gpg --version gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.22 Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
gpg2 --version gpg (GnuPG) 2.1.13 libgcrypt 1.7.8 Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
And more gently, you might not be aware that in the US console games and PC games cost the same and are generally discounted the same. It's not like eastern europe where PC games are like 10 euros and console games 70 euros or something.
For example in poland the Nintendo switch is 1499 zloty, that's US$419. In the actual US the Switch costs $299.
so when Eurodudes like yourself say console gaming is more expensive...Americans look at you and roll our eyes at you.
generic websites with deals are still deals as are the deal on the PSN store directly.
And I notice that only ONE of those websites you mention are in the US, perhaps those cater to cheapass former-pirate Eurogamers?
Because HERE gamers buy from generic websites as well as PSN or the Xbox store. And places like Amazon or Wal-mart have deals, in a couple of months there will be huge Black Friday deals on games.
Try to remember that gaming culture in America is NOTHING like that of Europe. We aren't a bunch of ex-commie-land pirates and scandinavian pirate enablers who hate consoles
Tropico 4 still retained a bit of the variety and complexity that its predecessors had. With T5 they went off the deep end, resulting in a handful of buildings to choose from (yes, even after upgrading to a later tech level) and stripping a lot of options and little things you could fiddle and tweak.
Did you ever think that those design decisions were made to increase the games appeal to MORE gamers on PC than just the bearded strategy game guys? That those decisions weren't made with the console market in mind...but to sell more Tropico to MORE PC gamers.
Not only that, but the game has multiplayer. Did you ever think that the changes made were designed to streamline the game to make it a more fun multiplayer game on PC?
But no, it's now on consoles and everything you don't like is consoles fault. Perhaps the fault is in Stop Having Fun Guys like you who want everything to stay the same so that you're playing the same un-fun game bearded strategy gamers played in 2001.
And did you ever think without the increased number of sales from a more genarlized PC audience and from the console players, that there might not be more Tropico to play. Games like Tropico aren't exactly big sellers, after all FFX US sold over 20X the copies Tropico 1 did in the US in 2001.
Besides you can't blame consoles for the changes you don't like since the ONLY tropico not on consoles is the second one. That's right Tropico 1, 3, 4 are also on console.
As for SupCom, the game had accessibility issues, the developers wanted better sales to people who weren't hardcore bearded strategy grognards, so they changed things to make it more accessible to PC GAMERS (and later Xboxers), but forgot to take into account that people who might like to try the game knew from the first game that they should stay away from supcom and didn't know that the game had been more accessible.
Don't blame consoles, blame elitist strategy gamers for devs pandering to the hardcore and then finding their games don't sell very well. The SAME problem exists in certain console series from developer Nippon Ichi who focuses so much on their hardcore fanboy fanbase that their games sell LESS than they did in the PS2 days.
This dumbing down thing you and others complain about it isn't really about consoles it's about developers and publishers wanting to sell more games in general to gamers in general But you're focusing on the console folks because....Master Race and all that.
What bothers me is that genres I enjoy get butchered to cater to a market that doesn't really seem to be interested in them in the first place.
The changes are made to get more people interested, they have to at least try to increase their audience, don't you think? It doesn't help when guys like you (and your console relatives) are part of the reasons that drive new players away from certain genres.
How'd you enjoy it if the next incarnation of some action RPG got simplified so people can play it with keyboard and mouse to make it even at highest difficulty no longer a challenge when you play it with a sensible controller?
Doesn't bother me any, since they're not playing the same version I am, are they if they are playing the PC version that is optimized for keyboard. I still get to play the console version optimized for controller.
I said that PSN goes away. At least in its current incarnation. You think it's absolutely impossible for Sony to say "So. Closing time, folks. Kiss your ancient PSs good bye and buy the new one, for that's going to be the only one we'll support anymore!"?
Impossible? No, but VERY unlikely because they simply haven't done so. An example is the PSP. That thing hasn't received any updates in a long while so you can't access the store directly (other than the download history) on the handheld..but....you CAN use the PC web browser version of the store AND the PS3 version of the store to purchase content for the PSP.
So Sony still supports a 12 year old handheld they don't sell anymore.
Another example is how long SOE kept the PS2's Everquest Online Adventures Frontiers servers up. That was a game that came out in 2003 and the servers were shut down in 2012.
The PS3's PSN access is quite functional of course, except for those games that were hosted externally by gamespy.
