I said it before, I say it again: Sad as it is, I'm at the point where I'd be willing to pay *more* just so I don't have to put up with this nonsense. What a useless, stupid waste of resources and energy.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: ronnocEvery two years or so I fire up OpenTTD, download a few ton of mods, and loose 3-5 days of my life.

Same here, just fell into the hole a couple of weeks ago...

QuoteI do wish Bananas was integrated into Steam Workshop, although I'm sure this is no easy feat.

I'm truly glad it isn't and I sure hope it won't; I feel Steam Workshop integration is a bit like the new EEEblack.
First, you get your DRM-free indie game on Steam, probably even with a "free" Steam key for early adopters, next you know, the Steam version integrates DRM and workshop, and eventually, the original non-DRM version isn't "supported" any more because the developer can't afford to put aside the required resources. Shortly after, the indie website goes dead and the only way to purchase/get updates/play is through Steam.

I have no fear with regards to OpenTTD (yet), but I've seen it happen to a couple of games.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: CatKillerRelease early, release often.

I guess that's what they do, don't they. Anyone interested can easily get the latest bleeding edge version, and "the general public" doesn't have to live with latest bleeding edge bugs *unless* they explicitly opt in.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Philadelphus

QuoteMulti-track level crossings to keep road vehicles from stopping in the middle of the crossing.

I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds interesting!

Currently, cars can get stuck on a level crossing between two parallel rail tracks, which are actually seen as two separate level crossings by the game, resulting in fatal accidents. This change is intended to eliminate or at least, significantly reduce that risk.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: raptor85No, I'm thinking you dropped a 0 and you mean 1600, which is closer to average.

Quoting: denyasisUsage also depends on season and weather. In the fall/spring, I can keep the AC and heat off (like I have for the past 2 months). I'm sub 800w/h a day and that is worth a full family and 20 hour a day occupation/use. It doubles in the summer with HVAC and window AC use (older units).

But that also includes charging the car which since it is electric. Even though it's 10 years old, it's still cheaper than gas. The equivalent is 1$ for a gallon in terms of electrical cost.

So let's see... half a year at 800, plus half a year at double that ie. 1600, is (800+1600)/2=1200, divided by "a full family", I'm guessing four? gives 1200/4=300 Watt, averaged over a year. Including the car. Which goes to show that economy of scale works here as well, who would have thought.
No, I don't think I have to be living in a mediaeval hovel to get to the 300–350ish numbers I gave earlier, in fact I'm surprised how high they are in comparison. I don't have a car, nor do I need one, living in a functioning city with public transport and shops in walking distance (for how long they will continue to exist is another matter entirely though).

And yes of course, peak usage; still mindboggling that using such a beast easily doubles your total average consumption *for that time*. Plus the CPU is also bound to get a good workout, so doubling isn't even enough...

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: raptor85

Quoting: ArehandoroAm I the only one to think that even AMD's new cards are better than Nvidia's on power consumption, 300/355 TDP is still crazy high?

With climate change creeping up on us, current international political affairs affecting prices and availability of energy, and the market saying yes to devices like the Switch and the Deck, perhaps it's about time to demand these companies to release things more align with what the world needs.

We need to use much less energy. Not the same, and definitely not more.

There's still 100 watt and less cards on the market widely available, nobody's putting a gun to your head forcing you to get a higher end card. An extra 200 watts is also not really a lot compared to most other things in a normal household, you can literally offset that usage by not watching TV while the computer is on.

Averaged over the past year and rounded up generously, my entire single person household averaged 160 Watts. And I am confident I could reduce that by another 25% without too much effort.
Peak usage is undeniably higher when the microwave/tea kettle/washing machine are on, but they aren't for most of the time. Top consumers are the PC and the fridge, with the PC sitting at a whopping 80 right now, and hitting 200 with heavy gaming which I admittedly don't do that much these days, most of the games get by on 150ish or so.
I don't play the likes of CP77 or twitchy shooter type games, I had my fill of that crap when I was younger, but some of the sims I like do look pretty and have their respective cost in wall power.

So in summary, even "just" two hundred watts just for a GPU is insane, as are a thousand credits to pay for it, and nobody needs to commend AMD or Nvidia for not going higher still.
Consumers and marketing people alike need to get off that trainSUV, and fast. In fact, DO take the train the next time.

ED: To be fair, that number doesn't include heating, which is still fossil gas and would probably amount to about the same 150ish.figure again, and to bring that down in any meaningful way would require a massive investment in insulation on the landlord's side. Which I'm fairly certain will be coming, if and when legislation eventually requires it. So we're talking 350ish Watts instead, but still. That's one entire household's worth, just for the GPU.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: PhiladelphusServants that look like fusions of man and machine that you'd find in Bosch. It's really something.

I take it you're not talking about Bosch the appliance maker ;)
Nice, will at least have to have a look.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

All I can see is another missed opportunity for more inclusive terminology.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: pageroundXeSS is a sweet name, good job whoever came up with that. (I'm choosing to pronounce it as 'excess').

In line with how the "Ex-eon" processors are pronounced? There seems to be some serious disconnect in the marketing department.
And not only there, if I look at the lineup. I can't imagine Intel breaking into a market held by a duopoly by delivering worse performance per money OR watt than the competition, with the performance (and price…) side held by green, and the efficiency side firmly in red hands.
I admit I don't have a degree in economics or marketing. Sometimes I wonder what they teach in business classes though.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: ShugyoushaI also think the game is gorgeous (those cockpits! :swoon:) but my graphics standards may be somewhat low since I grew up with the old Privateer games and thought they looked great at the time as well ...

Say what you want, but they did look great at the time. As did both early Wing Commander titles, and not to forget Strike Commander, before Mr Roberts decided to go "multimedia". And even WC three and four still had brilliant graphics for the time, before the competition finally started to catch up -- if one could make it past the cut scenes :)
Enough with the nostalgia already. Isn't the future a great time to be living in...

View this comment - View article - View full comments