As depressing as it is to ask, I feel I should kick off the brainstorm: Given that this personal information has been doxxed, is there anything that individuals could do to help the affected developers in any way?
The only people who can object against hating Nazis are Nazis themselves.
This was the key to his statement and I agree with him.
Video games need to generate acceptable targets. Aliens invading people’s homes, PMCs controlled by powerful men, thugs and looters looking to beat up whoever they find, etc.
But it’s ridiculous anyone would post “Hey! If aliens did come to our world to take control of our governments, they would be sorely offended by video games about killing them!” On one level because aliens don’t exist. On the other because if they were coming to take control of our governments, why would we want to protect or respect them?
Now, replace the little green men with discriminatory, media-controlling purveyors of hate speech. They exist. Everyone sane would rather they didn’t. That’s all.
I mean, I’ll bite: I enjoyed GP for a while, up until MS went firing-crazy and upped their prices.
Until then, I was very aware I rented games and might not get to play them later. Given that I was generally playing games that were new or sampling genres I don’t play much of, I wasn’t opposed to the time limitation, and the low price was reasonable.
Now that their price increased, I ended it. I am not locked into their ecosystem, and in fact swore off it pretty easily due to their changing circumstances.
I would agree the renting situation is poisonous when it comes to housing, because the model has driven the purchasing price of homes through the sky. But that is a situation with scarcity of goods. You can get video games anywhere.
That set of games in my library evaporated. I still have plenty of other games.
I’ll admit, if GP was someone’s entry into gaming and they never buy individual games, they would be a bit starved on unsubscribing except for any F2P games (which, tbf, is still a big set of options). But someone only able to spend that much a month on games is not going to have many options anyway; they’re the type that might buy a Ubisoft open world game just to get hundreds of hours through the year for their money.
But you’re also missing that this is very much the agreement and expectation: It is literally over a hundred video games, given the instant you pay them $15 (now I think $20) It is very fully understood to be on rental basis.
I’m trying to write a story, and I struggled with this, especially when confronting certain realities:
While fantasy, the story is meant to reflect some harsh political realities
Multiple villains are killed, but the heartfelt good guys live.
The ending has everything fixed and everyone’s happy.
I’m aware most stories don’t come anywhere close to a full happy ending like this. Every Batman story ends with Gotham still a miserable shithole. Every noir story ends with the case solved but everyone broken for it and the city still a dystopia. It generally has good reasoning, to reflect harshness of reality, but that’s a realm of fantasy I really want to venture into; one where things just work out.
As I understand it, there’s not currently a PSN restriction on Helldivers 2. Valve themselves blocked it because Sony was making no promises that it would continue to be a legal and playable purchase in outside countries.
I would guess Sony may still have to convince Valve to increase the game’s availability. To sell a product that will remain usable, Valve needs a better commitment/promise than “We’we so sowwy consumews, we pwomise we won’t do it again.” Probably some kind of contract.
You’re browsing Steam. You find “ULTIMATE Inchworm Arena”, a strange but fun-looking online multiplayer arena. You buy it, and download it. The game then says “Welcome to Inchworm Arena! To certify yourself for online play, you must provide One MoistCoin, a cryptocurrency obtainable only in the Republic of Kongo!” None of this was clear from the Steam store page. The developer support response is less than helpful.
Would you continue protesting the developers, or would you blame Valve for presenting this obvious worthless scam game as an offering on Steam? By putting it on their store, Steam asserts some level of responsibility that the game in question is actually playable, and doesn’t contain critical bugs; like failing to start up, or having a user license agreement that its lawyers did not think through.
When this happened for Helldivers, it was Valve that restricted their access because Sony didn’t even know what they were doing on the PC store, and hadn’t thought through that players had no legal avenue to play in some countries. Valve does not want to be put through more cases of user customer support complaining to them, and wants to ensure certain behavior from their game vendors to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Valve absolutely limits the sale of people’s games.
Usually, this would come in the case of “Hey, this game doesn’t work, we’re taking it out of sale everywhere.” But with Helldivers 2 being so popular and high profile, that wouldn’t have been a good look for Valve. Instead, they limited the zone of sale to prevent customer support complaints.