Again, you're engaging in PC Masterrace FUD and you know it. Besides, you don't think Valve could do something like the following:
"To prevent complains and game refunds from scrubs with weaksauce hardware, you will need to have a minimum of a quad-core to buy games from STEAM. And we've decided to dump our Linux support."
What's that you say? Not likely at all? Well then the same applies to YOUR statements.
But it was mostly the RTS games that got dumbed down to fit with the gaming style of consoles.
Oh? Which ones? Or did you mean to write FPS again instead of RTS, because EVERY console RTS I own has mouse support. (C&C, Red Alert, Red Alert Retaliation, Dune 2000, Warzone 2100) Admittedly, they're all PSone titles. There's only 1 post PSone RTS that I know of, that being RA3.
Also you'll have to #define "dumbed down" because from what I see when a PC "Master Race" type says "dumbed down" they're actually saying:
"Waaah I don't like consoles existing and don't like the fact that the games I play are mutliplatform so I'm going to just make up issues to complain about. Hell I'll even complain about things that were in the games BEFORE they had console versions"
It appears to be straightforward and from what I see the LLC and EIN process can be done entirely online. You'd want the LLC, EIN, and static IP for a company website/e-mail address anyway.
Heck, I think even Sony's NDA process is online.
even if Steam should fold at some point in time, do you really think it will take longer than a month before something steps in to replace it? Unlike with consoles, there is really nothing anyone could do from keeping anyone from creating such a service.
Inertia? Microsoft? Valve goes away and then you'd have EA, Ubisoft, Origin, Blizzard, Zenimax, Microsoft, CD Projekt, etc all fighting to be the next STEAM and fragmenting the market. STEAM became the juggernaut it is because it had no real competition. It's a walled-garden monoculture just like PSN.
Try that on PSN. If Sony decides "no more PSN", then there is no more PSN. With nobody even being allowed to step in.
Tell me, which company is older and larger, Sony or Valve. (Sony Interactive Entertainment has 8000 employees, Valve has 360. Valve has an equity of around 2.5 billion dollars, Sony has an equity of 2.5 TRILLION dollars). Tell me, which company has more experience in gaming in the living room? Tell me which company actually continues to develop and RELEASE games alongside making hardware and running an online gaming service and marketplace.
VALVE is more likely to shut down than Sony is. You claim that PSN could just go away is bogus PC Masterrace FUD and you know it.
It's very easy to hand out demos and it's equally easy to publish with things like Steam.
Who says it isn't on PSN?
The ecosystem is already established, you can easily market and even sell your game, even while it's still in development.
Who says that isn't how PSN works? I've got "still in development" games installed on my PS4 right now.
If Steam suddenly decided that it doesn't want to run indie games anymore, there's plenty more game distributors. Try to continue selling your indie game on XBox if MS decides they don't want to play nice with peasants anymore.
Sure there's other distributors, but STEAM "is" a single point of failure because in the Windows world IT is the big kahuna. Everything else is an also-ran except for GOG and THAT is for older games.
There are quite a few reasons why PC gaming didn't die 20 years ago when its obituaries were announced the first time.
Or vice versa when someone from say iD or some other PC-centric dev house or some hardware maker like alienware or Nvidia claims consoles are doomed.
That was probably the first thing they lost with the advent of the first CD based consoles that made loading times from effin' FLOPPY DISKS look fast!
It wasn't THAT bad....I've used a 1541 WITHOUT a fastload cartridge so I know bad.
Has there been a generation of consoles since PS1 and XBox where you could rely on them actually still working 2 years from purchase?
Yes. 50001 model PS2's are like tanks unlike the early models. My CECHE PS3 was working far past the 2 year mark. The PS4, purchased on launch day is still fine.
Now, PCs did get their console controllers quite soon. Not to mention the nearly inexhaustible supply of other periphery from flight sticks to steering wheels to... you name it. Only very recently console makers realized that yes, there is actually a market for such input devices (with the noteworthy exception of Nintendo, who produced an incredible amount of input devices...
Recently? Try 1995, apparently you don't know much about the PSone and the peripherals it had
As for the PS2/PS3/PS4, they have USB ports for a reason. While early PS2 wheels and joysticks used the standard PS2 controller jack, later ones used USB and were basically rebadged PC ones. In fact you CAN use PC wheels and flight sticks with certain PS2 games.
PS3 and PS4 HOTAS and Wheels are all USB. So yes, use that Saitek HOTAS with War Thunder on the PS4, and with IL2 and birds of Steel on the PS3 as well. However Elite Dangerous on the PS4 only supports the Thrustmaster HOTAS 4...for now.
