DdCno1

@DdCno1@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Instagram Is Still Drowned in Creepy Smart Glasses Content⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  They are available in Europe. There was an attempt to ban these in Germany, but it was determined that the recording LED was enough to not make this an illegal secret recording device.

  Privacy and right to your own image laws still apply here. You can not legally upload secretly filmed content here, including from public places.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ZOOM Platform announced You Are Empty: Absolute Edition - a revival of the retro Ukrainian FPS⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You Are Empty is objectively an awful game: It’s unfair, with extremely poor level design (1990s key and lever hunt - in 2006), laughable animations and sound effects, extremely derivative and awful enemy design (starting right off with the sexy horror nurse to immediately destroy any even moderate expectations), some of the weakest guns in FPS history, broken hit boxes, a terrible and confusingly narrated story, tons of glitches and a very short length, artificially padded by making the player limp along at a snail’s pace.

  It does however just ooze Soviet atmosphere and decay. The game’s architecture (NOT the level design) is magnificent, ridiculously immersive at times, especially outside. This is genuinely amazing. There is clear ambition here and it’s the one aspect of this game that actually works. If you are interested in this aspect alone, then it can be worth picking up and at least experiencing for a few minutes, just to breathe in the stale Soviet air. Don’t expect to have any fun beyond that though. It is not even one of those “so terrible, it’s funny” types of games.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work — not take more time off⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Which in turn creates a job market that gives employers maximum power.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work — not take more time off⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  They don’t actually care if it makes employees more productive. What matters is that they can pretend it does and use this as a pretext to demand more work from them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The three biggest RAM makers have already sold all their 2027 output, report says, potentially stretching price woes into 2028⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Are you this abrasive in the real world as well or just online?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The three biggest RAM makers have already sold all their 2027 output, report says, potentially stretching price woes into 2028⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Boycotts are by definition non-violent. You can’t just use an outdated definition or make up your own if you want people to understand what you’re trying to communicate. Just say riot, uprising or revolt instead.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The three biggest RAM makers have already sold all their 2027 output, report says, potentially stretching price woes into 2028⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Why would RAM manufacturers or large tech companies that have both stopped caring about consumers as customers be bothered by a boycott done by said consumers? Are you not seeing the problem here?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The three biggest RAM makers have already sold all their 2027 output, report says, potentially stretching price woes into 2028⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Consumers do not have the leverage they once had anymore. Last year, 70% of RAM went to AI. This year, it’s likely even more and who knows how few crumbs they are leaving for us to lick up from the kitchen floor in 2027.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mistfall Hunter is a new extraction ARPG that works on SteamOS / Linux⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s an acquired taste.

  I played a mod that turned Escape from Tarkov into a singleplayer game a few years ago (never played it online myself); a PvE mode has since been officially released, but I haven’t looked into it. The tension and intensity of it, the risk/reward to every move you make combined with the pretty high realism do make for an interesting package. Incursion Red River really impressed me for pretty much the same reasons, even in the relatively early state that it was in when I last tried it out. I lost any interest in online gaming a long time ago, so I only care about PvE.

  My favorite has to be Witchfire though, thanks to its fantasy steampunk setting and immensely satisfying combat that reminds me of the original Painkiller (which makes sense - both are from Poland), but it’s way more polished in every way (no pun intended). It is admittedly much easier than the above two and needs more content, but what’s there is already very impressive and - in my eyes at least - a neat introduction to the genre, especially if you don’t care for modern military stuff. Witchfire is also one of the best-looking games out there right now, both in terms of tech and art style.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Open source project fools AI scrapers with poisoned font⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s explained in the article, with examples. Which specific aspect(s) of this explanation do you need help with?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It looks like iFixit won't be getting any more Steam Deck LCD spare parts⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yup. Bought one of the first Steam Decks. Been having a great time with it so far, but I already had to repair it once (SSD overheated - thankfully a part that’s not proprietary). It will not last forever and the battery is likely going to be the next part that breaks. I am not looking forward to playing battery lottery on Aliexpress.

