Shagger

Welcome back.

Play Skyrim on it, that's what happens with every new platform it seems.

Hello everyone, my name is Anders. 
I created an account on this forum a little over two years ago, made a few posts, and then frankly kind of forgot about the whole thing. Well, I just logged back in, and it seems I never made an introduction.
I am 30 years old, live in Norway, and have played video games for as long as I can remember. I love pretty much everything about gaming, from playing new games, to collecting old games and hardware. I'm also an avid photography enthusiast, both analog and digital, and I also dabble in playing both guitar and bass. 
Looking forward to getting to know you guys!

I really can't put it better than James Stephanie Sterling does in this video.
 
 
What I find particularly bad about this is that they waited until the game had been out, got it's positive praise and review and now with those reviews on the internet forever and never to change, they add this shit in retroactively. As stated in the video, this is practically bad for people who know that are, for one reason or another, weak against these types of practices. What if, for example, games like FIFA and Madden were given adult rating because of thier lootbox mechanics(as they fucking should be), what would stop companies like that from releasing those games to get that E rating then adding thier microtransactions later. So what Capcom have done here is, at least in my opinion, worse that having these microtransaction in from the very beginning and Capcom should be ashamed of themselves. The regulators need to get on this kind if practice because it sets a very bad precedent.

An update on this deal, or perhaps no deal.
 
The UK's business watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (The CMA) has sensationally blocked the proposed merger between Xbox and Activision-Blizzard. The CMA were concerned over how this move would affect innovation and competition going forward into a future of cloud based gaming. Read the full brief on the the UK Government Website.
 
Basically, the CMA feel Microsoft have such a head start in the field of cloud gaming through Gamepass that having control of Activision-Blizzard on top of what they already have would make it difficult for other companies to compete in that market, leading to Microsoft lagging innovation in this market to better the consumer. Difficult to argue against those points, I suppose.
 
As you might imagine, Microsoft and Activision are not pleased. Responding in a statement, Microsoft president Brad Smith said;
“We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom. We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies. We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”
 
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson was even more savage;
“The CMA’s report contradicts the ambitions of the U.K. to become an attractive country to build technology businesses,” it said. “We will work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal. The report’s conclusions are a disservice to U.K. citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects. We will reassess our growth plans for the U.K. Global innovators large and small will take note that - despite all its rhetoric - the U.K. is clearly closed for business.”
 
(Both Quotes found on Polygon)
 
So whilst there will almost certainly be an appeal, the history of the CMA does not bode well for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard for that working in thier favour as appeals to the CMA tend to get rejected. And if what the CMA have said in thier statement is true and they have worked with the parties involved to try and alleviate those concerns and yet they still came to this conclusion, it seems unlikely that there is anything that Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard can say now to change thier mind.
 
I wouldn't say the deal is dead, but there is no point sugar coating this, this is a disaster for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard.

An update on this deal, or perhaps no deal.
 
The UK's business watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (The CMA) has sensationally blocked the proposed merger between Xbox and Activision-Blizzard. The CMA were concerned over how this move would affect innovation and competition going forward into a future of cloud based gaming. Read the full brief on the the UK Government Website.
 
Basically, the CMA feel Microsoft have such a head start in the field of cloud gaming through Gamepass that having control of Activision-Blizzard on top of what they already have would make it difficult for other companies to compete in that market, leading to Microsoft lagging innovation in this market to better the consumer. Difficult to argue against those points, I suppose.
 
As you might imagine, Microsoft and Activision are not pleased. Responding in a statement, Microsoft president Brad Smith said;
“We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom. We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies. We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”
 
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson was even more savage;
“The CMA’s report contradicts the ambitions of the U.K. to become an attractive country to build technology businesses,” it said. “We will work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal. The report’s conclusions are a disservice to U.K. citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects. We will reassess our growth plans for the U.K. Global innovators large and small will take note that - despite all its rhetoric - the U.K. is clearly closed for business.”
 
(Both Quotes found on Polygon)
 
So whilst there will almost certainly be an appeal, the history of the CMA does not bode well for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard for that working in thier favour as appeals to the CMA tend to get rejected. And if what the CMA have said in thier statement is true and they have worked with the parties involved to try and alleviate those concerns and yet they still came to this conclusion, it seems unlikely that there is anything that Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard can say now to change thier mind.
 
