Zuckerberg got lucky once, used the talents of others to capitalize on that luck. If he was smart, he would have quickly retired and set about enjoying his wealth but instead he’s wasted small fortunes running Facebook. Got high on his own supply when really he was never especially talented at anything.
Well they gave it their best shot. It was literally impossible for them to have produced a more compelling product. That would have required skill and talent
Thank goodness there was nothing more useful we could have done as a society with all of the tens of billions of dollars that was spent on this project, or it would have been an incredible waste!
To a certain extent, this is the equivalent of being shocked that Intel discontinued 386 production. Or that Google is no longer manufacturing Pixel 3s. It’s the nature of the industry.
If they’ve got their heart set on an LCD model, it looks like eBay has a number of secondhand ones.
I don’t own a Steam Deck or intend to — I have more than enough portable electric devices capable of running games that I lug around already — but if I were going to get one, it looks like the OLED model has a 25% larger battery, which would be interesting to me.
I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure the bigger battery is there to compensate for the increased power use of the OLED rather than being supplementary. Keep in mind, the OLED is also a 50% step-up in refresh rate up it likely just balances out. There’s likely a plethora of reviews out there that quickly confirm that, or prove me full of it. Either way…
All other things being equal (same game, settings and refresh rate / fps limit), the OLED and LCD models have comparable power draw.
If anything, the OLED max power draw at 15W TDP is lower, usually around 23W max versus 26/27W for the LCD iirc.
Based on the screenshot in the article, the OLED model has longer playtime; Valve says that the LCD model has “2-8 hours of gameplay” and the OLED “3-13 hours of gameplay”.
Though they do also say that this is “context-dependent”, and I’m sure that you can come up with pathological cases for each. Like, a game that has a nearly all-white screen and runs at 90 Hz is probably relative worst-case for the OLED in terms of battery life, and a game that has a dark screen and runs at a locked framerate of 60 Hz is probably relative worst-case for the LCD.
I have an LCD one, got my partner an OLED one last year. It’s noticeably better looking with a sightly larger screen and the battery life is decidedly better. I got the LCD when it was steeply discounted and don’t regret it, but the oled one is a nicer device. Thumbsticks are broader and it’s also a bit lighter.
I don’t care to find the source right now, but around the time when the OLED came out, the battery performance was nominally better in third-party tests. It did come down to specifics in what you played (game optimization) and how you set the power profiles, but the extra battery didn’t add much in terms of playtime—maybe an hour extra in real world use cases.
I don’t know if that’s still the case; it could be that Valve has OLED specific improvements by this point, but I suspect that it still would not be a significant enough point for someone to decide upon a model just on battery specs.
The main appeal of the LCD one was you could get the cheapest Steam Deck, then swap out the hard drive for a 1TB+ drive. The total cost was super cheap, far less than a Switch 2 anyway.
It sucks to see it gone, but the whole economy around tech is fucked, so I guess it’s another casualty.
The oled model is roughly the same price as the original Steam Deck launched. And there are so many improvements, not just screen and battery. And given that other devices get more expensive over time, and with the higher RAM prices than before, its actually a good price; relatively speaking.
I have nothing negative to say about the Touch Pads, in fact I fall in love. But the Touch Screen is not very good, especially compared to who good touch works on smartphones in example. Didn’t know it was improved too!
No, you ignore that both models are different classes. You compare 64gb model without SSD against 512gb SSD model. It’s like saying the 2tb model is more expensive.
They had said on release (a few years ago) that they were selling the base model LCD just a bit above “at-cost” to try to break it into the market and capture share. It worked.
Now that RAM prices have >3x’ed, they would likely be selling that model at a significant loss if they keep manufacturing it. Completely logical move.
Bad for the consumer, but RAM being sucked up by shitty never-accurate, lying plagerism machines with the goal of replacing jobs for extra corporate profit is also bad for the consumer and probably a large part of the cause behind this production stop.
Terrible timing. There was just that payment processor panic with the porn games. Now you wanna have a kid talk to a naked man with a horse mask. I get its not sexual but read the room. It was clearly a bad idea even if it was meant to convey some profound message. Honestly I dont think that would have ever worked out. Its just whack.
Okay, cool. Do you think having a little girl talk to a naked horseman is something that would help sell the game? Or make it onto a marketplace anywhere? Thats why it was removed and they already tried to placate by makkng the girl an adult and that didnt work obviously. So whats your point here? Leave that content in the game? That doesnt solve the developers problem.
I literally don’t care if they had a little girl talk to a naked horseman (who is being treated by the game like a regular horse and not a man at all to make a point). My point is that banning things that aren’t child porn because of moral outrage leads to the moral crusaders escalating. Next thing you know they’re gunning for lgbt themes, then going after violence. It’s ridiculous and should be ridiculed and dismissed instead of pretending things are child porn just because you don’t like them.
