Useless gaming news & chatter

[KallDrexx]

Ok, this Nvidia Shield Android TV is officially awesome.

Not only does streaming games from my desktop at 1080p over my Gigabit network make games feel like they are local (literally feel no lag or picture quality degregation), I just got done playing 2 hours of streaming Batman Arkham Origins from NVIDIA's Grid servers and could barely tell it wasn't locally.  It was 720p instead of 1080p but whatever still fantastic.  I only have 18/2 internet speed, and I'm a good distance from the DSL node, so I don't really have good internet at all.

Now I need to test if hooking a keyboard and mouse will work well, to play FPS games without a controller.

[Ironwood]

That XCom 2 trailer was nice.

[Sky]

I have to say a tablet to stream games from my pc with good controller support (MOGA is, ehm, ok at best) is pretty tempting. If it has keyb/m support and can stream over the internet so I can play minecraft for reals? Yeah.

[HaemishM]

That XCom 2 trailer was nice.

Yes.

[Mandella]

Ok, this Nvidia Shield Android TV is officially awesome.

Not only does streaming games from my desktop at 1080p over my Gigabit network make games feel like they are local (literally feel no lag or picture quality degregation), I just got done playing 2 hours of streaming Batman Arkham Origins from NVIDIA's Grid servers and could barely tell it wasn't locally.  It was 720p instead of 1080p but whatever still fantastic.  I only have 18/2 internet speed, and I'm a good distance from the DSL node, so I don't really have good internet at all.

Now I need to test if hooking a keyboard and mouse will work well, to play FPS games without a controller.

This thing have any capacity for a media streamer too? For instance, will it stream from a non-NVIDIA machine running a Kodi(XBMC) media center?

I wasn't too happy with the tablet as far as in-house network streaming, but now I think about it I haven't tried it after replacing some of the wi-fi links with cable (both my media center and gaming machine are hardwired to the router now). But the lack of keyboard support is a killer anyway.

Now, if the console can handle mouse and keyboard, I'm in.

[KallDrexx]

Ok, this Nvidia Shield Android TV is officially awesome.

Not only does streaming games from my desktop at 1080p over my Gigabit network make games feel like they are local (literally feel no lag or picture quality degregation), I just got done playing 2 hours of streaming Batman Arkham Origins from NVIDIA's Grid servers and could barely tell it wasn't locally.  It was 720p instead of 1080p but whatever still fantastic.  I only have 18/2 internet speed, and I'm a good distance from the DSL node, so I don't really have good internet at all.

Now I need to test if hooking a keyboard and mouse will work well, to play FPS games without a controller.

This thing have any capacity for a media streamer too? For instance, will it stream from a non-NVIDIA machine running a Kodi(XBMC) media center?

I wasn't too happy with the tablet as far as in-house network streaming, but now I think about it I haven't tried it after replacing some of the wi-fi links with cable (both my media center and gaming machine are hardwired to the router now). But the lack of keyboard support is a killer anyway.

Now, if the console can handle mouse and keyboard, I'm in.

It comes with Plex and I've used it to stream media from my office/gaming PC.  I've heard people have sideloaded Kodi successfully but I've never had a reason t try it out. 

Having at least one of your computers (either the streamer or the receiver) hard wired is pretty necessary imo, having both on Wifi will probably get pretty ugly unless both are in close proximity to the wifi router (fine for the tablet but pointless for the Shield TV).  But for the tablet that would be fine but I think getting the Shield TV for streaming is a waste for streaming if both ends aren't hard wired.  If the SHield TV is hard wired you can at least get good Grid performance (theoretically) but local streaming is going to suffer, and while over wifi I can play games on my Shield Tablet perfectly, the shield tablet plays games at *much* lower resolution than the TV and to get good performance you will probably have to downscale the stream on your TV.  At that point you might as well just hook a Shield Tablet up to the TV unless you really want a $200 media server and android console.

I have heard people using the Logitech K400 successfully with the Shield TV, though the mouse acted kind of wierd.  I'm pretty sure on the tablet I have played using the controller's trackpad area to click on icons in the main sysem but it's been a while since I tried.  It's Android, which does have KB/M support so I don't see why it wouldn't work (I do intend to try it but right now all the games I am playing are controller based games).

[KallDrexx]

Steam's new refund policy is remarkably generous

One very interesting quote:

We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.

[Trippy]

Huh. Valve has enough money hats now?

[schild]

That's how the refund policy fucking should be.

[jakonovski]

It's no skin off Valve's back since customers probably tend to use money at a certain rate regardless of what's available and at what price. Also, it makes it easier to deal with the mountain of shit being released.

[Trippy]

Their old policy was so intentionally draconian, though, it's curious to me why they would do a complete 180.

