Community MetaSteam | November 2023 - I'd Buy That For A Dollar...during a Steam Sale

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Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
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I wish Vivaldi Android had an option to put the new tab button/tab count in the top part of the browser. And an option to remove the bottom navigation entirely actually.
 

Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,684
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I love how the Bullet Heaven genre is evolving. adding more meta progressions and rpg elements.

Lol I get what you're saying and think it's neat also but I do find it funny how the initial appeal of the first ones was how mindlessly simple they were and now it's turning into "What if we made the more complex?"

Next thing we're going to get is "oops we made hades"
 

Alexandros

MetaMember
Nov 4, 2018
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I wrote a few thoughts on what Steam Deck means for the future of PC gaming. This is the full link but you don't have to click on it, I pasted the full text below.


I would not be surprised if the title of the article sounded ludicrous or even... blasphemous to some readers. "A handheld defines the future of PC gaming? Hell no!". And yet, underneath the console-like shell of Valve's device lies ten-plus years of work, the opportunity for our beloved platform to break its historical shackles, and a great chance for all of gaming to take a step forward. There are many specific reasons why the Steam Deck is the right device, from the right maker, at the right time. Let's go through them together.

The right device
One of the long-standing weaknesses of PC gaming was that as a platform it never had a reference device, a piece of hardware that would act as a focal point and a point of entry. To a novice user's question "I want to get into PC gaming, where do I start?" the time-honoured answer has always been "build your own PC". A very good piece of advice given the advantages that custom PC building offers in terms of customization, cost and gaining useful experience, but undoubtedly also a daunting task for someone who is just starting out in the field and is required to do market research, gather the various components and set up a machine from scratch. So here's the first advantage of Steam Deck: an accessible and simple introduction to PC gaming in a way and form factor that doesn't scare the beginner away.

But perhaps the most important "mission" of Steam Deck is its role as a Trojan Horse for solving the age-old paradox of PC gaming: the most open platform on the market is based on the seemingly open, but completely proprietary Windows operating system, owned and controlled by Microsoft. Valve and the community's amazing work on Proton, the translation layer responsible for running Windows games smoothly on Linux, has opened up a prospect that most of us thought was a mere pipe dream: The untethering of PC gaming from Windows. The commercial success of Steam Deck, the developer support it is receiving and the might of Valve are factors that are sure to rapidly accelerate this much-needed transition. And because some will rightly ask "but are we trading one oppressor (Microsoft) for another (Valve)?", the answer is simple: The transition to Linux and the fact that SteamOS, Proton and almost all of Valve's other work in this area is open source (I say almost because I don't have the knowledge to speak about everything with absolute certainty) are a strong safeguard against Valve too, if at some point in the future it decides to cross the Rubicon and threaten the independence of PC gaming.

The right maker
It's no secret that much of the PC gaming audience (including the author of this piece) holds Valve in high regard. The company has undoubtedly played a leading and pivotal role in the rise of PC gaming from the difficult years of the 2000s, when much of the gaming industry wanted to declare the platform dead (including some of its current self-proclaimed 'saviours'), to the renaissance of the 2010s and the boom we see today. Valve's work, its support of PC gaming and focus on pro-consumer policies earned them the public's complete trust. But that is not the main reason why I believe Valve is the right maker.

Since we're not naive enough to believe that the people at Valve are doing what they do out of the kindness of their hearts, the main reason they are the right maker is that the company's unique characteristics and interests are aligned with those of PC gamers. Valve is a private company, so it has no legal obligation to focus solely on short-term profit and infinite growth. Valve is also a company whose core business is Steam and by extension PC gaming. Unlike all the other major digital distribution companies that make most of their revenue from the console market, for Valve the advancement and longevity of PC gaming is its sole and absolute priority. Love, fanboyism and other such nonsense aside, Valve's position as the de facto leader of PC gaming perfectly serves our interests right now as PC gamers.

The right time

People say "strike while the iron is hot". Timing plays a huge role in our lives and this is the right time, under today's circumstances, for a new paradigm to change the market and break the existing stereotypes in both the PC and console gaming markets. At a time when the platforms now have a lot in common but also entrenched differences, a hybrid device like the Steam Deck can show gamers that PC gaming doesn't necessarily have to take the form of a box on a desk, or that a console doesn't necessarily have to be so locked down.

