theverge.com

polysics, do games w Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming

They are, in almost every way, taking the console model approach. Updates when there is a significant generational leap and not just yearly updates because AMD made a slightly faster APU (though they did the switch to switch OLED thing but no one complained about that because they kept the LCD models for sale and the OLED really is nicer), selling at a loss (and making up for it in game sales) and of course, the ease of use that a console interface offers over a traditional PC interface.

Then they step it up beyond that by making it as open as possible (software/emulation, games from any source, it’s really a PC) and making the hardware repairable (making parts available and easy to fix in the first place,) and of course, cheap games and practically every game you’d ever want.

What the other handheld PC companies are lacking is (with some exceptions) repairability, that console experience, and price. Us nerds that can do whatever with technology will do it, so a legion or an ally or a gpd will sell just fine to that demographic, especially for the frame rate chasers. But for most of the rest of people, they would just get a switch or a PS5 or Xbox because it’s just plug in and game, and at least in the case of a Switch or Xbox S, the cost of entry is way lower than a PC, be it a gaming desktop/laptop, or even many of the handheld PC competitors. Yes you can build comparable cheap PCs to an Xbox or PS5, but that means building a PC, and most people don’t want to do that (I’m not talking to you, I know you have a sweet rig.) Yes I know games on PC are usually cheaper especially Steam sales or key seller/bundle sites, but console gamers often don’t consider that, and initial cost of entry is very important to non-enthusiast type people in any given hobby.

There’s a reason why Nintendo consoles sell so well despite being behind the competition in raw horsepower. It’s the console model (and in their case aggressive exclusivity of their famous IPs)

The things keeping Sony and Microsoft in the competition are basically the console ease of use, and their all you can eat subscriptions. Even they both realized that they can get more sales putting their games on PC, but that still means forking over MSRP for a single game, so those ps+ and gamepass subs are keeping them afloat at this point.

I’m a huge tech nerd and have been deep in related industries for over 20 years. I know how to do whatever I want with any pc hardware or software, I own a steam deck, and a rog ally, a proper beefy gaming desktop, a gaming laptop, a Switch, and a PS4. Despite all that, in the past 2 years, easily 90% of my gaming has been on the Steam Deck. It does everything I need it to and more, and it does it anywhere, anyhow. If I want to tweak and tinker with it I can, but more importantly, I can just PLAY GAMES with almost no friction. At home, on a break at work, at the airport waiting for my flight, cozy in bed, wherever, whenever, and fast, and easy.

The Steam Deck is the swiss army knife game device that childhood me always dreamed of, and now it exists. That is why it’s outselling it’s competition, and genuinely making PC gaming a viable thing for the masses. No it won’t beat Nintendo anytime soon, but it’s gaining steam on them and other consoles faster than any other attempt ever has before, and it will only get better.

lorty,
@lorty@lemmy.ml avatar

The ease of use of the Steam Deck cannot be overstated. Yes you can tinker with it a bunch but if you just want to play your games, you download and play. The windows handhelds will never be as easy since windows is just crap for this (and MS is not interested in improving).

polysics,

100% agree

thingsiplay, do gaming w GOG’s new preservation program intends to keep classic games playable ‘forever’

www.gog.com/en/gog-preservation-program direct link to GOG, because the link provided in the The Verge article is goskimresource that is blocked by my browser extension uMatrix. From the original articles FAQ at GOG:

What about macOS and Linux?

The GOG Preservation Program is currently Windows-only. Our priority is to preserve as many games as possible under the Program, before expanding to other operating systems.

Sad. How about supporting Linux? This would be the right direction to preserve games, as they are no longer tied to the Windows operating system. That’s why I use Steam and do not buy on GOG.

knokelmaat,

I can understand that their priorities lie with Windows initially. I also prefer Steam for their amazing linux support, but for preservation Steam is also a mess: delisting of games / the fact that the games are not DRM free. A copy you buy on GOG is yours forever, a copy on Steam is less certain. Also know that GOG operates at a fraction of the budget that Steam has, so they don’t necessarily have the money to put someone on linux support too. But hopefully in the future this will change!

thingsiplay,

Yes, the DRM free games is a huge win for preservation. I’m not discounting the value of GOG. But that’s something we had already. My critique was about the focus on Windows only, which is not the best idea if games should be preserved “forever”. Because Windows 11 will be the only supported one soon.

But any efforts trying to make games work forever is always good. At least they didn’t rule out other OS in the future. While my initial reaction was a bit negative in the nature, because I was very disappointment, I’m still happy they do something about it. It’s even more bitter because they supported Linux in the past… But let’s see how this is going. I don’t want to end this in a negative note. I mean it can only get better with such a goal.

Petter1,

I think, if they are preserved for windows DRM and anti-cheat free, it should be no problem launching them using wine / proton. In the other hand, a native Linux game will not run as smooth on WSL as a comparison.

thingsiplay,

I’m not suggesting to preserve a Linux version only. If anything, I meant to test and make sure the Windows build works with Proton on Linux, in addition to making sure it works on Windows. Some games have Linux versions, they just do not care about them either. And maybe make a Linux version of the GOG launcher as well.

GetOffMyLan,

The problem is it’s a tiny fraction of games and users. It’s a lot of resources for little gain.

thingsiplay,

This has nothing to do with current market share.

GetOffMyLan,

If you’re trying to save as many games as possible and the vast majority are on windows it completely does.

jherazob,
@jherazob@beehaw.org avatar

Two words: Steam Deck.

princessnorah,

That’s why I use Steam and do not buy on GOG.

Wait, why Steam? GOG only sells DRM-free games. Any Windows game that works through Steam on Linux, works downloading it from GOG with standalone WINE. Or via things like Heroic Launcher, Lutris or Bottles.

