eurogamer.net

givesomefucks, do games w $80 for Borderlands 4 too costly? Randy Pitchford says, "If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen"

Like waiting 6 months for them to panic over low sales and put on 50% sale?

Maybe, or maybe I’ll wait for the ultimate edition with all dlc to hit $40

FlashMobOfOne,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

Or get it second-hand off G2A or CDKeys.

I’m never paying $80 for a video game.

iAmTheTot,

I wouldn’t advise using those services, myself. Lots of sketchy stuff. Legit copies of digital games go on sale often enough.

yamper,

piracy is preferable over buying a key off of greymarket sites like this tbh

inclementimmigrant,

I honestly think it will sell a lot because most gamers won’t be able to control themselves.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

Or perhaps even find it to be worth the price.

PillowTalk420,
@PillowTalk420@lemmy.world avatar

What does a 12 year old care about $80? They ain’t spending that. Their parents are.

BlameTheAntifa,

When $40 is half price, I will generally pass as if it were $80. There is a glut of amazing content out there for $40 or less, and much of it is truly inspired indie work. When your half-price game is competing with great full-price indie titles, I will continue to ignore your overpriced corporate muck.

Kaldo,

I mean 50% off and still being $40 still sounds like a terrible deal

Graphy,

Right? I didn’t realize how disinterested I was in Borderlands until I read that.

zaphod,

I got Borderlands 3 about a year after release for less than 5€, I can wait.

psx_crab,

Borderlands 3 is in a free giveaway after a year or so on Epic Games. The sales must be abysmal to give a flagship franchise away for free, because of Randy being a bitch and insist exclusive is good. This will hopefully bite them back like last time.

atro_city, do games w Black Myth: Wukong studio requests influencers not include "feminist propaganda" or Covid-19 references in coverage

What is "feminist propaganda" and what would COVID-19 have anything to do with the game? What would either of those have to do with the game? Isn't it based on the legend of the monkey king? Are they afraid they'll make a meme of him spreading COVID to kill his enemies or something?

TimLovesTech,

In the conspiracy theories groups China is a hot topic, and I believe this is them telling influencers (who they give a free copy) to stick to the game instead of talking about the country they happen to live in. And I would assume if people stuck to the game few of these topics would be relevant.

Now if an influencer had an issue with say, allegations misogyny at the studio, I would expect them to -

  1. not accept the game from the studio
  2. maybe create content on why they refused the offer of a free game and things they think would need to change to allow them to work with the studio in the future.
echodot,

You would have thought that by now they would have realized that explicitly banning people from talking about a subject is basically a method to guarantee that they do.

Maggoty,

It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?

Hehe, red flag, China…

nokturne213,

It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?

The Black Myth: Wukong sexism controversy stems from employee reports that developers at Game Science have been making sexist comments for many years, and there’s a suggestion the company doesn’t want women playing its games.

dotesports.com/…/black-myth-wukong-developer-cont…

ThunderWhiskers,
@ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world avatar

I wonder if any of this has been corroborated. I feel more conflicted about this kind of stuff recently because for every one asshole saying awful shit there are hundreds of other people that poured years of their life into making a game like this.

echodot,

It’s Chinese developer so I wouldn’t be that surprised that their sexist it just seems to be a very common viewpoint in China.

They obviously know it’s unacceptable because they don’t want to be brought up on it. But rather than improved they’re just going to ban discussion of it or at least try to it won’t work of course. We’re talking about it after all.

FireRetardant, do games w CD Projekt CFO does "not see a place for microtransactions in single-player games"

The time has come for macrotransactions instead

mp3,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

I’m all in for the return of actual game expansions.

mcforest,

Nah, only the transactions will be bigger. Amount of content won’t.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Just like bags of chips.

Hobbes_Dent,

Soon to be bag of chip. Now in random shapes.

metaStatic,

loot bag with 50% chance of chip

don,
@don@lemm.ee avatar

loot case with 10% chance of loot bag with 50% chance of chip

variants,

Mystery container with possibility of contents containing loot crates that may contain loot box that may contain chip for a weekly subscription

leftzero,

Paradox, then.

schmidtster,

It is kinda funny how people have no issue paying for it all together as bundle, but separate it so people can pay for things individually is silly and everyone is suddenly offended?

I would rather have a story for $10 and $1 outfits I can ignore, than to spend $30 on a story and bunch of cosmetics that don’t add to the game.

This is just marketing, nothing more. They make more money forcing you to buy everything than letting you pick what you want.

ogmios,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

Eh… It’s more than just paying, but that a lot of the stuff which is now a standard microtransaction used to be integrated into the total experience, so you’d unlock outfits and such for finding secrets or completing challenges. That sort of content was integral to the over all experience, not just an extra to tack on as an afterthought.

schmidtster,

That’s also just an affect on the market of people wanting more choice and not wanting to be forced to pay for stuff they don’t want.

Of course it can be swung in a negative light too, because it affects developers bottom lines, and they always want the most money possible. CDPR is no different.

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

The outcome of splitting the content is that there are a lot of people who want to have everything and they will end up paying far more for a la carte than for an expansion. The people who wouldn’t have bought the expansion still buy nothing, and pretty much nobody just buys a couple of things to save money.

Microtransactions is a system designed to prey on completionist whales. Barely anyone only buys a couple of things and doesn’t end up spending more than $30 over time as the content is drip fed and the new hotness comes along to replace the old hotness. Those that don’t spend anything, or just buy one thing before catching on, weren’t going to spend the $30 anyway.

It is false choice that negatively impacts the game experience.

schmidtster,

The outcome of splitting the content is that there are a lot of people who want to have everything and they will end up paying far more for a la carte than for an expansion

So if they want the content, they can support the devs so they make more.

The people who wouldn’t have bought the expansion still buy nothing, and pretty much nobody just buys a couple of things to save money.

