Because we can't let the year end without doing one of these things.
And no, it's not a 'best game of 2023' list... not yet at least. I'm
sure we'll get one of those inevitably, though. This is more of a
"gaming/pc news that triggered discussion in this newsgroup over the
past year.

So... where to start? Here are a few stories of note that I remember:

* The death of crypto may not be the most important thing to affect PC
gaming (and it was already on a downward slide in 2022) but it's quite
welcome to see that skeevy corner of the Internet get a much-deserved
comeuppance. Pretty much everyone other than die-hard crypto-bros have
recognized that crypto and NFTs are /NOT/ the next-big-thing and have
backed off appropriately. Well, except for Ubisoft, which still has an
unfathomable attraction to the idea. But on the whole, the news looks
good: no NFTs in our games, thank God! Maybe no more NFT discussions
in c.s.i.p.g.action too!

* The Microsoft/Activision merger finally went through... much to my
surprise. I really thought ONE of the various agencies (in multiple
countries) that objected to the merger, but I admit it: I was wrong. I
still don't think the deal is good for the CONSUMER (the industry
needs more diversification, not less) but it's a moot point now. But
at least Kotick is out (well, technically, not until Dec 29th: put it
on your calendar and we'll hoist a glass together to his long-overdue
dismissal), even if the rest of the leadership at Activision is
remaining in place. Still, Kotick getting kicked out is one glimmer of
light in an otherwise gloomy tale.

* Starfield's release and subsequent 'flop' is newsworthy too... even
if it didn't get as much discussion here as it probably should have.
Of course, calling it a flop is unfair; it sold fairly well for
Bethesda. But for such an eagerly anticipated game, it should have
sold a lot better, and the general response to the game was an
overwhelming "meh". For a variety of reasons, Bethesda's latest opus
just didn't attract the same devotion and attraction as its earlier
titles.

* Valve released a semi-updated version of its Steamdeck console, now
with an OLED screen. Personally, I can't get too excited about the
device, except that it shows Valve's continued interest in remaining a
significant influence on PC gaming. And I guess the tech is neat too.

* Meanwhile, MS is going the other way, and tries to ban accounts that
use 'unofficial' accessories from its XBox platform. Nominally in the
name of cutting down on cheaters, its mostly affected people with
disabilities who need accessibility devices to play (that it lines
Microsoft's coffers by forcing people to use Microsoft's own hardware,
or devices where the manufacturer has paid Microsoft for a license is,
I'm sure, completely coincidental). It also reinforces Microsoft's
vision of how they'd like gaming to be: with devices completely under
their thumb.

* RoBlox has been huge for years, but mostly it's been seen as "that
thing that kids use to make blocky, Minecraftian games". But there
have been several prominent games that showed off how far the platform
has come in the years, and while it will never rival Unreal, it no
longer seems so unlikely that older gamers may start utilizing the
service.

* Which is, perhaps, a good thing now that Unity has tried to take
itself out of the picture. God, what a fiasco that was! Its attempt to
migrate to a new payment structure did NOT go well with its users, and
even though it ultimately reversed course, it lost a lot of the trust
of developers. Is it dead? No... but a lot of Indie developers are now
looking at alternatives.

* 2023 is also the last year for Windows 7 gamers; starting 2024,
Steam will no longer support the OS. Many other applications also
stopped supporting the OS (including Chrome and Firefox). Microsoft,
of course, abandoned the platform years ago, but it's really apps
which keep an OS alive, and with fewer programs supporting the OS, it
may finally be time for Win7 die-hards to migrate to another OS (for
what its worth, despite threats to the contrary, the Win7-to-Win10
free migration path still works).

* ChatGPT and other AI programs made a lot of news this year, and
we've seen AI being used a lot more in games. Of course, less
sophisticated AI programs had been used for years (AI texture
upscaling mods, for example) but 2023 was when things really seemed to
explode. Is this a good thing? A bad thing? It's too early to tell.
But it's a powerful tool and we're just going to see more of it used
in the future.

