar lottery win; finding an old USB key with a bunch of bitcoin; discovering an oil/gas reserve on your property; finding a suspicious unattended briefcase filled with unmarked bills; an unexpected inheritance from a previously unknown great-aunt, provided you spend a night in her haunted manor…
…yoy know, just those usual circumstances that happen to all of us!
Yikes; whatever I expected from the remasters - this ain’t it.
The original C&C remaster did a similar graphics upscale, but they at least managed to at least mostly pull it off.
Given they could have potentially rasterised WOW assets to provide a cohesive feel to players, this is just a total ball-drop.
I’ve been mulling over this the past few years, having finally kicked the WoW habit in the second year of Shadowlands (approaching ~3 years now)…
…but how often are quests/missions/objectives etc. just a combination of go to x, collect x of y, kill x of y? At a certain point, all of these become generic - right?
It’s not xenophobia, it’s a matter of national security for every single western nation. Without Intel, x86 processor manufacturing would be limited to TSMC in Taiwan, and would only serve to further incentivise Chinese aggression over the island.
So yes, paranoia - but sometimes that can be a good thing.
I doing think it was an one thing, but more-so a build-up over time - a death of a thousand cuts, if you will:
It was a cultural moment generally, just think back to all of those celebrity commercials (“I’m Mr. T and I’m a Night Elf Mohawk”). All cultural moments pass eventually.
The third expansion (Cataclysm) was quite weak to begin with; coupled with a lack of content in the tail-end of the second (Wrath of the Lich King), which itself was incredible - narratively wrapped up the story that began all the way back in Warcraft 3.
So a lot of people chose that time to bow out of the game, as it required a fair bit of time dedication and seemed like an appropriate time to do so - given the narrative pay-off.
Lastly, the introduction of a number of game tools to automate the group composition process meant that the impact of player reputation on servers was severely diminished. Before then, there players who were toxic (stealing items, intentionally killing the group, failing quests) were infamous on a server.
Once this tool was further opened up to allow for groups to form across multiple servers - the sense of community was shattered as you would have no way to know if the person from another server was good/bad etc. it stopped being about bringing in the individual player, and just getting a body in to fill a role.
As someone who was lucky enough to get to experience those first ~6 years; it truly was lightning in a bottle.
20 years on, I am still friends with a number of those I met in WOW - and an in contact with a few more beyond that!
Unfortunately, it does feel like that sense of community those early years fostered are long gone, save perhaps a blip when Classic first launched.
Who knows when the next game will come along, which will be able to foster such relationships.
If it’s within your budget, grab a Steam Deck and use it in docked Desktop mode. It’s a pretty great introduction into Linux IMO, especially due to the fact that Valve themselves are maintaining the OS, and since it’s running on a fixed hardware platform - most online solutions should be applicable to any problems you may encounter.
Worst case, you don’t like it you can always eBay it off to recoup most of your costs?
It really depends on where you draw the line e in the sand, I suppose?
If you’re not too heavily invested in the game series (so you’re willing to accept retcons/story divergence), and are able to switch your brain off for ~100 minutes you’ve got a decent enough chance that you probably won’t hate it.
More than anything, it just has a lot more in common with the ‘bad old days’ of video game adaptations (live action Mario Bros., anything Uwe Boll touched), than the newer crop of more faithful/reverent adaptations (Sonic, animated Mario etc.).
I’d love to see a modern take on Cannon Fodder, as well as another entry in the Desert/Urban/Soviet/Nuclear Strike series.
Lastly, there was a very fun demo/mod to Sensible Soccer for the Amiga that set the match between UK and Germany, and replaced the ball with a bomb that would periodically explode and eliminate any nearby players. I’d live to see a modern-day version of this, honestly - just some goofy fun!
…and yes, I am fully aware of just how old this makes me all sound.
I liked the ending of FC5, and think that it lead rather well into the subsequent New Dawn expansion pack.
On the other hand, while I also loved FC3 - I couldn’t get into FC4 at all…
I guess we can conclude that Far Cry is just a very strange series that seems to alienate its fans just about as often as it attracts them!
Slight correction; you’re referring to Super Mario Bros. (1985).
The plain ol’ Mario Bros. (1983) was the arcade platformer about bunking mobs coming out of pipes: