Dupe of the Op Ed above, FYI. <3

NKD wrote on Jan 8, 2021, 17:09:
I'd rather see the effort spent prosecuting the insurrectionists and giving them the maximum punishment allowed under the law. Every last person who can be identified in the footage should be tried and convicted for sedition .

I agree with the need to do that. But there is a common theme in the US (and likely other countries) of punishing what amount to foot soldiers and middle managers, while the people at the heads of movements continue on to either comfortable lives, or new plans to exploit people. The rich and powerful need to have justice delivered the same as the poor and powerless, perhaps even more so.

D-Rock wrote on Jan 8, 2021, 11:57:

Choobeastia wrote on Jan 8, 2021, 11:08:
This also isn't over. It is important that we get Trump out of office ASAP, because the Q crowd are still planning things based off of his latest speech on Parler.

Do you really think getting Trump out of office will change anything? Expect at least 4 years of their antics. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

Agreed, but getting him out of office prevents him from using the powers of said office. He can't pardon any of the insurrectionists, or use the presidency as a soapbox from which to speak to his cultists. It won't fix things, and of course the cultists can continue on their own, but it can limit the damage he can do, which seems important. As it is, the US has proven rather resilient, considering the hubris infecting him and so many others in power.

I don't comment TOO often because this is usually a pretty... spicy comment section! But there are some things you can't really be silent about.

The assault on the Capitol Building WAS absolutely a failed attempted Coup. White Nationalists, Hate Groups, and more had been active in the DC area for days, and just prior to the beginning of the active part of the insurrection President Trump was giving a speech filled with lies about the election, and telling people to go to the Capitol, and that he would be with them. Then he vanished, and left them holding the bag.

The vast majority claiming this wasn't am attempted coup that petered out after meeting resistance is engaged in willful denial in an attempt to soften the guilt that rests on them for supporting it. Thankfully, Kevin Sorbo has presented us with a nice 4 part play concerning it.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErLwunVXYAEeuwS?format=jpg&name=large

As you can see, he is right there for it, until he needs to deflect.

This also isn't over. It is important that we get Trump out of office ASAP, because the Q crowd are still planning things based off of his latest speech on Parler.

MrBone wrote on Dec 12, 2020, 17:05:
Where are the SJW’s now?? Screaming at the sky, no doubt. Oh wait.....

I'm confused... are you saying that the company is showing those pesky 'SJWs' by doing right by their workers? It seems to me that either the company leadership is deciding to be decent to their workers, so why would 'SJWs' be here at all except to praise them? Or if CDPR succumbed to the pressure to avoid a PR mess, it would seem their efforts bore fruit and the company was pushed into acting in a way it normally wouldn't.

Either way your post is weird. Maybe I missed it and you're mocking people who mock 'SJWs?' Unclear.

Cutter wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 12:21:

Since Ars is a PC-focused site, however, I have to begin any impressions with a dire warning. Until we see significant patches to Squadrons' PC version, I must advise prospective players to not buy the game on PC (yet).

EA drops the ball yet again. Shocker.

Not shocking, really. But if you read the full review, it isn't about the game itself, so much as issues they ran into with VR. Specifically, trying to use VR from Origin, rather than Steam.

Acleacius wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 23:56:

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 23:13:

Acleacius wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 23:07:

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 23:01:

Acleacius wrote on Sep 29, 2020, 22:32:
I gotta say, most people would be begging to work and get paid overtime in this global pandemic.

Those that are havenots, if you work for CDPR it's been paycheck as usual. That said, some will totally like the extra dough.

Respectfully disagree, we live in a world ravaged by unemployment. Of the approximately 8 billion population, 4.5 billion are of average working age 15-64.
Your talking about 100 people, give or take. They are damn lucky to have their jobs, and I bet most of them know it.

I love your idea that people are that upstanding that because the world is having a problem that they will just simply be happy at working more if they really don't want to. Sure they will do it to keep their jobs but it isn't and people aren't as "boot strappy" as you make it sound. Should people be thankful they have a job? Yes. The counter is once again business takes advantage of a situation, "because you know some people are struggling at this special time, this crunch you should be happy with it!!!", age old tactic.

