The Gamers Arms

I have no difficulty with MTX in games as long as they have zero effect on gameplay. Elite and BF1 with purely cosmetic stuff doesn't get my goat up at all. In the case of the former I have spent further money to support a developer I enjoy. The latter didn't need any more money from me after paying for premium.

It's a choice.

I've totally lost interest in the latest games from the big publishers as they marked up the prices and doing dubious shit to the games. That and I stay away from anything from EA/Ubisoft/Microsoft needing another client to run the games.


But I have been engrossed in a lot of indie titles instead. There I don't mind that I paid say maybe £10 and found the game to be okay even with some nagging faults but I haven't spent 4 times that instead and left cursing about it.

Indies are really knocking out a lot of really good games that appeal to my sense in gaming and happy to snap them up.

Just gotten Project Warlord from GOG recently and enjoying it. Even if it has some weird performance issues but for £10 it's a steal

I'm wary about indy stuff, I don't really know why, it's probably a mash of little things. I suppose I dislike the general "theme" of a lot of them. They tend to be very graphically "90s" or older, top down sort of things.

I like stuff like Subnautica though which doesn't sacrifice good looks. I suppose that's not really an Indy title though.

No one is holding you to anything. I am playing Inside and loving it. I am classifying that as Indie even though others will not. I don't care.

Jez wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:31 pm

I'm wary about indy stuff, I don't really know why, it's probably a mash of little things. I suppose I dislike the general "theme" of a lot of them. They tend to be very graphically "90s" or older, top down sort of things.

I like stuff like Subnautica though which doesn't sacrifice good looks. I suppose that's not really an Indy title though.

I wasn't sure so I looked it up, but I would say Subnautica is definitely an indie reading this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnautica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_W ... ertainment

Interesting watch:



And a link to the BBC News article of a few days ago he references - number of underage children classed as having a gambling problem has quadrupled over the last two years to 50,000 in the UK (while 450,000 aged 11-16 are said to "bet regularly"), which is linked to the new prevalence of in-game and mobile gambling mechanics:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46286945

Shocking stuff.

Awful though that problem is, I'm glad to see that the UK is at least keeping an eye on gambling mechanics in games alongside "traditional" betting and the like. It's clearly something that needs more scrutiny, and you can't do that unless you have the figures.

Special bonus points to inXile, devs of Wasteland 2.

Started a replay recently, and on firing it up saw a click through in the main menu for "Red boots, $49.99"...

I enjoyed this when I played it on release, but for whatever reason I've not felt tempted to go back to it. I'd be interested to know if they sorted the endgame out a bit, was a bit buggy and felt a tad rushed when it first came out, but I understand patches may have improved that.

Snowy haha. I got the Red Boots as a backer in The Bards Tale VI

That's the FTC joining in debate about Lootboxes and gambling practices in games now.

So I should hope.

I saw something in the news recently from publishers saying they should self-regulate and not be legislated upon. I call BS on that, the utter lack of morals and scruples that they have shown in finding ways to wring money from their customer base is fucking disgusting, and self-regulation would always be the lowest common denominator they can get away with. Legislate the cunts!

The idea that any sector can be self regulating and not expect to be unscrupulous bastards is ridiculous. Oversight is needed because most companies would exploit everything they could just to make a bit more money regardless of the wider implications of their actions.

Interesting piece from Eurogamer on the growing prevalence of gambling within gaming; this time aimed pretty squarely at unlicensed casino websites picking up large numbers of viewers via Twitch.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018 ... f-children

It does seem to be getting a lot of streamers playing them as well but I've always felt there is some sort of strings/deals in the backgrounds for it.

Good grief.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018 ... ter-design

Dhalsim has little Capcom Pro Tour images on the skulls he wears as a necklace (those skulls, by the way, are those of village children that died during a plague, according to the Street Fighter wiki, which makes Capcom's decision to declare them ad space particularly grim).

I'm not a Street Fighter fan, in fact the most time I've spent playing with a Street Fighter character is Ryu in the new Smash Brothers, but it feels like turning characters with years of visual identity development into virtual billboards is spitting in the face of the series' fans. It would maybe be approaching acceptable if this were a free to play title, but it's a full-price game, and these ads were not part of that game when it launched meaning the ads have been forced upon paying customers without their consent. It's possible to turn them off, but doing so effectively halts your grind progression (itself apparently a major gripe with the game).