I wouldn't say the deal is dead, but there is no point sugar coating this, this is a disaster for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard.

Yeah, pretty much. Most games start in 1850, and I usually play them through to 2025 and then stop. (Theoretically, you could continue as long as you want - but since there are no new vehicles past the 2010s, there's no real reason to continue much beyond there!)
Anyway, the last game I played was The Sims 4.

Seen the game gat mostly positive reviews from outlets, publications and youtubers around the end of January and as late as the beginning of March, like this from Angry Joe:
 
 
But it's been almost three months since the game came out, so obviously people were going to stop talking about it. It was busy period as well with games like Forespoken and Hogwarts Legacy coming out around the same time as well, so that was a part of the reason why the conversation around Dead Space quickly fizzling out. Give it a month or two, and people will have stopped talking about Resident Evil 4 remake as well, unless Capcom make another stupid move.

Post apocalypse. I have always enjoyed seeing new worlds grow from the ashes of the old world. When done right, it can be truly fascinating to see how this new world survives, grows and evolves in term of social structure, laws, beliefs, traditions and so on. I also really enjoy seeing old tech' meeting new tech' in a creative way, something that goes hand in hand with post apocalyptic themes. Having ancient technology actually being more advanced is just cool idea that opens up a lot of possibilities.

They would probably think the same thing I did the first time I saw @Rain Dew playing RDR2. I asked her what movie she was watching.

Check this out! It is an expansion of Neverwinter called Menzoberranzan which is the under dark drow city made famous by R.A. Salvatore! Came out March 28 2023. I wish I could play this, but I don't play MMO. This is exciting though! For me it is a dream to see this expansion after reading those books of Legend of Drizzt. All I can say is WOW. This needs to be a whole game by itself. How I wish!!!!!!!!! Think I'll get this game just for this expansion and try it out. It even has Drizzt in it! One of the most amazing characters in all of D&D universe. I highly recommend you read the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy called "Homeland." There is also a graphic novel called "Homeland" by Devil's Due Publishing telling the exact story by Salvatore but instead with pictures and less to read if you like that instead. I have both the entire book series and the graphic novels. That first book Homeland was amazing. 
 
 
 

There is a chance they may look at video games the same way as literature, music and artwork as expressions of our culture (And I'd say they should), but because video games are an expression of our technology as much as anything else, I do see it being more likely they'll see it the way @killamch89 described. If this alien civilisation was advanced enough to have the technology to reach us, odds are they would see video games as jejune and puerile.

Who knows? Maybe they have their own version of videogames that is way more advanced than what we currently use. They'd probably laugh at us for using "primitive technology" if anything. 

This sounds pretty amazing and something I see being a wave of the future of gaming. A volunteer based modding community TESRenewal is working on a major project called Skyblivion that will add the entirety of the game ES Oblivion, map and quests, into the Skyrim and Skyrim SE versions. They say it won't be released for a couple of years, maybe 2025 and looks to be for PC only. This is something very unique and I think it may spur more communities to get involved with mods of older games to integrate into newer sequels. Wow!!!! They are also looking for volunteers who have development skills. I'm sure this is very exciting for fans of the series. 
https://skyblivion.com
 
 
 
 
 

I don't think hunger, or lack thereof, has anything to do with it because I'm starving and I feel sick looking at it.

Whilst the limitations imposed om modding on the PS4 version of the game are a problem, a positive consequence is that mads on PS4 aren't complex and thus don't tax on the system too much and there isn't much to go wrong. There should be no issue with loading an older save file after installing new mods, but be aware of is that if you load a save file that included a mod you no longer have installed, there can be problems. If it's a mod that adds a certain item (like the increase carry weight ring I brough up earlier), that item will no longer exist. So if you disable or uninstall that increase carry weight ring mod then load a save whare you had it equipped, you'll be stuck in the overnumbered position because the ring is no longer in you inventory. Be especially careful if you install mods that add new buildings or environments in the game becasue if you remove those mods then load a save whare you are in those said environments, the game probably won't load properly.
 
