DeadSlash

10 hours ago, luciusfunk said:

With my bonus this year I finally picked up Breath of the Wild and haven't touched my xbox since! I also picked up New Super Mario Bros Deluxe Switch and I gotta say I'm kinda disappointed with it so far. Granted my first play through was with my kids and my daughter was being a moron and just saying over and over "I have no idea what I'm doing" and kept dying. Mind you she's 15 and my nine year old son was playing better than she was.

 

Looking forward to Mario Maker 2 and Link's Awakening. I also saw a rumor that Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD are being ported to the Switch. I'll probably finally sell my Wii U if those come to the Switch as I only use it for those two Zelda games and Mario Maker.

Breath of the Wild is bad to the bone.

The more powerful Switch is desperately needed.  I have Doom on it, but it is unplayable to me because the FPS and visuals are AWFUL compared to what I'm used to.

On 2/24/2019 at 8:49 AM, RussTCB said:

I've been messing around Crackdown 3 because it was free with Game Pass. It's fun for free but I'd be really mad if I'd paid for it. 

Gamepass was free for 14 days and CD3 was available for PC with it.  You are 100% right, it's fun, but $60 for that game would have pissed me off hardcore!

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on that.  I wouldn't even have known it was a thing.

On 4/10/2019 at 2:07 AM, axl32 said:

if i remember rightly when buying games from a store, most refused (well locally) to take them back unless they was still sealed

i have to agree steam forums are toxic and very rarely use them

steam is good for cheap games in sales, grey re-sellers and codes from graphics cards from eBay

 

 Yeah, for the longest time, it was just a flat NO on PC games, but Babbage's and EB took console games back opened or not (that policy was on and off multiple times.)  Gamestop started taking back actual physical copies of PC games like a year before Steam did, but it was as they were transitioning to almost exclusive online PC download sales so it mostly impacted their online sales.

PS. Best Buy was taking back hardcopies too, it may have changed.

1 hour ago, Dazey said:

Brutal and didn't have a way to save your game either if I recall correctly.  

Nope, none.  That game broke many a controller.

16 hours ago, axl32 said:

i noticed some of the complaints are for software that is buggy or does not work this is publishers fault not steams, also there are a lot of post that are from people who have clearly not read the minimum specs, this will happen over all the digital delivery platforms

a lot from people who have been banned for cheating

Microsoft and Sony console ban for cheating and you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to play online.

 

omg some even tried to get a refund coz they found the game too hard

 

also a lot of took me hours to download so took me over 2hr for getting a refund, download time does not count for refunds

i got scammed once on steam, it was my fault for being tired, what i did not do was go and slag steam off on a review site because of my own stupidity

 

Many fair points, but there is another side to almost every one of them.  The first one is probably the most important counter point because it probably amounts in the most valid complaints - There isn't a single situation in games where the return doesn't go through the storefront.  Developers and publishers don't even have a mechanism for processing refunds.  I'm not talking about Steam, I mean anywhere.  If a storefront sells a game that is legit broken that is where you get your refund.

I agree on the majority of people being banned were for cheating, but it's important to note that there is no oversight over forum moderators.  If you are banned from a forum for something, there is no appeal, there is no clarification, it is never looked at.  Most of my passion on this topic comes from personal experience with Steam/Valve Corp.  I was permabanned from a forum (not all of steam, but it can happen) because someone called me "a bitch ass crybaby soyboy." I replied directly to that quote with "...he said through a face full of tears."   You get a notification, showing you what you said and why it results in a ban, and that's it.  Mine was "a personal attack" The person that called me a bitch ass crybaby soyboy was never banned, and there wasn't and will never be a mechanism to even know WHO banned you.

With the inaccurate play times, feel blessed that it hasn't bitten you.  I don't ever buy from Steam so it is irrelevant to me, but games are still activated on Steam and played on Steam, and the hours are simply wrong.  There are additional steps that must be taken to make sure the game isn't still accruing hours played other than exiting the game.  I agree, I've never seen it count download hours, but I absolutely have had a game that would crash on launch somehow register 4+ hours in the 2 days it took for a patch that allowed me to launch it for the first time.

