DLSS (or FSR/XeSS for that matter) isn’t a magic bullet. I’d say the “Quality” setting (67 % per axis) is acceptable for some games if the output resolution is at least 2560x1440 (so it renders at like 1715x960), but even then it’s very noticeable if you ask me. At even lower internal resolutions, it’s getting a lot worse quickly.
It’s a nice way to get games running that wouldn’t otherwise run with an acceptable frame rate, but not much more.
Exactly. Apple probably simply gives it out to the highest bidder, so if Google didn’t pay, Microsoft would likely get the deal instead. And sure, some people would still switch to Google in the settings (more so than the other way around), but most people don’t care as long as search results are “good enough” (which for some people simply means showing youtube.com in the results because they search for “youtube” instead of going directly to “youtube.com”).
Do they store 32-bit integers as 16-bit internally or how does macOS magically only use half the RAM? Hint: it doesn’t.
Even if macOS was more lightweight than Windows - which might well be true will all the bs processes running in Windows 11 especially - third party multiplatform apps will use similar amounts of memory no matter the platform they run on. Even for simple use cases, 8 GB is on the limit (though it’ll likely still be fine) as Electron apps tend to eat RAM for breakfast. Love it or hate it Apple, people often (need to) use these memory-hogging apps like Teams or even Spotify, they are not native Swift apps.
I love my M1 Max MacBook Pro, but fuck right off with that bullshit, it’s straight up lying.
My 32/16 bit integer example was just that: an example where one was half the size as the other. Take 128/64 or whatever, doesn’t matter as it doesn’t work like that (which was my point).
Software written in non-GC based languages runs on other operating systems as well.
I used MS Teams as an example, but it’s hardly an exception when it comes to Electron/WebView/CEF apps. You have Spotify running, maybe a password manager (even 1Password uses Electron for its GUI nowadays), and don’t forget about all the web apps you have open in the browser, like maybe GMail and some Google Docs spreadsheet.
And sure, Macs have fast flash memory, but so do PC notebooks in this price range. A 990 Pro also doesn’t set you back $400 per terabyte, but more like … $80, if even that. A fifth. Not sure where you got that they are so fast it’s hard to measure.
There are tests out there that clearly show why 8 GB are a complete joke on a $1600 machine.
So no, I still don’t buy it. I use a desktop Windows/Linux machine and a MacBook Pro (M1 Max) and the same workflows tend to use very similar amounts of memory (what a surprise /s).
We’ll see how it turns out, but I don’t see myself grabbing/playing this game.
GTA V was good for the time I guess, but to be honest for me the single player was just okay, and while I enjoyed some multiplayer sessions with some friends (heists and other activities were kind of cool), many other sessions were ruined by hacked lobbies and whatnot. They need to have dedicated servers to host the lobbies to get cheaters somewhat under control, but I don’t see that happening as that would cost money.
Snagged a hybrid role in commercial lending and my old Das Keyboard I was using at home had some broken switches (including the numpad + which I need frequently). Used some of my cashed out vacation time from leaving my old job to make the upgrade....
Nothing wrong with a full-size keyboard, but “mini keyboards” didn’t really target “gamers” at all at first. Most of the OG 60% keyboards like the KNC Poker weren’t marketed towards gamers, and most still aren’t (though they certainly work well for gaming use).
Not sure how they are “useless”, you can be as productive or more productive compared to a full-size keyboard if it suits you.
I started a second (and third) run of Baldur’s Gate 3 (4 and 3 Player group respectively), one as a barbarian and on as a bard. It’s definitely my favorite game in recent memory, it might even be one of my favorite games or single most favorite game ever.
Besides that, Mario Wonder has also been great, although I didn’t play a lot of it yet. I did finally get a (used) Switch for that game though, so I’m definitely intending to play through this game at least once.
I rarely replay games, but this is one I fully intend to replay with a different/bigger party (currently playing with one friend, but I’m gonna get two more to buy the game for the next run), a different class (currently playing cleric, thinking about barbarian or bard) and on the highest difficulty.
