Topic: PC Gaming

@RR529 WOW those are pricy but could be really cool.

Wild Hearts is looking like another high profile PC port dud. Really bad year for us so far. Fingers crossed Atomic Heart is our saviour, they had some very reasonable PC specs, so we'll have to see if this game is actually properly optimised when it finally comes around.

Sadly, despite Atomic Heart being seemingly the first well optimised PC port we got this year, as a game it looks like another clanger. Some of the stuff I've seen people talking about makes me wonder what the hell the devs were even thinking, and whether it is even working as it should. Even if it is working as intended, it is clearly pretty ***** and assuming it isn't baked in too deeply, I am crossing my fingers a massive rebalancing patch will be dropped post launch. Either way, I am glad this is on Gamepass. I feel like I can pretty safely give this a miss, and then later in the year if there is a more quiet stretch I can jump into this with really nothing to lose. Other than my own time.

Guys, please play pizza tower it’s amazing.

I would love to present to you guys 2 PC games that are absolute HIDDEN GEMS!

1. Kingdom Under Fire: War of Heroes - This RTS was forgotten and almost unplayable because it was a hell to install on a modern PC. I just found out that in December 2022 they released in STEAM! I really hope they make a GOG version as well!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183600/Kingdom_Under_Fire...

2. Rising Kingdoms - This is another wonderful 2D RTS game that looks hand drawn! It made my the studio that is responsible for Tzar: The burden of the Crown, Celtic Kings, Tropico, Victor Vran. This game is really close to me because the studio is Bulgarian and we do not have many game development studios here, except for some Ubisoft branches that focus on AA games. I also wait for a GOG version

https://store.steampowered.com/app/827050/Rising_Kingdoms/

I have lost many hours on those games, and I would love if more people knew about them

I'm a PC gamer now. Here's my lot.

FlatOut
FlatOut 2
FlatOut 3
FlatOut 4: Total Insanity
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
Grow Home
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (yes I did get the widescreen fix)
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Portal

As anyone who cross posts between here and Push Square has already heard me moaning about a lot since, after a hyper fixation on The Last of Us Parts 1 and 2 over the last several weeks, I have been wandering around lost ever since not sure what to play.

I grabbed Gamepass for PC again, tried a bunch of stuff, none of it clicked.

Then I remembered bought Red Dead 2 on PC ages ago (I played through it on release on PS4 and never since again). Maybe going into something like this after The Last of Us is not the best idea, but palette cleansers through contrast weren't working for me either, so going for maybe my third favourite character arc in a video game after Joel and Ellie's might tied me over until the new releases start picking up again.

The game looks, and runs, great on PC which I appreciate as I feel like 2023 has been like a two decade regression so far of brand new PC ports that all run like absolute *****, even when running a rig that costs as much as my down payment for my house.

Red Dead 2 already blew my mind on PS4 from a technical standpoint, now playing it in 4K 60ish fps at highish settings 'insert that guy saying OMG Wow' meme here.

Sadly, while it is technically great, it is one of many PC ports where the game clearly had a lot of care put into it on a controller, but the PC key bindings just seem to be shat out all over the place kinda randomly. You can rebind all your keys, but there are so many inputs in Red Dead 2 for some reason that require dedicated inputs, rather than just allowing you to overlap inputs. So like for example I got into a brawl and it wanted me to use like the F key to do punches and then some other key along the keyboard to block? Yeah, no thanks.

You could probably resolve some things by making a series of macros so you can bunch inputs together with modifiers like you could on a controller, but I find it annoying whenever a PC Port basically leaves it to the player to make it work on a keyboard and mouse.

I didn't want to switch over to a controller because I knew there was no gyro (or at least none in game, you can try and create a gyro scheme through Steam directly or 3rd party apps, but they are often not the easiest to set up and getting working in as a complete way as properly implemented gyro by the devs).

However, I also forgot that despite the game featuring a lot of shooting, the shooting in Red Dead 2 is sorta more of a quick time event where you just press a button to snap to a target and then click the shoot button to kill them. This isn't about precise headshots, or specific target weak point stuff, they have created a shooting system which has kinda removed the need for aiming entirely. Kinda weird, but it means I can just enjoy the game on a controller.

Enjoying on a controller also means I can be unshackled from my desk, throw the game onto my PC TV, jump into my recliner and play like a king, so winner all around.

Xbox/Bethesda's Starfield launches September 6th!
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/8/23500202/starfield-release-...
Special event on June 11th to cover more details...

Reminder to play pizza tower, GOTY instantly. not even pikmin can beat it for me.

I wish more people still played Star Wars Squadrons

@judaspete Oh man that was such a good game!

And... Call of Duty just dropped the 3 missing games onto Steam (Modern Warfare, Vanguard and one other), all of them on sale for $29.99 each. Not sure which of them support mouse gyro with analog and which don't.

