I have an S9, I only take it out of the case when I need to access the sprunger to open the memory card port on a phone, or when showing it off to other people when asked 'what's that phone?'. My wife has an iPhone and had hers out of the case while on vacation, leaning WAY over the edge of a walkway above a beach to get a picture of a couple exchanging their vows (no one we knew, just randoms). Sure enough she dropped the phone, it fell 20 feet onto the only concrete nearby and shattered the face. She got the picture though, it wasn't worth the inconvenience and repair cost but made an already memorable day more so.

I feel the primary negative effects of this will be felt in the Steam PC Cafe program https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3303-QWRC-3436

This exists to allow businesses like LAN Cafes and VR centers to gain legal access to games and apps in the Steam Store, at rates that the publisher (NOT STEAM!) sets. For instance, a VR game like Arizona Sunshine, or Job Simulator, is a one-time purchase in the store for consumers. For VR centers, it is a monthly fee ($80 per month per station last time I checked). This fee would have to vary based on the location the key is used in, because no VR arcade in Slovenia for instance can afford to pay the same license fees as one in central London. The economics just aren't there to support the program if it is done on an all-EU basis.

I have not played any multiplayer FPS seriously since Battlefield:1942 .. "Left for Dead 2" excepted. Trying to figure out how you can have PvP multiplayer in an FPS with player "levels"? Is there some kind of player ranking system (EMO? EVO? I forget..) like there was in Mechwarrior:Online so you don't get owned by "level 50" players with all the unlocked skills or weapons?

PvP FPS was hard enough 'back in the day' when you might end up on a pickup team against some clan practicing on a public server.

Get off my lawn!

NKD wrote on Sep 30, 2017, 15:01:
I think I remember participating in a beta for this game way back before its original release.

Me too! Microsoft gave me this 14-character password I had to enter each time I loaded up, I still remember the damned thing!

I remember this demo, I got it in a magazine, and remember being really happy to play but very annoyed at having to sit through the Neon commercial every time I wanted to play or had to restart. "Commercials in videogames?! Sacrilege!" The finished game may have been the first game I ever had to download a patch for .. dialing in to the company's modem pool and using Kermit to secure the download, at 52kbps the D/L seemed to take forever. "Sloppy programmers, why couldn't they have got this right BEFORE release?! This will never stand!" Who knew it was to be the new paradigm.

I'd love to love it but there's no vehicles, which is a deal-breaker for any "spiritual successor" of BF1942.

How will Wargaming make the Russian vessels OP? IRL, wasn't the Russian navy leftover WWI vessels with some Lend-Lease thrown in?

If Derek Smart had a hit game previously, and Kickstarter had existed, I feel Battlecruiser 3000AD would have achieved this same level of funding and cult fanaticism. I wish all the SC fans the best of luck.

It's really hard not to read most of these in anything but Simpson's "Comic Book Guy" voice.

10 minutes on any public gaming server will show that yes, the gaming community harbors a large number of misogynistic children who exist solely to tear down anyone "not them". It's shameful, and anyone who tries to change that culture has my support.

24-year-old gamer me would spend a lot of time and tears arguing about #GamerGate. 44-year-old me wants to throw up his hands and quote William Shatner.

Now, get off my lawn!

Call me crazy, but until now I thought "Steamships Ahoy" was referring to games that were Steampunk-influenced, and I'd skip over the announcement.

PHJF wrote on Oct 30, 2012, 09:17:
I watched one video at random from the web site and it was... awful, in a word. Just awful. A couple of guys clumsily running about attempting to strafe each other, colliding and falling over (while the camera jumps to third person for no reason and starts clipping through world geometry), and then doing it all over again.

The "knock-down" functionality has been disabled with the last patch until it can be properly repaired. Unfortunately this has the effect of allowing small mechs to run through larger ones, so hopefully they turn it back on soon.

Asmo wrote on Oct 16, 2012, 18:24:
I've still got my 98-99 vintage sidewinder II force feedback stick, but fucking Microsoft won't support the bastard with drivers in Win7 anymore... = |

re: MWO, use mouse + keyboard and turn your mouse sensitivity WAAAAY down. I use the lowest DPI setting on my mouse during matches, helps immensely with precision shooting (ie. continuing to pound weak spots in armour). It may not feel like it when you're getting gangbanged by a premade of cheese build mechs but it's actually quite a measured experience, even booting along in a scout mech. Quick snappy movements don't make a difference when your arms/torso take time to get lined up. Getting your shot right in the first place is more important than mashing the fire key.

Agreed, mouse+keyboard is the way to go due to the way lasers are implemented - they aren't instant-hit, they do damage over time from .5 seconds to 1 second depending on the weapon. This is a game-killer if you try to use a joystick as keeping your facing consistent over that time is nearly impossible without a mouse's precision.

Luckily, the SideWinder force feedback joystick, while not officially supported by Windows 7, IS detected and works fine with this game, with some adjustments to the game's config files.

I miss Shogo, and the Red Riot. Fun game to play on the LAN in between breaks from Total Annihilation

As far as MWO goes.. once all the content is in and it achieves the polish of a "League of Legends", it will be impressive indeed. The question is, will it survive the open Beta?

I've managed to get great, fall-off-the-bone ribs out of a crappy gas grill, it just takes some patience and ingenuity. First, a good wireless grill temperature probe is a MUST. Clip the probe onto the grill rack near your meat. Adjust the gas down until you're at approx. 225F. As my grill doesn't have good vents, I had to turn the gas down all the way, and insert something to lift the lid a crack. This kept my temperature down enough but made the temp vary due to breezes. So long as it didn't stay sustained above 240F, I didn't mess with it further. You definitely want to keep it above 212F. A single rack of baby backs cooks in 3-4 hours this way.

I had to travel with my ribs, so after 4 hours, I wrapped them in foil, and 30 minutes later put them onto direct heat and sauced them. Additional cooking time on direct heat was about 15 minutes, enough for the sauce to carmelize, reapplied sauce and carmelized again. Then I put them back into foil and left them for another 20-25 minutes. I unwrapped them and cut into single rib pieces and realized I'd accidentally managed to make fall-off-the-bones ribs, and won 2nd prize at the neighborhood cook-off my first try.

Next year I'm going for the "real" grill equipment, but it CAN be done with the most basic tools, if enough care and patience adjusting the temperature is used.

They're already open in Dallas, the story is over 2 months old.

How will pilots eject from their aircraft if they're in airspace that exists outside the ground map? Will they be killed, or automagically routed to the nearest ground map edge?

Or jump-jetting into a heavy APC that had one open spot, watching the horrified occupants turn towards you as you jump back out, blowing up the whole thing and flying away again!

This would be perfect for me - I game but also travel all the time, and don't care to deal with bringing a separate laptop for the task.

I've run into this issue as well, but additionally with the cruise missile launcher buildings.

So the game will probably feature a helicopter you fly around in dramatic sweeps across the target, while music pumps in the background.. until someone takes it out with a car. Then you'll be on the ground, and it will always be sunset or sunrise. Finding your allies will be easy - face the sun, they'll start walking ahead of the explosions.