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Quoting: halcyon

Quoting: tmtvlI presume that those AI chatbots all run locally on my PC without needing any connection to a company I don't trust? Would be quite unfortunate if I had some spyware running while I was, as a completely random example, doing some online banking.

only the translation, the rest is OpenAI and co, why should they even care. they dont even listen.

There's more that's listed under On-device AI, which sounds plausible to me...

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Quoting: JarmerI think I've played through GD ... 4 times? 5 times maybe? I think it's got to be one of my most-played games of all time at nearly 500 hrs. ITS SO GOOD.

I agree.

Quoting: Jarmer[…] to get to the highest difficulty you have to do the most boring thing ever of all time: slog through the game mindlessly once all the way to the end […].

That’s true if you play SSF (solo self-funded) characters. Otherwise, you can do it once only and then put 'merits' - which unlock the highest difficulty - in the stash for other characters to use. 🙂

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Quoting: JarmerI think I've played through GD ... 4 times? 5 times maybe? I think it's got to be one of my most-played games of all time at nearly 500 hrs. ITS SO GOOD.

About the only complaint I have on it, is that getting the best gear to really make your builds shine requires being on the highest difficulty for the drops. BUT to get to the highest difficulty you have to do the most boring thing ever of all time: slog through the game mindlessly once all the way to the end (because you don't give a shit about items or upgrades) and then after spending countless hours you will unlock the highest difficulties and you can actually start playing. Due to this I've never actually played the highest difficulty, because: aint nobody got time for that shit.

It's still mechanically, build wise, and FUN wise: one of the best arpgs ever made!

Yeah, I know what you mean. The higher difficulties is also what puts more importance on your build to be good and a lot of them become increasingly reliant on you actually having some proper gear in order to function properly. But if you then need to grind for every single piece of equipment and runes and trinkets and whatnot it just becomes plainly impractical to play that build, especially when you can just google some other build that isn't as gear reliant and works much more easily.

It's nothing especially wrong with Grim Dawn, though. Difficulty modes cannibalizing a game's own variety is a very common occurrence.

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I don't like Fluxer. I checked the website and it just screams Discord 2.0 to me. Same font and look, and the monetisation was blasted up front which I very much did not appreciate. Apparently, they sold out their lifetime subscriptions already, I think it's in the hundreds of thousands in sales. That's a lot of bag, hopefully they don't walk back on their promise... It'd also be funny if those who paid lifetime to get their server hosted by Fluxer for them get hit with age verification again at some point because as Liam keeps saying, it's only a matter of time for these centralised services.

I've also read posts from technical people criticising the codebase with regards to self hosting. I'm not well versed in this topic so can't affirm the findings.

Point is, I think it's highly unwise to pick the projects that are trying their hardest to be 'literally discord', as one should learn and attempt to not make the same mistake again. With this in mind, my criteria for eligible projects is: open source, and zero money involved outside of donations, grass roots, strictly self hosted and decentralised.

Someone made a list of the difdiscord-selfhosted-alternatives:
https://github.com/Vigno04/discord-selfhosted-alternatives
Out of those, I'm going Sharkord as I mentioned in my forum post last week.

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I always wondered how valve always seemed to get away with their lootboxes. Everyone was saying EA and others are bad but valve has been doing that crap for years.

Now the american gun problem, i don't live there so i don't know, but i think the problem is not video games or movies, but the culuture itself. Banning things doesn't really help imo, it needs to change from cultural level i think... but what do i know.

Lets just play games where you pick flowers only i guess...

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2ship2harkinian just released 4.0.1, and GhostShip released 1.0.2 on 1/24.

I found this nice list:
https://readonlymemo.com/decompilation-projects-and-n64-recompiled-list/

Which led me to a nice Linux-compatible version of Perfect Dark.

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Quoting: EWGI don't understand games like this. Instead of virtually pretending to do things. I could actually pick up an instrument, book shows, and all the rest. lol

That´s cool, you probably should then. :)
For me, i never stepped above hobby levels and went down the Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) path of instruments and synthesizers. I know some folks that went that route, and quite well actually, but man is that a tough life. So... i'd rather play Legends of Rock. :)

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Quoting: nullzeroabout the connecting steam account. As an example I already got one of the games, Boltgun

Same. I have some questions; anybody know answers to any of them?

1) They say the keys expire 90 days after the bundle starts. So if you have not redeemed, gifted, or exchanged when the expiration is getting close, do they warn you in any way? Or do they just silently expire?

2) If you have not synced your Steam library, and redeem, you can get a Steam key for something you already own. Do unused keys expire after the 90 days, or just keys that have not been redeemed/gifted?

3) If you choose to gift a key, it prompts for an email address, which seems reasonable. Does the recipient get a key, or do they need to have/create a digiphile account first (like humblebundle requires for using gift links)? Has anyone sent a "gift" to themselves? I've seen random grumblings that gifting wasn't working, but I took it with a grain of salt.

