5 years ago I would’ve called you insane, but with everything happening right now… it’s a distinct possibility.

RAM’s unaffordable, GPU’s will likely be harder to come by and more expensive. Microsoft is actively driving people away from Windows, Steam is launching their Steam Machine…

Here’s hoping many gamers will jump to Linux and grow that platform instead. But even then, too expensive hardware will be an issue.

We’re living in interesting times.

That doesn’t feel too surprising. There’s nothing really new to buy in terms of hardware; likely everyone who wanted a specific console now has one. And others like myself are waiting: I want a Switch 2 OLED, but that’s not available yet.

And there’s also the fact that many game releases now suck, with no real must-have titles for console to boost sales right now. And new physical titles are expensive.

It’s just a dip caused by a combination of factors. If GTA VI releases next november, the chart is going to look like a rocket taking off.

Well, that’d mean missing out on some really cool stuff.

Games like Vampire Survivors and Stardew Valley were made by a solo developer. A couple thousand bucks is a LOT of money for some people. I’d hate to have missed out on either of those.

We certainly do need some quality control, but I don’t think the financial route is the way to go.

Hey, you and me both; sweet and salty is an excellent combination. But some people have not yet seen the light and the glory that is pineapple on pizza. Goddamn heathens.

No doubt the thing had some no-no thoughts. Probably regarding the acceptability of pineapple on pizza, or the total extinction of the human race. Either way, good on them for pulling the plug, I guess.

To be clear, I’m not ‘not adopting’ - I’m actively boycotting that shit. The whole TOM thing was annoying enough, but everything else surrounding it has proven to me that Microsoft cannot be trusted with that level of access to MY hardware.

So yeah, I’m going to put Linux on my PC and ultimately back to Mac full time, I imagine.

I believe the French had a nice invention for that. And it’s not the ‘pain au chocolat’…

Huh, I didn’t know that. I would’ve guessed they’d use some open source alternative.

There’s people who use that? That’s news to me.

As an avid gamer, it’s ANNOYING AS FUCK.

When a new game is out, I want to know about bugs and performance, not whether or not the writing is ‘woke’, what characters are LGBTQ or how somehow any other aspect of it is related to this culture war. Fuck off with that far right bullshit.

Gaming forums should be about games. Leave politics and other bullshit out of it.

These days I just look at YouTube reviews and skip Steam’s comment section for at least a month after launch.

That was a very interesting read!

Did the accident also reset your personal preferences and dislikes? I.e change your favorite color, the way you dressed or foods you liked/disliked beforehand?

A lot of preferences I have are often based on years of habits. I find it very difficult to break them because of that.

Did their parents drop them on their heads as kids? Because there has to be something seriously wrong with them if they think that’s the way to go.

A 60 dollar buy is a VERY hard sell. And a 15 dollar subscription is a completely no-go. Or rather, ANY subscription.

Whoever came up with that is seriously detached from any form of reality.

Microsoft is going the way of Boeing; trade in the actual people who know how to build a good product (the engineers/seasoned developers) and replace them with management fuckwits.

Case in point the recent update to Windows 11, which outright bricked a whole bunch of PC’s - again.

And just look how they’re handling the forced move to Windows 11. Well, fuck’em. I’m going to Linux. Windows is dead.

Not exactly surprising, considering the TV’s and monitors are outpacing the contemt creators and gaming development.

A lot of gamers don’t even have GPU’s that can crank out 4K at the frame rates most monitors are capable of. So 8K won’t do much for you. And movies and regular TV? Man, I’m happy there’s 4K available.

A 4K screen will be more than most folks need right now, so buying an 8K at the moment is just wasted money. Like buying a Ferrari and only ever driving 25 mph.

Yep. As a child of the ‘80’s, life was definitely like that for the most part.

A lot of it comes down to both smartphones and the loss of ‘third spaces’ in general. I read an article in Newsweek this morning about an MIT study that analysed footage from between 1978 and 1980 and compared those same spaces today.

It shows people are now walking faster and not hanging in groups as much. There’s less eye contact and less engagement in general.

As stereotypical as it sounds, hanging out with your friends at the mall was just what you did. We spent hours just hanging around game stores and such. It connected you with people you knew and people you didn’t. Hang out with someone in the mall for 30 minutes and you’re now friends.

The current generation is a lot different. There’s no real physical, organic hangout. And when there is, it’s now more often seen as a nuisance rather than an integral part of the social fabric.

I definitely feel like the author of that article posted here missed the mark. The 80’s were definitely radically different from today.

God yes. I absolutely LOVE a well written manual.

Even if you THINK you know how a thing works, it’s always good to find out the quirks and gotchas, not to mention functionality that might not be obvious at first glance.

In fact, I read the manuals before buying an item or piece of software. They tend to be much more enlightening about a product’s limitations than the marketing material is.

Conversely, it really annoys the fuck out of me when people come on forums and ask a really basic question that’s answered on page 2 of the manual. It shows that someone is incredibly lazy and incapable of basic problem solving. And they have the audacity to get offended when you tell them it’s covered in the manual.

Actually reading things is turning into a lost art form, judging by some people… Like that guy.

If I can’t get my PC on 11 without hassle, I’m likely to switch to Linux anyway. I’ve beenhearing great things about Linux Mint for gaming. And I’ve owned a Steam Deck since release, so gaming on a Linux system really doesn’t scare me anymore.

And with the current trend of people wanting to take a but more control back from big tech, Microsoft very well might permanently lose customers to Linux. And once they make that switch, they’re not likely to switch back.

The issue isn’t so much about the actual OS change, as it is about their dumb forced requirement of a TPM. A lot of perfectly fine PC’s don’t have one or don’t have it enabled, as it can cause headaches. If they dropped that requirement, a lot fewer people would care about the switch.

I’ve got an ROG B550E motherboard in my PC, built in July 2021. It’s perfectly fine, perfectly capable. Big ‘ole 3090 in it, plenty of ram… I have zero need to upgrade right now.

It has a firmware TPM option, but that involves doing stuff like updating the bios, configuring some stuff and runs the risk of potentially breaking something. Now, I’m willing to give that a go if push comes to shove, but your average consumer just doesn’t want to deal with that hassle.

Which means that a lot of folks are going to be running an unsupported OS or buying new PC’s when the old ones are still more than capable. You can guess what I think will happen…

Well… the satanists I’ve met definitely seemed like a Linux crowd, so it’s not the worst suggestion prior to sacrificing a goat or something of that nature.