jdreyer wrote on Nov 28, 2020, 18:41:
"as MrsBlue had a couple of BJs coupons she wanted to use"

I hope she shared some of those coupons with you. BJs are the best!

Seriously. I mean, I'm not sure I understand the parking lot innuendo, and going out to get your BJ's surrounded by the general public isn't really my thing but to each, their own, I guess.

Oddly enough my first thought when I heard about this was... marketing for a new Rainbow Six?

Rectal Prolapse wrote on Nov 12, 2020, 00:55:
Hmmm cases are way up, but the case fatality rate is falling. Something wrong with the data? Any alternative evidence to look at?

https://ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid

More likely attributed to the fact that we understand more about it now than we did in the first wave and can treat it better as a result. Yes, deaths are down, but deaths are only a part of the picture. Some people are suffering potentially permanent damage to their lungs and other organs as a result of Covid.

Secondly, the absolute fucking horrific idiocy of morons citing herd immunity when they don't understand what the term means is flat out disgusting. Saying that we're waiting for herd immunity is the same thing as saying we're just waiting for the vulnerable to die.

Herd immunity is what happens when the bulk of the population (that's greater than 70%) is immune to a disease, thus protecting the vulnerable who for reasons like compromised immune systems cannot afford to catch or in some cases, can't be given a vaccination for fear of a poor reaction to it. It is ABSOLUTELY NOT just letting everyone catch the virus and hoping for the fucking best. Only soulless assholes think that way.

The other part these morons are missing is that immunity to this virus is not permanent. This is not polio. It's been cited thus far that the expected immunity is roughly 3 months. Then you can catch it again. In that case, waiting for 'everyone' to catch it isn't going to do a damn thing, but keep this virus raging forever.

Cutter wrote on Nov 11, 2020, 16:28:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Nov 11, 2020, 13:44:

Cutter wrote on Nov 11, 2020, 12:43:
You know who go to gyms? Healthy people.

You know who C-19 also kills? Healthy people.

But your posts have shown time and again that the beliefs you espouse on the pandemic are not within the bounds of any factual, scientific, medical data that one could reasonably source from credible medical professionals or publications.

No, you think the sky is falling when it isn't. Just like the flu most people who get it aren't in any real danger or have no long term health problems. Jesus Christ, morbidly obese 72 year old Donald Trump and his cabinet all got it an they're fine. Get a grip.

Who just happened to have the best medical care in the world, including experimental drugs that are not available to the general public. Right, as long as you have that, don't worry.

Also, just like the flu, Covid19 killed >1 Million people worldwide despite shutting down a large part of the world and a near global effort to enforce protective measures and isolation unlike the world has seen. We do that for every flu season too, right? Don't we? Yeah... just like the flu.

ShakaUVM wrote on Oct 22, 2020, 05:28:
Definitely looks underwhelming. I will wait until the reviews are in after launch to buy this.

Most videos for 4x games don't look terribly impressive. These are the same people behind the Endless Legend and Endless Space series, so they've got some trust earned already in my books that they'll produce something good.

JohnBirshire wrote on Oct 21, 2020, 16:00:

jdreyer wrote on Oct 21, 2020, 15:20:
How does combat work in a multiplayer game? Turn-based? VATS still available?

Gameplay is in real time. VATS is still available, it just doesn't pause the action. I never used it personally but a fair number of people do, it seems they implemented it well.

Essentially it allows you to target specific body locations and do so with a measure of more guaranteed accuracy. Some perks buff the damage you do or accuracy you have while using it. But no pause.

Looks pretty damned cool to me, but too much else to play to warrant an early purchase. All the same it's a wishlist and I'll check it out sometime in the future I'm sure.

phinn wrote on Oct 11, 2020, 18:05:
Not sure how this is even news. Supporting a 10 year old CPU in a game that's supposed to be technologically cutting edge makes no sense. It should require Dx12 or better yet Vulkan too. Just support the latest and greatest and turn this into a 'game' already.

It's news because they already took money from people whose computers they have now obsoleted and refuse to support.

Slick wrote on Oct 11, 2020, 23:57:
So there's always the debate between one man's "poor optimization" and another man's "future-thinking"

I usually fall on the latter side, and complain that not enough games are future-thinking with their system requirements.

