Oh look, that completely predictable outcome of an obviously stupid fucking idea, that people still felt the need to argue with me about so many years ago despite it being obviously doomed for failure.
I’ve always appreciated that they stole the name from Snow Crash. Like Zuck completely unironically named his company after a technological dystopian hellscape infected with a virus that destroys people’s brains. Honestly, I don’t think there’s a better name for Facebook.
I mean, Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” to reference a virtual world not limited to gaming but to all kinds of business and commerce and social interactions.
Zuck’s concept for the metaverse was basically the same thing. I’d be surprised if the connection wasn’t intentional.
completely predictable outcome of an obviously stupid fucking idea
Nah, it could have worked if Meta started by
sell the hardware to businesses and schools at a loss, with a requirement users be able to take the sets home.
Publish standards to allow all apps to have multiplayer and compatible full body avatars, same control scheme, movement, etc.
buying up VRChat and any other apps with a large user base, refactoring them for compatibility.
Develop and release free multiuser apps, from virtual office/meetings to virtual movies to home decor.
Somehow FB didn’t even try to exploit the same effects that forced everyone into Apple, MS, and FB.
To be clear, its for the best, the end result of FB giving out millions of headsets at a loss would have been making even more money selling much more precise user data, and virtual nikes and shit.
ChatVR, RecRoom, Roblox, BattleBit, Project Loom (Which Google killed for no reason, but it wasn’t because of lack of success), and of course the OG, Second Life.
Hell you could even make the arguement for Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen if they ever finish it.
Some of those projects haven’t just been successful they’re so successful that they are starting to affect government policy.
How have they affected government policy, beyond Roblox probably causing some laws being passed about exploitation and protection of minors?
You have a point, I think the big thing FB failed to capitalize on is that someone who wants to use ChatVR or Roblox has to go into chatVR or roblox. FB had an opportunity to build an entire ecosystem they control, and they failed to get anyone inside of it.
I genuinely have no idea how they managed to spend that much money and not get a single decent app. Horizons literally looked like a tech demo someone slapped together for a gamejam or something.
Yes I have. And they all act as independent games, not the centralized hub for all work and play “ready player one” style that meta was pitching this whole things as. Those non meta products being semi successful games doesn’t mean the overarching master plan for the metaverse was ever feasible, or even desired. Facebook didn’t have a good game to tout in the end, let alone the rest of it. Despite the billions they spent on whatever the fuck they spent it on.
It really seems YOU don’t know what we’re talking about.
The real selling point would be that everyone else is using it and you need to use it to interact with them, same with FB. How many people are still forced to maintain a FB account to talk to their boomer relatives?
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.
The controller would’ve been an instant buy for me if it had asymmetric sticks but I’ll wait for it to come out and give it a try before I make a decision.
That was my feeling too. That PS/Wii U scheme feels so uncomfortable to me. Like over-extending your left thumb which I use much more than my right thumb on the analog stick.
But I realized I’m semi used to it on my Steam Deck and it feels okay. If I could, I would switch it out, though.
I’m down to buy the new controller. I have a Steam Deck and it’s very comfortable to hold, other than the weight. This thing is basically the Deck controls without the screen and a bunch of the weight.
Plus, I’ve personally found the gyro, trackpads, and back buttons to be extremely useful for games that don’t have controller support, or for simply easier use of existing buttons (like putting L3/R3 on back buttons). I’m really looking forward to this, looks way better than the 2015 Steam Controller.
Lastly, that charging connector / wireless adapter all-in-one combo is just nice.
My only concern would be haptics. This really needs to have good rumble motors, and not just trackpad haptics like the deck. The pad haptics are good for subtle effects, but near useless for conveying actual heavy vibration, explosions, stuff like that. Sounds like they accounted for this though:
High definition rumble
Steam Controller’s powerful motors are capable of handling complex waveforms for immersive, accurate haptics.
That sounds closer to something like the PS5 DualSense enhanced haptics, and if so, I’m here for it.
My experience with the Steam Deck and the Index controllers are the only thing keeping me from writing it off my mind all together. I have faith in Valve’s team when it comes to ergonomics so I hope they surprise me.
That said, I hope they improved on the Steam Deck because the face buttons on the Deck are so close to the edge that it’s challenging to do quick presses for games like rhythm games.
Yeah, Sony really nailed the haptics with the PS5 controller. The high-fidelity motors feel nice while still having punch, and the adaptable triggers give a nice satisfying squeeze when game designers use it properly.
The newer God of War games had a few good examples, with the adaptable triggers getting harder on more “difficult” stuff. If Kratos was using a lot of strength for some quick time event, the triggers got harder to pull. It was a nice touch that helped add immersion and suspense to a game that was already very visceral. When Kratos cleaved into an enemy during a kill animation, feeling the trigger relax afterwards was a nice satisfying capstone to the “you just beat the crap out of this enemy” animation.
No Man’s sky supports the adaptive triggers on PC (Steam) and when they are used, it really does make a little difference! I just always feel like it’s going to break the triggers for some reason. I don’t trust Sony, so that may be why. lol
Exactly. Sony insists on having symmetrical sticks, even though Xbox figured out asymmetric was better back in 2001. Every third party controller has asymmetric switches. Even Nintendo Pro controllers do. Why did Valve choose the objectively worse solution?