Please note: This is not an endorsement of Epic.  I don't want to argue with anyone.  I just want to make sure people know Valve corp is a certified cunt of a company.  I mention Epic in this thread, but for comparison purposes in stances where they are doing a reviled maneuver, that they learned from Valve.

So, the Epic push for exclusives is really heating up, and Steam is really feeling the heat.  One piece of resulting fallout that is really chapping my ass, is the people rallying to the defense of Steam, or Valve Corp.  I've noticed that the majority of people really latching on to the concept that Steam is a champion of the people are younger, and don't know the real Steam.  Here are some fast FACTS about Valve/Steam that people have seemed to have forgotten, overlooked or not been aware of.

1. Steam is a monopoly.  You currently cannot be a PC gamer without involving Steam anymore than you can play Xbone without involving Microsoft, or PS4 without involving Sony.  

2. Steam got to be that monopoly by forcing people to install it in order to play Half-Life 2, TF2, CS, CSGO.  They used that market distribution, and early financial incentives to other companies to used Steam.  This is exactly what Epic is doing with the market penetration provided by Fortnite.  

3. Steam had a zero returns policy until 2015.

4. Valve Corporation, Like Epic games has an F rating on BBB.  Unlike Epic, Valve has additional, FULL PAGE of bold red consumer warnings.

https://www.bbb.org/us/wa/bellevue/profile/online-gaming/valve-corporation-1296-27030704 (You have to click on the additional warning to see the full page.)

https://www.bbb.org/us/nc/cary/profile/video-game-dealers/epic-games-inc-0593-90001957

5. Prior to creating a return policy in 2015, because competition from storefronts with return policies, like Gamestop online and Origin, started to eat into profits, This is how Steam handled returns: Step one - say no. Blanket answer.  If you pursued it further, you were told that initiating a chargeback would result in Valve pursuing fraud charges against you, and blocking all online aspects of every game in your Steam library, regardless of where, when, how, or whom it was purchased from.  To be very clear, what Valve would do if you performed a chargeback, was lock you out of the online portion of all of your games.  So, when I looked at the option of a chargeback on Aliens: Colonial Marines, I was informed that all of my games, including ones I purchased from a store would no longer have any multiplayer, leaderboard access, if they needed online connectivity to a server for SP, this would also not work.  Steam held your computer hostage.  There was not a time limit like there is now, either.  Now it's like you can't buy a game on Steam for 30 days if you do a chargeback or some such.  Prior, as late as 2014, once you performed a chargeback, your account was dead forever, and your only option was to re-buy the games to a new account.

Because of my experience in 2013, where I had over 100 games on my Steam account held for ransom by Valve, I stopped buying anything from them.  Since February of 2013, without buying a single item from Steam, I have nearly 200 games added to Steam.  This means that Valve is set up in such a way that they a level of control over nearly 200 transactions I purposely took steps to avoid them having a hand in.  I don't think enough people remember a time, when you bought a game, brought it home, and played it.  There was a time that no 3rd party had inserted them into your gaming life.

2003:  Buy id's Doom from Electronics Boutique,  bring it home and play it.  Issues were addressed with either id Software, or Electronics Boutique, both companies you chose to do business with.

2007:   Buy id's Doom from Electronics Boutique, sign into 3rd party, Steam, register the game with them, and launch their software forever after when you want to play.  A product created by iD, sold at Electronics Boutique can now be turned off by a 3rd party, not involved in the transaction.  

For console users, think of it like this.  Instead of it working like it currently does, let's throw a 3rd party in there, that regardless of where you bought your game, or what company made it, it now had to be registered with this 3rd party before it could be launched.  In addition to powering up your console, you would also have to log into this 3rd party site, and this 3rd party site now has a level of control over your entire library, so maybe you bought one of your games from them as they are also a digital storefront, but if you run afoul of them in any way shape or form, they now have the power to lock you out of your entire library of 40 games, despite 39 of said games being purchased elsewhere.  Oh, also, you need a new console once they put you on the shit list, because they have your hardware ID.

