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The Linkielist

Former GTA Developer’s Blog Removed After Rockstar Complains

Former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij had been enjoying a few weeks of sharing some decades-old tales. Reminiscing on his many years with the GTA developer, Vermeij took to his personal blog to recall revealing inside stories behind games like San Andreas and Vice City, and everyone was having a good time. Until Rockstar North came along.

[…]

In the last few weeks, on his very old-school Blogger blog, Vermeij had been sharing some stories about the development processes behind the games, seemingly without any malice or ill-intent.

These included interesting insights into the original GTA and GTA 2, like how much the PC versions of the games had to be compromised so it would run on the PS1. “I remember one particular time when all of the textures for the PS version had been cut down to 16 colours,” Vermeij writes. “When the artists saw the results there was cursing. There was no choice though. Difficult choices had to be made to get the game to run on a PS.”

[…]

It seems the line was crossed for some at Rockstar after a couple of weeks of these lovely anecdotes and insights. On November 22, Vermeij removed most of the posts from the site, and added a new one explaining that after receiving an email from Rockstar North, “some of the OGs there are upset by my blog.”

I genuinely didn’t think anyone would mind me talking about 20 year old games but I was wrong. Something about ruining the Rockstar mystique or something.

Anyway,

This blog isn’t important enough to me to piss off my former colleagues in Edinburgh so I’m winding it down.

[…]

Of course, you know, nothing goes away on the internet. All the posts are a splendid, positive read.

[…]

 

Source: Former GTA Developer’s Blog Removed After Rockstar Complains

Latest Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Nerfs Sex Speedruns because… Americans?

For being a role-playing game based on 5e Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3 is notoriously horny. Regardless of mythical race, gender, or social station, many of the game’s alluring party members are willing to at least spank you, and because of this, BG3 has a thriving and official sex speedrun category. For a time, there was little stopping you from watching a reality-bending interspecies cutscene within minutes of creating your custom character. But after developer Larian Studios issued its massive Patch #4 on November 2, Sex% speedruns are in jeopardy.

Githyanki warrior Lae’zel has so far been the premier choice for Sex%. Up until now, her requirements for getting naked were pretty low—speedrunners, like Mae, who currently holds the world record at one minute and 58 seconds to fuck, just needed to jack up her approval rating and seal the deal. But Patch #4 makes Lae’zel more selective with her partners.

“For Lae’zel to decide to romance you, you no longer only need to gain high enough approval from her,” Larian’s patch notes say. “You must also have proven yourself worthy through your actions.”

“Whereas bullying a tiefling used to be enough to get Lae’zel down horrendously for us,” Mae told me over email, “she now has new criteria that’s seemingly based on quest progression. We’re not entirely sure what all of the different ways we can fulfill that criteria are yet, but we’ve so far confirmed that resolving the druid grove questline in addition to the previous relationship requirements seems to do it.”

[…]

Source: Latest Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Nerfs Sex Speedruns

An Alarming 87 Percent Of Retro Games Are Being Lost To Time

[…] The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) partnered with the Software Preservation Network, an organization intent on advancing software preservation through collective action, to release a report on the disappearance of classic video games. “Classic” in this case has been defined as all games released before 2010, which the VGHF noted is the “year when digital game distribution started to take off.”

The status of physical video games

In the study, the two groups found that 87 percent of these classic games are not in release and considered critically endangered due to their widespread unavailability.

[…]

“For accessing nearly 9 in 10 classic games, there are few options: Seek out and maintain vintage collectible games and hardware, travel across the country to visit a library, or… piracy,” VGHF co-director Kelsey Lewin wrote.

[…]

the study claims that just 13 percent of game history is archived in libraries right now. And that’s part of the dilemma here. According to a March 2023 Ars Technica report, laws around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) largely prevent folks from making and distributing copies of any DRM-protected digital work. While the U.S. Copyright Office has issued exemptions to those rules so that libraries and researchers can archive digital material, video games are explicitly left out, which makes it nigh impossible for anyone to effectively study game history.

“Imagine if the only way to watch Titanic was to find a used VHS tape, and maintain your own vintage equipment so that you could still watch it,” Lewin wrote. “And what if no library, not even the Library of Congress, could do any better—they could keep and digitize that VHS of Titanic, but you’d have to go all the way there to watch it.

[…]

Though not surprised, she was still alarmed by the “flimsy” ways in which games disappear, pointing to Antstream Arcade, which houses a plethora of games from the Commodore 64 to the Game Boy that could be lost to time should it close up shop. The Nintendo eShop is a more mainstream example.

“When the eShop shut down the availability of the Game Boy library, [the number of available Game Boy games] went from something like 11 percent to 4.5 percent,” Lewin said. “The company wiped out half of the availability of the library of Game Boy games just by shutting down the Nintendo eShop.

[…]

Lewin noted that although libraries are allowed to do a lot of things “by being libraries [and] preservation institutions,” the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has consistently lobbied against game preservation efforts such as copyright permissions and allowing the rental of digital video games.

“The ESA has basically opposed all of these new proposed exemptions,” Lewin said. “They’ve just been like, ‘No, that will hurt our bottom line,’ or, ‘That will hurt the industry’s bottom line.’ The ESA also says the industry is doing plenty to keep classic games in release, pointing to this thriving reissue market. And that’s true; there is a thriving reissue market. It’s just that it only covers 13 percent of video games, and that’s not likely to get any better any time soon.”

Read More: As More Games Disappear Forever, John Carmack Has Some Great Advice About Preservation

The study will be used in a 2024 copyright hearing to ask for exemptions for games. Lewin said she’s hopeful that progress will be made, suggesting that, should the hearing go well, games could be available on digital library apps like Libby. You can read the full 50-page study on the open repository Zenodo.

Source: An Alarming 87 Percent Of Retro Games Are Being Lost To Time

EVE Online player uses CEO vote to pull off the biggest heist in the game’s history

Back in 2017, we learned about the biggest heist in EVE Online history (opens in new tab): A year-long inside job that ultimately made off with an estimated 1.5 triillion ISK, worth around $10,000 in real money. But now another EVE player claims to have pulled off a heist worth significantly more than that—and with significantly less work involved.

The 2017 heist, like so many of EVE’s most interesting stories, relied primarily on social engineering: Investing months or years of time into grooming a target before pulling the rug out from beneath them. But redditor Flam_Hill (opens in new tab) said this job was less bloody: Instead of betrayal, this theft was dependent upon learning and exploiting the “shares mechanic” in EVE Online in order to leverage a takeover of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, a 299-member corporation that was part of the Pandemic Horde alliance.

Using a “clean account with a character with a little history,” Flan_Hill and an unnamed partner applied for membership in the EHEXP corporation. After the account was accepted, Flan_Hill transferred enough of his shares in the corporation to the infiltrator to enable a call for a vote for a new CEO. The conspirators both voted yes, while nobody else in the corporation voted at all.

