It's not like they were making it available for a relative song to benefit the end-user. There is no pretence - you are getting a big break on the hardware because you're paying with your data, and there is no way they're letting you use the one without giving the other.

If you're comfortable paying that price, more power to you. I'd rather wait until a decent set comes out at a decent price which doesn't include surrendering that level of data. If VR dies before that happens, then it wasn't worth the trouble anyway.

A lot of reviews are saying this game has less depth than TL2, which sold for $20 if I recall correctly - something like 8 years ago.

Torchlight 2, mind you, which wasn't a game that evolved and was constantly supported directly over time like Diablo 3 (using this as an example of the level of support, not an example of a perfect ARPG), so, saying that this is just the launch version is a pretty weak argument.

Yeah, I like ARPG's, but this is a pretty hard no for me. If you like it, that's cool, but it does not sound like anything worth even half what it costs. This is bargain bin fodder at best.

Netflix: "We're going to spend less on buying rights to other people's stuff, and make the main draw our OWN stuff."

Also Netflix: "Did you like those 2-3 seasons? Awesome. It's fucking cancelled out of the blue - no closure."


Even if it weren't for the rapidly dropping quality of their homebrew series', I still wouldn't watch them because it's just asking to get blue-balled when Netflix decides it would be cheaper to produce two seasons of some other shit.

I don't play the game, and don't plan to, so, I have no dog in the race here, but, why does a cute press release in character get everyone to completely ignore that Fall Guys is implementing an anti-cheat with Ring 0 privilege?

It's not just because people like the game, because Doom Eternal got flayed alive for doing it, and people love that game. It can't be just because people don't like Denuvo, because half the people here have a hate-boner a mile wise for Epic/Fortnite/everything related, and should be vomiting a mixture of battery acid and tears all over it right now, but, no battery acid tears.

Is it literally because it's cutesy with a story and haha.lol? I'm genuinely interested.

IANAL:

They can file all the publicity injunctions they want, legally, you can not self-inflict irreparable harm to have an injunction placed against. This is exactly why the first rulings prevented other companies who use Epic's engine from getting ruined by not letting Apple cripple Unreal Engine as a whole (Apple doing that would cause them irreparable harm - they had no part in Epic's decision), but, the judge found that Fortnite's removal did not show irreparable harm, because it was the actions of Epic themselves which caused it by breaking the terms, no matter how much money Epic loses because of it.

Sweeney can sue all he wants, but, whether you like Apple or hate Apple, unless he proves the reason Fortnite was booted was not fully his own doing (and having his protest video and lawsuit ready to go before they got kicked off is a pretty clear sign he knew exactly what he was doing) the law is firmly on Apple's side regarding injunctions.

You get what you fuckin' deserve.

Kxmode wrote on Aug 25, 2020, 13:25:

Sluggabed wrote on Aug 25, 2020, 13:13:
How much cash is enough for these F$%*rs, seriously Apple piss off

When a developer lives under Apple's house, they play by Apple's rules. If Epic doesn't like it, they can start a competing AppStore platform. Oh, and while they're at it, Epic should make third-party apps exclusive to anger Apple and Android gamers.

On Android, yes, they can create their own store. It's actually why Android users can still use Fortnite going forward. It can be sideloaded from Epic's app.

On Apple, no, Epic literally can not create their own Appstore platform. They can't distribute anything, up to and including a store app without Apple's say. That's a significant chunk of the point. Saying that Epic should just go create their own store if they don't like Apple's rules is objectively dumb.

This is all just a slapfight using money (and customers) between all the companies involved, and I hope all three get nothing but papercuts and bruises in the end, but let's at least have some sense about ourselves.

As much as I want to wildly throw my money at this with reckless abandon, I'm still waiting on reviews for how it runs. The specs not coming back as that crazy seem like a good sign that this could be a good port, but, I'm not about to jump in and find out that it's a garbage fire under the hood. Been burned by one too many ports in my day.

Process for guaranteed success:

A. Make game as outrageous as possible to draw in people via spectacle. Bewbs, and ripping babies out of wombs, and sex and...

B. Seemingly get scared that people may not buy it, and pull the stuff you drew your audience in with out of the game.

C. Sell your game with jank gameplay, and no spectacle, to millions.

It's literally fool-proof!

RogueSix wrote on Jul 22, 2020, 14:57:

Silent Bob wrote on Jul 22, 2020, 13:38:

Avus wrote on Jul 22, 2020, 12:26:
I definitely worry Epic game store will go out of business MUCH MORE than Steam.

It’s interesting. For Valve, Steam is the endless stream of revenue that drives the rest of their business. It’s also allowed them to make enough mistakes that would have shut down most other companies. Or forced them into a buyout.

For Epic, it’s Fortnite and that revenue won’t last forever. So the clock is ticking for them to take enough of Steam’s market share to generate a sustainable profit.

Really? When did Epic stop their licensing business? And have they vowed to never develop another game but Fortnite? Are all their assets, development studios, franchises etc. worth $0 except Fortnite? Is their $18bn market valuation solely based on Fortnite? How did they even exist and survive as a company since 1991?

Before Fortnite they didn't have the money to throw around on a store and get into slapfights with Steam, or hand out free games, or anything of the sort. They were a game company who happened to license their engine - which isn't a bad thing, but it certainly wasn't what put them in their position now. If their big earner goes away, all of a sudden, they'd still be a game company who happens to license their engine again, but they'd still be paying the big-league bills that come along with the new lifestyle. They've got a buffer, sure, but if they can't make their store the big earner by then (love it or hate it, Fortnite won't last forever - nothing ever does), they're back to being a small shop with really big shop sized bills. That math never ends well over a long enough time period.

