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Latest Comments by Mal
Unity apologises for the new runtime fee, say they will make changes
18 September 2023 at 1:51 pm UTC Likes: 2

I'm no game developer, but honestly, if I were one, why should I bind my whole future to the whims and dementia of another company CEO by investing on their engine? It's years already that Unity gives signs of progressive dementia. While Epic throw under the bus all ios developers for a whim of their CEO. Go godot guys. Especially if you're small and have no negotiation weight, you can't bet your dreams like that. It's an industry that's already hard enough. Don't make it harder.

Goodbye free time I have discovered Timberborn
27 July 2023 at 7:21 am UTC Likes: 1

My first run at the game I died before finishing the dam. I understood to late how the dam machanic worked and ended in a situation where droughts were coming to fast to let me grow the wood necessary for the dam. But the satisfaction on the second run was real.

Diablo 4 on Steam Deck is quite magnificent (and desktop Linux too!)
16 July 2023 at 8:08 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: theflamingchickenMy wife and I were also having a wonderful time playing this together on our Steam Decks. Until this morning when she received an email from Blizzard notifying her that her account is banned with no recourse. I suspect it has something to do with the Steam Deck. I set it up for both of us using Lutris the exact same way. She got banned and I didn't. They didn't offer a reason, except to say she violated their terms without being specific.

It's very upsetting because now I can't even enjoy playing with the constant threat of having my account banned. Is anyone else having this issue with their Steam Deck?

Stop necroing threads from 2012... ah no, wait a minute. Again?

Diablo 4 on Steam Deck is quite magnificent (and desktop Linux too!)
6 June 2023 at 3:54 pm UTC Likes: 1

I enjoyed the local co op in diablo 3 for the few days I owned a ps. Without that feature on pc I'm not interested into rushing it for that pricetag. I'll just wait a five years or so for when it's more like 15$.

Europa Universalis IV: Domination releasing April 18th
30 March 2023 at 3:38 pm UTC Likes: 2

Man the greed at Pdx. Now even music tracks are pre order bonus?

For them to push that hard people to preorder, we can be sure that there will be no bad surprises on day 0 for this dlc.

You can start writing the "eu4 review bomb" on steam article Liam so you have it ready for the 18th .

Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack and the free 3.7 update are out now
18 March 2023 at 11:22 pm UTC Likes: 1

Perhaps it's worth mentioning that with this patch the Ancient Relics story pack goot a nice boost and that, combined with the price, makes it a nice purchase. For sure over First Contact.

Prepare to see a lot more of Epic Online Services, with Epic's new self-publishing
10 March 2023 at 10:33 am UTC Likes: 1

Tim can do whatever he wants ofc but as usual he's dishonest when he puts the blame on Valve for the absence of cross platform multiplayer on many Steam games.

Especially since their games are cross platform in the first place so their are a virtuos developer and setting the good example for the others. What else should they do? Coerce everyone like he do? If Steam was 5% market share probably they could get away with it. But since Steam is so huge that would be a death sentence for all devs that don't have the resources to do that.

State of the industry: MSI offered a chance to win the ability to buy a GPU
16 January 2023 at 6:23 pm UTC

Quoting: ChuckaluphagusWhat's important to PC gaming is the mid-range cards, and those are available again in quantity, albeit more expensive than they once were. You can order an Nvidia 3060 card right now for ~$350 in the United States, no wait, and it'll play every one of the Top 10 most popular games on Steam at high resolutions and graphics settings, just not "Ultra."

But at those prices, and those specs, console gaming is a superior option. It's cheaper and plays better. It's just that. New generations of gamers will grow on consoles. Those few who choose PC will regret not having bought a console. And I say that as a guy that simply can't play on console. I bought a ps4 once, I tried it, tried it again and after 3 months I sold it.

State of the industry: MSI offered a chance to win the ability to buy a GPU
16 January 2023 at 4:08 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: M@GOidGranted, is not the same experience as playing it on a 1000 dollar discrete card, but is the same game. It IS the same game. Vanity pushes us out of our senses, to make us spend a lot of money on a system just to play a game "better than in the peasant consoles".

But consoles have historically always been a comparable "value for the money" proposition with PC. They had (and still have) super competitive entry price but then once you're they slowly and stedily siphon the flesh and the soul out of your wallet. PC had always had a steeper entry price (the hardware cost) but then it would repay itself in a few months thanks to better game prices and services. And the better performance and freedom of use would close the deal.

Now the entry prices for PC gaming are just a no no. Once you put some math on it in there is no way one can recover from that initial investment. PCs have just become the equivalent of the electric cars. A vanity luxury item just to show your status and play to be superior.

Just to be clear it's not a product issue. Both NVIDIA 4000 serie and AMD 7000 serie are awesome hardware. It's the pricing that is totally nuts. Who will buy those things? Rich people? How can they sustain a mass market with just rich guys? And if young adults continue to buy consoles since PC are unaffordables, who will buy PC games in the next years? Who will sell PC games if nobody has PC to play them?

It's not a matter of "a good iteration" followed by a "a bad iteration" followed by a "good iteration" again. We're well over the famous microsoft good/bad iterations game. One can easily check on steam that most gamers sits on the 1000 serie. It's a 7 years old serie. It's 7 years that NVIDIA and AMD don't offer a good deal. 7 years is an era in the entertainment industry. PC gamers and PC gaming are already at risk of extinction.

Well... we have the deck I guess to keep the light on. That's still PC gaming on paper. But it's not the "quintessential" implementation of PC gaming.

State of the industry: MSI offered a chance to win the ability to buy a GPU
16 January 2023 at 2:51 pm UTC Likes: 5

With this it's the third year in a row with PC gaming being non affordable. They continue like that again and by 2025 there won't be PC gamers anymore.

Perhaps Valve should start designing GPUs and save PC gaming yet again?