As for racing wheels PC gamer did a round up of wheels and their highest rated wheel was the $580 Fanatec CSL which works just fine with the PS4. Their bang for the buck recommendation was the Logitech G29 wheel also a PS4/PC wheel.
In other words, my PC steering wheel I bought 10 years and 3 PCs ago still works. Do you honestly expect your PS2 steering wheel to work when PS5 comes?
If it was one of the USB ones...yes I would expect it to work. However the limited degrees of steering compared to modern wheels would be a liability.
And I didn't even get into the area where you can actually upgrade your PC while you're stuck with whatever the console maker deems "good enough".
Except hard drives, those are user upgradeable.
Personally, I think consoles dropped the ball when they insisted that they really need to have a full blown operating system that took away the key advantage these machines had over PCs:
yes, but back in 2006 you could get the future-proof PS3, or a 1000 dollar standalone that would never support any future blu-ray profile, no Bonusview, no BD-Live, no 3D.
The PS3 also had many more features than the standalones of the time. No 2006 standalone ever got Hulu or Netflix or Iheartradio, and they most certainly didn't have games.
THAT is why the PS3 kept getting recommended as a blu-ray player and streaming device. Sure there were cheaper standalone players and roku's, but the PS3 hardware made it run better.
And it still is the ONLY blu-ray player from 2006 that can handle profile 5.0 Even in 2008 it was the ONLY blu-ray player on the market that was ensured could handle profile 2.0.
As for Netflix the PS3 was the first device to get 1080p HD support and 5.1 audio from them, everything else was stuck with 720p stereo at that time.
Of course now, time has passed and standalones have got better, but back then the PS3 was a kickass media device.
Not everybody has been sucking at the tit of Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo. In the PC space
In the PC Space? You mean in the Windows space? The MICROSOFT Windows tit?
The first to support 22-bit graphics (Voodoo), 32-bit graphics (RGBA), 4K, 120 fps, SSD, etc, consoles are always playing catching -- signified by the "PC Master Race" slogan.
Son, consoles had graphics back when home computers were using 40 column text and customized character sets for most of their displays. And I distinctly remember the PSone version of DOOM having TRUE transparency aka 24bit+8bit 32 bit color when the PC version didn't. The PSone had 24bit True color in 1995, the Voodoo 3 came out in 1999 and wasn't actually true color but 24 bit dithered down to 16 bit for output (which 3Dfx called 22-bit)
The keyboard + mouse blows the gamepad away for any sort of precision.
Who says? How many MILLIONS of mics, drums, and extra guitars have been sold for the various Rock band style games. how many millions of network adapters and eyetoys/playstation eyes has Sony sold. How many MILLIONS Of Dual Shock 3's, which wasn't the original PS3 controller, were sold. How many headsets?
As games change from shared-screen multiplayer to online multiplayer that requires a separate machine per player,
It does? You do know that some online games let TWO people play shared screen with other players Online. A good example of this is Diablo 3 on consoles. you can have ANY mixture of local and online players.
Also who says that more than one person wants to play games at the same time.
And while multiple-of-the-same-console households aren't common, they do exist. I know a couple that has THREE PS3's. (though only one PS4). The same couple has MULTIPLE portable game machines (DS's and Vitas) and a tablet AND phone for every person.
That depends on exactly what you mean by "do whatever", especially for someone who has been turned down repeatedly for jobs that use his degree.
you might want to think about your youtube channel, remember tech companies might google you.
If you've got a PS4 pro or even a cheaper base PS4 you really don't need a $700 PC. You can make do with an even cheaper one. And lot of people do their computing on mobile devices, and who says a Switch is required? Not everybody is interested in the Nintendo franchises.
Are there any 3rd party websites selling games at discounts? I wasn't talking about Steam only, I was talking about a whole ecosystem, literally dozens of websites offering games at a discount
You mean websites like Amazon or Wal-mart?
Sure Digital games on the Playstation ecosystem are PSN marketplace only, but physical discs are still a thing. Remember, one of the reasons PC games went digital so strongly is that PC publishers, unlike Sony, NEVER started using Blu-rays.
Unless he's referring to hooking up a serial console to some S-100 machine, he might be referring to the console ancestry of some "home computers", or the computer ancestry of some consoles. Sometimes both within the same line.
One example was the C64. at one point in its development it was intended on being a console. Then it was decided that they could turn their console into an inexpensive computer. But....a console version of the C64 WAS released in Japan BEFORE The C64. It is called the Ultimax.
Every C64 has an Ultimax mode in it and can actually play Ultimax cartridges.
