figmentPez
Staff member
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC. No word on pricing yet.
Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
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figmentPez
Staff member
Oddly, I'm not that bothered by this. If they price it at the same $30 it is on Xbox, and the ports are decent, and they keep up a reasonable release schedule, then it doesn't seem that bad. I paid $30 for Telltale's episodic games, and was happy with it.
I suspect they'll fail at one of these points, though. I figure they'll most likely price the collection at $60, or the ports will be complete crap, but it's also possible they'll make it cheap crap, while the collection won't fully release until a few years down the road.
EDIT: I just thought of one potential upside to the release schedule: it would help the multiplayer scene gain traction. Instead of having the user base spread over 5 different games, players will be concentrated on the most recently released title, making it easier to get a critical mass of users.
There shouldn't be multiplayer in 5 different games. There should just be an amalgam multiplayer that incorporates the best maps and such from each game.
So Halo 2? Because I think that's the only one that got a pc release
I let him know about it and he reminded me it was the mandatory switch to Vista that was what made him upset, because his computer at the time wouldn't run Vista. Plus it would've meant running Vista.
--Patrick
I actually have the first 2 Halo games for PC. Yes the first TWO came out on PC, but that was it. At least one of them had a Vista requirement (2 I think).
The #1 thing I hope they fix is the vehicle movement. It was HORRIFICALLY not-tuned for mouse. I actually bought a NEW MOUSE for this, so that I could pump the sensitivity up by something like 4x as much so you could actually drive the damned things rather than sweeping my mouse across my desk 10 times to turn 10 degrees (slight exaggeration, but only slight), but then put the setting back to "normal" for the rest of the time.
So that was my introduction to DPI buttons and their actual utility on mice!
I'll probably wait until 2 or 3 is released, then buy it if the ports don't suck. See issues above.
figmentPez
Staff member
Valve has added beta support for Steam Link Anywhere which will allow streaming games over the internet.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh shit son
Hoping that still works with the old steam link hardware as well as the steam link app.
That would simplify my set up by a LOT.
Also... if I could, say, just take my STEAM LINK and my mouse/kb when I, say, visit relatives... oh man.
figmentPez
Staff member
Those comments don't match what's being said on the Steam Controller Reddit. The update for the app may not have hit when that comment on the Steam forums was made.Comments say it's only on the steam link hardware for right now... which once again makes me ask why the hell they stopped selling the steam link hardware
figmentPez
Staff member
Ha! I'm getting downvoted in that discussion for pointing out that home theater is to movie theater as Steam Link Anywhere is to cloud gaming services (like Google's upcoming streaming service). High upfront costs vs recurring fees. I have no idea why people can't see the parallels.
figmentPez
Staff member
Which is why Steam Link Anywhere is even more of a threat to Google's (still in the future) service than home theater is to movie theaters. However, I'm assuming that there is some percentage of people who have internet downloads capable of streaming a game to their phone, but don't have internet uploads that are favorable to get their home PC's content out to that phone.TBH Steam Link Anywhere would be the absolute cheapest streaming service/cloud gaming service. The link cost me 5 bucks and I already have everything else
But really, it's not a cost or performance that cloud gaming will ever win on. It's convenience. The only way I see cloud gaming winning is if they make their service even easier than buying a console. Deliver the games, whenever and whereever, with minimal effort on the consumer's part, and they'll succeed in getting customers. If cloud gaming can't deliver on that, they'll eventually lose out in every other area.
figmentPez
Staff member
Valve is making a big change to user reviews on Steam.
In short, they don't want "review bombs" unduly influencing the rating of a game. So, this would head off a Captain Marvel / Rotten Tomatoes type situation where tons of negative reviews are being posted for no real reason. However, Valve has also decided that reasons like DRM or EULA changes aren't legitimate reasons for a flood of negative reviews. Users will have the option of choosing to still include those reviews in the game's score, and none of the reviews will be deleted or even removed from view.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it seem like the usual type of Valve fix. Minimal effort, no real transparency, and just generally making things less useful.
