Good. Now do the same to the major triple A studios attaching loot boxes to every sports game and battle royale. Why the fuck start with Mihoyo?

Kinda hype. Had my eye on this one for a while. I’m a little cautious what “early access” means in this regard, though. I’ve had altogether too many rogue-likes release into early access without enough content to justify it.

It’s been Jackbox every year for the past 8+ years. A side-effect of hosting the New Years Eve party for a bunch of gamers.

Problem is, I own most of the games on the Steam front page, so finding new and interesting games is getting difficult.

This. I feel totally underwhelmed by the sale this year because everything on the front page I already either own or have no interest in. I know the discovery queue exists, but it primarily tries to feed me the same jank I already know exists.

Ah yes, an excellent rebuttal, more elitism.

While it would have been nice for OP to mention this, honestly dude, fuck off. People can decide for themselves if they want to install Epic for a free title without this kind of toxic, elitist discourse.

Man, calling this a snub is a misnomer to begin with.

One winner and five nominee’s. Let’s not downplay being in the top 6 nominations for “best game of the year” as “losing.” It’s an incredible achievement no matter how you look at it.

Why is it so hard just to say “this was not out intention, we recognize it was bad, and we are sorry.”

There’s a lot of words here for a non-apology.

I played Dauntless a little bit in the early days. It was extremely simplified Monster Hunter with little of the charm.

On the other hand… this feels like I would be calling it out as manipulative FOMO bullshit were it any other company.

While I hesitate to type this as it might be perceived as viewing a corporation as a friend, the intent matters, and GOG has a different history than the majority of FOMO abusing game companies. Did they identify that this is probably an opportunity to push some sales? Sure, probably. But I am chill permitting them that right when they’re visibly working to remove FOMO as a commercial strategy.

Undertale is such a bolt of lightning. It both depends on its player having experience with traditional JRPG and having no fucking clue what it is. But when the conditions line up, as it did for many people at release, it was such a master fully crafted experience. But even the slightest amount of “it’s good because…” really siphons part of the experience away.

We need a term for a Freudian slip caused by mobile autocorrect. Because “wallet garden” is extremely accurate, even if it’s not the intended word choice.

The game can collect data, if that’s what they’re after.

My theory is that it’s all about advertising. It’s another point of contact with the consumer, and another opportunity to make sure every new release is presented to every potential buyer.

I don’t see how that statement refutes the problem being something to do with kernal level access. It’s entirely possible that the 24H2 update changed something that is playing poorly with the DRM in these titles.

My experience with GOG is that it is a fringe option, at least in the combined North American (USA+Canada) culture. Plus, the unfortunate reality is that in many cases GOG’s principles preclude it from being a genuine competitor to Steam. Insisting on being DRM free means half of released games never go to the platform, so it will always be the secondary “better if” option.

I worry about Steam’s functional monopoly on PC game access. It hasn’t been an issue so far, because it has remembered that it is, first and foremost, a service, providing consumer protection through a generous refund policy and supporting devs with easy access to simple matchmaking and anti-cheat systems. But without a healthy competitor, it would be easy for Steam to start milking it’s users and developers alike.

While I don’t approve of Epic’s stabs at exclusivity, Steam needs a competitor to keep it in check, and one that is making some efforts to support the preservation of art is a welcome choice.

Calling Warcraft Rumble an RTS is like putting a hamburger patty on a plate and calling it a steak. You’re technically correct, but you’ve also completely missed the point in what people want.

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She isn’t even the most interesting or well-written character in Origins. /shrug