Computerchairgeneral
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Good. I’m sure the chatbot will be back up and running soon, but anything that reminds companies there are risks to replacing humans with “AI-enhanced” chatbots is good. Unfortunately, I’m sure the lesson companies are going to take away from this is to include a disclaimer that the chatbot isn’t always correct. Which kind of defeats the whole point of using a chatbot to me. Why would I want to use something to try and solve a problem that you just told me could give me inaccurate information?
Seven years feels about right for a length between consoles. I am curious to see what they do with it. It’s hard to see Nintendo not sticking with the handheld console approach with the Switch 2, but just building a more powerful Switch doesn’t feel very Nintendo, if that makes sense. Like there has to be some feature or gimmick to set it apart from the Switch.
Finally got around to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so I’ve been making my way through that. Enjoying the turn-based RPG game-play a lot more than I was expecting. Focused on the main story right now, but the side-content I’ve dabbled in has been pretty fun. Feels like one of those games I’m going to be chipping away at for a while.
I’ve also been playing Dread Delusion and absolutely loving it. I don’t tend to pick up Early Access games, but hearing it described as a “Morrowind-like” RPG caught my interest and it is the perfect way to describe the game. It really captures that feeling of playing Morrowind for the first time, of being a nobody in a strange land. The game doesn’t even give you a map when you start out. You have to get by on directions and landmarks until you complete the side quest that gives you a map. And even then you have to fill it out as you explore the world. More than that, it’s that sense that you never really know what you’re going to encounter around the next corner. You can wander into a town looking for your contact to continue the main quest only to end up accepting a quest from the atheistic Inquisition to help them hunt down a rogue god and their followers.
Like I said it’s still Early Access so it is a little rough around the edges. There’s more than a handful of bugs and the combat is…fine, but not much else. Then again there’s such a focus on sneaking, talking, and magicing your way around problems that that might be intentional. Still, what I’ve played so far has got me excited for when the finished product releases.
Disappointing, but not surprising. I know I’m not going to “learn” a language with Duolingo, but it’s been nice recognizing a few words and phrases when I hear them. But I don’t really trust that a bunch of overworked and underpaid contractors are going to catch every error using AI is going to introduce. At least there are already alternatives in this thread for me to look through.
All valid points and it is perhaps for the best that E3 just ended rather than continuing on as a shadow of its former self. Still, I hope something emerges that fills the void E3 left behind, even if I don’t think that is likely. Summer Games Fest is fine, but it’s still a far cry from what E3 used to be and all the scattered streams and announcements don’t really capture that concentrated excitement you had back when E3 was at its peak.
Not terribly surprised they are shutting down, but I am a little shocked that it is happening less than a week after the game released. I kind of expected them to at least attempt the old “we’re sorry you are disappointed and are working to fix the game” routine before bolting. Then again judging from all the articles and videos it doesn’t really look like there was any way to fix it or even really bring it close to the game they promised they were going to release.
On the one hand I’m not opposed to mod creators getting paid for their work. There are a lot of great Skyrim mods, released and upcoming, that I wouldn’t mind paying for. Total conversions like Enderal, giant content expansions like Beyond Skyrim, and especially a lot of the great companion mods. The pay what you want option seems like a good way to let people support mod creators while not creating a paywall. On the other hand I just don’t trust Bethesda to deal with all of the issues this is going to create and it’s hard to see how it doesn’t end up negatively impacting the wider modding community.
Kind of in between games at the moment. Been digging through my backlog, looking for something to play, but nothing has really clicked yet. In the meantime I’ve been doing this little gaming advent calendar thing with Mission in Snowdriftland. It’s a platformer that used to be a flash game that was used to promote Nintendo products back in the 2000s. It’s set up like an advent calendar, with 24 levels. You could probably beat it in a few hours, but I’ve been enjoying taking it one level a day,
And Embracer claims another victim. It feels like they aren’t going to have many studios left when they finish their “restructuring” process. At least Wingefors was nice enough to acknowledge that the employees, who might be about to lose their jobs, are going through a slightly more challenging time than the executives who are deciding which studio is next on the chopping block.
This is something I’ve noticed for a while now, but haven’t been able to really describe. This shift away from clickbait headlines towards cryptic headlines that just refuse to tell you what they’re talking about. Like The Best Part of Alan Wake Is Now On Youtube or The Best Soulslike Of 2023 Just Got Easier. And those are just a few that I’ve seen today. Maybe it will fade away like the worst clickbait headlines did or they’ll just keep getting so cryptic and opaque that one day the headlines will be: Something Just Happened.
