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.
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.
* 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.
* 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).
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.
* 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.
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.
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.
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.
Criminals in general are stupid and/or socially "blind". The corporate sub-group of criminals are only fractionally smarter.
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