So no lose there, but they could buy an outfit if they liked it and want to support the dev.

…… that’s actually the majority of gamers…… 2% of the player base accounts for most of the purchases, that means the other 98% is still buying stuff, just not everything. So that’s not even remotely close to reality, most people pick and choose the content, which is literally why this because a thing, because the market wanted it….

metaStatic,

just like the market wants nothing but superhero movies? This doesn't work anything like a free market. people would buy full games if they where available, devs just figured out they could drip feed the content and make significantly more money at the expense of a good product so you don't get to choose the good product because it doesn't exist. That's not the market choosing crap it's the market makers only providing crap.

schmidtster,

They still buy full games though, using old as seats to make new content for an “old” game is a great way to have more income come in. Most would probably prefer to make a new game, but that takes longer as well.

So if it’s a dlc a year at $15 for 4 years, or a game every 4 years for $60… what’s the difference in the end? Other than what you think is going on inside your head? It’s the same content, same price, same everything, you just get content yearly instead of every 4 years. Bonus for everyone since they can than use that money after the first year to maybe make the other better.

ogmios,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

because the market wanted it

I can’t possibly roll my eyes any harder at this statement, with gaming companies practically competing to go under as fast as possible over the past decade.

schmidtster,

What…? Most people want more content more often with more options, not everyone wants a release every 4 years that’s the same content and story rehashed.

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Unless the entire game is developed by an independent studio and is entirely funded on microtransactions, buying micro transactions is just there for more company profit on top of the regular game sales by stripping content out of a full release. It isn’t supporting the development.

The market didn’t want it.

themeatbridge,

People did have issues paying for it all together, back when they were called “expansion packs.”

I don’t mind paying for more of the game. I do mind paying for fixes to a broken game. I don’t mind optional cosmetic upgrades, but I don’t like pay-to-win, even in single player (looking at you, Nintendo amiibos).

But regardless, people are going to complain, and many of their complaints will be valid.

schmidtster,

People had different issues with those, that was because online was a portion of it, and people thought devs were holding content back just to make more money. Obviously some did that, but they started painting every dev with that brush and they needed to adjust to save their bottom line from being affected.

Every change has been a reactionary effort to adjust for the market changes and people suddenly not wanting what they just wanted a few years ago, and using it to their marketing advantage. Of course not everyone is going to be happy, it’s just funny that certain devs get defended for doing what everyone else does since their marketing gets eating up.

Bonesince1997,

I think some people like to know when it ends. Microtransactions can make it seem endless. Once you’ve done that a few times it makes you want to know about as much as you can upfront.

Carighan,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

You know, the way you phrase it I’d be fine. Only in your example, instead of 60 for it all, it is now 60 for 80% of the story, another 2x15 for the remainder, and 10 per Outfit.

Don_alForno,

The thing is, you actually get 30$ story and 5$ per outfit instead of a 30$ Expansion.

And cosmetics do add to the game for a big part of the market.

SuperSpecialNickname,

You used to be able to unlock cosmetic content by playing instead of paying. They’re taking advantage.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

StarCraft Brood Wars Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction

People shit on Bethesda but they’ve consistently released banger expansions. Far Harbor was incredible.

Kedly,

Even the publicly acknowledged start of Micro Transactions “Horse Armour” was couched in decent medium sized DLC and The Shivering Isles

GlitterInfection,

What do you mean by couched in this context?

I don’t think the horse armor was part of a bigger dlc.

Kedly,

Oblivion had a LOT of post release paid content, most of which was decent value per $ spent, including a full on expansion. So while horse armour was a warning sign for things to come, Oblivion ALSO showcased the good side of paid post release content

GlitterInfection,

That makes sense, thank you for explaining.

Now they just re-release the game over and over again and we buy that!

Ghostalmedia,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

I believe that was called phantom liberty.

metallic_z3r0,

Or if we’re talking Witcher 3, Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine. Both of those had an amazing amount of content, well worth it.

Breezy,

Ill be getting the Elden ring dlc at 40 dollars day one. Yeah im expecting the game to almost double in size.

Annoyed_Crabby,

Yeah that’s what remaster are for

jordanlund, do games w Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use", in bid to prevent piracy
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar
ampersandrew, do gaming w Twitch "isn't profitable" admits CEO, in wake of recent layoffs
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Maybe a few more ads in the middle of the thing I'm trying to watch, with no way to pause or rewind to catch what I missed, will do the trick.

_sideffect,

When did that start? I used to be on Twitch 4-5 years ago, but never went back since then.

I don’t remember ads at all back then

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Ads used to be run at the streamers' discretion, and they were beaten by adblock. Now adblock doesn't work on Twitch, because they did the smart thing and embedded them into the stream. Also, a few years back, even though streamers have an incentive to run ads, because they benefit from it too, Twitch implemented mandatory thresholds for number of ads that need to be run or else you lose access to some tier of monetization, so most streamers leave it on auto pilot now. It means that whenever the same stream is running on YouTube, I'm watching on YouTube so I don't miss anything.

ImplyingImplications,

I mostly watch YouTube streamers. Once in a while they’ll do a Twitch stream and holy shit it’s night and day. 0 ads on YouTube and 30 second and even sometimes 1 minute unskippable ads constantly interrupting the stream on Twitch. I honestly have no idea how people put up with it. I cancelled cable because I didn’t want to watch ads, I’m not going to a site that does the same.

fsxylo,

My adblock blocks the ads, but I still get that stupid purple screen. What really annoys me is that it’s a minute and a half long. Twitch really wants me to disable ad block so I look at an ad on a Livestream for almost two fucking minutes.

I minimize and do something else until then but that’s asinine.