No idea what your talking about, I'm not making it sound like anything. This is probably the worst economy in world history, it's going to become catastrophic in the next 3 months. This isn't like the great depression where other countries saved our economy because they bought our products. The world economy is failing. You would have to be living in a bubble not to know it's just getting started. Not only is the disease increasing and the economy failing, but they are doing it exponentially. In the US 200 million working age and less than 100 million jobs, irrc.

This week or next, airlines will layoff 10s of thousands of jobs, hotel industry the same and entertainment industries like disney, the same. Flu season is starting early, and here in the US we have a 60% shortage of doctors before the trump pandemic. Hospitals have had record closures in the last 15 years, we have the lowest number of hospital beds per citizen in 60 years, irrc. The disease is ravging states where people are too brain washed, mentally ill or stupid to wear masks.

People are losing jobs, homes and lives by the millions. It took 5 months to get 200k deaths, now we will get another 200k in 2 months, that's what exponential means.
You think people wouldn't work 6 days a week from home, to save their jobs, families, homes and lives. Or it's some kind of happy, boot strappy life?
I'm beginning to think your extremely confused?

It is a really rough situation all over the world, but especially in the US where the response has been weak. These workers are primarily in Poland as I understand it, though, so loss of homes and employment is not nearly the problem as it has become in the US. At least for the time being.

So while I understand where you're coming from, remember that many areas of the world aren't being ravaged the way we are due to their response. And finally, a global health crisis is not an excuse for taking advantage of laborers. The company made a promise, and it isn't keeping it. This is a sad thing, and hopefully in the future they will find other ways to adapt, or they are forced to find other ways to adapt.

Choobeastia wrote on Sep 2, 2020, 02:14:

gilly775 wrote on Sep 1, 2020, 14:25:

Choobeastia wrote on Sep 1, 2020, 12:37:
Bomber Crew was a really fun game for a while, though it had some growing pains to endure.

If this is like that (and it appears to be) but with some refinement and tweaks, it could be a fantastic game for little 15-20 minute play sessions. Looking forward to it.

There's a demo on Steam you can try out.

Thanks for the heads up! Downloaded and going to give it a try tomorrow morning.

Picked up the demo and gave it a try. Clearly they're showing you a mission from a bit later on, but it seems good overall! The only thing I didn't see was the possibility of changing ships, or having excess crew members. Right now it's a bit like a bomber in space, but the game play was fun, and even smaller fights felt epic.

gilly775 wrote on Sep 1, 2020, 14:25:

Choobeastia wrote on Sep 1, 2020, 12:37:
Bomber Crew was a really fun game for a while, though it had some growing pains to endure.

If this is like that (and it appears to be) but with some refinement and tweaks, it could be a fantastic game for little 15-20 minute play sessions. Looking forward to it.

There's a demo on Steam you can try out.

Thanks for the heads up! Downloaded and going to give it a try tomorrow morning.

Bomber Crew was a really fun game for a while, though it had some growing pains to endure.

If this is like that (and it appears to be) but with some refinement and tweaks, it could be a fantastic game for little 15-20 minute play sessions. Looking forward to it.

Cutter wrote on Feb 22, 2020, 13:00:
Russia helping Bernie? What a crock of shite. Trump and Moscow Mitch already work for Putin, there's zero gain in helping Bernie become Prez.

Well, if you're not friendly to the US, and you're Russia, then supporting Bernie without his knowledge spreads distrust. And it works all the better when you have people who don't understand what Democratic Socialism is, or who try to (like Boomberg) suggest that Bernie is a communist.

I'm a little disappointed in Blue for posting it without a comment of any sort, but I know he has to parse through a lot of stuff, and can't comment on it all.

Beamer wrote on Jan 23, 2020, 09:38:
As annoying as the China censor-creep into Hollywood is, it's far less that the sinister Chinese government is forcing anything or funding anything, and far more that the Chinese box office for blockbusters is generally 50%-150% of the US box office.

If you're a cynical, publicly traded company producing cynical products designed to appeal to the widest audience possible, this means having to enter China. A $200MM movie will make its money back faster if it doesn't ignore 30% of the global market.