This was vital, because after 72 hours the two “yes” votes carried the day. The infiltrating agent was very suddenly made CEO, which was in turn used to make Flan_Hill an Event Horizon Expeditionaries director, at which point they removed all the other corporate directors and set to emptying the coffers.

They stripped 130 billion ISK from the corporate wallet, but that was only a small part of the haul: Counting all stolen assets, including multiple large ships, Flam_Hill estimated the total value of the heist at 2.23 trillion ISK, which works out to more than $22,300 in real money. ISK can’t be legally cashed out of EVE Online, but it can be used to buy Plex (opens in new tab), an in-game currency used to upgrade accounts, purchase virtual goods, and activate other services.

[…]

The one aspect of the story that some redditors took issue with is the origin of the 1,000 shares in Event Horizon Expeditionaries that made this theft possible in the first place.

[…]

It all comes down to EVE’s corporation voting system (opens in new tab): Any member of a corporation holding more than 5% of the total shares can start a vote, and—this is what it really comes down to—”the option that gains more than 50% of cast votes wins the vote.” This is why the inattentiveness of EHEXP membership was so vital: Flam_Hill and his partner were the only ones to vote “yes,” so they had 100% of the cast votes and were thus able to seize power.

[…]

EVE Online developer CCP Games eliminated any doubt by confirming that the heist did in fact take place, although it declined to comment on the value of the theft.

In the end, it turned out that the “former CEO” theory was correct. Speaking to PC Gamer, the mastermind of the heist, known in EVE as Sienna d’Orien—real name Dave—confirmed that he was in fact the founder and former chief of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, which is how he had the shares in the company that enabled the takeover. He quit EVE in 2018, citing burnout and other priorities, but returned in 2022 to find EHEXP “a shell of its former self.”

After forming a new group, Dave reached out to the corporation to inquire about getting some of his old assets back, but was ignored. His partner in the heist, Packratt, then brought up the shares mechanic, and they went to work. They were aided by a third friend and former EHEXP member, Highlander McLeod, who handled some of the research in order to keep d’Orien’s name out of it—although McLeod was kept in the dark about the job until it was over, in order to ensure operational security.

[…]

They managed to pull the job off with virtually complete anonymity, but Dave said he’s stepping out of the shadows because “it will get out eventually” anyway—and it probably doesn’t hurt that he can now bask in the glory of the moment.

[…]

As for Dave, who’s now playing “in a new corp with old mates,” he acknowledged that the heist could complicate his in-game life somewhat: He’ll be an interstellar folk hero to some (people love a good EVE heist) but no doubt a villain—and a target—in the eyes of others.

[…]

Source: EVE Online player uses obscure rule to pull off the biggest heist in the game’s history | PC Gamer

Hogwarts Legacy Is Twitch’s Most Popular Game Right Now – woke loud minority haters don’t actually have any influence at all

According to the data analytics site TwitchTracker, Hogwarts Legacy had a peak concurrent viewership of over 1.2 million between February 6 and 7. The game’s ranked sixth overall on the site, with more than 16 million hours watched in the last few days. Looking at Twitch right now, Hogwarts Legacy is the most popular game in the livestreaming platform’s Browse section, beating out the Just Chatting category with 636,000 viewers and counting. At one point this week, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, one of Twitch’s most well-known broadcasters, streamed it to over 100,000 live viewers. xQc’s video-on-demand (VOD), an archived recording of a past livestream, also garnered 5.7 million total views. In short, Hogwarts Legacy is now more popular than Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring at the peak of their launches. The numbers here are wild.

Streamers Grapple With Covering Hogwarts Legacy

Just as Hogwarts Legacy is gaining traction online, so too is the heated discourse around financially supporting Harry Potter author and blatant transphobe J.K. Rowling. Twitch streamers, in particular, seem to be having a hard time covering it, with some opting to boycott the game entirely while others, including xQc, defend folks who choose to stream the game. People, such as gaming couple Girlfriend Reviews, have reportedly been criticized over their choice to stream the game. Then you have a few folks, like socialist political commentator Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker, staying away from the game because it’s “not worth” getting bullied over. And one Twitter user created a watchdog website that apparently puts whichever streamer currently playing the game on blast, though when Kotaku tried viewing the site, we were met with a brief message saying the service has been “suspended.”

[…]

Source: Hogwarts Legacy Is Twitch’s Most Popular Game Right Now

The surprise here is that anti J.K. Rowlings village idiots have been calling her anti trans in an attempt to cancel her. If you actually read what they claim as being anti trans, it turns out it’s not anti trans at all, it’s basically some woke people leading and abusing social media in an anti Rowlings movement doing their best to cancel her. It turns out that these people aren’t as influential and that cancelling isn’t as effective in the Real World as some people thought – considering the size of the game release.

With ChatGPT, Game NPCs Get A Lot More Interesting

Not only is AI-driven natural language processing a thing now, but you can even select from a number of different offerings, each optimized for different tasks. It took very little time for [Bloc] to mod a computer game to allow the player to converse naturally with non-player characters (NPCs) by hooking it into ChatGPT, a large language model AI optimized for conversational communication.

If you can look past the painfully-long loading times, even buying grain (7:36) gains a new layer of interactivity.

[Bloc] modified the game Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord to reject traditional dialogue trees and instead accept free-form text inputs, using ChatGPT on the back end to create more natural dialogue interactions with NPCs. This is a refinement of an earlier mod [Bloc] made and shared, so what you see in the video below is quite a bit more than a proof of concept. The NPCs communicate as though they are aware of surrounding events and conditions in the game world, are generally less forthcoming when talking to strangers, and the new system can interact with game mechanics and elements such as money, quests, and hirelings.

Starting around 1:08 into the video, [Bloc] talks to a peasant about some bandits harassing the community, and from there demonstrates hiring some locals and haggling over prices before heading out to deal with the bandits.

The downside is that ChatGPT is currently amazingly popular. As a result, [Bloc]’s mod is stuck using an overloaded service which means some painfully-long load times between each exchange. But if you can look past that, it’s a pretty fascinating demonstration of what’s possible by gluing two systems together with a mod and some clever coding.

Take a few minutes to check out the video, embedded below. And if you’re more of a tabletop gamer? Let us remind you that it might be fun to try replacing your DM with ChatGPT.

 

Source: With ChatGPT, Game NPCs Get A Lot More Interesting | Hackaday

D&D Publisher In All kinds of trouble Over Controversial License changes – unsubscribes caused server crash, PR statement made

After a week of silence amid intense backlash, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has finally addressed its community’s concerns about changes to the open gaming license. The open gaming license (OGL) has existed since 2000 and has made it possible for a diverse ecosystem of third-party creators to publish virtual tabletop software, expansion books and more. Many of these creators can make a living thanks to the OGL. But over the last week, a new version of the OGL leaked after WoTC sent it to some top creators. More than 66,000 Dungeons & Dragons fans signed an open letter under the name #OpenDnD ahead of an expected announcement, and waves of users deleted their subscriptions to D&D Beyond, WoTC’s online platform. Now, WoTC admitted that “it’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1.” Or, in non-Dungeons and Dragons speak, they screwed up.

