theheadofabroom

@rjejr well otherwise how do you know it isn't .org or .co.uk even .io, .tv, or whatever the latest TLD hotness is?

@knowles2 I'm not sure which people you're referring to. I certainly don't expect gamers to navigate it all, it should be irrelevant to the players, but I'm talking about it because there seems to be some interest at the moment.

When it comes to studios and developers, a game takes an incredible amount of time and effort to make, so yes it's reasonable to expect a bit of due diligence in picking the tools you use to do so and making sure that they'll be able to produce an acceptable compromise on your vision (no creative vision manifests uncompromised, reality always imposes itself one way or another) and that the end product will be financially viable.

In addition to the handful of engines mentioned here (Unreal, Unity, Godot, FNA, MonoGame) there are plenty of smaller projects which are working to indie studios like Construct (uses web technologies to make 2d games like Vampire Survivor), GameMaker, CryEngine, Lumberyard, Cocos, Marmalade, Panda3D, GameSalad, Phaser, Defold...

There's too many to evaluate them all individually for a given project, but there's enough out there to consider a few alternatives to Unity.

To me it looks like a ⅜ of an ipv6 address, but each segment could be up to 4 hex digits while these are all only 2, and the second is zero-padded, so it's certainly not that. The parts translate from hex to decimal as 255:6:181 which doesn't make anything any clearer.

@Cherip-the-Ripper as far a I'm aware, the only link between AnvilNext (the engine used for the AC franchise) and Unity is that AnvilNext was the engine used for the game called Assassin's Creed Unity, but that there's a load of confusion that's come from that.

AnvilNext is based on Anvil, which was called Scimitar until 2009. All of that time its been Ubisoft's engine.

@OmniHawk that's certainly the perception, but anyone who's worked with Unity will tell you of its many frustrating shortcomings. Unity's strength was in being a default option. That's something it has now lost. Some people will stick with it, but a lot of people are choosing alternatives for their next project and that's going to have an impact going forward.

@Powerplay94 there's been a lot of chatter going on in indie dev spheres about Godot, which is an open source alternative 3d engine, and also FNA or Monodevelop, which are both basically XNA but cross platform (FNA aims to be a strict reimplementation of XNA 4.0, but doesn't support Android or PlayStation. Monodevelop aims to be "what if development had continued after 4.0")

[Edit for more info:] XNA was the Microsoft framework all the indie darlings on the XBox 360 used, designed to be a lightweight .Net alternative to DirectX, and retained popularity until it was discontinued around 2013 because Microsoft were moving towards all the silly Metro App stuff they introduced with Windows 8.

@RainbowGazelle I think the confusion here is partly coming from naming. There's no such thing as the PS1, but the original PlayStation (released in 1994) is often referred to as the PS1 following the naming of the PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5. There's also no such thing as the PS1 slim, but some people, it seems including you, use that name to refer to the PSone (released in 2000).

Some people consider those to be the same console, while others don't, hence confusion, and hence why I've been very careful with my wording, so as to be understandable to people with either opinion.

@RainbowGazelle I sent a reply to both of you which I believe outlines all of this with the arguments either way. At some point the argument becomes one of semantics.

@stassinari @RainbowGazelle the first DualShock controller, as well as the Disk Analogue Controller (earlier, larger, no rumble outside Japan) were optional accessories for the original PlayStation, launched after the console's release, and the console came with the simpler controller lacking analogue sticks.

The relaunched PSone, which was the mini version released around the same time as the PS2, came with the Dualshock, and the difference between that and the Dualshock 2, which came with the PS2, is that the DS2 has analogue triggers.

Ape Escape required analogue sticks, on the same way that Will Sports 2 required the upgraded Wiimotes. The original PlayStation didn't come with a controller with analogue sticks, so from that perspective the original PlayStation's controller didn't have analogue sticks. The PSone did come with the Dualshock so you can say the PSone's controller did have them.

