What game are you playing?

[DavidW]

lol yeah steam deck.  Steak deck, I didn't even remember typing that!

[DavidW]

Oh a compromise is a mini-itx build.  They have much better thermals these days.  Just a bit bigger than a console (though I will admit the current gen consoles are chunky monkeys).  My personal experience is that you have to have small hands and a delicate touch if you're going to build it.

[greg]

My hot take is that I'm not really into gaming laptops.  They are expensive, hard to upgrade, and have inferior performance and cooling to desktops.  If you really want something portable then a Steak deck or the Asus equivalent is an option.  If you really want something powerful, build or buy a desktop.  A laptop does neither well.

For most cases, yeah.

I have one, but it's a more odd scenario. My desktop PC is in a room where I can't do VR- back ~5 years ago I bought an Alienware gaming laptop that I knew would be good for gaming for quite a while, but more specifically, for VR. And wanted portability + not having another full desktop just for VR space.

Finishing up playing Half-Life Alyx on that same gaming laptop (using my old Vive), and it has been running well.



speaking of PCs, also bought this keyboard on Black Friday:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DK9CSTQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1



the clickiness of the keys and the feeling of impact is a million times better than a normal keyboard. It feels just like typing on a typewriter.

I'd say the only reason to ever use a normal keyboard is in office, is so you don't annoy your coworkers with the super loud clicking.

[DavidW]

I'm jealous @greg of you playing that new Half Life game!  I can't, VR makes me really, really nauseous. 

[greg]

I'm jealous @greg of you playing that new Half Life game!  I can't, VR makes me really, really nauseous. 

Yeah. There's so much variability with nausea and VR. Depends on the game, depends on the section of the game, depends on the person. There have been games I couldn't play due to nausea. And with this game, I last about 1 hour at a time before I have to take small breaks because the low-level feeling of nausea builds up over time (1 hour being much better than most VR games).

They did use point-and-click movement instead of running, also, and I think it helps a bit. The absolute worst part with any game is when it goes from normal to locking up or some loading screen, I feel instantly like I'm about to puke so I have to close my eyes.

[Ganondorf]

Final Fantasy XIV.

[DavidW]

I started The Expanse Tell Tale game.  Good of use of zero g game mechanics.  I like it so far.

[DavidW]

After The Expanse I played Far Changing Tides and Blair Witch Project, both of which proved to be tedious and I didn't finish.

I'm expecting the upcoming Xbox announcement will be MS throwing in the tale and announcing all their exclusives will no longer be exclusive.  And I expect in the long term they will continue switching to being a game platform and service across pc and ps5.  I've been an Xbox fan for a long time, but I expect I will be selling my series X and focusing completely on pc and the ps5.  To say that this generation has been a crushing disappointment for Xbox would be to express it mildly despite them spending literally billions to acquire so many studios.

[DavidW]

The new FF7 remake game is out!  I'm excited but my backlog... man...

After sitting on it for close to a month, I did decide that I am done with Xbox.  There is one last thing which is that silly Matrix demo.  I'll give it a play (it is not available anymore, but it is in my library).  And then that will be a wrap.  The ps5 will become my primary platform, and pc will be for the older gen games and pc exclusives I can't play on console.

[hopefullytrusting]

I've been (nearly) 100 percenting Chrono Trigger, and am almost done with that - don't know what I'll play after that, as I only have three things left to do: Robo's sidequest, which I am doing now, Rainbow Shell armor, and defeating Lavos (which, I can easily do right now - as all my characters are pretty much maxed out - lol). I never have trouble with end bosses.

Just saw that Final Fantasy X was on Steam, so if that game can be played on my laptop - that will be my next game. I truly want to battle Sin, as that seems like something I would heavily enjoy. :-)

[DavidW]

I've been (nearly) 100 percenting Chrono Trigger, and am almost done with that - don't know what I'll play after that, as I only have three things left to do: Robo's sidequest, which I am doing now, Rainbow Shell armor, and defeating Lavos (which, I can easily do right now - as all my characters are pretty much maxed out - lol). I never have trouble with end bosses.

Just saw that Final Fantasy X was on Steam, so if that game can be played on my laptop - that will be my next game. I truly want to battle Sin, as that seems like something I would heavily enjoy. :-)

You're really taking patient gaming to another level!  And I have a friend is still playing ps3 games.  That is nothing!  You're still in the 90s.

[hopefullytrusting]

You're really taking patient gaming to another level!  And I have a friend is still playing ps3 games.  That is nothing!  You're still in the 90s.

Lol. I've not seen many new games that make me want to play them. Like the newest games I can think of that I might want to play is Fallout 4 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but that is pretty much it.

There are so many games that I've not played that it is likely I might never get to those two newer games (I do own both, but my current computer can't play either, and I have no reason to get a new one, yet).

[LKB]

Still plugging along in Diablo IV.

Supposedly huge changes coming next season, which could make many of Blizzard's customers very happy. The major content creators seem to be cautiously optimistic, anyway.

But l don't trust Blizzard completely until they deliver, so well see.

[hopefullytrusting]

Still plugging along in Diablo IV.

Some of the greatest cinematics I've ever seen in a game. I love the battle of hell.

Regarding, Chrono Trigger - I am now recalling why I don't like jrpgs - the cheese, so much cheese.

And, yes, cheese is worse than rubberbanding, which happens in all racing games.

Had to put my controller away because I was getting heated.

[hopefullytrusting]

I got so irritated that I bought:

Alpha Protocol (played and beaten a bunch, likely my first replay)
Doom 3 BFG (played a lot, and almost beaten - scares me a lot)
Dragon Age Ultimate (played and beaten a bunch, but still a lot of paths to take)
Fallout 3 GotY (played a lot, beaten in full once, still many paths to take)
Hitman Absolution (beaten once, still a lot of stuff to do, and the gameplay is so fluid and fun)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (never played, but was recommended because of Lunar Eternal Blue)
Tomb Raider: Underworld (never played, but I've been digging adventure games like Uncharted, looks cool)

[hopefullytrusting]

YouTube has finally pushed me over the edge, and I need to start healing my brain (attention span, critical thinking, thinking outside the box, etc.), so I've begun slow videogaming by going back to a classic point-and-click, Phantasmagoria, and playing it one chapter a day, at most, and making sure I struggle through the puzzles before using their hint system (had to use it once because of a mechanic the have didn't make clear, lol, but became obvious after the fact).

Taking this practice to my movie and tv watching as well - no more binging - 1 episode at a time, at most, per day.

I'm already starting to feel a little better. :-)

[LKB]

I've stepped away from Diablo 4 for a few days ( or perhaps a few weeks... ), since Diablo 3 is into Season 31.

D3 is still a hoot. Some of the NPC dialogue is better than anything my coworkers ever come up with, and the game still look's good enough to not leave me wishing for better visuals.

Say what you like about Blizzard ( and I have certainly said enough that's been negative over the last couple years ), but I've used very few products which have given me as much value as D3 has over the years.