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Mk23simp, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action

NZXT Flex customers have never experienced a pre-tax subscription price increase and will never experience one unless they decide to switch subscription tiers.

I think they’re forgetting the part where GN themselves were a NZXT flex customer who experienced subscription price increases. So this statement is already proven to be false before they even said it.

NuXCOM_90Percent, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action

youtube.com/…/UgkxVO5Fp6lepwAP6lXZ4z_SuxmDypXfhgj…

NZXT has posted a statement which not only misrepresents facts, but distorts the reality of their predatory rental computer program. The statement ignores major points and introduces several new concerns. GamersNexus has become aware of deeper elements connected to this story that GN has begun independently investigating. While we will put together coverage of NZXT’s inadequate and manipulative response in short order, we are also actively beginning work on a longer form investigation that could take weeks or months to finalize, depending on the depth of the rabbit hole. We will have more for you as it becomes available, starting with a deconstruction of NZXT’s statement.

silverchase, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action
@silverchase@sh.itjust.works avatar

Back to you, Steve.

icecreamtaco, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action
@icecreamtaco@lemmy.world avatar

Seems legit

iAmTheTot, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action

Never buying from NZXT ever again. Trust completely and utterly gone.

TheFeatureCreature, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action
@TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world avatar

Nah, fuck them. They thought they could get away with this predatory debt-trap system that was marketed at children and they are clearly salty that they got caught. Not to mention the whole idea of not even owning your own PC or the data within which would set a bad precedent for everyone everywhere.

There are so many competitors in the industry NZXT operates in; it would be very easy to avoid ever buying their stuff again. And I intend to do just that. Get bankrupted, you pieces of shit.

DoucheBagMcSwag, do games w 'I want to acknowledge that we messed up': NZXT addresses concerns about its controversial Flex gaming PC rental program and commits to taking action

“we didn’t think that there would be coverage like this”

catloaf, do games w Critical Role's plans to make a videogame have become an 'active pursuit', says CEO Travis Willingham, after almost 10 years of growing a D&D campaign into a full-on franchise

A great D&D video game just came out recently, and will be the biggest player for a while. How do they plan to outshine BG3?

CookieOfFortune,

Are they projecting a release in like two years? Could be viable.

caseofthematts,

It’s an “active pursuit” which sounds like they have nothing yet. So I doubt it will even be 2 years.

CookieOfFortune,

Yeah it sounds like the success of BG3 probably spurred this endeavor. I was giving it two years to be optimistic but yeah most likely longer.

Valencia,

Do they need to outshine bg3? Releasing a crpg based on their characters and world I’m sure would do well enough with their audience. I’m imagining just pillars of eternity 2 with a critical role skin.

deadcream,

Any RPG will be compared to BG3.

SpicyCasual, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot

Definitely had to pick this up. Perfect excuse to add another game to my list of games to play :)

Suavevillain, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot
@Suavevillain@lemmy.world avatar

It is so lame that originals get delisted. I still hate that about the GTA trilogy when the remaster sucks.

donuts,

For what it’s worth, they actually updated the trilogy to make it suck less, by a lot.

chiliedogg,

They actually updated the remaster a few weeks ago and it is a huge difference.

Now the only glaring issue is the music, since the originals came out before game studios knew to secure licensed music rights in a way that would allow future re-releases in different formats.

Klear,

They can update the remasters all they want and it won’t make delisting the originals any less shitty.

chiliedogg,

Agreed. But I was responding to the claim that the remasters suck. With the recent updates, that’s not as accurate unless the music is the most important part of the experience for you.

The improved controls, higher resolution, gameplay tweaks (fucking David Cross RC missions in the original were ludicrous), and restored lighting make a pretty compelling package. If the remasters launched in their current state they’d be considered excellent.

prole,

It only really makes sense when the remaster is trash (like GTA I guess). Otherwise, all I can see it doing is increasing sales of both the original and the remaster…

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

It only really makes sense when the remaster is trash

I gotta disagree. Even when the remaster is (arguably) better than the original, there’s a lot of value in the original art assets and the more rudimentary gameplay as a historical guidestone. For the same reason you wouldn’t tear up the original Mona Lisa because we’ve got a high resolution digital copy, you don’t just scrub copies of the original version of Pong from the internet because we have Wii Tennis.

ipkpjersi,

That’s one thing I really hate and why video game preservation is so important. We need to keep games alive forever so future generations can enjoy the classics and all the masterpieces out there.

