PCG article links and discussions for February 2024

[ZedClampet]

Post your links to PCG articles and discuss them here.

 

[Colif]

your sig space seems empty

Also, you might want to look at this and make profile look different... its up to you though.

Announcement - Using the PC Gamer Forum Features

The PC Gamer forums have many helpful features to make life easier on the community. This thread will serve as a one stop shop for customizing your forum experience. Click the links below to visit each guide: Dark Mode Bookmarks Embedding Images Setting a Cover Image Toggling Screen Width...

forums.pcgamer.com

they changed how covers worked and I hadn't updated it since the changes were made here.

 

[ZedClampet]

https://www.pcgamer.com/avoweds-game-director-says-obsidians-choice-to-limit-players-to-just-two-races-is-partially-down-to-its-first-person-camera/

The reason for this is essentially that they want to concentrate on making the best first person combat that they can. They've mentioned before that they are taking Vermintide as inspiration, which is great because no one has done it better than Vermintide.

Obsidian's next big RPG Avowed is looking to Vermintide's 'masterclass in having a sense of hitting and impact' to make its first-person sword-swinging feel weighty

FPS: First Person Swordster.

www.pcgamer.com

However, it should be noted that Vermintide does allow you to play characters of different sizes. The devs say that they have to make compromises, but that's really a little disappointing. I couldn't care less that you can only play two races, but the fact that they are having to make compromises on something like this that an indie developer was able to accomplish over 3 games feels like maybe management (Microsoft) is getting involved and pushing for a release.

I briefly had an admiration for Microsoft thanks to how they were handling PC games now, but turns out that admiration should have only been for Phil Spencer. Microsoft as a whole is just your typical, corporate moral vacuum sucking up souls for an extra 1% profit.

Anyone who thought the lesson of Baldur's Gate 3, which was to take your time and create something extraordinary, would be learned by the likes of Microsoft is going to be sorely disappointed. Then again, Spencer delayed Starfield substantially, and they didn't get anything for it because Bethesda could have worked several more years on their game to no avail since they didn't seem to understand what their customers wanted. Given lots of extra time, Bethesda would have probably just made the story and questlines bigger.

 

[ZedClampet]

Gary Bowser, charged with paying Nintendo a sum he'll never be able to afford, talks about his life after prison: 'The sentence was like a message to other people'

"I’ll pay them what I can, which won’t be very much money, that’s for sure."

www.pcgamer.com

What he was doing apparently wasn't exactly emulation as we think of it, but remember that Nintendo has the same opinion of emulation as they have of piracy, and would gladly do the same thing to people responsible for popular emulators if they could get away with it. As PC gamers, many of us also have a who-cares view on just plain pirating. You see it all the time. In fact, people playing pirated games on Steam is usually listed in the top 5 player concurrent counts on SteamDB. So before you criticize Bowser too much, realize that a lot of people in the PC gaming community don't consider things like what he did to be unusual or even harmful in any way. This behavior has been rationalized in many different ways. Perhaps this punishment will help to change that, but I do feel badly for Bowser even though I'm personally against piracy. Maybe someone has to be the example, but it's difficult if you are that person.

 

[Pifanjr]

Gary Bowser, charged with paying Nintendo a sum he'll never be able to afford, talks about his life after prison: 'The sentence was like a message to other people'

"I’ll pay them what I can, which won’t be very much money, that’s for sure."

www.pcgamer.com

What he was doing apparently wasn't exactly emulation as we think of it, but remember that Nintendo has the same opinion of emulation as they have of piracy, and would gladly do the same thing to people responsible for popular emulators if they could get away with it. As PC gamers, many of us also have a who-cares view on just plain pirating. You see it all the time. In fact, people playing pirated games on Steam is usually listed in the top 5 player concurrent counts on SteamDB. So before you criticize Bowser too much, realize that a lot of people in the PC gaming community don't consider things like what he did to be unusual or even harmful in any way. This behavior has been rationalized in many different ways. Perhaps this punishment will help to change that, but I do feel badly for Bowser even though I'm personally against piracy. Maybe someone has to be the example, but it's difficult if you are that person.

On one hand, Bowser knew full well that he was breaking the law and could get caught. On the other hand breaking the law should not prevent someone from getting the medical treatment they need.

 

[DXCHASE]

Its beautiful

Really sleek design. Has a back plate, feels sturdy, not much bigger than my 3070ti. Havent tested it out yet but it works at least. Think ill post a hardware review and record some benchmarks.

