January 2025 PCG Article Discussion

[Pifanjr]

Every prestige blockbuster game should have Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's fast-forward option

Skip to the end.

www.pcgamer.com

I think a lot more games could do with a fast forward button. One of my favourite parts of Marvel Midnight Suns was that I could skip to the next line of dialogue even in the middle of a cutscene (most of the time).

 

[Pifanjr]

Microsoft wants to 'recruit your squad' in the latest unbidden Game Pass ad on your Windows Settings homepage. Also, it might crash

I love me some more ads in my settings page.

www.pcgamer.com

I'm still hoping I can skip Windows 11 just like how I skipped 8, but it's getting increasingly less likely. Maybe I'll switch over to SteamOS instead...

 

[Zed Clampet]

Dwarf Fortress finally got its roguelike Adventure Mode on Steam, so if you'll excuse me, I've got to go fire up a fresh wombat man

Countless procedural adventures, and horrifying deaths, await!

www.pcgamer.com

By complete accident I stumbled upon this news today while looking up games in which you can play as a bird-person. I also learned that not only can you play as a bird person in adventure mode, you can play as a blood sucking mosquito woman.

I guess I missed why you want to be a bird-person. Unless it's just obvious. Why wouldn't you want to be a bird-person? I still want to try Dwarf Fortress someday. I'm waiting for 1st person with Cyberpunk-like graphics mode.

Microsoft wants to 'recruit your squad' in the latest unbidden Game Pass ad on your Windows Settings homepage. Also, it might crash

I love me some more ads in my settings page.

www.pcgamer.com

I'm still hoping I can skip Windows 11 just like how I skipped 8, but it's getting increasingly less likely. Maybe I'll switch over to SteamOS instead...

I think people are going to be surprised at how many people switch to Steam OS. I'm going to at least give it a try.

 

[isleepinabed]

I think people are going to be surprised at how many people switch to Steam OS. I'm going to at least give it a try.

What would the advantage be over any other distro?
Better compatibility with the Steam library?

Wouldn't it just be being as dependent on Valve's whims as Windows users are of Microsoft's?

 

[Zed Clampet]

What would the advantage be over any other distro?
Better compatibility with the Steam library?

Wouldn't it just be being as dependent on Valve's whims as Windows users are of Microsoft's?

Valve's unlikely to have those sorts of "whims" because SteamOS is open source. Valve isn't making money from it. So there's another advantage. It's free.

Windows has a lot of problems partly due to 40 years of accumulated bloat, and they are getting progressively more aggressive with advertising and pushing services on the user, so I think it would be great to have an open-source alternative. It is extremely light weight compared to Windows and might actually provide better gaming performance.

As far as using SteamOS goes, most newer games will be compatible because of the tremendous popularity of the Steam Deck. I'm not sure about older games and non-gaming software, but if the OS proves popular, developers will likely rush to become compatible.

However, a lot depends on what, if anything, they've done for controlling Linux outside of the Steam environment. If you have to install and run things using the traditional Linux methods, then most people aren't going to want to switch.

 

[isleepinabed]

Valve's unlikely to have those sorts of "whims" because SteamOS is open source. Valve isn't making money from it. So there's another advantage. It's free.

Windows has a lot of problems partly due to 40 years of accumulated bloat, and they are getting progressively more aggressive with advertising and pushing services on the user, so I think it would be great to have an open-source alternative. It is extremely light weight compared to Windows and might actually provide better gaming performance.

As far as using SteamOS goes, most newer games will be compatible because of the tremendous popularity of the Steam Deck. I'm not sure about older games and non-gaming software, but if the OS proves popular, developers will likely rush to become compatible.

However, a lot depends on what, if anything, they've done for controlling Linux outside of the Steam environment. If you have to install and run things using the traditional Linux methods, then most people aren't going to want to switch.

I'm sure as long as there's a browser, a productivity suite and a media player it's going to be alright for most users. I also read they had a sort of Windows compatibility mode, similar, I think to the ones Apple has, to run Windows programs.

About SteamOS over Windows, I'm not sure Valve is running a charity either. Windows 10 and 11 have been, to some extent, free as you can download them from MS's site. I am running a free version that has an "Activate Windows" seal on the lower right side of the screen.
Of course just because it doesn't cost the user money, it might not mean it's free.

That's why I also asked about SteamOS over other distros. I'm not sure how much SteamOS fulfills Linux's "hacker ethos". It might be as much as Google's Android does. For a for-profit company it would not make sense to not harvest the user data of millions of users when you're giving away an OS for free...