You can argue that because there were two controllers available for the original PlayStation which came with analogue sticks, that those were also its controllers, but given that they didn't come bundled with the console it's not really clear cut either way, and I'd say that no, they were add-on peripherals rather than an intrinsic part of the console's ecosystem, in the same way as the various bits of plastic Nintendo sold to go with the wiimotes (like the steering wheel, for instance)

I just finished the main campaign in The Witcher 3 and I'm playing Heavenly Bodies before I go back in for the DLC

@Maddie47 I'm not sure I agree with "almost always", but it seems to be pretty common. The controller that came with my launch PlayStation 5 developed drift after about 1800 hours of play, but was luckily within warranty, but it's also the only controller I've owned this millennium which has suffered from drift (some controllers in the 90's used to allow you to offset their deadzone with little sliders around the sticks), although it's with noting how small the deadzones are on the dualsense.

I've not put much wear on the RMA'd replacement as I bought myself a midnight black controller and relegated the white one to a spare which is paired with my phone for remote play, but the black controller now has well over 2000 hours on it and it's going strong.

I give it a big fat maybe. I bought the game second hand when the PS5 version released and was kinda disappointed. I'm not sure I see these changes making it not boring to me, but if I run out of other stuff I'm looking forward to then I'll probably give it a go

The best X according to Apple, and their fans, will always be the Apple X.

There's also a common expectation that the most expensive X is the best X, and Apple have that in the bag too.

@videoman190 the problem is that the CEO answers to the shareholders, and if he doesn't do what they want that can just replace him. A couple of the shareholders who were with IronSource happen to be mates with a certain billionaire who's been obsessed with running a particular social network into the ground, so you can guess how reasonable they are (there was also a story about a games industry union having their paid-for blue tick removed after speaking out against Unity, which was only resolved after they threatened legal action for Union busting)

This is such a meme that I'm sure it'll find commercial success, even if I feel like it shouldn't.

@belmont as modern 3d engines go, Unity has pretty much the lowest barriers to entry when it comes to getting something to work, but then there's a lot of pain points later in development when it turns out that advertised features don't work how you'd expect and you end up having to either integrate a load of 3rd party middleware or make those features yourself.

In terms of actually getting a project out of the door, in my experience, Unreal isn't actually much more complicated as long as you hold your nose and suck up writing C++, and tends to be easier to optimise well. Godot on the other hand is perhaps a little more complicated, but being open source you can change everything about the engine, right down to the nuts and bolts, and has no fees associated, instead relying on voluntary contributions to fund further development

@Martijn87 it's all about IronSource - the advertising platform they bought recently, but in doing so they gave its shareholders enough money to pay much perform a hostile takeover of Unity. On mobile they're waiving the install fees for anyone who integrates IronSource, which says it all, but then there's controversy over whether IronSource itself is malware.

I'm not sure why suggesting that colonialism was bad for Australia was an inappropriate comment? Feedback would be useful so I know what to avoid in the future?

Setting the beep to low seems like the best comprise. It's an indicator, but not one I have to hear across the other side of the house

The trailer feels like an overcorrection, trying to reassure people that there will be combat in the game.

I think this is going to be good, I'm just worried that it won't be a worthy sequel to the original Bloodlines game, which 20 years on is still one of my favourite games of all time. I probably play it again about once every other year

Price rises always suck, but I've got a lot more than £100 of value out of Extra in the past 12 months, so I'll stay subscribed when that's the price.

I just bought some clamps and some wood glue today and it set me back £53 - a year ago it would have been more like £45 because that's how prices are going everywhere. Games are about the best bang for your buck out of pretty much any hobby out there

@Futureshark what annoys me there is that yet again they focus entirely on bandwidth when latency is just as important.

Connecting from my phone to my PlayStation writing the same house I get single digit latency and things are great, but if I connect from elsewhere it's not uncommon to get 20-40ms ping with horrendous jitter which can make anything that's not entirely turn based essentially unplayable.

Continuing with The Witcher 3 which I'm enjoying, but I feel has been overhyped by the community, and if I'd played it first I would have had lower expectations for Cyberpunk

The quests are pretty engaging, but the movement controls are kinda bad and the cutscenes and dialogue are a little painful, I feel like I can definitely notice a small improvement in these areas for Cyberpunk even though that game was a fair bit behind the cutting edge due to engine limitations.

