tomkatt
@tomkatt@lemmy.world
- Comment on You don’t realize how bad it smells till you quit 2 days ago:
Former smoker who switched to vaping 15 years ago (unflavored e-juice via liquid synthetic nicotine concentrate+ PG/VG)…
Nah, it’s fucking gross. I was exposed to many smokers from a young age, including close relatives and in enclosed spaces. Found myself addicted and craving cigs before I’d ever smoked one, even though I hated the smoke and the smell.
I smoked for a decade before switching to vaping, and don’t miss it at all. I don’t hate the nicotine, just burning stinky cigarettes, and to this day it makes me gag.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
Not sure what you mean by “if everyone follows Sony’s example. Sony is the one following, and DRM has been around since old PC games in the 80s.
Denuvo, easy anti-cheat, EA Play and Ubisoft’s platform with forced logins and online requirements, and plenty of other DRM methods have been around long before all this.
If you want to change it, you have to not buy from them entirely, not just do a short partial boycott. They only ever back down if there’s a major cost.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
Fair enough. I feel more than a week boycott will be needed if you actually want to enact change, but hope you folks can convince Sony.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight, I’ve been a PC gamer since fully abandoning consoles (outside of some now retro handhelds) in 2012. Just wanted to understand why this was such a big deal, as my gaming has been pretty much fully digital now for close to 15 years. I don’t even have anything in my home that could play DVDs or Blu-rays. But I’ll admit, my platform of choice isn’t proprietary (heck, these days I game fully on Linux).
Best of luck, and hope you can enact the change you want here.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
I don’t own the console, just remembered reading about it and was mistaken about the specific game. Looked it up, Doom: The Dark Ages only has 85 MB on the disc, and God of War: Ragnarok was digital code only in the case with no disc. Jedi Survivor is another one with a required day one patch.
My understanding is around 30% of PS5 games are not playable without patch updates. This is something that started way back in PS3 with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 IIRC, as that game was literally unplayable due to crashing without a day one patch.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
I feel like we have a misunderstanding. I don’t own a PS5, and sold all my consoles as of the PS3/Xb360 generation, sometime between 2010 and 2012. For ownership I can buy at GOG, or buy Steam games that don’t have DRM.
I’m not sure how this leads to Sony having a monopoly? Or how it changes it? If a game is only available on PS5, it’s only playable on PS5, with it without a disc. If it’s multi-platform the issue is moot either way.
I’m a big advocate of ownership. I strip DRM from my books, I have a NAS full of FLAC music I purchased rather than stream. I boycotted EA and bought nothing from them for nearly a decade when Madden became console exclusive, on principle.
It’s just… if you care about ownership, why play on a proprietary, locked down platform in the first place? And exactly how does a one week boycott resolve the issue? It just seems half-assed? Why not boycott altogether and/or change platforms?
And why just Sony? Nintendo is releasing carts that are literally just game codes for download. How is that different? The cart is essentially useless and conveys no ownership in that case either.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
Right, but because the full content isn’t on the disc, that happens anyway even with physical media, and all you’re left with is a fancy coaster for your drinks. That’s why I don’t really get the fervor over discs.
Like, IIRC the God of War reboot was an example. The disc only held a key and about 950 MB of data. The rest (like 40 or 60 GB) had to be downloaded from their servers.
Even having a physical disc you don’t” own “ the game in the way you describe. As I said, that’s pretty much been the case for many/most games since the 7th gen consoles (XB360 and PS3).
I should disclaim that I abandoned consoles in Gen 7, partly because of this stuff (and bandwidth throttling, walled ecosystem, etc.), and that was nearly 15 years ago. I just don’t get why the discs being removed is cause for anger when the disc has been materially useless for two console gens now.
- Comment on PSBLACKOUT (boycott of PlayStation) 3 days ago:
I gotta ask, why do people even care about this so much?
The games in most cases haven’t been fully contained on the discs since the PS2 era. With patches, updates, and required downloads to play, the disc itself is functionally useless in most cases.
Why is this such a big deal? Why is this the hill to die on and boycott over who knows how many other horrible things and business practices around?
