Useless gaming news & chatter

[Merusk]

I have a great new idea, though.  Recent marketing studies have indicated that people who sit down on their couches often like to have carbonated beverages nearby.  Someone should make a gaming console that is primarily a carbonated beverage dispensing device, and a maybe including a touchscreen on it so that you can still play your angry birds while skyping with your grandma.  Fucking money hats.

With the tech that is in Coke's Freestyle machines, this is a total possibility and a fantastic idea. 

I now want to create a subscription soda service for fat Americans so they never have to go to the store again.

[schild]

Jones Soda had (and may still have, too lazy to research) subscription soda services in the late 90s. As did a few other boutique companies.

It was pretty good.

[Morat20]

I wouldn't mind an actual soda fountain setup. Just buy the packs and the CO2 -- probably be cheaper over the long run. *shrug*

Microsoft is still being a flaming moron with the 720. I think they're doing all the BS social-networking crap for the same reason SimCity did -- as a justification for what is an anti-piracy (well, anti-resale actually) move. They want a cut of that Gamestop money, and they're willing to fuck over the Xbox to get it.

Which is gonna be..interesting, because legally if they do anything to actually cut into resales, they're running afoul of the law. OTOH, the Supreme Court has been moving lately to make it REALLY fucking hard to do class-action lawsuits, so they might be able to get away with it under the assumption that no class-action suit can be put together.

On the third hand -- they're still fucking over their gamers because they want that gamestop resale money (and it's not like they're gonna lower the box price to cut into it -- heavens no) and their gamers are seeing a bullshit social media box that claims to be a console.

So, you know, pretty standard software company stabbing itself in the dick in pursuit of money it thinks it deserves but doesn't get.

[Merusk]

It's not afoul of resale laws if it's software you never owned.   If it's streamed to your unit and you only have a licence agreement to have access which can be revoked/ arbitrated instead of sued over.  Well, they win.   You didn't need to sign the TOS to buy the fixture and you can still use it for base function. However, you HAD to click-through that TOS to lease the software, so sorry no "i had to open it first" shrinkwrap shenanagins stuff!

Do I think they'll succeed? Probably.  Consumers are getting dumber as retailers get cleverer.  I never assumed anyone would be dumb enough to do pay-per-minute for Data and phone again. Boy was I wrong!

[Lakov_Sanite]

I wouldn't mind an actual soda fountain setup. Just buy the packs and the CO2 -- probably be cheaper over the long run. *shrug*

It's the insulin that gets expensive.

[Mithas]

Do I think they'll succeed? Probably.  Consumers are getting dumber as retailers get cleverer.

This. They will succeed. Too many gamers are looking for that fix and aren't thinking twice about what it means to not really own the games they buy.

[Morat20]

It's not afoul of resale laws if it's software you never owned.   If it's streamed to your unit and you only have a licence agreement to have access which can be revoked/ arbitrated instead of sued over.  Well, they win.   You didn't need to sign the TOS to buy the fixture and you can still use it for base function. However, you HAD to click-through that TOS to lease the software, so sorry no "i had to open it first" shrinkwrap shenanagins stuff!

Do I think they'll succeed? Probably.  Consumers are getting dumber as retailers get cleverer.  I never assumed anyone would be dumb enough to do pay-per-minute for Data and phone again. Boy was I wrong!

Right, but this "always on" stuff doesn't seem to fit into "We'd like to stream the games to you! No more discs!" logic -- that doesn't need to be "always on", unless they're paranoid you're gonna somehow figure out how to install the game on multiple X-boxes and play it, which seems like more work than the average customer will bother with (and nothing they can do will stop the dedicated ones).

I'm talking physical disc resale -- that's what's been pissing MS off. Sure, half the reason for digital delivery is to kick that option in the nads. But "always on" is like first-day DLC's in an attempt to say "Nope, can't play that game. Someone else still 'owns' it even though you've paid for it!"

That part's illegal, although I suppose if they're trying to claim online experience is integral (even if online only means 'you can auto-facebook shit') then they can try to side-step it.

But in the end, this is gonna be a festering pile of shit because it's all justifications for preventing resale, not a useful feature in of itself. Like SimCity, what you have here is a console designed around a mandate of "Fuck you if you bought your game at Gamestop".

[Sky]

There's a difference between reselling your game and the wholesale rape that is gamestop's business model.

[Yegolev]

It would only be rape if they were forcing people to do it.  Most people don't love their games the way old farts do.

[Samwise]

I wouldn't mind an actual soda fountain setup. Just buy the packs and the CO2 -- probably be cheaper over the long run. *shrug*

Much cheaper.  Google "SodaStream". 

[schild]

I want an actual 2 head fountain whenever I get a condo/home. Sodastream is cheaper but not even remotely the same thing. I want muh'fuckin Diet Rooster Booster and endless no work required stream of soda water.

[Samwise]

There'll be work required no matter what unless you hire someone to refill and maintain the machine for you, but yeah, a SodaStream isn't quite the same thing as "push button, soda comes out".  It is way the hell cheaper and more space-efficient, though.

[schild]

Cheaper in the short term, yes. Long term, not even remotely. The gas refills are priced for shit.

[Morat20]

Attempting to log into Xbox live today was another strike against me getting a 720.

It took fifteen minutes of cursing because of some bullshit Microsoft security shit. "We need another email address to verify it". "Wait, we already have that [other one]". THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU ASK FOR IT?

Same for a phone number for a text message. It basically sat there in a loop of fucking stupid, asking me for shit it then said it already had, and not letting me goddamn log in.