Like others, I have Boltgun already. The exchange value is fairly low / there's nothing interesting for that value at the moment (and the Steam library syncing does not filter out what you already own from that list). I could hold onto the points for future accumulation, assuming they will have another bundle that looks attractive (previous ones didn't do it for me, although I was tempted a bit by Fallen Aces). But I may also want to gift it to someone within the next (slightly less than) 90 days. I just don't want to forget about it, and have it silently expire...

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So basically, you want to set up a spare Steam account and link that account to this. Allowing you to get access to all the keys.

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I don't understand games like this. Instead of virtually pretending to do things. I could actually pick up an instrument, book shows, and all the rest. lol

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Quoting: Luca

Quoting: ShmerlStill waiting for Debian team to package 6.6.x.

Still waiting for Mint team to package any 6.x!!

Understandably slow for Mint with its long term releases, but I'm talking about the rolling versions of Debian.

I think in Debian it depends on newer Qt, and packaging that is usually a pretty heavy lifting. Not sure how other distros manage to do it so quickly. They might simply ignore all the bugs fallout caused by that, while Debian Qt/KDE team have do that carefully.

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Got it today on Manjaro Kde Plasma - unstable branch. Btw it is not "unstable" at all and we get the new stuff immediately. Wayland, Kernel 6.19. Kde Plasma 6.6.1, MESA 26.0.1. Works perfectly. Linux games are incredibly smooth. Love Crysis 3 Remastered, the most beautiful game out there with RT.

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Quoting: tmtvlI presume that those AI chatbots all run locally on my PC without needing any connection to a company I don't trust? Would be quite unfortunate if I had some spyware running while I was, as a completely random example, doing some online banking.

only the translation, the rest is OpenAI and co, why should they even care. they dont even listen.

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I didn't notice any bugs. I guess the biggest problem for me was that I wasn't having that much fun. Though maybe getting enemies stuck in acid pools was bit fun.

Partly it might be that it's somewhat simple. There are some hints things getting more complex, but I felt that I didn't need to progress to second floor.

Another reason is that there's sort of uneasy feeling all the time without any kind of release. Probably something to do with sound design. I stopped playing Ring of Pain for the same reason.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyIt's not just guitars. I have a friend who's a self-described sax maniac.

Tell him to be wary of time travelers! They hate the saxophone and even try to prevent it ever being invented. The story of the inventors childhood clearly show all their failed attempts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Sax#Early_life

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Quoting: fabertaweInteresting, I find you can never have enough guitars 😄

It's not just guitars. I have a friend who's a self-described sax maniac.

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about the connecting steam account. As an example I already got one of the games, Boltgun, from Humble Choice. It appears there with the following note (emphasis mine):

Already Owned - Trade it for 90 Credits!

You already own this game on Steam, so you can't redeem another key. However, you can trade it in for 90 credits to get other games from the Exchange!

On a previously bundle I had the same with Shadows of Doubt which I also owned, so I exchanged for credits and switched for Dishonoured instead.

It might be a bummer not to get extra keys, but frankly they were either collecting dust or being gifted away on Steam Gifts, so having the option to select other games instead (even though if not a big variety / trade ratio) is welcome.

From the lasts entry of their [Exchange FAQ](https://sites.google.com/digiphile.co/help/exchange)

Why This Matters

Unused or unredeemed keys affect our ability to negotiate high-quality collections with developers and publishers, while also impacting their ability to obtain keys from Steam. By linking your Steam account and keeping your play data current, you're helping us:

- Reduce key reselling on the grey market
- Obtain better titles for future collections
- Help our partners obtain more keys for future collections
- Launch upcoming community-driven features

We believe the Exchange is the first step in building a stronger, more rewarding experience for the Digiphile community, and we're excited for everyone to try it out!

As long as they don't sell the data, and keep the analytics / business optimisation to themselves as any other normal company I don't see an issue. It's not like they'll have Steam's credit card info, and even then, steam should best not be tied to personal info in the first place, specially has lots of features (first & third party) that rely on having a public profile.

If it were not a steam only key reseller, I would be more wary.

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For the loot boxes, it's alright, Valve probably deserve it, but for the guns... LMFAO! Why not take down the whole gaming industry, at this point?!

Hey! Dear Leticia James, I'm killing demons with gore all over the place with big guns and rockets, in Doom Dark Ages, atm!!! 😆

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What makes them fascist? I need a detailed breakdown of their economic system 😅

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This is based af. I hope other states follow suit.

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This is absurd:

it is important to note that Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed.

Quoting this [tired trope from the early 2000](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/video-game-health/201907/blame-game-violent-video-games-do-not-cause-violence)'s is bizarre and ill considered.