So they avoid anything the Chinese censors will dislike, and often add something the Chinese audience will. Not doing so means missing hundreds of millions of dollars. And it isn't as if we have many movies being made for art or creative purposes anymore. There isn't a whole lot left out there other than giant blockbusters carefully crafted to appeal to literally every single human being on the planet. It's why I find TV much more satisfying (also, it's why network television blows.)

What you just described it how they "force" and "fund" ideas. Their market has money to spend that outside companies want. Let's call that market square. The Chinese Government keeps their market square through censorship of media inside of China. They don't impose anything outside of China, but they do have a lot of money available inside of China.

The outside companies are from markets that are round and can accept many shapes of media. Luckily for the companies, that round market can ALSO fit square media. Square media sells well in China, and there is lots of money to earn in China. So they produce square media.

As a result, the Chinese censorship expands beyond the borders of China, not through force, but through coercive money, and our round markets start seeing a big uptick in square media, and square ideas, and a downswing in media and ideas that won't fit the square market.

Slashman wrote on Jan 22, 2020, 17:09:

jdreyer wrote on Jan 22, 2020, 16:21:
While every Chinese company has to do what the government tells them, I haven't gotten the sense that Tencent is particularly beholden to or controlled by the CCP. I oppose consolidation as a general rule, so I think this acquisition isn't good, and you'll find me a constant critic of the Chinese government on this forum. That said, Hollywood catering to the Chinese market is a trend that will continue, IMO.

Yes it may seem that Tencent is not beholden to the CCP...until the CCP asks them to do something or allow something and they comply.

The problem isn't Chinese people. I have a few Chinese friends and Chinese people have been residents on the island for as long as I can remember. The issue is that these common folk have no power to fight back against a government that still dabbles in forced organ donations and "reeducation camps". Well that's not exactly true...collectively they could fight back but it would take a hell of a lot to make them move in that direction.

This makes it hard to trust ANY Chinese based company because they ultimately do not answer to anyone else except their authoritarian government.

That really is my problem. And Tencent is involved in so much. Many of the movies that come out that have token elements put in to please Chinese audiences have Tencent in their credits if you dig around for a while. So it's rarely right up front.

jdreyer wrote on Jan 22, 2020, 14:46:

Blue wrote on Jan 22, 2020, 14:28:

PHJF wrote on Jan 22, 2020, 12:57:
So we watched Godzilla Saturday (my gf’s idea), and while the whole movie was tremendously fucking awful, the thing that stuck out most was the shoehorning in of a totally random Chinese character. My first instinct was wow this must be a Chinese-backed movie... and sure enough it is.

Yes, shoehorning a character from a giant media market into a Godzilla movie just to appeal to a wider audience is an unprecedented catastrophe.

LOL.

Skull Island had a Chinese character, as did The Meg, and both of them were fun romps. When a movie is bad, it makes like actor and product placement stick out. Still hard to blame them for wanting to appeal to a market of 1.4B people. Also, hooray for more Asians in Hollywood films. We've come a long way since Long Duk Dong.

I find it very easy to blame them. It's tokenism at best. While the Chinese people aren't to blame, if Tencent is involved, they don't represent the Chinese people, they represent the government of China. And the government of China is authoritarian with dictatorial leanings thanks to the recent removal of term limits and expansion of presidential power. Tencent and the government of China should not be further enriched by external corporations for their own profit.

Cutter wrote on Jan 19, 2020, 16:53:

jdreyer wrote on Jan 19, 2020, 16:27:

Cutter wrote on Jan 19, 2020, 14:16:

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 19, 2020, 13:06:
Now we have confirmation from Amazon that not only did it licence Lumberyard to CIG (which was publicly known) but also CryEngine, meaning that CIG cannot be in breach of the GLA with Crytek. Not that Crytek's claim had any merit, as the GLA specifically included Star Citizen AND Squadron 42.

Crytek attempted to extort CIG and now it looks like it will be on the hook for over $500,000 in legal costs, possibly a lot more. Crytek should be focused on paying its own employees rather than filing baseless lawsuits that will create even more of a blackhole in its finances.

