Microsoft surprised many of its fans with a peek at the future of Xbox. Instead of announcing the new Xbox console, they revealed two powerful Xbox Ally
Valve isn’t making their next Steam Deck anytime soon because the technology doesn’t exist yet. You can crank up the wattage and put in a bigger battery, but those things make the handheld larger, heavier, and hotter, so they’re not interested. This is a bottleneck from AMD and their R&D.
But especially due to live service anti cheat and Game Pass, I agree that there’s a potential market for this strategy. There’s certainly no way they compete with Sony by doing what consoles have always done.
I too was wondering about MGS4 in the midst of all of these Konami announcements, since Volume 1 was so long ago now. MGS4 is just about the only reason I still have a PS3.
My wife and I rolled credits on Blue Prince. It’s a great puzzle/adventure game, but I don’t think either of us have the patience to see everything it has to offer. It would have been nice if they doled out more ways to control the RNG earlier and more frequently, but they did not.
I’ve also been continuing on with Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the first one. I just had a night of debauchery with a priest in order to progress a main quest line, and then had to give a sermon hung over, which went surprisingly well.
Another PlayStation presentation has gone by without mention of Marvel’s Wolverine, and so many fans and those around the industry were beginning to question the fate of the mutant.
What a typo. But they’ll change their tune as soon as one line crosses another line. I’m willing to pay $70 or $80 for the right game, but my willingness to part with that much money drops precipitously as soon as you make me wade through spoiler-filled GOTY season without having access to the game. When you port the game to PC a year late, I’m probably content to keep waiting for half price.
You know, it’s funny, I’m about halfway through DMC4, and I’m loving it even more than 3 thus far, but even through cultural osmosis, I know a turn is coming. Other than that, I was surprised to find how much I agree with you, having not played 5 yet, but maybe I’m not as fond of the first game as you are; nothing seems to flow in that game compared to later entries, and I’d argue it often has more in common with Dark Souls. I went down this road playing this series because Hi-Fi Rush knocked my socks off, and I’m still expecting that game to have the most in common with DMC5. So far, I’d still say Hi-Fi Rush beats them all, but it got to learn from them, after all.
Here’s the thing most people still miss about the Steam Deck—and I’m saying this as someone who’s been yelling about it since forever—is that for decades, the PC had countless exclusive games that never set foot on a console. No ports, no Nintendo love, no Sony handshake—nothing....
I wouldn’t categorize it that way at all. It extrapolated nationality to one’s employer and religion to the law. It was unsubtle in its views of classism and such, in a way that I appreciated, but it wasn’t just doing zany things “just because”, unless you’ve got a good example that’s slipping my mind.
I can’t say I follow you. I would call it satire rather than “totally random”, but if you didn’t care for the writing, you didn’t care for the writing.
Is this where we bring up the old Mega Man X Sequelitis video again? Chances are the best tutorial is the one you don’t even realize is a tutorial. There was also a trend that I first noticed around the time of Gears of War where the tutorial would not only be built into the story so that you wouldn’t feel like it was chore, but they’d also give you the opportunity to just skip it.
There are actually thousands of games that run on Steam Deck with no additional configuration that aren’t even available on Switch, and conservatively, hundreds of those are extremely popular. Plus a lot of Switch’s library is on Steam Deck, where it tends to be a better version of the game for one reason or another, not the least of which is free online play.
I spent a few grand on my gaming PC. I can play those games on other hardware, but the hardware I bought plays those games the way I want to play them. The same goes for a Steam Deck compared to any other handheld gaming device.
You have a fanboy perspective here. The Steam Deck’s ecosystem is hardware agnostic, and to a large extent, Steam agnostic. No one game needs to “stand out” on the Steam Deck when it plays almost every video game that exists besides the ones Nintendo makes. Out of the sample size of “almost every video game”, there’s a high chance that there are many that are important to you and not made by Nintendo.
The conversation is about Switch 2 compared to a Steam Deck. Defending an open marketplace without outdated concepts like console exclusives doesn’t make me a fanboy for one of the two subjects in this conversation, nor does it make me a hypocrite.
Looking through each series’ Wikipedia articles, it looks like Mass Effect sold about 50% more than Dragon Age 1 and 2. And that tracks with my experience. I know far more people who’ve played Mass Effect than Dragon Age, and I’ve never played Dragon Age myself.
A good portion of that comes from how the teams are treated by EA and how many resources they’re granted though. I’m not about to assign a percentage to the blame, but of course the DA folks will be resentful of the ME folks if EA listens to one of them and gives them the time and money they ask for at the expense of the other. “Knowing how to negotiate” can often just come down to how much one game sold versus another, which isn’t really something the developers are responsible for.
But even that is a mess of causality for blame. EA wants to save money and mandates a nightmare of an engine for development; managers get incentives from EA to build a type of game that their studio doesn’t usually make; etc.