EvilZ,

Agreed however … I had a discussion about this for Fallout 1 a d 2 and one of the comments was that it should be remastered to be like fallout 3 or 4…

I get it but… Just leave classics to be classics… If classic are being changed and remastered than… It’s not a classic anymore…

NuXCOM_90Percent, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot

Friendly reminder: A “DRM-Free” game is only as preserved as the hard drive space you dedicate to it. If GoG goes down tomorrow then you are looking for torrents, same as everyone else.

That said: GoG has been doing this basically since year one (I want to say they lost and regained Interplay’s library like five times?). On the one hand, I love that I get that “hey, buy it now or never. Here is a discount code” warning. On the other hand… this feels like I would be calling it out as manipulative FOMO bullshit were it any other company.

Although… it is a pretty safe bet that MS aren’t interested in going back to GoG until the next time their online ecosystem collapses. So probably a “reasonable” bit of FOMO for those who love the SP campaigns of these games.

Anticorp,

If GoG goes down tomorrow

Or if Blizzard sues them to get the games removed.

UndercoverUlrikHD,
@UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev avatar

The game will be removed on 13. December?

However that can’t simply take away a game someone has already bought.

Anticorp,

Sure they can. Companies do it all the time.

InfiniteFlow,
@InfiniteFlow@lemmy.world avatar

Short of suing me for it (after finding out who I am and making sure I own the games), how would they do that for non-DRM games whose installer lives on my hard drive and that I can install whenever I want, wherever I want?

Is the “everything is a rental and you use it on sufferance until we say so” bullshit so ingrained now that people are no longer able to conceive of other ways for things to work?

Anticorp,

I’m specifically talking about it being hosted on GoG. I thought I made that clear.

UndercoverUlrikHD,
@UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev avatar

Games are constantly pulled from the Steam store, but that doesn’t result in owners losing access to the game, GOG is no different. The only thing that will happen is they stop selling the game, it’s standard practice.

GOG also offer offline installers that would be impossible for even GOG to take away from you.

cows_are_underrated,
@cows_are_underrated@feddit.org avatar

There are differences with buisness models. Steam sells a license to use a software. This license can be revoked. GOG sells you a copy that you can download and run any time later without needing it. They can’t take that away from you.

Don_alForno,

Since the installers are DRM free, they physically cannot. Save for breaking into your home and destroying your hard drives.

Anticorp,

I’m talking about the content on the store. If you don’t download it, then they can remove it and it’ll be gone, regardless of if you purchased it already. That said, they can still do some shady shit with content you physically have too. Sony once put a root kit on their CDs that would brick people’s computers if they tried to rip them to the hard drive.

Don_alForno,

If you don’t download it, then they can remove it and it’ll be gone, regardless of if you purchased it already.

Yes, if you don’t take possession of the goods you paid for, you are in fact not in possession of the goods you paid for.

Sony once put a root kit on their CDs

Ok. In theory they could have put in a kill switch. I’m choosing to trust they didn’t.

blind3rdeye,

It will be removed from sale on 13 of December, but everyone who already bought it will continue to be able to download it from GOG indefinitely. Furthermore, GOG has stated their commitment to ensure the game remains compatible with newer computer and operating systems. That’s what the preservation project mentioned in the post is about.

UndercoverUlrikHD,
@UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev avatar

I think you might have replied to the wrong person

blind3rdeye,

I don’t think so. On my screen I see that post I responded to said this:

The game will be removed on 13. December?

So in my post I tried to explain that the games will still be available to download from GOG, but it will no longer be purchasable. Different people mean different things when they say “removed from GOG”, so I thought this was good to clarify.

UndercoverUlrikHD,
@UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev avatar

It wasn’t really a question in that sense. What I meant by that sentence is that the game is already planned to be removed (from sale), so Blizzard suing GOG wouldn’t make much sense. However that doesn’t mean that GOG/Blizzard can just take the game away from those who already purchased it.

intensely_human,

What’s GoG?

Ullallulloo,
@Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com avatar
UndercoverUlrikHD,
@UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev avatar

A DRM free store that’s run by the CD Projekt Red guys. It focuses mainly on older games (Good Old Games) but it also got modern DRM free games such as Baldurs Gate 3.

If you’re buying an older game, it’s likely a better option than whatever steam offers as GOG will also try to fix old games that are broken on modern systems.

WarlordSdocy,

Yeah normally I would feel the same way about this FOMO style of marketing but normally in that case it’s the company selling it deciding to like remove it from sale to create the FOMO need. In the case it’s another company basically forcing this decision on them so I don’t think it’s bad to let people buy it for cheaper while they still can.

