Technus

@Technus@lemmy.zip

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨SlaveDriver Engine for the Sega Saturn classic shooter PowerSlave gets open sourced⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I played Powerslave: Exhumed but it wasn’t quite the same game I remembered playing. I think it’s more of a “reimagined” version than a remastered one.

  I’m hopeful that this means the game could be ported to modern platforms so it doesn’t have to be run in DOSbox.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why it’s a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I like how you’ve deliberately ignored the specifically chosen wording of my statement, and completely disregarded the rest of my point, simply because you perceive it as counter-factual in your world-view, thus exhibiting the exact kind of behavior you were talking about. That’s really funny.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why it’s a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  A neurotypical human mind, acting rationally, is able to remember the chain of thought that lead to a decision, understand why they reached that decision, find the mistake in their reasoning, and start over from that point to reach the “correct” decision.

  Even if they don’t remember everything they were thinking about, they can reason based on their knowledge of themselves and try to reconstruct their mental state at the time.

  This is the behavior people are expecting from LLMs but not understanding that it’s something they’re fundamentally incapable of.

  One major difference (among many others, obviously) is that AI models as currently implemented don’t have any kind of persistent working memory. All they have for context is the last N tokens they’ve generated, the last N tokens of user input, and any external queries they’ve made. All the intermediate calculations (the “reasoning”) that led to them generating that output is lost.

  Any instance of an AI appearing to “correct” their mistake is just the model emitting what it thinks a correction would be, given the current context window.

  Humans also learn from their mistakes and generally make efforts to avoid them in the future, which doesn’t happen for LLMs until that data gets incorporated into the training for the next version of the model, which can take months to years. That’s why AI companies are trying to capture and store everything from user interactions, which is a privacy nightmare.

  It’s not a compelling argument to compare AI behavior to that of a dysfunctional human brain and go “see, humans do this too, teehee!” Not when the whole selling point of these things is that they supposed to be smarter and less fallible than most humans.

  I’m deliberately trying not to be ableist in my wording here, but it’s like saying, “hey, you know what would do wonders for productivity and shareholder value? If we fired half our workforce, then found someone with no experience, short-term memory loss, ADHD and severe untreated schizophrenia, then put them in charge of writing mission-critical code, drafting laws, and making life-changing medical and business decisions.”

  I’m not saying LLMs aren’t technically fascinating and a breakthrough in AI development, but the way they have largely been marketed and applied is scammy, misleading, and just plain irresponsible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  All aboard the enshittification train! Choo choo!

  I mean, it’s been well underway for a while now but this is certainly a transfer over to an express train.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨LLMs’ “simulated reasoning” abilities are a “brittle mirage,” researchers find⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I get scoffed at every time I call LLMs “glorified auto-correct” so it’s nice being validated.

  Anyone who actually has a grasp of how Large Language Models work should not be surprised by this, but too many people, even engineers who should really know better, have drunk the Kool-aid.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Battlefield 6's beta been treating you to infinite loading screens? EA are on the case⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  A triumphant return to the series’ roots with the exact same game-breaking bugs as Battlefield 3 had. Nice job, EA.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AMD CPU Transient Scheduler Attacks security flaw revealed⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  No information on the 9000 series, why? Kinda sus.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Kinder, the Brookings fellow, said she worries that companies soon will simply eliminate the entire bottom rung of the career ladder.

  What the fuck do they think is gonna happen when the current seniors start to retire? Are they just betting that AI is gonna be good enough to replace all of them then?

  Cue all these companies in 5-20 years’ time having to completely rewrite their software stacks because they have no fucking clue how any of it works anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In the side-scroller automation game Sandustry every single pixel is a simulated resource⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I downloaded the demo last night. It’s pretty fun but definitely rough around the edges. I hope the developer is amenable to feedback.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In the side-scroller automation game Sandustry every single pixel is a simulated resource⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve found that demos can be a double-edged sword.

  I picked up the demo for A Bumpy Ride after watching a YouTuber play it. I really enjoyed it, but it only lets you play for one in-game day so there’s only so many times you can do that without progressing before it gets old. I still find myself jonesing to play it but I can’t really do anything but wait for the full game to come out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In the side-scroller automation game Sandustry every single pixel is a simulated resource⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Instantly wishlisted. My inner child is screaming with delight. I’ve wanted a game like this for literal decades.

  I’d try to build machines and industrial flows in falling sand games but never be able to manage anything much more complex than distilling saltwater because of the limitations of the game.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[Opinion] Firefox is dead to me – and I'm not the only one who is fed up⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s still using the Blink engine, so it only provides an illusion of competition just like all other Chromium-based browsers.

  If the web becomes nothing but Chromium, then Google can dictate web standards as they see fit.

  And don’t count on Apple to save you, either. WebKit’s monopoly over browsing on iOS is slowly being eroded by anti-trust rulings. The first browser most people will install when they have a choice is Google Chrome.

  Ditching Firefox entirely because of a few missteps by Mozilla is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Researchers claim spoof-proof random number generator breakthrough⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And ofc the original paper is paywalled.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨China claims to have developed the world's first AI-designed processor — LLM turned performance requests into CPU architecture⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s probably just regurgitating stuff from a paper from 2017 that no one paid attention to.

