Kane99

Streaming has become huge, especially our post covid world, where now a lot of the programming we watch, comes out on a streaming platform or via other digital means. These days I imagine less and less people are going to the movies. At least when it comes to most movies, maybe not for blockbuster/summer blockbuster hits that are mostly meant to be watched in theaters. Or movies with tons of CGI and animation. More people these days probably prefer the comfort that streaming offers over going to the theater. I still like going to the movies to see big movies, but most other movies, I don't feel the need to. I'm fine watching a lot of movies on a computer screen or my big screen tv instead. As well, more movies that release in theaters are releasing to digital and blu-ray sooner than usual. I believe before covid and the pandemic, it would take a month to a few months for a movie to come out of theaters and release digital or on disc. But now, some movies are coming out right away to digital platforms, sometimes alongside the theatrical release. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think streaming has hurt theaters?

Not really sure to be honest. I never really gave it much thought about zoom mechanics in games. I mean most games have a zoom mechanic I would imagine, at least a lot of the games I have played in the past. Whether it being aiming down the sights of a gun, or binoculars or something similar. I don't really know what else to say on it, as zooming is in a lot of games, even games where you don't use guns.

That's honestly one thing to consider I suppose. Once that exclusivity deal ends, we may see Xbox and co. change their mind and make it exclusive. But, I have a feeling that won't happen. One, there would be some backlash from fans and I think it would result in MS changing their mind. What I hope happens is that they allow their games to go to PlayStation, but Xbox will get the exclusivity deals for DLC and other goodies I imagine. Or timed exclusivity at least. If they can do that, I think gamers will be fine with it.

It's just that I had no idea that 2K was allowed to use the PGA Tour name. I looked up their golf game, and I guess their golf games used to be the Golf Club series. I forgot they even had golf games under their sports series. I am more inclined to side with 2K, as EA has a worse track record. But 2K is owned by Take Two, so we know how greedy that company has gotten over the years with Rockstar and others. Haha fair! 😄 Idk, I feel like EA is still worse in many ways, but 2K isn't far behind them.

True, but to be fair to EA, it isn't something that is forced on users. Now if it were loot boxes we were talking about, I'd understand. Or if they forced you to get these microtransactions in order to get ahead, then I would understand. But microtransactions as they stand, aren't that bad. Also, I think it sucks when items cost a lot, if so, I just don't buy it. That's the choice we have as consumers. With Loot boxes though, it's different, in that you're not always going to get something good out of it, which imo, makes it gambling for sure. And I view that being way more predatory. But I understand, EA has a horrible track record, so it's hard to trust them. I still don't trust them, but if they don't push loot boxes or other greedy tactics on me, or force me to buy stuff to advance in game, than I think it'll be fine.

Yeah I'd say 8 million sold isn't a bad number to hit, especially when other games get praised hitting that mark. If it's not numbers, maybe it's the ratings the game received. I think a lot of the reviews were mediocre reviews, and I think in turn that hurt the sales a bit. I remember seeing ads for this game quite a bit too, so they put a lot into marketing at least.

It's just weird looking back at Disney making a game based off of a gaming franchise. I never would have thought something like that happening. For sure, being able to go back and correct certain things would be cool. Only downside is that you can alter time, and I imagine there's a ton of risks involved there.

I wonder if games like the Man of Medan, The Quarry and Until Dawn would make a survival horror list. I mean, they are kinda survival in the point and click sense, but I don't know if they qualify as traditional survival horror games. I mean it does have survival elements in each one, because failing certain parts results in your death. Do you think these games could be on a list like this? Maybe the best survival point and click story driven games.

I don't mind quicktime events that aren't frustratingly long and annoying. I can handle them sometimes, but it's when they go on too long or don't stop and have annoying checkpoints. Or are the simon says style quicktime events where they have different levels of difficulty. That's not fun for me.

Netflix has produced a ton of programming for their streaming platform. So much so that I'm starting to think they're just letting anyone make movies on their platform. Movies like the recent Grey Man for example, are movies that have massive budgets, but don't really show for it. The Grey man was dark and bland. I had some fun with it, but it felt like another action thriller that had no staying power. But now Netflix is making a sequel and I honestly don't care anymore. They've been making some weird shows and movies as of late. A lot of weird reality shows, along with some crappy movies like The Kissing Booth 1 and 2, or something like Tall Girl. I know they want to produce content for everyone, but I think they like to greenlight just about anything these days because they're desperate. What do you guys think? Do you think Netflix is getting lazy with their programming? They still have great shows and movies on the way, it just feels like they're allowing more stinkers on the platform than usual.

Source - https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/valve-says-next-gen-steam-decks-are-planned-and-may-include-streaming-machines/ Sounds like we may be getting a new Steam Deck at some point. It's probably very early on, but the next Steam Deck could be a streaming machine. So you could probably stream movies/tv as well as video games even. We all know the future will eventually be streaming. Also, with this new Steam Deck, it will probably have a completely different look and design. Which I don't mind. I don't like when products look the same with each new version, so switching it up doesn't hurt. Anyway, would you buy a new Steam Deck if it was upgraded even more and had streaming capabilities?

That's fair. I never played that RE game myself, I just figured it was maybe due it being an Arcade port that was short. But it sounds like it's just a bad game in general. Fair, but I feel like with Pong it's too simple to be the worst. But if it's the worst you've played I get ya. I just figured there's a lot worse out there that are actually broken games. To me, Pong is a simple game but works for what it is. Then again I never played the Atari version, so it could be awful compared to the original game. There are phones made for gaming. I believe Razer makes their own smartphone that's geared towards gaming, and I think there is another brand that makes gaming phones, but I'm forgetting who they are.