Matt Piscatella pointed out on Bluesky that a launch like this is only a function of how much inventory they made available. The Xbox One had the third most successful US launch of a console.
That’s a lot of money for any game, let alone one that will also be launching on Game Pass and, like its progenitor, is smaller scale than other open world RPGs of this ilk.
It’s this thinking that led to Starfield and Redfall being priced at $70 and Hi-Fi Rush priced at $30.
I could bitterly rationalise it if this were the release date trailer for the next Fable and I discovered Playground Games was charging me $80
Why? Playground hasn’t even made a game in this genre before. Why do you expect that to be more worth $80 than the company that’s been making acclaimed RPGs since its inception?
Nah, I loved The Outer Worlds. It gave me exactly what I wanted from the setting, it made me laugh, and it wasn’t bogged down in bloat by trying to be any bigger than it ought to have been.
It’s quite nice, actually. Not all work on a game is equally worthwhile. Lots of my favorite franchises have devolved into games that grew larger to their own detriment. It doesn’t often happen that one of these types of games scales back down. And it’s not like there are zero big games that I like; Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 are both 100+ hour games that are some of my favorites of all time! But unlike a lot of big games, they actually felt like there was something interesting to see for that full runtime, whereas a lot of big games actively harm their pacing by filling it with uninteresting bloat.
Not just a mini documentary about where this game and studio came from but also a pretty good look at how it works. I can’t deduce what the button configuration is or how that top meter on each character works, but it does seem like active tagging reduces your combo meter and allows you to get greedy with longer combos, at the...
That’s a bummer. There was a lot that looked great to me, though most of it was for 2026. Given how much good stuff there is in 2025 that I still have to get through, that’s a-okay by me.
Invincible Vs shot to the top of my list as I learned more about it, as it combines some of my favorite fighting game mechanics and design philosophies. Clockwork Revolution looked better and larger in scope than I thought it would be. The Outer Worlds 2 continues to look great, and this showcase didn’t change my mind. Super Meat Boy 3D was a big surprise, and it looks like the right way to move that game into 3D.
We very much do need GOG to be competitive with the market leader but with the primary selling point of DRM-free, yes. And is it a coincidence that the beginning of your username is the same as that awful YouTuber?
This machine will be the same desktop-mode-not-required-but-allows-for-more-functionality thing that the Steam Deck is, but it will chew through battery faster in exchange for more compatibility.
They have given up on their own handheld. And why wouldn’t you prefer the PC library when it’s so much larger? The appeal to this device at this point is that the new UI is better for the handheld use case than desktop Windows.
At least at first, it will be the only handheld running this version of Windows. So maybe after a year or two, it won’t be all that unique, true, but a year or two is a long time at the rate these handhelds are advancing.
I hate live service games and Windows, so no, this device is not for me, but those are also the most popular games on the market by a wide margin. Despite how awful the Windows experience is today, there’s still one Windows handheld sold for every two Steam Decks. That situation can only improve with a version of Windows designed for handhelds.
The audience has very much expanded since covid. Around that same time is when fighting games (at large) finally got the good netcode, because they finally realized they could no longer get away with the easier, cheaper, bad netcode. You might not know what the word “rollback” means, and probably most players don’t either, but I think everyone intuitively understands that it feels better to play these games online and that they’re getting better matches. This also came along with a few new ways to shed motion inputs, or at least make them optional, in many big releases, and a renewed focus on trying to invent good new single player offerings. Fighting game majors are breaking attendance records every year, and in a world where the e-sports bubble has burst, the fighting game scene is the only one growing organically from grass roots without spending money it doesn’t actually make (Fatal Fury might be the exception here, due to ties to the Saudi family).
For the fighting game nerds out there: an interview on IGN confirmed that there are KI breakers during active tags, and combos will be limited in similar ways to Killer Instinct, meaning a combo meter rather than hitstun decay. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it; this comment wasn’t for you. These were the answers I was looking for, and now this is my most anticipated fighting game despite having no familiarity with the source material.
Hiya, just newly thought about something: wouldn't be nice if there was a simple way of checking what games you have played over the years, a way to keep track of wether you liked the game or not, how much time you spent playing it etc.. Currently, personally i only check steam library for those kinda details. But it would be...
I use backloggery.com, but I see a lot of people using backloggd.com these days. Backloggery is a bit more old school and relies a lot on manual entry, so I’m sure some of its competitors are better about linking up to things like your Steam account. You can also track a lot of this stuff on HowLongToBeat.com, which is mostly seeking to answer the question in the URL but also lets you log a review of the game, etc.
I’ve been looking forward to this one. So much of this genre is going live service and online-only, and these people are some of the few making just a video game. I’m pretty new to this genre, but I liked that last Titan Quest quite a bit, and I’m looking forward to a lot of the modern sensibilities the genre acquired in the past 20 years, like dodge rolls and perhaps WASD/left-stick movement.
