beepnoise

Nevermind, I did a quick check on YouTube and the game runs absolutely terribly on the Steam Deck… so much for me supporting Konami, got that refund request in order.

I’m just downloading it to my Steam Deck as I bought advanced access to the game. I’ll let folks know how it goes.

And before anyone jumps on my neck about buying advanced access:

• I waited until review scores came out
• Even then I was originally planning to wait a few weeks until launch but with Steam refunds, I figured I can play for half an hour to get a good feel of the game
• Not only is this Konami’s first good game in ages, I dare say this is also the industry’s first good game in ages. RE4 was excellent, but the OG was great and Capcom at that point knew how to do well. I cannot say the same for Konami/Bloober.
• I’m someone who is lucky enough to have enough disposable income where a purchase like this doesn’t really negatively affect me financially.

I am beepnoise and I approve of this message 👍

Well tbf I’m seeing the introdução hashtag trending on Mastodon (on my server it is second)

There was a time where Elon Musk (EM) was pretty much a nerd darling. The real life Tony Stark.

I don’t know where you are, but in the UK the positive image dropped quite quickly once he called a British cave diver a pedophile over the remarks said cave diver (Vernon Unsworth) said that EM offering his small submarine to help the Thai cave boys was a “PR stunt” and also to “stick his submarine where it hurts” (link). Admittedly the latter was harsh words, but to then go ahead and call a British person in Thailand a pedophile (obviously referencing Gary Glitter) was incredibly childish, petty, and virtually made a lot of Brits distrust EM as well as see him for who he really was from the online tantrum.

I do feel sorry for those who have been suckered into thinking EM isn’t some narcissistic arsehole, although the number is dwindling (a personal highlight was when he got booed after Dave Chappelle introduced him to his audience in San Fransisco)

I completely forgot about Whiskey. Managed to get GTA V running at 120FPS on it, which was (and still is, IMHO) absolutely mindblowing.

Truth be told, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.

PC Gaming has had tons of DRM examples - from SecuROM (anyone remember those times?) to modern day Denuvo DRM.

So there are a few unpopular DRMs out there:

• Disc checking based DRM (if the disc was cooked, that’s your paid game down the drain)
• CD Key based DRM (if you lost the CD Key, that’s your paid game down the drain)
• Online activation (you registered the same game on two different PCs? Try that again one more time and you’re done for. For added bonus, sometimes the activation software would register the same PC as different hardware because someone had the audacity to upgrade their hardware!)
• Always online - need I say more?
• Cloud gaming - now with the added joy of not owning the ones and zeros you paid for!!

Steam has managed to use account based DRM while avoiding the trappings of pretty much all of the above (for some games you can enter a CD key, and that game is permanently attached to your account, which is great if you lose the disc, but sucks if you want to sell the physical game on afterwards), while the competition used any of the above (some used multiple layers of DRM, which is eurgh).

Then on top of that, hats off to Valve - they do tend to listen to their customers and give them what they want, even if the whole point is to keep them tied to using Steam and strangle out the competition:

• Cloud saving
• Steam Workshops
• Game streaming via local network
• Sharing the game library with family
• Controller support with button remapping for legacy games with poor support
• In store game reviews
• Store algoritm suggestions based on the game categories you buy and what you friends buy
• Discussion forums (even if they can be thoroughly toxic at times)
• Guides (the formatting is awful)
• Fairly deep and independent social integration
• Built in audio streaming via Steam
• Those card things that you can sell for a bit of money or craft

Compare that to Origin, Epic Store, GOG etc. They just cannot compete with what Valve offers in terms of features on top of features.