They've grown too much to ever be able to go back to what they were. Either they'll figure out how to stay big and continue to eat like a king, or they'll shrivel and starve to death on the kind of diet that used to keep the smaller Epic nice and full since 1991. Those morsels just aren't enough to feed the beast nowadays.

Okay, so who is going to be that guy who complains that people who got the original in a free giveaway won't get this release for free? We all know you're out there, don't be shy.

”STOP LIKING THINGS I DON'T LIKE YOU DUMB KIDS!"

There we go. Everyone can move along home now.

Kxmode wrote on May 10, 2020, 18:52:

Jivaro wrote on May 10, 2020, 15:15:
PC Gamer coming with hardcore topics I see.

Luke Winkie doesn't work for PC Gamer. He's a freelancer writer and reporter. According to his accolades, he's written on topics for Heated, OneZero, Elemental, Medium, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Myspace, The Independent, USA Today and more. He doesn't strike me as a hard-core gamer, but more a hard-core trend chaser and opinionated flavor of the mouth spewer.

Which is fine and dandy, but, when you pay a hard-core trend chaser to appear on your site, it doesn't exonerate you for posting garbage - it means that you didn't have that variety of garbage in stock, so you went out and bought garbage to smear all over your site. I would almost consider that even worse.

I'd venture that 90%+ of people using computers don't know what Ring 0 or Kernels are, and another large section does, but doesn't care because they want to play the game.

At that point, they've already got such a huge chunk of the potential market that the few people who know, and also care, don't matter. It's not even a big loss for them.

Alamar wrote on Feb 5, 2020, 10:54:
Good on him for trying to learn from his mistakes...

No, please, do not encourage him. He's already half-waffled on his retirement, and we don't need anyone to open the door for him.

His failures burned his own empire to the ground, and took down everyone in his studio with him. If he really thinks that some digital bathrooms and how women looked in a fast paced shooter is what caused the fire, he's learned nothing, and we don't need him back.

Between the free games on Epic, the"free" games on Twitch Prime, and the odd giveaway, I got over 100 free PC games on the last year, and a lot of them were legitimately good games. Add Game Pass coming to PC, and I didn't need to spend as much.

It's not all on Epic, or Amazon/Twitch, or Microsoft, but if you add them all up, it's pretty obvious why the numbers are down.

Verno wrote on Jan 14, 2020, 11:50:
It would be nice if these threads could not be a fucking dumpster fire all year round. Whether its actual trolls or just people thinking they are clever by "preempting" the trolls, its really getting tiresome. Looking forward to actual game discussion in the free game threads, if that is even possible.

If only.

Nobody cares who 'snagged' a free copy of a game, again.
Nobody cares who made up a sarcastic ha-ha so funny Epic games store is like Hitler, but I'm sorry I had to take the handout lol copypasta, again.
Nobody cares who actually thinks the Epic Games Store is Hitler, again.
Nobody cares who refused to take a free game because they don't like the people handing it out, again.

It's been the same old people baiting the same old other people, who always take the bait, and bait back, for ages, and it makes actual discourse a chore for everyone else.

So, not just a pedophile, but one that needs two first world countries worth of children? Come on Cutter, give some respect where it's due.

Beamer wrote on Nov 19, 2019, 09:40:

Jonjonz wrote on Nov 19, 2019, 06:34:
It always amazes me just how willing game review sites are willing to pull their punches just to stay in the good graces of the sources of their free games and stuff. What a chorus of "it's not that bad, as long as you don't pay attention to the details."

Stadia is a luxury product aimed at the trust fund kids of the 1% with way more money than sense.

Have you tried it? Then how do you know comments like "massively disappointing" are "pulling punches?"

And considering there are people here with graphics cards that cost in the 4 figure range, I'd say we can't really pass judgment on people spending money on gaming.

While it was the Beta test, I played the Assassin's Creed Oddessy streaming back when it was out a year ago, and, it wasn't even close to being at an acceptable level. The graphics were trash compared even to console, and, far more importantly, the game did not handle well, even on a connection which was wildly overkill (I was able to test on both a stable home connection, and, a University connection, during break, with absolutely minuscule latency and an absurd amount of bandwidth). At the time, I'll admit that it felt borderline acceptable, being that I had never played an AC game... until I played the standard version afterwards. A console would be the vastly superior experience, let alone a PC of decent strength. There was just no comparison - the game just played so much more smoothly. The experience as a whole was affected by how much better it felt.

The only people I believe who should be considering Stadia, based upon my personal experience of the Beta, and the reviews coming out now which seem to coincide with my previous experience, are people who do not want to expend almost any money in hardware to be able to play the odd game, or *MUST* be able to take it with them without lugging significant hardware. That is the only viable market that I can see. If it works for them - cool. I'm all about people being able to get into something they want to try. I think there does exist an audience that could use this and be happy with it.

It is not made for traditional gamers though. It shouldn't be marketed to core gamers, and the reviews that "matter" should be the ones from non-gaming publications, since their audiences should be the real target market.

Just an opinion, and, while I haven't tried the production Stadia service which is now out, I don't think they've done anything to justify me doing so. I'm clearly not who they're trying to sell this to.

People are getting exactly what they deserve. At this point, I have zero sympathy for the people buying the same broken garbage year after year, and pouring more money down the drain on pay-to-win lootboxes.

If anything, EA is doing us a favor by making a containment zone for all of those geniuses to play with each other, and leave us in peace.