It's not just the indies that use AI coding tools. I guess they're actually slower with adopting these than the big studios, where the managers jumped out of their seats when somebody pointed at ChatGPT and said "productivity gains here!!!".
Thing is that these tools DO make you more productive, if you're using them right (which is why they're getting adopted by coders). Some less-than-competent managers thought they can fully replace SWE jobs though, and they just can't. Also, the productivity increase isn't 1000%, or whatever these clowns said it would be. But 10% is probably realistic. You save a lot of time by just not having to ask/look around StackExchange a lot anymore, and by letting the AI code some standard problems for you.

What I personally don't get is some people saying "Yeah...I guess AI is fine for coding, but it can't EVER be allowed to do art!!!" I am not sure I understand the difference. I am pretty sure there are several ten thousand lines of my code in all of the larger models. At least I would be insulted if they hadn't gobbled up my stuff from GitHub while they gobbled up everyone else's. And no, I didn't get asked, either. It's really the same thing as using images or songs. The irony is that as far as I can tell, as of today a lot more coders lost their job over AI than artists. People just don't defend coders with the same vigor. ;)

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First time ever I agree with Sweeney on anything. But he's right. It makes zero sense to disclose that you're using AI tools when a good approximation to 100% of all developers either already do, or will do soon. Right now, people are so obsessed with pouring hate on AI generated/assisted art assets that they're forgetting that pretty much all software developers are already using AI tools for coding, at least in some capacity. Guys, that stuff is going into games as we speak, but unlike art assets, you just can't see it.
It makes even less sense considering that in, say, 2-3 years from here, even experts will probably be unable to tell if an asset is AI generated or not, which will render the remaining discussion about whether or not to put labels on it, obsolete, too.

My personal take: We should start embracing what cannot be stopped anyway, and rather talk about how to compensate artists, writers and coders for using their assets for AI training. That's the real issue, at least in my opinion.

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Love seeing Embracer go down. Good for Cryptic to be free again. They made some really decent games back then, when they were still independent. Maybe they can again.

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A feature to be proud of, although I always wondered how they were able to fund the servers.

They still use your typical micro-transaction shop, including lootboxes. The difference between them and a F2P game really is that they don't have to go full-predatory, since they also generate some money from DLC sales, where F2P games don't. And as far as I know there is nothing in these lootboxes you can't also buy directly, or earn.

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I guess the Anni event made the devs finally realize that GW2 isn't the drop-in replacement for GW1 it was meant to be. Both games are great, but they are very different games, appealing to different play-styles, and perhaps different moods. People want to play both games.

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To be fair, Kernel-level anti-cheat isn't THAT common. Like 99.99% of all games don't use it. It's common in a certain genre - competitive multiplayer games, namely shooters and MOBAs. A lot of people (like me) who wouldn't touch shooters and MOBAs with a ten-foot pole anyway, are mostly unaffected by kernel level AC.

I suppose we can only wait and see. Steam Deck brought attention to Linux. The reactions were different, so far. Some (shooter) devs went "Ugh, let's just ban it!" and others went out of their way to support their games running on Deck and even desktop Linux. If the Steam Machine generates at least as many sales as the Deck (and why wouldn't it - handheld gaming is niche compared to living room gaming), we might see even the shooter devs changing their stance. There will be a point when saying no to Linux money no longer makes sense, and we're not that far away from it.

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When Steam Machines flopped back then, it was because Proton wasn't ready. Now it is. I have no need for a console, but this could be a complete game changer for Linux gaming. A lot of people other than me prefer gaming in the living room, and now there is a great alternative that's not enshittified, locked-down corporate garbage like...every other console out there. Image a console people can buy great games for during Steam sales for like 5 bucks each. I bet it will be a hit.

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Ah, I miss Obsidian making games like this.

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That's why I said Debian testing / unstable, not Debian stable.

My bad! :)

Mint which doesn't ship recent kernel

The version numbers might seem dated, by mind that Ubuntu based distros maintain these kernels for a longer time and backport newer features.

Also, I think KDE is a better fit for modern gaming features

I love KDE Plasma, really. Only reason why I didn't switch is because Cinnamon is "good enough" for the time being, and my requirements of DE features aren't all that high. Wayland is not required in any shape or fashion for gaming as of today. I'd notice if it were (still not using it). ;)

it's more stable than Arch

Anything is. ;)

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I'm surprised in general that Linux Mint is ahead of Debian (testing / unstable)

Mint user here. I think that's because for gaming, Mint is a great compromise. Debian's ultimate focus is stability, which makes it a fantastic choice for servers, but in gaming, you often want components that aren't quite that old. It still doesn't randomly break your stuff, unlike rolling release distros.

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