Glide,

On the other hand… this feels like I would be calling it out as manipulative FOMO bullshit were it any other company.

While I hesitate to type this as it might be perceived as viewing a corporation as a friend, the intent matters, and GOG has a different history than the majority of FOMO abusing game companies. Did they identify that this is probably an opportunity to push some sales? Sure, probably. But I am chill permitting them that right when they’re visibly working to remove FOMO as a commercial strategy.

NuXCOM_90Percent,

Say it with me kids: Corporations are NEVER your friends. At best you have mutual interests, for a time.

Just look back to everyone who was all in on Google because “Do no evil” and “They aren’t Apple” and so forth. Unity when they were the underdog relative to Unreal. Reddit when they were the “counter culture” social media. And so forth.

I like GoG a lot and have since they first launched. I also remember the French Monk Incident and so forth.

cmhe,

The underdog is often the one that is most pro-consumer, since that is in their business interest. As soon as the take the lead, the doors to enshittyfication open, because business shifts from getting new customers to not letting them leave. (Of course there are exceptions, but this is the case broadly)

prole,

This is true. But things aren’t black and white, there are degrees. For example, there is a big difference between private corporations, and publicly listed ones. The former at least allows for possible decency.

GhiLA,
@GhiLA@sh.itjust.works avatar

If you want something preserved, you gotta be the one to preserve it for yourself.

Encrypt it, too.

zerofk,

Which GOG makes possible by offering DRM-free and offline installers.

I know several big GOG customers download all offline installers and keep them on their own NAS. Some even keep the different versions.

Don_alForno,

A “DRM-Free” game is only as preserved as the hard drive space you dedicate to it.

You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks? Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?

They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to without being a government funded museum.

NuXCOM_90Percent, (edited )

They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to

So we are giving participation awards? GoG use digital preservation as a marketing point. They aren’t doing that. And they are arguably making for a false sense of security (some might go even farther…) when people think that buying a game from a major dev and European publisher is digital preservation.

How would you feel if Crunchyroll started arguing they were the good guys because they were releasing Witch from Mercury for 100 USD?

Now for the fun part!

Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?

Yeah. As in it is “preserved” up until someone does a cross country move or merges their life with a partner who doesn’t see why you need to have every single Blizzard Battle Chest on a giant shelf in the living room.

You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks?

Yes. Because bit rot is a thing and people need to be aware of that and actually preserve that data. Hmm, I wonder who could help with that…

They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to without being a government funded museum.

Good news. You don’t have to be a government funded museum. In fact, governments are kind of an active threat to these because they are in a REALLY grey area legally. And publishers (like CD Projekt…) tend to go after them both legally and not legally.

I very much disagree that just having a copy of a game is games preservation but it is part of it. And orgs like The Internet Archive are preserving both the media itself AND the media and culture about said media. And they and their associates put the legwork in to reach out to people who have those big boxes or scratched up discs and preserve things BEFORE it is time to make room for the new baby. And they don’t have fancy deals with publishers to help market for donations. They have to ask.

So if you actually care about digital preservation? archive.org/donate?origin=iawww-TopNavDonateButto…

Whereas, if you just want to spend money and react to FOMO?

Don_alForno,

So we are giving participation awards?

Huh?

Are you blaming them for not preserving things more than actual physical objects that you bought are preserved in your house? The whole root of the matter was people complaining about companies obsoleting or taking away games they paid for. What GOG is doing counters just that. It is now once again in your hands and your hands only to preserve and maintain your property, and if the data gets corrupted, you only have time, physics and yourself to blame.

I couldn’t care less about anybody creating some kind of eternal video game archive for archaeologists of the post apocalyptic world to find. I care about if I will still be able to play the games I paid money for in 30 years, provided I keep the data and hardware. How would that last part be the store’s responsibility?

NuXCOM_90Percent, (edited )

I “blame” them for marketing themselves as a “Preservation Program” when they really aren’t doing anything more than the other stores (in that regard. They are doing amazing work in modernizing some titles… which is arguably not preservation either but that is a different mess).

It’s not McDonald’s responsibility to store large amounts of data either*. So does that mean Ronny Mac should be talking about how buying a twenty dollar Big Mac is preserving video games?

*: also… it kind of IS GoG’s responsibility in this case but that only lasts until the company/site is shuttered. Which is another issue with GoG being about “preservation” when their first responsibility is to make money for CDP.

Duamerthrax,

Are complete data backups just not something people do anymore?

NuXCOM_90Percent,

For data that is “mine”? Yeah.