Marin_Rider,

hold on, you mean to tell me a platform that exists and is known purely for LIVE streaming content has put ads OVER the livestream interrupting your view? what kind of idiot would have approved such a service killing move?

derpgon,

As a mod, you can postpone an ad by 5 minutes 3 times. You can’t postpone it by 1 minute, you can’t choose to play them during downtime, you can’t do shit but pray an interesting moment doesn’t happen during the 1 minute.

wurstgulasch3000,

Adblockers still work so I’ve never seen ads on twitch

bjoern_tantau, do games w Nintendo loses trademark fight against Super Mario supermarket
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar
ipkpjersi,

Nintendo probably didn’t lol

Atomic,

They honestly probably don’t care much about the outcome.

But they do have to challenge it as soon as they find out, otherwise it could be used against them in future cases.

capt_wolf, do games w Steam is now banned in Vietnam

Citing it as “an injustice to domestic publishers”, Vietnamese studios reportedly say that local game development “will die” if Steam is able to keep releasing games without the same government scrutiny as domestic games…

Yeah! It’s so unfair that one person can put their heart and soul into making a game on their own, self publish, and be successful! No way anyone else could possibly do that!

catloaf, do games w Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection used modder's work without credit

What do you think would happen if the mod authors filed a DMCA takedown against the game?

A_Toasty_Strudel,
@A_Toasty_Strudel@lemmy.world avatar

They’d have to change the content or pay the man prolly.

xkforce,

Ahahahaha I want to live in your world instead of the one we actually live in.

SchmidtGenetics,

Their lawyers tie you up with a lot of legal fees trying to get you to defend it, if you don’t they take you to court for a frivolous suit.

Either way they win and you lose, even if you’re right.

I don’t see it playing out positive unfortunately.

andrew,
@andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun avatar

I’d fund that GoFundMe.

Buttons, (edited )
@Buttons@programming.dev avatar

Can the lawyers on the receiving end of a DMCA takedown take the other party to court for a frivolous suit? I thought one of the problems was that there is no recourse for those on the receiving end of a bad DMCA takedown?

What I think would happen is the modders send a DMCA takedown, and EA either does take it down, or they file a “we’re not violating copyright, promise” form and then that’s the end of the DMCA. If they file the “we’re not violating copyright” form, then from there the modders can file a normal copyright violation suit if they choose.

SchmidtGenetics,

Sounds like it, not a lawyer, but if you’re wasting peoples time and money, yeah there will most likely be a way for them to get back at you.

catloaf,

Right, EA would file a counter-notice. Then the modder would have to get lawyers involved and file an actual legal complaint, and EA would respond with their lawyers.

But once they file the counter-notice, you could just stop there. They could sue you for filing in bad faith, but I’ve never heard of that happening.

Son_of_dad,

Nothing. Modders suddenly feeling they should be paid is really entitled and kind of crazy. Hey I made some fan art of a marvel character, should marvel pay me?

Modding isn’t a job, and you can’t make money off of someone else’s game

Potatos_are_not_friends,

You’re conflating two different things.

There’s modders who whine about working for free. And yes, modding is a choice.

Where in this incident is stolen work.

Son_of_dad,

It’s not work . I’m currently modding a game, it’s a hobby. And I’d be entitled as hell to think I should be paid for it.

This “pay the modders” thing will just lead to more micro transactions. You want to download that created wrestler in the new game? It was made by so and so, you now owe. $9.99. fuck that

ringwraithfish,

If you make something and give it away for free, that’s fine.

If you make something and I sell it to the masses for a profit without your permission that’s theft.

fartsparkles,

It’s not about pay the modders so much as if the developer of the game took your mod, put it in the game proper, claimed it was their work, and charged people for it.

QuaternionsRock,

Can you link your mod files so I can sell them without your knowledge or consent please? Seeing as you have no problem with it…

Son_of_dad,

Yeah they’re up on the games site for free

catloaf,

dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/…/work

I found several definitions where this meets the definition of “work”, but I’m interested to hear your argument about how “time and effort spent doing a task” is not work.

Son_of_dad,

Nobody hired you to mod someone else’s art. It’s a hobby. I can’t put brush to someone else’s painting and demand payment

Don_alForno,

This is the wrong comparison. If you painted a modified version of an existing painting, the original painter can’t take your work and sell it against your will.

Son_of_dad,

Actually it’s more like you modifying someone else’s video game and then selling it as your own

Don_alForno,

No it’s not. The modder didn’t sell anything. Wanting to be compensated if somebody else makes a profit from your work that you put out for free is not the same thing as selling it.

Son_of_dad,

Wanting money for your work isn’t selling?

Don_alForno,

No, because they weren’t even offering it for sale. But they also weren’t offering it to be taken to be sold by somebody else for a profit. Which is what the studio did anyway. So now, after the fact, they can either pay a compensation and credit the modder, or they can remove their stuff from the game.

skulblaka, (edited )
@skulblaka@startrek.website avatar

Hey I made some fan art of a marvel character, should marvel pay me?

When they use that fan art in the next official marvel movie, yes absolutely they should.

Son_of_dad,

But it’s their character, you didn’t ask permission to make the art out of a copyright, why should they pay you?

BlemboTheThird,

They’re still taking something they didn’t make and selling it as though they did. I have every right to write and film a Batman movie, spend as much time I want making it professional, and then show it to people, as long as I don’t charge them for it. That doesn’t give Fox or whoever the right to take my movie and charge for it instead. Even if I did break the law by making people pay for it, the actual owners would only be entitled to that money, not to go make mroe money off of it themselves. It’s still my work even if it uses concepts invented by someone else.

There’s a reason every franchise under the sun has mountains of fanart and fanfic without the companies that own them trying to take control of it: it’s blatantly illegal.

Deceptichum,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

It’s their character, but it’s your work.

They cant just steal your work for their own monetary gain, just the same as you cant steal their character for your own monetary gain.

Both sides have contributed something here, but one side is profiting off the other through theft.