- Comment on Three developers' different philosophies on difficulty for their games 3 days ago:
I meant rogue-lite. They’re technically different genres. Rogue-lites allow for permanent bonuses/boosts over time like the games I mentioned. Roguelikes do not (old school games like Rogue and Nethack, for example).
- Comment on Three developers' different philosophies on difficulty for their games 3 days ago:
Maybe, but that’s okay. Not every game needs to be for every player. I used to be very much into action heavy games, even did a big Nintendo Blockbuster tournament back when I was a kid and placed 4th regionally. And I was really big into the 2D fighting scene, particularly Street Fighter 3 and Guilty Gear series.
I’m in my 40s now, and I don’t really play those kinds of games much anymore. Action heavy games are fun from time to time, but they make my hands hurt. Also, I just don’t have the time to learn the meta, pokes, skills and strategies for fighting games anymore. And button mashing (like Mortal Kombat’s “test your might” sections) is right out. I don’t see the issue. Time marches on and we enjoy the things we can.
These days I’m more likely to play RPGs, indie, and retro games, with occasional dips into modern games, and while I still like fighting games, I’m more inclined to play ones that have a single player campaign and lower skill ceiling, like Soul Calibur 6. Anything with tons of button mashing or joystick waggling for range setting will have my hands hurting over time if I keep at it.
- Comment on Three developers' different philosophies on difficulty for their games 3 days ago:
Balatro is one of the best examples of this. The game naturally gets easier as the player learns its systems and gains experience through playing.
Isn’t this the case for most Roguelites? It’s not even necessarily player skill, so much as unlocking permanent upgrades (Jokers in Balatro, abilities/cards in Across the Obelisk or Slay the Spire, stat boosts and weapon modifiers in Hades, etc.).
- Comment on Three developers' different philosophies on difficulty for their games 3 days ago:
The “but I don’t have much time” argument feels especially weird, like would you demand a cliff notes version of a book or TV show because you don’t have the time otherwise?
Sweet Summer child…
Yes, there are dummies like that.
- Comment on Video gaming 2 weeks ago:
You… you do realize we were handheld gaming long before the Switch, right? Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Nomad, GBA, NDS, 3DS, plus emulation handhelds have been around since the early 2010s, and I’ve personally been gaming with 7" and 8" tablets with telescopic controllers since 2013.
How exactly do all current handhelds owe their success to the Switch?
- Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2026 Has Begun 5 weeks ago:
Sales are looking really mid again. I skipped the Winter and Spring sales entirely.
I picked up God Of War: Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2 because the current sales are the lowest I’ve seen them. More than I usually pay for games but I know I’ll enjoy them.
Besides that I picked up a few cheap DLCs for games I play or will play in the near future.
- Comment on What is your favourite gaming console you have played? 5 weeks ago:
I couldn’t possibly choose. To this day I still get a lot of mileage out of the SNES, Genesis, PS1, PS2, GBA, and Nintendo DS libraries.
- Comment on 5 weeks ago:
It’s funny you blame competitive gamers who don’t understand what they’re doing, yet don’t seem to know how any of this works.
Higher refresh rates reduce frame timing, reducing both visual and input latency. It’s why a game at 30 fps often “feels” laggy compared to one at 60 or 120 fps. Even if you can’t see the increased frame rate you can certainly feel input latency. It’s also why “fake frames” from things like optiscaler or FSR/DLSS don’t help when already at low frame rates, they actually increase latency, which is already bad when your frame times are higher.
I’m not into competitive gaming at all, btw, just sensitive to (and annoyed by) input lag.
- Comment on 5 weeks ago:
Yeah, wtf. I have a cheap (or was cheap at the time) LG 1440p ultrawide, nothing fancy, and it can do up to 165 Hz.
- Comment on 5 weeks ago:
Even a 6600XT is so overkill
I game on a 1440p ultrawide monitor at my desk, and a 4k TV (though I don’t actually game at 4k). I upgraded from a 6700XT to a RX 9070 after Expedition 33 ran like shit and couldn’t run constant 60 fps on high settings even when dropped to 1080p with FSR. A 6600XT is hardly overkill.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Gotcha. The 4000D is easy to build in and very roomy. It’s also got great airflow on the mesh front variant.
