If Valve really wanted to make a splash, they could release a desktop version of SteamOS in October, right when support for Windows 10 ends. For additional damage, they could bundle in Half-Life 3. Just imagine the coverage this would get.
I recognise that for almost any one task, Linux has a solution that works better than Windows. My issue is just getting Linux to run not only one specific thing but all the dozens of programs with each having their own dependencies and possible quirks without losing my mind, weeks of my life, data or all three.
If Valve (or really any other large entity capable of handling this for tens of thousands of users) stepped in to act as the guide for setting it all up in a safe manner and such that it just works without constant need for tweaking (unless you want to stray from the “installation wizard”), I could see Linux gain a big surge in users.
As @apotheotic mentioned, that is actually not allowed and against the spirit of the “cookie banner law”. But since hundreds, if not thousands of sites break this law, it takes quite the time for government workers to sift through all of that (provided they even get around to it).
Big agree on all of that, including the Any Austin recommendation!
Skyrim is amazing for this kind of mindfulness with its environments. The NPCs are a little so-so (once you spend an extended amount of time at the same location) but you can’t go wrong with setting up campfire and just taking in the wilderness and everything around you. X4 Foundations actually is pretty great, too, for this vibe-intake, when you land on a station and just exist (or sneak into another captain’s ship and see where it takes you)
Thank you for that perspective. It seems to be somewhat similar and thankless to when I get tasked with taking microbio samples from the machines to check for contamination and then get grumpy department leads because the analysis results show over and over again that their cleaning procedure is inefficient.
Hahaha the production lead actually suggested that I might have been sick and coughed germs onto the sample sponge or that the sponges themselves were already contaminated during manufacturing, because every single sample showed high counts of pseudomonas.
Maybe instead she should start listening to us when we tell her that production equipment from 1970 might not be sufficient to run a food production with the hygiene requirements of today. But no, replacing that would cost more money than just taking samples over and over until the results are low enough (probably because by the 37th swab I cleaned the surface better than the production workers)
So this problem started back in 2023 as in still occurring. Dead Space Remake, Jedi Survivor and Silent Hill 2 are some of the offenders. All these games were highly rated on gameplay and graphics...
Additionally, if a day one patch were actually enough to fix these issues, then just delay the game by a day. That way, the launch day gamers won’t suffer through a (sometimes) unplayable experience and possibly leave bad reviews.
Sounds like a job for a group similar to Anonymous, just less focused on actual illegal activities and instead just playing out the legal methods of fighting against corporations.
The bottom left icons on the island makes me think it’s set in the Assassins Creed universe. Since I have only played Black Flag, I’m pretty sure it’s not from there.
In the letter, Democrat senator Mark Warner argues that Valve’s content moderation doesn’t meet industry standards, and says he wants Valve to “crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content”....
Swastikas, okay. Happy merchant, sure. But how is Pepe an alt right symbol now? I read half of an article about it which seems to conclude that it depends on the context the meme is being used in. If it’s by a nazi in their username, it’s a nazi symbol, wow. To me this feels like “serial killers often ate bread for breakfast, so all of Germany is now a dogwhistle for serial killers.”
Edit: Alright, I’m super late in this edit but I see that I’m (partly) wrong here. Not sure if people who reply to a comment are notified when that comment has been edited (if not, it should do that!), but thank you a lot for the input. My understanding now is tht it’s a quite complicated issue and, depending on the audience, it’s certainly being used and understood as Nazi symbol.
I am a really big fan of base building in RTS games, which is why I never liked Starcraft. Bases in Starcraft feel like they have such little rhyme or reason. They are messy and ugly. I always build a ton of bases in games like Tiberian Sun, that, while gameplay wise, are a waste of time and money, feel fun to build and fun to...
Quite a good list, although without any real surprises, except for the cheeky inclusion of a recent fan-made PC port. I’m glad Kerbal Space Program is on it, but a few other personal favorites (and candidates for best game of all time) are absent, like The Talos Principle, BeamNG.drive, NEO Scavenger, World of Goo, Mafia,...
I fully understand someone thinking x game deserves to be there instead of y but I think this is a great list that spans most genres and serves as a wonderful stepping stone for exploration within gaming.
If I give this list to someone who doesn’t know yet, what kind of games they like, this list will show them great games from all major “eras” and all kinds of dev studio sizes/budgets. And once they have played, say, KotoR 2 (since it’s in the same list that recommends new and good games like Baldur’s Gate 3, they are more likely to check out other old but great games like Gothic 1 and 2 (and, of course, KotoR 1).