The wife finally got her 4070 back lol, 3070ti waits. Might throw it in my sons (has a 3050) but isnt making use of it rn. I think im done buying gpus for 2 gens i think. Hope MSI has a style like this in the future, i feel no shame paying for the little bit of OC marks and this look though for sure.

 

[Colif]

8 hours in, Suicide Squad doesn't seem like the disaster some were waiting for

It's pretty fun.

www.pcgamer.com

So why are the search results for "Suicide Squad Refund" up 800% in last 3 days? Maybe because those who pre ordered expecting to be able to play early access were met with servers that were down... you know, they didn't get value for money there.

Could also be how they treat one of their previous characters too.

 

[ZedClampet]

Palworld server costs near $500K per month as network engineer is ordered to 'never let the service go down no matter what'

"Wait, maybe we'll go bankrupt from server fees?" joked the Pocketpair CEO.

www.pcgamer.com

12 million sales on Steam and 7 million sales on Xbox. I'm guessing they can afford those servers. Crazy that they really haven't gone down, not even on launch day.

"Following the order to never let the service go down no matter what, we have prepared servers without regard to cost," said Palworld server engineer Chujo Hiroto in an English response to Mizobe's post. "We will continue to give our all to ensure that all players can enjoy to the fullest! $478,000..."

 

[Colif]

Microsoft offering support with the servers on Xbox network, that might spread across to PC as well.

 

[ZedClampet]

Microsoft offering support with the servers on Xbox network, that might spread across to PC as well.

I'm not completely sure, but they haven't had as smooth sailing with Xbox as they've had with PC. I think that's why Microsoft stepped in on Xbox. But the servers themselves are actually maintained by Pocketpair, crazy enough. No idea how they decided in advance to get ready for that many people. Just crazy.

 

[ZedClampet]

You know what I really wonder about Palworld? It was made in Unreal, and everyone has known about it for a few years now. You know Epic had to try to get them as an exclusive for the Epic Game Store, but not only are they not an Epic exclusive, but they aren't in the Epic store at all. You almost have to think there was some sort of falling out.

 

[Zloth]

You know Epic had to try to get them as an exclusive for the Epic Game Store...

Maybe, maybe not. Nobody knew the game was going to explode like this. By the time it did, it was too late to do an exclusive.

 

[Colif]

I wonder what other games have been using a stale old formula that has worked everytime until now? If you don't have any competition and an endless supply of new kids to play your games, why change? So what if people grow out of your game, plenty more where they came from.

With so many games being sequels out there, we need more Palworld's to spice up the industry.

 

[ZedClampet]

Maybe, maybe not. Nobody knew the game was going to explode like this. By the time it did, it was too late to do an exclusive.

I actually think a lot of people in the industry probably knew it was going to do extremely well. Maybe they didn't foresee 19 million copies in a month, but I imagine that analysts probably saw huge potential. Actually, that's probably the real reason there was no deal. Pocketpair didn't want to potentially kill their sales.

 

[Brian Boru]

what other games have been using a stale old formula that has worked everytime until now?

Chess

Football

Bridge

Cricket

Checkers

Rugby

Poker

Golf

Go

How many more do you need?

 

[ZedClampet]

Chess

Football

Bridge

Cricket

Checkers

Rugby

Poker

Golf

Go

How many more do you need?

Somehow there's a difference between something that you actually play and something that you virtually play. For instance, if my body allowed it, I could play American football, soccer, basketball, baseball, golf, etc. all day every day, and I don't think they would ever get old. Whereas even my very favorite video games become tiresome after awhile. Card and board games get old pretty quickly for me, too.

 

[Brian Boru]

difference between something that you actually play and something that you virtually play

I've played all of those virtually, except cricket. 5-6 of them had/have pretty good implementations, so no wonder they have large followings in the video game community.

I'm just pointing out how flawed Colif's point is, that repeating something which works very well and is quite popular is a bad idea. I mean, he's used armor in a recent game he played—and I'm certain he also used armor in a previous game. But no dissing armor, for some reason

 

[ZedClampet]

I've played all of those virtually, except cricket. 5-6 of them had/have pretty good implementations, so no wonder they have large followings in the video game community.

I'm just pointing out how flawed Colif's point is, that repeating something which works very well and is quite popular is a bad idea. I mean, he's used armor in a recent game he played—and I'm certain he also used armor in a previous game. But no dissing armor, for some reason

I really wasn't making an argument against your point. It was just something your post made me think about.