  Which has value in itself, I guess. It’s just intellectually dishonest to say the AI came up with the solution.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft finally solve the Linux dual-boot issue after 9 months⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I just figured that they’d decided dual-booting was for losers back when Windows 10 started overwriting GRUB with its own bootloader after every update. I have no doubt at least one middle manager over there whines constantly about how much developer time is wasted because they don’t have total control over the hardware. Probably the same guy who keeps trying to make the Surface Tablet a thing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xAI’s Grok suddenly can’t stop bringing up “white genocide” in South Africa⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This likely means Melon Husk himself went in and started fucking with Grok’s prompt to push his agenda, and in the process completely broke it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Linux shoots back up the Steam Survey for March 2025 with Simplified Chinese dropping⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I really wonder how much of these wild swings is just from sampling bias, because I’d expect the actual trends to be a lot smoother.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Samsung admits a bad software update has been bricking its soundbars⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why the fuck would a SOUND BAR need automatic updates? It’s not exactly a complex system.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Scientists develop battery that converts nuclear energy into electricity via light emission⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This actually isn’t just wrapping a radiation source in solar panels like the shitty title implies.

  They developed crystals that can convert gamma radiation into electricity. The power output is piddly now, nanowatts to microwatts, but it’ll be interesting to see how it can be improved.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve yet to see another handheld that has touchpads like the Deck. IMO those are a must-have because a lot of older games especially don’t have good controller support.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The Steam Deck arguably created the handheld PC gaming market.

  Sure, there were handhelds before, but almost no one gave a shit about them. Gamedevs certainly didn’t.

  It wasn’t enough just having the hardware exist, it’s also the massive amount of effort Valve put in to ensure compatibility with a ridiculous number of titles.

  The renewed emphasis on controller support in games alone has significant ramifications for the wider community. A lot of players with physical disabilities use input devices that map to controller actions.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve set Palworld back as Steam Deck Playable but with multiple listed problems⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Called it: lemmy.zip/comment/15677719

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨While Palworld enjoys a resurgence Valve dropped the rating to Steam Deck Unsupported⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If it was only a performance issue I’d expect it to remain at Playable. Plenty of Verified titles guzzle battery and get barely more than 30 FPS at minimum settings.

  Unsupported is generally for games that literally won’t run, often because they have DRM or anti-cheat that isn’t compatible with Proton.

  I feel like this may have been a mistake on Valve’s part.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Riot Games is cracking down on players’ off-platform conduct⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Anyone remember this? www.pcgamesn.com/…/sirfoch-wargaming-hate-speech

  Different publisher ofc, but I can totally see Riot using this as carte blanche to censor any streamer whose statements they disagree with, especially ones critical of their games.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cloud Imperium quietly steal Star Citizen developers' weekends from under them with mandated overtime in the lead up to Citizencon⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What’s the point? It’s not like the people who still put money into this scam are going to be turned off by yet more undelivered promises.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft embraces more open standards with DirectX 12 adopting SPIR-V⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  When I was gaming on Windows, the DirectX 12 implementation in every game I tried was kinda garbage.

  It usually either would just perform bad in general, or just have really bad input lag.

  The first thing I’d try whenever I had problems was switching the renderer to DirectX 11, and that would often fix things.

  In fairness, Vulkan implementations have been pretty hit-and-miss too. I think developers still just need to get used to the new execution model.

  This also was on Nvidia graphics, which may or may not have had something to do with it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The next Battlefield is a return to the "peak era" of Battlefields 3 and 4, with a modern setting and smaller headcounts⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Despite a rocky launch, I ended up playing a fuckton of Battlefield 4.

  And Battlefield 1, while not historically accurate in the slightest, was actually a nice breath of fresh air, and a setting that hasn’t been covered nearly as much in popular media as other 20th century wars (with possibly the exception of Korea). It’s actually one of my favorites.

  Battlefield 5 just felt so… bland by comparison. They tried to change too many systems, and ended up making just a completely milquetoast game. Really disappointing for what should have been a triumphant return to the series’ roots.

  Battlefield 2042 had no soul whatsoever, and some of the worst designed maps in a Battlefield game I’ve ever seen.

  One of the maps that was available in the beta that I played was literally just a giant fucking field with hardly any cover and a hundred-foot wall for the enemy snipers to stand on top of and pick off attackers one by one. I really wish I could have been in the meeting room when they were workshopping that map, because I wanna know exactly what the fuck they were smoking to think that it would be any fun at all to play.

  I’d honestly welcome a return to formula here if it means another game like BF4 or BF1, even if most players don’t consider that “classic” Battlefield.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ford seeks patent for tech that listens to driver conversations to serve ads⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Car manufacturers have brilliantly managed to convince me never to buy a car made after ~2015.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Beta adds new shortcut key to save a clip of recent gameplay⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Your opinion is posited as an absolute: “This is useless”

  That’s not even correct. I said “not all that useful” and then “next to useless”. Never “absolutely useless”.

  The whole point of this feature is to provide something built into Steam that works without a whole bunch of fiddling like other recording software. It currently fails at that on Linux because the implementation of it is half-assed. That is my position. End of conversation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Beta adds new shortcut key to save a clip of recent gameplay⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I see this as a substitute for Shadowplay, which records your microphone if you enable it, which I previously used on Windows to record gameplay clips, but it doesn’t exist on Linux.

  Steam Game Recording can record your microphone on Windows, but they haven’t bothered to make it work on Linux for whatever reason.

  As currently implemented on Linux, it captures all system audio and cannot be configured to do anything otherwise, so if you’re talking with friends on TeamSpeak, it’ll only capture half of the fucking conversation. Making it next to useless.

  I’m getting really annoyed that people are going out of their way to invalidate my opinion here.