* Facebook's MetaVerse pretty much shit the bed, with a disastrous
reveal this spring, a much-mocked announcement about the addition of
LEGS to in-game avatars, and a reveal about how much Facebook was
spending on its Metaverse dream ($10 billion, in case you're
wondering). And yet, for all that money, the people's response was a
big, "No thanks", and Metaverse is a barren wasteland, devoid of both
users and content.

These were just a few of the topics we discussed or that affected our
hobby over the past year. Can you think of any others of note?

On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:01:54 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Because we can't let the year end without doing one of these things.
>And no, it's not a 'best game of 2023' list... not yet at least. I'm
>sure we'll get one of those inevitably, though. This is more of a
>"gaming/pc news that triggered discussion in this newsgroup over the
>past year.
>
>So... where to start? Here are a few stories of note that I remember:
>
>
>* The death of crypto may not be the most important thing to affect PC
>gaming (and it was already on a downward slide in 2022) but it's quite
>welcome to see that skeevy corner of the Internet get a much-deserved
>comeuppance.

That really happened? I guess I missed the memo... I made just under
35k from crypto between Dec of last year and this year. Front pocket
money to some sure, but I'll take it.

On 22/12/2023 16:01, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Because we can't let the year end without doing one of these things.
> And no, it's not a 'best game of 2023' list... not yet at least. I'm
> sure we'll get one of those inevitably, though. This is more of a
> "gaming/pc news that triggered discussion in this newsgroup over the
> past year.
>
> So... where to start? Here are a few stories of note that I remember:
>
>
> * The death of crypto may not be the most important thing to affect PC
> gaming (and it was already on a downward slide in 2022) but it's quite
> welcome to see that skeevy corner of the Internet get a much-deserved
> comeuppance. Pretty much everyone other than die-hard crypto-bros have
> recognized that crypto and NFTs are /NOT/ the next-big-thing and have
> backed off appropriately. Well, except for Ubisoft, which still has an
> unfathomable attraction to the idea. But on the whole, the news looks
> good: no NFTs in our games, thank God! Maybe no more NFT discussions
> in c.s.i.p.g.action too!
>

I'm glad to see the back of NFT's as if they'd taken off I think that
would be detrimental to the industry as a whole. The only shame it the
number of people who have been duped by hype and lost money they really
can't afford. Not that the crypo-bros care about that as long as they
got a slice of the action before it all started falling apart.

Saying that I do expect it to be pushed again at some point.

> * The Microsoft/Activision merger finally went through... much to my
> surprise. I really thought ONE of the various agencies (in multiple
> countries) that objected to the merger, but I admit it: I was wrong. I
> still don't think the deal is good for the CONSUMER (the industry
> needs more diversification, not less) but it's a moot point now. But
> at least Kotick is out (well, technically, not until Dec 29th: put it
> on your calendar and we'll hoist a glass together to his long-overdue
> dismissal), even if the rest of the leadership at Activision is
> remaining in place. Still, Kotick getting kicked out is one glimmer of
> light in an otherwise gloomy tale.
>

The UK did get some concessions out of them but exactly why the ended up
agreeing I don't know. It certainly wouldn't surprise me considering the
makeup of our current government that political pressure was put on them
to wave it through. After all this is the same government that spent two
years having an enquiry into lootboxes only for Nadine Dorries (or Mad
Nad as she's normally know) to completely ignore the main conclusion
that they should be classed as gambling as in her words that may have
unintended consequences.
> * Meanwhile, MS is going the other way, and tries to ban accounts that
> use 'unofficial' accessories from its XBox platform. Nominally in the
> name of cutting down on cheaters, its mostly affected people with
> disabilities who need accessibility devices to play (that it lines
> Microsoft's coffers by forcing people to use Microsoft's own hardware,
> or devices where the manufacturer has paid Microsoft for a license is,
> I'm sure, completely coincidental). It also reinforces Microsoft's
> vision of how they'd like gaming to be: with devices completely under
> their thumb.
>

That one has a strong whiff of we need to come up with an excuse of why
we are doing it but as that reason isn't unpalatable let's come up with
something that means we are doing it 'for the gamers'. It reminds me of
when the company that ran the canteen at work refused to give out hot
water at a nominal fee. The reason they gave was due to safety concerns.
The problem was that the person who'd sent that e-mail out had forgotten
to remove the e-mail trail which effectively said this is because we
want people to buy our expensive tea and coffee but let's concentrate on
safety concerns.