I think you technically miss quite a lot of content as some choices make other things impossible to pursue. I also take it as it comes, by that I mean I don’t reload save states because I failed a dice throw or made mistakes.
If by “geometry stretching” they mean polygons being rendered all over the place, that being fixed means Vulkan should be the better choice in most cases now.
I hope they optimize performance in act 3 though. The amount of NPCs and stuff going on in the world causes severe frame drops, even with my 7950X3D.
It’s not about unlocking everything for me. Even with a second playthrough you’re probably far from seeing everything. Sure, the main storyline somewhat repeats itself, but there are multiple companion side stories and all kinds of other stuff you can stumble upon by accident that you then incorporate into your playthrough.
This is probably one of the best games for you to just enjoy, because you can still continue when failing something (unless your party is completely wiped, but fights aren’t really that hard in easy and normal difficulties). It’s a pretty personalized experience.
Yeah, I call complete bs. Should they ever get a large amount (majority) of marketshare with the Xbox brand, they’ll absolutely do that.
Microsoft is gonna Microsoft. Just look how they abuse their Windows marketshare to try and shove Microsoft Edge down your throat. The latest trick I encountered at work was that Outlook now has its own setting for which browser to open links in, it doesn’t respect the OS default browser anymore by default.
A new Nintendo Switch 2 rumor has surfaced claiming that the next-generation hybrid console could actually arrive with more memory than a powerful rival like the Microsoft Xbox Series S. The same source has also offered an update in regard to the Switch 2’s potential DLSS support and ray-tracing capabilities.
While everything is crackable, if it’s anything like Denuvo DRM for PC, it can take weeks or months on a per-game basis until cracked ROMs of games become available.
Not many people actively crack games utilizing Denuvo DRM, and some year-old games are still uncracked.
It depends on the type of game for me. For (competitive) multiplayer games, I don’t really care much. As long as it looks coherent and artistically well done, I’m fine with it.
For single player games, especially story-based games, I like when there’s a lot of emphasis on graphical fidelity. Take The Last of Us: Part II for example. To me, especially in the (real-time) cutscenes, the seemingly great synergy between artists and engine developers really pays off. You can visually see how a character feels, emotions and tensions come across so well. Keep in mind they managed to do this on aging PS4 hardware. They didn’t do anything revolutionary per se with this game in terms of graphical fidelity (no fancy RT or whatever), but they just combined everything so well. Now, would I have enjoyed the game if it looked significantly worse? Probably yes, but I have to say that the looks of the game likely made me enjoy it more. Low resolution textures, shadows or unrealistic facial impressions would’ve taken away from the immersion for me. Now, some would say that the gameplay of TLoU:II was rather bland because it didn’t add or change a lot over TLoU (1), but for me, bringing the story across in this very precise way was what made it a great game (people will have other opinions, but that’s fine).
I agree with you on the power consumption part though. Having GPUs consuming north of 400 watts while playing a game is insane. I have a 3080 and it’s what, 340 watts TDP? In reality it consumes around 320 watts or whatever under full load, but that’s a lot of power for playing games. Now, this generation GPUs are a lot more efficient in theory (at least on the Nvidia side, a 4070 uses 100-150 watts less to achieve the same output as a 3080), which is good.
But there’s a trend in recent generations where manufacturers set their GPUs (and CPUs) to be way beyond their best power/performance ratio, just to “win” over the competition in benchmarks/reviews. Sure you can tweak it, but in my opinion, it should be the other way around. Make the GPUs efficient by default and give people headroom to overclock with crazy power budgets if they choose to.
I remember when AMD released the FX-9590 back in 2013 and they got absolutely laughed at because it had a TDP of 220 watts (I know, TDP != actual power consumption, but it was around 220). Nowadays, a 13900K consumes 220 watts out of the box no problem and then some, and people are like “bUt LoOk At ThE cInEbEnCh ScOrE!!111!111”. Again, you can tweak it, but out of the box it sucks power like nobody’s business.
This needs to improve again. Gaming GPUs should cap out at 250 watts at the high-end, and CPUs at like 95 watts, with mainstream GPUs targeting around 150 watts and CPUs probably around 65 watts.
