Quoting: elmapulif they can stop us from storing data locally, they can stop us from preserving content (eg: piracy) as well.

Quoting: JohnologueThey're taking away our right to own private computers

I think this hits the nail on the head, although I wouldn't frame it as a "right" to own computers. You don't have a right to own a Ferrari. Still, the spirit is correct in that computers have become a staple of modern society for almost everyone. The shift is, IMHO, to get everyone onto mobile-first. Then you can use your mobile (i.e. dumb terminal) to connect to a more powerful machine (HaaS - hardware as a service - "cloud").

We have seen a bigger push for remote gaming via Nvidia Now and Amazon's Luna. Sure, a lot of us would hem and haw about latency, but I've played a few games on Luna to test it out (Indiana Jones, Resident Evil 2, Hogwarts) and they all played "good enough". For the masses that aren't surfing video game websites, it will almost certainly be more than good enough.

The question is why? My conspiracy driven mind always thinks it is some kind of authoritarian gambit to centralize control. "You will eat ze bugs" sort of stuff. But hey, maybe our child loving, party island overlords really do have the world's best interest in mind... :(

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I'm constantly going to bat for AI, but even I can see this is total bullshit. While AI has its place, it is nowhere nears "prompt and spit out a game". I think you can argue that AI can help in places like concept art, voice acting, modeling (as in UML), or helping with code (more of a glorified search engine assistant), but spitting out whole games is a bridge too far at least considering the state of the technology today. Maybe a year or 10 from now things will be different.

All that said, this feels like another attempt to goose the AI bubble. All the Nvidia/OpenAI investment "controversy" lately is showing a lot of cracks, or should I say pins, around the AI bubble. This might be an attempt to delay those pins a little longer.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: PyratePerhaps this is the wake-up slap that capable devs need to realize relying on a proprietary surveillance tool was bad from the start, and that a proper alternative can be developed.

I don't think this is up to the devs per-se. This is more like market forces/apathy. If I'm a dev and my potential customers aren't asking for in-game chat, why would I spend time on making one? Heck, even if they are asking, do they really "mean it"?

Or in the case of a discord alternative, sure there is that spike in searches, but it is already dropping off. I seriously doubt that people will actually move away from discord. Network effects and all that. Even if, and I'm sure someone will try, a good alternative is made, I doubt most people would switch. Though I'd love to be proven wrong.

Bluesky didn't topple twitter even though there were a lot of very vocal people saying it "should" and it seems like a good site (I don't use either). I've seen quite a few boycotts over the last decade that have gone exactly nowhere. If the people can't kill something as simple as Bud Light (please ignore the politics behind it, simply an exampe) by not purchasing a single brand of beer for a year, I feel like there is almost no hope.

Maybe I've taken too many black pills, but I have pretty much lost all hope on consumers actually sticking to what they say. Again, I hope I'm wrong, but can anyone give some examples of success in the regard? A company that did something shitty that actually produced some kind of change?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I don't get the hate for Epic. I've never bought from them because I didn't want to have more launchers, but now that I use Steam and Heroic I have no real reason not to if the price is right. I get all their free games and have played plenty of them with no issues.

I am glad Epic is doing better. More competition means that Steam (and GOG) won't be able to sit around.

Now, I'm not saying everyone should start buying on Epic - you do you - but clearly enough people are buying that Epic isn't failing, and that IMHO is a good thing.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: LachuMaybe devs will release server software, when shutting down own?

That would be great, but I think the ask can be even less. Literally all they need to do is not get in the way of people reverse engineering and building their own servers.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

As everyone has said, I see no issue with the 30% cut, but I think the more important part, that has a bit of merit IMHO, is the off-platform competition restriction. If my game is for sale on steam for $50, why can't I sell it direct on my website (or any other platform for that matter) for $40?

This *feels* very anti-competitive, but what do I know.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

While pretending to be affiliated somehow is shady, I find it amusing that FOSS (built on other FOSS no less) is talking about IP and asking to stop using their logo and name.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

[quote=Pyrate]

Quoting: MinoscerebMy use case for Lutris over Heroic is for those game setup files I find laying on the ground after they fell off a truck full of game setup files. The customizability shines better there, even if both programs are capable of the same end results eventually.

[quote=Doktor-Mandrake]

Quoting: MinoscerebI like lutris for the setup scripts for old gamss

I have almost completely switched to Heroic for no good reason other than "I like it", and I too find old setups that have fallen off of the back of the truck from time to time. You can install them fine with Heroic. It is as simple as Add Game -> Select Executable (or installer) and go.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Wasn't this game the one where they literally stole art? Not even AI bullcrap, but flat out stole it?

I don't know all the details about how it ended up, but I'd imagine the anti-AI crowd here would be *way* more upset of outright theft of art.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: LoftyWe want Passion over Profits.

This sounds great, and I agree when it comes to art/games and even life in general, but I don't think this statement stands up to scrutiny. Do you, and/or how many people do you know, that work a job they are passionate for versus a job that pays the most?

I know there is a limit when more money does not matter, but from what I understand that is somewhere around 75-100kUSD/year. Most people (in the whole world) don't make that much. Hell, the median income (individual) in the USA is only ~40k. I don't think people are working these "low" paying jobs because they are passionate. I think they are taking whatever they can get.

As the old saying goes, money talks and bullshit walks.

I'm not saying this is good/right, it simply is the shitty nature of our for profit (and put a price tag on everything) world.

View this comment - View article - View full comments