Then there's the issue of cost. We all know and have felt in our pockets the price increases of PC hardware in recent years. Now that the budget part of the market tends to disappear from Nvidia and AMD's plans and graphics cards offer worse value for money than in the past, now having a full and relatively powerful gaming PC at prices starting under 300€ (for refurbished models) is a real lifeline for so many PC gamers who felt trapped in their old machines and unable to keep up with hardware price hikes. Valve said during the launch of the first Steam Deck that for many users the device would be a substantial PC upgrade. At the time it had struck me as a rather odd notion, now I totally embrace it.

For all these reasons I believe that Steam Deck is the right device, from the right maker, at the right time to truly push gaming forward. And just before I end this article I'd like to confide to you one more reason (this time purely personal) for why I'm happy with the success of Valve's hybrid and which is indirectly referenced under the title of the article. I've seen a lot of debate online about whether Steam Deck is a console-like PC or PC-like console. For me, a child of the 80s, Steam Deck is the reincarnation and grand return of a type of machine that many of us grew up with before it succumbed to the onslaught of PCs. For me, Steam Deck is the living legacy of 80s and 90s home computers.
 

Theswweet

Dirty Weeb
Mar 12, 2019
984
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We got review code in for this today, and it's pretty neat so far! However, the game is both fairly demanding - you'll either want to lock it to 30FPS on Deck @ 720p, or drop the rendering resolution and cap it at 40 - and the TL is fairly rough. It's not the worst I've seen, you can tell they tried, but it absolutely needed an editing pass or two.
 

Nano

Indie games
Nov 25, 2022
1,078
4,767
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Japan
We got review code in for this today, and it's pretty neat so far! However, the game is both fairly demanding - you'll either want to lock it to 30FPS on Deck @ 720p, or drop the rendering resolution and cap it at 40 - and the TL is fairly rough. It's not the worst I've seen, you can tell they tried, but it absolutely needed an editing pass or two.
Sweet. Im getting a Ryzen 7 \ RTX 4060 laptop in a few days that i bought on black friday sale. :drinking-blob:
 

BlackRainbowFT

Mouse Accelerated Member
Apr 17, 2019
508
1,179
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Switzerland
........


Vivaldi has both an android version and a sync function :)


And it has a built-in adblocker, even on android!
The sync feature is pretty great too... From my desktop browser I can see the list of open tabs on my phone, which is really useful.
 

Shahem

R7 7800X3D I RTX 4080
Jan 26, 2020
1,268
2,275
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France
I wonder if Sony will announce a PC stuff at the Game Awards. Last year was where Returnal PC was announced.
Maybe Ghost of Tsushima PC ? It should have been released aeons ago already, hopefully it has not been cancelled.
 

SaberVS7

Average Date a Live Enjoyer
Jan 23, 2020
239
765
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Decided to bend on buying Baldur's Gate 3 since I don't think it's going on a Steam sale any time soon. ...Torn on if I want to roll Frieren as my first character.



Is this new?
Just got that prompt when I launched BG3 for the first time.

Not sure what I think of Valve's move towards trying to bake more and more stuff into Steam's UI directly. I mean, if these settings are Cloud Syncing with Deck I guess why not

But I was kind of annoyed after going a few games of people ignoring my callouts in Counter Strike 2 that I went to check my audio settings out of paranoia, only to find there are no ingame audio settings for Input/Output device selection and that said setting had been moved to the Steam application itself with nothing ingame indicating I should look OUTSIDE THE GAME for critical game settings.
 
OP
Mor

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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I wonder if Sony will announce a PC stuff at the Game Awards. Last year was where Returnal PC was announced.
Maybe Ghost of Tsushima PC ? It should have been released aeons ago already, hopefully it has not been cancelled.
not cancelled at all, they just take their sweet time.

TGA announcement unlikely but not impossible I guess.

This is not a leak or a tease, just that doesn't make sense to cancel a project that will fit well on the platform due potential internal delays.
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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There is no demo for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk right ?
Too pricey for a genre I don't really give a fuck, I would need a demo.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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I just googled best indies of 2023 and beyond the usual mediocrity of some internet results, I must say that even for someone who keeps up like me, there was a ton of discoveries. Too many.
I don't print money.

Interesting, though.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,905
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Is there no way to simply browse Overwhelmingly Positive games ?
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
4,330
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Yee...I'm going to end up buying Dead Space because I feel like playing that horror goodness.
It's pretty great. There's hardly any point if you already played the original, but it makes for a pretty impressive modernisation nonetheless. Being able to traverse the entire station freely (near the end of the game) really helps in making the overall station feel like a real place.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,905
15,998
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Haul post is haul post !



