VR Regatta is also great if you’re looking for more and have the equipment

Hori in shambles after learning they could have had a button bound to recording

I see I understand.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding – I was saying that 10% of users using Steam input would be from the 132million active users. So 3% of Steam users having Steam Decks that use Steam Input account for said 10%?

That actually seems relatively high, if we use some estimate math to guesstimate that there are 132million active monthly users and there have been 3 million Steam Decks sold, that’s really about 2.27%. So for there to be about 8% more taking advantage of it does seem somewhat high

This makes me wonder, what is the difference in the environmental cost of uploading/downloading this data vs. shipping a USB.

I would guess that shipping emissions would be higher than digital ones, but I don’t have any basis for that theory. (I’m just curious, not trying to say or imply anything here)

I really dislike this trend of suggesting people to buy Google phones specifically to de-Google them. Like, shouldn’t we be avoiding giving them sales?

I get it, the phones are decent. I just think it’s kind of counter-intuitive.

It’s a phone service and business communications. I have to use it for work

You people are paying for Windows licenses?

If you are going by titles, GTA 6 is expected to have a reasonably deep single player storyline filled with cultural references.

The more recent trailer just seemed like them recreating events that happened in real life, and less being a mockery to create commentary on events of real life.

IMO this is the distinguishing difference I noticed from trailers of previous titles and this current one. Of course it was literally only a minute and 15 seconds of trailer, but it does just seem a little odd to me. Of course, when I wrote a small essay the only comments were “bro piss off it’s GTA” and “it’s GTA you’re reading too much into it.”

Most just don’t care. And many more have not played the earlier titles which were a little more brazen in their commentary due to the world these characters are living in – CJ as the experience of living in a poorer urban area surrounded by a wider richer city, where you have the dichotomy of what is happening in the story alongside the events on the radio (mostly the hosts reactions), or Niko as an immigrant in New York which brings a different perspective but keeps that thematic class separation while having some pretty decent social commentary.

GTA5 just doesn’t hit those marks IMO. Yes, there’s active class divide what with Trevor and Michael, but the storyline and the events of all 3 characters definitely have some emotional moments, IMO it just doesn’t hit the same points. Part of this I think is due to each of these characters almost acting as a sort of archetype, not necessarily of character but of game play. Michael is very much set for success, so you can easily progress. Franklin isn’t, and thus has to work for his status. And Trevor is the maniac who just blows shit up.

In terms of social commentary, there isn’t much that the game actually tries to say, IMO as a byproduct of their overemphasis of the heavily conservative and hyper-capitalist radio, which further is failed by Trevor and Michael being the most average Americans who are part of the problem. And while I like Franklin and his story, it’s ultimately just another story of someone in a bad spot trying to do better, and falling victim to how hard it is to get out. Which, yeah, that’s a decent and very real message, but it’s undermined by it all working out for him and owning a business – don’t worry y’all, crime pays as long as it’s with the right friends!

So, for me to see the trailer of GTA6 just literally recreating the events that happened in the real world, I sort of feel like the creative insanity where GTA allows us to see whacky shit that could never actually exist is highly diminished as a result of that. Again, it was under 2 minutes of footage and of course there’s plenty more.

I also personally think RDR2 is not fun and the hype around it is pretty much entirely manufactured as “it’s so good because it’s R* and the ultimate realism!”. Well, that “realism” made for shit gameplay for horses and boring fetch quests. It’s a beautiful game, it’s got a great story, it is not a good game because of that. That’s not to say it is terrible through and through and never has fun moments, I just personally was more frustrated with the game than I was enthralled with it for a majority of my time playing it. Shooting is nice though.

I must also say, I’ve never been a particularly die-hard fan of GTA or R*. I grew up playing their games at friends houses, so they’re really nostalgic to me. RDR and RD1 were great for their time, Revolver still holds up pretty well today through emulation. Slow for sure, but it holds up. GTAIV was my first real experience at open-world sandbox games, and while I enjoyed my time with it, it definitely is not my sort of game for long-term enjoyment. I can only play the story so many times and then get bored just driving around like a maniac. The best part of IV’s replayability is the physics, which seemed to have been drastically scaled back for GTA 5.

And I haven’t even gotten into what GTA:O has done, so I don’t have high expectations. I think your assumption of the developer output perspective is likely very apt. GTA5 came out in 2013, 11 years ago. It will likely be on 4 generations of consoles, unless they choose to only sell GTA6 for the PS6 and Xbox1920.

There is no way that their focus is on a long term single player experience. There’s just no way.

The W-Box. Walk while you game!

but until Asus fixes their warranty issue,

Since before 2011, I don’t think this is happening anytime soon.

Especially with their responses over the last ~5 years/ So many controversies. So many horrible responses. I wish so dearly that people would stop buying from ASUS because they do not deserve our business.

IMO that’s just one of a hundred reasons that trackpads are better for the space they take. You can make them mouse input, that doesn’t mean you need to. That is level 1 trackpad use, using them as the hardware was inteded. The software it ships with heavily suggests making it your own. Having the ability to set up a pad specifically for map interaction, or for QAM buttons to have 16 extra virtual input buttons (really nice for RPG’s with lots of keyboard buttons for opening menus, such as Skyrim) or a button combination for auto-walk/sprint.

Without the trackpads you’re just missing a full spectrum of possible inputs that are free real estate for input remapping. On top of just the ease of use of not having to control a cursor with an analog stick… shudders. I personally would also argue that just because I only play Roguelites on the Steam Deck doesn’t mean that a dual-stick analog is all I need, as I’ve found many uses for the trackpads that enhance that experience.

Anyway, I’ll I’m positing is that trackpads have been slept on since the Steam Controller and people don’t realize all the ways that they can be easily incorporated without making it “just adding mouse input.” They have always been so much more than that, that relegating them to “just mouse input” is a bit of a disservice.

To be honest, any hardware company can’t really compete with valve toe to toe since valves can cut cost and sell at a loss.

So far most of the companies that have tried it could have taken the same approach. They just haven’t, like MSI and ASUS. I’m guessing because they know they don’t need to, since there’s a demographic of people who will buy “the best” as long as it’s marketed at them. Why sell it at a loss when someone will pay over full price for something like the ROG Ally.

Fully use? Synthesizers. I just don’t think that’s possible.

Otherwise, I’m pretty good about using the things I buy. Maybe my HOTAS and Race Wheel, as those are the most niche gaming things I have. But price/per use is still not that bad, I put a lot of time into some of those games, I’m just not actively playing them as much anymore.

Something like Weylus?

Samsung tablets have this functionality natively, along with drawing tablet connections

So the fediversary lol