Sony was limiting where you could legally sign up for PSN and thus play the game, not where you could buy it off Steam. That was a conflict of their own mismanagement and inexperience selling on PCs. Had they been smarter, they would have restricted regions to begin with and there might have been less outcry, but poor planning caused Valve’s parental slap.
Someday I’d like to hope our game design sensibilities evolve enough that we can stop deflecting every negative review with “git gud”. There are absolutely things that hard games can design badly that don’t add to the overall enjoyment of the game.
I maintain it was more an issue with basing their fight around spacing, than teaching via popups. I didn’t even mind the many enemies that had unintuitive concepts like feeding them grenades. Once you attune to them, they’re simple enough.
Even after they teach you all that about Marauders, it’s not just a matter of how to shoot them, and when - but when NOT to. Plus hoping for their AI to act reliably as described.
One time playing this game, as soon as the meeting aborted, yellow started following me. I tried to head to a task location, staying outside of their range, and they were clearly targeting me. I quickly managed to loop back around them and hit the emergency meeting button, explaining they had followed me. I got them voted out.
I’d love a new Wolfenstein-style game that diverges from the simple divide of giving them helmets.
It’s simple morbid truth that these people are human beings, who have committed their minds to unimaginable cruelty. It’d be fun to have more games about reciprocating that cruelty.
Mortal Kombat’s fatalities gave me a big ick factor when they leaned into cruelty and pain (and thankfully turned towards looney creativity to be entertaining). But I could see the former being a bit more valid when there’s universal reasoning behind why it’s being applied.
I vaguely remember The Matrix had an MMO that apparently evolved the lore in some crazy ways. And I’m going to guess they abandoned that for the new one.
I could in some ways understand their pursuit of emulators when they’re monetizing those same games currently (even if I disagree with their pricing structure on them). What really got my goat was when they went after Garry’s Mod animations, a medium that has promoted their visibility and never conflicted with their software sales in the slightest.
I'm not talking about physical case/disc/cartridge based games. But moreso, digital games. It would be a solution for gamers that fret about backlogs and knowing completely that they're never going to play the games that they have. That they've acquired from impulse, FOMO and other issues. May have been gifted a game that they...
Suppose that on some level, this was possible. You wouldn’t see nice, cozy instances of people who’ve finished their old collection selling them to low-income folks that just got their first Steam Deck. You’d put some games on sale for $10, and an automated Python script would automatically buy them and put them back up for sale for $49.98, one cent less than the new copies being sold.
When literally every single digital copy of a game is “equivalent”, the used games market just doesn’t make sense - although there’s a hundred third-party sites that would like it to work that way so they can take their un-earned cut.
I’ve been playing some retro games recently (PS1 and prior) and I’ve been discovering a lot of games that I never thought I would enjoy. Particularly 90s arcade shmups and arcade style sports games....
One retro game that I think hasn’t really been well-imitated since is called The Last Express. You’re on the last major express train through Europe before World War I.
What sets it apart is both a very vivid art style using rotoscoping of live actors, as well as a real-time gameplay system wherein the NPCs of the train can constantly move around, scoot past you in the car hallways, or even seek you out during certain key events.
Jeff Grubb confirming. It’s a 2-step reveal. On the 16th will be almost 100% hardware with little to say about software. It’s expected to launch by summer.
I’ve sunk probably a thousand hours into Slay the Spire, have beaten Hades, and just finished Cult of the Lamb. Looking for something else to scratch that itch- preferably on switch. Any suggestions?...
I have generally found roguelikes to be too difficult, so if you want a turn-taking, strategic one that leans into the easier side while letting you set up many ridiculous combinations, I enjoy “Backpack Hero”. You get a Resident Evil 4 styled inventory screen, and must arrange/place items for an optimal build. You generally get rewarded for stacking similar items.
That’s my thinking. I can imagine a live service game needing about 10 new lines from a character every few months, and depending on the hassle of recording studios, AI could be great for that - IF it can be set up in such a way that its use is only applied with permission of the actor who created the voice. They’d also have the right to refuse AI voicing for that session, provided they give a reasonable plan for in-person recording.
