UltraMega

12 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Not been playing anything. I finished Cosmic Star Heroine for Vita a few months ago. If you like JRPGS, I highly recommend it. It's not that old, made by a Western developer, and is fully pixel art graphics similar to FF6 in quality. It should be available for Switch or PS4. It was pretty fun.

 

My brother bought me another similar game called Sea of Stars, also on Switch, for Christmas. That will probably be what I play next. I also need to get and play Octopath Traveller.

 

I've been doing more reading and watching movies of a futurist or cyberpunk nature as research for a novel. So I've read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 1984 and Brave New World+ Brave New World Revisited.

Do you play many modern games? Though older now, Mad Max is one of my favorite post apocalypse game worlds. It's simple, but well done. 

Have you seen Reign of Fire? One of my favorite post apocalypse movies. 

I love a good sifi movie as long as it has good world building. The plot can be bad but if the world building is still strong, I'm into it. Like the Scarlet Johanneson Ghost in the Shell movie. I actually liked the movie quite a bit more than the anime. That movie got a lot of undeserved hate when people who had zero understanding of what they were taking about assumed it was a white washed movie. IDK how anyone can white wash a character that isn't even human in the first place. No one in Japan cared at all, and most of the actors in the movie were Asian. If you go back and watch the original anime, it kinda sucks. It's really slow and just kinda boring. The animation really isn't that good either. But the movie is great, the world building is fantastic. It's got to be one of the most realized sifi settings of any modern movie. 

Anyway, side rant, but if you haven't seen the Ghost in the Shell movie, check it out. I could rant about sifi movies for days. 

28 minutes ago, Slaughtahouse said:

 

I agree that it doesn't need to be a NEW OS, but it should be more intuitive than desktop Windows. Otherwise, what's their proposition? It's just status quo. As a gamer who prefers PC, my biggest qualm is sitting at my PC on my free time. It sometimes feels like work and I generally prefer controller on the couch, but with the ability to tweak and mod my games. If Windows has a mode to make that experience streamlined for those who want it, I think it only help make PC gaming even more accessible (broader appeal). 

Windows could definitely benefit from a "big picture mode" like Steam has so that it can be controlled with a controller for gaming purposes more easily. You can actually already sort of do this; if you press the xbox button on an xbox controller paired to a PC it will bring up the gamebar UI which can launch games, but it's not super intuitive in its current form. 

Since rumors of a PS5 pro seem pretty real at this point, I think it would be a good strategy for Microsoft to try to staple their console release next round so Sony can have their PS5 Pro and Microsoft can just have an even better console that won't keep up with PS6, but will get to market way sooner. I also think they should frame the next Xbox more as as PC/console hybrid like the Steam Deck but without being a handheld. They should keep their foot in the door as far as having something console like, but they should abandon the idea of making hardware that just plays games when it's already basically just PC hardware. 

A new Xbox running windows with a big picture mode like UI option that aimed to be fairly high end would be a good strategy IMO. Microsoft should target a higher end/more expensive segment of the market anyway IMO. They did well with the Xbox One X by being able to market it as the most powerful console at the time by far. I think they should just ditch the idea of a cheap console all together and aim for something in the $800+ range that would just blow whatever Sony has out of the water. I think the PC market is quite a bit bigger than the console market today, which means most gamers are already spending a lot more on hardware than a console costs. There is money being left on the table with no high end console options for people who prefer gaming on PC simply because of the extra power. Then gamers would choose between a Playstation and an Xbox in the same way they would choose between an Xbox Series S and X. You can pay less for a good enough console and get a playstation, or pay more and get the xbox that has more bells and whistles. Just having xbox and playstation be basically neck and neck in terms of hardware is kinda pointless IMO. They need to differentiate more. Let Sony be the every mans console, and xbox be the high end option that adds value by doubling as a fully functional PC. 

Then, if Microsoft did flesh out a big picture mode and get windows to work well as a gaming first platform for people who want that, they could explore the option of releasing more versions of gaming first devices. They could do a Surface gaming handheld, or just have 2-3 different tiers of target hardware platforms to act as console stand-ins. Microsoft really ought to leverage the power of windows and PCs better as a gaming platform, and just use that to compete with Sony rather than releasing an extremely similar console each time. 

Side note, I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I think they could charge more for game pass. I mean, I would prefer to pay a little more and get better games or just ensure they continue to release all their first party games on game pass once they have a bigger line-up with COD and all that. Game pass is pretty cheap, it's like half the price of netflix. I think game pass is only $11 a month right now. I'd prefer to pay $15 and ensure game pass has some good titles than pay less and have it suck. 