In short, they don't want "review bombs" unduly influencing the rating of a game. So, this would head off a Captain Marvel / Rotten Tomatoes type situation where tons of negative reviews are being posted for no real reason. However, Valve has also decided that reasons like DRM or EULA changes aren't legitimate reasons for a flood of negative reviews. Users will have the option of choosing to still include those reviews in the game's score, and none of the reviews will be deleted or even removed from view.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it seem like the usual type of Valve fix. Minimal effort, no real transparency, and just generally making things less useful.
GasBandit
Staff member
Beat Saber has been announced as a launch title for the upcoming standalone VR headset, Oculus Quest.
Beat Saber's pretty much the main hotness of VR right now, so this is a shrewd move for the Oculus folks.
Beat Saber's pretty much the main hotness of VR right now, so this is a shrewd move for the Oculus folks.
Yep, my dad might get a Quest now because he had fun playing Beat Saber at my house, but it's not worth it for him to get a PC that can run a Rift.
He also has monovision, so hopefully the Quest works like the Rift, because it's the only one that supports that.
Couple of big news bits I'm surprised haven't been posted yet:
Google announces Stadia, a new game streaming service.
Disney suddenly resurrects Lucasfilm Games
Google announces Stadia, a new game streaming service.
Disney suddenly resurrects Lucasfilm Games
Stadia was discussed on Discord, and unflatteringly.
Also there's this:
I'm not enamored of the idea of that sort of online gaming, especially due to what it would mean for game distribution (all games become like Netflix, can't ever just own a game, can't play offline, no mods, etc.) BUT I reluctantly have to admit that if the idea catches on, it would mean the Internet infrastructure in America will finally be FORCED to upgrade.
I was more surprised to learn of OpenXR, which if you haven't heard of it is an API (like Vulkan or DirectX) that would let all VR developers converge on a single, royalty-free standard for doing VR that would allow titles to be developed to target all VR platforms instead of having to choose one and only one at the start.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Also, apparently, the Stadia controller is a giant step backwards. Pez pointed out it has no gyro controls or grip buttons, or other advanced features. As if playing an FPS with a controller wasn't already fail enough (the much trumpeted launch title for Stadia is the new Doom Eternal).
figmentPez
Staff member
Unless Google and the gaming media are bizarrely silent about the controller features, it's a PS2 era controller that's had a couple of social media buttons added. I'm really scared as to what that means for gaming if Stadia catches on. With so much talk of how cloud gaming means you never have to upgrade, there's no generations of hardware, etc. That could mean that gaming interface becomes stagnant. Stuck with the same basic controller for as long as Google can dominate the market, and all other platforms will be shackled to the same level.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh hey, remember how we were all excited for The Outer Worlds?
So much for that I guess. Epic store exclusive, maybe.
On a completely unrelated note, let me introduce our newest rating icon...
So much for that I guess. Epic store exclusive, maybe.
On a completely unrelated note, let me introduce our newest rating icon...
Right at the reveal I thought the controller looks awefully similar to cheap generic 3rd party controllers.
*gasp* Colonel Klink!
(ok so it probably looks more like Wolfgang Hochstetter, but then I couldn't make the reference)
On a more serious note, especially as regards the circumstances under which you might use this new rating, consider the implications of something like what is happening over at reddit. I know the site admins here might feel differently, but I don't know how the ISPs, the forum hosting company, etc. are going to act if they start feeling pressure.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
There's nothing to exert pressure for. /r/piracy is in trouble because there has been actual links to pirated material there (IE, click here to torrent InsertShowHere). We can talk about piracy all the live long day and nobody has anything to say about it so long as nobody is actually *providing* access to copyrighted property.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh, and this went by me completely until bluesnews called attention to it... Lucasfilm Games... NOT Lucasarts.
What the heck that means, I have no idea. Disney's had it's share of EA-style studio killings though, so I'm not enamored. RIP Black Rock.