I had it running a server for a while, it’s currently in my closet and planned as my case whenever I eventually upgrade. I currently use a HAF XB Evo it feels like I’ve outgrown, but unless I’m actually changing parts I don’t feel like messing with it.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Why not? The 4000D is solid.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Heh. I used to have a dedicated PC for couch gaming (separate from my desktop gaming rig, and separate from my desktop mini-PC). My desk is closer to the TV now and I consolidated down to one gaming PC. Maintaining two gaming systems (three counting my wife’s rig) was just really expensive. The desktop system used to get the couch machine’s hand-me-downs for GPU and stuff, but I’m happier just running one system now.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Use a PSU calculator for the parts you’re selecting. Power supplies are rated to always provide consistent load of at least 80% of rated spec, so aim for a PSU with at least 20% overhead. So if the system uses 600w peak, you’ll want a 720w PSU or better.
In general, an 800w PSU is generally more than enough for most systems, unless you’re buying really power hungry parts (think Nvidia 5080 or 5090 and the highest end Intel chips or AMD threadrippers).
If in doubt, just buy a bigger PSU than you need, like 1000w. Always better to have more than you need, it only uses what the system requires, it’s not like it’s always actually going to draw that 1kw power.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Yeah, I’m fully aware. Did I not say I built it out before the current silicon panic?
The build was rolling as I didn’t get all the parts at once. It was mostly from late 2022 and 2023, but I upgraded my RAM from 16 GB (2x8) to 32 GB (4x8) in 2024, and upgraded my GPU in 2025.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Thermaltake makes good stuff.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
I literally spec’d out a much more powerful system in another comment here for around $950.
It’s only equivalent if you absolutely need a micro/mini PC.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Maybe should, but it doesn’t. Current kernel is 6.16 as of the SteamOS update 3.8 last week. Endeavour is up to 7.0.12. SteamOS is always a few versions behind.
- Comment on Tru 5 weeks ago:
I just use all my credit cards for the points rewards and to track spending (I have different cards for different things, like one for gas and groceries, one for revolving subscriptions, one for general spending online).
I pay them off in full weekly, and the rewards are essentially free money. Plus, this protects my bank account (actual money) and helps easily spot if there’s any fraud.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
Good point. Though personally I prefer running EndeavourOS, I like having an up-to-date kernel and mesa improvements.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
I couldn’t squeeze in the 9060 XT (specifically the 16 GB variant) for under $1k, though if you went with the used parts I mentioned and the cheaper case it should fit the budget.
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
For $1k you could do quite better than the Steam Machine. Just spec’d out a build on Amazon with AM4 and you’ve got options:
- $55 - 700w PSU
- $90 - Corsair 4000D case (I have one of these, good airflow and easy build space
- $130 - Cheap 1 TB SSD (went with Timetec, apparently Fikwot is okay too, seems to be a SSD parts manufacturer that started selling direct)
- $85 - B550 ATX mobo
- $130 - G.Skill 16 GB DDR4 3200
- $175 - Ryzen 5 5600 XT OR Ryzen 7 5700 (5600 is faster but 6c/12t, 5700 lower core speed, but 8c/16t. I have a 5600x, no complaints)
- $279 or $290 - RX 7600 GPU, or RTX 5050 (up to preference. The 7600 is generally comparable or slightly better overall, but you will see much better with it on Linux. On Windows the 5050 might be the better choice)
Total cost: About $950, which leaves a bit of overhead to get a cheap cooler for the CPU (optional since it comes with one), and/or additional case fan(s).
- Comment on Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open 5 weeks ago:
I got lucky I think. Bought two Sapphire Pulse RX 9070s last year for myself and my wife’s rig, close to or below MSRP. Mine was $600, wife’s was $540. We had 6700XTs previously, only reason we upgraded was because I was having issues with performance on E33. We plan to pick up Solasta II when it drops which is also UE5, and had some existing games with a bit of performance drop (like 40k: Rogue Trader) so decided the upgrade was warranted.
We’re both gaming on Linux, so the performance and stability with AMD was preferred, no question.