The upcoming generation is most likely to view us as "that angry judgmental generation that killed off all our favorite Youtube shows". They're still kids, when you get right down to it, and they aren't really going to fully understand what was wrong with what Logan's Paul or Cutiepie did, and why their favorite show had to die for it.
Heck, I'm still getting used to the idea that maybe, just maybe, my parents were onto something when they thought I shouldn't be playing Mortal Kombat.
My point is, that generation is not going to take the lesson we're trying to teach them for decades, if ever.
So, this is something I've been thinking about, and have mentioned sometimes, for a while now, but I want to make a thread for it again anyway. Basically, here's the point -- excepting Nintendo and Sony first-party software, there isn't much of a reason to buy any consoles anymore, is there, if you have a PC. It used to be that a lot of third party games were console-only and the handful that got PC ports sometimes had badly compromised ports, but today most non-mobile games that aren't from Sony or Nintendo themselves get released on the PC, and the ports are often either good or get fixed by the fans. It feels like consoles today have less value than ever as a result of this. If you have a PC you can play almost everything.
And even better, with devices like the Steam Link, it's easier than ever to play PC games on your television, too! Most modern games that should have it have controller support, and with Steam Big Picture Mode there's even a good interface for using PC games on a television. too. I don't use my Steam Link as often as I should, but for me it works great and is a really nice thing to have. The "comfy couch" argument isn't as strong as it used to be.
Now, on the other hand, I can think of two counter-arguments to this. First, PC hardware prices right now are crazy high, while consoles are affordable. And second, while the Steam Link is great, it has a 1080p resolution limit, so if you have a 4K TV, if you want to play games at 4K you either need a console (Xbox One X or PS4 Pro) or some other way of hooking your PC up to a television. And last, the PS Vita (and its library of ports of indie games and such, if you have a hacked system or actually have functioning large Vita memory cards) and Switch have value because they are portable, to play these games that are also available on the PC away from home. These three are all good reasons to get a console. How good they are compared to the basic argument of "how many games do you want to buy on multiple platforms that are better on PC" is tough, though.
Now, I will admit that I'm surely thinking about this more these days since the last two major systems I got are the Xbox One and Vita, the two newest systems with the smallest libraries of exclusive games, but even on the Switch and PS4 you have this same issue with their third-party libraries. PCs have always been the best gaming platform, but there used to be a whole lot of games you needed consoles to play. That is much, much less true now.
This video is from someone I regularly watch to get insights on soldering. It does a very good job explaining why right to repair not only matters, but why libertarian "free market" types should support it.
Perhaps the biggest thing in gaming over the past year, except maybe for the Switch, is the massive popularity of battle royale games. The first one to hit a huge audience was, of course, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but there are also others that have copied it, most notably the also extremely successful Fortnite: Battle Royale, as well as others like Radical Heights and H1Z1 (though that last one predates PUBG, but anyway).
Has anyone here tried any of them? I've watched a lot of PUBG on Youtube, but never have bought the game and still don't own it. I'm sure I'd be terrible at it, and random groups or single player probably are not nearly as interesting as voice-chat squads look like they are. So yeah, I'd watched quite a bit but not played any.
Yesterday, though, I decided to finally change that, and since have tried Fortnite and Radical Heights, because they are both free. I played both in single-player mode only, and did try Fortnite on X1 as well as PC. And... I can see the appeal of the games and will probably play them a bit here and there, but as solo titles I don't think I'll be playing a lot of these games. They're fine, but the pacing is kind of weird, which is something always commented on about these games -- you land, maybe have an encounter there, then... maybe, like, spend a long time not seeing anyone, if you aren't in a populated area. Even in Fortnite, which is apparently the fastest-paced one of these games, it's still very slow compared to other kinds of games. I know that's the idea and, combined with the no-respawns design, the thing that sets battle royale games apart, but while they're fun, I was starting to get bored after a little while.
Then eventually, someone shoots be from behind and that's it, I lose. That's really fun. I've never exactly been good at first or third person shooters, so getting only one life instead of respawns has always seemed to me to be something that would probably go badly, and yeah, I was probably right. Even so though, there is something here. Between the two games, Radical Heights' map feels smaller and maybe a bit more action-packed. I only played a few matches, but actually managed some kills, including one where I got a punch kill of a guy with a shotgun! In open areas I'm hopeless of course because I'm bad at hitting moving targets in first or third person shooters (and always have been), but ah well. As for Fortnite, its main differentiating factor is that you can collect resources and build walls or stairs with those resources. The mechanic works well and makes the game different, but that alone isn't enough to make me want to play a lot of the game. If I had friends playing too I could see playing more of it, though, sure (and the same goes for PUBG).
