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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jul 16, 2021 7:19:01 GMT -5
Tax isn't is added on to the price at sale in the US. So it usually ends up around the same price. Also kind of ridiculous tax isn't reflected in the price in the US but then they do still use imperial and put the month first in dates Whoops...I'm such a moron sometimes. In my defense, it's a really stupid system. Steam Deck - It isn't as DOA as those Steamboxes from a few years ago, but that I keep seeing "$50 more than an OLED Switch" is deceptive when the real comparison is 2x the price of a Switch Lite for the base model which also has poorer battery life. Dock TBD at some later date too so possibly never coming out if you're pessimistic. I think the practical issue that people are going to run into is that most PC games were not designed with running on a small screen device with a smallish internal battery. UIs are going to be a problem in some cases, and the rated battery life is only 2 to 8 hours. Nintendo's games take battery life into account which is something that complaints about graphics never consider. It's going to be hitting the low end of that range much more frequently than people expect particularly since certain game engines have awful efficiency. Switch Lite is indeed a better comparison, but I think the Switch OLED comparison is a little more sexy and timely for most sites. And even when considering the extra costs of a dock and controller, it seems that a lot of people are wary about the cheapest model with the limited storage and eMMC (no fricking clue whatever that is), so the comparison works even less. I don't see why buying an SD card for it is such a big deal, but I guess people who know more about this kind of stuff than me do. It's not a product for me, but I can see this being successful honestly. Most gamers already have a Steam with a decent library, Steam already has a huge library and sales are so frequent and prices go so low on Steam, that once you get over the initial high cost of the thing you'd be cheaper off from there on out than on, say, Switch. And that's not even considering non-Steam functionality. Although I have to be honest, I use Windows so I wouldn't even know how well my Steam library would translate over to a Linux-based system. But then again, I don't know anything about that kind of stuff.
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Post by lurker on Jul 16, 2021 10:15:48 GMT -5
US does month first because of filing systems.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jul 17, 2021 10:44:13 GMT -5
It's been a while since I posted a blurry picture of some NES games, so here's what I've been collecting for over the last month or so: Super Mario Bros. is just a replacement since my NES version of SMB/DH doesn't work anymore. Spartan X/Kung Fu is something I've always wanted to check out and it didn't disappoint. Before buying it I didn't know this port was developed by Nintendo (which should've been obvious since it's clearly in their housestyle of the day), and it feels right at home with their other games of this era. Very fun high score chaser, though it's limited a bit by how random the last two bosses are. Apparently the original was quite a hit and it got ported to every system under the sun. Never knew that and always associated it with the NES mostly. Xevious and Galaga are nice to expand my Namco FC collection. I have barely had any experience with these games (or none at all?) before getting these versions, so they're great to have. It's too bad that Galaga's coolest feature (retrieving a captured ship) makes your hitbox so big that it's not really a viable strategy for me, but it's still a blast and pretty impressive for a 1984 FC game. Xevious is a bit more interesting I think, and probably along with Lode Runner and maybe Golf the deepest game available for the system at that time. Wikipedia calls it the first killer app for the Famicom. Not sure how accurate that is, but I'd believe it. Enemy bullets are tiny as hell, though. Bomber King I haven't played past world 3 yet, but it's interesting. It sure doesn't mess around though. It took me a good while to beat the first stage, and I literally killed myself in 2 seconds the first time I booted it up (apparently it's harder than the western version too). I hadn't even heard of this game before I bought it, but apparently it is connected to Blaster Master somehow? With Hudson putting it out and it being called Bomber King you would think it's a Bomberman spin-off, and the gameplay only furthers that impression. Once you make it to stage 2 or so, a "Theme Song" option appears on the title screen that displays lyrics you can sing along to the main theme, which is kinda cute.
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Post by Snake on Jul 17, 2021 14:20:55 GMT -5
Very cool Famicom collection!
Bomber King is a game I haven't seen in ages. I saw it in a game strategy guide, decades ago. It was released in the US as Robo Warrior. I always wanted to try Robo Warrior, but the local video stores never had it for rent, and never saw it for sale in the stores.
Looking at Ebay prices, and I think I'll pick up a copy for $10.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2021 8:43:48 GMT -5
I see Tencent is looking to purchase Sumo Group. I'd imagine it wont have a huge impact on the way they operate however I'm still disappointed to hear it. They're a local business to me and with them being formed of staff from Gremlin Interactive I feel I have a long connection with their games. Of course it comes soon after Codemasters too. We've pretty much just got Team 17 left that haven't been bought out yet over here.
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Post by retr0gamer on Jul 20, 2021 3:23:22 GMT -5
I'm more worried about China infecting the games industry. We've already had major players tip toeing around issues when people call out actual human rights atrocities carried out by the Chinese government. The Movie industry is pandering to them as well.
