Video Game News and Miscellany

[Frank]

Eeeehhh.

I'm not huuuuge into the art style. Every alien species looks like it was made in the Spore creator.



This really won't matter for most of you, just weird old nerds who like me who love Star Control 2 more than is healthy.

Also, Stardock gets scummier and scummier with their moves against Toys for Bob. Trying to claim rights to stuff that was never sold in the first place. Claiming Toys for Bob lied about the settlement they offered them, then refusing to detail the settlement after Toys for Bob called them out and said 'Just show people it, you fucking wrote it. Let everyone see if we're lying.'

Look at this fucking bullshit.

https://www.dogarandkazon.com/blog/...-not-the-creators-of-star-control-sues-us-wtf

https://www.dogarandkazon.com/blog/2018/3/18/strange-settlement-on-an-alien-planet

Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, is a scumbag. Trying to pull some Harmony Gold bullshit with Star Control.

 

[AshburnerX]

Eeeehhh.

I'm not huuuuge into the art style. Every alien species looks like it was made in the Spore creator.



This really won't matter for most of you, just weird old nerds who like me who love Star Control 2 more than is healthy.

Is this the project from the two creators who seem to have a legitimate claim to the property or the company that says it does?

 

[Frank]

Is this the project from the two creators who seem to have a legitimate claim to the property or the company that says it does?

This is the Stardock game, the one by the company that's trying to claim total ownership from the original creators.

 

[figmentPez]

I'm with Jim on this one; dollars per hour is a ridiculous metric to measure a game by, and I much prefer a shorter game that's good for it's entire length, to a "longer" game that's full of a lot of filler, grinding, or otherwise overstays it's welcome.

 

[PatrThom]

I want a game to have a dollars-per-hour rating that is as small as possible without being zero, because I want a game to be good enough that I will play it for years after I buy it, driving that metric down a little more every time I get an urge to reinstall/replay it.

—Patrick

 

[Denbrought]

Provided two games with equal ratings/quality, I'd rather buy the game with the lower $/hr, since it's a more efficient use of my money. However, other people's $/hr are probably not a great match for mine, since I tend to uninstall or quit-halfway-through grindy sections of games (unless the grind/challenge is entertaining, like Dark Souls).

In any case, that metric is secondary to the quality--it's why I got The Bunker at $10 even though I only expected to get 2-4hrs out of it.

 

[figmentPez]

To me $/hr for a game is about on par with valuing food by $/calorie. I may have 133 hours in Fallout: New Vegas, but I don't feel like that gave me more for my money than Psychonauts, which I finished in a fraction of the time. And I certainly wouldn't want to have missed out on Thomas Was Alone or Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, which each had less than 5 hours, just because I could get 100+ hours if I'd bought Fallout 3 instead.

 

[bhamv3]

I am reminded of This War of Mine, which I've only played something like 20 hours of and never want to play again, but would consider an excellent game that I'd heartily recommend.

 

[figmentPez]

I thought this was a good look at what Ultra settings in games actually do, visually, and if it's actually much of a sacrifice to turn things down to High or Medium in order to get better frame rates:

 

[GasBandit]

I thought this was a good look at what Ultra settings in games actually do, visually, and if it's actually much of a sacrifice to turn things down to High or Medium in order to get better frame rates:

I always, always turn off SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion). Not only is it a horrendous GPU hog, but IMO the effect it creates looks shitty anyway.

Other things I always turn off:
Depth of Field - my eyesballs should determine what's in focus, not my reticle
Bloom - MY RETINAS
Lens flares (where available) - SO annoying
Motion blur - gives me a headache and causes motion sickness... why would I want processor cycles devoted to this?
Film grain - what, I want to spend resources to making my game look SHITTIER?

 

[Null]

I always, always turn off SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion). Not only is it a horrendous GPU hog, but IMO the effect it creates looks shitty anyway.

Other things I always turn off:
Depth of Field - my eyesballs should determine what's in focus, not my reticle
Bloom - MY RETINAS
Lens flares (where available) - SO annoying
Motion blur - gives me a headache and causes motion sickness... why would I want processor cycles devoted to this?
Film grain - what, I want to spend resources to making my game look SHITTIER?

