cerebralhawks

@cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft CEO Begs Users to Stop Calling AI Content "Slop"⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Right, the vast majority by volume.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Doom can now run as your Windows screen saver⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So it’s the maze screensaver from Windows 95 but with gore and violence? I always liked that screensaver. Wished it did more. Moved less predictably. The idea of a game being autoplayed seems like it should work, but there are a lot of games I’d pick over Doom. Zelda 3, for one. Myst comes to mind. Throwing it way back, Mind Walker for the Amiga.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What old or new game got you hooked in 2025? Happy New Year Everyone.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Mass Effect — the Shepard trilogy. (I also bought Andromeda, but it’s gotta get in line.) So first off, Mass Effect Legendary Edition (the Shepard trilogy, remastered, plus most of the DLC) is on sale for $6 on Xbox. It was on sale for that a few months ago, when I bought it. Frequent sales tell me it probably goes on sale on PlayStation and PC as well. I paid $4 for the deluxe version of Andromeda — the base version was $3. That sale goes for about another week on Xbox, but check your store of choice if you’re interested.

  I started Mass Effect a couple times, and both times, I got my ass handed to me and I quit. The first time, I wound up on a space station and I could not get past the pirates who took it over. The second time, I couldn’t get past the lava planet (where you pick up best girl). It was frustrating because I had no problem with Eden Prime (the training mission) or the various side quests on the Citadel (which do include some combat). I got the Legendary Edition at such a good price, I decided when I got done with my fifth Cyberpunk run (and first with Phantom Liberty) I’d start it. Not only did I damn near 100% the first one, I rolled through the trilogy. I didn’t get the ending I wanted, but I was happy with the ending I got. I see why everyone was so upset. After like half an hour of exposition, they give you three choices, but they give you these three unmarked paths. And I guess you’re supposed to pause it and Google it? But I just took the path on the right and watched the cut scene.

  Of course what stands out most about Mass Effect is, it’s like this cross between Star Trek and Star Wars (the same people made Knights of the Old Republic, the best Star Wars game, so that tracks), but when you get done with the first one, you import your save into the second one, and it remembers a lot of your choices. Choices you make in the first one carry through to the second and third ones, and the third one will refer back to choices you made in the first two. You could start either of the latter two with randomised choices, but it’s cool when someone mentions something you said or did that long ago. There are even a couple of things you can do in the third one if you set up very specific things in the first two. Like brokering a peace between two races. I thought I did right by everyone, but my choice was to kill one friend, or let another one jump off a cliff. That was what I got for trying for peace without doing everything 100% right. So I had to choose. But some people follow a guide and get that extra special outcome. (I’ve looked at it and I can’t figure out what I missed, but whatever.)

  You can’t save everyone. Despite all your best efforts, a few of your longtime companions have to die in the third one. Even in the first one, there’s a scene toward the end where you send one of your crew one way, and the other one with you, the other way. At the end of the quest, you can only save one. And it keeps coming up in the second and third ones.

  Oh, and it’s an old game. 2007, 2008, and 2010? Something like that. They all came out on the Xbox 360. I played them all on the Xbox Series X. On original hardware, they were known for their long elevator scenes, and whichever two characters you had with you would banter, and sometimes bicker, until they exhausted all their lines. (Garrus and Wrex are always the best to have with you.)

  I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece… but it’s pretty damn close. I know it’s gonna stick with me for a while. So I also bought the original, for $5. I wanna try it again because that’s the one that stumped me twice. So I’m hoping third time is the charm. 2 and 3 aren’t available on Xbox digitally for some reason, so I’ll be looking for used copies of those. I wanna go back and do it again but on the original versions.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Riot Games is making an anti-cheat change that could be rough on older PCs⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wouldn’t give BIOS/rootkit access to a game I like. I’ll just play it on Xbox.

  I feel like Riot is doing gamers a favour here.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google is collecting troves of data from downgraded Nest thermostats⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, anything made by Google collects “troves of data.” That’s their whole business model. It’s what we all agreed to in 2004 when Gmail started rolling out. Our privacy for 1GB of email storage (at the time; it’s gotten a little more). And we were fine with it then. And we were fine with it when Google made (bought, but whatever) an operating system and did the same thing. And it’s been that way for decades.

  You know what you’re getting with Google. Let’s not pretend Google isn’t collecting data from one of its platforms.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Has bad branding ever turned you off from software, FOSS or not?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Funny, I don’t even use The GIMP, and I think of it as “The GNU Image Manipulation Program” before I think of the BDSM meaning (or the handicap slur).

  I’m weird. And probably the exception.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft's decision to axe Windows 10 is driving Apple PC sales growth — users buy Macs instead of AI PCs despite Microsoft’s push for Copilot+ PCs⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s really no good reason to buy a new laptop that isn’t a MacBook. If you’re gaming on a laptop you have no real good options. None of them are real portable laptops, they’re desktop replacements and they’re just worse than a desktop in every way and cost more. Unless you’re streaming (e.g. GeForce Now) and then you can do that on a MacBook. I don’t think Macs lead laptops in affordability, but the value is there — they last for years, and they last a long time on a charge. And hey, I can run Cyberpunk on mine, so that’s neat.

  For a desktop, it’s a bit dicier. It’s hard to argue with the M4 Mac mini at $500, with 16GB RAM, but I think you can do a little better with miniature PCs. I don’t think $500 of PC beats the M4 Mac mini though, I’m just saying you can get one cheaper. Like there are mini PCs on Amazon for like $200-300 that look decent for most of what the Mac mini does. They do tend to come with Windows, but you can easily put Linux on it and then I can’t say anything about Windows and its bullshit.

  Honestly, if you’re not a gamer, consider a Mac. It’s nice over here. Just go to an Apple Store and play with one. They’ll let you. Best Buy has them too. And if someone does come up, don’t worry, they aren’t pushy, I don’t think they get commissions, or at least they don’t act like they do. Feel free to tell them what you want out of a computer. See what they have to offer. I just think it’s a cleaner OS, and as someone who has 30+ years of Windows experience, I’ve been a Mac user a little over 2 years, and I took right to it, and I love it. It really is joyous to use. But they’re more for creative types, and not really for gamers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨(Spoiler Thread) Your top 10 video game protagonist deaths⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The first three, so much.

  Also, I’m gesturing wildly and vaguely at the whole Life is Strange series. The one death in the first one I’m thinking of is just part of it. I feel like the whole thing is heart wrenchingly sad.

  Oh yeah. Johnny Silverhand. And in case you missed it, most of his memories are false. Morgan Blackhand did most of what Johnny is known for. And a couple of his friends sold him out. He wasn’t really killed per se, his mind was trapped in a digital hell and then he woke up in a crazy chick’s head who wanted him out and that’s basically the game. You play the chick. Johnny starts out as the bad guy but by the end you’re rolling to die for him. Because he’s basically Keanu Reeves.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Snapchat allows drug dealers to operate openly on platform, finds Danish study⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Wait until they learn what the platform was designed for