Are you privy to the original contract between Crytek and CIG? If not than how would you possibly know? All I've seen is the usual convoluted mess of their PR people engaging in he said/she said.

Haven't they been releasing the contract text? I could have sworn I read some of it last year.

Since when are contract specifics public knowledge? Anywhere? All I've read since this bullshit began is claim vs. counterclaim - same as any public dispute - that's long on claims and short on actual facts.

They have released to the court and public viewing the GLA, or game license agreement, which is the contract between CIG and Crytek. The court ruled previously that the GLA does not require CIG to use Cryengine as provided by Crytek, but rather allows them to do so.

chickenboo wrote on Dec 12, 2019, 19:36:
Good Op Ed, but it boils down consumer backlash to noisy racists/trolls, labelling all dissenting opinions about the EGS to the association with a few noisy rude loudmouths on twitter. It's like labelling all of the protesters in Hong Kong as dangerous radical looting rioters because a few bad seeds are present.

The arguing against EGS definitely comes off as petty - it's just a store front, big deal - but games sold on Kickstarter guaranteeing Steam keys and then suddenly taking EGS exclusivity deals while riding the association with the Steam store front is pretty misleading and bad practice. Ditto Metro Exodus who announced two weeks before launch that they're going EGS Exclusive, the backlash for that is pretty deserved, and despite there being a lot of horrible direct abuse and attacks which are never warranted, there's a hell of a lot of decent, reserved commentary on why this is a bad thing. It's pretty annoying that this Op Ed glosses over that in favor of portraying every game consumer with the same rabid/troll/racist/pigheaded paintbrush.

The 88/12 deal is fine for producers but the argument it will lead to more and better games is simply misleading. It's like when businesses say that any increase in taxes represents one less employee that could be hired, implying they would have hired extra people if they had the money, not that that ever really happens. Look at Mechwarrior 5 Mercs: the game just released, it's riddled with poor grammar, spelling mistakes, the story is some weak revenge tale with one dimensional characters who don't even more, they just stand there stock still. From what I've read the missions are dead simple and don't offer branching paths that even MW2 Mercs managed to do (complete your contract with A or do what B suggests and get double the payout). You mean to tell me this developer took the EGS payout, and this is what we get? How do you release a V1.0 with grammar and spelling mistakes? I thought 88/12 split was supposed to improve the quality of games.

Until we get clear proof from developers of what they were able to achieve with the generous EGS earnings split and a demonstration of what would have been left off the table without it, why should I believe them that it's in MY best interests to buy from this store, that exclusivity is worth it? And when/if Steam eventually meets the 88/12 split... are we going to see these fabled lands of better games now that devs get 18% more, or will it be status quo...

I couldn't have responded better if I tried. A well reasoned, well explained set of observations and beliefs.

...

Just what I'd expect from a noisy rude loudmouth on twitter, or Hong Kong Rioter!!

Luke wrote on Nov 26, 2019, 08:20:

Choobeastia wrote on Nov 25, 2019, 20:27:

Thakk wrote on Nov 24, 2019, 14:45:
I've dropped about $1k on the promise of CR's vision. I hope it comes to fruition. I'm fine with the spent funds. Will I be contributing anymore funds in the short-term? No. I've given enough. If/when the IP ships, that's when I'll determine to give more.

As a former Project Manager of software developers, I've been having a blast following the ups and downs and I've met some great people along the way. I know all to well the JIRA jargoon and Project Manager speak they've incorporated these past few years. It's a slog, no doubt about it, especially with scope creep. I wish them the best of luck.

Ahh a believer....never fails to make one laugh , keep telling to youself and it will be true...in ya head 350$ sick


Are you sure you're on the right webpage? My impression was that people were only allowed to call it a scam, joke about it never coming out, or act like it's their duty to love it around these parts. *offers a map*

All jokes aside, I agree. I'm not in as far as you (about $350 here), but I don't have any regrets. I enjoy watching the progress, and it's been a blast seeing different components come online. SOCS is a huge one, and I look forward to when that blossoms into Server Meshing.

I think you messed up the quote.