Bout time. Man I hope this Microsoft deal goes through so we can get CoD on Switch 2 with gyro aiming. Who knows if that'll ever happen though with Sony on the prowl desperately trying to screw us out of getting it.

@RR529
Didn't see your post til now. I didn't know they were still making them and certainly didn't know they were glasses free. Without it working well for every game though, I doubt it'll ever catch on. Unfortunately.

The Spring Sale is upon us! Here are the games I’m looking at purchasing/ already purchased:

Ghost Trick preorder
Risk of Rain 2
Lil Gator Game
Axiom Verge 2
Spiderman Miles Morales

Well this machine looks mighty impressive. 2x as powerful, 1080P and 120Hz, it looks like the Steam Deck might have some hefty competition on its hands..

I just ordered a 2TB NVMe for my SteamDeck from AliExpress for $157.

Also ordered some disassembly tools such as a nice magnetic disassembly board with spudger and some other tools, a jig to hold the SteamDeck face down while working on it, and an offline NVMe to NVMe cloner from Sabrent. I know I can do it with my PC if I buy enclosures, or even my SteamDeck using Konsole in desktop mode, but eh... this'll make it way easier.

All in all, spent around $360. The drive, plus an extra hundred on disassembly stuff and another hundred on the cloner. Which doubled the expense, but I figure it's a nice investment so that, for the rest of my life, I have some nice tools for electronics disassembly and SSD cloning. And, even after ordering all that, it's still less expensive than buying a 1.5 TB micro SD like I got for my Switch- a $420 expense that would only increase total storage to 2 TB (of which 0.5 TB are SSD), whereas this $360 expense will result in total storage of 3 TB (of which 2 TB are SSD), and some nifty tools for future use.

SteamDeck Repair Jig

@Jalex__64
It'll be more expensive, and run Windows. Which also means worse battery life unless it's significantly heavier.

Many devices have offered more power than Deck, but they just can't compete because even more power isn't what Deck consumers want most. What they want most is ease of use and decent battery life. The SteamOS provides ease of use Windows just can't compete with, and the lighter OS means better battery efficiency. So Windows handhelds with 25% larger battery still see 25% less playtime before dying. And any attempt to match battery life with an extra large battery results in the weight jumping 200 grams more, and SteamDeck is already at the threshold of being considered too heavy for comfortable handheld play. 820 gram systems like OneXplayer2 are just too much, like lifting a dumbell.

People will gladly pay for more power, but only if it doesn't mean giving up those other advantages. Which... at this point pretty much rules out any Windows handheld full stop, unless they find a way to match battery life, weight and ease of use for the same price, which is doubtful at the present moment.

@Jalex__64 @JaxonH
Watching the LTT video on it it seems it's using the Zen 5 architecture which isn't out yet but is presumably significantly more power efficient. Not actual testing yet because it's still pre-production but ASUS was claiming 50% more performance within the same 15W power usage of the Deck. But with the option to flex a bit and go for 2X the power of the Deck if you want. They didn't reveal the battery capacity other than to say it "should be competitive with the Steam Deck". For weight it's 608g, so it's about 10% lighter than the Steam Deck

The windows bit is interesting. I mean I'm sure it probably will ship with Windows because it's almost surely not shipping with Steam OS. But it's also a portable gaming PC with an AMD CPU/GPU. I don't see any reason why you couldn't install Steam OS on it if you wanted. Also I'm sure it'll be much more expensive than the Deck given ASUS won't be selling it at a loss. Especially given it has potentially 2X the power, similar battery life and a 120Hz 1080p screen with VRR. But.... you're also getting all those things

I've said it on here before, I honestly feel like the Steam Deck is the shot in the arm the industry needed. Definitely an important product. But what I'm interested in is the segment not any particular device. When the 2nd, 3rd, 4th iterations of these products start coming out? That's when I'm jumping on board. As you said, I don't really want more power here. But smaller devices, more efficient SoCs, better screens? Sign me up

And this product from ASUS definitely looks like a step in the right direction

Holy Cow the Steam Deck is a BEEFY piece of machinery lol... It makes the Switch look absolutely thin by comparison!

@Colonel_Mustache when you think about it, the switch is actually a mobile chipset with active cooling, so there's no need for that much space. And then you have the steam deck, which is basically like cramming entire laptop components into that form factor xD

@Yannis Yeah that's true... and a beefy laptop at that lol... and it's nice to have games just play on it but I didn't expect it to be SO beefy... but it's still relatively light which is nice!

@skywake
Problem with installing SteamOS is, it doesn't have the shortcut buttons built into it. I watched a video on putting SteamOS on another handheld and it just didn't work as smoothly as Deck which was built for it. Any handheld I get with Windows, I'd just keep Windows on it, even though Windows really isn't ideal for a handheld. I hate how you have to set power management rules and stuff.

I guess we'll see when it releases.