Vodulas,

Or even playing it via Steam using Proton.

princessnorah,

Yea, that as well for sure.

Petter1,

I play all my games via steam, was the easiest way to set up proton for me. 😂 now I have my productive windows app in the steam library as well 🤷🏻

Vodulas,

Same, run the install file via proton even. Works great

msage,

No, there are DRM games on GOG (or have been anyway).

And Steam also has DRM-free games.

jherazob,
@jherazob@beehaw.org avatar

Tha’s been my beef with GOG for years now, their utterly stubborn stance of ignoring anything besides Windows even when it’s common sense to do so

Queen_HawlSera,
@Queen_HawlSera@mastodon.social avatar

@jherazob @thingsiplay The future is Linux

Dymonika,

Off-topic: do you have a guide on how to get uMatrix to do this blocking? That sounds great but it looks to be all manual. Do you run it with uBlock Origin?

thingsiplay,

Yes, I have uBlock Origin and uMatrix active at the same time, on Firefox. Maybe if you are using a Chromium based browser, it does not work the same? After all Google made changes. Otherwise, I’m not sure which setting in uMatrix will cause to block this. Therefore I’m not sure how to help with that at the moment.

thingsiplay, (edited )

I’ve looked again and it’s probably one of the lists that contain hostnames to block. skimresources appears in all of these three, so enable them manually if they are not enabled: Dan Pollock’s hosts file, MVPS HOSTS, Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/d0200b3e-7304-431b-9778-e260498896c9.webp

Edit: In the addon menu you can enable or block the domain dynamically when you are on the page. Unless you save the setting this is only temporarily changed.

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/adbbd12c-2641-4e4b-a9d9-291e6a933358.webp

Dymonika,

Geez, the half-color clicking is really counterintuitive. Why couldn’t they just go with radio buttons or something?! Thanks for the detailed instructions.

Eggyhead, do gaming w We played Valve’s secret new shooter: Deadlock

A new shooter from valve? Hell yeah!!

a hero shooter

Oh. Never mind then.

Crotaro,

I absolutely get where you’re coming from, but to be fair Team Fortress is basically a hero shooter as well, except that there can be multiples of the same “hero” on the battlefield at the same time. Or - and I’m genuinely asking because I haven’t played “hero shooters” in that long - am I missing a core distinction of hero shooters?

Eggyhead,

I was thinking something more in line with a narrative story-based shooter like half life. TF2 and other competitive shooter arena games were never really my thing.

Tywele,

So a class shooter?

smeg,

Same thing, innit, the only difference is the plot

asexualchangeling,

deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • loops,

    *cries in Half Life 3

    dubyakay,

    TF2 is a class based team deathmatch FPS. One class, one character.

    In hero shooters you have multiple characters with different abilities that make them distinct from each other, yet all can conform to a certain class type and role.

    homicidalrobot,

    Someone has never played a round of highlander.

    irasponsible,

    It’s barely a hero shooter - it’s just a MOBA

    julianh, do astronomy w Voyager 1 is fully back online months after it stopped making sense.

    It’s insane what these people do. They’re rewriting code from the 60s to use even less memory, have to test it in production without physical access, and it takes two days to see if anything changes. It’s an insane piece of engineering and it’s incredible that it’s still sending useful data.

    Serinus,

    I’d love to see what their test environments are like. You can’t test everything, but they can certainly test some things. A raspberry pi has more software capability.

    magikmw,

    They have a second probe in the shop to test. Thankfully.

    DmMacniel, do games w Microsoft announces the Proteus Controller, a gamepad for Xbox gamers with disabilities

    This looks funky. Hope it helps disabled Gamers enjoying this hobby more.

    Norgur,
    @Norgur@fedia.io avatar

    This thing looks cool even without a disability, TBH. I can't judge its usefulness for disabled people, of course, but I hope it'll be the tool they need to mitigate the issues life has cursed them with, at least for a little while during game sessions.

    Vipsu, do games w Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again
    @Vipsu@lemmy.world avatar

    What makes this even more funny is that Android is more open than iOS or any of the gaming consoles out there.

    Still good to see these anti competive practices come to light.

    Electricd,

    Yea, but when you dig a bit, it’s all Google Play Store and Services, with a bit of Play Integrity on top

    SomeGuy69, do games w California’s new law forces digital stores to admit you’re just licensing content, not buying it
    @SomeGuy69@lemmy.world avatar

    Next: make it so games can’t suddenly lose their music license. This is so incredible annoying. I know it’s depending on what the publishers negotiated, but it shouldn’t be possible to suddenly patch out soundtracks because of a license expire.

    ampersandrew,
    @ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

    Seriously. If I bought GTA before those licenses expired, my download should always have them, even if newer ones do not (which, to be clear, still sucks that that’s acceptable).

    HeyThisIsntTheYMCA,
    @HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

    require games to buy perpetual licenses for the music?

    Adalast,

    Other way around. Require sales of licenses to games to be perpetual. The way you phrased it means that the license holders can charge way more.

    HeyThisIsntTheYMCA,
    @HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

    it’s a distinction without a difference.

    NotMyOldRedditName,

    I’d never even heard of this before. Wtf

    yamanii,
    @yamanii@lemmy.world avatar

    Try downloading any GTA before 5, there will be a community guide about the missing songs and how to restore the radios.