 

[Zed Clampet]

I'm sure as long as there's a browser, a productivity suite and a media player it's going to be alright for most users. I also read they had a sort of Windows compatibility mode, similar, I think to the ones Apple has, to run Windows programs.

About SteamOS over Windows, I'm not sure Valve is running a charity either. Windows 10 and 11 have been, to some extent, free as you can download them from MS's site. I am running a free version that has an "Activate Windows" seal on the lower right side of the screen.
Of course just because it doesn't cost the user money, it might not mean it's free.

That's why I also asked about SteamOS over other distros. I'm not sure how much SteamOS fulfills Linux's "hacker ethos". It might be as much as Google's Android does. For a for-profit company it would not make sense to not harvest the user data of millions of users when you're giving away an OS for free...

Well, the Steam app has hundreds of millions of users and doesn't even read your web cookies or harvest any user data at all other than what you do while you are on their site, even though they could use that information to better sell you games.

It's true that Valve isn't running a charity, and that's why having an OS with the word "Steam" in it that automatically includes the Steam app would be a huge financial win.

As far as the "hacker ethos" goes, most of it wouldn't even apply to either Android or SteamOS. It's mostly just high-minded nonsense. But it starts with stating that sharing data is an ethical imperative and that all information should be free, which SteamOS fulfills by being open source. Now if you are worried about the other parts of the "ethos", Valve can't help it if you don't think that SteamOS is playful, artful or passionate.

Overall, comparing Valve to Microsoft or Google seems a little weird to me. Not all companies are the same and operate under the same values. Valve never laid anyone off even though they went 15 years without making any games, for instance. They've also occasionally let people freely use their IPs in commercial projects, which shows a generosity that very few companies have.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Nvidia share price plummets as it loses more than $600B in valuation, the biggest single-day loss in history

China's new R1 AI model is putting the boots to Nvidia.

www.pcgamer.com

There goes my Nvidia stock that I recently purchased, although I didn't buy nearly as much this time as I had before I cashed out. Plus, i doubt this will actually have any long-term impact on Nvidia as I suspect the Chinese company is greatly exaggerating. Chinese companies seem to be a lot like Elon Musk. They just say anything.

On the other hand, I know very well that current AI models are ridiculously inefficient, so maybe this will wake up the US companies. They've been resting on their laurels far too much as of late, apparently satisfied with AI as it is, possibly because an inefficient AI makes them tons more money because companies have to have massive amounts of servers.

 

[Zloth]

I guess I missed why you want to be a bird-person.

It makes it easier to get hot chicks!

 

[Pifanjr]

I guess I missed why you want to be a bird-person. Unless it's just obvious. Why wouldn't you want to be a bird-person? I still want to try Dwarf Fortress someday. I'm waiting for 1st person with Cyberpunk-like graphics mode.

I got bored and went on to the r/gamingsuggestions subreddit to see if I could help some people find a game to play. Someone asked about games where you can play as a bird person where you could use their natural attacks and Dwarf Fortress came to mind.

I think people are going to be surprised at how many people switch to Steam OS. I'm going to at least give it a try.

I'm curious how big SteamOS will become. I suspect that the vast majority of gamers will just stick with Windows just because they have no experience installing an OS.

Because regardless of generation, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people have never had to install their own OS before and would not go through the effort to try to switch to a new one.

 

[JCgames]

Maybe steam OS would be good, but my main thoughts are about security, like using browsers, exploits and other things that could lead to lots of privacy issues. I'm not saying steam would be doing it but do they even have the staff to keep that side of things right?

After all steam is the most profitable tech company per employee, but I recently saw they have under 400 people. Seams like if your running a secure OS you'd need more than that. Honestly though I really have no clue about that on the code side but it would just seam like you'd need a pretty big dedicated team for that.

Can anyone enlighten me on that side, or would third party stuff handle all that?

 

[JCgames]

I'm curious how big SteamOS will become. I suspect that the vast majority of gamers will just stick with Windows just because they have no experience installing os

The issues to me isn't about tunning games as i think they could di that, and game companies would have a reason ti make sure it works smoothly with steam OS. But i think for many the main issue would be how compatible is everything else you use. People love linex but look at the 1ks of things that don't just work and need lots of tweaking or flat out wont work, that's one reason linex isn't more popular. Heck even as big/popular as apple and Mac are there is tons that won't work on Mac OS. It's one reason I've never bothered with one. Sure I could deal boot now, but what's the point of a Mac when I got to run windows anyway?