Quote

Feb 8 (Reuters) - In 2017, Epic Games was among a handful of companies selected to participate in Walt Disney's (DIS.N), opens new tab Accelerator incubator program, where the game company's founder held ambitions of incorporating the entertainment giant's well-known characters into his digital playground.

Now, Disney is making a much bigger bet that will make this possible.
 

Disney CEO Bob Iger on Wednesday announced a $1.5 billion investment aimed at letting consumers interact with stories and characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, on Epic's Fortnite, where 100 million players gather each month. It was an acknowledgement of the amount of leisure time Generation Alpha, Generation Z and millennials devote to gaming.

$1.5B seems like an insane amount to pay to get epic to make Disney themed Fortnite skins. 

50 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Hey @UltraMegayou playing any retro games on your phone lately?

Not lately. As much as I like the controller I have for my phone, ultimately it's not very comfortable for me to game on a handheld because it makes my neck soar pretty quickly. 

My GF has been playing Dark Cloud for PS2 on an emulator lately though. Shes probably like half way through it. 

I've been bouncing around between a lot of games lately. Kinda feeling bored of gaming lately in the sense that I have beat all the games I'm currently interested. Feels like gaming has been pretty slow this gen so far with so many UE5 games having long dev times and barely being able to even run on current gen consoles. 

Played some BF2042 lately. I'd say that game finally feels adequate as a BF game. Still a let down over all, and doesn't hit the high notes that BF4 did, but it's passable. 

What have you been playing lately? 

I don't think they need a new OS. Windows is actually lighter than ps5 and Xbox OS, at least the way they're designed to work. I think they should just release an Xbox PC, or an Xbox with windows on it. They could basically just make all their games PC games and release a target hardware pc and call it an Xbox. 

Lots of other rumors related to this lately. One rumor that Xbox could release a hand held console developed by the Surface team. Also rumors that a next gen Xbox will come out in 2026. 

I definitely don't see games being released in more places as a bad thing, but if Microsoft is losing money on Xbox... Gee maybe they shouldn't have bought Activision for 100 billion. 

Quote

Microsoft is planning to share details about its plans to bring Hi-Fi Rush and other Xbox exclusives to PS5 and Nintendo Switch consoles, according to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans. Details of Microsoft’s multi-platform plans have been gradually leaking, with The Verge revealing over the weekend that the upcoming Indiana Jones game is being considered for PS5. Now, Microsoft is getting ready to outline the future of Xbox next week after a weekend of leaks and uncertainty for Xbox fans.

 

“We’re listening and we hear you,” says Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in a post on X. “We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/microsoft-to-share-details-on-bringing-xbox-games-to-playstation-next-week/ar-BB1hOSa5

Makes sense to me. Having a foot in every door has been a winning strategy for Microsoft; and they make money from selling games, not consoles. Sony puts their games on PC now so why not Microsoft games on Playstation. 

Price dropped again for the 7900XT, now $699. 

https://www.techspot.com/products/graphics-cards/amd-radeon-rx-7900-xt.263405/

Didn't want to make a new thread just to mention this: anyone notice Nvidia's stock lately? ~$690 now. It was ~$600 a few days ago. Pretty nuts. 

54 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Certainly looks like a nice pair, battery life isn't great but not necessarily a deal breaker. Will have to look up how serviceable these are.

If battery life is a big factor for you, the battery life on the set I have is exceptional. My battery never really even dies, I'll use it several times before thinking about charging it. I think I've fully drained it once. 

13 minutes ago, Sir Beregond said:

For headsets, I am pretty happy with my Steel Series wireless (Arctis Nova 7 in my case), but I will agree with @The Pook and say quality headphones and a mic are superior in terms of sound quality, so just depends on what you are looking for out of it. The headset is certainly easier to deal with than headphones and separate mic, but headphones are definitely much better sounding than this Steel Series headset. That said, it seems like wireless is a priority for you, so certainly steers you towards headsets most likely. Quality headphones you'd want to keep a wire in my opinion.

If you're talking about a Bluetooth headset, They just don't work as well for gaming. Some games just won't really work with a Bluetooth headset when trying to use the mic and headphones from a Bluetooth headset at the same time. 

I would go the Bluetooth route myself if it were more viable. 

1 hour ago, ENTERPRISE said:

That is an option but I do prefer an all in one solution and tend to prefer headsets for that reason.

