Seconding this. Steam Deck has completely taken over for me.
When PC games are too demanding, I stream them from my PC with Moonlight/Apollo. I even use Chiaki and some other app I can't think of to stream Xbox and PS5 games to it, lol.
Grim.
Can someone explain to me why VR has such a distinct smell
Yeah, what convinced me to finally sit down and watch it was seeing how highly reviewed Bone Temple was.
Now having seen 28 Years, I'm soooooooo intrigued to see where it goes.
Praying that its box office performance doesn't result in Sony cancelling the third one, though 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
If I ever get infected I 100000% wanna be one of these crawlin, worm-suckin big boys
Finally watches 28 Years Later. Had held off because it was so divisive, but I ended up enjoying it a lot -- especially because it's such a fever dream that takes some wild risks. I get why some people bounced off, though.
Really excited to watch Bone Temple next.
But if we truly live in the darkest timeline, the hardware shortages will cause a slow but tectonic shift toward streaming/cloud-basef platforms where you don't own the hardware but instead pay to stream from a data center.
That'd truly be dystopian though.
Haha, oof! Now the big can of worms, eh?
Well, 6 months ago I wouldve has a totally different answer. But the RAM shortages caused by AI is very concerning, imo.
I think, eventually, consoles as we think of them will fade away as PCs continue to become more accessible/casual-friendly.
Totally. I also still love FF14 (even if becoming a dad means I might never actually play it again, lol)!!
But even you saying that raises a whole can of worms discussion about what MMO gameplay even is, y'know?
Hard agreeee.
The other thing I think a out is, like, what do MMOs even offer now?
When you see games like Arc Raiders being so lively and social, it just feels the value proposition of MMOs has been the victim of an Oceans 11-style heist.
That said, there are always exceptions. Smaller, budget-friendly MMOs like Project Gorgon or Foxhole can thrive.
And China is a dark horse in this race because the economics that make MMO development impossible in the west can change dramatically in Asia.
So, yeah. It's complicated 😂
The problem is the same that a lot of AAA games are feeling now, too.
It's unsustainable.
How can a new MMO realistically compete against every other MMO with a decade headstart? Does the "Massively" even mean anything when 99% of those players are basically just ghosts you'll never talk to?
I think I saw the writing on the wall at the time, a bit.
And, to be clear, what I'm trying to say is that new MMOs face a nigh-impossible climb to sustainability, in part because of WoW, FF14, ESO, etc.
So it's not that ALL MMOs are doomed, but I think the MMO landscape is almost inhospitable.
Yeah, totally. I more mean like, MMOs as a species, is (mostly) dead.
What we have left are titans that will probably outlive us all.
But I think there's a cool conversation about whether MMOs even have a value proposition anymore as compared to, like, Arc Raiders or other social-heavy MP games.
I couldn't resist being dramatic, sorry. What I meant to say is that MMOs are dead*
*Unless your MMO business is intentionally designed to be sustainable by a small community and you have really solid production pipelines.
Then you can have
~ Modest Success ~
MMOs are dead! The genre is fundamentally unviable. There's almost zero business case for them. And the only trad MMOs succeeding do so on inertia and sunk cost fallacies.
The rest are doomed to be, at best, the MMO du jour until the next thing inevitably comes along and retention collapses.
That said, I have little sympathy for people who paid and are now pissed.
If you're going to spend on crowdfunding campaigns that promise the moon, go for it. But raging after you get burned is like getting mad that a slot machine didn't give you a jackpot. It's gambling. Simple as.
In part, Intrepid proved my skepticism wrong. They built a game that managed to get to Early Access!
But, at the same time, saying you could build an MMO of this scale for a mere $30m was borderline foolish.
...
Not having paid much attention to it since I left journalism (but having read all the latest), my instinct is to just feel sad for everyone involved. The players AND the devs.
I'm not saying "told you so" because my reporting at the time was heavily anchored in it barely having playable software...
A moment of silent prayer for all those who have to watch a movie with their family on a TV that has motion smoothing enabled...
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I've been a big fan of EVERSPACE 2 since it launched in Early Access all those years ago, so being able to bundle it with Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a big treat.
And with both games discounted during the Steam Winter Sale, I'm excited for all the new players that'll get to play such awesome games!
Okay thanks! I'm keen to play it and might just start fresh because that game is such a fun trip, anyway.
Oh okay! Yeah I 90%ed the campaign back at launch and wasn't sure because I saw a bunch of stuff about how the DLC is best experienced from the start of a new game... Any thoughts on that?
Did you start a whole new game for the DLC or fold it into an existing playthrough?
It wasn't framed as a question but I had a friend who thought my job was to make posters for games.
That was the depth of his knowledge about game marketing, I guess.
Just shovelled a foot of snow off the walks which, coincidentally, was the last quest I needed to complete my Seasonal Depression battle pass!
ICYMI #AmbrosiaSky🪐 - ACT ONE from our friends at @softrains.bsky.social just launched last week, with @bbigames.bsky.social lending a hand here & there!
ICYMI ✨ Ambrosia Sky: Act One is now available!
Don't miss out on the launch week discount (15%!) or pick up the soundtrack at the same time for a bigger discount. (20%!)
For more info on our launch: store.steampowered.com/news/app/358...
We are spinning up our final guested segment of the evening, with @stevenmessner.bsky.social from @bbigames.bsky.social!
I (Colin) am playing Hardspace: Shipbreaker for the first time??? Let's do this!
Catch the stream here: twitch.tv/softrainsgames
Donate here: tiny.cc/sr-extralife2025
Good sunset
