It seems like forever since we did this last. Get a free game on
Thursday, I mean. Oh sure, we got one LAST Thursday, but that was part
of the one-a-day-Christmas-give-away thing Epic had going on. This...
this is us going back to the regular schedule... which paradoxically
feels special.
Anyway, today we get:
* Marvel: Guardians of the Galaxy https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/marvels-guardians-of-the-galaxy
Wait... wasn't this the game that got shut down last year
(no, that was Marvel Avengers). Oh, then this was that
Marvel game Epic gave away a while back? (No, there was
no such game). So which one was this? I honestly can't
remember. But I like the franchise, and reviews are
generally good (also, free!) so, sure, 'add to library'.
I'm sure I'll get around to playing it...eventually.
It seems the once-a-day thing is over, since this give-away lasts a
whole week, and Epic is already advertising NEXT week's game. Can't
say I'm upset at that; making an announcement every day was
exhausting! ;-)
On Thu, 4 Jan 2024 18:57:54 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/4/2024 5:58 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
It seems like forever since we did this last. Get a free game on
Thursday, I mean. Oh sure, we got one LAST Thursday, but that was part
of the one-a-day-Christmas-give-away thing Epic had going on. This...
this is us going back to the regular schedule... which paradoxically
feels special.
Anyway, today we get:
* Marvel: Guardians of the Galaxy
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/marvels-guardians-of-the-galaxy
Wait... wasn't this the game that got shut down last year
(no, that was Marvel Avengers). Oh, then this was that
Marvel game Epic gave away a while back? (No, there was
no such game). So which one was this? I honestly can't
remember. But I like the franchise, and reviews are
generally good (also, free!) so, sure, 'add to library'.
I'm sure I'll get around to playing it...eventually.
It seems the once-a-day thing is over, since this give-away lasts a
whole week, and Epic is already advertising NEXT week's game. Can't
say I'm upset at that; making an announcement every day was
exhausting! ;-)
ohhh, that's not what they wrote before. Scandalous indeed.
Also scandalous: what exactly does this game need 80gb for? I know it's
getting to be the normal size lately, but I still don't really see
enough difference in the games to justify that.
Maybe I just need new glasses. Or at one point it just becomes a futile
exercise mostly designed to drive new HD sales.
Who knows?
I can't speak for this game in particular, but the biggest consumers
of disk space in video games are a) video/movies, b) sounds, and c)
textures.
But - as more and more games move to in-game cutscenes, videos
actually use a lot less space these days than they used to. On the
other hand, as games not only are fully voiced, but use more speech,
disk space consumption for audio is increasing. A lot of games are
also very careless with what they install, and you'll often find
multiple versions of the same speech but in different languages on the hard-drive. This is done so you can swap languages 'on the fly'
(without necessitating a lengthy download first) but it would be nice
if this were an option for those who are strapped for disk space.
As we demand sharper textures and higher-fidelity visuals, disk space allocated to textures is increasing too. I'm not too upset about this
one. Ten years ago, an inconsequential note pinned to the wall would
be a blurry mess of pixels; nowadays, you can actually read it. It
really helps with the immersion. But all that detail requires a lot of
space. Modern games also have a lot more variety in their textures,
rather than re-using the same small handful on map after map.
TL;DR: games take a lot more disk space because we demand more of them
in terms of audio and visual quality. You can still get a game to fit
into a few gigabytes (or even a few megabytes) but it's not going to
look or sound as good.
On 1/5/2024 7:44 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Thu, 4 Jan 2024 18:57:54 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/4/2024 5:58 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
It seems like forever since we did this last. Get a free game on
Thursday, I mean. Oh sure, we got one LAST Thursday, but that was part >>>> of the one-a-day-Christmas-give-away thing Epic had going on. This...
this is us going back to the regular schedule... which paradoxically
feels special.
Anyway, today we get:
* Marvel: Guardians of the Galaxy
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/marvels-guardians-of-the-galaxy
    Wait... wasn't this the game that got shut down last year
    (no, that was Marvel Avengers). Oh, then this was that
    Marvel game Epic gave away a while back? (No, there was
    no such game). So which one was this? I honestly can't
    remember. But I like the franchise, and reviews are
    generally good (also, free!) so, sure, 'add to library'.