SchmidtGenetics,

But the rub is, under fair use you can’t profit from it though, so as soon as you accept payment, now they can sue you. So in the end, they win and get it for free regardless.

Deceptichum,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

If the rights holders enter into a contract and pay you for your work, I don’t think they can turn around and sue you for making a profit off of it. I’m no lawyer, but I don’t think the law is that far gone.

SchmidtGenetics,

But how can they make a contract? Signing it would violate fair use exemption before that could be argued.

Corps are abusing a conflict within the laws, it’s not even a loophole, it’s just the unfortunate way the laws that protect each person/industry don’t agree.

FireTower,
@FireTower@lemmy.world avatar

Contracting someone to use an artwork they made of your character would implicitly grant a license for them to make commercial profit off of that transaction.

catloaf,

Profit is not explicitly one of the four factors of fair use.

CTDummy, (edited )

That isn’t what a DMCA is for. Someone being compensated for the work they’ve done is unrelated to suing a company for using your art/code/work without permission or reference. Weirdly aggressive to modders though.

Edit: for your edit, you can’t monetise a mod for someone’s else’s game directly but you can absolutely make money modding. And even if their EULA enables them to do so, taking a modders code without at least a reference is pretty dogshit. Literally a million dollar studio ripping off people who did it out of passion knowing full well they wouldn’t get compensated. I’m surprised a EULA can protect them legally for doing it tbh.

Guntrigger,

Well yeah, if Marvel released their next movie and it was literally the fan art.

Buttons,
@Buttons@programming.dev avatar

Their art, their copyright.

They don’t expect to be paid, but they do expect that their copyright not be violated.

They might expect pay in exchange for granting a license to use their copyright art.

Coelacanth, do games w Black Myth: Wukong studio requests influencers not include "feminist propaganda" or Covid-19 references in coverage
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

The dev has a storied past^[1] of sexism and misogyny, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The COVID stuff is amusing but unsurprising considering it’s a Chinese studio.

TimLovesTech,

Reading through that made me feel gross. It does seem to be acknowledged by women in China as a cultural issue (as well as globally online).

Sexism is, and continues to be, a global problem. But the difference, as both Zhong and Monica F. pointed out, is that the Chinese government and overall cultural attitudes continue to actively discourage women and their allies from fighting back. There’s no one telling harassers “no.”

turmacar,

This feels like the second round of this going around as the AI articles / lazy sites pick it up.

It’s a doc ‘sent’ to one guy who had 12 followers on medium before this started blowing up. It was edited after it was sent out to be the real marketing email of the company instead of a gmail address. The doc is still owned by that gmail account, which isn’t typically how companies operate.

I guess they’re getting their viral moment so good for them for generating content?

edgemaster72, do games w Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick departs in just a few days
@edgemaster72@lemmy.world avatar

I could’ve sworn I had NSFW content turned off, but yet there’s a picture of a gigantic asshole on this post

swayevenly,

ba dum tss

Mr_Dr_Oink,

Da bum tits

echo64, do games w GTA 6 has patented a new locomotion system to make "highly dynamic and realistic animations"

And in no other games! Patents aee truely wonderful aren’t they.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

Or those gigantic multi million dollar game dev corporations could afford to, you know, pay to license that shit for their own games.

If they can afford to pay the CEOs millions of dollars for their golden parachute as well as their yearly salary, then they can afford that license.

If you think a game that doesn't have that is a failure, then both your expectations as well as that game both deserve to fail.

echo64,

Why license endless patents if you can save money by just not doing that

Greedy ceos is a bad justification for software patents

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

You sound like you need a refresher on basic intellectual property protections and why they are essential.

echo64,

Remember when Amazon, Apple, ARM, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Nvidia, Samsung Electronics and Tencent all had to come together and form a super group to develop a royalty free video codec because something as simple as compressing and decompressing video was so god damn patent encumbered by people who just existed to suck money out of everyone.

Literally, every time software is patented, it ends up being used to screw with everyone, then eventually the patent expires ten years after the software was useful, or we have to waste huge amounts of effort to sideline it.

You sound like you need a history refresher on patents in the software industry and the disastrous effect that it has had in hurting innovation and consumers and how it is dominated by trolls and squatters.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

I don't know how to convey to you how important it is to incentivize innovation without worrying someone else will simply steal your ideas to make millions from your hard work you did inventing something while they literally did nothing.

If I make something and someone else can simply take it and dominate the market with it and pay me nothing for the work i did, why the fuck should I even bother making anything?

echo64,

Again, look at the history of software patents. Tell me a single time it incentivied innovation and wasn’t just used by patent trolls and wasn’t just a huge waste of time and money for the industry to spend time on.

I think you are wholey unfamiliar with software patents in general and are just going on some basic guiding principal and I can tell you right now, history has not played out in your idilic description at all and you are just coming off as ignorant on the topic.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

Let's take a look at countries with no patent laws and compare their innovations that contributed to the rest of the world:

East Timor - nothing
Suriname - nothing
Somalia - nothing
Eritrea - nothing
Maldives - nothing
Marshall Islands - nothing
Micronesia - nothing
Myanmar - nothing
Palau - nothing
South Sudan - nothing
North Korea - nothing

ricdeh,
@ricdeh@lemmy.world avatar

This is literally just whataboutism. You must be degenerate if you think that there’s a correlation between the research performance of the listed countries and their patent laws. There are dozens of more useful and much more relevant indicators for why these nations are disadvantaged in this regard. But just stick to your belief that North Korea is what it is because it doesn’t have patent laws lol.

Also, for you to better understand the harm that software patents caused and are causing, consider reading Free Software, Free Society by Richard Stallman.

Mchugho,

There is literally a 1:1 correlation between protecting IP and R&D and innovation. Start ups that patent their ideas are genuinely more successful. You’re naive if you think IP only helps protect large companies.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

My mistake, you're right. We should completely remove the incentive to innovate novel ideas and no longer protect them if they are created to allow theft.