>
> * Which is, perhaps, a good thing now that Unity has tried to take
> itself out of the picture. God, what a fiasco that was! Its attempt to
> migrate to a new payment structure did NOT go well with its users, and
> even though it ultimately reversed course, it lost a lot of the trust
> of developers. Is it dead? No... but a lot of Indie developers are now
> looking at alternatives.
>

What a fiasco that was. I can understand their position of some
companies are making big profits out of our IP basically on the cheap
but how can it have got to the stage it did without pushback internally
from some people with clout to fail to mention that this is a really,
really bad idea.

> * 2023 is also the last year for Windows 7 gamers; starting 2024,
> Steam will no longer support the OS. Many other applications also
> stopped supporting the OS (including Chrome and Firefox). Microsoft,
> of course, abandoned the platform years ago, but it's really apps
> which keep an OS alive, and with fewer programs supporting the OS, it
> may finally be time for Win7 die-hards to migrate to another OS (for
> what its worth, despite threats to the contrary, the Win7-to-Win10
> free migration path still works).
>

I remember I was annoyed that when I finally went from 7 to 10 it was no
longer free. As you say not quite though, they just have well put a box
with, please click yes to pay and no to get it for free.

On 12/23/2023 2:21 AM, JAB wrote:
> On 22/12/2023 16:01, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Because we can't let the year end without doing one of these things.
>> And no, it's not a 'best game of 2023' list... not yet at least. I'm
>> sure we'll get one of those inevitably, though. This is more of a
>> "gaming/pc news that triggered discussion in this newsgroup over the
>> past year.
>>
>> So... where to start? Here are a few stories of note that I remember:
>>
>>
>> * The death of crypto may not be the most important thing to affect PC
>> gaming (and it was already on a downward slide in 2022) but it's quite
>> welcome to see that skeevy corner of the Internet get a much-deserved
>> comeuppance. Pretty much everyone other than die-hard crypto-bros have
>> recognized that crypto and NFTs are /NOT/ the next-big-thing and have
>> backed off appropriately. Well, except for Ubisoft, which still has an
>> unfathomable attraction to the idea. But on the whole, the news looks
>> good: no NFTs in our games, thank God! Maybe no more NFT discussions
>> in c.s.i.p.g.action too!
>>
>
> I'm glad to see the back of NFT's as if they'd taken off I think that
> would be detrimental to the industry as a whole. The only shame it the
> number of people who have been duped by hype and lost money they really
> can't afford. Not that the crypo-bros care about that as long as they
> got a slice of the action before it all started falling apart.
>
> Saying that I do expect it to be pushed again at some point.
>
The same cons keep coming around again, just with different names and
occasionally a change of shirt.