    SomeGuy69,
    @SomeGuy69@lemmy.world avatar

    Some games, like Allen Wake, have been full out removed from sale because of expired music license. There has been other cases some come back later with the music stripped.

    catloaf, do games w California’s new law forces digital stores to admit you’re just licensing content, not buying it

    Much like California’s other good-sounding laws, the fine print is what gets you on both ends, both in the law and in the EULA you agree to when signing up that’s going to say that all transactions are explicitly a terminable and revocable license.

    dual_sport_dork,
    @dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

    A revocable license for a virtual “product” whereupon they absolutely do not give you back your real world dollars if they terminate said license.

    There’s no power imbalance in this transaction at all, no siree.

    Anyway, I’m all for making backups of things. So you de-licensed me. Big whoop. I still have the file and I can still play it, and nobody can physically stop me.

    JusticeForPorygon,
    @JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world avatar

    I suppose that’s the difference between laws in the US vs the EU. In the US the wording of the law is everything. If you find some absurd loophole due to weird grammar, good for you. In the EU, at least from an outsiders perspective, the law is enforced as it was intended to be, and if you try to fuck around with wording you get fined.

    catloaf,

    That’s the thing, though, it’s not a loophole. It’s intentional. It makes a good headline, but it doesn’t really do much.

    JusticeForPorygon,
    @JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world avatar

    That’s probably a better way of putting it. “Pretending to help”

    simple, do games w Sony announces the PS5 Pro with a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI upscaling
    @simple@lemmy.world avatar

    Darn, I posted this earlier but sadly lemm.ee is having server issues. This’ll be the main thread, then.

    Official Blog Post | PS5 Pro Reveal Trailer

    The PS5 Pro console will be available this holiday at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $699.99 USD, £699.99 GBP, €799.99 EUR, and ¥119,980 JPY (includes tax). It will include a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller and a copy of Astro’s Playroom pre-installed in every PS5 Pro purchase. PS5 Pro is available as a disc-less console, with the option to purchase the currently available Disc Drive for PS5 separately.

    The big question mark for me is that not only does it cost 800 euros, it does NOT come with a disc drive. There is no version of it with a disc drive like the PS5, you have to buy it as an accessory. I guess physical games really are going away.

    ampersandrew,
    @ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

    The writing has been on the wall for physical games for some time. If you want to hold on to your games, DRM-free is better than physical.

    simple,
    @simple@lemmy.world avatar

    Sadly not an option for console. I don’t own a PS5 currently but when I did own consoles I would trade games and buy used all the time, it’s a shame this might not be possible next generation.

    ampersandrew,
    @ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

    I know it’s not an option for consoles. Since the 7th gen, it was always moving in this direction. It’s probably one of dozens of reasons that PC overtook consoles in market share.

    Dudewitbow,

    were basically at the point on the timeline where PC and Mobile basically kills consoles.

    ampersandrew,
    @ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

    Arguably, consoles are killing themselves.

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    We’ve been there basically since the PS4/XBONE made it clear the focus was on common architectures and software toolchains so that the majority of games could be multiplatform by default.

    The issue is what it always has been. People are afraid of managing drivers and software and likely have horror stories about Windows and hate the average Linux evangelist with a passion. Whereas consoles “just work”

    And price wise? A good gaming PC that will last you a generation or two tends to cost about what a console+refresh SKU does. AND you generally want to wait until a few years after the start of a console generation to buy that GPU (time blurs but I want to say RTX was the big thing when the PS5 launched and now it is upscaling). Which makes it even harder to sell because you are telling people to save up even more AND to wait.

    Much like “The year of Linux gaming”, it is the kind of thing that some people claim is constantly happening and the rest of us acknowledge is unlikely to ever happen en masse.

    Dudewitbow,

    the difference is at least you can see it in more real time numbers. Xbox is clearly a dying brand, which leaves Sonys home console sales for now (~60M) and the switch as a handheld device. Devs are already starting to port everything on PC, and 1st party game development rate has gone down a lot. 3rd party devs are also starting to abandon console exclusively/timed exclusively over time (capcom making the next monster hunter simul release on pc instead of a year and a half cadence, square enix backtracking on making final fantasy a timed exclusive due to not enough sales)

    Japan is completely flipping its old image of PC being the device for porn addicts of years past and starting to heavily buy into pc too, which is why Valve went to attend Tokyo gameshow to pitch the steamdeck for japanese handheld players(which remain the majority of console purchases in japan)

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    Devs have been porting (or originating) everything to PC since the PS4/XBONE era. So a decade or so? And first party development is lower across the board (excluding all the stuff Microsoft was doing before they stared culling studios left and right) because first parties are expected to release CoD level games rather than cool and fun platformers (Astrobot aside). NOBODY is doing Last Of Us level games en masse.

    But basically you are describing the paradigm that MS have arguably been working toward since the start of the current generation. The idea that it doesn’t actually matter what hardware you buy so long as you buy the services/games of one of the platform holders. If you REALLY love Halo? Get an XBOX. If you REALLY love The Last Of Us? Get a Playstation. With the rest being third parties. It… just so happened that Microsoft bought most of the big name third parties and are figuring out how to balance “CoD prints money” with “We want to sell xboxes”.

    But that still leaves what box you buy. And, in that regard, consoles are still going to appeal to “gamers” more than a desktop ever will. Especially as more and more kids become adults who don’t even like laptops because EVERYTHING they do is on a tablet.

    As for Japan: The key there is not “Steam”. it is “Deck”. Japan has ALWAYS loved handhelds. In large part because the cities don’t have a lot of space for a giant TV and an entertainment center that can fit however many cubic meters the PS5 Pro is at this point. And a bigass desktop PC is also going to be a major space issue when so many people are used to a laptop while they sit in a chair or whatever. And while I do think the Steam Deck is going to do wonders to increase PC market share in Japan, I still don’t see it significantly overtaking consoles for “gamer gaming” as it were and to instead be more slotted in the mobile space and indie games like Stardew Valley that run perfectly fine on ultrabooks.