But the average steam library (from just asking chatgpt because i am lazy) is 30-100 games for a “normal” user and 200-300 games for an “enthusiast”. Assuming 10 GB per game on average (which is woefully small these days) and you are expecting people to spend 1-3 TB of storage on just their game installers alone. AND that is assuming none of those installers get updates and people need to figure out which ones (most of us who lived through The French Monk incident can attest to that).

So what happens is “oh, someone else will back it up” and so forth. And it means EVERYONE is grabbing torrents for Spec Ops The Line and not just the people who didn’t think to buy a copy while they could.

Duamerthrax,

If the games are DMR free, I’m including them in my regular backups. It’s that simple.

learningduck, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot

Use code Makewarcraftliveforever on GoG to get a $2 discount.

m3t00, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot
@m3t00@lemmy.world avatar

wow, was into leveling. have 2 accounts 10 chars/ea. haven’t subbed in years. coordination off. wtf gog?

ICastFist,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

This warcraft 1 and 2, the RTS games, not world of warcraft

newthrowaway20, do games w Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot

Wasn’t Microsoft just talking about how important game preservation was to them?

justOnePersistentKbinPlease,

Its important for them to preserve any chance of profit that may be squeezed from old games.

TheLowestStone,
@TheLowestStone@lemmy.world avatar

Ah yes, the Nintendo method of preservation.

GhiLA,
@GhiLA@sh.itjust.works avatar

I have a script endlessly deleting and downloading BOTW on repeat so Nintendo experiences thousands of lost sales every few days.

Lost_My_Mind,

I mean…those aren’t lost sales exactly…but I’m sure Nintendo still doesn’t like it.

JustEnoughDucks,
@JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl avatar

Joke

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

You

(Context: Most companies including Nintendo claim that any act of piracy is a lost sale, which is completely a lie)

msage,

Dude, download it from yourself, you will make it to tens of thousands!

Bakkoda,

“No, not like that!”

Someonelol,
@Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

There’s a very crucial fact you’re forgetting about corporations who say they care about anything. They’re liars and only care about money.

CosmoNova,

I guess that must be why I can’t buy the Black & White games or Fable 2. Because Microsoft cares so much about preserving the awkward legal Loop some of their Lionhead Games are in.

PumpkinSkink,

It could be them getting ready to push a wc1 and 2 remake. Hopefully more of a D2 than a WC3…

ampersandrew, do games w Critical Role's plans to make a videogame have become an 'active pursuit', says CEO Travis Willingham, after almost 10 years of growing a D&D campaign into a full-on franchise
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

Critical Role could always licence another official D&D game with Hasbro…but my Insight check’s telling me that they might try and spin up something out of Daggerheart.

Eh, I hope not. I’m not really liking what I see in Daggerheart’s hope/fear system and how it interferes with initiative, especially. Plus it reminds me of that subplot from Donnie Darko.

It’s already a game that uses cards, after all, and I can very easily see its systems making for a solid turn-based tactics game. Or maybe they’re not gonna start small, and just barrel full steam ahead into an ambitious CRPG

I’ll bet you can make a small CRPG for the cost of what their merch store brings in in a year, akin to the Kickstarter era from a decade ago, and that’s if they want to be cautious with their spending. Given the layoffs of the past two years, they’ve likely had their pick of any talent they wanted to hire to realize whatever it is they’re building.

jonathan,

Larian told Hasbro to fuck off for a BG3 DLC and/or sequel, so there’s definitely an opening for someone to pick up that torch. That said, I also think they’ll go with their own system and brand.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

Larian told Hasbro to fuck off for a BG3 DLC and/or sequel

That’s definitely not how I’ve ever seen it framed.

I think Critical Role has an incentive to use their own system, but it’s not one that I’m excited about.

Maalus,

That’s exactly how they framed it. They cited reasons as worker burnout and Hasbro / the game system. They wanted to be done with BG3. Studios don’t really announce that the second they finish the game.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

It wasn’t the second they finished the game. It was after working on DLC for months, which was after a 6 year development cycle. That’s not the same as telling Hasbro to fuck off. That’s having the luxury of a war chest that means they can afford to do the less lucrative thing and make whatever is going to keep their talent happiest.

iAmTheTot,

I liked what I played of Daggerheart, and its hope/fear. I just don’t think it would translate well into s video game. They’re very different mediums and I don’t think it’s crunchy enough to play well as a video game.

Ironically, I think a Critical Role game doesn’t need to really be based on any ttrpg. Could just be an action rpg.

Blaiz0r,

I’m holding out for a Mörk Borg game

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