Later in the C64's life after it was "mostly dead", except for a tiny bit of life in mostly Europe, it was decided to release a console version of the C64, the C64 Game System.
Or the Amiga which was intended to be a console at one time, was turned into a computer and was later turned into TWO different consoles.
Also the Atari 5200 is based on the tech of the atari 400/800. But that tech was originally intended to go in a successor console to the 2600 in the first place.
Or that some early consoles were designed and INTENDED to be later upgraded to add computing functionality. Examples being the Mattel Intellivision, and the Colecovision.
Too many gamers see PC gaming and console gaming as a zero sum game of "enemies"... "masterrace vs peasants" that sort of thing when BOTH benefit from each others existence and the relationship is synergistic.
like Skyrim, which had that really crappy flash based menu system that worked well for controllers, but not for mice, and overall the game's control system was really broken for kb+mouse, even though Oblivion didn't have these console problems.
Flash based? What are ou talking about.
Were you even around in the past when PC gamers on Slashdot complained about Oblivion's UI and controls being "consolitis" You can even find threads on slashdot about it.
I've got one other thing to say. WITHOUT sales from console players there would be less incentive to make these RPG's.
You're not thinking of the demographics involved. Think of the percentage of Americans who are either: 65, disabled or poor children. Considering those numbers 14% is low.
1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....? Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
You're forgetting the Reaganphone lifeline program, which now includes more modern communication methods. Also I've seen smartphones for $49 bucks and free wifi is in many places low-income places might shop. Wal-Mart for example. For some low-income people a wifi-only smartphone or tablet is their primary computing device.
2. One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education, sacrifice so they can get a real job that pays enough so that they don't need to live off the govt. teet.
Who says they aren't a pain in the ass? You? A libertarian-right tech-bro on Slashdot who probably knows jack shit about them? You do know that sometimes unemployment benefits also come with things like food stamp benefits, right? So it's not all about "work and education". Besides the vast majority of the poor are and have been "Working" poor.
But demonizing and looking down on poor people is easier if they're all minority deadbeats amirite code-bros? Yeah, they just need to stop asking the government for things....but the government needs to ban outsourcing and H1B's amirite? Can't let them Indieans steal our code-jobs. But hey, we didn't say a damn thing when CEO's outsourced all those factory and warehouse jobs on the south-side of chicago to taiwan, Japan, China, etc etc....who cares about those black people, they should have had their parents pay for them to go to Stanford or MIT to become programmers
what most tech-bro libertarian right slashdotters don't know is that the cards support multiple types of benefits and that some of the benefits are cash even if food stamps aren't.
For example, someone on unemployment could have both a "food stamp" benefit AND an unemployment benefit on the same card. They could use the same card to purchase food AND get cash from the unemployment portion on the card. Or purchase qualifying food and non-qualifying alcohol on the same card.
This is what you saw, but since you don't know how the cards actually work, you think the EBT users are deadbeat cheats and then you mention it on slashdot to get the OTHER tech-bros who might be pre-disposed to look down on the poor all riled up like yourself.
Being one of those predisposed tech-bros, you got riled up because of your own ignorance, making YOU a low-information citizen.
Slashdot Mirror
also google, yahoo, ms, etc should include support for gpg in their webmail ..
You can already use gpg with webmail if you use a proper mail client over IMAP. I've done it for years.
gpg --version
gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.22
Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Home: ~/.gnupg
Supported algorithms:
Pubkey: RSA, RSA-E, RSA-S, ELG-E, DSA
Cipher: IDEA, 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH,
CAMELLIA128, CAMELLIA192, CAMELLIA256
Hash: MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA224
Compression: Uncompressed, ZIP, ZLIB, BZIP2
gpg2 --version
gpg (GnuPG) 2.1.13
libgcrypt 1.7.8
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Home: ~/.gnupg
Supported algorithms:
Pubkey: RSA, ELG, DSA, ECDH, ECDSA, EDDSA
Cipher: IDEA, 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH,
CAMELLIA128, CAMELLIA192, CAMELLIA256
Hash: SHA1, RIPEMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA224
Compression: Uncompressed, ZIP, ZLIB, BZIP2
And more gently, you might not be aware that in the US console games and PC games cost the same and are generally discounted the same. It's not like eastern europe where PC games are like 10 euros and console games 70 euros or something.
For example in poland the Nintendo switch is 1499 zloty, that's US$419. In the actual US the Switch costs $299.
so when Eurodudes like yourself say console gaming is more expensive...Americans look at you and roll our eyes at you.
generic websites with deals are still deals as are the deal on the PSN store directly.