I am a hypocrite thief that uses free software in my daily life.

Mchugho,

Not worth it mate. People will find all kinds of post hoc ways to justify the fact that they want to use the tech that others have developed for free.

SuddenlyBlowGreen,

I don’t know how to convey to you how important it is to incentivize innovation without worrying someone else will simply steal your ideas to make millions from your hard work you did inventing something while they literally did nothing.

If I make something and someone else can simply take it and dominate the market with it and pay me nothing for the work i did, why the fuck should I even bother making anything?

TIL that open source doesn’t exist.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

TIL that morons here don't know the difference between software patents and copyright licenses.

SuddenlyBlowGreen,

Oh sorry, I was under the impression that you had at least a basic knowledge about software and software development.

I now see that that’s not the case.

Open source is an area where software patents don’t generally protect the product, and yet it’s the most innovative space out there. And in cases where patents are brought in (see the rust trademark incident) they are rejected by the community. And yet open source is still around, and powering most of the internet and present in most devices.

If what you said about patents were the case, that would not be so.

Mchugho,

As someone who is in the field of intellectual property, Lemmy’s views on IP boil down to “I attended Marxism 101 and want to pirate games”. Most here don’t have a clue how much time, effort and money is spent on innovation. They couldn’t even begin to fathom why protecting intellectual property helps people actually helps people get paid for their work, which is ironic as they are all for people being rewarded for their actual labour.

GreenMario,

We will get like two games out of this before the patent expires cuz Rockstar takes 3 console gens to make 2 games.

echodot,

They made GTA V then GTA V again then GTA V again then GTA V for VR, that’s loads of games.

Rockstar have just innovated by releasing exactly the same game every single generation.

WhiteHawk,

Bethesda will sue them for copyright infringement any day now

c0mbatbag3l,
@c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world avatar

Releasing the same thing is our thing, man!

Mchugho,

Patents genuinely are wonderful. The rockstar devs are going to be rewarded for their innovation. They will hire out licenses so that other games can use the tech they developed.

Draedron,

Yeah, just like WB did with the Nemesis system, right? Oh wait.

Mchugho,

I wish people who base their entire knowledge of intellectual property on video games would just stop attempting to have opinions on things they don’t really understand.

If you think it’s fine to have a world in which people aren’t protected for their fruits of their labour, then by all means advocate against IP. I would rather live in a world in which people are actually paid for the ideas they come up with and don’t have to excessively keep corporate secrets.

SuddenlyBlowGreen,

Yeah, imagine if there was an area of software development where people could freely view, copy and modify each others works.

Mchugho,

Open source software is different due to informed consent. When working on an OS project you are doing it out of altruism and/or fun, fully realising that you will never be compensated for this work. That doesn’t mean software devs should never be paid and work for free indefinitely on anything they do. Its still a skill that should be compensated for.

SuddenlyBlowGreen,

When working on an OS project you are doing it out of altruism and/or fun, fully realising that you will never be compensated for this work.

That would imply there are no devs or even entire companies working on open source software and getting paid.

Just because you work on open source, doesn’t mean you don’t get paid.

echodot,

I cannot see how they can reasonably copyright the idea of having characters remember you which is basically all the nemesis system is. There are many ways to implement it that wouldn’t violate patent, of course it’s in WBs interest to not nose that one around too much

dustyData,

You can try, but WB will troll you in court for years and drown you out on legal fees to prove it isn’t a violation of a patent. So, most consider it not worth it.

quams69,

Where can I get the crack you’re smoking

Mchugho,

It’s called working in the field and having a direct understanding of how patents protect people every single day.

dustyData,

Dude, maybe you do work on patents and know your shit. But boy are you clueless about the video game industry.

Mchugho,

Maybe so, but nearly everybody in this thread is irritatingly wrong on how intellectual property works as a concept and in practice.

It’s only when you read internet comments on something you actually specialise in that you realise the average commenter is woefully misinformed.

Regardless, if R* decide not to license the tech that is their prerogative as they created it.

dustyData,

You think that patent abuse is right, and that’s why everyone in this thread hates your comments. You think the system is fine. The fact that you are inside but can’t understand how corporations abuse the system and think others are wrong or misinformed when they oppose this abuse, is troubling. You think we are ignorant or misinformed, but no, we do know how intellectual property works. We disagree and find it disgusting for moral reasons that it works that way. That’s very different.

Mchugho,

Everyone in this thread is downvoting me because they are trying to out Marxist each other. I have never once claimed the patent system is perfect, but the people in this thread clearly don’t actually understand what is required to even receive a patent.

It’s typical, people know what systems they are against but never know what they are actually for. People say patents are unfair but never propose viable alternatives. The political analysis on Lemmy is frankly juvenile and utopic. People base their opinions on what team they support rather than any sort of analysis of the problem. Populism is rife here and people gravitate toards populist narratives in lieu of thinking. I’m very glad the demography of Lemmy is not representative of society at large.

dustyData,

Patents genuinely are wonderful. The rockstar devs are going to be rewarded for their innovation. They will hire out licenses so that other games can use the tech they developed.

Comment by you, about 5 hours ago.

they are trying to out Marxist each other

Fuck off corpo.

Mchugho,

I said they’re wonderful, not that they’re perfect. Clearly you need to work on your reading comprehension. The alternative is giant corporations stealing everybody’s ideas without anybody trying to stop them in any way.

Fuck off corpo.

Cringe. One day you’ll have to grow up and get a real job. Then you’ll look back at how embarrassingly assured you were of having the answers to everything after real life smacks you in the face and makes you realise you don’t know shit.

dustyData,

Lol, you’re so petty. Trying to ride your magical high horse.