>> * The Microsoft/Activision merger finally went through... much to my
>> surprise. I really thought ONE of the various agencies (in multiple
>> countries) that objected to the merger, but I admit it: I was wrong. I
>> still don't think the deal is good for the CONSUMER (the industry
>> needs more diversification, not less) but it's a moot point now. But
>> at least Kotick is out (well, technically, not until Dec 29th: put it
>> on your calendar and we'll hoist a glass together to his long-overdue
>> dismissal), even if the rest of the leadership at Activision is
>> remaining in place. Still, Kotick getting kicked out is one glimmer of
>> light in an otherwise gloomy tale.
>>
>
> The UK did get some concessions out of them but exactly why the ended up
> agreeing I don't know. It certainly wouldn't surprise me considering the
> makeup of our current government that political pressure was put on them
> to wave it through. After all this is the same government that spent two
> years having an enquiry into lootboxes only for Nadine Dorries (or Mad
> Nad as she's normally know) to completely ignore the main conclusion
> that they should be classed as gambling as in her words that may have
> unintended consequences.
>> * Meanwhile, MS is going the other way, and tries to ban accounts that
>> use 'unofficial' accessories from its XBox platform. Nominally in the
>> name of cutting down on cheaters, its mostly affected people with
>> disabilities who need accessibility devices to play (that it lines
>> Microsoft's coffers by forcing people to use Microsoft's own hardware,
>> or devices where the manufacturer has paid Microsoft for a license is,
>> I'm sure, completely coincidental). It also reinforces Microsoft's
>> vision of how they'd like gaming to be: with devices completely under
>> their thumb.
>>
>
> That one has a strong whiff of we need to come up with an excuse of why
> we are doing it but as that reason isn't unpalatable let's come up with
> something that means we are doing it 'for the gamers'. It reminds me of
> when the company that ran the canteen at work refused to give out hot
> water at a nominal fee. The reason they gave was due to safety concerns.
> The problem was that the person who'd sent that e-mail out had forgotten
> to remove the e-mail trail which effectively said this is because we
> want people to buy our expensive tea and coffee but let's concentrate on
> safety concerns.
>
Criminals in general are stupid and/or socially "blind". The corporate
sub-group of criminals are only fractionally smarter.

>>
>> * Which is, perhaps, a good thing now that Unity has tried to take
>> itself out of the picture. God, what a fiasco that was! Its attempt to
>> migrate to a new payment structure did NOT go well with its users, and
>> even though it ultimately reversed course, it lost a lot of the trust
>> of developers. Is it dead? No... but a lot of Indie developers are now
>> looking at alternatives.
>>
>
> What a fiasco that was. I can understand their position of some
> companies are making big profits out of our IP basically on the cheap
> but how can it have got to the stage it did without pushback internally
> from some people with clout to fail to mention that this is a really,
> really bad idea.
>
Because they either got fired before they could say it by people who
knew they would or got fired for saying it later.

>> * 2023 is also the last year for Windows 7 gamers; starting 2024,
>> Steam will no longer support the OS. Many other applications also
>> stopped supporting the OS (including Chrome and Firefox).  Microsoft,
>> of course, abandoned the platform years ago, but it's really apps
>> which keep an OS alive, and with fewer programs supporting the OS, it
>> may finally be time for Win7 die-hards to migrate to another OS (for
>> what its worth, despite threats to the contrary, the Win7-to-Win10
>> free migration path still works).
>>
>
> I remember I was annoyed that when I finally went from 7 to 10 it was no
> longer free. As you say not quite though, they just have well put a box
> with, please click yes to pay and no to get it for free.
>

