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Latest Comments by iiari
Google have confirmed the Stadia launch date is November 19
16 October 2019 at 3:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Skipperro...but there is more to it than you just economics.

-Parents will be able to better control, both the content they kids are playing and the time.
-If the kid don't behave, parents can always cancel subscription, which gives them nice parenting tool.
As a (deeply conflicted gamer) parent of two young girls who just now are starting to show interest in gaming and wanting to that independently from me, these are huge factors I've considered and it's possible Stadia will be the first service I introduce them to, on their Linux devices of course :).

I actually think the bigger future threat to your company, though, is still the next generation's love affair with mobile. My kids, for example, love Minecraft, and prefer to play it on mobile phones to computers with big monitors... They just love the touchscreen UI and want absolutely nothing to do with mice or keyboards. Flight sims might change that soon for my older daughter, though... BTW, if anyone has educational or coding game recommendations on Linux beyond GCompris, please PM me...

Quoting: SkipperroAlso, many people don't know anything about PC hardware... Stadia will be much easier to start and don't require any investments. If it will be bad, you don't lose anything, you simply stop using it. If your 1000$ PC is bad, you've lost 1000$.
All also absolutely true...

BTW, I think one way forward for gaming hardware makers is embrace that future and try to optimize as much as possible the streaming performance on their machines. The day will come when having top-draw networking, memory, and GPU's will result in a difference gaming experience on, say, a Chromebook than what someone will have with a dedicated gaming rig... That MS 2020 Flight Sim streams its scenery, but still had machines there with 2080Ti's to make it all work in 4K. Companies like yours should try to make that purchasing experience as easy, understandable, and up-gradable as possible.

Dominus Galaxia, a 4x strategy game heavily inspired by Master of Orion 1 has a Linux demo up
16 October 2019 at 12:14 pm UTC

Interesting, I'm gonna watch this one... I haven't played a 4x title in ages, as there are baked-in elements of the genre I find frustrating, but the dev seems to have addressed many of those here.

Vulkan support is not far away now for the flight sim X-Plane 11, physics & flight model updates coming
16 October 2019 at 12:08 pm UTC

Quoting: rustybroomhandle
Quoting: iiari
Quoting: rustybroomhandleI shot them an email for access to the Vulkan alpha/beta.
Did you do that on your own or is there a open request for beta testers? I'd love to test the Vulkan beta as well...

It's explained in the video linked in the article. Only for their installer, not Steam yet.
Ah, OK, then I'm out... If you get it, please post back on this thread to let us all know how it's working, especially in Wine/Proton...

Vulkan support is not far away now for the flight sim X-Plane 11, physics & flight model updates coming
16 October 2019 at 12:06 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Ardje
Quoting: SkipperroMan... I'm collecting everything with Vulkan support and I have X-Plane on my wishlist for a long time, but I'm not as big of the simulator fan to pay freaking 65$ for it. I would rather save it for Kerbal Space Program 2.
I have X-Plane also on my wishlist. I did have some fun with Euro Truck Simulator, but I guess X-Plane is more realistic. And I actually don't want that.
Quoting: EhvisCompletely different beasts. ETS2 is still a game. It's open ended, but the simulation level and mechanics are still geared to have fun even without skill. X-Plane is not a game, it is just a simulator. I think most flight simulator enthusiasts will tell you that flight simulation is a hobby. With matching time consumption and expenses. I have many hours in various X-Plane version, but haven't done too much of it lately and I'm getting rusty to a degree where I couldn't even get my B727 started any more. :D
Yeah, absolutely what @Ehvis said above. X-Plane is a hard core sim to the level that flight schools actually use dedicated commercial versions of it to train future pilots. There really is no "game" here unless you buy mission or sim-economy mods, which people say are a lot of fun but I just don't have the time for...

That said, it's still an amazing product. If you wanted to flip every switch in a Boeing 737 cockpit, plan your fuel, program in your flight plan, go down your pre-flight checklist, pilot your flight in near photo realism, and even be able to see real-life air traffic around you and potentially talk to real people serving as air traffic control, all in life-sucking real time, then this is your thing and $65 is a steal (I've spent far more on planes and scenery and mods). X-Plane actually recently got me over my fear of flying for a real trip.

BTW, on the XP .org forum I've been chronicling my experiments at trying XP in Wine/Proton and how to make the Linux version look nearly as good as Win XP with xEnviro...

Google have confirmed the Stadia launch date is November 19
16 October 2019 at 11:50 am UTC

Quoting: [email protected]It's not the Netflix of gaming. You don't get a catalog of games to deal with.