Even if I enjoyed a lot of that game, I feel sad that it often felt small-scope; tight hallways, no “canal/highway” type sequences, and only three guns. You don’t even use the gravity gloves in the innovative ways you use the gravity gun.
Ubisoft is clearly a tone-deaf company. But that doesn’t change that this comment has been frequently cited in some very out-of-context ways.
For those who don’t know, the not-owning games comment was in reply to an investor asking why people were reticent to try out Ubisoft+, their monthly service that lets people play pretty much all their games. He was suggesting many people are not used to the option of mass rental as opposed to ownership. But, many Game Pass subscribers (at least before their price increase) can attest that when the value proposition is good enough, it is an appealing option, wherein you accept impermanent access to get more games. In that sense, he was right.
So far as I can see, the intent of the comment had nothing to do with people who buy “lifetime” copies of their games. There’s separate criticisms to make about poor online implementations leading games like The Crew to be yoinked, and I’m in favor of that regulation. But Ubisoft is hardly alone in the way they’ve mishandled that, and the quote had nothing to do with it. I feel like most people pointing to it have only a vague idea of what corporate greed it represents, as though CEOs just want a way to delete your library and somehow make money from it.
I used to enjoy Gmod/SFM animations, but that content naturally takes months of work for people to put out. That was okay because there were dozens of amateurs always releasing their own things; but now, the trend is for weekly or even more frequent videos, which means animators need to rush to put out trendy 8 second shorts, switch to low-effort mediums like Let’s Plays, or just stop getting visitors entirely.
Every so often, I find a great animator that’s sitting in the last category getting their detailed animations quashed, and I get to see the 3 videos they’ve put out in the last 5 months; still wish YouTube could put them in my recommendations.
Anecdote alert: I mean, I went to Mint thinking this to be true. The first release I tried didn’t even support my (years old) WiFi drivers, and then the second couldn’t run levels in Hitman. (Bazzite did, however, so distro apparently matters)
I may play it when the story is finished - if the reviews for the full thing are positive. Right now I’m too worried they’re making a decade of buildup for a dissatisfying and confusing ending, just like Kingdom Hearts.
I’ve played a demo of Remake on my PlayStation and while I could project whatever conversational voices I wanted from text dialog back with the original, I just can’t mesh with the half-hearted anime dub voices (in either language). And I ultimately play JRPGs for their story. Thanks for the recommendation though.
Hard to say what’s the absolute best one, but some highlights:
Finale of Ace Attorney Justice for All; when you finally have the change in circumstances needed to pin the real killer and send them into a genuine panic.
Pizza Tower, final boss third phase: When Peppino sees that Pizza Face is sending him a Boss Rush, and flips his shit, annihilating each boss at lightning speed.
Ghost Trick, Phantom Detective: The final “4 minutes before death”, and multiple last revelations
Most of these are memories of story-driven moments nailed in by very solid soundtracks, which has very much convinced me how important music is to these games.
There are a lot of reasons that this makes sense for them. But also, given the other things they’ve been promising, I think this is going to be an expensive piece of hardware that basically just hides Windows under the hood.
At this point what would make the most sense is an “Xbox Series Z” for people that want higher-performing games. I just don’t see thousands of people buying another $600 console for like 5 games, when most will continue to support the Xbox One. (Yes, Xbox One - most games on the front page of their store still support their old console)
I don’t remember there being any textual dialog in the game except for a few portions of the manual, so I’m not sure what you mean with the central temple. Its main activation comes from both towers, and as someone said, the first simply requires a short trip through a forest and beating a large guard; but the second requires a VERY long path.
West Tower(Assuming north is up/left and south is down/right) You’ll be slowly working your way south down the hill of the main region (not on the first stairs you came up) to unlock more of it and find your shield. But, the path to the west tower requires you to actually travel west past the edge of the first map, out into a wetland area with thin walkways. There’s another boss before you can reach the tower itself.
Valve used to do ARGs for some of their major releases. It’ll be kinda sad if there’s just not enough energy around for people to figure out their puzzle pieces here.
The issue is that I think there are Steam bundles that can’t be gifted, such as the Valve pack and that kind of thing. That also makes something like Civ 6 less likely, just because of the DLC bundles. I can also use Fanatical or Humble but frankly the region thing might be an issue....
