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Latest Comments by Philadelphus
Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
20 Oct 2021 at 5:44 am UTC

Quoting: GuestIt's fine if users understand that the game is basically being run in something completely outside of what it was developed for, but if a game starts to get negative attention because Valve are advertising it on a system that the publisher and developer never supported or intended to support, then they have every right to force Valve to stop.
I don't understand how this is any different than what happens at the moment — if I look at a Windows-only game on my Debian desktop, I guess that's technically "Valve advertising it on a system that the publisher and developer never supported or intended to support." But if I buy that game, it doesn't work, and I complain to the developer/publisher or leave a negative review, they're going to reply, "Sucks to be you, we don't support that system", not, "We'd better sue Valve to make sure that our games are never seen on platforms they don't run on!" Besides, there's no way of knowing if I'm buying the game on Debian in anticipation of a new Windows gaming rig I'm setting up tomorrow, so it's not as easy as Valve only showing me games with native Linux versions while browsing on Linux.

Is it just a matter of quantity? Like, a developer can laugh off 100% of Linux users complaining because we're such a small market share, but if 5% of Windows users start complaining that's a big enough number to take notice of? Personally I think if the number of people complaining gets big enough to notice, any company worth their business savvy is going to recognize an untapped market and fund a team of developers for a few weeks to make their game compatible. (Though that might get muddied if it's games people owned before buying a Deck and thus aren't eligible for refund, since the company already has their money then and the gamers can just play on their non-mobile rig they originally bought the game for. Still, that would at least indicate a potential untapped market to consider.)

OpenTTD 12.0 is out now improving multiplayer for fans of Transport Tycoon Deluxe
19 Oct 2021 at 6:21 pm UTC

YESSS. This. Is. Awesome! Used to enjoy playing this with a friend, but been in living situations the past four years where neither of us could port-forward. Finally, we can play again! :grin: Might have to spot them a donation for that...

Stellaris to get more free improvements in the upcoming 3.2 update
19 Oct 2021 at 6:18 pm UTC

Looking forward to—well, all of these (and for my gaming desktop to finish crossing the ocean by ship), but especially the terraforming stuff: I always thought terraforming could be expanded into its own little mini-system rather than "pay energy, get better planet". I'd love it if you got various random events and choices along the way, like, "Hey, we found this unique geologic feature, we could terraform it into either a crystal cavern or an extra two mining districts, which do you want?" Hopefully that's the sort of thing they're talking about. :smile:

Twitch has suffered a huge leak of source code with a possible Steam competitor (updated)
7 Oct 2021 at 5:04 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: denyasis
Quoting: BrisseIt's already vaporware.
Who knows maybe it'll condense into something later 😉
Then they can call it H2O
Dihydrogen Monoxide, surely? :wink:

'Deckard' is apparently the codename for a possible standalone Valve VR headset
2 Oct 2021 at 5:54 am UTC

Not having to wear glasses inside would be nice.
Come to the Dark Side, we have contact lenses. :wink:

Surviving Mars gets a needed hotfix clearing up Below and Beyond
14 Sep 2021 at 9:59 am UTC Likes: 1

Well, as a first release from a new set of developers taking over someone else's code base I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt once regarding bugs (which happen in every release, after all)…but let's hope they get this cleaned up and do better going forwards.

Steam has turned 18 years old and PC gaming has never been the same since
13 Sep 2021 at 11:54 am UTC

I only had access to dial-up internet until I moved away to college in 2009, so while I was vaguely aware of a thing called Steam it was laughably out of the picture for me and I didn't really pay any attention to it. My first purchase was Portal 2 in March 2011, though as that was a pre-order my actual first game I received was Portal, as a pre-order bonus. :smile:

I guess I'm fortunate to have skipped the "teething years", since once I really got familiar with the idea of online purchasing and downloading games I couldn't wait to get away from physical CDs that needed to be moved around and could be lost or broken. And ultimately, just three years later, Steam's ability to auto-update games would help push me towards Linux's package managers. :grin:

Stellaris to get the free 3.1 'Lem' update on September 14
11 Sep 2021 at 12:02 am UTC

Yeah, now that the jump to selectable traditions has been made we'll probably see a bit of balancing and reshuffling the next few patches, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see more trees down the line. (A mobility and logistics one sounds cool!) And yes, more specialization now that traditions are freed from having to be all things to all empires is a distinct and highly desirable possibility.

While I enjoy a good ol' galaxy-spanning conquest as much as the next person, I really like how with Federations and now espionage there's a lot more emphasis on soft power in the game, as playing a galactic web-weaver and behind-the-scenes kingmaker appeals to me. But it's good that everyone can choose their own specialization now. :grin:

Stellaris to get the free 3.1 'Lem' update on September 14
10 Sep 2021 at 10:11 am UTC Likes: 1

I'm sure that can be balanced with feedback in the future if they're not amazing at launch. I'm just looking forward to no longer being forced to take Subjugation and Domination for my Fanatic Xenophile Pacifist species. :grin:

Clearing up what games will and won't run on the Steam Deck
9 Sep 2021 at 9:27 am UTC

Hmm, I wonder if ProtonDB will add some sort of "tested on Steam Deck" option to reports. That could be a fantastic extra bit of information for gauging compatibility. (Sure, you could guess from the hardware, but it might be useful to highlight that in some way.)