“We wanted to ensure that the OGL is for the content creator, the homebrewer, the aspiring designer, our players, and the community — not major corporations to use for their own commercial and promotional purpose,” the company wrote in a statement. But fans have critiqued this language, since WoTC — a subsidiary of Hasbro — is a “major corporation” in itself. Hasbro earned $1.68 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2022. TechCrunch spoke to content creators who had received the unpublished OGL update from WoTC. The terms of this updated OGL would force any creator making more than $50,000 to report earnings to WoTC. Creators earning over $750,000 in gross revenue would have to pay a 25% royalty. The latter creators are the closest thing that third-party Dungeons & Dragons content has to “major corporations” — but gross revenue is not a reflection of profit, so to refer to these companies in that way is a misnomer. […] The fan community also worried about whether WoTC would be allowed to publish and profit off of third-party work without credit to the original creator. Noah Downs, a partner at Premack Rogers and a Dungeons & Dragons livestreamer, told TechCrunch that there was a clause in the document that granted WoTC a perpetual, royalty-free sublicense to all third-party content created under the OGL.

Now, WoTC appears to be walking back both the royalty clause and the perpetual license. “What [the next OGL] will not contain is any royalty structure. It also will not include the license back provision that some people were afraid was a means for us to steal work. That thought never crossed our minds,” WoTC wrote in a statement. “Under any new OGL, you will own the content you create. We won’t.” WoTC claims that it included this language in the leaked version of the OGL to prevent creators from being able to “incorrectly allege” that WoTC stole their work. Throughout the document, WoTC refers to the document that certain creators received as a draft — however, creators who received the document told TechCrunch that it was sent to them with the intention of getting them to sign off on it. The backlash against these terms was so severe that other tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) publishers took action. Paizo is the publisher of Pathfinder, a popular game covered under WoTC’s original OGL. Paizo’s owner and presidents were leaders at Wizards of the Coast at the time that the OGL was originally published in 2000, and wrote in a statement yesterday that the company was prepared to go to court over the idea that WoTC could suddenly revoke the OGL license from existing projects. Along with other publishers like Kobold Press, Chaosium and Legendary Games, Paizo announced it would release its own Open RPG Creative License (ORC). “Ultimately, the collective action of the signatures on the open letter and unsubscribing from D&D Beyond made a difference. We have seen that all they care about is profit, and we are hitting their bottom line,” said Eric Silver, game master of Dungeons & Dragons podcast Join the Party. He told TechCrunch that WoTC’s response on Friday is “just a PR statement.”

“Until we see what they release in clear language, we can’t let our foot off the gas pedal,” Silver said. “The corporate playbook is wait it out until the people get bored; we can’t and we won’t.”

Source: D&D Publisher Addresses Backlash Over Controversial License – Slashdot

Players heard this message loud and clear, and began flocking to D&D Beyond’s website to cancel their subscriptions and delete their accounts. “DnDBegone” and “StopTheSub” joined OpenDnD as trending on Twitter as players disparaged Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro over its draconian policies. The volume of players on the D&D Beyond website overloaded its servers, causing the Subscription Management page to temporarily crash.

The D&D Beyond page has since been restored, but further outages should be expected by fans wishing to make their voices heard. Thousands of players and content creators have already pulled their support of Dungeons and Dragons via D&D Beyond. Regardless of if Wizards of the Coast can revoke the old OGL, it is clear the bad faith it has earned will take a lot to clear.

Source: Dungeons and Dragons Players Cancel D&D Beyond Subscriptions En Masse After Insider Leak, Crash Servers

Epic Cutting Off Online Service, Servers For Some Old Games

Fortnite developer Epic Games announced today that it will no longer provide online service or servers for 17 older games, including six from the Unreal series dating back as far as 1998, and it will end access to some additional games entirely.

[…]

The full list of affected games is as follows:

  • 1000 Tiny Claws
  • Dance Central 1
  • Dance Central 2
  • Dance Central 3 (Epic notes that Dance Central VR online multiplayer “will remain available”)
  • Green Day: Rock Band
  • Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess
  • Rock Band 1
  • Rock Band 2
  • Rock Band 3 (Epic notes that Rock Band 4 online multiplayer “will remain available”)
  • The Beatles: Rock Band
  • Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars
  • Unreal Gold
  • Unreal II: The Awakening
  • Unreal Tournament 2003
  • Unreal Tournament 2004
  • Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic notes that it has “plans to bring back online features via Epic Online Services in the future.”)
  • Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

[…]

On top of changing online service, Epic wrote that it has already removed Mac and Linux versions of bird dating sim Hatoful Boyfriend, first released in 2011, Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star, and mobile game DropMix, only five years old, from digital storefronts. As of writing, though, the former two are still available on Steam.

And the last Band-Aid: though you can play those previous games if you own them, Epic is performing a few total shutdowns. Players will lose access to the following titles on their specified removal dates:

  • Battle Breakers on December 30 (“We will automatically refund players for any in-game purchases made via Epic direct payment 180 days prior to today,” Epic said in its blog)
  • Unreal Tournament (Alpha) on January 24
  • Rock Band Blitz on January 24
  • Rock Band Companion app on January 24
  • SingSpace on January 24

For some fans, Epic’s seemingly sudden decision to stop servicing games or obliterate them entirely comes as a disappointing shock, and serves as writing on the wall for the state of digital game preservation. All I can say is this is your last chance to top your Rock Band high score.

Source: Epic Cutting Off Online Service, Servers For Some Old Games

State of Gaming VR for PC in 2022 – and other things the sites don’t tell you

Despite VR having been hyped up for the last couple of years, not very much has happened in the past two years. The hardware has not really refreshed, but this year at least one new exciting entry has come in and another is promised. Search results of reviews usually have the same group of suspects but usually leave out two important companies that are definitely worth a view. Surprisingly, setting up your VR headset is not a question of plug and play. It’s a bit finicky and takes some time. Games need to be optimised and you will run into strange new terms and things you need to run (Windows Mixed Reality, SteamVR, Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, OpenXR) and settings you need to optimise per game. This article offers a primer on that. Despite this, the experience in games is quite amazing!

Tethered or Untethered
Options and Specifications
Headsets
Specifications Table
Software Setup
Optimising Graphics Settings
Troubleshooting

Tethered or Untethered

First you need to make a decision on how you want to use your VR goggles. They come in the types Tethered (which has a cable connected to the PC) or untethered, which uses wireless communication of some sort to send the image signal.