I have used faster levelling mods before and they are what they are. It's a personal choice whether or not to use them as you might feel you level up too slowly in the vanilla game, but I from experience this can be a double edged sword. Some skills can get, lets say, "left behind" very easily and you might fnd some parts of the game a stuggle because of it.
 
 
I have no experience of mod organizers on console, but on PC load order isn't really about loading the bigger mods first, it's more about what mods take priority. For example, if you installed a mod that alters the colour of the game's leather armour, but also a separate mod that changes the texture of the leather armour, you may have to load the two mods in a specific order for them to work in tandem. Again, I'm speaking from experience on PC, but I think it will be the same on console, priority mods get loaded after lower priority ones and will appear nearer the bottom of the list, not the top. Mod managers are generally pretty good at helping you load your mods in the correct order, so trust what the organiser is suggesting to you and you should be fine. Most modders will state in the description whether a mod should be placed before or after other mods in the load order, so read the descriptions fully every time to check.

I'm playing the Special Edition Version of Skyrim on PC, so the mods I'm linking to are the mods compatible with that version of the game.
 
Most important and the first mod anyone should install is the Skyrim Script Extender. It's a mod that creates an alternate executable file for the game that gives the player, as well as external files and applications, access to Console Commands and script editing. Most mods other than the simplest mods on PC need this to work.
 
To install, select the appropriate file form the link I gave you, and download the file. Next move the file to your Skyrim folder on you PC (usually found under Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common, I would show a screenshot, but my Skyrim folder is installed in a different location to the default) then using an archive access app, such as 7-Zip, extract the folder into your Skyrim folder.
 

 
 
Once that's done, your Skyrim folder should look something like this;
 

 
As the cursors tell you, you now have a different .exe file to use to start the game. In that screenshot there is also a shortcut I created to that file that I eventfully copied to my desktop, a good thing to do to ensure so you don't get the Script Extender executable file mixed up with the standard one.
 
The next thing you need to do is download the Vortex Mod Manager and create an account to start using nexus mods. The process is fairly straight forward and there's plenty of tips and videos online to help tech yourself how to use VMM, but I'll obviously help out as best I can if you need help with a specific problem.
 
We (The VGR community) will obviously be try to assist yourself and anyone else as best we can with trying to install mods, so feel free to ask any and all questions you have. There are no stupid questions nor problem too small.
 
Now onto the question you asked about the images. The first image is of a player home mod called Sjel Blad Castle and it's pretty self explanatory, It's a massive, beautiful fully equiped and furnished player home complete with followers, displays and convenience features such as a teleport system to help you move around the place and an auto-sort system for you inventory. 
 
The others are just an illustration of some of the enhanced visuals mods I've installed. They basically replace some of the textures and effects that are in the game with other textures and effects created by other people other than the game dev's. A mixture of Realistic Lighting, Realistic Water, This Cites overhaul, This OTHER Cities overhaul, 3D Trees and Plants, Trees in Cities and a Flora Overhaul. They may be more at work than just those, but those are some of the good ones. I've installed other mods to improve the gameplay and immersion such as Rich Merchants so one doesn't have to wonder to town after town to sell of swag, a First Person Perspective overhaul that has the actions as they are in third person mode display in first person (This mod is great, but it does take some getting used to as by default the primary weapon is on the left with secondary on the right, but while dual wielding as I like to do, the weapons look like they've swapped around) mods that add Better NPC AI, Better Follower AI, more Jewellery, Weapons and Armour options to the game.
 
There's other things like new followers, questlines, character creation mods and alternate face/body textures, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I think I may have offered enough for now. Like i said previously, please ask if there's something  you want to know

I think I have the answer;
 
 

Yeah, I certainly won't offer any sympathy over what happened to her, but that doesn't change the fact that she's still alive, so I would obviously still go for the octopus because that is at least edible. Before I explain further, a quick lesson in tastebuds. There are two primary functions for tastebuds. 
 