Sure, go after loot boxes, they're rotten to the core, mostly. Although as someone has already pointed out, it would be nice to see some consistency - also get rid of Magic the Gathering packs, Pokemon packs, Pannini packs, or anything else that's marketed to kids that is a lottery.

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Nintendo: YOU MUST CONSTRAIN YOURSELF TO *OUR* HARDWARE, IN *OUR* ECOSYSTEM PRISON, ON *OUR* TERMS IF YOU WANT THE PRIVILEGE OF PLAYING OUR GAMES *heavy breathing

PC Gamers: No problem, we'll just port it ourselves

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🍝🏎️🍄🏁

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Quoting: KimyrielleWhile I do agree that lootboxes need to be banhammered out of the gaming industry, I am curious of why they picked Valve of all companies to target first. And not, you know, the studios actually famous for predatory business practices, such as EA or Ubisoft.

It's not the lootboxes, it's the market place. Valve created a system where the contents of loot boxes can be turned back into money. This is why they are banned in The Netherlands and this is why they are the absolute worst in the gaming world. I'm not familiar with a lot of lootbox games, so there might be others, but probably where they can go after them easily.

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Quoting: KimyrielleWhile I do agree that lootboxes need to be banhammered out of the gaming industry, I am curious of why they picked Valve of all companies to target first. And not, you know, the studios actually famous for predatory business practices, such as EA or Ubisoft.

Because you have to start somewhere and AFAIk Valve:s loot box market is probably larger than EAs and Ubisofts combined.

And finally we see a real lawsuit against Valve where they are IMHO actually in the wrong.

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Quoting: poiuz

Quoting: F.UltraIE was never part of the DMA […]

Then why bring it up if there's no relevance?

That it wasn't part of the DMA doesn't mean that there is no relevance. The relevance is that the IE case was a similar case with the only different that it was under ordinary anti-competition laws since Microsoft have a clear monopoly, meanwhile the DMA is created to address issues where there does not exist a pure monopoly as such (and therefore ordinary anti-competition laws cannot be applied) but where firms/services are large enough to have such a impact that legislation is deemed necessary. The main relevance of the IE case to this discussion was to point out that there can be abuses to these laws even if the service is completely free, something that is in stark contrast with your idea that this is all about a specific cut.

Quoting: poiuzBut the Juncker Commission did not formulate the DMA. The Juncker commission conceived this kind of big tech regulation (& I think even defined the term gate keepers) and very likely in this period rule sets were defined. But the DMA itself was formalised later (2020) & will contain lobbying input from various parties (e.g. said complain from Spotify).

Doesn't change the fact the the roadmap was designed before Spotity was involved and thus again shows that you are wrong in your assumption that the DMA was instigated by Spotify.

Quoting: poiuzYou still fail to explain how the payment processing regulation is not about the cut - when you already said yourself "[they] simply do not want to give Apple any money" (i.e. it's about Apple's cut).

There are no payment procession regulation and "they" are not the legislators ("they" are the Apple customers who decides to distribute their apps on the Apple Appstore but use a different payment option for in-app purchases even if that payment processor takes a higher cut than Apple).

Aka you are confusing end users of Apple:s services here with the EU regulators. I cannot explain something that only exists in your mind, again there exists no such legislation. The legislation that exists is that a gatekeeper cannot use their gatekeeper status in one market (e.g app stores) to gain advantages in another market (e.g payment options).

Everyone who understands anti-competition legislation knows this so the outlier here with the extraordinary claim is you, so it is you that have the burden of proof to show that the DMA contains text that matches your claim (aka that they have a clause about what cut you can take), which if they existed you could do very easily since the entire directive is public. But you cannot since there exists no such text.

edit: FYI here is the text of Article 5(7) of the DMA that covers app store payment options:

7. The gatekeeper shall not require end users to use, or business users to use, to offer, or to interoperate with, an identification service, a web browser engine or a payment service, or technical services that support the provision of payment services, such as payment systems for in-app purchases, of that gatekeeper in the context of services provided by the business users using that gatekeeper’s core platform services.

Note the complete absence of any mentioning of a cut or even a definition of what a cut should or should not be.

[Article 5, Obligations for gatekeepers](https://www.eu-digital-markets-act.com/Digital_Markets_Act_Article_5.html#:~:text=7.%20The%20gatekeeper%20shall%20not%20require%20end,users%20using%20that%20gatekeeper's%20core%20platform%20services.)

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While I do agree that lootboxes need to be banhammered out of the gaming industry, I am curious of why they picked Valve of all companies to target first. And not, you know, the studios actually famous for predatory business practices, such as EA or Ubisoft.

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I really hope they don't encrypt the ROMs like they did in Capcom Arcade Stadium or Konami Arcade Classics.
I want to play my legally owned ROMs on emulators!

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If trump isn't the final boss, I'm not buying.

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Nice! Antifa simulator!

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