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Latest Comments by Purple Library Guy
Psyonix, creator of Rocket League is joining Epic Games (updated)
4 May 2019 at 4:33 pm UTC

Quoting: Salvatos
Quoting: melkemindThis ultimately speaks to a larger problem with gaming. If Rocket League were DRM-free and allowed people to create their own servers, it wouldn't matter if it left Steam. People could create and host their own leagues. If the game stops selling on Steam and complete functionality (connection to the network) is not maintained, it raises the question: Did we ever actually fully own the game in the first place?
I don't think that has ever been in question. Steam sells licenses to access specific parts of its service. You don't own the software.
I dunno. I play mostly single-player games, and I generally find that if I can't/don't feel like accessing Steam, they still play fine. As soon as you get into games that are designed to need outside services to do anything, you may find you can't do anything without the outside services Steam provides, but I'm not sure that can be described as Steam stopping you from owning the software.

Supergiant Games now have Bastion, Transistor and Pyre up on itch.io
3 May 2019 at 9:57 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: SamsaiI recommend all of them. Bastion is maybe the most generic of them but the gameplay was decently executed and the art (both graphical and audio) was good. Transistor's gameplay mechanics were unique and interesting with a lot of variety. Pyre has the best characters and story of them all and the best soundtrack, but may take a little bit of time to get over the fantasy basketball aspect.
Fantasy basketball, huh? So, not like ordinary mundane Regular Human Basketball then?

Despite the high price, the initial batch of Valve Index headsets have sold out on pre-orders
3 May 2019 at 4:44 pm UTC Likes: 2

I was saying this elsewhere: The niche for expensive things in general has gotten bigger, so it's not surprising if expensive kit like this sells pretty well. With more income polarization, there are more rich people (and more poor people, and fewer middle class). This goes with the whole deal where you see lots of low-end stores like Wal-Mart and dollar stores, lots of high-end boutiques and luxury brands, and fewer and fewer mid-range stores like your "Sears" type department store.
People won't buy something expensive if they don't feel like they're getting something for the money, but if it's sexy and implies some bragging rights (both of which apply to premium VR kit), there's a lot of people who can afford to shell out sizable bucks for hardware.

Planet Nomads has left Early Access and feels like a big missed opportunity
3 May 2019 at 4:36 pm UTC

Sounds like their craftsmanship wasn't up to supporting their artistic vision. Pity. Just goes to show cool ideas aren't enough, you need to be skilled at the actual craft--the coding, the blacksmithing, the laying down of brushstrokes.
(Mind you, sometimes people's artistic vision isn't up to supporting their artistic vision. I think there's been a fair number of games where the developers spun all these cool ideas that sounded really awesome, and then when it came time to actually do it they realized they didn't exactly know what the cool ideas meant in terms of gameplay or how it would turn out to be fun)

Facepunch Studios have given an update on the future of Rust for Linux, issues with "third parties"
2 May 2019 at 8:00 pm UTC

Starting from the assumption that their post should be taken seriously, it would seem that their experience is one of deteriorating support for Linux by middleware. If that is a real phenomenon it would be rather worrying for Linux gaming more broadly. Anyone have any clues whether that's a genuine thing in the world or whether it's either implausible from the get-go or, if true, just an artifact of their particular choices in middleware?

A look over the ProtonDB reports for April 2019, now over forty thousand reports logged
2 May 2019 at 7:51 pm UTC

Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: devnullWhich looks quite odd not only because of the version but I don't get popups about it. Maybe 2 means opted out? Considering I don't use windows at all that could be at least a year of not being counted.
I got it just yesterday. I tend to get it maybe one to three times per year.
I believe I've gotten it once since Steam came to Linux. Perhaps twice.
Maybe every geographical area gets a set amount, relative to the population user base. Maybe you don't often happen to run Steam when the survey is being conducted during the first few days of any given month? (I've only ever gotten it on the first day of a month.) Maybe you're just unlucky? Could be anything.
Indeed it could. Pity we don't know the methodology.

Psyonix, creator of Rocket League is joining Epic Games (updated)
2 May 2019 at 5:04 pm UTC

Quoting: appetrosyanTheir current bet - VR is really not the best idea: games don't cost a lot of money, but games in VR have a large entry barrier, so they would by definition not have a lot of things to work with.
VR is a high-end niche. It can't really solve their problems with Epic. But, it probably can make money--whether I like it or not (I don't) the increased inequality of income and wealth, the increased stratification of society, makes high-end niches bigger and more profitable. There are quite a lot of rich people with plenty of disposable income who can drop a bundle on high-end kit (and indeed may actively want to so they can show off). So it may well be worth them pursuing it, just in its own right, not so much as a synergy thing to deal with other issues.

A look over the ProtonDB reports for April 2019, now over forty thousand reports logged
2 May 2019 at 4:38 pm UTC

Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: devnullWhich looks quite odd not only because of the version but I don't get popups about it. Maybe 2 means opted out? Considering I don't use windows at all that could be at least a year of not being counted.
I got it just yesterday. I tend to get it maybe one to three times per year.
I believe I've gotten it once since Steam came to Linux. Perhaps twice.

Psyonix, creator of Rocket League is joining Epic Games (updated)
1 May 2019 at 11:41 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: DASPRiDOkay, so let me get this straight:

They are pulling RocketLeague from the Steam store (presumably not only the Windows version, but all). So Linux gamers can still play the game after it got pulled, but new Linux gamers will not be able to purchase the game in any store, do I get this right?
That's usually what would happen, when a game leaves Steam for whatever reason.
Not necessarily. It could go to Gog, including the Linux version. Then it would be off Steam but Linux users could still buy a Linux copy. Since Epic doesn't have a Linux client, in theory (barring Lutris) Linux users can't buy things from it in the first place, and it probably won't/can't sell Linux versions of things so a Linux user getting in via some sort of Wine solution still can't buy a Linux version of a game there.

So there's a distinction between a game dropping Steam for someone like Gog and dropping Steam for Epic.

Psyonix, creator of Rocket League is joining Epic Games (updated)
1 May 2019 at 9:17 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: TheSyldatI fucking hope you'll come back with good news Liam , because for real losing Rocket League would be more than just a slap in the face for Linux gamers especially with how troublesome porting to Linux was already in the first place for them .

I mean come on we almost all bought it and I know more than a few Linux gamers who did purchase some skins in the store ...
So you're saying we have skin in the game . . .