  What do we learn from this? Valve isn’t our friend either. I never thought they were, I’m simply already caught in their ecosystem and bought the best PC handheld there was when it came out (and it still is, in my opinion, even though there are faster alternatives), but the company does enjoy a lot of leeway to the point of worship by some due to other firms in the gaming space being considerably worse.

  It might very well be that the reasons for this are out of their hands, similarly to the AI-bubble-fueled price hikes for RAM, but especially since they so gleefully advertised the repairiability of this device when it came out, silently ending the supply of spare parts is most certainly not a good look. It would have certainly softened the blow had they announced it and provided a reasonable explanation - and it would also cast a much smaller, if still considerable, shadow on the already troubled Steam Machine.

  It’s quite a baffling mistake, to be honest, for two reasons:

  First of all, did they not take into account that people would notice, which immediately turns it into a much bigger story due to the attempted secrecy? You get ahead of bad news as a company, always, instead of letting it happen. Secondly, the LCD Deck was sold worldwide until at least the end of the year and is still available from Steam in some regions. Did they seriously not stock enough parts, did they plan so poorly, were their contracts so terribly drafted that the supply of spares has already stopped? I get that they are a tiny player in the hardware space, which means they do not have the negotiating power of someone like Sony, but still, this is not a good look.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stardew Valley enters the third dimension thanks to this in-development mod that even comes with VR functionality⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  No idea why, but I kind of want a DOOM mod about liberating Stardew Valley from a demon infestation now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  An attack via USB is much sneakier to pull off (no device surgery required) and more difficult to combat as an org. You essentially have to epoxy the ports shut or remove them physically and force your employees to charge their phones and tablets wirelessly. Not an usual thing to do - I first saw this decades ago with PCs and laptops - but still.

  Fun fact: With laptops commonly using USB ports for charging these days, higher-end business-oriented ones tend retain the old barrel plug so that they can still be used with USB ports being rendered inoperable.

  Slightly off-topic: One of my last employers used software (I think it was a built-in utility of HP business computers) to disable USB ports on laptops instead, primarily to stop people from using insecure USB drives (only people working on really sensitive stuff had the ports epoxied). There was an internal file sharing service that was meant to be used in place of tiny drives you can accidentally lose, but it worked exceptionally poorly. They forgot that you can still transfer files via Bluetooth to virtually any other Bluetooth device that has storage, which is what I resorted to. It’s slow, but reliable, works with anything (even old dumb phones) and is of course not as stupid as using a commercial cloud service, which is what some of my colleagues did.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Xbox layoffs mean that Elder Scrolls Online's roadmap is "shifting" just two days before Season One's release... the plan put in place for the MMO after the last round of cuts⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Streaming has replaced the TV just running in the background in households where the TV was just running in the background in the past. Also, many people are using their phones while watching stuff, which is horrid.

  Sucks for people who still remember when streaming services had to differentiate themselves from normal TV with more sophisticated content, of course.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Xbox layoffs mean that Elder Scrolls Online's roadmap is "shifting" just two days before Season One's release... the plan put in place for the MMO after the last round of cuts⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  You are making a good case for it.

  One thing that bothers the Skooma out of me though is the monetization and the tiny inventory if you’re not a subscriber (I’m an unashamed loot goblin - I need a huge inventory!). Does one need to have ESO+ to have fun?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Xbox layoffs mean that Elder Scrolls Online's roadmap is "shifting" just two days before Season One's release... the plan put in place for the MMO after the last round of cuts⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  story yelling

  That’s a typo for the ages! I’m gonna steal this one!

  As for the game, I played the alpha or beta (been a while, so I’m not sure) and wasn’t really all that impressed, but maybe because it felt like a downgrade in every way from the singleplayer games. Should I try it again? How good is it for players leaning towards solo play?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expect RAM prices to stay high with Micron locking in deals for 5 years⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It doesn’t really matter. It’s an oligopol and they can set the prices however they want. There’s no alternative, since everyone - businesses and consumers alike - needs their product.