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 10:21:42 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 22/12/2023 16:01, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Because we can't let the year end without doing one of these things.
>> And no, it's not a 'best game of 2023' list... not yet at least. I'm
>> sure we'll get one of those inevitably, though. This is more of a
>> "gaming/pc news that triggered discussion in this newsgroup over the
>> past year.
>>
>> So... where to start? Here are a few stories of note that I remember:
>>
>>
>> * The death of crypto may not be the most important thing to affect PC
>> gaming (and it was already on a downward slide in 2022) but it's quite
>> welcome to see that skeevy corner of the Internet get a much-deserved
>> comeuppance. Pretty much everyone other than die-hard crypto-bros have
>> recognized that crypto and NFTs are /NOT/ the next-big-thing and have
>> backed off appropriately. Well, except for Ubisoft, which still has an
>> unfathomable attraction to the idea. But on the whole, the news looks
>> good: no NFTs in our games, thank God! Maybe no more NFT discussions
>> in c.s.i.p.g.action too!
>>
>
>I'm glad to see the back of NFT's as if they'd taken off I think that
>would be detrimental to the industry as a whole. The only shame it the
>number of people who have been duped by hype and lost money they really
>can't afford. Not that the crypo-bros care about that as long as they
>got a slice of the action before it all started falling apart.
>
>Saying that I do expect it to be pushed again at some point.
>
>> * The Microsoft/Activision merger finally went through... much to my
>> surprise. I really thought ONE of the various agencies (in multiple
>> countries) that objected to the merger, but I admit it: I was wrong. I
>> still don't think the deal is good for the CONSUMER (the industry
>> needs more diversification, not less) but it's a moot point now. But
>> at least Kotick is out (well, technically, not until Dec 29th: put it
>> on your calendar and we'll hoist a glass together to his long-overdue
>> dismissal), even if the rest of the leadership at Activision is
>> remaining in place. Still, Kotick getting kicked out is one glimmer of
>> light in an otherwise gloomy tale.
>>
>
>The UK did get some concessions out of them but exactly why the ended up
>agreeing I don't know. It certainly wouldn't surprise me considering the
>makeup of our current government that political pressure was put on them
>to wave it through. After all this is the same government that spent two
>years having an enquiry into lootboxes only for Nadine Dorries (or Mad
>Nad as she's normally know) to completely ignore the main conclusion
>that they should be classed as gambling as in her words that may have
>unintended consequences.
>> * Meanwhile, MS is going the other way, and tries to ban accounts that
>> use 'unofficial' accessories from its XBox platform. Nominally in the
>> name of cutting down on cheaters, its mostly affected people with
>> disabilities who need accessibility devices to play (that it lines
>> Microsoft's coffers by forcing people to use Microsoft's own hardware,
>> or devices where the manufacturer has paid Microsoft for a license is,
>> I'm sure, completely coincidental). It also reinforces Microsoft's
>> vision of how they'd like gaming to be: with devices completely under
>> their thumb.
>>
>
>That one has a strong whiff of we need to come up with an excuse of why
>we are doing it but as that reason isn't unpalatable let's come up with
>something that means we are doing it 'for the gamers'. It reminds me of
>when the company that ran the canteen at work refused to give out hot
>water at a nominal fee. The reason they gave was due to safety concerns.
>The problem was that the person who'd sent that e-mail out had forgotten
>to remove the e-mail trail which effectively said this is because we
>want people to buy our expensive tea and coffee but let's concentrate on
>safety concerns.
>
>>
>> * Which is, perhaps, a good thing now that Unity has tried to take
>> itself out of the picture. God, what a fiasco that was! Its attempt to
>> migrate to a new payment structure did NOT go well with its users, and
>> even though it ultimately reversed course, it lost a lot of the trust
>> of developers. Is it dead? No... but a lot of Indie developers are now
>> looking at alternatives.
>>
>
>What a fiasco that was. I can understand their position of some
>companies are making big profits out of our IP basically on the cheap
>but how can it have got to the stage it did without pushback internally
>from some people with clout to fail to mention that this is a really,
>really bad idea.
>
>> * 2023 is also the last year for Windows 7 gamers; starting 2024,
>> Steam will no longer support the OS. Many other applications also
>> stopped supporting the OS (including Chrome and Firefox). Microsoft,
>> of course, abandoned the platform years ago, but it's really apps
>> which keep an OS alive, and with fewer programs supporting the OS, it
>> may finally be time for Win7 die-hards to migrate to another OS (for
>> what its worth, despite threats to the contrary, the Win7-to-Win10
>> free migration path still works).
>>
>
>I remember I was annoyed that when I finally went from 7 to 10 it was no
>longer free. As you say not quite though, they just have well put a box
>with, please click yes to pay and no to get it for free.