    I'm sure I'll get around to playing it...eventually.
It seems the once-a-day thing is over, since this give-away lasts a
whole week, and Epic is already advertising NEXT week's game. Can't
say I'm upset at that; making an announcement every day was
exhausting! ;-)
ohhh, that's not what they wrote before. Scandalous indeed.
Also scandalous: what exactly does this game need 80gb for? I know it's
getting to be the normal size lately, but I still don't really see
enough difference in the games to justify that.
Maybe I just need new glasses. Or at one point it just becomes a futile
exercise mostly designed to drive new HD sales.
Who knows?
I can't speak for this game in particular, but the biggest consumers
of disk space in video games are a) video/movies, b) sounds, and c)
textures.
But - as more and more games move to in-game cutscenes, videos
actually use a lot less space these days than they used to. On the
other hand, as games not only are fully voiced, but use more speech,
disk space consumption for audio is increasing. A lot of games are
also very careless with what they install, and you'll often find
multiple versions of the same speech but in different languages on the
hard-drive. This is done so you can swap languages 'on the fly'
(without necessitating a lengthy download first) but it would be nice
if this were an option for those who are strapped for disk space.
As we demand sharper textures and higher-fidelity visuals, disk space
allocated to textures is increasing too. I'm not too upset about this
one. Ten years ago, an inconsequential note pinned to the wall would
be a blurry mess of pixels; nowadays, you can actually read it. It
really helps with the immersion. But all that detail requires a lot of
space. Modern games also have a lot more variety in their textures,
rather than re-using the same small handful on map after map.
TL;DR: games take a lot more disk space because we demand more of them
in terms of audio and visual quality. You can still get a game to fit
into a few gigabytes (or even a few megabytes) but it's not going to
look or sound as good.
Oft times they could be significantly reduced in size, increased in
fidelity, and performance as evidenced by a myriad of games with texture
mods that do all that. It's just lazy bloat all around.
- Justisaur
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way less.
* Marvel: Guardians of the Galaxy
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote in >news:cuKcncvHj9yTPgX4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com:
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and rely >>> >on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
Yeah, every time a new Wing Commander game came out, it was time to upgrade >the hardware.
On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 18:54:10 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, Mark P. Nelson wrote:
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote in
news:cuKcncvHj9yTPgX4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com:
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened withMe: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and rely >>>>> on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way less. >>>
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
Yeah, every time a new Wing Commander game came out, it was time to upgrade >> the hardware.
Yeah. The order now is: 1. upgrade hardware 2. developers hear about it
and cripple all old machines in favor of slowing down your current one.
Before it was: 1. Game comes out, with ridiculous requirements, 2. Time
to upgrade your hardware. Like when Quake was released. You either had Pentium, or you were going to buy Pentium. Or "Hello Mr. Turtle!" with
your 486 DX100. Rebel Assault was called Rebel Insult by my 386 friends.
Honestly, older sequence is better. You knew you were getting something
for your money, and the performance couldn't be taken away.
Nowadays, it just seems like they're doing it to spite us, and the performance improvement lasts for as long as they will suffer it.
On 1/6/24 13:00, Zaghadka wrote:
On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 18:54:10 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Mark P. Nelson wrote:
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote in
news:cuKcncvHj9yTPgX4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com:
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and >>>>>> rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way
less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
Yeah, every time a new Wing Commander game came out, it was time to
upgrade
the hardware.
Yeah. The order now is: 1. upgrade hardware 2. developers hear about it
and cripple all old machines in favor of slowing down your current one.
Before it was: 1. Game comes out, with ridiculous requirements, 2. Time
to upgrade your hardware. Like when Quake was released. You either had
Pentium, or you were going to buy Pentium. Or "Hello Mr. Turtle!" with
your 486 DX100. Rebel Assault was called Rebel Insult by my 386 friends.
Honestly, older sequence is better. You knew you were getting something
for your money, and the performance couldn't be taken away.
Nowadays, it just seems like they're doing it to spite us, and the
performance improvement lasts for as long as they will suffer it.
Yeah. At least indie games and Nintendo still target less powerful
systems and use style to make up for it.