Yeah all I am saying is this isn’t surprising. It should have been expected. I doubt you will ever be able to put a child model in a game next to nude adukt models and not get your game pulled from mainstream marketplaces. Thats just the current reality we live in and is not surprising. I mysslf dont think its offensive in this context. But again this outcome is completely expected.
You’re not even trying to understand what I’m saying if you think that deciding if this particular game is the hill to die on is what I care about. I don’t give a shit about this particular game. I care about maintaining the principles of not letting moralists dictate what art and media is appropriate for everyone else.
Yeah and what I am saying is this is stupid shit to do that for. Someone tried to make a “grotesque story experience” and they got too close for comfort for main stream distributors. You can still acquire the game, just not on these platforms. You can still play it in its intended state, just not on those platforms. So what you are arguing for really is for Steam and Epic to distribute this.
Yeah and what I am saying is this is stupid shit to do that for.
You need to work on your reading comprehension.
So what you are arguing for really is for Steam and Epic to distribute this.
Yes, I am. There doesn’t appear to be a non-moral-panic reason for it to be barred, and being barred from steam will have a deleterious effect on the game and on the studio’s ability to keep making games. I wish company didn’t have that power, but they do.
Its their platform. In what world can you force people to sell shit they dont want to sell? You can literally go buy it and experience the art right now. But its not on Steam with achievements and friends seeing me play it so fuck it? Lmao what logic is this? Theres not much left to discuss here tbh. This seems pretty straightforward and your argument is incoherent at this point. They are getting loads of marketing from this
This particular game is. It won’t always apply to every game, which is why I want digital marketplaces that have so much market dominance they can make or break studios to not choose which games they allow on their platforms based on vibes.
This seems pretty straightforward and your argument is incoherent at this point.
My argument isn’t incoherent just because you refuse to engage the scenario from a systemic rather than one-off perspective.
I don’t understand why you keep replying without even pretending to engage the points and arguments that I’ve made.
Do you think saying “the game is available elsewhere” addresses what I said about marketplace dominance at all?
Do you think anything you’ve said that only applies to this specific game addresses anything I said about systemic problems?
You aren’t even trying to have a discussion. You’re just saying “I don’t like the game anyway so it’s good it’s not on steam” and pretending it being available on other storefronts and that it happened to go viral has any bearing on any of the points I’ve made when it obviously doesn’t.
In any case, it’s pretty clear at this point that you’re not going to engage with me faithfully, so I’ll be on my way. Have a good day!
What systemic problems? The systemic problem of distributors not distributing games with children interacting with naked adults? Thats not a fucken problem unless you’re a libertarian. The porn game crusade is a huge problem. This is not that. I don’t believe this is the game that will push through complete freedom of creation. I also dont believe our current public zeitgeist is ready to handle the complex questions that arise from content like this. I didnt even say I didnt like the game. I havent played it. I’m sure its as thought provoking as Solarium or SOMA. But acting like this is a moral panic overreach of sensorship is a little much when its still available on one of the biggest game marketplaces available AND you’ll get the offline installer for it. Go play it. I just might after all this and see what the hubub is actually about.
Sounds like a business discussion was not had if they really are “serious abiut their product” like horses.wtf says they are. Thousands of games go on there each year and dont have this problem.
Isn’t that part of the discussion? That Valve can just arbitrarily reject a game. Before the payment processors stepped in for example, which was also the time Valve “banned” Horses, Steam had games that had the four-letter r word in their description and Valve didn’t care despite being contacted by Collective Shout. One could argue they’re lying, but as someone who’s worked with most major publishers, I can believe them, because Valve is almost impossible to reach. In my experience, and based on what I’ve been hearing, most of the time they simply don’t reply to press requests. Instead they do these publicity stunts where Gabe Newell will occasionally reply to random email messages from people online, knowing the reply will be posted to social media, or he’ll do an interview with a nobody on YouTube.
This all happened because they had a literal child riding one of the naked adults on a lead and then wanted to play dumb. I dont agree with Steam practically controlling the PC market, but this one is a case of the developers stepping on their own rake and then turning around and saying “look what they’ve done to me!” I don’t know why this is such an unpopular opinion. But I digress. Because in actuality I would simply not buy the game, I don’t actually care if it is available on Steam, I’m just saying having a kid ride a naked adults shoulders is very obviously not going to pass their content checks.
And I would agree with you if that content were still in the game.
If they are disallowed on Steam, with no recourse, and Steam’s market share is 75%, this is the letter and verse WHY we have antitrust laws. They are the textbook definition of a monopoly.