The biggest advantage of tethered is that the cable data throughput is much much higher, allowing for much more detail and higher framerates (which are important for some games, especially simulators. If you are going to use your VR headset in Flight Simulator 2022, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Star Wars Squadrions, driving sims, etc you really will need a tethered headset). The disadvantage is that walking around can be a bit more tricky as there is a cable to mind. Considering the length of cables (6m +) this doesn’t have to be a problem, especially if you are sitting down. There are also pulley arrangements available to have the cable come off the ceiling if you don’t mind how that looks.

The biggest advantage of untethered is that you can wander around easily without tripping on a cable.

Speaking of wandering around, one of the first things you do when you install the headset is set up a border with your headset delineating where you can and can’t walk so you won’t bump into things like your walls, chairs, desk, etc.

Most manufacturers also have a “pro” version which is better. As this article is for gaming, I will leave these out.

Options and Specifications

Then come a plethora of options to look at. For the specifications, higher is usually better (unless you are talking about latency and weight). You do pay for the privilege though:

  • Resolution – be careful, sometimes it’s a per eye resolution, sometimes it’s a total resolution for both eyes. Sometimes there is just one display and sometimes there are two displays (one for each eye). Two is better.
  • Field of View (FOV) – this can be both vertical and horizontal and is expressed as an angle.
  • Camera system – some VR sets (the Quest 2 and the Pico 4) have a camera mounted on the helmet so you can “see” through the headset when turned on (Passthrough). The Pico 4 is colour and very good, the Quest 2 is black and white. Some VR sets offer eye tracking inside your headset. Some systems use these camera’s to see the controllers as a tracking system. (see video from 13 minutes)
  • Tracking system – an external tracking system (base station) is best (but takes up space) and your controllers won’t lose tracking so often. Camera’s on the headset can be confused if it is too dark or light or if you swing your controllers out of the field of view.
  • Controllers – some people prefer some controllers to others, eg the HP Reverb G2 has a bad reputation for it’s controllers and the Pico 4 design is praised. Sometimes you can use other system’s controllers, eg you can use the HTC Vive controllers on the HP Reverb G2 and the Valve Index. Check to see if the controllers are in the box you buy (if you want them. If you’re upgrading headset you may not want them).
  • Data throughput – is the data throughput sufficient for your needs?
  • Refresh rate
  • Peak Pixel Density (PPD) – Readability on the screen. Some screens are sharper than others
  • Glare on the screen
  • Amount of light bleed – light can get into the headset, which is a distraction. How well does the foam sit around your face.
  • Comfort of the headband – also a function of foam, how easy the straps are to adjust
  • Weight and balance – a heavier headset can be more comfortable than a lighter one if the headband is more comfortable and better balanced. I haven’t put weight in the table as this is a very subjective experience.
  • Interpupillary Distance (IPD) or eye seperation configuration – is it easy to adjust this to your eyes?
  • Software in the ecosystem – Meta has spent some time gaining exclusive software for the Quest 2 to entice you to buy their hardware, so if you buy something else you won’t be able to play their games. the PS5VR system only works on a Playstation 5.
  • If you wear glasses, check the size of the glasses spacer – sometimes you can find aftermarket spacers.
  • Sound quality / Microphone
  • Ease of setup!

I have a comparison table at the end.

The Headsets

I have divided this into 2 parts – the standard list you will have seen everywhere, the extended list contains headsets not so frequently indexed by Google.

The standard list:

  • Meta Quest 2 for EUR 449,-

Until the coming of the Pico 4 this was the ‘best value’ option. However, you are being tracked in everything you do by Facebook – it requires a Facebook account login, so for me personally, this makes it a no go. It’s a few years old by now and a bit outdated. Enough said.

Find it here: https://www.meta.com/fi/en/quest/products/quest-2/

  • HTC Vive Cosmos Elite

The affordable option to for the low end of the market. Tethered. $449 headset only, full kit $749.

  • HTC Vive Pro 2

The better VR Set. This is the high spec standard unit (but not the highest spec on paper!). Tethered. The controllers are often used by owners of the Valve Index and the HP Reverb G2. $799 without kit, $1399 with base station and 2 controllers. You can buy trackers for your arms and legs seperately. Using a wifi kit can be turned into an untethered unit.

  • Valve Index

The upper midrange unit. Tethered with base station. $1079,- for the full kit, $539,- only the headset.

The extended list

  • Pico 4

The newest addition to this list – and everyone is raving about it. The new (2022) technology is a step up for everyone. Untethered (unfortunately, as I’m a simmer!). $429,- with 128 GB, $499,- with 256 GB. You only need the extra memory if you want to load games from the eco system on the device. If you PC game apparently this is not necessary. Also see the video above if you want to know more about this device.

Note: It’s a Chinese product created by ByteDance – the owner of TikTok. Whilst there is no proof that I have found yet that this is a data grabbing monster (but please correct me if I am wrong) there is plenty of fingerpointing at ByteDance and TikTok is!

  • HP Reverb G2v2

Tethered. A very good upper mid range with the sharpest screen and best audio. A very popular choice for simming. $650,- for the complete set. Make sure you get a v2 version – you can recognise this by the cable having a box on it with a button to turn it on and off and the headset itself having 2 magnetically removable pieces (glasses spacers) in front of the screen – they also look different

Left is the G2V2, right is the G2V1

There is a problem with the cable guide which in some cases makes it snap in half. You can contact HP for a RMA for this. There are rumors that HP is getting out of the VR business.

  • Varjo Aero
https://www.linkielist.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Aero_desktop_0aa0923902.png

The absolute top end, tethered. EUR 1999,-.

  • Pimax 5K Super

Great specs, but apparently setup is fiddly. EUR 641,- and EUR 289,- for the controllers. Optional hand and eye tracking modules and I am unsure if you need to buy the headphones seperately.

  • Pimax 8K X

Great specs, but apparently setup is fiddly. $1179,- and EUR 289,- for the controllers. Optional hand and eye tracking modules and I am unsure if you need to buy the headphones seperately.

  • Pimax 12K

To be released. Hopefully.