Again, this isn't an endorsement of Epic, but more of a "let's not forget" about what an epic cunny Steam is.  

On 4/3/2019 at 3:04 AM, Dazey said:

Pics or it didn’t happen.  

I can't figure out how.

Birth announcement:

Smackalibur III Esq.

Weight 40lbs.

Length 24''

Height 26''

First words: "Welcome to the Jungle" 1986 Sound City

First game run: Metro Last Light redux

From death, comes life.

I am reporting to you from Smackalibur III esq.

This is my first post anywhere.  You're welcome.

I'm drunk with raw computing power.

The singularity has begun, and I am on the computers side.

I saw the 1up machines at WalMart today.  I'll get one for my nephews when they are a little older, they are 2 and 3 right now.  I was joking with my dad, because my sister is keeping them away from xbox and shit like that, the bubble will be burst when he has a friend over and after a game of Pac-Man his friend is like "Cool, so can we play COD now?"

It's going to be like when I was little, my mother only bought "Vintage Diet-Cola" so not only diet soda, but off brand!  I was like 6 or 7 before I had actual real soda when my aunt gave me Sprite.  I still didn't understand Diet vs. regular soda, so I just thought Cola was garbage and lemon lime soda was amazing.  I think I was 10 when I slept over my friends house and he had Pepsi.  When my mother came to get me, I wanted her to try it.  I didn't know she knew soda like that existed!  Like it was literally an embarrassment for her, because I'm like "Just try their soda! It's amazing! Get her cola Mrs. Kivler, please!?"  Hard to believe for the children of the internet age, I know.  Fucking born in the 70's, crazy old.

The point of that rambling story is that I fully expect that conversation one day, with my nephew, where he tries to explain to me how shitty Pac-Man is compared to this Xbox3 thing he played at a friends house.  "Show Uncle Mike Doom!"

Herzog Zwie is a cult classic multiplayer Genesis game.  One of the first I ever played a lot with my father.  It's an action RTS type of game, no co-op, but one of the most fun games ever made.

14 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

I have a basic 1600dpi mouse. Can you or anyone else confirm whether or not a highend 12000dpi mouse actually feels better? I might get one. That and the 3850x and a 3080Ti and a 144hz+ monitor. I can't wait. It will be fucking amazing playing Halo 3 and the others. 

I hope they do mods like rain for Halo 3 ODST.

I can't really tell if it makes that big of a difference, but I've also always gotten the top tier corded gaming mouse from Logitech as soon as they were released going back over 10 years, so I don't really know.  My guess is that feel and button placement is far more important.

I will say, about a 144hz monitor that it is like getting a new computer.  It's an amazing difference, night and day.

I've said quite consistently that the post GnR lives of both Axl and Slash have been consumed with finding a new Slash and new Axl respectively.  Both had been unsuccessful, as evidenced by how many guitarists Axl has mowed through, and singers Slash has discarded.   Mostly to "fuck off" type replies.

I've also maintained that it is possible to love all band members and their work, and not be on "Team Axl" or "Team Slash" but the majority of people here seem to think that is impossible fiction, ans that either Axl or Slash is "right" and the other, clearly "wrong."

+1 Good thread idea, btw.

5 hours ago, OmarBradley said:

I'm still unsure if I want to do a new build. My processor is old yet it seems to be doing fine with my 1080. At this point I kind of want to run my system until it decides its done, not me. I'm sort of curious to see how long this will be a viable gaming build at 1440p/maxed settings. So far, it's holding up surprisingly well given my processor is from 2012. As long as I can get 40+ frames on maxed settings, I'm happy. I care more about looks than smoothness. Pretty low maintenance for a PC gamer. 

I would get the i9 9900k for sure though, one reason as you noted it's not that much more expensive than the i7s. And I believe only i9s have hyptherthreading whereas the i7s don't anymore.