On 1/6/2024 11:54 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:
On 1/6/24 13:00, Zaghadka wrote:
On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 18:54:10 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, >>> Mark P. Nelson wrote:
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote in
news:cuKcncvHj9yTPgX4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com:
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, >>>>>> candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with >>>>>>> program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and >>>>>>> rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way >>>>>>> less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
Yeah, every time a new Wing Commander game came out, it was time to
upgrade
the hardware.
Yeah. The order now is: 1. upgrade hardware 2. developers hear about it
and cripple all old machines in favor of slowing down your current one.
Before it was: 1. Game comes out, with ridiculous requirements, 2. Time
to upgrade your hardware. Like when Quake was released. You either had
Pentium, or you were going to buy Pentium. Or "Hello Mr. Turtle!" with
your 486 DX100. Rebel Assault was called Rebel Insult by my 386 friends. >>>
Honestly, older sequence is better. You knew you were getting something
for your money, and the performance couldn't be taken away.
Nowadays, it just seems like they're doing it to spite us, and the
performance improvement lasts for as long as they will suffer it.
Yeah. At least indie games and Nintendo still target less powerful
systems and use style to make up for it.
Or just plain programming competence.
On 1/6/24 13:00, Zaghadka wrote:
On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 18:54:10 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Mark P. Nelson wrote:
ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote in
news:cuKcncvHj9yTPgX4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com:
Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 14:05:45 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:
It feels like the same thing is happening here that happened with
program optimization.. Improving tech lets programmers be lazy and >>>>>> rely
on high-end systems when it could easily be optimized to use way
less.
Me: I just significantly upgraded my hardware!
Developers: Om nom nom nom nom nom nom
Just like the old days like Origin. :P
Yeah, every time a new Wing Commander game came out, it was time to
upgrade
the hardware.
Yeah. The order now is: 1. upgrade hardware 2. developers hear about it
and cripple all old machines in favor of slowing down your current one.
Before it was: 1. Game comes out, with ridiculous requirements, 2. Time
to upgrade your hardware. Like when Quake was released. You either had
Pentium, or you were going to buy Pentium. Or "Hello Mr. Turtle!" with
your 486 DX100. Rebel Assault was called Rebel Insult by my 386 friends.
Honestly, older sequence is better. You knew you were getting something
for your money, and the performance couldn't be taken away.
Nowadays, it just seems like they're doing it to spite us, and the
performance improvement lasts for as long as they will suffer it.
Yeah. At least indie games and Nintendo still target less powerful
systems and use style to make up for it.
But because of this it was really easy for consumers to fall behind
the curve of technology. Your 1990 PC probably couldn't play 1995
games, much less games from 1999.
Meanwhile, today, you can still get a pretty good gaming experience on ten-year old hardware. Sure, you won't be able to turn on all the bells-n-whistles, but you won't be forced into potato-mode just to
play.
It's sort of amazing, if you think of it that way.
On 1/8/2024 9:08 PM, Justisaur wrote:
On 1/6/2024 11:54 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:
Yeah. At least indie games and Nintendo still target less powerful
systems and use style to make up for it.
Some indie games. BG3 is a real hog for instance.
is BG3 really an indie?
On Mon, 8 Jan 2024 21:11:43 +0100, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
kyonshi wrote*:
[snip]
On 1/8/2024 9:08 PM, Justisaur wrote:
On 1/6/2024 11:54 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:
Yeah. At least indie games and Nintendo still target less powerful
systems and use style to make up for it.
Some indie games. BG3 is a real hog for instance.
is BG3 really an indie?
AFAIC, it's a AAA game. Larian isn't a major... yet, but they produce AAA quality games. D:OS and D:OS2 for instance.
https://www.mobygames.com/company/3377/larian-studios-nv/
They were an indy back in the Divine Divinity days. IMHO, they're a good
deal more now. I expect great things from them, but I hope and pray they don't launch their own %$*&&! store.
* You guys really need to learn how to snip.
On 1/9/2024 8:19 AM, Zaghadka wrote:
* You guys really need to learn how to snip.
I used to. I've gotten lazy as no one else seems to do it anymore.
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