Specifications Table


HTC Cosmos Elite HTC Vive Pro2 Valve Index Pico 4 HP Reverb G2V2 Varjo Aero Pimax 5K Super Pimax 8K X
Resolution 1440 x 1700 pixels per eye (2880 x 1700 pixels combined) 2448 × 2448 pixels per eye (4896 x 2448 pixels combined) dual 1440×1600 RGB LCDs 2160×2160 per-eye 2160 x 2160 pixels per eye (4320 x 2160 pixels combined). RGB sub-pixels Dual Mini LED LCD; 2880 x 2720 px per eye 2560 X 1440 pixels per eye (5120 X 1440 pixels combined) 3840 X 2160 pixels per eye (7680 X 2160 pixels combined)
Field of View Up to 110 degrees Up to 120 degrees (horizontal) Optimized eye relief adjustment allows a typical user experience 20º more than the HTC Vive 105 degrees 114 degrees Horizontal: 115°
Diagonal: 134° at 12 mm eye relief
Diagonal 200 degrees Diagonal 200 degrees
Refresh Rate 90 Hz 90/120 Hz (only 90Hz supported via VIVE Wireless Adapter) 80/90/120/144Hz (144Hz experimental) 72Hz / 90 Hz 90Hz 90Hz 90/120/144/160/180Hz*
*Higher refresh rates are only available at lower FOV settings.
60/75/90Hz (native mode) 110Hz (upscaling mode)
Tracking system 6DoF Inside-out Tracking SteamVR™ Base Station Tracking 2.0 SteamVR 2.0 sensors, compatible with SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 base stations 6 DoF positioning system HP Reverb G2 inside/out 6 DOF motion tracking, gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer SteamVR™ 2.0/1.0
Eye tracking 200 Hz with sub-degree accuracy; 1-dot calibration for foveated rendering
G-sensor, gyroscope, SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 Tracking System G-sensor, gyroscope, SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 Tracking System
Headphone Stereo Headphone Hi-Res certified headset (via USB-C analog signal)
Hi-Res certified headphones (removable)
High impedance headphones support (via USB-C analog signal)
Built-in: 37.5mm off-ear Balanced Mode Radiators (BMR), Frequency Response: 40Hz – 24KHz, Impedance: 6 Ohm, SPL: 98.96 dBSPL at 1cm.

3.5 mm audio jack 3.5mm audio jack (integrated microphone) 3.5mm audio jack (integrated microphone)
Microphone Integrated microphones Integrated dual microphones Dual Microphone Array, Frequency response: 20Hz – 24kHz, Sensitivity: -25dBFS/Pa @ 1kHz

In-ear headphones with mic in-box

Connections USB 3.0 (or later), DP 1.2, Proprietary Connection to Faceplates Bluetooth, USB-C port for peripherals, DP 1.2 (DP 1.4 required for full resolution) 5m tether, 1m breakaway trident connector. USB 3.0, DisplayPort 1.2, 12V power, Aux Headphone Out 3.5mm
DisplayPort™ 1.3, USB 3.0 type C, power adapter Headset adapter and USB-C cable (5-metre) in-box
PC connections: DisplayPort and USB-A 3.0
1 x DisplayPort 1.4
1 x USB 3.0 Type A
1 x USB 2.0 Type A
1 x DisplayPort 1.4
1 x USB 3.0 Type A
1 x USB 2.0 Type A
IPD Adjustable Eye Comfort Setting (IPD) Adjustable IPD range of 57-70mm 58mm – 70mm range physical adjustment 62 – 72mm best adjustment system 64mm +/- 4mm by hardware slide Automatic IPD adjustment with motor
Supported IPD range: 57–73 mm
60mm – 70mm range physical adjustment ± 2mm with software adjustment 60mm – 70mm range physical adjustment ± 2mm with software adjustment
Camera

Stereo 960 x 960 pixel, global shutter, RGB (Bayer)
2 front-facing cameras and 2 side-facing cameras,


PPD


20.6
35

Software Setup

When you set up a VR headset, you will need to download and install Windows Mixed Reality from the Windows App Store. After setup You most likely will need to install SteamVR. SteamVR allows you to play games, even if they were not bought in the Steam Store (eg in the Epic store). You will also need to install Windows Mixed Reality for Steam. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality/enthusiast-guide/using-steamvr-with-windows-mixed-reality.

Do you need to install OpenXR?
Use OpenXR
From your computer, open the SteamVR app
Head to Settings
Select Show in Advanced Settings
Head to the Developer tab
Set Current OpenXR runtime as “OpenXR runtime”

Sign up for betas

This is advised by Microsoft in their guide https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality/enthusiast-guide/using-steamvr-with-windows-mixed-reality

In Steam, use the drop-down under the Library menu to filter to Tools.
In the list, right-click SteamVR and select Properties.
Select the Betas tab.
Opt in to “beta – public beta” and select Close to confirm. The beta access code field should be left blank.

In Steam, use the drop-down under the Library menu to filter to Software.
In the list, right-click Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR and select Properties.
Select the Betas tab.
Opt in to “beta – public beta” and select Close to confirm. The beta access code field should be left blank.

Optimising your Graphics settings

Motion Reprojection

With it entirely off there is a bit of stuttering, but detail clarity is very sharp. With it on motion is fluid

Disable overlays

  • Epic: C:\Program Files (x86)\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Extras\Overlay and rename or move the two files:
    EOSOverlayRenderer-Win64-Shipping.exe
    EOSOverlayRenderer-Win32-Shipping.exe
  • Steam: settings>In Game>Enable Steam Overlay while in-game UNCHECK
  • XBOX: Disable the Xbox Game Bar overlay (yes on windows) Enter windows settings from the start menu, Select Gaming -> Xbox Game Bar -> Toggle the overlay to the off position

External Apps

https://store.steampowered.com/app/908520/fpsVR/ – fpsVR

Troubleshooting

not enough virtual memory can be a problem

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/crash-to-desktop-without-error-message/130085 – limit fps in nvidia control panel

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/crash-to-desktop-without-error-message/130085/3244 – The HP Reberb G2 goes to sleep after a while despite the change in the registry, and to have prevent the sleep in the device manager. I switch it to VR and it starts again. We are now at 4 hours of flight. And 0 CTD
In Device Manager → Universal Serial Bus (USBs) controller go through each device and in the “Power Management Options” tab uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device”. SteamVR settigns Startup/Shudown

https://www.reddit.com/r/HPReverb/comments/xo5v2z/holographicshell_processwindows_11_performance/ – Run cmd/terminal and paste ‘logman query HolographicShell -ets’ to see if it’s running. If it is, end it using ‘logman stop HolographicShell -ets’ and check

Can’t see steamVR settings – click on icon in taskbar, right click on settings window, select ‘move’ use the keyboard arrows to move it to main display

If you have a large monitor you can run into the problem that your monitor will move all the icons to the top left when it turns off. To stop this you either need to get an EDID pass through adapter, but a hdmi edid pass through adapter has to work for the given resolution as well as the refresh rate – and for > 60Hz at 4k (HDMI 2.0 specs) must be HDMI 2.1 compatible. There is not much in the >4K@60Hz space and what is there, is expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/EVanlak-Passthrough-Generrtion-Eliminated-Thunderbolt/dp/B07YMTMMH5/ref=pd_day0fbt_img_sccl_1/144-2713285-9100846?pd_rd_w=sYUmB&content-id=amzn1.sym.b7c02f9a-a0f8-4f90-825b-ad0f80e296ea&pf_rd_p=b7c02f9a-a0f8-4f90-825b-ad0f80e296ea&pf_rd_r=CJQKNYGXPKDGCV8A9TG7&pd_rd_wg=ZNHTB&pd_rd_r=0abd637b-5927-4172-a1a5-6455822beee1&pd_rd_i=B07YMTMMH5&psc=1

You can try https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/8e35fe49-6f89-4476-b138-c24a93d98089/change-the-screen-resolution-using-registry-or-command-line registry settings.

https://www.tenforums.com/graphic-cards/10681-tutorial-how-change-windows-10-default-resolution.html

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1108325-windows-10-set-default-resolution

Good luck and have fun – playing Elite Dangerous is a whole new experience in VR!

