Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
GasBandit
Staff member
You won't shed a tear because it wasn't competition, thanks to "exclusives." Its entire business model is based on anti-competitive practices.
And it didn't even help them secure a huge market share. They payed out enormous amounts to get timed exclusives, but lots of people wait to buy games at discount anyway... like... why would it matter to me if something is exclusive to EPIC for 2 years when I'm just gonna wait 2 years anyway for the discount.
The real winners of the EPIC game store were the games that just couldn't have been made without the upfront cash from EPIC and they'll just sell on Steam and everywhere else when EPIC goes under.
Unity CEO John Riccitiello is retiring, effective immediately
Former EA CEO will be replaced in interim by James Whitehurst from IBM/Red Hat.
arstechnica.com
--Patrick
The Meta Quest 3 is coming out soon. I'm kinda tempted to get one. While I had the Quest 2, I found the headset itself bulky and uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. Everything I've been seeing about the Quest 3 looks like significant improvements. I might wait maybe until the new year and get it with some of the money from my tax return.
Meanwhile, I've been watching some Quest 3 reviews and discovered THIS was coming out: a VR remake of The 7th Guest. Hoooooly shit. Now that's a "killer app" that I want to play. It looks great, too. I owned the original 7th Guest; it was one of the first CD-Rom games I ever bought. My nostalgia meter has crashed through the roof.
Meanwhile, I've been watching some Quest 3 reviews and discovered THIS was coming out: a VR remake of The 7th Guest. Hoooooly shit. Now that's a "killer app" that I want to play. It looks great, too. I owned the original 7th Guest; it was one of the first CD-Rom games I ever bought. My nostalgia meter has crashed through the roof.
While I liked the quest 2 quite a bit, it was in spite of all the ways meta tried to ruin it. And considering how I never feel like using the thing now, I don't think I'll be getting the 3. I'll either wait for a marked improvement in VR or, preferably, something not connected to Meta
Well, now they're 100%.
In other, unrelated news, CEO Bobby Kotick will leave Activision Blizzard on January 1, 2024.
--Patrick
KNACK TWO, BAYBAH!
HERE COMES THE MONEYYYYY!
If you're someone who wants to use this mod, then you probably already knew about it, but for everyone else:
www.nexusmods.com
Biosculpted Exotics
Introduces 'exotics' from the TTRPG- bio-engineered human-animal hybrids. Includes 8 playable species options for V, exotic NPCs in the open world,.exotic-themed environmental assets like billboards
www.nexusmods.com
--Patrick
That's a mod for Cyberpunk 2077, for anyone like me that needed context.
figmentPez
Staff member
Valve just announced the release of Steam VR 2.0
I have no experience using VR, so I have no idea what this means.
I have no experience using VR, so I have no idea what this means.
figmentPez
Staff member
Fifteen years ago today Fallout 3 was released.
PC Gamer thinks it's been 20 years.
PC Gamer thinks it's been 20 years.
Peek game journalism
Oh, a video game company is going to try & fight online harassment in multiplayer games? That's good.
What's not so good is that it's Ubisoft - you know, that company that likes to cover up sexual abuse of its staff & protect the abusers - they're only going to do it in 2 games, and fighting harassment apparently only means sending people an 11 page booklet basically saying harassment is bad mmmkay to people that have been reported.
What's not so good is that it's Ubisoft - you know, that company that likes to cover up sexual abuse of its staff & protect the abusers - they're only going to do it in 2 games, and fighting harassment apparently only means sending people an 11 page booklet basically saying harassment is bad mmmkay to people that have been reported.
figmentPez
Staff member
The latest Steam beta has updates to how Playstation controllers are handled. First, Steam defaults to passing through Playstation controllers to games that have native PS controller support. Steam Input can still be turned on, but the new default is better for games that have PS glyphs, or support for advanced haptic triggers and such. Second, Steam now has the controller pulse orange light when the controller is charging. Previously Steam would just have the controller show a solid color, with no indication of when the controller was charging, or finished charging.
It's nice to see controller support continue to grow on PC.
It's nice to see controller support continue to grow on PC.