Larian has delayed the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, currently on pace to possibly be 2023’s Game of the Year, until they can figure out how to make split-screen work on Series S.
I think people would be mad. Imagine you play a game at your friend’s home on his Series X, and then proceed to buy the game so you can play multiplayer online, only to then have a certain features or game modes missing (say you get team death match but not battle royale because it uses too much memory).
It’s not that easy to communicate feature disparity. Some people probably don’t even know which Xbox they have.
"Today, PlayStation revealed that its PS5 has sold 40 million units. Microsoft doesn’t share hardware numbers typically, but court documents, math, and slides from an ID@Xbox in Brazil seem to suggest the Xbox Series X|S line-up is around 20-23 million units sold globally. That essentially puts the PS5 at a 2:1 advantage...
I don’t think it’s hardware. It’s a differentiator. Tell me why I (or whoever) should pick an Xbox over a PlayStation?
Microsoft tried to answer that question with Game Pass, seemingly going all in on that concept, paying or outright buying publishers to bring their games to Game Pass. Some people may love Game Pass, but most people I know either never subscribed to it or only tested it when it was like 1,-€ for a month or whatever.
What else differentiates it from the PS5 in a positive way? Sure, the Series X is a bit more powerful than the PS5, but it’s close enough that it basically results in slightly different behavior for games with dynamic resolution scaling, with the PS5 sometimes even pulling ahead oddly enough (probably a more mature SDK, not sure).
The controller is…well, a decent controller. It doesn’t do anything special like adaptive triggers, yet it costs almost the same as a DualSense, and if you count in the optional (!) battery pack, it’s quite a bit more expensive even.
Playing online costs just as much as on PS5 (why do you have to pay extra to play online in 2023, anyways?).
Of the few mentionable exclusive games, most are honestly just mediocre (also in terms of critical acclaim).
What’s left? Backwards compatibility for 360 games? Sure that’s nice, but surely not a system seller for most people, especially when they don’t already have a ton of 360 games.
I just don’t see many cases where someone would prefer the Xbox Series X to a PlayStation 5, without even taking into account what platform their friends are on.
If you want to win market share, deliver a better product. With better services. With better conditions. For lower prices.
That is how it works. Crying to the public about how unfair it is because Sony has such a large installed base already because of how Microsoft fucked up the Xbox One generation (at or even before launch) is NOT how it works.
I’m not. I’m playing on PC 95% of the time, and I play the Sony exclusives only in single player on my PS5 anyway.
What I’m saying is that this could be a differentiator for Microsoft that they just don’t seem to be interested in (it would obviously lose them a lot of revenue from existing customers at first). I feel like more people would get an Xbox for multiplatform games if they save over 50 bucks a year because they don’t have to pay for online play. Heck, I’d probably spring for a Series S for the odd round of Sea of Thieves and the likes on the big screen TV (I know, I could connect my PC, but it’s just very comfortable that way). But having to pay for online is a no-go for me, especially because it’s not my primary platform.
I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the folks that only play FIFA or the likes would get a Series S if it’s marketed correctly, and they didn’t have to pay for online play.
You do realise that the game developers/publishers need to host the actual game servers themselves, and they don’t get any piece of the PS+/Xbox Live subscription cake, right?
Yeah sure, the store, friends network, voice chat and what have you do cost money to keep operating, but how does it all work so well on PC then - where it’s free - yet on console they want >50 bucks a year for it? They get 30%+ from game sales, you can’t convince me that paying for online is anywhere close to being required for sustainability of the service.
I was talking about the ability to simply play games that I already purchased online. Game Pass was a different paragraph and context.
If you really think Microsoft or Sony requires this yearly subscription fee to keep the service running, just look at equivalent PC services like Steam (or, you know, Xbox Live online play, which is free on PC) and realise how wrong you are. Microsoft and Sony get a big chunk of game sales (30%+), they are fine.
Actual game servers are hosted by the game publisher, not by Microsoft or Sony (unless it’s a first party title, of course). Publishers don’t get a single piece of the subscription.