And I notice that only ONE of those websites you mention are in the US, perhaps those cater to cheapass former-pirate Eurogamers?
Because HERE gamers buy from generic websites as well as PSN or the Xbox store. And places like Amazon or Wal-mart have deals, in a couple of months there will be huge Black Friday deals on games.
Try to remember that gaming culture in America is NOTHING like that of Europe. We aren't a bunch of ex-commie-land pirates and scandinavian pirate enablers who hate consoles
Tropico 4 still retained a bit of the variety and complexity that its predecessors had. With T5 they went off the deep end, resulting in a handful of buildings to choose from (yes, even after upgrading to a later tech level) and stripping a lot of options and little things you could fiddle and tweak.
Did you ever think that those design decisions were made to increase the games appeal to MORE gamers on PC than just the bearded strategy game guys? That those decisions weren't made with the console market in mind...but to sell more Tropico to MORE PC gamers.
Not only that, but the game has multiplayer. Did you ever think that the changes made were designed to streamline the game to make it a more fun multiplayer game on PC?
But no, it's now on consoles and everything you don't like is consoles fault. Perhaps the fault is in Stop Having Fun Guys like you who want everything to stay the same so that you're playing the same un-fun game bearded strategy gamers played in 2001.
And did you ever think without the increased number of sales from a more genarlized PC audience and from the console players, that there might not be more Tropico to play. Games like Tropico aren't exactly big sellers, after all FFX US sold over 20X the copies Tropico 1 did in the US in 2001.
Besides you can't blame consoles for the changes you don't like since the ONLY tropico not on consoles is the second one. That's right Tropico 1, 3, 4 are also on console.
As for SupCom, the game had accessibility issues, the developers wanted better sales to people who weren't hardcore bearded strategy grognards, so they changed things to make it more accessible to PC GAMERS (and later Xboxers), but forgot to take into account that people who might like to try the game knew from the first game that they should stay away from supcom and didn't know that the game had been more accessible.
Don't blame consoles, blame elitist strategy gamers for devs pandering to the hardcore and then finding their games don't sell very well. The SAME problem exists in certain console series from developer Nippon Ichi who focuses so much on their hardcore fanboy fanbase that their games sell LESS than they did in the PS2 days.
This dumbing down thing you and others complain about it isn't really about consoles it's about developers and publishers wanting to sell more games in general to gamers in general But you're focusing on the console folks because....Master Race and all that.
What bothers me is that genres I enjoy get butchered to cater to a market that doesn't really seem to be interested in them in the first place.
The changes are made to get more people interested, they have to at least try to increase their audience, don't you think? It doesn't help when guys like you (and your console relatives) are part of the reasons that drive new players away from certain genres.
How'd you enjoy it if the next incarnation of some action RPG got simplified so people can play it with keyboard and mouse to make it even at highest difficulty no longer a challenge when you play it with a sensible controller?
Doesn't bother me any, since they're not playing the same version I am, are they if they are playing the PC version that is optimized for keyboard. I still get to play the console version optimized for controller.
I said that PSN goes away. At least in its current incarnation. You think it's absolutely impossible for Sony to say "So. Closing time, folks. Kiss your ancient PSs good bye and buy the new one, for that's going to be the only one we'll support anymore!"?
Impossible? No, but VERY unlikely because they simply haven't done so. An example is the PSP. That thing hasn't received any updates in a long while so you can't access the store directly (other than the download history) on the handheld..but....you CAN use the PC web browser version of the store AND the PS3 version of the store to purchase content for the PSP.
So Sony still supports a 12 year old handheld they don't sell anymore.
Another example is how long SOE kept the PS2's Everquest Online Adventures Frontiers servers up. That was a game that came out in 2003 and the servers were shut down in 2012.
The PS3's PSN access is quite functional of course, except for those games that were hosted externally by gamespy.
Again, you're engaging in PC Masterrace FUD and you know it. Besides, you don't think Valve could do something like the following:
"To prevent complains and game refunds from scrubs with weaksauce hardware, you will need to have a minimum of a quad-core to buy games from STEAM. And we've decided to dump our Linux support."
What's that you say? Not likely at all? Well then the same applies to YOUR statements.
But it was mostly the RTS games that got dumbed down to fit with the gaming style of consoles.
Oh? Which ones? Or did you mean to write FPS again instead of RTS, because EVERY console RTS I own has mouse support. (C&C, Red Alert, Red Alert Retaliation, Dune 2000, Warzone 2100) Admittedly, they're all PSone titles. There's only 1 post PSone RTS that I know of, that being RA3.
