What does Xbox even have that I couldn’t already play on my PC? Halo’s dead; there’s no reason to humor Xbox as a console anymore. Microsoft’s still-surviving exclusives are all mid; so really, why would I get one of these when I could just play on my PC, or pick up a Steam Deck to have access to my PC’s library?
Valve only makes the deck available in a handful of countries while Xbox hardware is available pretty much everywhere, so I’d say it’s natural to assume a hypothetical dexbox would too
Because Xbox deck wouldn’t be made by a tiny gambling company. It would be made by a massive corporation with footholds for tech already established in practically every country.
Leave it to microsoft to join the party years late with a product that completely misses the point of what makes the original to their copy actually popular
I don’t think this guy understands what innovation is. The Steam Deck and Wii aren’t particularly innovative. The Wii is a bit unusual, but pointer controls didn’t stick (though gyro controls have, in a minor way). The Steam Deck is just a regular handheld but with an x86 CPU.
I don’t think people are going to buy small consoles to play big games. And a powerful handheld is overkill to play small games. If people want to play small games, they use the phone they already have.
The handheld console sweet spot is slightly more powerful than the Switch. But the Switch’s selling power isn’t its hardware, but its library. Nintendo games have selling power. And even outside of that, the Switch has a surprisingly large library of third-party games like Skyrim and Doom. But if people really want a console that will do everything, they’ll get a Deck, because I know you won’t be able to do whatever you want on Microsoft’s handheld.
When the C-suite says “innovation” they tend to mean either “things other companies did that this company hasn’t done yet” or “obvious stuff that we should have done already but didn’t yet”.
This is cool but I miss being able to grind for skins. Playing events and earning a bunch of loot boxes just for playing was great. I’m not giving them any money.
Instead of having to pay for the game’s premium battle pass or unlock that new hero through dozens of hours of gameplay, Blizzard will make Venture and all future heroes available to free for all players when they launch.
Wow, Blizzard actually taking a factually negative change back. No further modifications, no further rework, just a straight rollback of something that was a bad idea to begin with. That’s really a sign of the times changing, that always felt like something that is strictly forbidden at Blizzard! 😮
The new hero Venture is so/so though, IMO. Yeah their movement ability is awesome, but that weapon is so boring. And they hype it up so much, but it is just Sigma’s primary fire, including the ability to fire around corners and all. Unavoidable with so many heroes and not nearly enough niches for all of them that things will get doubled and tripled up, but it’s still disappointing to see something copied&pasted so directly.
I played the hell out of OW1. They turned off OW1 servers and required my actual real phone number to continue to play on OW2. Wouldn’t even let me use a VIP number. There is no time in this universe where I will want Blizzard/Activision or its advertising partners to have my real phone number. No interest in OW2.
It's a good change for sure, but the cynic in me can't help but think they're doing this solely because they believe it'll make them more money this way.
The actual reason is to hide the fact they’re probably not gonna have much if any pve content soonish. That’s the whole ‘reason’ behind ow2. They just layed off a bunch of staff too.
I don't see the correlation between those and making new heroes free. Maybe as a way to douse the community flames.
I think it's simply because people want to play the new content. While some cave and buy the battlepass, it doesn't offset the losses of the grind and paywall that stops people from coming back and investing to begin with.
The actual reason is to hide the fact they’re probably not gonna have much if any pve content soonish
They literally out right said multiple times that PvE content is mostly shelved and to not expect anything. This isn’t some sort of secret they are keeping
This is not abandonware. The devs haven’t abandoned their games. This is an active and purposeful fuck you from the publisher to the devs.
It costs them literally nothing to keep those games up, and yet they’re taking them down against the devs’ wishes. In fact, they refuse to be the least bit convenient to the devs, making them jump through hoops just to relist their own games.
Anti porn laws, “child protection” laws, cryptographic attestation of client devices (windows 11 TPM requirement anyone), it’s all headed in a very scary authoritarian direction
It already is. For example, it’s basically impossible to run your own email server these days, because most big email providers just block residential IPs to reduce spam.
Lots of ISPs block or heavily filter things like torrents.
Your ISP might decide you having a personal server at home is against their terms and force you to make a business account. They don’t want people uploading, only downloading.