I want to buy a controller for my pc. Any recommendation? Im interested in a ps5 controller but it's seems that those only work through steam.
figmentPez
Staff member
PS5 controllers can also be made to work with DS4Windows, which some people still prefer to Steam Input. It runs in the background, and for the most part makes Windows and games think the controller is an Xbox controller. It's got some advanced features that can do more, but it has a terrible interface. I use it sometimes when I can't get Steam Input to work with certain non-Steam games.
There is no perfect controller. Aside from ergonomics, analog stick placement, button glyph layout, and other personal preferences, there's also no controller that has every feature someone might want, and definitely no controller with perfect compatibility (fuck Microsoft for not doing more to promote robust controllers support in Windows).
I got a DS5 because it was purple and on sale. But also because it has a touchpad that can be used for a variety of functions, and some games (like Spider-Man) support the controller's advanced trigger haptics on PC (when using a wired connection). It can also use gyro controls through Steam Input, which I like. (A DS4 also has a touchpad and gyro.) I'm not familiar with Playstation glyphs, but most PC games show Xbox button prompts anyway.
If you want a basic controller, with with a feature set from a decade or more ago, but excellent compatibility for most games with controller support, an Xbox controller is an okay choice. (I think the Xbox Elite controllers are massively overpriced for what they offer, especially since they don't have hall-effect joysticks, but they are the only controllers on the market that have four back paddles that can be independently rebinded to functions that are not duplicates of other buttons on the controller.)
If you want something with slightly more features, that you can also use with a Switch, then 8BitDo makes some excellent stuff, though they make it frustratingly difficult to navigate the different models they produce. You'd think they'd be crowing about how their Ultimate Bluetooth controller has hall-effect joysticks (that resist the drift common to most analog sticks) but they don't mention it as a feature that sets their premium model apart from the cheaper wired or 2.4Ghz variants. Many of 8BitDo's controllers also have back paddles, though they are a little limited in what functions they can be assigned to.
Similar to 8BitDo is GuliKit's KingKong Pro 2 controller. It's also got hall-effect joysticks, Switch compatibility, etc. But they've also got a newer Zen Pro, and I'm not sure what the differences are.
If you're looking for the cheapest controller that won't feel like crap, then you probably want a PowerA wired controller. Though I also hear good things about GameSir, and 8BitDo makes some wired controllers that are almost as cheap.
Then there are smaller gamepads, if you're looking for something portable, or for kids. Like the GuliKit Elves Pro, Power A Nano, 8BitDo Lite 2, and 8BitDo Micro.
And that's not even getting into more specialty controllers. For example, if you've got a certain retro game you want to emulate, there are specific controllers for just about any system you might want to play. Or if you want something to suit your aesthetic tastes, there are so many different colors out there.
TL;DR it's kinda hard to give a single recommendation without knowing what your use case and personal preferences are.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yandere Dev banned from Twitch after grooming allegations - Dexerto
Yandere Simulator developer Yandere Dev has been banned from Twitch one month after grooming allegations were made against him.
figmentPez
Staff member
A while back I stopped following both Kotaku and Joystiq because they were just terrible. That left me not following any dedicated gaming news. I hear a lot about what's going on in gaming through assorted social media, but I still feel surprised when something like a Robocop game comes out and I've heard nothing about it beforehand:
I heard a lot of good buzz about it back when the demo came out for steamfest.
HOLY SHIT.
Yahtzee quit The Escapist, effective immediately. He apparently doesn't have the rights to Zero Punctuation, which isn't surprising. But given that he was their biggest draw and biggest contributor for most of their existence, I doubt Escapist will survive this.
A LOT of Escapist contributors quit. A lot of seems to stem from editor-in-chief Nick Calandra being suddenly fired.
Yahtzee quit The Escapist, effective immediately. He apparently doesn't have the rights to Zero Punctuation, which isn't surprising. But given that he was their biggest draw and biggest contributor for most of their existence, I doubt Escapist will survive this.
A LOT of Escapist contributors quit. A lot of seems to stem from editor-in-chief Nick Calandra being suddenly fired.
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