Mchugho,

Go on then. How do we replace the patent system whilst still acknowledging mental effort and research as being valued forms of work? Tell me all about it mate, I’m interested in your ideas as you’re so convinced it’s all a big con.

dustyData,

Now you’re all riled up and acting stupid. You are the oh so claimed expert who works at patents offices. No, you tell me what does your majestic and awesome field of expertise do to prevent corporate abuse and patent trolling? Tell me, evangelize to me, convince me that the patent system has safeguards to prevent theft of intellectual work, how does patent enforcing works? what do you do, that you work there, to make it a more ethical field? what are the practices and procedures in place to avoid a corporation from using patents to monopolize, bully industries and stifle creativity and innovation?

Mchugho,

So you don’t have an answer. Thought not.

I’ve protected people who have been attempted to be bullied by a larger company into ceasing production of a product. That’s literally my job.

Patent attorneys are a highly regulated profession which have to adhere to strict ethical standards and rigorous training in the law. I serve the interests of my clients. It doesn’t matter if you’re a large or small enterprise, the law is interpreted exactly the same throughout the process.

I would suggest reducing official fees to make it easier to purchase a patent, but that just reduces the quality of examination. In reality there is a balance to be struck between affordable patents and quality of patents which isn’t always struck correctly. I would advocate for government funded organisations that provide pro bono legal support for small enterprises as a way to make the system a little fairer. In the US they have a tiered system which makes patents cheaper for smaller companies, which is also something I think that should be adopted as standard.

Overall there is no simple solution. Life is complicated and messy and anybody who claims it isn’t is and that there are simple solutions to very layered societal problems are snake oil salesmen with an agenda.

ilickfrogs,
@ilickfrogs@lemmy.world avatar

I thought the man was joking then I saw his smooth brained response below. Software patents are cancer and shouldn’t exist.

starman2112, do games w Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection used modder's work without credit
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

And this is not even beginning to touch content and features from other released versions of these games from 20 years ago not present, like four-screen splitscreen."

It’s so cool and amazing that we finally have home theatre systems in every fucking house, and that’s when devs decided we don’t get split screen anymore. Modern hardware is wasted on modern devs. Can we send them back in time to learn how to optimize, and bring back the ones that knew how to properly utilize hardware?

PillowTalk420,
@PillowTalk420@lemmy.world avatar

I would go back in time to 1995 and give John Carmack modern tools and maybe UE5 and see what happens.

ICastFist,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

Even if you gave him a current-day computer to play with (otherwise, even supercomputers of the time would struggle to run UE5), he wouldn’t achieve much, consumer grade computers back then really struggled with 3D graphics. Quake, released in 1996, would usually play around 10-20 FPS.

catloaf,

It’s not a question of capability. It’s a question of cost-benefit spending developer time on a feature not many people would use.

Couch coop was a thing because there was no way for you to play from your own homes. Nowadays it’s a nice-to-have, because you can jump online any time and play together, anywhere in the world, without organizing everyone to show up at one house.

ICastFist,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

It’s a question of cost-benefit spending developer time on a feature not many people would use

Which is super ironic when you look at games that had an obviously tacked-on, rushed multiplayer component in the first place, such as Spec Ops: The Line, Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 3

Piemanding,

Goldeneye 007. Yeah seriously. The most famous multiplayer game of its generation very nearly didn’t have multiplayer. It was tacked on when they finished the game and had a little bit of extra time and ROM storage.

chiliedogg,

It also requires multiple copies of the game.

barsoap,

4x splitscreen needs approximately 4x VRAM with modern approaches to graphics: If you’re looking at something sufficiently different than another player there’s going to be nearly zero data in common between them, and you need VRAM for both sets. You go ahead and make a game run in 1/4th of its original budget.

starman2112,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

I can’t do that, but you know who could? The people who originally made the game. Had they simply re-released the game that they already made, it wouldn’t be an issue. Us fans of the old games didn’t stop playing because the graphics got too bad. Even if we did, this weird half step towards updating the graphics doesn’t do anything for me. Low poly models with textures that quadruple the game’s size are the worst possible middle ground.

My flatmates and I actually played through a galactic conquest campaign on the OG battlefront 2 like 2 months ago. It holds up.

barsoap,

I can’t do that, but you know who could? The people who originally made the game.

How to tell me you’re not a gamedev without telling me you’re not a gamedev. You don’t just turn a knob and the game uses less VRAM, a 4x budget difference is a completely new pipeline, including assets.

Low poly models with textures that quadruple the game’s size are the worst possible middle ground.

Speaking about redoing mesh assets. Textures are easy, especially if they already exist in a higher resolution which will be the case for a 2015 game, but producing slightly higher-res meshes from the original sculpts is manual work. Topology and weight-painting at minimum.

So, different proposal: Don’t do it yourself. Scrap together a couple of millions to have someone do it for you.

starman2112,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

Wait, are you under the impression that this is a rerelease of the 2015 battlefront?

barsoap,

I had no idea and it was the game that was listed without “2” or “3” etc. so that’s the specs I used.

Yeah no the 2004 thing should run in 16x splitscreen on a quadcore Ryzen with a 4G RX 570. With headroom.

The general point still stands, though, you can’t do the same thing with a 2015 game. On the flipside you should be able to run the 2004 game in different VMs on the same box, no native support required.

MonkderZweite,

and 1/4 of it’s original resolution. Seems doable.

barsoap,

Output resolution has negligible impact on VRAM use: 32M for a 4-byte buffer for 4k, 8M for 1080p. It’s texture and mesh data that eats VRAM, texture and mesh data that’s bound to be different between different cameras and thus, as I already said, can’t be shared, you need to calculate with 4x VRAM use because you need to cover the worst-case scenario.

ipkpjersi, (edited )

Modern hardware is wasted on modern devs. Can we send them back in time to learn how to optimize, and bring back the ones that knew how to properly utilize hardware?