To alert you to incompatible and dangerous materials before they can enter your digestion by having them taste horrid. Offering a pleasurable experience in reaction to nutrient's you body is the most in need off, that's what cravings are.  
So whilst what this streamer stupidly put herself though was unpleasant, eating a poisonous mushroom would, if anything, be worse. Not only could it kill you, the experience eating would be something I'd wish on nobody. It's not just the taste, that would likely be rancid, but how it would make you feel as your body reacts to it as it attempts to digest it. Poison is prolonged and way more painful than any work of fiction can do justice. Even if you survive, it's unlikely the mushroom would even have any nutritional value anyway, so you'll be putting yourself through it for nothing. Wait, no, worse actually, because your body will have wasted valuable energy and water trying to neutralise said poison, so you'll probably be worse than you were to begin with. The octopus is at least food, it will quell you hunger and has nutrients and protein. So, with all due respect and with I genuine application for the topic @killamch89 (mostly for the video), this is quite a stupid question with an obvious answer.

Yeah, it is interesting that people call the Aya Neo and the others "Steam Deck clones" when they came out first, but these people who have this weird loyalty to Steam tend to be slightly stupid, so it isn't a shock.
 
Still, the Steam Deck itself isn't without merit. The hardware is powerful and it's well priced It is a good option for PC gaming on the go. Whilst the having the name Steam written all over hasn't exactly hurt it's sales, that doesn't mean the people who bought it were misled or were ignorant of thier options.

Skin.Club, one of the biggest CS:GO case opening sites in the world, announced a partnership with the newly awarded “best IGL of the Year”, Finn “Karrigan” Andersen last month.
We are thrilled to announce the relaunch of Karrigan Reviews: a series of videos in which Finn will analyze your CS:GO demos in-depth! Several lucky winners whose demos Finn will look through are to be determined randomly. 
Skin.Club received over 360 CS:GO demos! There are more than 17500+ minutes of pure CS:GO competitive gameplay where more than 10.000 rounds were played. 

After the first two winners were determined (Tsunderay & Iveza), Finn and his team narrowly analyzed their demos to provide valuable advice on where and how to improve in CS:GO, by showing weak and strong spots of your skill.
And now you can become a winner too! All you need to do is: sign up on Skin.Club, upload your CS:GO demo and pray to the RNG gods. There will be a total of 5 Karrigan Reviews episodes with the first one going live by the 10th of March and the finishing episode will be posted in July.
So join Karrigan on Skin.Club, get your skill and inventory to the next level.

 

Sorry to hear about your cat.

As this isn't strictly a gaming topic, I'm moving this thread to general chat.
 
As for the question, there isn't much that I can honestly say. I've only really uploaded to YouTube for practical reasons (living having clips to embed into my game reviews, for example) and never really sought a following. Honestly, I think Youtubers are at the mercy of luck and the algorithm and have very little control over thier own success. I suppose being very active on social media and the aforementioned Discord wouldn't hurt.

Well, the short answer is no. And it's not because gaming is any better than other forms of entertainment, but because some stories can only be told at there best as a role play and some that can be only really be told as a non-interactive narrative.
 
Gaming is all about the role play, whereas TV shows, films and books as non-interactive media are all about observing a story. Games are about literally playing the narrative and being the protagonist, whilst TV shows, movies and books only grant you the role as an observer. Whether that means being the selfless hero or indulging the darkness as the power hungry villain, or whatever. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have fantasies about being both and that's why fiction lets us be both, but there are some things that nobody, even in great stories, nobody wants to role play with.
 
For example, you couldn't have a video game based of Lolita. A classic novel turned into a movie not once, but twice. The first of which directed by Stanley Kubrick of all people. But that's not the point, the point is that story makes you sympathise with it's main character despite him being guilty of having a sexual relationship with his underage charge. That is something that would be pretty much impossible to do as a role play because nobody (with any moral fibre, at least) would want to role play that, but it does work as a story being observed form the outside. Beit film or book, that story demands time to let you sympathise with it's main character, time a role play just can't offer as it takes being so far into the story, and that's if you ever sympathise at all. 
 
There are stories that can work as both a video game and as a non-interactive filmed presentation (The Last of Us being a recent and fine example), but there are also some stories that just don't. There are also stories that may only be fully effective as a role play. I'd suggest open world RPGs like Skyrim as an examples. Film as a media and modern video games as a media have similarities, but some very crucial differences as well.