No, I had to finally get up, wander to my computer, go through two email accounts and the goddamn Xbox live page to MAYBE fix the fucking thing. And given what happened last time this shit occurred, in two days I'll have to do it again.

Here's a hint, Microsoft: If you want "always on" then logging onto your fucking service should not be akin to being punched in the dick.

[Trippy]

Probably a side-effect of the Xbox Live outage this weekend.

[Morat20]

Probably a side-effect of the Xbox Live outage this weekend.

Which was, you know, TOTALLY not hacked. At all. Just a random service outage that's requiring us all to punch ourselves in the dicks to prove we're us.

*makes throttling motions*

I'm assuming that my Xbox has a unique serial number, one that is undoubtedly passed to MS everytime I log onto Live. So the question is, why does Microsoft not go "Hey, look, it's Morat20 logging in on the same physical platform he always logs into" and call it a day?

Sure, maybe someone stole my xbox. But that would be a seperate issue from some account hacking shit.

[HaemishM]

So my XBox 360 has decided it does not want to stay connected to the Internet for more than a few minutes. Oh and no matter how long I keep my wireless controller charged in, it doesn't actually work for more than a few minutes. Luckily, I have no much PC gaming goodness, I haven't really missed it. Does this sound like a precursor to bricking or just separate issues that I should probably look at separately if I was ever arsed to care?

[Lantyssa]

The internet I can't say.  Could be a router issue.  Old router?  Wired or wireless?  Try switching ports if wired?

The controller probably just needs a new rechargeable battery.  They do go bad after a few years.

[HaemishM]

No, the router was working fine for a while. I've always had trouble with this XBox 360 (never could get the Live voice chat to work right with headphones) and it's probably just time to put a bullet in it.

[jakonovski]

Hmm, maybe the recent troubles is why my XBox Live account crashed and burned last weekend. Had to make a new one in the end, lost 20 hours of Dark Souls progress.

[Malakili]

Wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll just leave it here:

A large album of Star Wars Galaxies screenshots http://imgur.com/a/NiiYi#0

[Lantyssa]

Great.  SWG memories.  Now I'm horribly depressed again.

[Shannow]

For us sad , sad EA drones out there....

 Fifa 14 announced (duh) , new features revealed.

65 millions players a day huh? Damn.

[Mithas]

I immediately thought that "features" meant something like always-on DRM, we actually built an MMO in many ways kind of features. These are actual features. I'm jaded I guess.

[Paelos]

For us sad , sad EA drones out there....

 Fifa 14 announced (duh) , new features revealed.

65 millions players a day huh? Damn.

No no no. 65 Million games a week.

[Shannow]

Ahh ok, still impressive...Im guessing that shits all over Madden.

Btw to call them features is really too kind, more like tweaks to gameplay that  75% of players wont notice

[Malakili]

Oculus Rift + Omni Directional Treadmill + gun controller = some of the neatest VR I've seen in a while:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-19-team-fortress-2-played-on-omnidirectional-treadmill-and-oculus-rift


Looking impractical, but I could see it being fun.

[Simond]

Ahh ok, still impressive...Im guessing that shits all over Madden.

Well, yeah. Most of the planet plays football, only America really plays hand-egg.

[calapine]

Thanks to my inside connections with AMD (i.e. I have an AMD card inside my PC) I am able to bring you this F13-exlusive preview of AMD's next "Never Settle" bundle:






While the veracity cannot be confirmed yet, I really hope it is...Rome II would be a day-one purchase for me and I prolly need a new card by then anyway.

[koro]

AMD still makes graphics cards? I thought they all but shuttered their GPU division.

[calapine]

AMD still makes graphics cards? I thought they all but shuttered their GPU division.

[schild]

What is a "never settle" bundle?

[koro]

AMD still makes graphics cards? I thought they all but shuttered their GPU division.

I'm completely serious. Unless I grossly misinterpreted the news, they fired many of their engineers last year, and have said multiple times, most recently in February, that they have no new cards coming out for nearly all of 2013, and maybe even into next year.

[Phred]

AMD still makes graphics cards? I thought they all but shuttered their GPU division.

Sigh ya they still manage dispite an incompetant board.

[calapine]

What is a "never settle" bundle?

Get free games when you buy an AMD graphic cards. For example buying a 7900 series card gets you free Farcry 3, Farcry Blood Dragon, Hitman and Sleeping Dogs. A cheaper HD 7700 still gets you Farcry 3 + Blood dragon.
-----------

I'm completely serious. Unless I grossly misinterpreted the news, they fired many of their engineers last year, and have said multiple times, most recently in February, that they have no new cards coming out for nearly all of 2013, and maybe even into next year.

One might even say it's the division that's doing good right now.


CPU market share
Intel: 82.5% - AMD’s 16.9%

Discrete graphic cards:
Nvida: 65.7% - AMD:35.7%

-----------

Neither Nvida nor AMD are going to launch a new series of graphic cards before Q4/2013. Both for the same reason: they are milking the market with the current generation as long as they can. AMD has the "Sea Islands" series ready, but is it holding it back until said Q4.

"Sea Islands" - codename of the the coming 8000 series - will be a refresh of the current "Southern Islands" (HD 7000) generation. Meaning no large architekture changes and the same 28 nm production process, 'just' an increase in die-size and more transistors. 3dcenter.de speculates with a 30% performance increase in the mainstream segment, ~20% for the high end series.

What Nvidia will counter with is unkown atm. They might develop a new a chip as well (although nothing said about that yet) or offer something based on the GK110 chip (which is what runs their current Titan card, selling for 1169$ at amazon.com right now.)