I think a lot of the blame is erroneously placed on devs, or it’s used as a colloquialism. Anyone who has worked in a corporate environment as a developer knows that the developers are not the ones making the decisions. You really think that developers want to create a game that is bad, to have their name attached to something that is bad and to also know that they created something that is bad? No, developers want to make a good game, but time constraints and horrible management prioritizing the wrong things (mostly, microtransactions, monetizing the hell out of games, etc) results in bad games being created. Also, game development is more complex since games are more complex, hardware is more complex, and developers are expected to produce results in less time than ever before - it’s not exactly easy, either.

It’s an annoyance of mine and I’m sure you meant no harm by it, but as a developer (and as someone who has done game development on the side and knows a lot about the game development industry), it’s something that bothers me when people blame bad games solely on devs, and not on the management who made decisions which ended up with games in a bad state.

With that said, I agree with your sentiments about modern hardware not being able to take advantage of long-forgotten cool features like four-screen splitscreen, offline modes (mostly in online games), arcade modes, etc. I really wish these features were prioritized.

almar_quigley,

I agree with you on this point. I think”devs” is conflated for the developing company and its management and not individual devs.

FlashMobOfOne, do gaming w SAG-AFTRA votes unanimously to expand its strike to include the games industry
!deleted7243 avatar

Good.

One of my good friends was one of the voices on LA Noire years ago and gets zero residuals from it. It’s maddening.

magikmw,

x_doubt.jpeg

MJBrune,

🤷‍♂️I’ve made multiple million-dollar titles and haven’t gotten more than a paycheck from them. I really don’t think VAs should get much if any in the way of residuals. Engineers, artists, and designers should get a huge portion of the profits. Giving VAs even a 1% residual is a slap in the face of the rest of the team who build those games. Not to mention the whole team of LA Noire was laid off later that year.

mycorrhiza,

just give everyone residuals

MJBrune,

Someone else made an interesting point how a lot of people don’t get residuals. That residuals don’t make sense for some jobs. For a VA in the background of a small indie games, do you think it’s okay for them to require residuals for their work? This lawsuit focuses on large AAA studios but it will set a dangerous precedent. There any many actors who have to find loop holes to build smaller movie projects. “We technically paid ourselves then invested it into the movie” sort of thing.

That said giving everyone residuals is better than giving no one residuals.

mycorrhiza,

I will just say I think everyone involved in a project should be paid a fraction of the proceeds roughly in proportion to the work and sweat they contribute

MJBrune,

Absolutely agree. But I think if we are going to start doing that we’ll have to start with the designers, engineers, and artists. Not the voice actors that spend weeks on the project and never think about it again.

Veraxus, do games w Images leak of Valve's next game, and it's an Overwatch-style hero shooter

Valves next game…

SQUEEEEEE!!!

it’s an Overwatch-style hero shooter

My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

sebinspace,

Won’t hurt to give it a shot, but I’ll be cautiously optimistic.

Donjuanme,

Man, I was taught “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but you’re burying it by it’s genre, I hope you can experience new things once in a while .

Inui, (edited )

deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • Donjuanme,

    Going to let an unannounced games rumored genre ruin your day?

    Gamers need to set a better image of themselves.

    SkyezOpen,

    Well, it’s valve, so honestly the odds of it being genre-defining in an already established genre? Pretty high, actually. Seriously, when is the last time valve put out a shit game?

    Here’s hoping it helps OW2 finally die.

    Inui, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • SkyezOpen,

    Artifact

    … OK name two!

    /s

    I honestly forgot about that piece of crap lol.

    EatATaco,

    It’s been many years, maybe even decades, since I liked a straight up turn-based single player RPG. I seriously can’t think of one that has sucked me in since FFX. I even tried Divinity Original Sin 2 after so much hype and good reviews from my friends. But I just didn’t like it.

    However, Baldur’s Gate 3 sucked me in. According to steam, approaching 100 hours of playtime (although I’m sure there is a good chunk of time where I just walked away with the PC with it “paused.”)

    I’m not saying you’ll like the game, I have no idea. But to already be convinced that you won’t like it based on pretty much the nothing we’ve got it terribly presumptuous.

    Inui, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • EatATaco,

    I’m not ordering pizza from a restaurant if I’ve eaten 12 pizzas before and never liked any of them.

    I was very intentional with my language, and pointed out that we know pretty much nothing about the game, so claiming you know you won’t like it is h reasonable. This is nothing like having a pizza, not liking it, and then not getting that same pizza again. This is like not liking the pizza at one store, it’s much closer to saying you don’t like the pizza in one store, so you know you won’t like it in another. Still imperfect because it would be closer saying you’ve never had a pizza you like, so you won’t like the pizza in a new store, which is more reasonable because you have a lot of information about that pizza.

    But we have virtually nothing about this game.

    Veraxus,

    To be faaaaiiiiir… D:OS (both of them) make the age-old mistake of having really slow, uninteresting, prologuish RPG starts. It takes a solid 5h of powergaming or 10h+ of normal play to get past that hump. That’s the point where the story picks up and you have enough tools to start really taking advantage of the games sandbox.

    With BG3 they really seemed to have learned their lessons.

    Cethin,

    Edit:This was meant for the person above.

    This seems reasonably different than the headline implies. It’s a hero shooter, in that there are classes based on heroes (like Team Fortress 2 as well). The gameplay is more moba it sounds like. I think I’ve only played one other moba shooter, and it failed quickly, so that’s different already.

    It’s not a copy of OW, and even if it were it could still innovate. Half Life might be a “Doom Clone”, but it did stuff no one had done before. There’s plenty of innovation potential without inventing a new genre. Even if you do create a new genre, it’s probably still just evolution of existing things. No one ever has an original idea. It’s always inspired by their environment.