  China can’t and won’t be able to compete, since they are far too much behind in manufacturing, chasing a moving target.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Polestar doesn’t do cheap EVs. Their cars are far too powerful and sophisticated for this. You can’t exactly take out features that customers in this segment are expecting.

  Look into the upcoming Slate truck, which is set to be one of the cheapest EVs in the US. It doesn’t even come with an infotainment system by default - just a holder for your smartphone. If you want, you can access advanced vehicle functions via an app, but you don’t have to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Epic Games CEO says it’s ‘really irresponsible’ of Steam to make studios disclose AI use | VGC⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This reminds me that Epic, unlike Steam, allows crypto games on their store. For a while, it was being absolutely flooded with crypto shovelware, drowning out more worthwhile titles. It was one of several reasons why I stopped using the store for anything but the weekly free games.

  In other words: Sweeney is wrong once again and it’s not doing him and his money pit of a store any favors.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm tired of GTA⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  GTA VI is much larger. It’s the kind of game that, just like its predecessors, will appear prominently in mainstream news and general discourse, because it’s such a hugely influential and well-known thing, well beyond the gaming world. Ask non-gamers about Cyberpunk 2077 and most will never have heard of it - but I can assure you, with GTA, it’s different.

  This isn’t unjustified in many ways. The series has never produced a dud, each 3D mainline game has been, on a technical and narrative level, as well as especially in terms of world building (no other studio in the AAA space comes even close here) far above most other contemporary titles, despite obviously not being perfect - and the enormous popularity combined with its player freedom, violent and (often) sexual content, as well as its usually quite biting satire of the current world is also a welcome target for grifters trying to stir up controversy by using moral outrage - or those at the receiving end of the satire being whiny about it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm tired of GTA⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Chinatown Wars was essentially this. Awesome little game - and easy to emulate using PPSSPP. The PSP version is the best in terms of visuals, the DS original has interesting touch controls for the minigames. The Android port on the other hand isn’t as refined.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm tired of GTA⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Custom servers are where it’s at, based on what I’ve heard, but I’ve never tried it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve will finally let you build your own Steam Machine with SteamOS for desktop⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Just don’t look at how they are benefiting from gambling too closely.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨EA are making another round of layoffs as they seek "to better meet fans’ changing needs", according to reports⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  To be fair, without their sports games, they would have gone bankrupt over 30 years ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Firefox has an ambitious new roadmap, the browser is also losing millions of users a month⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The problem is that they take their sweet time incorporating security updates.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"We made a series of mistakes": GOG apologise for emailing Nazi symbols to people in newsletter about Slavic fantasy game⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Except that they sent it out to people in Germany if they had their language set to one other than German. Using this symbols this way is a crime, by the way.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve make adjustments to Steam tags, and they settled the Vampire Survivor-like argument with Bullet Heaven⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This reminds me of the gaming press transitioning from calling action games with a 3D first person perspective “Doom clones” to “first person shooters” (although “corridor shooter” was also a thing for a while, for obvious reasons).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Subnautica 2's no-killing ethos "will be a continued point of resistance" among players, say Unknown Worlds, but they have no plans to change it⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just like there aren’t enough games with stoic white male protagonists. Truly a persecuted minority.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Notice where they are allowed to do this and where they are not. It’s in cities where these companies have the most political and economic influence.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨LEGO 2K Drive is getting delisted soon and servers will shut down⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s not the greatest arcade racer out there and without online, much of the content is permanently locked off.

  I can highly recommend Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed instead. Bit of a mouthful, but the game is fantastic. Very beginner-friendly, yet with enormous depth (easy to learn, hard to master and all that), fantastic driving physics and track design, excellent progression, tons to discover and unlock. Both single- and multiplayer are among the best in the genre. It’s also cheap (Steam keys are currently on sale at 2game for less than five bucks) and runs on a toaster, despite its excellent presentation (the blurry screenshots on the store page do not do it justice).