    Dudewitbow,

    im not saying consoles have 0 appeal and wont have buyers, its just that their market is in real time, decreasing while on pc has increased, especially post covid. with the advent of streaming, more and more people are shifting over to PC because of it. im not saying consoles are dead as in 0 sales, but the market is forever going to decrease for it, as more people get into pc, and those countries that cant afford to already got into mobile gaming (mobile gaming accounts for more than 50% of the profits of game sales)

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    I mean, console sales decreased in the 80s and never went back up, right?

    The reality is that a lot of people haven’t migrated from the previous gen. Partially because of supply chain issues from COVID. Partially because of economic uncertainty.

    Stuff goes in waves. Time will tell. But in terms of “core” gaming, consoles still continue to dominate the “casual” market. And I suspect we are more likely to see “core” gaming going away in favor of mobile than for PC to suddenly dominate at the AA/AAA level.

    Dudewitbow,

    the problem is the covid supply chain ended a while ago and console sales havent drastically picked up since then. the PS5 has been orderable direct from sony for quite a long while now, and shortly after in stores. physical game sales (something console users champion, has gone way down (according to sony, only 30% of their users buy physical now)

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    Welcome to Walled Gardens. This is why so many of us swallowed our bile and rooted for Epic in their lawsuit against Apple.

    aStonedSanta,

    Yeah. Almost no one I know buys physical anything anymore. Kinda sad to see it go. We really need to instill some better laws around ownership of digital goods.

    MrScottyTay,

    I occasionally still buy physical on the few day one releases I get because somehow getting that delivered to my house can be £5 cheaper or more

    aStonedSanta,

    That’s wild. I have had one or two work out around the same price. Like I bought the SMT V Steelbook or whatever cause I wanted that sick art on the case 👌

    aStonedSanta,
    IamAnonymous,

    Laws aren’t going to help keep the price down which is also an issue apart from the digital ownership. It’s always cheaper to buy physical games as they go on sale. What’s stopping Sony from selling PS Exclusive for $100 only in their store?

    Are we going to get restricted to only buying from Sony store or is Best Buy going to sell me a box with a digital code?

    SolarMonkey, (edited )

    I think this shift will be the end of me buying newer games, period.

    I am that person who doesn’t ever buy digital. I have not bought a single digital game thus far (I haven’t pirated a game since like 2006, either). I have certainly played some, like with the PS+ subscription I got for a year when it was pretty cheap, but I wouldn’t buy them because I can’t be sure I own them, and there’s really no way to transfer the license to resell them.

    If I can’t buy physical media, I simply won’t buy the games. Maybe I’ll use subscription services now and then, but more likely I’ll either find a way to play free or won’t play them at all and find other stuff. I want the physical media because I’m poor, and having the option to sell them in a pinch is important to me if I’m going to shell out a significant amount for something I’ll probably only play once, particularly since there won’t be a used game market to reduce my spend. I haven’t had to sell my games in a very long time, so I have some 400 discs, but it’s something of a savings option that inflates alongside currency, and sometimes much more.

    criticon,

    I rent games via gamefly, I’ll definitely keep using discs

    Katana314,

    I was very close to getting a digital PS5, but I still need the drive for my old PS4 games and movies. If I were just getting into Sony now though, I imagine the story would be different.

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    No disc drive and no fucking vertical stand/mount.

    And yeah. Sony actually tried to “kill” physical games years ago with the PSP Go (?). But that was still when Gamestop and Best Buy were power houses and there was a lot of threats of “okay. We will give all the good shelf space to MS and Nintendo” and that went away fast.

    But now brick and mortar are basically dead and everyone is periodically pissed at Amazon because they did an unsanctioned 2 dollar discount on a new game. So we are seeing the return.

    In theory it annoys me because the playstations have always been okay-good media players and I have one of the gundam breakers on a physical disc because that was the cheapest way to get all the DLC. But for higher end digital media we are missing the codecs (because money) and physical digital media as a whole is going away. So… probably the right decision to wean people off it.

    That said: Charging extra for the fucking vertical stand is just insane since a lot of us had tv stands that cannot fit the PS5 horizontally. But also, considering this looke like it is a bit taller/longer, it also can’t fit it vertically so… Even more reason to build a new HTPC over the next few years.


    Remap, but also Rob Zacny (so you can never tell how much is actually a bit), did a REALLY good bit where they immediately priced out the new Remarkable with all the expensive attachments and… it is still (probably) cheaper than a PS5 Pro with a disc drive and a stand.

    ampersandrew,
    @ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

    Remarkable is, presumably, a good bang-for-your-buck PC build?

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    No. Its a tablet. Marketed toward Professionals because of its focus on handwritten notes and sketches and the kind of thing where even the people who swear by it acknowledge it is insanely expensive and not something people should really buy.

    Recurring theme on Remap but it very much highlights what category the ps5 pro is in. Same with comparing it to an apple vision pro.

    Katana314,

    They can still kind of kill physical games with good service. The whole “honey rather than vinegar” argument.

    That’s what happened with the PSVita. While overpriced game cartridges existed, most of its lifespan people were buying its games digitally which worked great for indie developers that didn’t have a budget for physical releases.

    NuXCOM_90Percent,

    I mean… that is what happened on PC. I know people forget we exist, but basically anyone who was “a gamer” back in the early 00s embraced digital distribution and Steam for a reason. Because after the third time that you have done four disc swaps and entered three 30 character keys to play Neverwinter Nights 1? That shit gets REAL old. Same with needing to be aware of what order to install what patches so as to not brick Dawn of War: Soulstornm and have to reinstall everything.