Now I understand. But how are symmetrical sticks ojectively worse? Valve’s design team built dozens of prototypes for the first controller, they probably did the same for the second one and still opted for symmetrical sticks.
The outermost spot is easier to reach with the thumbs. The most used elements of the controller are face buttons and the left stick. Having the left stick in the “secondary” position makes no sense.
I’m sure the team gathered some proof in usability and ergonomy tests before deciding on an option. After all, the controller needs to adapt to many possible layouts, not just for right-handed avatar movement.
I have a Steam Controller and could never get used to it. I don’t like the track pad D-pad on the left, since it’s uncomfortable to use for camera control or as a D-pad, it’s just awkward. The right one is okay, but in a weird spot, since it’s annoying to jump all the way down to the buttons.
The new one looks a little better, but I’d still prefer the left stick to be higher (maybe seap with the D-pad?). I love the Steam Deck, so maybe in practice this is fine.
The whole point is the trackpad and gyro. It really does take a lot of getting used to, and that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, which is fine.
The thing is: if people want a regular controller they can buy a ps 4/5 and Xbox controller and use it. Everything steam has supports that.
Which is consumer friendly as fuck and actually awesome.
But if you don’t want to use the controller as it was designed, or can’t get used to it, then it’s probably not a great choice for you. Which is al totally valid.
The DS4 has a gyro though, so I can do gyro aiming w/ it if I want. Steam Input makes configuring it quite easy.
I thought I was the target for the Steam Controller because configurability sounded fun, so I picked it up w/ the Steam Link in a bundle w/ Rocket League and I ended up not using either (and I bailed on Rocket League after EGS bought them). I think it was a cool idea, but I ended up not liking it as much in practice. I keep trying to give it a second chance, but each time it just feels weird.
That said, I love the Steam Deck, which is a natural evolution of the Steam Controller. It has capacitive joysticks to make the gyro better, the track pads don’t get in the way, and the triggers and shoulder buttons feel better. The main thing I miss from the Steam Controller is the button in the triggers. Everything else on the Steam Deck is a straight upgrade, and the extra back buttons are enough to make me not miss the button in the triggers.
I might end up getting the new Steam Controller, but I wish they would’ve put the left thumbstick a bit higher and the D-pad a little lower. But since I already use a DS4 and have been considering a DS5, this is a natural upgrade for me.
I find asymmetrical sticks more comfortable to use. The natural position of my thumbs is in the top corners of the controller. Since the D-pad is rarely used, the left thumb stays in that sweet spot and the right jumps between the stick and the buttons.
I use a DS4 on my desktop, an Xbox 360 controller on my retropie box, and a Nintendo Pro controller on my Switch, and the DS4 is way less comfy than the other two. I only use the DS4 because it had better compatibility with Linux and other features (mostly gyro) when I shopped for one when I moved the Xbox controller to another room.
I’ve considered buying the DS5, but would much rather wait for something better, like a new Xbox controller with a gyro.
That’s your preference though. I prefer Sony’s symmetrical sticks. It’s ok to have your preference, no need to state that it’s the objectively better one.
I actually prefer Sony’s symmetrical design, but that’s probably because the PS1 was the first console I owned as a kid. I played other consoles like the NES/SNES/N64/Saturn/DreamCast at friends’ houses, but the PS1 was the first console that was truly mine. And I went straight from the PS1 to the PS2 in my early teens. The DualShock controller was the one I grew up playing the most, so it’s the one I’m most familiar with using. The Xbox 360 generation definitely tends to prefer asymmetry though, which is really just a matter of preference.
The Xbox was my first, and I prefer the asymmetric design. However, the controller I use on my PC is a DS4 and it’s fine, and I use it because it had better Linux support at the time.
HZD actually has a fantastic story and a great setting. With some recent successful game movies, I can see this one actually being good. But does Sony have much of a track record here? Uncharted was bad.
The details are still up in the air, but 404media has chimed in with a legal expert on this deplorable situation. They mostly talk about what damage this could do, and how Nintendo has never lost a lawsuit, but I found this to be an interesting key point
Nintendo has, as I mentioned in my tweet, a legendary track record. I think they never lost a lawsuit that they initiated themselves, and under the Japanese legal system, seven years ago, they sued a company called Colopl, which is a mobile gaming powerhouse from Japan. They [Colopl] have, I think, almost 2,000 [employees], nobody but knows them outside Japan but they had a famous mobile game called White Cat Project, not copying Mario, not copying Pokémon, not copying Zelda, nothing at all. Nintendo brought forward six patents that they thought that this company was violating inside their very successful mobile game at one time. It was one of the most popular mobile games in Japan, and they built a huge case. One of the patents was for a confirmation screen after sleep mode. You know when devices are sleeping and you want to resume there’s a confirmation screen in a lot of games? “Are you sure you want to resume?” And then you tap yes or no. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses it. And then Nintendo said, you know, look, you’re using our patent and you cannot do that. You’re not paying us any licensing fees.