Game bundles like from Fanatical are a good start. You can’t return them if you have issues, but they’re great if you haven’t played any of the offerings given.
A similar thing would be Xbox Game Pass, but that very much locks you into their ecosystem, and they’re clearly done investing into worthwhile games.
ah yes, port the billion dollar decades old high-fidelity engine that carefully manages memory to java, a language minecraft struggled to break free from to achieve any meaningful performance or mobile porting options. thank you, no one thought of that before.
Previously, I had mused over vague ideas about whether blockchain technologies could go into a “proof of real person” system, by one-way-hashing information used to verify only basic details about a person. Eg: They exist, are a unique person, and are over a certain age. Ideally, it could be set up in a way that cannot easily correlate them between company databases.
That said, no real need to poke holes in the idea, because…that was the easy part, and it will probably never happen (or be far more draconian than I describe)
Storyline? What kind of lore-addled whackjobs needed a storyline to get invested in two teams of knuckleheads killing each other endlessly in the Nevadan wasteland? Back when I played video games, it was two bleeping and blorping pixels that would gladly use their own guts as a rope to strangle the other. And you were lucky if...
I’m curious whether that new feature, Hidden games, appears in this summary. I think it had some early missteps because it would disappear from some views but appear in others.
The Sexy Brutale is a fun Groundhog Day puzzle game set in a casino where you must sneak around to prevent the staff from murdering the guests. The story seems insignificant but becomes astounding towards the end. It’s currently $5.
Unmetal is a very fun Metal Gear parody that isn’t totally lax with its writing - maintaining just enough serious tone to keep you invested and break your expectations when it uses the storytelling format to throw you for a loop. Currently $4.
Homebody is another Groundhog Day puzzle game, also about preventing your friends from being murdered - but with a very different tone. Creepy at times, and requires a slow unraveling of every one of the mansion’s puzzles. $5
Tyrion Cuthbert is an astoundingly-done indie take on the Ace Attorney format, set in a fantasy universe with its own magical rules. 5 full cases, with some big character moments in the later ones. Currently $10.
Near Death is a short horror game based on surviving arctic chill at an abandoned base at night. It feels much like an indie game version of The Martian, especially when you contact personnel that can give you tips but can’t send a rescue party. Currently $2.
Full Metal Furies is a very fun “beatemup-style” game very much focused on unique character abilities and cooperation. The writing is very funny, and each character operates very different. Currently $5.
Oh, and on the topic of coop games with primarily female casts: Assault Android Cactus is a lot of fun even for people who haven’t played games much. Rather than use a teammate reviving mechanic, players can pick themselves up - but everyone is fighting their timer to complete the mission before their batteries run out. Levels are quick and chaotic. $5.
In a way, I accept that. I think too many super discounts were starting to poison the industry such that indie devs with a limited audience couldn’t even make their costs back, and couldn’t raise their price because they’d compete with so much $4 slop.
(By the way, my other post highlights some great $4 slop)
Former Sony Exec Believes PlayStation 6 Will Retain Optical Disc Support (www.techpowerup.com) angielski
It looks like someone at Activision is leaking Slack screenshots to right-wing X users (www.gamedeveloper.com) angielski
What are your favorite games for killing nazis? angielski
The only good nazi is a dead nazi. What games are the best for taking them out?...
Game Pass sets quarterly revenue record, sees 30% growth in PC subscribers (xboxera.com) angielski
Cozy Games May Help Improve Players' Mental Health, Researchers Say (www.gamespot.com) angielski
Sony finally surrenders: PSN accounts will be 'optional' for games on Steam, but they'll give you free stuff if you sign up (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
DOOM: The Dark Ages | Gameplay Sizzle | Coming May 15, 2025 (www.youtube.com) angielski
How it goes (lemmy.world) angielski
Anyone else suddenly itching to blast Nazis in Wolfenstein for no reason at all? angielski
Something about those awkward hand gestures really gets me going.
Marvel Snap Team Seeks New Publisher to Avoid Future U.S. Bans (smarfdurden.com) angielski
Looks like Horizon's unannounced MMO has been quietly cancelled (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Horizon the robot dinosaur game, not Horizon the racing game in case anyone was confused like me.