    Contrast that with double clicking something in fricking Impulse and then waiting 30 minutes for it to install.

    Which is kind of what you described with the Vita. Nobody wanted to have to carry two or three UMDs with them anywhere they want (let alone the rise of indie games that never had a digital release). Tinfoil, but I strongly suspect Nintendo made a big deal about not licking cartridges so that the Jeff Gerstmanns of the world would… lick that shit. Which led to the meme and people wanting to buy cartridges.

    Stovetop,

    My memory may be hazy, but I recall the mainstream acceptance of the digital distribution model on PC as more of an early 2010’s thing. People hated Steam at launch, having yet another launcher you had to download which was basically just DRM for Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike.

    It wasn’t until their marketplace opened up and they offered very attractive sales that people came around to it eventually.

    Omegamanthethird,
    @Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

    As someone who buys expensive games, games I’m excited for, or just franchises I’m invested in, the death of discs is going to really make me reevaluate my gaming. I’ll probably at least wait for a sale for every single game if I can’t have a physical copy.

    Almost all of my digital purchases are cheap games.

    BloodSlut, do games w Nvidia’s finally replacing GeForce Experience with this all-in-one ‘Nvidia app’ - The Verge

    if nvidia spent as much time on their drivers as they do on their failed software attempts the drivers might actually work

    Maestro, do games w Indie game developers have a new sales pitch: being ‘AI free’

    Does this specify the kinds of AI? Are none of these devs using code completion on their IDEs? Or refactoring tools? Because the bulk of them use AI these says.

    fonix232,

    Even yesteryear's code completion systems (that didn't rely on LLMs) are technically speaking, AI systems.

    While the term "AI" became the next "crypto" or "Blockchain", in reality we've been using various AI products for the better part of the past 30 years.

    nogooduser,

    We used to call the code that determined NPC behaviour AI.

    It wasn’t AI as we know it now but it was intended to give vaguely realistic behaviour (such as taking a sensible route from A to B).

    4am,

    Used to?

    yermaw,

    Lol gramps here thinks bots are AI skullemoji skullemoji bro

    pennomi,

    And honestly lightweight neural nets can make for some interesting enemy behavior as well. I’ve seen a couple games using that and wouldn’t be surprised if it caught on in the future.

    Badabinski,

    You mean code completion that just parses a file into an AST and does fuzzy string matching against tokens used to build that AST? I would not personally classify that as AI. It's code that was written by humans and is perfectly understandable by humans. There is no probabilistic component present, there is no generated matrix, there's no training process, it's just simple parsing and string matching.

    It's early and I'm tired and probably in a poor mood and being needlessly fussy, so I apologize if this completely misses the point of your comment. I agree that there's other stuff we've been using for ages which could be reasonably classified as "AI," but I don't feel like traditional code completion systems fit there.

    renzhexiangjiao,

    AI doesn’t have to be probabilistic, a classical computer science definition of AI states that it has to be an actor that reacts to some percepts according to some policy

    echodot,

    By that definition a calculator is AI.

    renzhexiangjiao,

    yes we could definitely say that a calculator, technically, is an AI. but we usually don’t think of the calculator as an agent, and it doesn’t really make any decisions, as it just displays the result when prompted

    echodot,

    That’s my point. These random definitions of AI that have been come up with by the most pedantic people in existence are not in any way helpful. We should ignore them.

    They seek to redefine AI as basically anything that a computer does. This is entirely unhealthful and is only happening because they need to be right on the internet.

    These irritating idiots need to go away for they serve no purpose.

    renzhexiangjiao,

    but that’s not a redefinition, it was originally defined that way, like back in the 60s, by the people who started this field of research. I think a calculator is a bit of an absurd example, but an NPC that pathfinds towards the player to attack them is still AI, no matter how you look at it

    echodot,

    People who lived in the 1960s did not by definition live in the 21st century so their definitions of what things may or may not be is immaterial.

    We know what we mean by AI, and attempting to redefine that in the service of some kind of all “sides have a point” fence sitter, is a brainless arguement and is is definitively unhelpful. Defining AI strictly by “a definition of a system that does a thing based on an input”, is both overly broad and demonstrably unhelpful. It’s like arguing that a building that has been reduced to ash by a fire still contains the same constituent elements. Intellectually it’s correct, practically it’s ridiculous.

    Broadly, you are attempting to define a eye as anything that any computerised system does. How can you not see that that is an overly broad definition that entirely skirts anything remotely close to the realms of helpfulness.

    ulterno,

    They were technically Expert Systems.
    AI was was the Marketing Term even then.

    Now they are LLMs and AI is still the marketing term.

    Damarus,

    I would primarily understand it as being free of generative AI (picture and sound), which is what is most obvious when actually playing a game. I’m personally not against using LLMs for coding if you actually know what you’re doing and properly review the output. However at that point most will come to the conclusion that you could write the code manually anyways and probably save time.

    Gladaed,

    Using ai to generate samples to get a framework of the product would be permitted or not? Is placeholder generation allowed?

    echodot,

    Since you would never see it that’s pretty much irrelevant. Clearly this is about AI generated art and AI generated assets

    Whether or not you use AI to grey box something is a pointless distinction given the fact that there’s no way to prove it one way or the other.

    Gladaed,

    But it still removes labor from the working class. My point is that the lines are blurry. You practically cannot draw a useful line based on the tooling used.

    echodot,

    The AI label needs to be present if the finished product contains AI generated assets. So AI generated code, or AI generated art.

    In the example above you grey boxed in AI but then replaced all the assets with ones that humans made. There is no distinction there between doing that and just having literal grey boxes.