People could have a gamer rig, but so much is about everything else, that would be the real test, outside of security.

In the end people love to hate on windows, but in the grand scheme of things, I've never really had an issue with them out side of getting a few games to run on modern systems. I've built every system since my p166. It's a fun hobby in itself. Proper set up and quality parts I've had very few issues with any win os. The only one I haven't tried yet is xp and 11. Still I'm open to other options, but in the end windows is pretty cheap and it works. 300 bucks in 25 years isn't bad

 

[Pifanjr]

Maybe steam OS would be good, but my main thoughts are about security, like using browsers, exploits and other things that could lead to lots of privacy issues. I'm not saying steam would be doing it but do they even have the staff to keep that side of things right?

After all steam is the most profitable tech company per employee, but I recently saw they have under 400 people. Seams like if your running a secure OS you'd need more than that. Honestly though I really have no clue about that on the code side but it would just seam like you'd need a pretty big dedicated team for that.

Can anyone enlighten me on that side, or would third party stuff handle all that?

SteamOS is based off of an existing Linux distribution and uses existing packages, so as long as those are kept up to date it should be about as secure as Windows probably.

The issues to me isn't about tunning games as i think they could di that, and game companies would have a reason ti make sure it works smoothly with steam OS. But i think for many the main issue would be how compatible is everything else you use. People love linex but look at the 1ks of things that don't just work and need lots of tweaking or flat out wont work, that's one reason linex isn't more popular. Heck even as big/popular as apple and Mac are there is tons that won't work on Mac OS. It's one reason I've never bothered with one. Sure I could deal boot now, but what's the point of a Mac when I got to run windows anyway?

People could have a gamer rig, but so much is about everything else, that would be the real test, outside of security.

In the end people love to hate on windows, but in the grand scheme of things, I've never really had an issue with them out side of getting a few games to run on modern systems. I've built every system since my p166. It's a fun hobby in itself. Proper set up and quality parts I've had very few issues with any win os. The only one I haven't tried yet is xp and 11. Still I'm open to other options, but in the end windows is pretty cheap and it works. 300 bucks in 25 years isn't bad

I honestly can't remember the last time I used our PC for something other than browsing the internet or playing games.

 

[Pifanjr]

Eternal Strands review

Big hearts and bigger monsters make Eternal Strands something special.

www.pcgamer.com

I don't think I've heard of this game before, but it sounds great. I love games that allow you to experiment with its systems, especially if it has proper physics mechanics. This quote from the article describes it perfectly:

When I tried things in Eternal Strands it consistently delivered moments of "Wow, I can't believe that worked," rather than smacking me in the face with artificial setups screaming "Please notice the one conspicuously flammable thing in the cold area." Here, pretty much everything's flammable if I try hard enough.

 

[Pifanjr]

Death Howl is an impossible and brilliant blend of soulslike, turn-based strategy, and deckbuilding, and you can try it for free now

A brutal journey through a prehistoric spirit realm.

www.pcgamer.com

I am unreasonably annoyed that they described this game as a soulslike just because you have to learn enemy moves by experimenting and there are checkpoints you can teleport between. Neither of these mechanics are unique to souls games and genre definitions are already vague enough without developers intentionally stretching them to ridiculous degrees because they want to apply a buzzword to their game.

 

[Colif]

Colif is slow this month:

2025 PC hardware preview: This is the tech we want in our gaming rigs from the coming year

Some of this is more certain than others, but it's all very enticing.

www.pcgamer.com

1 would be nice, especially the cool part as their operating temp is a good reason to avoid them. That and the speed difference isn't really noticeable between 3 & 5 anyway
most of the points are going to happen anyway.
9 needs more motherboard makers actually embracing it. Then lian li won't have anyone to sell strimmer cables too.
10. ram speed needs to keep increasing or PCIe 6 nvme will catch it.
12. cheapo oleds so it doesn't hurt as much when the burn in happens and you need a new one... or just better screens that don't burn in... I know which choice I prefer
13. Arm seems to be struggling on laptop as it is, and you want more fail?

not going to comment on other articles.

 

[Zed Clampet]

For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’

Now that's some serious dedication.

www.pcgamer.com

I never really play CoD anyway, but now I will absolutely avoid it like the plague. If they put a false ban on me, and my Steam profile started showing a red cheater notice, I would spend the rest of my life and my money trying to burn Activision to the ground.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Death Howl is an impossible and brilliant blend of soulslike, turn-based strategy, and deckbuilding, and you can try it for free now

A brutal journey through a prehistoric spirit realm.

www.pcgamer.com

I am unreasonably annoyed that they described this game as a soulslike just because you have to learn enemy moves by experimenting and there are checkpoints you can teleport between. Neither of these mechanics are unique to souls games and genre definitions are already vague enough without developers intentionally stretching them to ridiculous degrees because they want to apply a buzzword to their game.