Also you'll have to #define "dumbed down" because from what I see when a PC "Master Race" type says "dumbed down" they're actually saying:
"Waaah I don't like consoles existing and don't like the fact that the games I play are mutliplatform so I'm going to just make up issues to complain about. Hell I'll even complain about things that were in the games BEFORE they had console versions"
Easy? You consider this EASY?
It appears to be straightforward and from what I see the LLC and EIN process can be done entirely online. You'd want the LLC, EIN, and static IP for a company website/e-mail address anyway.
Heck, I think even Sony's NDA process is online.
even if Steam should fold at some point in time, do you really think it will take longer than a month before something steps in to replace it? Unlike with consoles, there is really nothing anyone could do from keeping anyone from creating such a service.
Inertia? Microsoft? Valve goes away and then you'd have EA, Ubisoft, Origin, Blizzard, Zenimax, Microsoft, CD Projekt, etc all fighting to be the next STEAM and fragmenting the market. STEAM became the juggernaut it is because it had no real competition. It's a walled-garden monoculture just like PSN.
Try that on PSN. If Sony decides "no more PSN", then there is no more PSN. With nobody even being allowed to step in.
Tell me, which company is older and larger, Sony or Valve. (Sony Interactive Entertainment has 8000 employees, Valve has 360. Valve has an equity of around 2.5 billion dollars, Sony has an equity of 2.5 TRILLION dollars). Tell me, which company has more experience in gaming in the living room? Tell me which company actually continues to develop and RELEASE games alongside making hardware and running an online gaming service and marketplace.
VALVE is more likely to shut down than Sony is. You claim that PSN could just go away is bogus PC Masterrace FUD and you know it.
Neither Valve or Sony are going away.
It's very easy to hand out demos and it's equally easy to publish with things like Steam.
Who says it isn't on PSN?
The ecosystem is already established, you can easily market and even sell your game, even while it's still in development.
Who says that isn't how PSN works? I've got "still in development" games installed on my PS4 right now.
If Steam suddenly decided that it doesn't want to run indie games anymore, there's plenty more game distributors. Try to continue selling your indie game on XBox if MS decides they don't want to play nice with peasants anymore.
Sure there's other distributors, but STEAM "is" a single point of failure because in the Windows world IT is the big kahuna. Everything else is an also-ran except for GOG and THAT is for older games.
and as soon as you factor in the higher cost for games it melts away anyway.
What higher cost? did you just time travel in from 1995? While there WAS a price differential at one time, there isn't one NOW. Things change.
Project Cars 2 $59.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
Factotum 90 $5.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
Rocket League $19.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
The Bard's Tale (resnarked version) $9.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
Rebel Galaxy, $19.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
Final Fantasy IX remaster $20.99 on both PSN and Steam
https://store.playstation.com/...
http://store.steampowered.com/...
Minecraft PS4: $19.95
https://store.playstation.com/...
Minecraft PC (Java edition) $26.95
https://minecraft.net/en-us/
There are quite a few reasons why PC gaming didn't die 20 years ago when its obituaries were announced the first time.
Or vice versa when someone from say iD or some other PC-centric dev house or some hardware maker like alienware or Nvidia claims consoles are doomed.
That was probably the first thing they lost with the advent of the first CD based consoles that made loading times from effin' FLOPPY DISKS look fast!
It wasn't THAT bad....I've used a 1541 WITHOUT a fastload cartridge so I know bad.
Has there been a generation of consoles since PS1 and XBox where you could rely on them actually still working 2 years from purchase?
Yes. 50001 model PS2's are like tanks unlike the early models. My CECHE PS3 was working far past the 2 year mark. The PS4, purchased on launch day is still fine.
Now, PCs did get their console controllers quite soon. Not to mention the nearly inexhaustible supply of other periphery from flight sticks to steering wheels to ... you name it. Only very recently console makers realized that yes, there is actually a market for such input devices (with the noteworthy exception of Nintendo, who produced an incredible amount of input devices...
Recently? Try 1995, apparently you don't know much about the PSone and the peripherals it had
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
As for the PS2/PS3/PS4, they have USB ports for a reason. While early PS2 wheels and joysticks used the standard PS2 controller jack, later ones used USB and were basically rebadged PC ones. In fact you CAN use PC wheels and flight sticks with certain PS2 games.
