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I’m happy it’s here and probably will get one down the line. Equally as mad that it’s surely gone up in price thanks to all the AI and other bullshit, not only not costing less than Valve Index (as had been originally rumored, I think), but more.

Super sour about the not included PSU. Hate it about the smartphone market, too.

But as a VR enjoyer, I’m still happy.

It’s always this.

I remember some post from years ago by a person saying that Elon Musk seems like a genius up until he starts talking about something you’re familiar with.

Thanks to the Internet, I think it’s gotten both more difficult to hide your own stupidity unless you’re careful with your tracks (the power-hungry often aren’t) and easier to absolutely flood the discourse so that your inferior cognitive abilities are either lost or overshadowed by something else (like Trump doing everything he, unfortunately somewhat successfully, to keep people busy talking and thinking about so much more other than his ties with Epstein).

And it keeps showing with the political and corporate leaders. The smarter ones from the latter, unfortunately, mostly seem to be psychopaths and/or sociopaths, very keen on leading the former where they need them (currently supporting AI and preparing the bailout, curbing the competition before, probably staring jaw-dropped at the news of “AI going rogue” and how can be the end of humanity and all).

Imma beat the dead horse and say that out of all dystopias, Idiocracy (2006) turned out to be the most accurate.

Oh what a game!

Have you played the DLC they released after the acquisition (after Survivors of the Void, I think)? Any opinions? I personally haven’t, but remember enjoying the first DLC thoroughly.

Also, what’s your device and controller scheme? I haven’t played in years, but played Monsoon on mkb when I did, and I can’t imagine tackling this beast on a controller, even with a gyro.

Someone named rabber could be talking about more dire measures than piracy when referring to stealing. Never know.

Yeah, good point, hadn’t thought of that.

I think capacitor sensors might make better dead-man switches here, especially with chords (requiring both being active at the same time), as holding the grip buttons feels kinda tiring quickly and awkward to my hands.

But it’s still so cool.

Can’t believe I’m about to find out what happened to the rest of the world outside Australia in the MAD MAX universe by living through it myself!

Times are tough, but I think a security architect is one of the positions that lets you choose an employer based on morals as well, because it pays well, and if Flock is already considering you, you probably have experience and money to pursue some integrity.

Pretty much this. I’ve been living under authoritarianism my whole life and such things are just clear as day.

Same reason so many social media or tech CEOs don’t really let their kids use the product: they know it sucks and it’s not good for you nor does it respect you or your data, they know how important privacy is - just not for you your privacy and data.

Solid advice, thanks!

Given how trigger-happy THE FINALS is with the ban hammer towards gyro players, I really doubt I’d be taking my chances with flickstick in that game.

But I’ve been thinking about for a while for singleplayer games, yeah. Thinking about the new DOOM trilogy for this.

Steam Deck.

The Talos Principle. It’s actually my first time playing the game despite having learned about it near launch and having seen some footage and just wondering at this mysterious puzzle-solving adventure set in such beautiful locations… And it’s every bit wonderful, much more than I had expected. And there’s so much reading, too! I actually love that part and how it’s executed, because it allows me to choose whether to go lore-learning, puzzle-solving or secrets-hunting. The latter is especially amazing here: I love spending days on trying to get to something only to learn that the solution lies in a different direction and turns out to be much simpler. I wonder if that’s intended or it’s just me.

Half-Life. A while ago I tried playing THE FINALS with gyro only and quickly found out that I gravitate towards the dual-trackpad control scheme, allowing me to achieve more and do less. However, a fast-paced online shooter that is also as demanding wasn’t the perfect choice for every time I grabbed the deck, so I tried finally beating Half-Life on Hard - and got humbled. I had thought I was kinda good with gyro, but apparently not. All the better, as it led to me mixing mouse input on the right trackpad combined with gyro as opposed to committing to gyro entirely, the latter doesn’t being that much comfortable or precise on a Steam Deck, essentially rotating your controller with your screen.

I will probably pick up THE FINALS on the Steam Deck again, too, with S11 introducing bot matches. Could be a great and fun way to practice or warm up before joining someone’s team and contributing a fraction of a fraction of what I can with mouse and keyboard at least semi-predictably.

I’d prefer to leave the ambiguity completely out of the equation here!

I was thinking of the pressure difference and a spacesuit that allowed enough dexterity to do combat.

And again, with Xenonite, shooting it even in the right spot is kinda too tricky for the terrans.

There actually might be no war at all, because some things make warfare between these two species that much more difficult.

Behind the spoiler are details from Project Hail Mary, so if you’re planning on reading/watching it yourself, best not to look there.

Gotta be so careful with what your mat says…

Sugar free drinks are taxed at 20c/l

Does that include artificial sweeteners? I have some sort of prejudice against them that I couldn’t substantiate with research, but one thing is certain: none of them felt good to me.

I am much happier with drinking less sweet beverages overall, but made with regular sugar. Actually tend to spend less that way, even if I pay more for less - I just happen to be buying that much less frequently that way.

I love Remedy games, but Alan Wake 2 makes me think they’re not that into performance and optimization. Control mostly did okay in this regard probably thanks to being developed before such a heavy reliance on upscaling and ray tracing.

I think we have reasons to suspect that Control Resonant is going to both be a fantastic action game with some great worldbuilding, and run pretty terribly.

Stuff like this makes me think that upgrading my GPU is actually not as daunting, because how powerful the upgrade will be is going to be heavily negated by some games’ architecture.

That actually makes me wonder how come there’s relatively few such universes and stories arouns, given that suits and highly-secretive special forces are actually pretty popular in fiction. Maybe I’m overestimating the interest in such fiction.

I would like more stuff like Control and Men in Black, especially in gaming, with deep and explorable lore and world. But I think such stories basically happen as a response to something, like the SCP and the likes being a phenomenon rather than somethin (easily) reproducible, and Men in Black being a metaphor for migration and assimilation more than anything. At some point, there’s just nothing else to say about a thing from a given angle, and instead of feeling fresh and welcome and exciting, a new entry to a theme feels stale and meaningless, completely lacking anything interesting or captivating.

Which, I think, is what Control Resonant seems to try and do right by going outside The Oldest House and turning to a different kind of gameplay and worldbuilding. I think we’ll still be able to uncover stuff through reading and optional dialogue, but I doubt it will have the same form or extent as the first game.

Speaking of Control Resonant - are you even interested in it given this shift? Please be careful with plot details, as I haven’t finished the first game yet.

I was really into SCP when it came out, and it was such a gift. Probably my favorite third-person shooter, both for its atmosphere and combat. I especially like the amount of stuff to just read and get absorbed in the lore, wonder at how the place used to look like under non-crisis circumstances.

Great screenshots! Really capture the enigmatic feel that invites you to explore the world.

Any people waiting for the sequel here, how do you feel about combat in the upcoming game? Seems like it’s going to be more melee-focused, which isn’t my thing, but I like and respect that they’re trying to do something different as opposed to making more of the same thing. That’s the same reason I love the DOOM series - that variety helps each entry have its place instead of feeling like a DLC essentially.