    You couldn’t require an AI label in that scenario because it would be utterly unenforceable. How would a developer prove if they did or did not use AI for temporary art?

    So yes you can draw a line. Does the finished product contain AI generated assets. You don’t like that definition because you’re being pedantic but your pedantry interpretation isn’t enforceable, so it’s useless.

    Gladaed,

    Is a scene arranged by AI not undesirable since it does not have artistic intent?

    echodot,

    I feel like you have never actually developed a game. Because what you’re arguing is just weird. It makes no logical sense.

    A grey box is the very most basic of what a game will ever be, it never bears any resemblance to the finished product. It is the basis most fundamental interpretation of game mechanics and systems. The gray box has no bearing on the final result of the game.

    No grey box contains any aspect of artistic intent, the art team are never even involved in its creation it’s always just developers doing things. Go look up some game blogs.

    Gladaed,

    A placeholder is more than a grey box and a placeholder for e g. Loading screens may influence the final drawing.

    Gladaed,

    This is exactly my thoughts. You need to specify. Is a product AI when Windows is used to develop it? Windows is an “AI” product as in assisted to be produced by AI.

    Labels are meaningless without sensible rules and enforcement.

    XM34, (edited )

    Another case of Lemmy users angrily downvoting because they don’t understand how the world works. These are exactly the questions that need to be asked.

    Right now, I could slap the label “AI free” on my completely AI generated game and just claim that I interprete it as "the game doesn’t use gen AI while running.

    Jhex,

    Here is a frog, please help me split its hairs

    jaybone,

    Jesus fuck that’s some goal post moving.

    datavoid,

    Personally speaking I don’t care at all about dev tools, as they have always been used. Vibe coding does bother me though - if you don’t know HOW to code, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

    The real issue though is using AI generated assets. If you have a game that uses human made art, story, and music, no one is going to complain about you using AI. Even if you somehow managed to get there via vibe coding.

    echodot,

    I’m sure everyone has always explained this to you given the number of down votes, but algorithms aren’t equal to AI.

    Ever since the evolution of AI people seem to have lost the ability to recall things prior to 2019.

    froufox,

    But these tools are not mere algorithms or ML products, they are LLM backed

    echodot,

    Emmet has been around since 2015. So it was definitely not LLM backed.

    froufox,

    My friend, nobody says all of them are LLM backed, but some are

    echodot,

    I’m saying that code completion does not constitute AI and certainly isn’t LLMs.

    I then provided an example of why that isn’t the case.

    You decided to respond to this by pointing out that some LLM may be involved in some code completion. Although you didn’t provide an example, so who knows if that’s actually true, it seems sort of weird to use in LLM for code completion as it’s completely unnecessary and entirely inefficient, so I kind of doubt it.

    I just want to point it out for a minute, because it’s sort of feels like you don’t know this, code completion is basically autocomplete for programmers. It’s doing basic string matching, so that if you type fnc it also completes the function(), hardly the stuff of AI

    froufox,
    NotMyOldRedditName,

    JetBrains is offering it in their IDEs as well and they are big. You’re right that it’s becoming very common now, and it is LLM based.

    echodot,

    That’s not what we’re talking about.

    The assertion was that even text completion constitutes AI. Which is a mad claim because if you’re going to say that text completion is AI then basically everything is AI.

    NotMyOldRedditName,

    Lol dude.

    The text insertion is being done by LLMs now in major IDEs. It can be local or cloud based.

    Keep your head in the sand if you want.

    Legianus, (edited )

    I mean doesn’t it heavily depend what you refer to as AI?

    ML algorithms, come very close to LLMs and have been back in the day refered to as AI. They are also used in code completion.

    Also both of these are algorithms, but with weights defined by data input.

    echodot,

    No because AI replaces a human role.

    Code completion does not replace a human role, that’s like saying that spell check is AI.

    Legianus,

    I am not talking about what it does, I am talking about what it is.

    And all tools do tend to replace human labor. For example, tractors replaced many farmhands.

    The thing we face nowadays, and this is by no means limited to things like AI, is that less jobs are created by new tools than old destroyed (in my earlier simile, a tractor needs mechanics and such).

    The definition of something is entirely disconnected from its usage (mainly).

    And just because everyone calls LLMs now AI, there are plenty of scientific literature and things that have been called AI before. As of now, as it boils down all of these are algorithms.

    The thing with machine learning is just that it is an algorithm that fine tunes itself (which is often blackbox-ish btw). And strictly speaking LLMs, commonly refered to as AI, are a subclass of ML with new technology.

    I make and did not make any statement of the values of that technology or my stance on it

    Miaou,

    You seriously misunderstand what the acronyms you’re using refer to. I’d suggest some reading before commenting, next time.

    Legianus, (edited )

    How so? A Large Language Model is usually a transformer based approach nowadays, right (correct me if outdated)?

    AI is artificial intelligence, which has been used and abused for many different things, none of which are intelligent right now (among others used for machine learning).

    Machine learning is based on linear algebra like linear regression or other methods depending what you want to do.

    An algorithm is by definition anything that follows a recipe so to say.

    All of these things, bare transformers and newer in development approaches like spiked neural networks or liquid neural networks are fairly basic, no?

    EDIT: typos

    ulterno,

    If something uses a lot of if else statements to do stuff like become a “COM” player in a game, it is called an Expert System.
    That is what is essentially in game “AI” used to be. That was not an LLM.

    Stuff like clazy and clang-tidy are neither ML nor LLM.
    They don’t rely on curve fitting or mindless grouping of data-points.
    Parameters in them are decided, based on the programming language specification and tokenisation is done directly using the features of the language. How the tokens are used, is also determined by hard logic, rather than fuzzy logic and that is why, the resultant options you get in the completion list, end up being valid syntax for said language.