That being said, that Crytek engine is simply unoptimized. There's no excuse for that engine to run so poorly. It makes Unreal Engine 4 look as efficient as Frostbite LOL. (Boarderlands 3 struggling to surpass 60fps @ 4k ultra even on an RTX 3080, yet somehow looking virtually identical to Boarderlands 10 years ago.)

Except they already collected money from people whose computers are going to be incapable of playing the game they bought. Feel like that's a bait and switch.

HorrorScope wrote on Oct 8, 2020, 17:34:

Bumpy wrote on Oct 8, 2020, 12:50:
Every review I've read clamors for more single player missions.
This would be an easy win for EA DLC opportunity but nooooooooooo EAs warped sense of business won't have any of that. <rollseyes>

And this is the other side of the coin, reddit's snickers were in a bunch over this.

People tell EA, evil, votes worst company in the world, no to dlc, micro's etc. Just let me buy the damn game and own it all. Well they actually did what they players wanted when they say this and then you still get lip. Facts are there are probably large percentages on both sides and no matter what you choose you hear from the opposition. Then there are the crazies that say they don't want it and then complain when they don't get it, don't be that guy is all I'm saying.

Precisely why game companies started ignoring gamers. Most of the time as a collective we can't agree on what we want, and they as developers/producers get bashed by someone no matter what choice they make.

Oh and the linking characters sucks at present. Hopefuly they'll fix it. Right now, whoever talks to the person and invites them to the party controls the new PC. As in, I'm playing co-op with the wife. I initiated the conversations to talk to two companions and invited them to join so it put them under my control. I can't just drag and drop one of them to place them under my wife's control like you could in D:OS2. It just doesn't work.

So for her to control a character, she has to have personally been the one to initiate the conversation and ask them to join the party, which obviously when you just randomly bump into someone you don't even know if they are a potential party member until the question arises.

I'm only level 2 after 3 hours of play so something like that, or longer, perhaps.

As far as the game itself, there are bugs. Some people have many crashing issues, some fixed by swapping to DX11 instead of Vulkan. I've had some graphical glitches and bugs in chats where it neglected to play/print a line of dialog so my response options made no sense until I looked at the dialog history.

Otherwise it's been pretty smooth sailing, some fun characters. Combat has been pretty solid. Like the option to swap back and forth from melee to ranged for pretty much any character on the fly so you don't have warriors that are utterly useless for the three rounds of combat it takes them to get into melee range. That said, warriors desperately need more actual abilities.

Will the coverage be an Epic Store exclusive, or an iOS exclusive?

Julian Delphiki wrote on Oct 3, 2020, 00:41:

RedEye9 wrote on Oct 2, 2020, 23:48:
Superspreader events surround the dotus, including last week's scotus announcement.
The maskless gathering has now claimed Notre Dame’s president and Kelly Anne CONway can now count herself blessed as she too has tested positive for the tRump virus.

The iq test continues.

You're definitely not wrong about a lot of these folks, but don't act like these are the only people who have made really dumb decisions during this pandemic. Have you, yourself managed to wash your hands every single time you've gone out in public and worn a medical grade, air tight mask with proper filtration capabilities the right way every single second without having to adjust it or washing your hands if you do? Have you worn eye protection every single time? These are all things that help to prevent the spread yet I'd be willing to bet not a single person reading this post has done them consistently without fail for the duration of the pandemic. It's not because they're not smart, it's not because they're being political. Sometimes things happen, people make mistakes, they get tired and slip up or are in a situation that they don't think warrants that level of precaution and it only takes one mistake at the wrong time to contract this virus. Obviously a lot of folks have taken an extreme approach on the side of not taking preventative measures, but the fact of the matter is that if you're not doing what I listed above (and other things I missed since this is just a forum post), you have the potential to get infected and are failing an 'iq test'.

This is probably going to sound harsh, but it's not meant to be insulting in any way: You're definitely acting gleeful at hearing this news (note multiple posts within a short duration all aimed at making fun of people who are infected), which is a pretty heartless and terrible way of thinking. I'm concerned for your mental state and pity your lack of empathy for fellow human beings. It screams of one who is consumed by an echo chamber and doesn't know how to turn the media (social or otherwise) off and talk to people who think differently in an attempt to understand why. My favorite and most memorable political and philosophical conversations have been with people who had opposing views and a willingness to listen to what I had to say as I listened to what they had to say. Nothing is more informative in this world than listening to and respectfully challenging those of differing opinions as they do the same to you. I hope you can make the time to do so yourself. You may be surprised by what you learn even if your views do not change.