If this bothers you, try to avoid looking at the tags on Steam for the 100 indie games that release every day because souls-like is one of the most popular tags, and sometimes it seems to just mean "hard".

 

[Johnway]

GOG just brought Dino Crisis 1 and 2 back to life, and wants your help shouting at the execs imprisoning your favourite games

In other words, go vote for Black & White.

www.pcgamer.com

I'm going to say it. ubisoft's the crew. GOG should try and rescue games that are dead or on the verge of being erased. Getting the SP of the crew working would be the icing on the cake for the service.

But keep up the good work gog, we need to preserve our games and art even if the publishers want to see it all burn. In their eyes, either they make all the money or no one makes any money from their game.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Sony finally surrenders: PSN accounts will be 'optional' for games on Steam including Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part 2, but they'll give you free stuff if you sign up

The stick didn't work out super well, so now it's time for the carrot.

www.pcgamer.com

The dolts in suits finally catch a clue.

 

[Zed Clampet]

The IOC says 'discussions are still ongoing,' but it sounds like the first-ever Olympic Esports Games may be delayed, possibly until 2027

The IOC wants to ensure the Olympic Esports games are "a landmark event," but the 2025 timeline may have been too tight.

www.pcgamer.com

I have too many thoughts on this to discuss it. No one would read it. But for starters, we need publisher agnostic games or this is going to be a huge joke, and I don't know how we are going to get publisher agnostic games.

 

[Pifanjr]

The IOC says 'discussions are still ongoing,' but it sounds like the first-ever Olympic Esports Games may be delayed, possibly until 2027

The IOC wants to ensure the Olympic Esports games are "a landmark event," but the 2025 timeline may have been too tight.

www.pcgamer.com

I have too many thoughts on this to discuss it. No one would read it. But for starters, we need publisher agnostic games or this is going to be a huge joke, and I don't know how we are going to get publisher agnostic games.

I remember some articles a while ago stating that esports weren't as popular (read: profitable) as expected so a bunch of sponsors and investors backed out. However, if I look up the esports market now it's apparently expected to grow significantly, which I suppose is exactly why they're trying to set up an olympic esports event.

One of the sites that popped up did say that the biggest market was betting, so I'm curious if the olympic esports will turn out to be a glorified horse betting operation.

 

[BeardyHat]

GOG just brought Dino Crisis 1 and 2 back to life, and wants your help shouting at the execs imprisoning your favourite games

In other words, go vote for Black & White.

www.pcgamer.com

I'm going to say it. ubisoft's the crew. GOG should try and rescue games that are dead or on the verge of being erased. Getting the SP of the crew working would be the icing on the cake for the service.

But keep up the good work gog, we need to preserve our games and art even if the publishers want to see it all burn. In their eyes, either they make all the money or no one makes any money from their game.

Worth linking directly to GoGs Dreamlist page. I got through about 19 pages, but haven't been back yet.

GOG Dreamlist | GOG.COM

Explore our Dreamlist, vote for games you hope to see on GOG and contribute to game preservation!

www.gog.com

I still regularly buy stuff off GoG, though admittedly, I rarely play it.. Just recently I picked up Jaggad Alliance 2 and installed the Straciatella mod/compatibility update. I ended up playing for about a half an hour but ultimately decided to go back to Aliens: Dark Descent, which was feeling like a more fulfilling strategy game.

Still need to play through Blade Runner as well...

 

[Pifanjr]

Worth linking directly to GoGs Dreamlist page. I got through about 19 pages, but haven't been back yet.

GOG Dreamlist | GOG.COM

Explore our Dreamlist, vote for games you hope to see on GOG and contribute to game preservation!

www.gog.com

Time to vote for all of the games I played as a kid so future generations have access to those classics. Every kid deserves to play Black & White and The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth (2).

 

[Johnway]

Worth linking directly to GoGs Dreamlist page. I got through about 19 pages, but haven't been back yet.

I had a brief look. RE Code veronica x gets my vote. i quickly searched and what do you know, the Crew is there. C&C generals as well. i think we're in safe hands. But personally would like to see publishers preserve their back catalogue or better yet, just let the games bloody work without online activation. Especially for single player experiences...