This absolutely. I got Mass Effect in a Steam sale way back, and Film Grain was automatically selected. And I was like, "Why does this look so fucking terrible?"

 

[GasBandit]

This absolutely. I got Mass Effect in a Steam sale way back, and Film Grain was automatically selected. And I was like, "Why does this look so fucking terrible?"

Buh.. buh, id dudn look CINEMATIC ifn it dun emulate the drawbacks of physically using cameras with lenses and celluloid!

Fuckin' spare me.

 

[PatrThom]

I get bloom. I think there are times when it’s entirely appropriate. If I look up at the Sun, the rest of the screen should blow out. This is expected.

But a lot of developers think “bloom” means “run everything through a shitty HDR filter.”
And that’s terrible.

—Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

I get bloom. I think there are times when it’s entirely appropriate. If I look up at the Sun, the rest of the screen should blow out. This is expected.

But a lot of developers think “bloom” means “run everything through a shitty HDR filter.”
And that’s terrible.

—Patrick

Yeah, the former is not what bloom does. Bloom means any light source causes everything else to be harder to see, regardless of any other factors. Again, another thing your EYES do for you, and you don't need the computer to pretend to be a camera (especially not in a first person game).

 

[PatrThom]

Yeah, the former is not what bloom does. Bloom means any light source causes everything else to be harder to see, regardless of any other factors. Again, another thing your EYES do for you, and you don't need the computer to pretend to be a camera (especially not in a first person game).

Well, really bloom is supposed to be a way for a screen that only goes from, say, 0-255 to simulate a brightness level of e.g. 380 by allowing the brightness of a displayed object to “bleed” (or better yet bloom) over into the neighboring pixels, spilling over to simulate a halo of brightness higher than the screen’s hardware can actually display.

But most developers just seem to think it means everything needs to be rendered with DOUBLE SUN POWEERRRRRRR!!!

—Patrick

 

[AshburnerX]

Film grain - what, I want to spend resources to making my game look SHITTIER?

I keep film grain on if the game is aping a big movie genre, like a horror game or something, or is otherwise set during a period where film grain would have been common. Otherwise, off it goes.

 

[figmentPez]

Apple Rejects Valve's Steam Link App Due to 'Business Conflicts'

Valve said this in a press release:

On Monday, May 7th, Apple approved the Steam Link app for release. On Weds, May 9th, Valve released news of the app. The following morning, Apple revoked its approval citing business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team.

Valve appealed, explaining the Steam Link app simply functions as a LAN-based remote desktop similar to numerous remote desktop applications already available on the App Store. Ultimately, that appeal was denied leaving the Steam Link app for iOS blocked from release. The team here spent many hours on this project and the approval process, so we're clearly disappointed. But we hope Apple will reconsider in the future.

 

[GasBandit]

I like how android lets you install apps from places other than the google play store. Just sayin'.

 

[chris]

people joked about it but it looks like it really gonna happen.

Nintendo filed for N64 trademark. That could mean that a N64 mini classic is on the way since Nintendo did the same thing with the NES and SNES.

 

[Frank]

I wonder how many fewer N64 games they'll stick on it.

I mean...how many N64 games do people actually care about? Are there more than 10 that mattered?

 

[GasBandit]

I wonder how many fewer N64 games they'll stick on it.

I mean...how many N64 games do people actually care about? Are there more than 10 that mattered?

Just off the top of my head, Mario 64 and Paper Mario, Zelda:OOT and Majora's Mask, Starfox 64, Killer Instinct Gold, Goldeneye 007, Rampage, Blast Corps, Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong 64, Pilotwings 64, Turok, Cruis'n USA, Banjo Kazooie, and of course, Smash Bros.

There's probably more. The 64 was the last console I spent any real time on, along with the dreamcast (even though I later bought a used PS2).

 

[chris]

One problem is that N64 games didn't aged as well the SNES games did. Another issue: Nintendo won't put on licensed games like Goldeneye on it (also games that are problematic in some regions.)