    Now if you are using Cursor for code completion, of course that is AI.
    It is not programmed using features of the language, but iterated until it produces output that matches what would match the features of the language.

    It is like putting a billion monkeys in front of a typewriter and then selecting one that make something Shakespeare-ish, then killing off all the others. Then cloning the selected one and rinse and repeat.

    And that is why it takes a stupendously disproportionate amount of energy, time and money to train something that gives an output that could otherwise be easily done better using a simple bash script.

    Legianus,

    To be honest, I feel like what you describe in the second part (the monkey analogy) is more of a genetic algorithm than a machine learning one, but I get your point.

    Quick side note, I wasn’t at all including a discussion about energy consumption and in that case ML based algorithms, whatever form they take, will mostly consume more energy (assuming not completely inefficient “classical” algorithms). I do admit, I am not sure how much more (especially after training), but at least the LLMs with their large vector/matrix based approaches eat a lot (I mean that in the case for cross-checking tokens in different vectors or such). Non LLM, ML, may be much more power efficient.

    My main point, however, was that people only remember AI from ~2022 and forgot about things from before (e.g. non LLM, ML algorithms) that were actively used in code completion. Obviously, there are things like ruff, clang-tidy (as you rightfully mentioned) and more that can work without and machine learning. Although, I didn’t check if there literally is none, though I assume it.

    On the point of game “AI”, as in AI opponents, I wasn’t talking of that at all (though since deep mind, they did tend to be a bit more ML based also, and better at games, see Starcraft 2, instead of cheating only to get an advantage)

    ulterno,

    Yeah, my main point with all those examples was to put the point that “AI” always has been a marketing term.

    Curve-fitting and data-point clustering are both pretty efficient if used for the thing they are made for. But if you then start brute-forcing multiple nodes of the same thing just to get a semblance of something else, that is otherwise not what it is made for, of course you will end up using a lot of energy.


    We humans have it pretty hard. Our brain is pretty illogical. We then generate multiple layers of abstractions make a world view, trying to match the world we live in. Over those multiple layers, comes a semblance of logic.
    Then we make machine.

    We make machines to be inherently logical and that makes it better at logical operations than us humans. Hence calculators.
    Now someone comes and says - let’s make an abstraction layer on top of the machine to represent illogical behaviour (kinda like our brains).
    (┛`Д´)┛彡┻━┻

    And then on top of that, they want that illogical abstract machine to itself create abstractions inside it to be able to first mimic human output and then further to do logical stuff. All of that, just so one can mindlessly feed data into it to “train” it, instead of think themselves and feed it proper logic.

    This is like saying they want to install an OS on browser WASM and then install a web browser inside that OS, to do the same thing that they would have otherwise done with the original browser.

    In the monkeys analogy, you can add that the monkeys are a simulation on a computer.

    ulterno,

    I don’t consider clang tools to be AI.

    They parse the code logically and don’t do blind pattern matching and curve fitting.
    The rules they use are properly defined in code.

    If that was AI, then all compilers made with LLVM would be AI.

    metaStatic, do games w Discord Shuts Down Servers for Switch Emulators Suyu & Sudachi; Disables Lead Developers Account As Well

    let me just spin up a subreddit instead and ... WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?

    Carighan,
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    That’s the extra funny part, their subreddit is rock solid since they had it a fair while ago.

    Fizz, do gaming w Microsoft is improving its Xbox app for Windows handheld gaming PCs
    @Fizz@lemmy.nz avatar

    This is why I don’t support devices like the ally. I don’t want to give Microsoft another platform to get a monopoly over.

    QuandaleDingle,

    Yeah, I thought about getting the Ally, buying the Steam Deck’s the way to go. Now if only Linux get a bigger market share and more apps, that’d be great.

    meiko60,
    @meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    if you have modern hardware and newest nvidia GPU, just stay away from Linux. Windows is still best atm. But, if your newest hardware is ageing, then Linux is the best for that.

    Defaced,

    Not really true at all. If all you care about is raw performance, then that’s debatable, but if you’re talking ease of use then Linux is fine. Just grab a distro with an Nvidia ISO like pop_os and install, nothing else left to do.

    meiko60, (edited )
    @meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    My hardware is 2 years old (ryzen 5900HX and RTX 3070). I use manjaro/Ubuntu LTS and Non-LTS/PopOS/LinuxMint/Zorin/LMDE/Nobara and endeavour OS and it’s freezing quite often and I have to go back to Windows atm. I think Nvidia is main culprit here. If I move to Full AMD or the current nvidia hardware is getting older (more than 5 years old). I might try Linux again

    Fizz,
    @Fizz@lemmy.nz avatar

    Freezing doing what? I’ve got modern hardware and I’m running nobara and I don’t get any issues except my Taskbar freezes on Wayland. On x11 I have no issues

    meiko60,
    @meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    moving cursors and scrolling

    RefrigeratorEleven,

    What nvidia drivers did you used? The open source one or the proprietary one? Because I have the rtx 3070, and I have not experience a problem using the proprietary drivers in plain old debian stable, using x11

    meiko60,
    @meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    tested with proprietary with 525,535,440. it’s awful. But, my other working laptop ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (Intel) with Kubuntu 22.04 with Iris gpu is perfect without issues.

    ahornsirup,
    @ahornsirup@sopuli.xyz avatar

    Steam itself is a proprietary, DRM-ridden quasi-monopoly. Supporting Valve over Microsoft doesn’t make much sense. They’re both bad.

    foggenbooty,

    You are technically correct, but Valve is a very “consumer first” company. This of course is no guarantee they’ll always be “good”, but Valve has earned and maintained my trust over the years and I trust them more than any other company I can think of. Far and away orders of magnitude more than Microsoft.

    lorty,
    @lorty@lemmy.ml avatar

    Valve popularised lootboxes and allowed gambling with marketplace items for quite a along time. Doesn’t sound very consumer first to me.

    foggenbooty,

    That’s a good point. I’ve never participated in that so it didn’t really factor into my opinion of them. In every way I’ve interacted with the company they have been excellent.