Bought...
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
Universe for Sale
I was a teenage exocolonist
The Knight Witch
Eastward
The Wild at Heart
Dredge DLC
Midnight Suns Season's Pass

Was offered by my dear friend
Dave the Diver
Mass Effect Legendary Edition

I like this haul.


PS. I have some hardcore nostalgia for last year's Norco, so I hope I will be able to find my fix in the first two on this list (or in the gazillion indie I amassed in 2023.
 
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Le Pertti

0.01% Game dev
Oct 10, 2018
8,695
22,408
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Paris, France
lepertti.com
Haul post is haul post !



Bought...
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
Universe for Sale
I was a teenage exocolonist
The Knight Witch
Eastward
The Wild at Heart
Dredge DLC
Midnight Suns Season's Pass

Was offered by my dear friend
Dave the Diver
Mass Effect Legendary Edition

I like this haul.


PS. I have some hardcore nostalgia for last year's Norco, so I hope I will be able to find my fix in the first two on this list (or in the gazillion indie I amassed in 2023.
Dredge is something I really want to get as soon as possible, seems really nice and have a feeling it could even be in my GOTY 5 list, just need to play it.XD
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,905
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Lol first issue with the OLED deck. I sure hope it's me being stupid.
Basically the OLED doesn't seem to charge on the old dock with the old power unit. Only with the new.

Edit
The Dock, it's always the fucking Dock !
So yeah, it's also charging on the old power cable, it only has trouble on the fucking dock.
 

STHX

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2021
1,338
4,882
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Italy

:cryblob: Guess no chance of a sequel or spinoffs. Internet is too full of shitheads.
I hate this shit and Nemlei didn't deserve this. She also scrubbed her previous games from itch.io. The idea that a bunch of assholes can wake up one day and police what other people can make, enjoy or talk about is easily one of the things that makes me furious. No one was getting hurt by this game. If movies and novels can have all the fucked up shit an author wants in them why should games be sanitized?

Hey buddy, if you don't like seeing incest and cannibalism in a game you can just, you know, not play the game about incest cannibals
 

Shahem

R7 7800X3D I RTX 4080
Jan 26, 2020
1,268
2,275
113
France
not cancelled at all, they just take their sweet time.

TGA announcement unlikely but not impossible I guess.

This is not a leak or a tease, just that doesn't make sense to cancel a project that will fit well on the platform due potential internal delays.
Any bets on what they will be showing for PC players, if anything ?
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,280
8,305
113
Canada
I hate this shit and Nemlei didn't deserve this. She also scrubbed her previous games from itch.io. The idea that a bunch of assholes can wake up one day and police what other people can make, enjoy or talk about is easily one of the things that makes me furious. No one was getting hurt by this game. If movies and novels can have all the fucked up shit an author wants in them why should games be sanitized?

Hey buddy, if you don't like seeing incest and cannibalism in a game you can just, you know, not play the game about incest cannibals
She was doxxed by a group of people on Soyjak Party (4chan fork) because they thought she was trans. Not because of some purity thing against the games corny incest plotline.
 

Dragon1893

MetaMember
Apr 17, 2019
1,709
4,163
113
Revisting Half-Life has been more enjoyable than I expected.
There's just something about how Valve designs its games that makes them hard to put down.
The game is designed in a way that always manages to hold your interest by constantly presenting you with new situations and movement is fast and snappy,

Finished Like a Dragon: TMWEHN.
Another fantastic entry in the franchise. I've grown so attached to Kiryu (and his VA), he's definitely one of my favorite characters in gaming.
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
4,330
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That's Baldur's Gate 3 done! What a game, definitely one of the best RPGs of all time, and arguably the best game of this year. It's either this or Alan Wake 2 and I actually liked all parts of BG3, whereas I found the combat of Alan Wake 2 to be pretty mid.

Will write up my thoughts about BG3 in the review threads, will need to think on it a couple of days. I will say, I liked the ending quite a bit. It's short, sure, but this game also does a great job in concluding most of its dangling threads during the main story, so there is less of an actual need for a lengthy epilogue. At least that's how I currently feel about it. Really happy that it was such a huge success, just looking at the credits it becomes clear how many people were involved in this game and what a huge risk Larian took on.
 
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