Doesn't look bad, I think I had a set of these before.... second hand mind you but I wasn't sure on the audio, just seemed washed out. Not impossible I was sold a duff pair mind you.

My pair sounds pretty good. 

You can't go wrong with Steel Series. I have this headset and I have no complaints at all. 

SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless - Wireless Gaming Headset - USB-C - Detachable Clearcast Microphone - for PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Android, Black : Amazon.co.uk: PC & Video Games

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All of Nvidia's current and previous generation products, such as the A100, A800, A30, H100, H800, H200, and GH200 rely on TSMC's CoWoS-S packaging process, which relies on a silicon interposer. The closest advanced packaging technology that Intel has is called Foveros, which also relies on an interposer, albeit a different one (CoWoS-S presumably uses a 65nm interposer, and Foveros uses a 22FFL interposer).  

 

To use Intel's Foveros, Nvidia will need to validate the technology and then qualify actual products, which will likely have slightly different characteristics (because interposers are made on different process technologies and have different bump pitches) than those packaged by TSMC, so the company's partners will probably also need to qualify them before deployment. If this is the case, it will be interesting to see whether Nvidia outsources only select products to Intel, or all of them. 

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/nvidia-reportedly-selects-intel-foundry-services-for-chip-packaging-production-could-produce-over-300000-h100-gpus-per-month

Is it not possible to just add a line for titles so they get two lines and leave everything else as is? 

Yea, as Slaughtahouse said, the hardware increase is very minor. This is pretty much just a price drop. 

I like how gamers nexus put it in their thumbnail:

Just a side note about AMD drivers, one thing I love is the control panel and tuning options. The control panel is way better than Nvidia's. No need to sign in to anything to record videos. System tuning options for CPU and GPU built in. I used the control panel to auto OC my CPU, and I have my GPU a little underclocked and set to quiet mode. I never hear the fans ramp up at all and the performance difference seems to be entirely negligible. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-us-just-took-a-crucial-step-toward-democratizing-ai-access/ar-BB1hjZFV

Anyone check their tech stocks today? 

1 hour ago, pioneerisloud said:

What about just keeping it simple?

 

Leave the titles part as is the way it is now, allowing upwards of 2 lines of text.

Move OP down 1 line below the title (which I believe is "as is" now).
Force "Last" to be 1 line below "OP" instead of even allowing it on the same line as OP (since sometimes it splits anyway)

Abbreviate the date to be numerical so it fits without going down yet another line.

This would force that section to stay within 3-4 lines of text at most, and it'd have everything requested visible as best as possible.

Is there something about having room for titles that isn't simple? Seems pretty simple to me. 

2 minutes ago, neurotix said:

I think we should just set it back the way it was- it seems the majority tend to agree and the vote should be influencing the decision

The goal here is to make titles more visible, which is really important IMO. The rest of the changes are preferential, but titles need to have enough room to be able to get the point of the title/headline across. 

2 hours ago, damric said:

oof

This is how it looks for me on my phone. An improvement overall, but I think it would look better if OP and Last were on one line and let that line be cut off if it gets too long. I think we will still see most of a user name if it gets cut off a little at the end. 

One thing I notice is that the bubble that shows the number of posts is always below the title, meaning the title could go all the way to the right edge of the column and sit above the bubble. 

I think the text below the title (OP, Last, Date) could all be slightly smaller too. Just like one or two font sizes down. 

I used some photo editing to move the text around to what I think it could be: 

This is just a quick example. Probably should have made it a little taller and left some space under the title for text that could go over into a second line, but I think you get the idea. The dead space under the user icon and over the bubble for number of threads could be better used.

The 4070 series is turning into the GeForce "16" part of the GeForce 1000 series. A bunch of different skews with minor performance differences among them.

Quote

Unlike other RTX 4070 class products, the 4070 Ti Super moves away from the AD104 silicon and instead uses the same AD103 silicon as the RTX 4080. This change results in a 10% increase in CUDA cores compared to the original RTX 4070 Ti, which is just 13% fewer than the RTX 4080. Additionally, it boasts the same 64 MB L2 cache as the 4080, a significant 33% increase over the 4070 Super and Ti models.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2793-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-ti-super/

Barely faster than a 4070Ti. Still doesn't beat a 7900XT. 

I like it. 

The OP and last are two different lines with the date being a third line for me on mobile, but still better to be able to see the titles. 

Amazon is just a collection of individual sellers, like ebay. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time. No doubt Amazon issued a refund once they understood the situation, and probably also banned the seller.