Scientists grow human brain cells to play Pong

Researchers have succeeded in growing brain cells in a lab and hooking them up to electronic connectors proving they can learn to play the seminal console game Pong.

Led by Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, the researchers showed that by integrating neurons into digital systems they could harness “the inherent adaptive computation of neurons in a structured environment”.

According to the paper published in the journal Neuron, the biological neural networks grown from human or rodent origins were integrated with computing hardware via a high-density multielectrode array.

“Through electrophysiological stimulation and recording, cultures are embedded in a simulated game-world, mimicking the arcade game Pong.

“Applying implications from the theory of active inference via the free energy principle, we find apparent learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay not observed in control conditions,” the paper said. “Further experiments demonstrate the importance of closed-loop structured feedback in eliciting learning over time.”

[…]

Researchers have succeeded in growing brain cells in a lab and hooking them up to electronic connectors proving they can learn to play the seminal console game Pong.

Led by Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, the researchers showed that by integrating neurons into digital systems they could harness “the inherent adaptive computation of neurons in a structured environment”.

According to the paper published in the journal Neuron, the biological neural networks grown from human or rodent origins were integrated with computing hardware via a high-density multielectrode array.

“Through electrophysiological stimulation and recording, cultures are embedded in a simulated game-world, mimicking the arcade game Pong.

“Applying implications from the theory of active inference via the free energy principle, we find apparent learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay not observed in control conditions,” the paper said. “Further experiments demonstrate the importance of closed-loop structured feedback in eliciting learning over time.”

[…]

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/14/boffins_grow_human_brain_cells/

NVIDIA Builds AI That Creates 3D Objects for Virtual Worlds

The massive virtual worlds created by growing numbers of companies and creators could be more easily populated with a diverse array of 3D buildings, vehicles, characters and more — thanks to a new AI model from NVIDIA Research.

Trained using only 2D images, NVIDIA GET3D generates 3D shapes with high-fidelity textures and complex geometric details. These 3D objects are created in the same format used by popular graphics software applications, allowing users to immediately import their shapes into 3D renderers and game engines for further editing.

The generated objects could be used in 3D representations of buildings, outdoor spaces or entire cities, designed for industries including gaming, robotics, architecture and social media.

GET3D can generate a virtually unlimited number of 3D shapes based on the data it’s trained on. Like an artist who turns a lump of clay into a detailed sculpture, the model transforms numbers into complex 3D shapes.

With a training dataset of 2D car images, for example, it creates a collection of sedans, trucks, race cars and vans. When trained on animal images, it comes up with creatures such as foxes, rhinos, horses and bears. Given chairs, the model generates assorted swivel chairs, dining chairs and cozy recliners.

“GET3D brings us a step closer to democratizing AI-powered 3D content creation,” said Sanja Fidler, vice president of AI research at NVIDIA, who leads the Toronto-based AI lab that created the tool. “Its ability to instantly generate textured 3D shapes could be a game-changer for developers, helping them rapidly populate virtual worlds with varied and interesting objects.”

[…]

GET3D can instead churn out some 20 shapes a second when running inference on a single NVIDIA GPU — working like a generative adversarial network for 2D images, while generating 3D objects. The larger, more diverse the training dataset it’s learned from, the more varied and detailed the output.

NVIDIA researchers trained GET3D on synthetic data consisting of 2D images of 3D shapes captured from different camera angles. It took the team just two days to train the model on around 1 million images using NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs.

[…]

GET3D gets its name from its ability to Generate Explicit Textured 3D meshes — meaning that the shapes it creates are in the form of a triangle mesh, like a papier-mâché model, covered with a textured material. This lets users easily import the objects into game engines, 3D modelers and film renderers — and edit them.

Once creators export GET3D-generated shapes to a graphics application, they can apply realistic lighting effects as the object moves or rotates in a scene. By incorporating another AI tool from NVIDIA Research, StyleGAN-NADA, developers can use text prompts to add a specific style to an image, such as modifying a rendered car to become a burned car or a taxi, or turning a regular house into a haunted one.

[…]

Source: NVIDIA AI Research Helps Populate Virtual Worlds With 3D Objects | NVIDIA Blog

FIFA 23 Accidentally Sells For Six Cents, EA Honors The Mistake

FIFA 23 is currently up for preorder around the world, and is supposed to be a full-price retail release, but in one particular market on one particular store, customers could get one hell of a bargain.

Last month, anyone browsing the Epic Games Store in India would have seen that while the standard edition of FIFA 23 cost ₹3,499 (USD$44), the Ultimate Edition—which should have been ₹4,799 (USD$60) was instead listed at ₹4.80.

The error was first discovered in late July
The error was first discovered in late July
Image: Twitter

That is not a sale price, that is an error, one where the store has clearly put the decimal point in the wrong spot. ₹4.80 works out to be six cents, and as word spread about the savings, users flocked to the store and bought the game. And not just Indian gamers, either; once news got out, fans were sharing across social media ways for players outside the region to set their accounts to the Indian Epic Games Store so they could get in on the error as well.

Now, this kind of thing isn’t exactly rare in the realms of online shopping, but often stores will cancel orders when the discrepancy is this great, so I don’t think too many people would have been expecting to have actually got hold of the more expensive version of FIFA 23 for six cents.

But they have! Via PC Gamer, EA Sports have this week issued a statement saying:

A few weeks back, we scored a pretty spectacular own-goal when we inadvertently offered FIFA 23 pre-purchase on the Epic Games Store at an incorrect price. It was our mistake, and we wanted to let you know that we’ll be honoring all pre-purchases made at that price.

[…]

Source: FIFA 23 Accidentally Sells For Six Cents, EA Honors The Mistake

Virpil VPC Desk Mount linear rail adapter for MongoosT / WarBRD / Stream Deck by SciMonster – Thingiverse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWXf6EsfZ4c&t=62s

Mount your Virpil Throttle and Stick to linear rails so you can slide them along your desk.
This allows you to move your HOTAS aside when you use the computer for other work.
When flying your aircraft or spaceship, a spring-loaded locking meachanism holds your HOTAS securely in place.

The files are designed for the VPC Desk Mount V2/V3:
https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-desk-mount-angled-adapter-mt-50-throttle.html
which is compatible with the VPC MongoosT-50 Throttle.

An adapter plate for Virpil Flightsticks (VPC WarBRD Base) is included (with and without a mounting option for the 15 button Elgato Stream Deck (MK.1). MongoosT Base untested.