All the Games Reportedly Set for Release on Nintendo Switch 2 - IGN (www.ign.com) angielski
Do you wish that you could recycle games? angielski
I'm not talking about physical case/disc/cartridge based games. But moreso, digital games. It would be a solution for gamers that fret about backlogs and knowing completely that they're never going to play the games that they have. That they've acquired from impulse, FOMO and other issues. May have been gifted a game that they...
Favorite retro games? angielski
I’ve been playing some retro games recently (PS1 and prior) and I’ve been discovering a lot of games that I never thought I would enjoy. Particularly 90s arcade shmups and arcade style sports games....
Nintendo will reportedly reveal Switch 2 this week | VGC (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Jeff Grubb confirming. It’s a 2-step reveal. On the 16th will be almost 100% hardware with little to say about software. It’s expected to launch by summer.
Any Roguelike/Roguelite suggestions? angielski
I’ve sunk probably a thousand hours into Slay the Spire, have beaten Hades, and just finished Cult of the Lamb. Looking for something else to scratch that itch- preferably on switch. Any suggestions?...
Negotiations over AI are still holding up video game development - Mass Effect's Jennifer Hale explains why (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Geforce Now brings AAA gaming to Meta Quest 3 (mixed-news.com) angielski
Assassin's Creed Shadows delayed again to March 20 (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
It was previously releasing Feb 14. Does not look good for Ubisoft.
Everyone's favorite AAA company might be facing bankruptcy (lemmy.world) angielski
The Death of Gaming YouTube: How Money Killed Authenticity (youtube.com) angielski
SteamOS expands beyond Steam Deck (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Cutting edge (lemmy.world) angielski
What's the greatest joy you have gotten from a video game? angielski
Next Xbox Rumored To Launch In 2026 With New Call Of Duty (www.gamespot.com) angielski
There are a lot of reasons that this makes sense for them. But also, given the other things they’ve been promising, I think this is going to be an expensive piece of hardware that basically just hides Windows under the hood.
Playing Tunic first time angielski
Hi I am playing Tunic first time and looking to understand if I locked myself out of game content....
The voice actor of the GMan just posted this promising cryptic HL3 rumor (fxtwitter.com) angielski
Is there any way to search through all the games on Steam for titles that don't use the word "dystopian" anywhere in the description? (fedia.io) angielski
Genuinely would love to see a list of Steam games that don't rely on that premise.
Hideo Kojima regarding OD and Physint: In the second half of the year, scanning and filming were suspended due to the SAG strike. angielski
Now we know why the studio’s been radio silent since announcement, it seems not much has been done due to strikes....
Longtime buddy of mine just got a gaming PC. What games would make up a good "welcome to PC" care package? angielski
The issue is that I think there are Steam bundles that can’t be gifted, such as the Valve pack and that kind of thing. That also makes something like Civ 6 less likely, just because of the DLC bundles. I can also use Fanatical or Humble but frankly the region thing might be an issue....
IGN Brazil Interview: 'Final Fantasy VII Rebirth' sales don't disappoint but they can't be exclusive to a single console anymore (br.ign.com) angielski
Google translation: …translate.goog/…/nao-podemos-ser-exclusivos-de-u…
Video game journalist Jason Schreier's top 10 games of 2024 list (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
Runners-up: Tactical Breach Wizards, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, UFO 50, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle...
Coffeezilla does a third part of his CS:GO gambling expose...where he squarely puts the blame on Valve (www.youtube.com) angielski
Valve refused to comment for the video.
Team Fortress 2's storyline has concluded with a 7-year-delayed comic (www.teamfortress.com) angielski
Storyline? What kind of lore-addled whackjobs needed a storyline to get invested in two teams of knuckleheads killing each other endlessly in the Nevadan wasteland? Back when I played video games, it was two bleeping and blorping pixels that would gladly use their own guts as a rope to strangle the other. And you were lucky if...
Valve is fixin' to start some arguments over the holidays because 'All adult members in a Steam Family' can see your Steam Replay page (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Steam Winter Sale 2024 Has Begun! (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Post good deals in the comments