 

[Frank]

Just off the top of my head, Mario 64 and Paper Mario, Zelda:OOT and Majora's Mask, Starfox 64, Killer Instinct Gold, Goldeneye 007, Rampage, Blast Corps, Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong 64, Pilotwings 64, Turok, Cruis'n USA, Banjo Kazooie, and of course, Smash Bros.

There's probably more. The 64 was the last console I spent any real time on, along with the dreamcast (even though I later bought a used PS2).

So many of those games have not aged well. Rampage and Turok, for example.

Killer Instinct would be a hassle with Microsoft owning Rare and having their own current Killer Instinct going. Banjo and Kazooie too.

 

[GasBandit]

So many of those games have not aged well. Rampage and Turok, for example.

Killer Instinct would be a hassle with Microsoft owning Rare and having their own current Killer Instinct going. Banjo and Kazooie too.

Well, I was going for the "more than 10 that mattered"

 

[Hailey Knight]

So many of those games have not aged well. Rampage and Turok, for example.

Killer Instinct would be a hassle with Microsoft owning Rare and having their own current Killer Instinct going. Banjo and Kazooie too.

But Nintendo still owns the N64 versions of those Rare games, don't they?

If they make this thing, I hope they think up a way to improve the controller.

 

[Frank]

But Nintendo still owns the N64 versions of those Rare games, don't they?

If they make this thing, I hope they think up a way to improve the controller.

Do they? Conker went with Rare for sure. Rare Replay had Banjo, Banjo Tooie, Killer Instinct, Blast Corps, Perfect Dark and Jet Force Gemini. I think all of Rare's IP went with them.

And just put the fuckin' analog stick and z-trigger on the same handle as the d-pad and do away with the piece of shit middle one.

 

[Frank]

Well, I was going for the "more than 10 that mattered"

Mattered with some of those is a STREEEEEEETCH.

 

[AshburnerX]

But Nintendo still owns the N64 versions of those Rare games, don't they?

If they make this thing, I hope they think up a way to improve the controller.

One of the reasons we never got a GoldenEye Remake is that Nintendo does still have some ownership in it. It's also why Rare wasn't able to do anything with Donkey Kong 64.

So instead of GoldenEye, I'd probably expect Perfect Dark instead. It's a better game anyway. I would also throw in Jet Force Gemini and Wave Race 64.

 

[chris]

There was a Goldeneye remake ...for the Wii.


Aside from the obvious games I would say Mishief Makers for action plattformers, Wave Race, F-Zero X and maybe Snowboard Kids for (Fun)Sport games. Pokemon Snap to make the fans happy. Pokemon Stadium wouldn't make sense since you can't transfer any data from a Pokemon game.

 

[AshburnerX]

There was a Goldeneye remake ...for the Wii.


Aside from the obvious games I would say Mishief Makers for action plattformers, Wave Race, F-Zero X and maybe Snowboard Kids for (Fun)Sport games. Pokemon Snap to make the fans happy. Pokemon Stadium wouldn't make sense since you can't transfer any data from a Pokemon game.

Really, the multiplayer nature of a lot of these games is gonna force Nintendo to sell a shit ton of extra controllers.

 

[chris]

As if you have to force Nintendo.

"Oh no, we have to sell so many controllers so people can enjoy these games."

 

[figmentPez]

I'm surprised to learn that there are no notable 64DD titles to really add value to an N64 Classic.

 

[AshburnerX]

I'm surprised to learn that there are no notable 64DD titles to really add value to an N64 Classic.

It's literally only OoT: Master Quest. That's it.

 

[Eriol]

So many of those games have not aged well. Rampage and Turok, for example.

Killer Instinct would be a hassle with Microsoft owning Rare and having their own current Killer Instinct going. Banjo and Kazooie too.

They've had 3rd-party games on the other "classic" consoles. Final Fantasy for one example. I'll admit the MS link is a complication, but still completely possible.

 

[figmentPez]

Looking at lists online, some N64 games not mentioned yet:

- Custom Robo V2
- Diddy King Racing
- Rogue Squadron
- Mario Party 2 & 3
- Bomberman 64