Honestly, I had forgotten that some of these games had come out this year. It just feels like there’s been so many in 2023. Also pleasantly surprised to see People Make Games get nominated for Content Creator of the Year. I don’t think they’ll win but it is nice to see their documentaries/ deep dive investigations receive some recognition.
Marketing games in 2023: “We’re very excited to announce that we have an announcement to make next month!”
More seriously, not the biggest GTA fan, but I hope it lives up to expectations. People have been waiting a decade at this point. Also looking forward to seeing how many times Rockstar will be able to re-release GTA 6 over the next decade.
Looks interesting. Not the biggest fan of survival mechanics, but they do specify that it will just be “like” a survival game so who knows what will look like. The fact that they are promising it won’t be pay-to-win upfront is a good start. Of course, these are all just promises and there’s no telling what the actual game will be like, but at least they seem to have a clear idea of the game they want to make.
The more I read about this the more baffling the move seems. It’s not going to end cheating. It might inconvenience cheaters, if even that and it’s only going to create negative PR for Microsoft, especially since this is impacting people who use modified controllers for accessibility issues. It’s especially weird given how carefully Microsoft has tried to craft an image of being “pro-consumer” this console generation. Then again I imagine the executives who make these decisions rarely think these things through. At the very least it is a good reminder that there is no such thing as a pro-consumer for-profit corporation.
The main announcer sounds like he is just phoning this in for the paycheck and stumbles over stuff like he can’t believe he has to read this. Wow. AI is so authentic these days.
More seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised if more games with announcers started replacing them with AI. In a lot of those games, it’s easy to tune it out and not really pay attention to it. I’m not sure if someone casually playing would even realize it’s AI. I’m curious how long it will take until a publisher tries to put AI voice-acting in a game where players would actually notice the dialogue sounding unnatural.
Kind of funny, given how desperately gun manufacturers try to blame video games for gun violence. Honestly, I’m surprised this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. I mean if the oil industry is using Fortnight to reach younger audiences, it makes sense that gun companies would target people who play shooters.
I mean, people have been speculating on a PS5 Slim for a while now, so that might be why fanfare around it is so muted. On the other hand, I do get what the article is saying. This whole console generation has just felt weird. Obviously, the pandemic played a big role in that but sometimes it’s hard to believe that this generation started three years ago. It doesn’t feel like there have really been any must-have, generation-defining games on either console at this point.
Generally, I like using achievements to figure out where people called it quits on a game. Like Saints Row the Third. 90% of people cleared the first mission, but the percentages drop with each successive story achievement until you’ve got the achievement for the last mission which only 27.9% of players bothered to finish. Or you have Hades where around 50% of players just never finished a run of the game and only 25.6% completed enough runs to see the main ending.
So this is what being old feels like. I don’t like it. But seriously that’s the benefit of stuff not automatically having to connect to the internet and download a bunch of updates, you just plug it in and you’re good to go. I mean stuff like updates and patches are extremely convenient, but it is nice to just put a disc in a console and have it work without having to sit through a download. PS2 is a great console and one of the last where you could just plug and play without having to deal with online accounts, updating apps, and all the stuff that goes along with modern consoles.
Having trouble giving Sony the benefit of the doubt these days, but this move just seems odd. I imagine destroying unsold merchandise is fairly common when an agreement ends, but merchandise that was sold, but not shipped? From the letter, it seems like their agreement with Sony was suddenly terminated, which usually doesn’t happen without cause. If it was just a normal case of the license expiring you would think Gaming Heads would be aware of that in advance. Also, sending disgruntled customers after a Sony employee who may or may not have signed off on the decision doesn’t look like a good move. Definitely curious to see if more comes out about this.
This court case with the FTC is really just the gift that keeps on giving. Struggling to think of the last time a gaming company just leaked all this kind of stuff by accident. The mid-gen refresh is surprising given how vocal Spencer has been about not needing one, but it makes sense, especially if they want to push people to go digital only. The talk about buying Nintendo and Valve is concerning. Still, I have a really hard time imagining Nintendo would ever sell out to any company and Valve’s current leadership seems against anything like that. Of course, these things can change and Microsoft certainly seems willing to play the long game when it comes to acquisitions like this.
I’ve been grinding away at Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Spent the last few days running up against the brick wall of the Chapter Twelve Two-against-four boss fight that still manages to make you feel outnumbered. I was suspicious of just how the insistent the game was about checking out the battle arena, but it kind of feels mandatory if you want to get through that fight. Also managed to get spoiled for that Chapter 14 boss fight while looking up strategies, so I’ve got that to look forward to.