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Latest Comments by dibz
GOG update their stance on DRM-free, Galaxy as 'optional' for single-player
18 March 2022 at 2:55 pm UTC

Honestly even the people that have a problem with their DRM stance on Hitman I feel like they're intentionally misunderstanding GOG's stance so they have something to be angry about. Well, not everyone, I'm sure there are plenty of people that honestly felt mislead and lied to; In this day and age people love to get worked up though, even if they never misunderstood in the first place. Maybe I've always had a different understanding of their DRM policies (which happens to coincide with GOG's perspective), who knows.

To me DRM, and DRM-free, refers to the store and the installers, essentially. Do you have to download the gog installer from gog for it to work? Can you copy it, does it call in (TO GOG), etc and soforth? I think they assumed people were on the same page that they weren't restricting you by their DRM free claims. You know, like how Steam games do (well, optionally, not all steam games do) or you know, Securom. I do understand people taking it quite literally that DRM-free should mean any form of rights management at any level in the game, which honestly, I agree with too. It probably should mean that.

Clarifying their stance like they are is probably the best choice, because they're not wrong, GOG has to continue to do business and new games tend to blur the lines like that. They've stated before that the well is running dry on old games, and why that was. Hopefully they take the approach to never add games like the most recent hitman again, or free to play, that kind of stuff, and just sidestep most of the problem that way. It could be wishful thinking.

Steam Deck Verified and Playable hit a thousand games
7 March 2022 at 5:36 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: dibzI guess I remember reading somewhere that Verified required more then the game to just work and that there were other requirements like fonts and interface elements not being too small. I have a strong feeling that rather then tagging games into the playable category that hit those problems, they put them under Unsupported.
But then what's the "playable" category supposed to be for? Valve's definition has been that if it works just right, it's Verified, and if it works, but not just right, with problems like the ones you mention, it's Playable.
If they instead stuff all those in Unsupported, they've got two categories instead of three and they no longer have a category for things that actually don't work. It subtracts a lot of information, and worse, it's information they say they're giving you. If they're doing that it's a stupid move.
Maybe one of their QA people is just incompetent. Or maybe they're doing a thing where in some cases they send off an email to the developers about flaws and bung the game into Unsupported until they hear back--but you'd think they could leave it officially Untested, or maybe Playable, and just have an internal flag that they're waiting for feedback/changes.

I guess I took "Playable" as fixable, though it looks like other people clarified this in later comments (which made me not quite right regarding the definitions but not entirely wrong either that they'd want to distance themselves from them). In my head, fixable would mean it takes work to make it run but then would otherwise be similar to Verified; so it'd still be "unsupported" if things like too-small interface elements kept it unplayable after it was running properly. That said, it doesn't sound like that's the case, but honestly, I think it probably should be as it makes a lot of sense.

Steam Deck Verified and Playable hit a thousand games
4 March 2022 at 3:06 pm UTC Likes: 2

I guess I remember reading somewhere that Verified required more then the game to just work and that there were other requirements like fonts and interface elements not being too small. I have a strong feeling that rather then tagging games into the playable category that hit those problems, they put them under Unsupported.

It would make sense really, they probably want to distance themselves from games that they see as "a bad experience" by just straight out saying they're not supported.

Check your Steam Library against Steam Deck compatibility easily
15 February 2022 at 3:41 pm UTC

Most of my library shows up as unknown, with 9% showing as Playable+

VERIFIED: 95 games (5.67%)
PLAYABLE: 53 games (3.16%)
UNSUPPORTED: 12 games (0.72%)
UNKNOWN: 1516 games (90.45%)

Tim Sweeney has a point about Fortnite EAC support
9 February 2022 at 8:50 pm UTC Likes: 6

It's a pretty commonly held belief that bringing something to linux exposes it to a higher breed of technical attacks, and frankly, it's not exactly wrong since more regular users are knowledgeable about doing advanced tweaks on their systems -- if not necessarily doing the hacks themselves.

That said, I've known linux people that have created cheat bots before. I hate to tell them, but those guys are ridiculously smart with windows too.

Steam Deck Previews are up, plus dbrand announce Project Killswitch
8 February 2022 at 4:36 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: eldarionAs much as I like seeing devices with Linux being sold, I really don't understand the hype of steam deck. I like playing a good game on a mobile device as much as I like watching a good movie on my phone. Meaning, not at all.

Don't get me wrong, small devices like this are great for casual gaming, but playing Witcher 3 on this is like going to the cinema and only watching half of the screen. You simply don't get the full experience.

There are people that play handhelds a _lot_, even in their homes. I... am not one of them, but I certainly know people who are. I've been debating getting one myself and even have a reservation for one, they're pretty cool and while not unique I feel like this would support linux gaming even if my kids would probably use it more then I would. The main audience is going to be commuters and people that have shared homes/computers/TVs probably, perhaps people that do most of their gaming on the crapper? Tinkerers would probably enjoy it as well. For the record, I don't understand the appeal of phone gaming either.

Cyberpunk adventure Technobabylon gets a modern native Linux build
3 February 2022 at 2:58 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: anewsonI'm replaying Primordia in honour of they work they've been doing, such a fantastic game and I'm really not much of a point and click gamer; Primordia might be the only one I've finished

Primordia was my favorite one too. Strangeland was a good recommendation, but if you liked Primordia I would also recommend Gemini Rue. Gemini Rue is not by the save developer as Primordia, though it is published by Wadget Eye.

Cyberpunk adventure Technobabylon gets a modern native Linux build
2 February 2022 at 7:59 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: zoli111Finally! Now I'm waiting for the Linux-native release of Shardlight.

You can get "similar" by pointing ScummVM at it; it actually supports Technobabylon too (though I imagine the new build probably has to have it's hash added for detection).

GOG to go through some reorganization after suffering losses
2 December 2021 at 4:44 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: GuestAnd of course (OK, IMHO) it was a consequence of / reaction to the competition from Steam. If only because developers lost interest....

Yeah I don't agree with that, but (OK, IMHO too) I think it was more a matter of the market flooding with indie bundles from them and others. The quality of games dropped substantially, and it didn't take long for people to get sick of their libraries filling up with, how do I put this, "crap". Humble and others did take steps to combat this issue, once people stopped buying bundles because they were bundles, by breaking them out into individual keys once purchased; however, even then people were and still do get turned off by just having an abundance of junk keys.

I know whenever someone brags about the size of the libraries, someone always asks (pretty quickly) how much of it is junk from indie bundles. And they're usually not wrong either.

It's unfortunate that that stigma regarding junk keys was created, because I'm sure there are legitimately good or even great indie games that get passed over due to immediately looking like bundle filler and never being given a chance. Especially since sometimes they are junk bundle filler.

GOG to go through some reorganization after suffering losses
2 December 2021 at 3:47 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GuestThen Humble. OK, they're not dead, they still lurk around like a Zombie, selling Steam keys. Pitiful fate for a former spearhead of DRM-free and platform-independent gaming....

Slightly OT - This change didn't happen because of Steam actually, Humble sold themselves to IGN in late ~2017 which is when things started to change with them.

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