[Rendakor]

What was their old policy?

[Trippy]

You might get a single refund, maybe, if you complain loudly enough but don't ever ask for another one again or we will ban your account -- for reals.

Edit: here was the official wording from Google cache:

Steam Refund Policy
As with most software products, unless required by local law, we do not offer refunds or exchanges on games, DLC or in-game items purchased on our website or through the Steam Client.  Please review Section 3 of the Steam Subscriber Agreement for more information.

[Rendakor]

 
This is certainly a drastic change.

[Ard]

it's curious to me why they would do a complete 180.

To sell mods.  That was like one of the top complaints in that firestorm.

[Trippy]

Ah yeah, that does make more sense.

[Kail]

it's curious to me why they would do a complete 180.

To sell mods.  That was like one of the top complaints in that firestorm.

Probably, but I also like to believe that it's at least in part due to the recent flood of scam titles, like where people are just buying and reselling Unity asset packs as games.

[Trippy]

It's probably cheaper for them to hire a few curators than to give refunds, though, if that was the issue.

[Lantyssa]

Maybe it's because of EU laws, and it's easier to treat everyone the same.  Maybe they also realized the good-will it engenders isn't worth the pittance they'll lose by refunding a few games.

[MahrinSkel]

I think it's likely that many people are operating with a fairly set budget set aside for their Steam habit, so they'll get the money anyway. Less uncertainty when taking a flyer on a game, and goodwill, should make up the difference.

--Dave

[Quinton]

Awesome change.  I've only ever (of nearly 200 assorted titles... ye gods I've bought too much shit on steam) wanted to return a game (it had some shitty third party DRM thing and was not clearly noted on the store page), but it really annoyed me that I could not.  Seems like a nice way to deal with possibly questionable early access and long tail titles that sometimes are massively disappointing.  If anything, I expect it will improve sales because people will be more willing to give something a try if they know they can get their money back if it's crap.

[Fordel]

Someone did some math and found out that automating refunds is now more cost effective then simply not having refunds.

[apocrypha]

The paid Skyrim mods fiasco pushed them too far into Renegade and they just wanted to get a few Paragon points back.

[Lucas]

"Divinity" series composer Kirill Pokrovsky has died:
http://www.pcgamer.com/divinity-composer-kirill-pokrovsky-has-died/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=156&v=-dStHe6h_Xg (performance itself starts at 2:30 with the Divine Divinity theme song. He was the composer for all the Divinity titles)
------

He has been ill for quite some time; infact, Larian had to recycle some of the songs from the previous titles (something that they would have done anyway, as far as I know) in order to complete the D:OS soundtrack.

Here's one I really like from D:OS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTVxjLlypk

[Falconeer]

Big maybe fake rumor about Dark Souls 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=109&v=dyRJ5u-L8qw

[Fabricated]

Chris Avellone has left Obsidian:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-06-09-chris-avellone-leaves-obsidian

[Bunk]

Their old policy was so intentionally draconian, though, it's curious to me why they would do a complete 180.

This could be interesting, I just reopened a ticket from several years ago. A friend gifted me a Sims 3 DLC I was never able to install, because I didn't buy the main game on steam. At the time I asked for the option of equivalent credit so I would at least be able to honor my friend's gift in some way. They denied me flat out. It's been sitting in my inventory for years.

We'll see what they say.

[Bunk]

So I had an urge to take a look at Elder Scrolls Online on my XBox. I knew it was a micro-transaction model, so I figured maybe they would be charging something reasonable for the base game. So I pull it up in the store:

$149.95   

Oh, ok, that's some special super platinum edition with game cash. I dig some more. I find a second $125 version, then the $99.95 version.
Each version seems to have various add-ons included, such as equipment or the Imperial Race, or the ability to be cross faction races. I see that they have those individual add-ons available in the store as well.
Looking at the add-ons: no option to buy them, bundled only. So if I buy the base game, and then want the Imperial race later, I have to buy the whole bundle?   

Sigh... How about just the plain old base game, with no frills:  $69.95

Yea, I heard it was shitty anyways. I don't need this crap.

[Paelos]

It's a cash grab. While I'm likely going to lose my bet that it folds before 2016, it won't last much past that. It's not a SWTOR.

[Falconeer]

M.U.L.E. Returns, on Steam Greenlight.

The game is 99.9% true to the original, except for the graphics and sounds which is sad but what can you do?


EDIT: Trailer added.

[Samwise]

I've never heard of the original, is it any good?

[Yegolev]

It's horseshit.

[Phildo]

It made no sense to me as a child, but it definitely has a cult following.

[Falconeer]

It's widely considered one of the best games ever made.

[Samwise]