Good to know. We’ll get right on it. Just like we did with climate change when scientists noted an increase in carbon dioxide could be contributing to a warmer global temperature 90 years ago.

I just finished playing Horizon: Zero Dawn for the second time and it was way more engaging than I remember it being back in 2017. Apparently a lot of reviews ragged on it for “not being Breath of the Wild” which is a lame thing to complain about, even if the game came out at the same time, and they share a lot of thematic elements (like heavily focusing on archery, fighting ancient machines, exploring a beautiful world, etc.).

But it’s a very different game, very narrative heavy, very beautiful, and very well-optimized on PC. The combat is very focused and fun in a good way.

Shooting out a window sucks everyone in the vicinity out

This looks like it would be fun if it’s all about the goofy physics, and the levels are structured to support it. If the squirrel doesn’t have a chance to be launched backwards and fly off of its perch at every trigger pull then it’s a missed opportunity. And couch multiplayer would be extremely fun with this game since it would be so chaotic. Multiple squirrels getting yeeted by recoil while trying to hit each other sounds hilarious

I would love to relay some of my positive experiences with Rainbow 6: Siege’s reputation system to him… if he didn’t just prompt for input on Xitter…

Gotcha, well there are still weekly challenges accessible through Uplay which reward you with renown (like 250 per challenge, which isn’t a lot and it’s Uplay, but it’s something). I don’t think there’s any tie between the reputation system and renown.

I do know that if you have multiple matches in a row where teammates commend you, you get on a commendation streak for which other players on your team can see an indicator so they know you’ve been a helpful or at least enjoyable teammate, and that streak also grants you a +1.0% bonus to your chances of getting an alpha pack if you win a match while on the streak. Furthermore, there are 5 reputation ranks: Dishonorable, Disruptive, Respectable, Esteemed, and Exemplary. Esteemed and Exemplary players should soon start getting more rewards like regular alpha pack drops and possibly more. Dishonorable players are already locked out of the ranked playlist.

My experience so far has not been that you are punished for trash talk, unless you’re just being an absolute dick and/or bigot, and players are not more “fake friendly” now, but instead are less toxic and less likely to rage over the mic/text chat and are also more likely to try to be helpful with callouts and planning strats for the next round. To me, that’s an all-around great change. I’m not sure if my experience alone is worth much, but I believe I have 300-500 hours in the game from the last few years alone so I would like to think I have at least some sense of the trend in the community.

I’m confused. What “weekly Renown grind” are you talking about? And no, you don’t get Renown for having a good reputation. But yes, rewarding players for being friendly is absolutely a good thing.

Rainbow 6: Siege has been making massive strides in the realm of reducing community toxicity. The player reputation system lets players report toxic players, griefers, and cheaters which lowers their reputation. At the end of each match, players can commend their teammates (and the entire other team) for specific positive characteristics. Players with low reputations get sanctions, and players with high reputations receive bonuses that increase chances for in-game rewards, and occasionally receive thank-you gifts for being positive influences in the community, like alpha packs (loot crates). It’s a solid system and I immediately noticed not just a decrease in toxicity but an increase in positivity when these systems were implemented.

In theory, you could start match people with low reputations together, and people with high reputations together.

With a Dock and my Steam Controller it’s a fantastic media PC.

“Live Service? Oh it never works. I mean, these people delude themselves into thinking it might but…

it might work for us…” -WB, after watching WB’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League tank

You’re the best. You didn’t need to dig this up but this 100% solved my problem.

I used my desktop and micro-USB cable to update the SController firmware, re-paired to the Deck using the Steam+B pairing mode, and now it wakes the Deck from sleep.

Thank you so much!

I think my favorite aspect(s) about DOOM is that all of the games are good, they are all worth playing, and they are all representative of the peak of 3D technology from their respective release eras.

Aside from that, every DOOM short of DOOM 3 satisfies my primal need to violently, quickly, adeptly slaughter demons (which has needed far more satisfaction in recent years for some odd reason). I recently finished a nightmare DOOM 2016 playthrough and loved every minute beginning to end, yet again. I’m now in the depths of a nightmare DOOM Eternal playthrough and I can’t get over how addicting the game is. You CANNOT beat the game without engaging with every single one of the combat mechanics, but it’s up to you, your skills, and your digital (read: finger) dexterity to determine when and how you do that. It’s nothing but flawless game design, gorgeous visuals, technical mastery, and some of the best instrumental heavy metal there is.

I think I need to update the firmware on mine. I was disappointed to see there was no option in the controller settings of the Deck even when I plugged it in using a micro USB cable through my dock.

How do you know this? Is there a list of supported devices somewhere? I’m struggling to find it on Valve’s website.

In other news: Video Game publishers are grossly out of touch with what people actually enjoy about specific games.

Battlefield was consistently fun because it made you feel like a small part of a massive team in a large-scale conflict.

Battle Royale stands almost opposite to that principle since you’re fighting alone, or in a tiny group, against everyone else.

EA wants a F2P BR game, fine, but they already have one of the best in Apex Legends. The fact that they want to slap the name “Battlefield” on one shows that they have no idea what that name means to people.

Okay, I don’t think I was trying to convince anyone. I’m not on Apple’s side here, but I don’t see how less governmental regulation could possibly be worse for Apple.

I agree it’s a minor irritation by most standards, but when all that’s on the line is making jokes about someone based on their choice of phone there’s no reason not to pressure someone else. As to sources, I see it happen all the time. I used to be the one who upset people, then I bought an iPhone and almost everyone I texted got really excited to see the color of our chat change. I’ve also seen countless memes about green chat bubbles and people ruining group chats because of their Androids. I’m not sure you’re going to get much more reliable sources than anecdotal ones for something like this.

It is a major point of social pressure. People get legitimately upset when they start a group chat and realize one of the members doesn’t have an iPhone. That absolutely makes it valuable to Apple

Did you just say Apple would try to prevent their users from switching to iMessage? Apple knows iMessage is a massive selling point for iPhones which is the reason Apple is so afraid of opening iMessage up to begin with.

I’m sure the rule would be different. My point was mostly to say this is in no way bad for Apple