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Latest Comments by ElectricPrism
Games For Gaza raises over $200K for Medical Aid For Palestinians
2 November 2023 at 10:15 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: ArehandoroIn any case, universal conscription could also be circumvented by being a conscientious objector (not sure if this is the actual term in English).

Yes, "conscientious objector" is correct English terminology in the united states.

--

Other relevant terms are "indentured servitude" and "induction".


Indentured servitude in many constitutions is illegal, AFAIK the state can not legally compel you to do labor, especially in which case you might loose your life.

Indentured servitude TL;DR; is slavery to the state.

"Induction" is when a person is drafted, or inducted in the military, typically unwillingly to be a active participant. English usage would look like "I was inducted into the military when I was 17"

The only reason I bring any of this up, is because it will help the new generation navigate these issues a little better having this info ahead of time.

Canonical detail a whole lot of Steam Snap improvements
1 November 2023 at 11:18 pm UTC Likes: 3

Imagine (being Canonical and) having Valve in the bag, (which could have greatly strengthened their position) only to destroy their functional relationship when they dropped 32-bit libraries, and then later to trying to backup and try to win some points by bundling their store inside your cancer package system that nobody wants to uses outside your walled/gated garden.

This is peak Irony. Mount Ironicus. It's actually so bad, it's so good -- somebody should write a comedy book about Canonical, except instead of jokes it's just the history of the things that they have done the last decade. It would be a comedy gold thriller hands down.

Games For Gaza raises over $200K for Medical Aid For Palestinians
1 November 2023 at 8:11 am UTC

Quoting: TheRiddickMoney before lives, that is the world we live in. The reality nobody wants to talk about.

Indeed

QuoteI spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket

Here's how to fix METAL GEAR SOLID 2 and 3 on Steam Deck / Linux
29 October 2023 at 4:31 am UTC Likes: 3

I fail to see how this steam version is better than emulating PS2.

You can even literally just buy the game on eBay, turn it into a ISO or run it from a DVD-Rom.

Go ahead and take my money, but I expect quality in return. I would pay $60 easy to play a legit remaster of this game.

Reviews report the game runs at 720p, are the textures or AA as good as PCSX2? Probably not.

Somebody fill me in. The review score is 52%. Should I be buying this to support the company trying to deploy to PC? Are they acting in "good faith"? This game is nothing short of amazing in terms of story, but I expect my PC port to be the DEFINITIVE EDITION -- and I'm not convinced yet that this is the case.

Edit: Should I be using stuff like this? https://www.nexusmods.com/metalgearsolidmastercollection/mods/29?tab=images

It is a bit sad to need to turn to modders to do simple tasks like AI texture upscaling. Also, it's like what's the FPS limit on something like this? 30? 60?

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 adds offline support for Steam Deck
18 October 2023 at 8:00 pm UTC Likes: 5

QuoteSteam Deck users can now play offline.

Great news, the letdown is just that it was even necessary for them to make that allowance to begin with when the standard for the last 30 years has been (1) you buy (2) you play

QuoteYou may be able to get it to work on desktop Linux too in offline mode by using SteamDeck=1 %command% as a Steam launch option for the game

Great find, that may make it acceptable.

Although I am tempted to just buy the Nintendo Switch version, dump it and run it out of spite for DRM and publishers constantly changing the agreement.


Microsoft completes takeover of Activision Blizzard as UK CMA approves new deal
13 October 2023 at 9:15 pm UTC Likes: 2

Wake me up when StarCraft 1, 2 and 3 come to Steam.

Also Steam Workshop Mods.

Or maybe we will be fortunate enough they will sell it off entirely.

You would think that with how religious South Korea is over BroodWar that they would have reverse-engineered the game by now into new source code.

Maybe someone can poke them with a stick.

Welcome to opposite land where Microsoft has a Linux install tutorial
13 October 2023 at 6:44 am UTC Likes: 2

Oh the post is open again? Must be a mute "while i sleep thing"? Anyways here's what I wanted to say before:

QuoteArticle: I think I'm going to need more coffee to process this. Did I wake up in opposite land? Microsoft actually genuinely have a tutorial up on how to install Linux.

To all you star trek fans out there -- I see your avatars -- yes indeed, this is the Mirror Mirror universe.

I just hope in this mirror-mirror universe Linux has even more wins lined up since the unthinkable keeps happening daily.

Bingo 2023 and 2024 are going to be wild.

Valve locking down publishing Steam builds with SMS codes due to Malware
13 October 2023 at 4:40 am UTC Likes: 1

I felt the need to return to the topic again. Requiring "cell phones" doesn't bode well with me.

Hell I'm ready to drop cellphones entirely for Satellite Phones.

The point is SMS is like "The Fax Machine" -- the government having laws to keep it around is archaic and not really good.

This is such a BIG move in the wrong direction. Cellphones don't need to be a even more mandatory part of our lives.

Literally physically mail them a encryption key generator required to update their game. The encryption key generator can cycle passwords based on the date time.

Edit: Or at the very least have the developer whitelist a ip address from which to authorize updates, or have valve put a temporary deposit in their back account between 1 and 99 cents and have them verify by disclosing the amount stated.

Valve locking down publishing Steam builds with SMS codes due to Malware
13 October 2023 at 1:54 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: denyasisThis is probably ignorance in my part, but how is security better with Linux in this situation? We're (mostly) running these programs wide open out of the home drive.

Yeah so. Not everyone can afford it, but __ IF __ you __ CAN __ -- go ahead and separate your gaming rig from your Work or Personal Desktop.

In the future __ IF __ you are going to get malware, it's very likely that it come through video games, especially if it were Windows as Anti-Virus do not scrutinize video games the same way they do other software.

Obviously I would never recommend Windows as it already __ IS __ malware -- but having your devices be appliances and segregating your "trusted" from "untrusted" is a good habit. The same goes in Networking -- give yourself some different subnets and separate "trusted" devices from "untrusted" devices and wifi from wired.

After over 80 weeks the Steam Deck leaves the top 10 global sellers on Steam
10 October 2023 at 9:12 pm UTC Likes: 4

I bought 6, I figure most people who wanted one have got one at the moment.

I know there is chatter about a refresh, but I have to agree with Valve's employee remarks that it is not coming for a while.

It doesn't make sense for them to cannibalize their achievement, what I mean by that is increasing hardware specs will mean developers have 2 targets instead of 1 target, and it will mean that games will choose target 2 instead of target 1.

So everyone who bought Steam Deck 1 will be upset if there is Steam Deck 2 if developers don't design their games to hit that target.

So, Valve would be shooting their balls off to produce a Steam Deck 2 that increased CPU too soon. Increasing the NVME size, Screen to OLED, Battery, swapping out the Wifi card for current gen, or other non-spec things would be fine. Maybe even the Ram.

Increasing the CPU or GPU would be working against their own interests. Therefore I don't expect a real Steam Deck 2 for maybe 3 to 5 more years realistically.

It's in their best interest to cultivate a robust growing market, condition buyers to buy their products, condition developers to target specs and have generations of games that target those specs, and then when the time is right for Steam Deck 2 it's gonna explode their player-base. (Similar to PSX -> PS2, Xbox #1 1999/2000 -> Xbox 360)

But in the meantime they have to be patient. It would be okay for them to release Deckard VR in the meantime as it wouldn't compete or cannibalize but enhance their existing player-base.