The RPG elements, meanwhile, feel like they get in the way rather than complementing the story and sidequests, and that's absolutely something that was carried forward to Cyberpunk, and it remains to be seen whether those areas are improved in the incoming patch

The only way I can really see this working is if it's a mini-sequel. The game itself doesn't need anything added.

Great to see. Just bracing myself for the influx of people moaning that games being accessible makes them feel like less of a special snowflake for managing to get the same set of trophies as tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of other people

@WhensDinner it's harder, but it's not unheard of and Sony certainly seem to have pulled it off. The number of hardware issues caused by liquid metal related failures is miniscule, and it gives great performance. I'd be more worried about vapour chambers honestly.

flashbacks to the terrible N64 game

@Ravix I was, I went on to the main quest-line and then next mission gave me 2 levels, which was then enough to easily clear the region's side content, just met Emyr so I'm guessing I'll have to do a bit in the next region before I clear the side content there too

@Ravix I think I'm just falling into the open world habit of "do all the things you can before continuing the main quest, in case any of it disappears"

Yesterday I started The Witcher 3, and ye gods the leveling is slow. I wondered why I was getting my arse kicked so much until I realised I was still level 1 and I was fighting groups of level 5+ enemies

@VRjunky unless you have twig-like wrists that's pretty hyperbolic, but I'll give you that it would definitely be nowhere near as effortless as the video shows. It could be fake but it could also be a retail dummy unit or similar

Look, a 1:8000 failure rate evidently means it's not worthwhile to improve the thermal performance /s

I've heard it's bearbare good

@kyleforrester87 hope you had fun, IMHO the first was the best and every game after added stuff which detracted from the so close to perfect core of a game they had there.

I'm going to dip into Dreams this weekend as we've got construction going on so I don't want to get into something of any substance with all the noise and disruption. After that I'm trying to decide between Ghost of Tsushima or The Witcher 3 which have both been mouldering on my backlog for some time.

I've been away overnight, but when I get home I'll probably be finishing off Sniper Elite 5, and contemplating whether to do it all again on Authentic to get the platinum

I came to this article to make a Star Wars joke and was dismayed to see that the author and another commenter had got there first

I can imagine Hutt Cracklings being particularly bad

After playing Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart and Sniper Elite 5 this week, I'm finally jumping into Horizon: Burning Shores

Am I the only person who thinks it should in fact be limited to two per household, so you can have a complete two-stick setup?

@rusty82 sounds like R&C is the winner then!

I'm currently in between games having just played through the excellent Forgotten City. Trying to decide between Ghost of Tsushima and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

It's great that this is finally coming out, but I really hope they provide deals on a matched pair, because on its own this isn't enough to play most games, and £160/$180 is a large amount to add on top of a £450 console for those who need it. (For reference £160 is about 1½ weeks worth of higher rate UK disability benefits, but given how said benefit is supposed to cover how much more expensive daily life is for disabled period, and many of us struggle to get by, it likely represents a significant period of saving)

Being disabled myself I'm lucky enough that my disability doesn't often physically stop me from using the Dualsense, but gaming is huge for quality of life when so much of the physical world is inaccessible, and it's something I'd hope more people can get access to through this.

Finally playing Kena: Bridge of Spirits and it's absolutely charming

As good an excuse as any to revisit Coteries of New York (originally played on Steam)

@wiiware I have no idea what the Cleopatra documentary you keep going on about is, and I also find it hilarious that you think living in a western country means I don't meet people from around the world on a regular basis, and that I haven't travelled.

You seem really het up about nothing but your own colourism, which while amusing, I'm going to leave you to it. Peace out

@wiiware my dude, that right there is what we might describe as an olive skin tone, which is common in people from the middle East. Just because people in America can also have that skin tone, doesn't mean people with that skin tone are American.

@wiiware I see you haven't met many Iranian folks

@wiiware looks like he could be from modern day Iran to me, which is where Persia was?!?