PS3 and PS4 HOTAS and Wheels are all USB. So yes, use that Saitek HOTAS with War Thunder on the PS4, and with IL2 and birds of Steel on the PS3 as well. However Elite Dangerous on the PS4 only supports the Thrustmaster HOTAS 4...for now.
As for racing wheels PC gamer did a round up of wheels and their highest rated wheel was the $580 Fanatec CSL which works just fine with the PS4. Their bang for the buck recommendation was the Logitech G29 wheel also a PS4/PC wheel.
In other words, my PC steering wheel I bought 10 years and 3 PCs ago still works. Do you honestly expect your PS2 steering wheel to work when PS5 comes?
If it was one of the USB ones...yes I would expect it to work. However the limited degrees of steering compared to modern wheels would be a liability.
And I didn't even get into the area where you can actually upgrade your PC while you're stuck with whatever the console maker deems "good enough".
Except hard drives, those are user upgradeable.
Personally, I think consoles dropped the ball when they insisted that they really need to have a full blown operating system that took away the key advantage these machines had over PCs:
The PS4's BSD isn't Windows.
yes, but back in 2006 you could get the future-proof PS3, or a 1000 dollar standalone that would never support any future blu-ray profile, no Bonusview, no BD-Live, no 3D.
The PS3 also had many more features than the standalones of the time. No 2006 standalone ever got Hulu or Netflix or Iheartradio, and they most certainly didn't have games.
The Roku doesn't have a 3.2 GHz CPU.
THAT is why the PS3 kept getting recommended as a blu-ray player and streaming device. Sure there were cheaper standalone players and roku's, but the PS3 hardware made it run better.
And it still is the ONLY blu-ray player from 2006 that can handle profile 5.0 Even in 2008 it was the ONLY blu-ray player on the market that was ensured could handle profile 2.0.
As for Netflix the PS3 was the first device to get 1080p HD support and 5.1 audio from them, everything else was stuck with 720p stereo at that time.
Of course now, time has passed and standalones have got better, but back then the PS3 was a kickass media device.
Not everybody has been sucking at the tit of Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo. In the PC space
In the PC Space? You mean in the Windows space? The MICROSOFT Windows tit?
The first to support 22-bit graphics (Voodoo), 32-bit graphics (RGBA), 4K, 120 fps, SSD, etc, consoles are always playing catching -- signified by the "PC Master Race" slogan.
Son, consoles had graphics back when home computers were using 40 column text and customized character sets for most of their displays. And I distinctly remember the PSone version of DOOM having TRUE transparency aka 24bit+8bit 32 bit color when the PC version didn't. The PSone had 24bit True color in 1995, the Voodoo 3 came out in 1999 and wasn't actually true color but 24 bit dithered down to 16 bit for output (which 3Dfx called 22-bit)
The keyboard + mouse blows the gamepad away for any sort of precision.
The PS2/PS3/PS4 have USB ports for a reason.
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/ps2...
http://farm5.static.flickr.com...
http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/cm...
I also must have imagined using a keyboard and/or mouse with various games for the PS2/PS3/PS4.
i.e. I'll seriously doubt we'll ever see StarCraft (1 or 2) on a console anytime soon
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wik...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
because console peripherals never sell well.
Who says? How many MILLIONS of mics, drums, and extra guitars have been sold for the various Rock band style games. how many millions of network adapters and eyetoys/playstation eyes has Sony sold. How many MILLIONS Of Dual Shock 3's, which wasn't the original PS3 controller, were sold. How many headsets?
As games change from shared-screen multiplayer to online multiplayer that requires a separate machine per player,
It does? You do know that some online games let TWO people play shared screen with other players Online. A good example of this is Diablo 3 on consoles. you can have ANY mixture of local and online players.
Also who says that more than one person wants to play games at the same time.
And while multiple-of-the-same-console households aren't common, they do exist. I know a couple that has THREE PS3's. (though only one PS4). The same couple has MULTIPLE portable game machines (DS's and Vitas) and a tablet AND phone for every person.
That depends on exactly what you mean by "do whatever", especially for someone who has been turned down repeatedly for jobs that use his degree.
you might want to think about your youtube channel, remember tech companies might google you.
If you've got a PS4 pro or even a cheaper base PS4 you really don't need a $700 PC. You can make do with an even cheaper one. And lot of people do their computing on mobile devices, and who says a Switch is required? Not everybody is interested in the Nintendo franchises.
Are there any 3rd party websites selling games at discounts? I wasn't talking about Steam only, I was talking about a whole ecosystem, literally dozens of websites offering games at a discount
You mean websites like Amazon or Wal-mart?