As the title suggests: I’ve had it with open worlds with dozens of things to do and checklists to complete. What are your favorite, delightfully simple, linear games?...
I would count Sifu as being pretty linear and very good. Probably the best martial arts fantasy-ish game out there that’s single-player (for that but multiplayer take Absolver, the same devs’ first game)
A pretty good change for how I use Family Sharing. The only detriments seem to be the issue of the game owner being banned for violations of other family members and the 1 year cooldown between leaving and joining a family. Both should be manageable issues, though, if you’re at the point of trusting someone enough to log into their machine with your credentials.
Mhmm, I just noticed it yesterday when I first tried using it. But it doesn’t seem all good, because apparently it only works (without any workarounds) if you are on the same network. My sister, who lives in the same country but 400 km away, couldn’t join upon invitation :c
You’re right. And sure, it’s gonna suck for the twelve legitimate people who lose their access because their sibling is a dickwad, but that’s an okay tradeoff if it prevents a sudden surge of cheats.
I could be mistaken but I think I read something about being able to choose which games a child member can see and play? If your adult sis is prone to getting banned, just invite her as child, if the system works like that. Sure, the terms “adult” and “child” are more intuitive for regular people, but in essence it’s just “admin/mod” and “member”, no?
You’re right that these things have been happening for a while, but does it invalidate their actions now? Sure, it would’ve been better, had they said something earlier, but better do the right thing eventually than think “Eh, I didn’t open my mouth the very first time so it’s no use doing it now”…right?
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?
If we factor in failure rates, definitely the Valve Index Controllers.
I fucking love them when they work, but this is the second or third time that I had to get one replaced by Valve in the 7 months of having them. Please, Valve, Index users are already paying premium money. We’d like controllers that don’t just stop working properly despite NOT having hit them against walls repeatedly or anything of that sort. It also can’t be super lucrative for you if for every sold pair you create and ship out 5 replacements.
In Sky: Children of the Light you can let yourself get taken by the hand, and the other player guides/plays for you and you barely need to do anything anymore. Felt a bit absurd and funny, but interesting nonetheless. Certainly unique. It was also very good to eat some snacks and watch yourself progress while doing so. bee happy...
I love Sky and most people there genuinely are so nice. And now on Steam I can finally play it with a decent framerate (the Switch was a big step up from my phone already but that still struggled sometimes)
Incredible! It’s incredible how, for so many content updates, they kept the game fresh and interesting. Andy only a single paid expansion and it’s even only 9€!
I wish Motion Twin all success and can’t wait to see what else they come up with. If I’m not mistaken, they’re currently working on a co-op top-down slasher with cute animals getting absolutely obliterated and everything is super fast, no? I believe that one is already on my wishlist!
it’s hard to totally land that message when the game offers no alternative.
I’m of such split opinion when it comes to this argument against the game. I’ve read it so many times now and I kind of agree that there should have been some nuanced choice that changes the story in such a way where Walker tries to redeem himself? If I recall correctly, the only choice that actually made a difference for the end, was what you did in the very end scene with the mirror, right? And, of course, the choice not to play the game.
Then again, would it have been better if the player had had the option for a less shitty (not necessarily good or positive) path? Sometimes in life, especially during war, the only things that happen to you are shit and even what you do might be out of your control, because you only have one option that results in staying alive or because your mind is so focused on the task at hand that you can’t even consider other ways of tackling a problem. This might be a bit graphic, but I think Spec Ops puts you in the passenger seat with a maddened driver. You tell the driver your destination (finishing the game) and he just hits the pedal and, no matter how much you protest, he roadkills every person on the way there. The car doors are unlocked and he occasionally stops, giving you an opportunity to get out. When you finally arrive at your destination and complain that he killed all those people, he goes “If you had left the car, I would’ve stopped.” I don’t know, I feel like I have a point here, but I can’t put it into words.
Also, there are games like Animal Crossing that aren’t criticised with “Well, the message (of positivity and being rewarded for hard work and cooperation while being friendly) falls a bit flat, since the player doesn’t even have alternative options, aside from not playing the game.”
So, yeah, I’ll leave it at that now, since I think my comment is plateauing in its insightfullness.
Reading the entire article, it seems that they still want to tread very carefully with this whole AI ordeal. Valve isn’t just opening the floodgates, as the title would make it seem.