As for themes, PUBG is 'realistic modern day' stuff, which definitely isn't my thing at all. Fortnite has a nice cartoonish style which works well. Radical Heights is sort of in between, as it has a neon 1980s gameshow theme, so it's far from realistic... but it does have real weapons and more realistic gun physics than Fortnite, apparently. And then there's H1Z1, which is the most simmish of the bunch I believe, and does not sound like much fun, but I haven't tried it.
Anyway, these games are huge and I get why, but I don't know that I find them as much fun to play as they are to watch... and I definitely don't plan on spending lots of time to get better. Still, they're alright and I'm sure I'll play one here and there. Anyone else here try any?
I've been a little depressed lately, what with what appears to be almost every single organization I ever respected revealed, one after another, to be a nest of baby birds being eaten by vipers. Is this just how humanity is? Do ALL attempts to form any sort of organization just end in utter corruption and psychopathy? Is there any way to prevent the psychopaths from rising to the top and ruining everything anyone with good intentions set out to do?
Yes, already. There are leaks/rumors about its hardware power out there, and while it's not clear when it's coming, it does seem that Sony is working on a Playstation 5. One big question is, will it be PS4 backwards compatible? It seems likely, with how the rumors put it as working on the same hardware architecture as the PS4 does, but right now there's no way to know for sure.
The other big question is, when will it release? Will it be a 2019 system, or will Sony actually try to release it this year? I guess that will be interesting to see. More interesting will be seeing how much of a difference it really is from the PS4; I'm sure it will have better graphics, more 4K support, better PSVR support, etc, but there definitely is some degree of diminishing returns going on in tech these days. How much different will PS5 be from the "last-gen" Xbox One X?
And while since Sony has plenty of first-party studios I'm sure it will have exclusive games, the way that most third-party software now is also on PC really decreases the value of all of Sony and MS's consoles. Nintendo still has plenty of value due to all of their games, but Sony and MS? Even Japanese third parties are releasing a lot of their games on PC as well now...
They Are Billions is an RTS/building simulation game in early access on Steam. I got it last week, and have been completely hooked since; Steam says that I've played it about 23 hours, and that's probably accurate. The game has issues, and I can see why there is a bunch of controversy in the games' Steam forum, but overall it's a great and really addictive game. I'm really liking it, so I thought I should make a thread.
Basically, They Are Billions is a base-building-focused strategy game that runs in pausable real time. As in building sims like The Settlers, Tropico, or to a lesser extent Caesar, the core of this game is building up a large base and dealing with the nested requirements therein. Unlike a standard RTS such as Starcraft or Command & Conquer, but like those aforementioned titles, here resources do not run out, the challenge is getting all of the ones you need. There are a bunch of resources, and all buildings require not only a build cost, but also an upkeep cost in several resources. So, you need to keep scaling up every element of your base in order to expand and go up the tech tree, which requires a lot of space and planning. Fortunately you can pause at any time, and that is key for base-building purposes! I don't love management sims like The Settlers as much as I do traditional RTSes, as learning and managing this kind of games' complex, nested trees of building and resource dependency are not my favorite thing, but this game balances it well: it has more than enough depth to be hard to master, but is not as complex as some in the field, thankfully.
Building your base is the main focus of the game, but you do also control combat units. You don't need to manage peasants or such, once you build a building they do their thing automatically, but the army does need to be controlled. You only have five or six types of units you can build, so far at least, but it's a decent variety and the several types of towers add to your ability to defend your base as well. The unit-control element of this game still needs work, though -- the pathfinding is REALLY terrible, and trying to target a specific enemy may or may not work, which can be a big problem. I really hope that they refine the games' pathfinding and unit control systems before the final release. You really need to micromanage units. At least you can pause though...
As for the game, so far there is only one mode, survival. The devs promise a campaign of some kind will be in the game eventually, but it's not yet. In survival mode you control a human colony, and try to survive the zombies in that area. Maps here are randomly generated, though you do aways start in the center. This survival mode is not endless, however -- if you manage to survive 100 days, you win. Over the course of those 100 days waves of zombies attack you. Additionally, the map is full of zombies you can go out and try to kill, or deal with when they get close to your base. You will need to kill some in order to expand, or to reduce the number of zombies that will get attached to waves or attack you during a wave. It's a simple formula, but it works very well and leads to great tension as you try to get a base that will be able to withstand the next wave. On the downside though, the game is repetitive. Outside of the random factor of the map and where zombie waves come from, every game plays pretty similarly, as you build your base going on the same tech tree, expand, wait for waves that roughly attack at the same times every game (though, again, from random directions), and such. It's a great game and so far I'm definitely not bored of it, but They Are Billions doesn't have the variety you might expect from a great RTS.
Still, overall so far I love this game and am hooked to it. I've been playing it some almost every day...