Regardless, I'm not sure what's sick about it? I don't buy movies, and I don't buy many games. Instead I support a dream that might or might not be completed, and pay monthly to patreons of content creators I like. In the end, I'm putting money towards things I enjoy, which sounds like what everyone is doing, so it seems pretty normal to me.

GinRummy wrote on Nov 25, 2019, 10:35:
For all the millions of words argued about this game so far, nobody ever actually talks about the state of gameplay in it. Is it an empty solo place? Are there people, quests, enemies, planets, etc. yet even in beta form? What is coming soon and is it actually worth trying the demos now? I suppose I could install it myself and see, but that's work others could do and just tell me.

There is a limited sandbox. The state of your account and progress is generally persistent during each quarterly patch, and you can engage in the following in the play space available:

1> Trading (buying/selling commodities and shipping them)
2> Answering distress beacons (NPC requests for combat assistance, newer feature, not consistently working)
3> Bounty Hunting (Fly to a place, destroy target, get paid)
4> Scan for, find, and destroy spy satellites around Comm Relays.
5a> Go to a wreck and retrieve the black box and bring it back
5b> Go to a wreck and collect the dog tags of the crew to find a specific dead crew members
5c> Go to a wreck and find specific cargo and bring it back
6a> Collect specific cargo from one location, and bring it to another (small quantity transport)
6b> Find a target, destroy, retrieve cargo, deliver
7> Repel boarders on a security station
8> Repel player trying to hack a Comm Array
9> Repel a player trying to hack a security station
10a> Hack a Comm Array
10b> Reset a hacked Comm Array
11> Search a cave for a lost cave diver
12> Ship mining if you have a Prospector
13> Hand mining if you don't have a Prospector
14a> Raid a drug lab, destroy turrets protecting it, kill NPCs present, return with specific drugs
14b> Raid a drug lab, stop another player from stealing the drugs, destroy as many drugs as you can.

And a whole lot more. Much of it works consistently, some of it less so. On top of that, you can now rent ships to enable you to expand the style of missions you can engage in, you can work with others on their ships, and you can use your IN-GAME money to purchase ships (Watch Astropub's Zero to Hero streams sometime). FINALLY, in 3.8 (coming in December), money and in-game purchases will be persistent through several major patches to let people mess around more.

The game has TONS of bugs. It is clearly in a state of active development, and that means there will be nights where a player runs into so many bugs they just lose their mind and want to stop playing. And other nights where someone will run into no bugs at all.

I wouldn't recommend anyone pledge money to the game until we have more bug fixing, and a better tutorial than what we have. But I would recommend people try out free fly events to see how things stand, and if they and their friends have fun.

Hope that helps!

This comment was edited on Nov 25, 2019, 22:34.

Cutter wrote on Nov 24, 2019, 17:29:
And each one of those virtual ships is available to you for only several thousand dollars a pop! What a bargain!!!

Your hyperbole is getting lazy. There are a couple that high, but the VAST majority of the vehicles are lower, with starter packages as low as $45 and 83 flyable/driveable, so basically less than most AAA games with more vehicle variety than most of those would have as well.

At least figure out a semi-accurate way to be crappy about an interest you don't share.

Thakk wrote on Nov 24, 2019, 14:45:
I've dropped about $1k on the promise of CR's vision. I hope it comes to fruition. I'm fine with the spent funds. Will I be contributing anymore funds in the short-term? No. I've given enough. If/when the IP ships, that's when I'll determine to give more.

As a former Project Manager of software developers, I've been having a blast following the ups and downs and I've met some great people along the way. I know all to well the JIRA jargoon and Project Manager speak they've incorporated these past few years. It's a slog, no doubt about it, especially with scope creep. I wish them the best of luck.

Are you sure you're on the right webpage? My impression was that people were only allowed to call it a scam, joke about it never coming out, or act like it's their duty to love it around these parts. *offers a map*

All jokes aside, I agree. I'm not in as far as you (about $350 here), but I don't have any regrets. I enjoy watching the progress, and it's been a blast seeing different components come online. SOCS is a huge one, and I look forward to when that blossoms into Server Meshing.

This comment was edited on Nov 25, 2019, 20:39.