There are a lot of types of games that are inherently not broken in their designs, and there are advantages to portraying the aesthetic in the same style, like quickly conveying to your audience where your inspirations came from so that they know what type of game it is. In a similar way, lots of games have moved on to a PS1 aesthetic these days.
quickly conveying to your audience where your inspirations came from so that they know what type of game it is
In a lot of ways, “they don’t make 'em like they used to”, so in addition to that art style helping to convey what kind of game they made, it also comes along with cost reductions for their art pipeline in a lot of cases. It doesn’t really make them “stuck in the past” when there were real advantages to how things used to get done.
Yes, support for Borderlands 2 continued long after it was clear that Steam Machines weren’t taking off, which means it’s on a newer version than the Linux native one that Aspyr ported. You can still run the Linux native version, but if you want to play with your Windows friends or just get access to all the DLC, you need to run it through Proton.
Sure, but it also seems like it’s data that you offer up via a 2K account, which I don’t have. I have a user name tied to my Steam ID, and that’s about it.
Hey everyone! I have no power in here, have not checked if anyone has started one of these but I feel like being the change I want to see in the world....
Microsoft’s New Xbox Strategy Starts with Windows and Ends with No Console (gamersplan.com) angielski
Microsoft surprised many of its fans with a peek at the future of Xbox. Instead of announcing the new Xbox console, they revealed two powerful Xbox Ally
Steam Deck / Gaming News #19 angielski
Well it’s been a little longer than it typically is for me covering recent gaming news I’ve spotted, and that’s entirely my fault! I am sorry!...
PS5’s Wolverine game finally just made an appearance after several years of silence, and it’s not dead after all (www.destructoid.com) angielski
Another PlayStation presentation has gone by without mention of Marvel’s Wolverine, and so many fans and those around the industry were beginning to question the fate of the mutant.
Same-date PC ports of PS5 games remain unlikely, as Sony talk up "thoughtful" multiplatform approach despite Xbox comparisons (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Devil May Cry isn't that great of a series angielski
I personally think 3 is peak, and I’m probably not alone in that....
10 incredible PC games that never got console ports—until Steam Deck happened angielski
Here’s the thing most people still miss about the Steam Deck—and I’m saying this as someone who’s been yelling about it since forever—is that for decades, the PC had countless exclusive games that never set foot on a console. No ports, no Nintendo love, no Sony handshake—nothing....
As The Outer Worlds 2 hits $80, director says "we don't set the prices for our games" and wishes "everybody could play" Obsidian's new RPG (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
What game has the best tutorial, in your opinion? angielski
I hear a lot about frustrating, unskippable tutorials. What games do a good job at teaching you what you need to know?
deleted_by_moderator
Inside the 'Dragon Age' Debacle That Gutted EA's BioWare Studio (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
A lot of it is almost exactly what you’d expect.
Switch 2 Breaks Records By Selling Over 3.5 Million Units In Four Days (www.forbes.com) angielski
Blue Prince - Have you played it? How blown is your mind? angielski
Found this on game pass (which I keep meaning to cancel, but here we are). Holy. Shit....
The Outer Worlds 2 Can't Be Anti-Capitalist When It's Charging Us $80 To Play It (www.thegamer.com) angielski
Invincible VS Studio Reveal and Behind the Scenes (www.youtube.com) angielski
Not just a mini documentary about where this game and studio came from but also a pretty good look at how it works. I can’t deduce what the button configuration is or how that top meter on each character works, but it does seem like active tagging reduces your combo meter and allows you to get greedy with longer combos, at the...
Xbox dumped a mountain of trailers on us (htxt.co.za) angielski
At its Xbox Showcase on Sunday the publisher unveiled many, many new trailers....
GOG One-Click Mods | New era of modding begins (www.youtube.com) angielski
Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience (www.theverge.com) angielski
Invincible VS | Official Reveal Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
How do you keep track of what games you have played over the years? angielski
Hiya, just newly thought about something: wouldn't be nice if there was a simple way of checking what games you have played over the years, a way to keep track of wether you liked the game or not, how much time you spent playing it etc.. Currently, personally i only check steam library for those kinda details. But it would be...
Titan Quest II Deep Dive (www.youtube.com) angielski
Mina the Hollower: Release Date Announcement Trailer (October 31) (www.youtube.com) angielski
Demo's out now too
Summer Game Fest begins in 15 minutes (www.twitch.tv) angielski
Quick reminder for folks who are interested. What are you expecting for this year's show?
Borderlands 2 is free to claim on Steam for the next two days (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Be sure to claim it before the offer ends.
What's going on with Borderlands 2? Steam is giving it for free, but the game has 23% positive recent reviews. angielski
The first weekly What Are You Playing? thread! angielski
Hey everyone! I have no power in here, have not checked if anyone has started one of these but I feel like being the change I want to see in the world....