While yes, a healthy dose of skepticism is good to have, I think if I had to trust someone to navigate AI in gaming in the gamers’ favour, I would pick Valve. Or maybe I’m overestimating Gabe’s involvement in the happenings of the legal department’s section that is currently responsible for AI stuff.
EDIT: Shame on me, @princessnorah , I think I had already seen the PMG video about the Steam Marketplace and its lootboxes and the gambling sites. But because I neither play these titles nor participate in the marketplace, I forgot that these serious issues exist. And the documentary concerning actually working at Valve rocked my stance back and forth. On one hand, I love the concept, but there are big problems here as well.
Once more, a genuine thank you for pointing me at these two video documentaries, even if I had already seen one of them.
Oh, People Make Games have not one but two vids on Valve? I never noticed that, thanks. I’ll watch them after work and possibly (because PMG really are good at the whole journalising stuff) change my stance on it.
That last half-sentence really isn’t in good faith. Just in the past couple years Valve made three “beloved products” that come to my mind immediately. Valve Index (the VR set), SteamDeck (the handheld PC) and the Steam Controller (although that one could be a bit older than “just in the past couple years”).
I regret to admit I have never played any of their games despite having Desperados 3 on my list for a while. I feel some relief on their behalf though that their closure was evidently a deliberate choice rather than a market failure.
Assuming that the premise is, they will actually magically play it even if they would usually go “Oh…nice…”, I would give Sky: Children of Light to a former classmate who was (haven’t talked to him in 6 years) the sort to throw his controller when he lost particularly bad in Call of Duty.
Sky is kinda like Journey (made by the same developer as well), but with an increased multiplayer- and social experience, to keep it short.
It’s hard to explain more concretely than “I just like women more”. In multiplayer (and actual roleplay) games (and even emojis in WhatsApp) I tend to play women as well and won’t correct someone when they use “she/her”.
Now that I read it here from a couple other people, I would also agree that the female options are usually more interesting and grounded in all aspects (Voice acting, looks, skills).
I don’t think I’m an unhatched trans (learned that term in the comments here hah), because I really don’t mind being a guy. But I also wouldn’t mind if I had been born a woman?
Oh hey that was a short but interesting read. Not sure if that fits me, but I honestly don’t care that much about the specific term/label. I am what I am and don’t want to spend a lot of time just to try and fit all kinds of niche labels onto me, if that makes sense.
The premise is that the planet starts about (with default settings) thirty days away from beibg destroyed by a meteor. You and the other couple dozen or hundred people on the server have the obvious goal of stopping that meteor. But nobody actually makes you do it and since you all start with stone tools and wheelbarrows, none of you even have the means to do it in the beginning.
The idea is that you band together with other like-minded players and form a settlement and each of you specializes into a different set of professions (for example, I am a shipwright and logger mainly but also have a small pottery workshop going). In time, you find new ressources or ways to utilise already discovered ressources to eventually build cars, boats, larger settlements and stuff. While that is happening, you can (and probably want to) set some rules for what is allowed and forbidden in your settlements radius (you widen that radius by increasing culture, mostly via decorative items). The rules you set (and players actually have to vote for and come to agreements with) almost always follow a simple “If x then y (else z)” programming logic and can be incredibly creative. Once voted for, those rules are law and can’t be broken by the subset of people affected by that rule. Seriously, one town on my current server basically gutted themselves accidentally by miswording a law. They intended a specific player to be forbidden of doing anything in their town but the wording was "If {name} is resident then prevent ". But since, yes, that player on the server was a resident of something (another town or their own homestead, doesn’t matter), so condition true, every citizen in town was banned from doing anything meaningful, since it wasn’t worded as “prevent {name} from doing xyz”.
You’re welcome! I’ve played 46 hours of it in the ten days since I bought it and I haven’t played more basically only because we’re on vacation now and I have to work to afford living lol.
Very expected that they’d shut down soon after launch, after all the coverup they tried (and failed at) to perform. I just didn’t expect that it would be that soon after launch.
I’m quite excited to see what comes of this. With the amount of stuff to do in No Man’s Sky, I’m interested what other systems, aside from procedural generation and base building, they will transfer over to this high fantasy genre. The dragonflight mechanic seems similar to how the starships steer, although more refined to a natural looking way of flying.
Psygnosis simply for Drakan. I recently replayed it and it holds up pretty well, even if the melee combat as Rynn is a little clunky.
Another one, who is still around and very successful in their niche, is Egosoft. X4 at release was a little so-so, but mostly due to performance issues and me being spoiled from years and years worth of mods for the previous games (but also, without any of the really good DLCs, only three of the six or so factions are in the game).