When I made Smackalibur II (rip) I was back and forth on getting the 5960 chip, it was actually a LOT more expensive than the best "gaming chip" that I believe was the 6700.  I did some video editing and the extra boost of the 5960 DID mean something there, and it ended up being the deciding factor.   I never regretted the choice, because almost immediately, with Just Cause 3, I was seeing none of the errors that people were reporting where the only difference was the chipset.  This trend continued all the way up to it's dying day.  Interestingly nicely bookended by Just Cause, as Just Cause 4 was the final game where people reported it to be "broken" whilst I was having no problems.

So despite the very common sentiment that the 5960 was of no value to gamers, it did the job for me like a champion.  

SM3 is starting to take shape, I just nabbed this:

1920GB Corsair Force MP510 series PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD this shit is apparently so fast, it loads before you even realize you wanted to launch the program... 

1 hour ago, Sydney Fan said:

Im glad im not the only one who always thought that. Needless to say the lead singer has put on some weight. 

I've always thought that The Offspring had a few good songs, and re-released them multiple times.  I don't know if anyone else has payed attention, but a shit ton of their songs sound like a direct rip off of another one of their songs.

Worth noting that my computer didn't commit suicide after playing Destiny 2, like it did with Anthem.  That's a big plus in the Destiny 2 column, imo.

3 hours ago, lame ass security said:

It's only simplistic if you play it wrong, it's actually pretty difficult to nail precisely.  

It is in no way intended as a personal knock on the one of the most iconic riff off all time, I've just heard various comments about the simplicity of it.  I know Slash has even kind of dissed in the past.  It's just something I've heard frequently, it's impossible black magics to me.

Destiny 2 isn't bad.  I played it for a while, but it grew old fast.  For me there is that moment of realization when games with that overall concept (grind in order to find weapons or items to allow you to grind better) hits me that it's a treadmill and I lose interest quickly. For whatever reason, it hit me really really fast in Destiny 2.  I think one of the main reasons for me was a dislike of the graphics overall style.  They were great graphics, just not a fan of the styling, so it was a little lost on me.

It's fascinating that multiple bands have done this.  I know the SCOM riff has been made fun of  because of its simplicity, I did not know this was like "a thing." 

I have no idea if it's possible for me to find that clip, I do know I found it on limewire looking for GnR leaks and it came up. It was an audio clip, and not the greatest quality.  This was before I had even found this site (possibly before it existed.) it's too bad, because I would have brought it up.

Oh yeah, Water cooling is dead to me.

@OmarBradley You made me laugh out loud for the first time since my computer went kaput.  I am obviously kidding with the mourning angle, but I am frustrated and mad as F, so laughs were in short supply.

However, one cannot mourn forever, and Smackalibur III is taking shape.  Pretty sure I'm getting the i9-9900k.  A little overkill for gaming, but I do video editing too, and the 8700 was only about $200 cheaper.  My old chipset was the 5960 and while it too was "overkill" for gaming I didn't have the same issues as the people who got the 6700, so fingers crossed.

Also, please note, I will have enough fans to change weather patterns, so I wouldn't book any vacations until we see what the global climate looks like in April.

Rip "Smackalibur II"  2/13/2015 - 3/23/19

Farewell Smackalibur II. A nation mourns the loss of your blazing fast FPS, and insane 32GB of memory.

Smackalibur II was an organ donor and his 1080ti was preserved and will be inserted into a needy system.  He is survived a Logitec G series mouse, and the N52te, speed pad, and countless photos, videos and songs.  Smackalibur II died from catastrophic processor failure, when his liquid cooling ruptured suddenly. He was 4.  After numerous attempts to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.  His death has been ruled to be of natural causes, despite rumors of foul play circulating on several media outlets.  Close friend and family Doctor Dead Slash has been quoted as saying "haters finally got what they wanted.  The Beast has been slain.  Fuck you water, fuck you moisture, I will never properly hydrate myself again."  Mr. Slash has been Smackalibur II's chief caretaker for almost the entirety of his existence. DS added "I used to yell at him when my internet when down, and it wasn't his fault.  I wish I could take it back.  I wish I could have said goodbye.  I will miss my dear, dear friend, Smackalibur II.