You still have to buy your games on Stadia. Stadia simply helps offload it off the hardware.
That was my point, it wont' be the Netflix of gaming, which I think was a huge opportunity lost. As I posted above, I'm really surprised for how great the tech is that Google isn't being more aggressive with positioning this, because I think they're only, say, 85% confident in the tech status right now, not 100%. And as a long time Google fan and purchaser, they're honestly terrible at marketing and positioning their products...

Google have confirmed the Stadia launch date is November 19
16 October 2019 at 11:45 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Skipperro
Quoting: Liam DaweStill, not entirely sure who their market is exactly...

As someone who works in the company selling Gaming-PCs I can tell you, because I've done research about possible Stadia impact on our sales...

I say it over and over again in every Stadia discussion - look at it from the perspective of someone who wants to buy a new Gaming PC, because it's meant to replace hardware and compete with local, mainstream gaming rigs. From this perspective, their market seems pretty big to me.
Great post. I think (hope?) a company like yours will be OK, at least for now, because Google could go for your jugular, but really isn't... I think they don't have *complete* confidence in the technology... yet. I mean, I have a coworker who is the perfect person for Stadia. Her son needs a computer for school. She was looking at Chromebooks, but her son didn't want one since you can't game on them, and was trying to sell her on an Alienware for multiple times the cost. Add Stadia, and that Chromebook problem is solved. I don't know why Google isn't launching with, like, a $399 "gaming" Chromebook with 3 months Stadia credit or something. That would be going for your jugular. And that real-life Chromebook scenario (you can buy a $199 Chromebook and be OK with Stadia) is actually a seriously crazy great deal for parents just looking to check the school-gaming box for their kids and move on. Maybe in a year when Google has the tech nailed and is more confident they'll do that.

Also, this streaming tech will be seriously great for people who are into certain gaming categories. I like flight sims, and there are people out there buying 8 TB drives for all the ortho scenery they purchase or generate, but even that isn't enough and the tech is getting strained. Streaming will fix that starting next year....

Google have confirmed the Stadia launch date is November 19
16 October 2019 at 2:14 am UTC Likes: 1

I certainly am intending to try Stadia for its technical aspects if nothing else. I really do think streaming gaming can and will be revolutionary (see the upcoming MS Flight Sim 2020 which will stream Bing high resolution mapping data for the ENTIRE WORLD into the flight sim for unparalleled realism). There are many reasons to be concerned, which many have outlined, but there's huge promise here too.

As far as Stadia itself, I'm actually predicting its influence will be less than anticipated/feared, due to its pricing scheme. I thought Google would want to make the Netflix of Gaming but I think the pricing will effectively prevent that...

PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 is coming along quickly with their August progress report up
16 October 2019 at 12:12 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: BrazilianGamerAmazing progress. Wanted to know about how TLOU is performing on it
That's what I think a lot of people are waiting before jumping in. I've heard people say this is the best game ever made...

Vulkan support is not far away now for the flight sim X-Plane 11, physics & flight model updates coming
16 October 2019 at 12:11 am UTC

Quoting: rustybroomhandleI shot them an email for access to the Vulkan alpha/beta.
Did you do that on your own or is there a open request for beta testers? I'd love to test the Vulkan beta as well...

Vulkan support is not far away now for the flight sim X-Plane 11, physics & flight model updates coming
16 October 2019 at 12:05 am UTC Likes: 1

I have the most hours on X-Plane 11 than any other title I own, and it's a tremendous Linux sim that anyone with any interest in flight should buy. I anticipate Vulkan will provide very little in improvement on the Linux end which, as others have alluded to, is very well optimized, as Linux XP 11 runs at or better FPS than Windows XP 11 in testing.

What I am hoping Vulkan WILL help is how well Windows XP 11 works on Wine/Proton. This is actually important, as some of the best XP 11 add-ons (like xEnviro and xVision) are Windows only right now. Via Wine, Windows XP 11 actually right now runs beautifully, but its FPS drops substantially with rendering add-on's. That will hopefully change for the better once Vulkan comes and renders via GPU rather than CPU, as it is now...

Sadly, XP development tends to be somewhat glacial. I'm thinking 11.4 by year's end, and 11.5 by summer 2020. The bigger question for the flight sim world is when does MS 2020 come out, which is the only title that will bring me back to Windows for gaming if it does not run on Wine/Proton and which looks bonkers amazing and which could make XP 11 somewhat irrelevant...

Also, is this maybe the only group jazzed about working with Metal? XP 11 coding is actually done on Macs....