Some countries are trying to weaken or ban encryption across the board.
And this is only slightly related, but things like websites that let you watch movies or shows are dying. They either all share the same server for video, or they just copy the files from each other. If you find one and watch a video with a little glitch, you’re likely to find that same glitch in all the other websites too. Think things like TV logos, audio suddenly changing language for a few seconds, scan lines on old VHS or TV recordings, etc… There used to be a lot, but now all the small players are being sued or shut down, and only the largest ones are still alive. The noose is tightening.
Problem is that one day, it will. I’m old enough to be able to see the difference in how much freedom has been lost online.
It’s not impossible. North Korea exists. There’s nothing stopping the rest of the world from adopting the same authoritarian regulations and technology bans.
That’s why people need to be involved in their governments; elections, local regulations, and what have you. It’s easy to complain that things aren’t perfect, or that you don’t like any of the options; but being part of the process, long term, is the only real way to fix that. The more people that give up and say they don’t care, the faster corruption infects everything and ruins what good is there. And trying to be clever and say that “one side is just as bad as the other” is not only a selfish lie people tell themselves to feel better about not doing anything, but it actively helps the authoritarians claim power.
The only thing that staves off corruption and authoritarianism is when the people being governed get involved and stay vigilant. Even small things like school board elections matter down the road.
You want to have a free internet? Then vote in school board elections. Seriously.
I miss my Deck so much, it’s the pinnacle of gaming technology. It went missing about a month ago, as if it disappeared off the face of the Earth. Turned my house upside-down methodically looking through every room and nothing. Never would’ve taken it out of the house without the case, it’s just gone, vanished. Waiting to see what happens with taxes before deciding if I want to buy a new one, assuming I get a refund.
I de-cased a samsung smart tag (basically an airtag) and stuck it in my deck so now I can ping it or track it if I ever lose it. Maybe consider something similar if you buy a new deck.
Already did, got an Airtag and have a stickie case for it I’ll be putting on to it should I ever find it again or get a new one. It never came up before because the Deck was only ever in two or three locations and I live with wife & kids, so it wasn’t a roommate who took it (unless somebody broke in without a trace and only stole that one thing). Kids would’ve left it somewhere in plain sight on the floor or somewhere stupid. Smaller things they can lose, but something that big is hard to lose.
Baldur’s Gate 3 - Better played on my 65" television through the PS5.
Vampire Survivors - I played the hell out of this… when it was called “Robotron 2084” in 1982, with better graphics. Alternately when it was a free, hidden game called Geometry Wars packed in with Project Gotham Racing 2 in 2003, also with better graphics.
I guess my major complaint is the graphics. I don’t suppose it can be re-skinned or anything?
Dave the Diver - Not really interested in indie games or sim games.
Hogwarts Legacy - Platinumed on PS5, GREAT game.
Elden Ring - Not masochistic enough for Souls games.
Palworld - Would literally rather open my wrists.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Again, 65" television, this one through the Xbox Series X.
Grand Theft Auto 5 - Never really been interested in the GTA games. 4 was OK, I guess.
Stardew Valley - Sim game. Meh.
Red Dead Redemption - Loved this game… in 2010… 2 never clicked for me. It was slow and the controls were super janky.
The steam deck isn’t really meant to replace your home consoles. I personally use mine when I travel or know it’ll be slow at work, or when I just can’t be assed to get out of bed.
Sounds like you already own all the consoles that a steam deck can emulate/replace. I’m on the other side of the spectrum where the deck allows me to experience a console life, with my pc library. Never owned a ps5, or Xbox or any of that, so a Steam deck offers me the experience of couch gaming, TV gaming, or mt favorite, sit in bed all day an watch TV on my deck!
I barely touch my PC these days. Steam deck everywhere. Playing all the games I bought but never got around to. Crysis 2, mass effect, LA noire. Amazing piece of kit,
I’m seeing many bugs on the steamdeck with bg3. It’s perfectly fine working, it’s mostly software bugs. Some were funny ( teleporting chars) but the latest one stopped my progression. Share trials, one of the orbs to continue…just doesn’t appear. I’ll have to get the game working on another machine in order to fix, but it sucks. I have over 60 hours in the game.
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