Smackalibur II first rose to national fame when he was benchmarked in the top 99th percentile of Steam users in 2015.  He has had 2 Video Card transplants, and  had numerous battles with his processors cooling system.  Most recently, he was hospitalized on the basement floor for almost 30 days when a small leak in his system lead to anemia and overheating.  At the time, Dr. DeadSlash warned him that his life was coming to an end, and he needed to dial down the raw power, but this didn't stop Smackalibur II from doing what he loved, playing the newest PC games set to extreme quality, with a silky smooth frame rate.   

In lieu of flowers, the family of Smackalibur II wishes you simply humor his closest friend and leave your condolences, because you have lost a computer too, and don't act like you didn't lose your shit when it happened.

Does anyone know?  There was the whole thing when they considered naming their album "Chinese Democracy You snooze you lose."  But long before that, in the limewire days, I had downloaded a bootleg of The Offspring where Dexter teased a cover, Noodles played the opening riff of SCOM, (to an enormous pop, fyi) and Dexter was like "Fuck that, they suck!" This is years before the Snooze you lose thing.

If this needs to be moved to a different sub-forum, I'm sorry.

On 2/3/2019 at 4:44 AM, The Holographic Universe said:

I cannot foresee another album such Led Zeppelin IV, Dark Side of the Moon, Back in Black, A Stones album(insert here), Metallica’s Black album, etc, etc. Does nay poster here believe such an album will exist again?

Not in the sense that it was 10-20 years ago.  Because of listening on demand, some of those tracks that really grew on you because they were too hard to skip, or listening to albums all the way through are a thing of the past.  Even in the CD days, when you could skip songs at will, it was still an event to have the CD handy, change it out etc.  Now, you listen to that one song that caught your attention, and move to another artist by simply asking Alexa to change it.

6 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

It IS the devil. Sadly I had to download to play unreal 2018 or... 19 and... it development ceased.

Anyways. I used to only have steam and that was fine, then came GOG galaxy (Diablo 1 is available on it, BTW). Ok by me. Then epic came along and it became crowded, then I needed Bethesda's to download the Quake Champions Beta, thankfully it came to steam, but it seems Rage 2 won't be coming to steam as well and I'm really worried Doom Eternal might follow suit. It is really getting out of hand.

Launchers are kind of like streaming platforms now, they will duke it out and 1 or 2 will remain, but everyone wants in on the money!

Shame about UT, I was playing a lot of that too.  My glory days of gaming and actually being "good" peaked during the UT2k4 days, did a lot of shoutcasting then, too.

1 hour ago, action said:

imagine being transported from 1991 (or something equally tranquil) to this day and reading that post on the internet

the world has come to the point, where people watch "go-cam" footage of mass murder and casually discuss his reload times

I'm long overdue for an internet break

I see your point, but his sloppy reloads stand out as part of the fearless theme.  The first thing I looked up after the video was if New Zealand was like England where nobody had guns.  Reasoning behind it was how relaxed and utterly free of any fear of kind of retaliation.  I wondered if it was because he was ready to die, or if he had no concerns because maybe the cops didn't carry guns there.

13 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

You cannot unmake the viewing of something like that so I'll refrain. I still haven't recovered from 2 Girls and a Cup.

Yeah, this is 100% true.  I'm desensitized to this sort of thing from seeing it, but the first real atrocity I ever watched was the Nick Berg beheading. (The first American executed in Iraq during the war rebuild)  It shook me hard, and changed my world view.  It's over a decade, and it still upsets me to think about. 

On 3/15/2019 at 10:45 PM, Powerage5 said:

The only song I’ve heard off it so far was Everybody Wants To Rule The World, but I thought their version of that was great. I plan on checking out the whole album at some point. 

Sometimes bands really try to alter a cover and it just blows, but this album (with the exception of Paranoid) sounds very true to the originals, but played by Weezer.  Paranoid is a surprisingly good cover, but the guitarist sings lead vocals, and sounds a lot like Ozzy, not Cumo.