Not even that much. I updated a laptop to Windows10 just last week (it
was an old 2011 MacBook Pro) from Windows 7 and the only difficult
part of the install was that it didn't convert the keyboard driver (a
problem since there wasn't a dedicated "delete" key, which made
pressing ctrl-alt-del problematic ;-). But not a whiff of any attempt
at monetization from Microsoft.* Just, "Oh, you're upgrading from
Windows 7? Sure, do you want a clean install or an in-place upgrade"?

Though to be precise, I upgraded using a USB key and not from
Microsoft's upgrade server directly... largely because I couldn't
figure out (nor did I try very hard) how to trigger it. Downloading
the ISO to a USB disk and launching the setup.exe was just simpler.

But maybe if you use Windows Update it's a bit more mouthy about
asking you to buy the OS first.

* Beyond the usual, you know, data-harvesting apps and advertising
third-party programs like Spotify that Windows is now famous for.

The Embracer group's collapse and resulting closing of studios is an ongoing
disaster. I just read of another abrupt closing, the Banner Saga studio.

rms

In article <ujaboile5bvdrkv1eokg3n1n5lisedb3iq@4ax.com>,
spallshurgenson@gmail.com says...
> * Starfield's release and subsequent 'flop' is newsworthy too... even
> if it didn't get as much discussion here as it probably should have.
> Of course, calling it a flop is unfair; it sold fairly well for
> Bethesda. But for such an eagerly anticipated game, it should have
> sold a lot better, and the general response to the game was an
> overwhelming "meh". For a variety of reasons, Bethesda's latest opus
> just didn't attract the same devotion and attraction as its earlier
> titles.
>
>

I completely forgot this even came out. It looked interesting at the
time and one or two reviews I read (I think destructoid was one) were
quite positive. But I don't have the GPU to play it and buying a new one
hasn't been a priority.

On 12/23/2023 12:35 PM, David Goodwin wrote:
> In article <ujaboile5bvdrkv1eokg3n1n5lisedb3iq@4ax.com>,
> spallshurgenson@gmail.com says...
>> * Starfield's release and subsequent 'flop' is newsworthy too... even
>> if it didn't get as much discussion here as it probably should have.
>> Of course, calling it a flop is unfair; it sold fairly well for
>> Bethesda. But for such an eagerly anticipated game, it should have
>> sold a lot better, and the general response to the game was an
>> overwhelming "meh". For a variety of reasons, Bethesda's latest opus
>> just didn't attract the same devotion and attraction as its earlier
>> titles.
>>
>>
>
> I completely forgot this even came out. It looked interesting at the
> time and one or two reviews I read (I think destructoid was one) were
> quite positive. But I don't have the GPU to play it and buying a new one
> hasn't been a priority.

Everything I've read on it has made it sound like the boringest of
boring games. I suppose that fits for a realistic space rpg though.

I'm sure I'll play it at some point, but it's so far down the list of
things I might want to play, and I'm willing to wait for a deep discount
and patching to slow down.

If you want Fallout set 'in space' there's Outer Worlds which still
deserves a replay with the DLCs for me.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 12:54:26 -0700, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

>The Embracer group's collapse and resulting closing of studios is an ongoing
>disaster. I just read of another abrupt closing, the Banner Saga studio.

Oh yes. That story got any traction in this newsgroup - it was, I
think, too much of a slow-motion disaster - but it undeniably deserves
mention.

Then again, it was a fairly predictible disaster too. Embracer - born
of Nordic Games (THQ Nordic) - expanded far too swiftly for a company
its size, and its collapse was almost inevitable. All the more so
since the developers they were snatching up weren't all that viable to
start with. They were break-even companies that had as many flops as
hits.