 

[Pifanjr]

I actually think a lot of people in the industry probably knew it was going to do extremely well. Maybe they didn't foresee 19 million copies in a month, but I imagine that analysts probably saw huge potential. Actually, that's probably the real reason there was no deal. Pocketpair didn't want to potentially kill their sales.

Going by the article on the chaotic development of Palworld, I honestly don't think it was on anyone's radar until it suddenly took off. The developers just threw a lot of money at the problem of getting enough server capacity and it worked, but it's not really a viable long-term strategy.

 

[ZedClampet]

Going by the article on the chaotic development of Palworld, I honestly don't think it was on anyone's radar until it suddenly took off. The developers just threw a lot of money at the problem of getting enough server capacity and it worked, but it's not really a viable long-term strategy.

I disagree. No one knew about the chaotic development except for Pocketpair. All anyone knew was about their previous, successful survival game, which is on the same scale only without the Pals. Actually, after the years of development, there's more to their previous game. But even if that was all you knew and you thought Palworld would be just as successful, then Epic should have tried to get an exclusive deal. But I saw quite a few articles over the last few years on the game. People were definitely watching it. As I said, I doubt anyone could have guessed they'd sell 19 million copies in a couple of weeks, but I think that most people who watch the gaming scene probably realized it would do well. I certainly have been watching it and thinking it would do well, and I'm definitely not a paid analyst like Epic has.

 

[Colif]

Chess

Football

Bridge

Cricket

Checkers

Rugby

Poker

Golf

Go

there are multiple different versions of all those. They didn't just stay as one thing and not evolve. Sure, the original forms may have but there are alternatives made up along way.

The fact you can play them virtually shows they changed. Rules might be same but format isn't.


I know Cricket tests don't run forever anymore. they used to run until one side won... no matter how long it took. Massive scores lol.

The last timeless Test was the Fifth Test between England and South Africa at Durban in 1939,[13] which was abandoned as a draw after nine days of play spread over twelve days, otherwise the England team would have missed the boat for home.[14]

This match had started on 3 March. South Africa had set a target of 696 for England to win. By the time England had to leave to catch their boat home, on 14 March, England had reached 654 for 5 (the highest ever first-class fourth innings score).[15]

This is the longest Test cricket match on record. The match had not been expected to take more than five days, but rain and rolling rejuvenated the pitch three times during the match, and it was still in good condition for batting when the match was abandoned.[16]

Timeless Test - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

They have a max length now (5 days). One day cricket is also only a relatively recent (in historical terms) event... Day/Night cricket as well.

Football... and Rugby are seen as same sport in some countries... don't even want to get into the labelling discussion. They have different versions in different countries.

I don't really know about the others - I am sure they all changed through the years as I doubt any still use the original rules.

 

[ZedClampet]

there are multiple different versions of all those. They didn't just stay as one thing and not evolve. Sure, the original forms may have but there are alternatives made up along way.

For instance, vibrating anal bead chess. That must be an interesting variant to play.

Chess grandmaster denies using anal beads to cheat against world champion: 'categorically no, of course not'

"It really has taught me a lot of very important lessons about life and chess."

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Brian Boru]

I'll be back later. For now I'm gonna go change my shirt and become a different person—less smelly BB

 

[Colif]

Chess - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_variants (Chess as you know it is only 500 years old - https://www.chess.com/news/view/valencia-and-the-origin-of-modern-chess) though game is much older.
Football - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_football
Bridge - https://greatbridgelinks.com/different-types-bridge/ (this is the game, not the structures)
Cricket - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forms_of_cricket
Checkers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers#Invented_variants
Rugby - this isn't so easy as to start, there is Rugby League and Rugby union

• Rugby League - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Variations_of_rugby_league
• Rugby Union - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Variations_of_rugby_union

Poker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poker_variants (the game, not the prodder)
Golf - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_of_golf
Go - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_variants

All of your examples changed over time or had different versions made to extend its life span. Its probably why they are still played today. Palworld is a variant, as many of those aren't made by the original creator either. Most happened years later...

Funny how Strip poker isn't listed as a variant but its in the see also section. hmmm

unrelated

seems he was wrong

 

[Brian Boru]

Rugby League and Rugby union

You're slippin' man! You don't know what kind of rugby will be in the Olympics???

Chess as you know it is only 500 years old

Okay, ya got me