There's a tangible difference between making an attempt to do things correctly and safely and still getting infected, and making no attempt whatsoever while also mocking everyone who IS trying, and spreading misinformation constantly about the virus then getting infected.

There is also, quite frankly little wrong in taking a bit of pleasure in seeing someone who is directly responsible for the agonizing deaths of so many people get his own comeuppance. I don't hope he dies, but I do hope he suffers enough to speak the truth and maybe convince some of his followers to take it seriously. That might actually have a positive impact on the state of the virus, even if it is too late for way too many people. That said, if he did die, I wouldn't feel remotely bad for smirking about it.

I feel like the quality of the humble bundles has gone down significantly since they implemented this new system. I've got the 'classic' annual subscription but I've skipped the last three months in a row entirely for having lackluster choices.

El Pit wrote on Oct 2, 2020, 00:21:
Nothing that cannot be fixed by a bit of crunch tiiiime... A healthy 7 days per week and 18 hours per day worktime maybe? C'mon, the shareholders like this idea!

Clearly they're thinking about the employees' health. If they're doing nothing but working, they don't have time to socialize, or go out and contract the virus.

Solemn-Philosopher wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 20:48:
Wow, the early access reviews aren't positive. I haven't been following its development. Have they been changing what people don't like about it? The recent reviews don't seem any better.

Compared to the previous two Torchlight games it's literally awful. On it's own, it's a passable at best and extremely forgettable experience.

Nullity wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 10:22:

BIGtrouble77 wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 09:44:
The walled garden is a feature... it's why we don't want janky Android phones.

LOL, this sounds like some form of Stockholm syndrome. As VaranDragon has pointed out, Android is far from janky, just don't be stupid - the same advice that applies to using a PC. Also, it's not like iOS never had malware.

Take a look at the state of the world currently and the US specifically. Don't be stupid is a bar too high for a lot of people.

Beamer wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 10:27:

Teddy wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 10:11:
Because many of these apps, including Fortnite, are free to play. Apple makes 30% of literally nothing, in that case.

Then Apple can refuse to offer free to play products. Seems simple enough to me.

But wait, isn't Apple profiting through sales of their phones already for having so many 'free' apps and games available to their buyers?

Kxmode wrote on Sep 28, 2020, 23:55:

Apple argued that iOS is just one of many platforms in the wider competitive market for video games like Fortnite. There, Apple faces competition from console makers, PC-based stores like Steam and GOG, and Google's Android platform to name just a few. In this market, Rogers herself noted that most of the competing platforms charge the same 30 percent fee to developers as Apple, suggesting iOS lacks any harmful market-controlling power.

Epic's lawyer Gary Bornstein argued in response that the market in question should not simply be viewed as "all the ways someone can reach a user to play a video game." Where Apple holds the monopoly, he said, is in the market for developers to distribute their game to iOS users, specifically.

"In order for Apple to face competitive discipline [from the market], it would mean there would need to be a meaningful number of developers who would give up the platform if Apple raises its price," Bornstein argued. "We know that's not the case. They're not going to give up the opportunity to reach a billion users."

source

This is 100% a correct legal argument. the argument idiots are making suggesting that epic should just go make their own phones is absurd apple fanboyism. It's like suggesting if you don't like steam, go ahead and invent your own computer, convince millions to buy and use it, if you don't like the price being charged. Developers can't change systems like that because of a disagreement in cost with Apple just like users aren't going to throw their Apple phone in the garbage and buy a different one if they disapprove of the situation. They've already invested in a $1000 device as a user and the developer has already invested many thousands if not millions of dollars in hiring and training staff to produce products on IOS as well as marketing, brand recognition within the market, etc.

It's not as simple as just "go to another store and sell your stuff". That's why it's a monopoly and that's why it's SUPPOSED to be illegal. Love all the devoted American capitalists that croon for the 'free market' but shriek in terror if you suggest that Apple is literally engaging in the opposite.