But maybe there's some good news out of this. Embracer owned
"Gearbox", so maybe Randy Pitchford will be kicked out of the industry
finally. ;-P

On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 21:28:13 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>On 12/23/2023 12:35 PM, David Goodwin wrote:
>> In article <ujaboile5bvdrkv1eokg3n1n5lisedb3iq@4ax.com>,
>> spallshurgenson@gmail.com says...
>>> * Starfield's release and subsequent 'flop' is newsworthy too... even
>>> if it didn't get as much discussion here as it probably should have.
>>> Of course, calling it a flop is unfair; it sold fairly well for
>>> Bethesda. But for such an eagerly anticipated game, it should have
>>> sold a lot better, and the general response to the game was an
>>> overwhelming "meh". For a variety of reasons, Bethesda's latest opus
>>> just didn't attract the same devotion and attraction as its earlier
>>> titles.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I completely forgot this even came out. It looked interesting at the
>> time and one or two reviews I read (I think destructoid was one) were
>> quite positive. But I don't have the GPU to play it and buying a new one
>> hasn't been a priority.
>
>Everything I've read on it has made it sound like the boringest of
>boring games. I suppose that fits for a realistic space rpg though.
>
>I'm sure I'll play it at some point, but it's so far down the list of
>things I might want to play, and I'm willing to wait for a deep discount
>and patching to slow down.
>
>If you want Fallout set 'in space' there's Outer Worlds which still
>deserves a replay with the DLCs for me.

Bethesda's games were never their gameplay. Nobody remembers Skyrim
for its riveting sword fights, or Fallout 3 for its exciting gunplay.
Their games were never about their story. Do you even remember the
reasons behind your wandering in Tamriel in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
Their games certainly aren't remembered for their characters:
excluding the protagonist, name five characters from Fallout 4.

Bethesda games were memorable for their huge, rambling worlds filled
with all sorts of things to discover. You'd crest a hill and find some
asshole dressed as the ant-king, or stumble across a watery cave
filled with liches. Maybe you'd bump into an assassin-cult, or a B-29
Bomber drowned in a radioactive lake. Usually these discoveries had
nothing to do with the main quest; they weren't part of any extended
quest. They were brief vignettes used to flesh out the world that
would occupy you for thirty minutes, and then you'd move on to the
next. It was this act of constant discovery that made Bethesda games
stand out from the rest.

Starfield - overly reliant on procedurally generated planets - didn't
have this. Oh sure, it aped the previous games by having similar
discoverable regions... but there were far, far fewer of them
scattered over much more bland and empty territory. The constant
stream of discovery became a trickle, and gamers looking for a thrill
were forced to turn to the game's story/characters/combat... which
felt old in 2004's "Elder Scroll: Oblivion" and haven't become any
better in the intervening twenty years.

Even worse, where once Bethesda games were unique with their huge,
diverse worlds to explore, now other games have caught up with
Bethesda, and offer as good or better experiences. Still, I think
Starfield /could/ have been a more enjoyable game, if the developer
hadn't fallen into the trap of thinking that the SIZE of the world was
what mattered.

It's quality, not quantity that counts.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>Though to be precise, I upgraded using a USB key and not from
>Microsoft's upgrade server directly... largely because I couldn't
>figure out (nor did I try very hard) how to trigger it. Downloading
>the ISO to a USB disk and launching the setup.exe was just simpler.

You can also do it without a USB disk by downloading the ISO and
extracting it to a directory or mounting it as a virtual drive and then
running setup.exe. That's how I upgraded Windows 7 to 10.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

On 12/24/2023 12:03 PM, Ross Ridge wrote:
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Though to be precise, I upgraded using a USB key and not from
>> Microsoft's upgrade server directly... largely because I couldn't
>> figure out (nor did I try very hard) how to trigger it. Downloading
>> the ISO to a USB disk and launching the setup.exe was just simpler.
>
> You can also do it without a USB disk by downloading the ISO and
> extracting it to a directory or mounting it as a virtual drive and then
> running setup.exe. That's how I upgraded Windows 7 to 10.

That's supposed to work from 10 to 11 as well, but having tried it on
some spares, I've never got it to work. It did work from 7 and 8 to 10
though.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On 23/12/2023 17:42, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> Criminals in general are stupid and/or socially "blind".  The corporate
> sub-group of criminals are only fractionally smarter.

Our current government seems to make a habit of stupidity should be no
bar to holding high office.