Source: Virpil VPC Desk Mount linear rail adapter for MongoosT / WarBRD / Stream Deck by SciMonster – Thingiverse

Ubisoft Shut Down 91 Games Since 2021

Ubisoft has turned off online services for 91 games, including Far Cry 2, Splinter Cell, Just Dance, and more across multiple console and PC platforms. These shutdowns have since been gathered together in one list by Ubisoft.

This news comes from a blog Ubisoft posted on April 22 listing 91 different games that have had their online services and multiplayer features shut off since 2021. The plan to shut down online services for many of these Ubisoft games was first announced last year.

The company explained that all in-game news, updates, player statistics, and online multiplayer features would no longer work in any of these titles. Also, any of the 91 games that use Ubisoft’s Connect platform can no longer earn its ”Units” points to unlock in-game rewards. Weirdly, Ubisoft explained that PC players will lose access to previously unlocked content, but console players will be able to keep it so long as they keep their old game save.

[…]

Source: All The Ubisoft Games That Have Been Shut Down Since 2021

This is a great feature of Cloud!

Owners Of ‘Gran Turismo 7’ Locked Out Of Single Player Game When Online DRM Servers Go Down – when you don’t own the game you bought

When someone asks me what DRM is, my answer is very simple: it’s anti-piracy software that generally doesn’t stop pirates at all, and, instead, mostly only annoys legitimate buyers. Well, then why do software and video game companies use it at all? Couldn’t tell you. Businesses really want to annoy their own customers? Apparently, yes. Timothy, when you say this doesn’t really stop pirates, you’re exaggerating, right? No, not at all.

The worst of the examples of legit customers getting screwed by video game DRM involve when a game or product is bricked simply because a publisher or its DRM partner simply shuts down the servers that make the DRM work, on purpose or otherwise.

Gran Turismo 7 was recently released on the PlayStation and is already facing major headwinds due to the public’s absolute hate for all the microtransactions included in the game. On top of that, the entire game, including the single player content, was rendered unplayable because the DRM servers that require an online check to play the game crumbled during a maintenance window.

The scheduled server maintenance, timed around the release of the version 1.07 patch for the game, was initially planned to last just two hours starting at 6 am GMT (2 am Eastern) on Thursday morning. Six hours later, though, the official Gran Turismo Twitter account announced that “due to an issue found in Update 1.07, we will be extending the Server Maintenance period. We will notify everyone as soon as possible when this is likely to be completed. We apologize for this inconvenience and ask for your patience while we work to resolve the issue.”

“Inconvenience” in this case means not being able to play the game the customer purchased. Like, basically at all. Why the single player content in a console game of all things should require an online check-in is completely beyond me.

[…]

Source: Owners Of ‘Gran Turismo 7’ Locked Out Of Single Player Game When Online DRM Servers Go Down | Techdirt

‘Dark Souls 3’ security hole lets attackers hijack your PC

You might not want to play a Dark Souls game online for a while — not that you necessarily can. As Dexerto and The Verge report, attackers have discovered a security exploit in Dark Souls 3 (and potentially Elden Ring) for Windows that lets attackers remotely execute control and effectively hijack your PC. Streamers like The_Grim_Sleeper have learned about the potential damage first-hand — in his case, the intruder launched Microsoft PowerShell and ran a text-to-speech script blasting him for his gameplay.

The exploiter might not have malicious intent. A post on the SpeedSouls Discord claimed the hacker was trying to warn developer FromSoftware about the Dark Souls 3 vulnerability, but turned to compromising streamers to highlight the problem. Few people beyond the perpetrator are aware of how to use it, but there’s already a patch for the unofficial Blue Sentinel anti-cheat tool.

FromSoftware and its publisher Bandai Namco have since responded to the exploit. They’ve temporarily shut down the player-versus-player servers for Dark Souls 3 and its predecessors while the security team investigates the flaws.

[…]

Source: ‘Dark Souls 3’ security hole lets attackers hijack your PC | Engadget

Warhammer 40K’s Imperium Is Genocidal – not a Good Thing, Maker Reminds Players

Some Warhammer 40,000 players think the game’s fascist Imperium of Man faction is awesome, and actually has a few good ideas. It does not. To clarify this point—which more than one Warhammer 40K fan appears to have missed—maker Games Workshop put out a statement saying that you do not, under any circumstances, “gotta hand it to them.”

“There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe,” Games Workshop wrote on its website today. “None. Especially not the Imperium of Man…We believe in and support a community united by shared values of mutual kindness and respect. Our fantasy settings are grim and dark, but that is not a reflection of who we are or how we feel the real world should be.”

The statement comes just a couple weeks after controversy broke out when a player wore Nazi symbols to an unofficial tournament in Spain and the organizers apparently didn’t throw him out, despite complaints from other players.

[…]

Most fans get that Warhammer 40K is not real, and if it were, life in its universe would be exceedingly nasty, brutish, and short. But some of its aesthetic and lore have been co-opted by the alt-right, white supremacists, and other crypto-fascist groups. They think the Imperium of Man—a feudalistic galactic empire modeled after Rome, full of enslaved races, and ruled by a 10,000 year-old psychic kept alive by cyborg implants called the Emperor of Mankind—is a model on which to base their politics. During the 2016 presidential election it became the basis for the now famous internet meme: God Emperor Trump.

This all adds up to why Games Workshop had to take a break from its world building today, to make Warhammer 40K’s subtext text:

Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.

But apparently not plainly enough. Games Workshop reiterated its stance against hate groups and others seeking to co-opt its creative work, including banning individuals wearing hate symbols at Warhammer-adjacent events.

“If you come to a Games Workshop event or store and behave to the contrary, including wearing the symbols of real-world hate groups, you will be asked to leave. We won’t let you participate,” the company wrote. “We don’t want your money. We don’t want you in the Warhammer community.”

It’s nice to have a corporate statement that doesn’t mince words for once.

Source: Warhammer 40K’s Imperium Is Genocidal, Maker Reminds Players

Modders Have Fixed The GTA Trilogy’s Incredibly Ugly Rain

The recently “remastered” GTA trilogy has some of the ugliest rain I’ve ever seen, and a handful of days later, modders have fixed it. No longer will you walk the streets of Vice City at night, only to be covered in the drippings of Spiderman’s leaky web-shooter. Finally, you can be free of that oddly viscous rain.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Edition is very sick. The games are ill. They need doctors. Luckily for them, Rockstar has a pretty dedicated modding community, all of whom are trained in virtual trauma care. These brave few, whose greatest works were wiped out by the release of an overpriced, undersupported mess, have taken on the gargantuan task of fixing this shitshow. They have taken to this new work with the practiced, exhausted rage of a community used to being tossed scraps by a company that has become too big to fail.