What bothers me about Valve is that

• They have such a chokehold on PC gaming that everything else feels inferior, and no other company can really compete in terms of features
• They have fought refunds in the past (as mentioned in the article)
• The whole paid modding fiasco because Valve really wanted to financially exploit a community known to give stuff away for free
• How they often abandon their own products due to lack of customer attention and their limited size due to wanting to remain a limited company
  • I’m looking at Valve Index, and apart from Half Life: Alyx, I don’t see much in the way of new games. Even worse is that I watched someone on YouTube basically explain that there are still glitches and weird stuff that occurs in the Valve Index - aa product that costs £919 here in the UK.
  • I’m also looking at the Steam Controller, which has been very, very neglected with no talk of a sequel (given how successful the Steam Deck has been, I’m shocked at the lack of a “companion controller”)
  • I’m also looking at the infamous Steam PCs that completely flopped
• How TF2 started the trend (at least on Steam) of microtransactions in games, and how CS:GO has carried that flag (and started a gambling community which has probably done untold damage to young children as they grow into adults and are confronted with the world of gambling)
• How Valve, as a company that started off making games, has absolutely no desire whatsoever to make games anymore because of how wildly successful they are.

And this is the stuff I can think of at the top of my head. I was going to say it also concerns me they don’t have a bug bounty program, but it turns out now they do.

On Intel Macs, it is fairly trivial.

On the modern ARM based Macs (the M1/2/3/X processors), it isn’t an option. The only real solution is to use desktop virtualisation software like Parallels to install Windows (ARM based) and try to get Steam going. There are cheaper alternatives to Parallels, but they are often a faff.

Just so you know, you can adjust the amount so that Plaion gets absolutely nada:

So I’m a millennial (35 years old), and I have the following devices that I play games on (in order of most gaming prestige to least):

• Xbox Series X
• Steam Deck
• Lenovo Thinkpad T480
• Macbook Pro M1

I can tell you right now I am struggling to find a reason to play games on my XSX. On my Steam Deck/Thinkpad? I have a massive library of games, from old and new.

One of the biggest mistakes that this generation of gaming has done is do lots of remasters of old games - now I have my Steam Deck with all these old titles, I wonder in most cases why I’m paying so much money for such little return (my personal feeling is that the Resident Evil franchise is the only exception to this - the PS1/PS2 games, if they were ported onto PC, had horrible controls and lacklustre saving mechanisms. The remasters solve this as well as enhanced graphics).

Furthermore, the biggest selling point for me with the XSX was the backwards compatibility of old games like GTA IV and RDR. RDR aside, most of these games have made their way onto PC with a controller scheme that is fully compatible with any modern controller, let alone the Steam Deck.

It’s quite funny how my XSX in recent times has been used more as a TV streaming device until I upgraded my TV, which has the smart apps on the TV, so I don’t need the XSX any more.

I have strongly considered selling my XSX, but honestly GTA VI is the only thing that’s keeping the XSX in my living room. I am awfully tempted to pack it up and put it in the loft until GTA VI comes out - that is how little I care about the console. Over the weekend I went to my brother’s and played on his PS5 - apart from the triggers, I couldn’t immediately find the selling point, nor could I convince myself to shell out up to £500 on a console where the only game I would be interested in playing is God of War Ragnarok and/or Uncharted franchise.

This console generation by both companies has been exceptionally weak. It’s kind of funny that I sold my Nintendo Switch for the Steam Deck, but I’ve found owning a Switch to be far more compelling and memorable than owning any of the modern games consoles; Super Mario Oddysey was great, even if it was a little too hard for me, and BOTW was actually a little fun, but I really had to tap out after a few hours in. Donky Kong Tropical Freeze was just absolutely incredible and stellar. I can’t tell you any first party game I’ve enjoyed on XSX outside of Forza Horizon 5, but even then, FH5 was effectively a reskin of FH4).

Oh, and I don’t think it needs to be said, but the Macbook is not very good as a gaming machine. It’s OK for small indie titles, but unless Apple gets its finger out (it never will unless gaming makes them gangbusters for very little money - not very likely in long term), the Macbook/iPhone/iPad/Apple TV will always be a second class citizen to even the crappiest PC.

my man :D

Absolutely love Bejewelled. Bejewelled 3 is my vice, to be precise.