In case you’re out of the loop, the old Steam Deck had Philips screws that screwed into self-tapping plastic holes. This lead to occasional stripped threads and often stripped screwheads....
So SteamDeck, Valve Index and pushing back against the short-term money maker that was NFTs until half a year or so, among other things, aren’t scary enough projects when you’re “just” a game developer and distributor?
I was only looking for some validation posts because I was annoyed at a couple of the more unrealistic reactions you have going in NMS. Like being able to get salt from combining dihydrogen and oxygen (instead of receiving the obvious water, which doesn’t even exist in the game as usable item/component). Then I stumbled upon...
What you see is a glorified DIY joystick controller with a LCD (‘MFD’) and plenty of RGB inspired by a VF-1 (Block 6) Valkyrie of the Macross franchise....
I don’t really understand how people make the review threads, but we’re sitting at a 77 on OpenCritic right now. Many were worried about game performance after the recommended specs were released, but it looks like it’s even worse than we expected. It sounds like the game is mostly a solid release except for the...
You’re right. After Dark was one of the first(?) DLCs and I’m not sure if bikes were part of that or the eco-friendly DLC but bikes definitely are not part of the vanilla experience (I have quite a few DLCs that are important to me and no bikes yet)
It depends on how big of a role precise movements play (that are controlled by mouse on KMB). And how much I gain from the analogueness of controllers. Take Death Stranding for example: Shooting is relatively few and far between and it rarely requires high precision when you shoot (most weapons are either splash damage grenade-types or fully-automatic with a generous enough amount of ammo). The trekking along to deliver packages feels much better on a controller. So DS is controller territory for me, even if it involves shooting.
Red Dead Redemption 2? Couldn’t imagine playing it half as well with a controller, because most guns have a very low rate of fire, gunfights are a lot more lethal and (thanks to the “Scroll Wheel Movement Speed” mod) I am able to casually meander at different speeds even while getting all the benefits of playing with keyboard and mouse.
You have some items that are not lost upon death (either by them being special and “blessed” or by you paying some in game gold to insure them (costing you every time you die), but everything else? On your corpse, ready to be taken by the nearest player and even humanoid enemy. More than once have I seen a lich just grab some of my stuff and cackle off back into the dungeon.
Aside from being able to lose stuff on death, there are actual Thievery skills ranging from sneaking to pickpocketing and lockpicking (for stealing from player homes or when you unearth treasure chests). There is a “safe overworld” but many popular private servers have removed that. You might go about your daily business to grab some stuff from the bank teller and next thing you know, a grandmaster thief took your precious sword from your backpack (there are a lot of skill checks involved depending on how many possible witnesses there are (player and NPC), if the thief is invisible, how heavy the item is and such).
A bard/artist game that really makes use of the creative potential of music/painting. A great example of a “tech demo” of what I’d like is the magic system in Tchia. You got a ukulele that you can play super freely (possibly the most realistic thing if you don’t play it irl), but depending on what notes you play, you unleash different spells (kinda like in the old Zelda games with the ocarina).
I would absolutely love if the creative spell freedom of Magicka (or Fictorum) was combined with the freeform instrument play of Tchia.
Shower thought: Valve could do the ultimate boss-move this year
If Valve really wanted to make a splash, they could release a desktop version of SteamOS in October, right when support for Windows 10 ends. For additional damage, they could bundle in Half-Life 3. Just imagine the coverage this would get.
Games can no longer use virtual currencies to disguise the price of in-game purchases in the European Union (ec.europa.eu)
To Kill a Dragon: Video Games and Addiction (blog.joeyschutz.com)
BioWare veterans confirm they were laid off by EA, including senior Dragon Age and Mass Effect devs (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Reviewers giving high scores to poorly optimised games really grinds my gears
So this problem started back in 2023 as in still occurring. Dead Space Remake, Jedi Survivor and Silent Hill 2 are some of the offenders. All these games were highly rated on gameplay and graphics...
Itch.io was taken down by funko pop
bsky.app/profile/itch.io/post/3lcu6h465bs2n
What websites provide video game maps? (fedia.io) angielski
Maps based on the fictional universe of video games, with locations, points of interest, etc.
Valve must address swastikas and other hate on Steam, writes US senator in a letter to Gabe Newell (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
In the letter, Democrat senator Mark Warner argues that Valve’s content moderation doesn’t meet industry standards, and says he wants Valve to “crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content”....
What type of game do you want to see?