I second pyramid head. Main reason why, is because of him slowly stalking you in Silent Hill 2, and then finally facing off against him. I don't remember, but do you ever face him 1 on 1 where you have to kill him? I remember when I played I only got to the point where he follows you in the room with the water. I think you just have to evade him during said mission. I watched a lets play for the rest of the game, but I don't remember if you actually fight Pyramid Head later or not.

Yeah I kinda feel the same way. The updated graphics kinda look worse in some ways. Maybe it's because they're trying to go for more gritty realism with the lighting and effects. But I noticed a lot of the buildings look less impressive, at least inside. Where the original remaster had some color in the inside parts of buildings, it looks like they made it more dark and bland. But, I have no intentions of ever getting this version. Playing through the game once already on the PS3 was enough for me.

Mount Your Friends is one that comes to mind. It was part of the Xbox 360 Indie Games marketplace, where people could make their own games and release them on Xbox. I remember having a blast playing this game with my friend years ago. The point of the game is to mount your friends by climing up and attaching to them. It's pretty simple, but can be challenging as in order to move, you have to press the corresponding buttons to move your players arms and legs. I think each leg and arm has a button you hold as you move. It's really fun and addicting. But it's really weird because you play as nearly nude dudes, and can even swing their junk lol. It's dumb, but honestly really fun to play with friends. I don't remember how many people can play at a time, but I can see this being fun with a few friends.

Right? I remember making a ton of stuff in the 360 version of Minecraft ages ago, but never have I made something so huge and time consuming. I mean, I have built a lot in minecraft, just nothing on this level. Have you played minecraft before? Have any fun builds you have made?

I think I played a bit of the Xbox version of the game during a LAN party now that I'm starting to remember. I forgot we also played one of the Star Wars Battlefront games during said lan party. We didn't play it for too long though, as I remember we switched it up to Halo 2 instead. Fun to reminisce like this. 😄

Does anyone here still subscribe to gaming magazines? I imagine most magazines don't come out physically anymore, but mostly digitally. Does that count towards this topic? I miss the days of gaming magazines when they also offered game discs. Good times!

A distro or distribution is just a different version of Linux. Since Linux is free & open source, anyone can make their code and alter it into their own version of Linux and call it whatever they want, that's essentially a distro. There are many different Linux distros from; Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Arch Linux, Red Hat, OpenSuse, Gentoo, Fedora and more. A lot of them do much of the same, as they replicate how Windows machines work with their GUI (guided user interface). But it's much different when it comes to installing apps and all that. I think of it like having different flavors of Linux. With Windows for example, they are closed source I believe, where only MS and certain licenced companies can put out their version of the OS, and very little can modify it. With Linux, you can modify pretty much anything you want with it. I like to also think of it as anyone being able to make their own operating system. I really like Linux, because it allows you to get away some from Windows and it's horrible update options and other problems. The only downside with Linux is that it's kinda tough to get games to work proper. It can be done, but it's not always easy. Thankfully Steam and other marketplaces are starting to support Linux gaming.

I looked up the sales for Days Gone, and according to the director, it was close to 9 million copies sold, which I guess isn't too bad. Another game on the Sony side was Ghost of Tsushima, whish I guess sold 8 million in a year and that game was praised left and right. So maybe the OP does have a point.

That was a for sure day one buy for me. I wasn't going to not get RDR2. I got it originally on Xbox when it first came out, and then I got it about a year or so ago on PC and just started playing a ton of it the past few months. These days, it's mostly gamepass otherwise.

I wouldn't say that. Some microtransactions are fine, as long as they're not a requirement to play the game. When it requires you to buy stuff to get ahead, that's when I can't stand microtransactions. Microtransactions aren't the problem, it's when they make it pay to win, or include lootboxes where you get nothing but junk. But if it's just cosmetic items and such, I see no issue with that. If it's like what Epic does with Fortnite, I see no issue with that. If it's where I can play Skate for free and I don't need to buy anything else, than I am for it. But if it gets to a point where you can't go further until you pay for something, then I could see the point. And yeah EA is usually the bad guy, but they have allowed their studios to do their own thing from time to time.

I gotta give props to the people who make these wild creations in Minecraft, especially taking 6 years of their life to make something such as this. This person decided to make an as close as possible replica of Hogwarts as they could. The creator used the likes of video footage of the movies and photos as well. Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/this-incredible-minecraft-hogwarts-build-took-6-years-to-make/ Clip of the build:

I agree with Shagger's point of view on this. I think these days games are just easier to control. I look back at games with tank controls as an example. We don't have to worry about those types of controls anymore, at least in most games. There are still some games with bad tank controls, but these days it's rare. I also think game development is easier to get into, since there are more tools out there to make it easier. And I think that translates to games being easier to play as well. There are still games I have trouble getting used to and grasping the controls, but most games these days are fairly easy to get into. And I think there is some truth that playing games makes it easier to get into other games. If you play your whole life, I'm sure you can grasp most games.

I really think this is going to end up blowing up in their faces. It already is getting hate all around the gaming world, so I wonder if they will end up cancelling these changes. I hope they do, because I'd hate to see the PS5's price go up. Especially with scalpers still making it tough to get, now imagine scalpers jumping at it again because there's more money to be made.