On the other end of the spectrum you have the Saudi's buying up games companies as well like with SNK recently, investing oil money before it all runs out or sustainable fuels take over.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2021 6:50:47 GMT -5
I'm more worried about China infecting the games industry. We've already had major players tip toeing around issues when people call out actual human rights atrocities carried out by the Chinese government. The Movie industry is pandering to them as well. On the other end of the spectrum you have the Saudi's buying up games companies as well like with SNK recently, investing oil money before it all runs out or sustainable fuels take over. Of course Tencent is already enormous and highly influential, that will continue to grow as they seek to further investment. With regard to pandering to the Chinese the most obvious thing that would be a concern to myself is removal of LGBT and diversity representation. The problem there is that the video game industry is already doing the bare minimum as far as representation goes, and players are already willing to handwave blatantly offensive products from companies such as CDPR for being outwardly LGBTphobic. Honestly, I struggle to see how Chinese influence can really worsen that situation. Major video game outlets are far from progressive, and in some cases outright deplorable already, but perhaps I'm missing the point. I suppose influence on the Steam market where indies that are more likely to include diversity representation could be a potential issue. With regard to more political issues we already see major video game publishers go out of their way to claim their games are apolitical, so I just don't think video games are the goto medium to challenge Chinese atrocities.
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Post by retr0gamer on Jul 20, 2021 8:57:01 GMT -5
Square Enix going out of their way to and going so far as to put devs in front of cameras and interviewers to say that Deus Ex Mankind Divided wasn't political looks even worse nowadays. A game with Aug Lives Matter in it and the promotional material.
On a lighter note, I've been getting heavily into Ace Combat. It's a series I totally ignored and thought nothing of as I rarely saw it celebrated or even covered in the gaming press. My interest was piqued when I heard Total Biscuit saying that the only thing that got close to the exhilaration of MG Revengeance was the Ace Combat series. Then I saw Ace Combat 7 getting praise heaped on it by John at digital foundry. I picked it up release and it's one of the best action games I've ever played.
I'm now going back through the series. I've finished Air Combat. It's a bit simplistics but lots of fun and would have been very impressive for a launch window PS1 game. Ace Combat 2 which I started last night is a massive improvement in every area with more interesting missions, better visuals and a better flight model that supports the PS1 analogue controller which translates to the Dual Shock.
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Post by windfisch on Jul 20, 2021 10:01:20 GMT -5
If were talking human rights violations, the first one that comes to mind is war. Imo, this is the worst thing you could ever do to people. In that regard my country's government (together with their ever so benevolent "allies") is heavily involved in countless wars around the globe. We're factually run by war criminals. They're also happy to, step by step, implement a system of surpression and surveillance at home (catching up with the Chinese, it seems). So while it's necessary to criticize other governments, I'm also looking at my own in horror and disgust.
And since the beginning games have been flooded with undeniable war-propaganda, especially games by the bigger companies, who often have ties to the military-industry ("apolitical", my ass!). It just has become the norm, so most gamers won't even notice anymore. Chinese interference is a bad thing for sure, but the situation isn't a good one to begin with.
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Post by personman on Jul 20, 2021 13:45:14 GMT -5
On a lighter note, I've been getting heavily into Ace Combat. It's a series I totally ignored and thought nothing of as I rarely saw it celebrated or even covered in the gaming press. My interest was piqued when I heard Total Biscuit saying that the only thing that got close to the exhilaration of MG Revengeance was the Ace Combat series. Then I saw Ace Combat 7 getting praise heaped on it by John at digital foundry. I picked it up release and it's one of the best action games I've ever played. I'm now going back through the series. I've finished Air Combat. It's a bit simplistics but lots of fun and would have been very impressive for a launch window PS1 game. Ace Combat 2 which I started last night is a massive improvement in every area with more interesting missions, better visuals and a better flight model that supports the PS1 analogue controller which translates to the Dual Shock. Just be aware that the western versions of 3 are massively butchered from the original release. I'm guessing you're emulating these so I'd recommend grabbing the translation patch for the original version when you get to it. Hell I need to do that myself sometime.
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Post by retr0gamer on Jul 20, 2021 16:27:30 GMT -5
Already way ahead of you!
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Post by lurker on Jul 20, 2021 20:32:36 GMT -5
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Post by spanky on Jul 21, 2021 7:26:08 GMT -5
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Post by shelverton on Jul 22, 2021 3:40:56 GMT -5
I’m really digging the unusual NES/SNESgames that pop up on the Switch. I don’t see myself spending much time with Bombuzal (hated it as a kid) but Jelly Boy and Claymates both look pretty fun and I only ever read about them in magazines back in the day!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2021 11:09:51 GMT -5
So disappointed, though not surprised, to hear about the allegations of harassment over at Activision Blizzard. news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-cultureThese extracts got me the most. According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”The suit also points to a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party, the complaint says.I can't really say that I'm boycotting Activision Blizzards products as I do with Ubisoft, since they haven't produced any of interest to me in many years, however I will certainly not consider purchasing from them in future. Absolutely disgusted to read the goings on within their organisation.
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