A federated game distribution platform would be cool. Something no one can own. I dont think that will happen in our capitalist world. But I also dont think this particular problem would be solved by that.
but can that content be removed without changing the game? they already changed her from a kid to a grown woman, because it fit the story and the message better, apparently. but would removing that entirely still work?
idk, i haven’t played or analysed the game. i’m guessing that it’s there for a reason. but i do know that demanding content be changed because it makes us uncomfortable is not a good thing!
I have played the game. There’s far more pornographic games on Steam. All of the nudity is censored, there are no kids or even characters that could be mistaken for kids in the game, and it’s obvious in its intent - there’s nothing that I’d describe as even approaching titillating; the whole experience is clearly just intended to - and successfully so - make you feel uncomfortable and unsettled. The scene in question - the one that previously had the young girl - is particularly unsettling specifically because of how it normalizes everything else that’s going on, and I agree with them that the scene works better with a grown woman than it would have with a kid. There’s no reason for this to be banned on Steam.
Yeah cause the content that made headlines was changed. So you won’t see it by playing you had to read into why. Look, I’ll get down on some Futa Femboy House. Lets go. But maybe lets not involve kids and nudity in the global community, thats a recipe for disaster. Either way, that will for sure get you delisted and you cant act surprised in this capitalist, bland-shit-to-widest-audience world. What just happened will happen to you. Maybe if they wanted it to be considered art, which I think might have gone better, present it aa that at a gallery or your own hosted site. Valve or any big corp is not going to fuck with that 100%. I’m just honestly surprised they’re surprised and this is making such a big splash.
Whether they’re surprised or not, going public with it was a good marketing ploy because I never would have known about the game if they hadn’t, and I bought it. I’m sure many more of their sales can be attributed to the same.
Who is self censoring here? Horses.wtf states the game is available in an unchanged state elsewhere. Just not on Steam or Epic. They’re big ass corpos. Dont know why this is shocking or why people want them to be forced to sell it. Valve was never your vanguard for self expression or art exploration.
Valve has hundreds if not thousands of highly and expressly pornographic games on its platform, so I don’t think this can be chalked up to the Collective Shout folks’ spectre somehow looming over Valve. As another commenter pointed out, according to the devs’ own timeline, Valve’s rejection happened prior to the recent successful Collective Should payment-processor targeting.
I suspect that EGS and Humble probably halted sale at the last minute due to the added press naming them as distributors prior to launch, often in articles that included Valve’s response asserting that it contained questionable content related to minors, and them going, “hey what? Hold on a sec, we don’t know anything about that.”
If you were about to sell a bunch of cars, and a major dealership announced they wouldn’t sell them because their trunks were all full of cocaine, a couple days before launch, you’d probably delay your launch to double-check as well.
Unfortunately, the developers’ own initial press statements where they sort of feigned innocence ignorance (after they had already changed the scene presumed to be in question, meaning they at least had some idea that was likely the issue) probably didn’t help their credibility in other platforms’ eyes, as far as being business partners goes.
iirc the game was refused by steam before the payment processor thing, and even then, you don’t scrap your whole project because of one moral panic. not only is it bowing down to pressure, it’s also just a terrible idea financially
I mean are you saying they should have left the game as is? Really dont understand your argument here. It seems this is more just bad taste rather than a moral panic.
Steam chose not to distribute it because it they understood an early build to include children in sexual situations. Further builds did not dissuade them from the original decision.
Epic, who originally was going to distribute based on the developer filling out some form chose not to after filling it out themselves and finding it had a higher rating (adult only) at the last minute.
The developer speculated it was about a specific scene, but based on both steam and epic there are fundamental concerns about the content that led to no distributing on their platforms, which is not banning, that do not align with the story the developers are presenting. It is not likely to be about one scene that was in an earlier build that was the issue for them.
The important thing is that the game is not BANNED in any way whatsoever. It is available on fewer distribution platforms, which reduces visibility, but is not banning any more than exclusive deals or limited releases are banning on other platforms.
Personally I get the impression that the developers see the content very differently than steam and epic because the developers focus on intent and steam and epic focus on what actually exists in the game.
ban 1 of 3 verb ˈban banned; banning; bans Synonyms of ban
transitive verb 1 : to prohibit especially by legal means ban discrimination Is smoking banned in all public buildings? also : to prohibit the use, performance, or distribution of ban a book ban a pesticide 2 : bar entry 2 sense 3c banned from the U.N.>
So, by that definition and the definition everyone else is using, the game has been banned from various marketplaces for games. Context matters. In this context ban is used EXACTLY the same way we talk about banned books at the library.
No, banned is the right word colloquially. The media is not eligible to be distributed in the monopolistic or anti-competitive web service run by Valve. It wasn't banned by a government, but it was indeed banned.
theverge.com
Aktywne