    Veraxus,

    I hate beets. HATE them. I will eat durian, thousand-year eggs, stinky tofu, and a million other things that most people won’t touch… but beets? Fuck beets. Their sweet-yet-earthy funk is like a dead animal that has just started to decompose. I don’t care if they are cooked, pickled, or stewed in borscht… hate them and won’t touch them. They ruin everything they touch.

    This is like that. They are cooking with lots of beet-like ingredients. Some people will love that. But as for me…I hate it… I hate just everything about it… and I hate it because I’ve experienced all those ingredients before. Over and over and over again. What they are making is for a very particular crowd, and I am not part of said crowd.

    Cethin,

    This seems reasonably different than the headline implies. It’s a hero shooter, in that there are classes based on heroes (like Team Fortress 2 as well). The gameplay is more moba it sounds like. I think I’ve only played one other moba shooter, and it failed quickly, so that’s different already.

    It’s not a copy of OW, and even if it were it could still innovate. Half Life might be a “Doom Clone”, but it did stuff no one had done before. There’s plenty of innovation potential without inventing a new genre. Even if you do create a new genre, it’s probably still just evolution of existing things. No one ever has an original idea. It’s always inspired by their environment.

    Veraxus,

    All fair points, and given the way Valve operates (like a free collective) this would only happen if there were some really passionate people leading and working on it.

    That said, it’s still a mix of things I just really do not have any interest in. Competitive online game, esports focused, MOBA-like, PvP, hero shooter… that’s a whole lot of hard no-thanks from me.

    I’d love some new light-narrative single player and/or co-op stuff from them, though.

    xantoxis, do gaming w GAME staff discovered zero hours contracts move via mass Microsoft Teams calls

    This headline is almost incoherent, I wish they’d stop teaching journalists about newspaper shorthand headlines. We’re not limited to broadleaf sized headlines any more, just put some fucking words in there so it makes sense.

    penquin,

    I have a very hard time understanding these headlines, but I normally blame it on my English (English isn’t my first language), but good to know that that’s not the case. Reading them twice or more doesn’t help. I just give up and let it go.

    M500,

    It’s honestly a problem for native speakers. So many times headlines make no sense or are extremely misleading.

    Alexstarfire,

    I read the article and it’s not really any more clear.

    SendMePhotos,

    Yes, even just the first paragraph makes sense.

    Staff members were told of GAME’s impending change to force staff onto zero hours contracts, first reported yesterday by Eurogamer, via mass video calls held on Microsoft Teams.

    steakmeoutt,

    Are you paid to craft distraction posts? The headline and article are clear but your post (clearly upvoted by bots) is now the point of discussion (likely some responders are also the same bot accounts).

    How much do you earn in service of corporate interests?

    alvvayson,

    I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, but it is definitely odd.

    In my opinion, the headline is very clear.

    Chozo,
    @Chozo@fedia.io avatar

    Who do you think is paying random Lemmy users to complain about headlines on news articles? Seriously, who do you imagine is behind such a ridiculous conspiracy? Where is the value in such activity?

    Also, upvotes are public. We can see who upvoted him, and it wasn't bots.

    steakmeoutt,

    How can you possibly know if an account is or is not a bot in this age of LLMs?

    And the value is where it’s always been - astroturfing.

    Chozo,
    @Chozo@fedia.io avatar

    How can you possibly know if an account is or is not a bot in this age of LLMs?

    You tell us, you're the one saying the other guy was "clearly upvoted by bots", you show us how you came to that conclusion, chief.

    steakmeoutt,
    Chozo,
    @Chozo@fedia.io avatar

    "Bots exist" isn't an answer to "prove that post was upvoted by bots".

    Quit being obnoxious, my guy.

    steakmeoutt,

    Feel free to come up with your own thesis for the behaviour then. Why do you think a bunch of discussion has formed around a falsehood where all the parties of that discussion seem to agree and yet none have discussed the subject matter at all.

    Chozo,
    @Chozo@fedia.io avatar

    Feel free to come up with your own thesis for the behaviour then.

    People upvoted him because they agree with him. Not that hard to figure out.

    Why do you think a bunch of discussion has formed around a falsehood where all the parties of that discussion seem to agree and yet none have discussed the subject matter at all.

    Because the headline is trash, hence the conversation at hand.

    Carighan, (edited )
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    I got to ask, has reading comprehension really come down that much in the recent decades?

    Could the title be expanded to be more prosaic? Sure!
    But at the same time, it’s intuitively and entirely understandable.

    Who? GAME staff
    What? Discovered something
    What exactly? That they’re moving to zero hour contracts
    How? Via a mass Microsoft Teams call

    Or, written together, the title up above. And that’s a completely normal sentence structure, it’s essentially how your brain should expect a sentence conveying that information to be structured, or the final part would be at the start (“Via a mass microsoft teams call…”).

    otter,

    Sure, but while I understand the sentence structure I still don’t know what it’s talking about without the article itself

    I think the point they are making is that we use these short titles even though we don’t need to. It might be correct, but why not make better use of the medium

    MonkderDritte, (edited )

    See? I understood it that GAME staff discovered that zero hours contracts (whatever that is) move via team calls (wherever, and however that happens).

    So much to reading comprehension. That title is trash.

    xantoxis,

    I just find it weird that you felt compelled to post an explanation for something that is “intuitively and entirely understandable”. It’s almost as if you knew that lots of people couldn’t understand it.

    bisby, (edited )

    What exactly? That they’re moving to zero hour contracts

    This isnt what the headline says though. “Discovered zero hour contracts” isnt how normal people speak. I have no clue if a mass teams call means they discovered some people were already on contracts, or that they were moving everyone to them, or some people, or (not knowing what a zero hour contract is) that the company has new contracts with game publishers.

    You took your own understanding of the headline and even in your “its simple” added details that weren’t there originally.

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