Sure Digital games on the Playstation ecosystem are PSN marketplace only, but physical discs are still a thing. Remember, one of the reasons PC games went digital so strongly is that PC publishers, unlike Sony, NEVER started using Blu-rays.
As if there aren't other mass market retailers that can have sweet game deals like say...Amazon, or Wal-mart, or Target, etc etc.
Unless he's referring to hooking up a serial console to some S-100 machine, he might be referring to the console ancestry of some "home computers", or the computer ancestry of some consoles. Sometimes both within the same line.
One example was the C64. at one point in its development it was intended on being a console. Then it was decided that they could turn their console into an inexpensive computer. But....a console version of the C64 WAS released in Japan BEFORE The C64. It is called the Ultimax.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Every C64 has an Ultimax mode in it and can actually play Ultimax cartridges.
Later in the C64's life after it was "mostly dead", except for a tiny bit of life in mostly Europe, it was decided to release a console version of the C64, the C64 Game System.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Or the Amiga which was intended to be a console at one time, was turned into a computer and was later turned into TWO different consoles.
Also the Atari 5200 is based on the tech of the atari 400/800. But that tech was originally intended to go in a successor console to the 2600 in the first place.
There's also the Atari XEGS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Which is actually a 65XE
Or that some early consoles were designed and INTENDED to be later upgraded to add computing functionality. Examples being the Mattel Intellivision, and the Colecovision.
Too many gamers see PC gaming and console gaming as a zero sum game of "enemies"... "masterrace vs peasants" that sort of thing when BOTH benefit from each others existence and the relationship is synergistic.
like Skyrim, which had that really crappy flash based menu system that worked well for controllers, but not for mice, and overall the game's control system was really broken for kb+mouse, even though Oblivion didn't have these console problems.
Flash based? What are ou talking about.
Were you even around in the past when PC gamers on Slashdot complained about Oblivion's UI and controls being "consolitis" You can even find threads on slashdot about it.
I've got one other thing to say. WITHOUT sales from console players there would be less incentive to make these RPG's.
RTS? Aimbots? I think you are confusing Real-Time Strategy (RTS) with First Person Shooter (FPS)
And any dumbing down of FPS's happened with Quake with easy-mode headshots from mouse-aiming.
Really, the pre-quake players of FPS's considered mouse aiming to be "easy mode for casuals"
You're not thinking of the demographics involved. Think of the percentage of Americans who are either: 65, disabled or poor children. Considering those numbers 14% is low.
1. If you are poor enough, smart phones are nearly free, thanks to another of those programs started by Obama.
s/Obama/Reagan+Bush
You are referring to the Lifeline program which started in 1985 under Reagan, and was extended to cell phones in 2005 under the 2nd Bush.
1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....? Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
You're forgetting the Reaganphone lifeline program, which now includes more modern communication methods. Also I've seen smartphones for $49 bucks and free wifi is in many places low-income places might shop. Wal-Mart for example. For some low-income people a wifi-only smartphone or tablet is their primary computing device.
2. One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education, sacrifice so they can get a real job that pays enough so that they don't need to live off the govt. teet.
Who says they aren't a pain in the ass? You? A libertarian-right tech-bro on Slashdot who probably knows jack shit about them? You do know that sometimes unemployment benefits also come with things like food stamp benefits, right? So it's not all about "work and education". Besides the vast majority of the poor are and have been "Working" poor.
But demonizing and looking down on poor people is easier if they're all minority deadbeats amirite code-bros? Yeah, they just need to stop asking the government for things....but the government needs to ban outsourcing and H1B's amirite? Can't let them Indieans steal our code-jobs. But hey, we didn't say a damn thing when CEO's outsourced all those factory and warehouse jobs on the south-side of chicago to taiwan, Japan, China, etc etc....who cares about those black people, they should have had their parents pay for them to go to Stanford or MIT to become programmers
what most tech-bro libertarian right slashdotters don't know is that the cards support multiple types of benefits and that some of the benefits are cash even if food stamps aren't.
For example, someone on unemployment could have both a "food stamp" benefit AND an unemployment benefit on the same card. They could use the same card to purchase food AND get cash from the unemployment portion on the card. Or purchase qualifying food and non-qualifying alcohol on the same card.
This is what you saw, but since you don't know how the cards actually work, you think the EBT users are deadbeat cheats and then you mention it on slashdot to get the OTHER tech-bros who might be pre-disposed to look down on the poor all riled up like yourself.
Being one of those predisposed tech-bros, you got riled up because of your own ignorance, making YOU a low-information citizen.