    I like them because they make niche products that may not have mainstream appeal, but that their customers love (steam link, steam controller, valve index, steam deck). They have excellent customer support and always do more than they have to:

    • My GF lost the power adapter to her steam link and asked how to buy a new one, they just sent her an entire replacement device since they were stopping production anyway
    • One of my Index lighthouses died and I had bought it used from a guy since they didn’t sell them in my country yet. No questions, they sent me a new one
    • When they were releasing Half Life Alex they just checked if you’d ever had an index connected to your PC and if so they gave you a copy. No asking for proof of purchase or redeeming codes that expire.

    I could go on, but yeah to me they are pushing Linux forward, making hardware that excites me, have reasonable prices, and great service. So I like them.

    MudMan,
    @MudMan@kbin.social avatar

    I mean... if somebody has a gaming storefront monopoly in Windows it certainly isn't Microsoft. Concern about monopolistic practices is a great catch-22 between the OS dominance of Windows or the platform dominance of Steam, and I'm about as concerned about both.

    FWIW, I have both a Steam Deck and a GPD Windows handheld and, being entirely agnostic about that entire conversation I default to my GPD Win 4, because of ergonomics, usability and compatibility concerns, in that order.

    Dasnap, do games w Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal gets preliminary approval from UK regulator
    @Dasnap@lemmy.world avatar

    Consolidation is concerning, but this also means there’s a good chance Booby Cocktit will be booted out.

    …Booted out with a golden parachute, but a boot nonetheless.

    Carighan,
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    A golden parachute so big he could trivially buy into the next company. If he wanted to retire, he would have long done it.

    Worse, what if he ends up as the boss fo GamePass or Xbox?

    MidwestBear,

    I think Microsoft is aware of the bobby issue enough to not consider letting him run anything of theirs.

    GiuseppeAndTheYeti,

    No way Microsoft let’s that happen. He’ll be forced out. The only reason Microsoft looked into this consolidation is because he was running the company value into the core of the earth.

    NOT_RICK,
    @NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

    Him fucking off is by far the best outcome of this whole situation

    Madison_rogue, do gaming w Unity cancels town hall over reported death threats
    @Madison_rogue@kbin.social avatar

    He was the CEO of Electronic Arts when the controversial loot box monetization was added to FIFA 09. He made news when he called developers “fucking idiots” over some developers’ reluctance to introduce monetization schemes earlier in the development process. There’s also the infamous clip of Riccitiello talking during a shareholder call about charging Battlefield players a dollar to reload their guns.

    Look at this guy...I couldn't read all of the Bloomberg article due to paywall, so I don't know if this jackass actually provided proof of these "death threats."

    While I don't condone them, it seems awfully convenient that an executive who's known to stir controversy with his monetization strategies received "alleged" death threats. I have a hard time believing it without proof because this guy is a sleaze ball greedy mofo.

    FreeBooteR69,
    @FreeBooteR69@kbin.social avatar

    In any group of people there will always be a tiny subset of the population who will pull this unhinged bullshit. It's unfortunate, but now the CEO gets to play the victim, and anyone who's against his bullshit gets to be painted with the same brush as the unhinged guy.

    gullible,

    I never understand freaking out about death threats. If someone actually wanted to murder you, they’d be quiet and methodical about it, not grandiose. To be fair, I’ve never received a death threat so perhaps I’m not theeeeeeeeeeeee

    Madison_rogue,
    @Madison_rogue@kbin.social avatar

    There might be a reason people freak out about death threats...

    gullible,

    I can’t reply, sorry. I’m dead.

    Madison_rogue,
    @Madison_rogue@kbin.social avatar

    RIP gullible

    ripcord,
    @ripcord@kbin.social avatar

    Not trying to justify threats, but freaking out over one 40-year old event seems like overreaction, may not be the best argument.

    Madison_rogue,
    @Madison_rogue@kbin.social avatar

    How 'bout last year?

    Ferk, (edited )
    @Ferk@kbin.social avatar

    Particularly in the US, where having a gun is relatively easy... to the point that even school kids can end up getting hold of them. I'd be scared.

    ThunderingJerboa,
    @ThunderingJerboa@kbin.social avatar

    I mean you are assuming the person who is trying to murder you is a rational actor but you can't really be a rational actor if you are threatening death to someone because of their shit monetization policies on your entertainment. Hell some people throw "Death threats" at people because they decide to change a reload speed by a fraction of a second. So yeah "gamers" can be quite unhinged. Hell you had idiots in Jan 6 who loudly stated their intention and beat a cop to death. Hell we have seen situations of weirdos getting close to celebrities (in their heads) then trying to kill them, and I imagine cases like that will only get worse with parasocial relationships getting a bit out of hand with modern influences and streamers.

    all-knight-party,
    @all-knight-party@kbin.cafe avatar

    That's the fallacy of trying to understand criminal acts. For the most part, if someone were as smart, logical, and thoughtful as you are when you imagine the best way to commit murder, the kind of person to actually try and commit the murder would not be as smart, logical, or thoughtful to have gotten into that situation in the first place.

    There are exceptions, of course, but it's enough of a possibility that it's probably better to take them seriously than not.

    Edit: typed all that, scrolled down, some other dude already said it

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