And they had five other ones, including one for isometric, pseudo, 3D games, when the character is hidden behind the tree, the game forms a shadow, so you have a kind of sense for where the character is, even though you don’t see the character clearly. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses that technology. And Nintendo said, look, you cannot do this. And this goes on with four other patents, right?
So they had this legal battle. Colopl said, no way, but in 2021 they had a settlement where Nintendo got the equivalent of $20 Million US dollars and Colopl is now paying licensing fees to Nintendo for continuing to use the patents inside their mobile game. So it was a complete win for Nintendo, even though it was technically a settlement. I personally think you will see that after a few years, Nintendo will be in a very, very similar position. I don’t think that Nintendo will even think about filing a lawsuit like this without being as sure as they can that they’re going to win this.
If you are unaware, this was done because of the launch of Dragalia Lost, a game that has long been forgotten, and discontinued.
While I agree, its still his opinion if Nintendo did anything of value. BTW I played Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom this year on Yuzu. And I’m proud of it. Great games, although with big problems. I would add Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Wonder to the list, and maybe Bayonetta 3, Lugi’s Mansion 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and probably a few more.
I agree. The game development side of Nintendo are top notch, and care a lot about quality game design, fun, replayability, all the good stuff. These people do good work.
But the corporate/legal side of Nintendo, they are indeed raging assholes.
Specially since apparently it has some of the most toxic mechanics I hate from MOBAS (last hit, creep denial) and another that I just hate (itemization ) after playing MOBAS that did away with it, and actually felt much more fun to play (Dawngate and Heroes of the Storm).
I’m OK with them wanting to keep making money from it as long as they update it for compatibility with newer operating systems. Selling something they have completely abandoned us not cool.
What makes you say that this is aiming to make that impossible? I picked up RA2 because it was cheap and I figured if I didn’t like the port (doesn’t work well, forces you to play on their application, etc) I’d just return it and so far it’s been good enough for me to use. The installation process was a lot easier than the original game and I was able to hop straight in and play. Haven’t had any issues with it yet.
So far I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this is anything but them catering to a different market that being the steam community.
Yes I both am aware and agree that that would be acting against archives and the like. EA making these games available on Steam however is not the same as Nintendo suing emulators.
Same here, Sim City 3000 and The Sims were my jam and I still listen to their soundtracks every once in a while, they’re so good. There was something truly magical about Maxis back then.
I get the greed behind turning 1 into 2 but how could any of the devel team see what was happening and not absolutely lose their minds. How could anyone see that the game would be better off removing paid content or locking off earnable content. Just blew my mind when it released.
Why do people hope that Microsoft will miraculously revive dormant/mismanaged IPs from their new acquisitions, when they’ve done nothing in the past 10 years but lay to rest and mismanage their own IPs?
They released the Series X three years ago now and are yet to release a single game on the platform that people care about.
The game’s currently sitting on “mixed” reviews on Steam, and the rating is steadily going down (67% at the time of writing, which is an all time low), and that’s on a platform where you can use mods.
I also literally forgot about it. I guess that’s what happens when you release a game that looks and plays like you gave a prompt to Chat GTP and waited for it to build the entire code and voice all the dialogue for it.
I don’t think it’s fair to consider Starfield, since the game was in development before the acquisition completed. The only significant input I would consider is making it Xbox/PC exclusive.
Being that both IP’s are ongoing I’m hoping that going forward they’ll at least increase access to the game. I’m not expecting them to revive it to previous status.
I’m just hoping with Kotick out things will stop getting worse and a lot of the IP’s end up on GamePass.
And as far as first party stuff goes Flight Sim, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite all have been fairly well received and are at the very least console exclusives. Minecraft isn’t going the way that a lot of the Java players like but it’s much more accessible and on damn near every device known to man. And that IP is still selling gangbusters even with Legends and Dungeons being not fantastic.
A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I am sorry, but I couldn’t resist the urge. It’s my character.”
Cool! You know it’s just going to be an AI upscale job, so there will still be the amazingly terrible brokenness that Oblivion offered. Tying major skills to a 1-10 level up system seems to make sense initially, until you wanted to be a potion making wizard, and then it’s “OOPS! you made too many potions, now you’re not strong enough to fight a rat”. Also, Bethesda could have made the Skill Bonus you get on levelling up more balanced, as it forces you to literally not attack any more until levelling up. If you attack too much, you might level up your weapon ability (One Handed, 2 Handed, etc) beyond the points required to level up, in which case you just wasted extra Skill Bonus points by levelling up too much before sleeping. Exploration-wise though, Oblivion is a master class in open world design. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and every corner of the map is a joy to visit.
You can easily create a killer potion to kill that rat though. You can be a god in Morrowind in under 10 minutes by just training alchemy and enchanting. Which is why this was changed in oblivion. Everything you describe are nothing but issues that arise from the user not taking the time to understand the game mechanics. That’s why Skyrim was dumbed down to the point where nothing mattered anymore. Oblivion at least tried to be a proper RPG.
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