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
Nintendo Switch 2 DLSS Might Not Be as Powerful as It Sounds (www.ign.com)
Google witness accidentally blurts out that Apple gets 36% cut of Safari deal (arstechnica.com)
Apple exec defends 8GB $1,599 MacBook Pro, claims it's like 16GB on a PC (www.theregister.com)
18+ Rockstar plans to announce Grand Theft Auto VI as early as this week and will release a trailer in December, sources tell Bloomberg News. (www.bloomberg.com)
Title and link taken from reddit. (Don’t kill me I don’t have a Reddit account anymore)...
Brace yourself, Baldur's Gate 3 might be getting a new difficulty mode even tougher than tactician (www.vg247.com)
First Build - Keychron Q5 Pro (i.imgur.com)
Snagged a hybrid role in commercial lending and my old Das Keyboard I was using at home had some broken switches (including the numpad + which I need frequently). Used some of my cashed out vacation time from leaving my old job to make the upgrade....
Keychron Q1 HE (www.keychron.com)
Anyone looked into this? I just saw an ad for it. Adjustable actuation point?? It looks very interesting.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of October 29th
Whatcha all been playing?...
400 hours of work, 100 unique characters, and 50 working quests: One Skyrim fan's year-long journey to recreate the RPG in Age of Empires 2 is almost over (www.gamesradar.com)
Firefox tests a built-in checker for fake reviews (www.theverge.com)
Sony Confirms PS5 Slim for This Holiday Season (www.ign.com)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Hotfix #9 Now Live (store.steampowered.com)
EA Sports has delisted its FIFA back catalogue from digital storefronts (www.videogameschronicle.com)
EA has stopped paying for the FIFA license, which is why their next game is called EA Sports FC (Football Club)...
Is it possible that in the future there will be games available on Xbox Game Pass that cannot be played without joining Game Pass? Phil Spencer: No. That's not it. What we want to offer is choice. (game.watch.impress.co.jp)
Was Unity lying yesterday or are they lying today? (lemmy.today)
Unity: We have to charge for every install because we only see totals. Also Unity: We can tell which install is which, so you won’t be overcharged.
Consumer Nintendo Switch 2 rumored to have more RAM than the Xbox Series S (www.notebookcheck.net)
A new Nintendo Switch 2 rumor has surfaced claiming that the next-generation hybrid console could actually arrive with more memory than a powerful rival like the Microsoft Xbox Series S. The same source has also offered an update in regard to the Switch 2’s potential DLSS support and ray-tracing capabilities.
Firefox FTW! (sopuli.xyz)
Baldur’s Gate 3 had to be scaled back for the Series S, but the console still has a right to exist (www.vg247.com)
It'll be the cheapest place, by an absurd margin, to play Baldur's Gate 3.
deleted_by_moderator
Manic Miners, a fan remake of a classic 1999 RTS Lego Rock Raiders, has finally reached full release. (youtu.be)
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Hi-Rez Studios, the people behind Paladins and Smite, have stated that they will be using AI to clone voices and refused to add in any words to contracts that would protect actors from it (twitter.com)
cross-posted from: kbin.social/m/gaming/t/354777...
Starfield install size revealed, available to preload now (www.eurogamer.net)
cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/2277558...
Microsoft’s Xbox Series S Parity Demands Are Now Handing Sony Free Wins (www.forbes.com)
Larian has delayed the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, currently on pace to possibly be 2023’s Game of the Year, until they can figure out how to make split-screen work on Series S.
Xbox's biggest crisis right now isn't games. It's hardware. (Opinion - Jez Corden) (www.windowscentral.com)
"Today, PlayStation revealed that its PS5 has sold 40 million units. Microsoft doesn’t share hardware numbers typically, but court documents, math, and slides from an ID@Xbox in Brazil seem to suggest the Xbox Series X|S line-up is around 20-23 million units sold globally. That essentially puts the PS5 at a 2:1 advantage...
Google engineers want to introduce DRMs for web pages, making ad-blocking near-impossible in the browser (github.com)
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
Official Minecraft wiki editors so furious at Fandom's 'degraded' functionality and popups they're overwhelmingly voting to leave the site (www.pcgamer.com)