I am a really big fan of base building in RTS games, which is why I never liked Starcraft. Bases in Starcraft feel like they have such little rhyme or reason. They are messy and ugly. I always build a ton of bases in games like Tiberian Sun, that, while gameplay wise, are a waste of time and money, feel fun to build and fun to...
PC Gamer: The top 100 PC games (www.pcgamer.com)
Quite a good list, although without any real surprises, except for the cheeky inclusion of a recent fan-made PC port. I’m glad Kerbal Space Program is on it, but a few other personal favorites (and candidates for best game of all time) are absent, like The Talos Principle, BeamNG.drive, NEO Scavenger, World of Goo, Mafia,...
Recommend me your favorite linear games! angielski
As the title suggests: I’ve had it with open worlds with dozens of things to do and checklists to complete. What are your favorite, delightfully simple, linear games?...
Steam Families is here - Steam News (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Up to 6, sharing your shareable games library...
EU consumer groups slam 'manipulative' video game spending tactics. (www.euractiv.com) angielski
We played Valve’s secret new shooter: Deadlock (www.theverge.com)
It’s like Overwatch, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 all baked into a pie.
I asked what your fave controllers are, now. What is the worst controller you have used?
So. I have 2 I hate....
Sky: Children of the Light - Players Offering to Take Your Hand (beehaw.org) angielski
In Sky: Children of the Light you can let yourself get taken by the hand, and the other player guides/plays for you and you barely need to do anything anymore. Felt a bit absurd and funny, but interesting nonetheless. Certainly unique. It was also very good to eat some snacks and watch yourself progress while doing so. bee happy...
Dead Cells - A super-late (we know) update on Dead Cells - Steam News (store.steampowered.com)
Why Spec Ops: The Line Mattered (yt.artemislena.eu) angielski
War Hospital, out now, is a tug-of-war between empathy and efficiency (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Valve: Most games made with AI tools are now welcome on Steam (arstechnica.com) angielski
Well shit…
Mimimi Games revived a genre, pushed it forward, and then shut down (www.polygon.com)
I regret to admit I have never played any of their games despite having Desperados 3 on my list for a while. I feel some relief on their behalf though that their closure was evidently a deliberate choice rather than a market failure.
If you could gift a videogame to anyone, what would you give to whom? And why? angielski
Imagine you could give a Christmas gift to anyone, famous or not, what you would give and to whom? And why?...
Male players: Why do you play female characters? (kbin.social) angielski
Got the idea of posting this when I watched this YouTube video that talks about reasons men love playing as girls....
it's the steam winter sales, what game did you enjoy playing and want to share?
The Steam winter sales are here, up to the 4rth of January....
TimeSplitters Dev Free Radical Has Shut Down As Staff Share "Last Day" Messages (www.nintendolife.com)
The Day Before developer Fntastic shuts down - Gematsu (www.gematsu.com)
New single planet fantasy game from Hello Games (www.youtube.com) angielski
What game company from your childhood do you remember with fondness?
I was thinking about how I remember Maxis fondly, and I got to wondering what other people’s experiences were like!...
Rant: Valve's new Steam Deck screws speak volumes about their ethos.
In case you’re out of the loop, the old Steam Deck had Philips screws that screwed into self-tapping plastic holes. This lead to occasional stripped threads and often stripped screwheads....
Study via questionnaire (n = 126) about the perception of chemistry in No Man's Sky and how games can be used by science communicators. (journals.sagepub.com)
I was only looking for some validation posts because I was annoyed at a couple of the more unrealistic reactions you have going in NMS. Like being able to get salt from combining dihydrogen and oxygen (instead of receiving the obvious water, which doesn’t even exist in the game as usable item/component). Then I stumbled upon...
You game with a controller, my game is the controller. We're not the same. (discuss.tchncs.de)
What you see is a glorified DIY joystick controller with a LCD (‘MFD’) and plenty of RGB inspired by a VF-1 (Block 6) Valkyrie of the Macross franchise....
Well, Cities: Skylines 2 is here, and it's another broken game release. angielski
I don’t really understand how people make the review threads, but we’re sitting at a 77 on OpenCritic right now. Many were worried about game performance after the recommended specs were released, but it looks like it’s even worse than we expected. It sounds like the game is mostly a solid release except for the...
Do you prefer playing with Keyboard or controller more, and for what type of games?
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core looks like a tougher, action-minded co-op dig (arstechnica.com) angielski
What type of game you want to see that doesn't fully exist yet?