The rain, which has been made more transparent in about half a dozen mods searching for the perfect drop of water, is just the beginning of their grim quest. Other modders are attempting to restore the series’ signature radio stations, which were utterly eviscerated by expired music licensing. The games’ jerseys, currently haunted by the ghostly textures of dead numbers, have a faithful army of Vatican-ordained modders attempting dozens of simultaneous digital exorcisms. But all of this only scratches the surface.

The rot runs deep. Everything from character geometry to building textures is uncomfortably wrong. It is as if Rockstar has found a new kind of uncanny valley, but instead of being based on how people should look, this new kind of uncanny valley disquiets our memories of virtual cities.

Source: Modders Have Fixed The GTA Trilogy’s Incredibly Ugly Rain

2K’s GTA Trilogy Pulled For PC, And Rockstar Launcher Is Broken

Something has gone very, very wrong since yesterday’s launch of GTA Trilogy on PC. As of last night, all mention of a PC version has been removed from Rockstar’s own site, and the Rockstar Games Launcher app has gone completely offline. Anyone who bought the remastered collection before it vanished is currently unable to play.

It has been at least 18 hours since the sudden disappearance of the PC’s GTA Trilogy, and Kotaku can confirm that the Launcher is not working. Which means all Rockstar PC games, including Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA Online, are currently impossible to play.

For whatever reasons, Rockstar chose to remove all versions of GTAs III, Vice City, and San Andreas from alternative PC stores—including Steam—ahead of this launch, meaning its bespoke software is now the only way to buy and play the games. Or indeed, the only way to not play it.

[…]

Source: 2K’s GTA Trilogy Pulled For PC, And Rockstar Launcher Is Broken

What a clusterfuck – first they piss off their fans by attacking them with DMCA suits, then they release crap and then it all breaks.

GTA Trilogy Remaster Not Worth The Lost Mods And Classic Games

After months of rumors, speculation, leaks, and teasers, Rockstar finally released the remastered Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition collection yesterday. It landed with a thud as players encountered and documented countless visual bugs, gameplay glitches, and odd changes to models and textures. Even viewed in a vacuum, this state of affairs is disappointing, especially considering the $60 price tag attached to the collection. But looking at the bigger picture, it gets even worse. These busted remasters seemingly led to the removal of a ton of classic GTA mods, and the original versions of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas. With that context added, it becomes a much more frustrating situation, and one which likely doesn’t have a happy ending.

Before Rockstar officially announced the GTA remasters, fans speculated about them for months due to random leakers and insiders on various forums hinting about their possible existence. Around this same time in the summer of 2021, Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive began targeting and removing mods that were related to the classic PS2 games, including popular mods like Vice Cry, which ported Vice City to the GTA V engine. The companies also sued the devs behind a project aiming to release the reverse-engineered source code for Vice City and GTA III, which would have allowed folks to more easily port and tweak these older games.

And because fans had already been speculating that GTA remasters were in the works, and all of these mods were related to those games—often improving them or making them easier to play—many connected the dots and concluded that Take-Two Interactive was clearing the runway ahead of its own official remakes. However, Take-Two and Rockstar have yet to confirm why any of the mods or fan projects were sent DMCA takedowns or lawsuits.

[…]

Source: GTA Trilogy Remaster Not Worth The Lost Mods And Classic Games

‘Flight Simulator: GOTY Edition’ adds new aircraft and locations on November 18th

Microsoft is spicing up Flight Simulator with an expanded re-release, although this one may be more ambitious than some. It’s releasing Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition on November 18th with both a heaping of new content as well as some meaningful feature upgrades. To start, there are five new stand-out aircraft, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet — you won’t have to wait until the Top Gun expansion to buzz the tower in a fighter jet. You’ll also get to fly the VoloCity air taxi, PC-6 Porter short-takeoff aircraft, the bush flying-oriented NX Cub and the single-seat Aviat Pitts Special S1S.

The GOTY upgrade adds eight airports, including Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Patrick Space Force Base. Eight cities will get photogrammetry detail upgrades, such as Helsinki, Nottinghm and Utrecht. There are accordingly new tutorials (such as bush flying and IFR) and Discovery Flights.

The update adds useful features, too. You’ll have early access to DirectX 12 features, an improved weather system and a developer mode replay system, among other improvements.

Most notably, you won’t have to pay for any of this as a veteran player— existing Flight Simulator owners will receive a free update on both Windows PCs and Xbox Series X/S. The paid GOTY release exists chiefly to entice first-timers. For everyone else, this is billed as a “thank you” upgrade that could keep them coming back.

Source: ‘Flight Simulator: GOTY Edition’ adds new aircraft and locations on November 18th | Engadget

Game Dev Turns Down $500k Exploitative Contract, explains why – looks like music industry contracts

Receiving a publishing deal from an indie publisher can be a turning point for an independent developer. But when one-man team Jakefriend was approached with an offer to invest half a million Canadian dollars into his hand-drawn action-adventure game Scrabdackle, he discovered the contract’s terms could see him signing himself into a lifetime of debt, losing all rights to his game, and even paying for it to be completed by others out of his own money.

In a lengthy thread on Twitter, indie developer Jakefriend explained the reasons he had turned down the half-million publishing deal for his Kickstarter-funded project, Scrabdackle. Already having raised CA$44,552 from crowdfunding, the investment could have seen his game released in multiple languages, with full QA testing, and launched simultaneously on PC and Switch. He just had to sign a contract including clauses that could leave him financially responsible for the game’s completion, while receiving no revenue at all, should he breach its terms.

“I turned down a pretty big publishing contract today for about half a million in total investment,” begins Jake’s thread. Without identifying the publisher, he continues, “They genuinely wanted to work with me, but couldn’t see what was exploitative about the terms. I’m not under an NDA, wanna talk about it?”

Over the following 24 tweets, the developer lays out the key issues with the contract, most especially focusing on the proposed revenue share. While the unnamed publisher would eventually offer a 50:50 split of revenues (albeit minus up to 10% for other sundry costs, including—very weirdly—international sales taxes), this wouldn’t happen until 50% of the marketing spend (approximately CA$200,000/US$159,000) and the entirety of his development funds (CA$65,000 Jake confirms to me via Discord) was recouped by sales. That works out to about 24,000 copies of the game, before which its developer would receive precisely 0% of revenue.

Even then, Scrabdackle’s lone developer explains, the contract made clear there would be no payments until a further 30 days after the end of the next quarter, with a further clause that allowed yet another three month delay beyond that. All this with no legal requirement to show him their financial records.

Should Jake want to challenge the sales data for the game, he’d be required to call for an audit, which he’d have to pay for whether there were issues or not. And should it turn out that there were discrepancies, there’d be no financial penalty for the publisher, merely the requirement to pay the missing amount—which he would have to hope would be enough to cover paying for the audit in the first place.

Another section of the contract explained that should there be disagreement about the direction of the game, the publisher could overrule and bring in a third-party developer to make the changes Jake would not, at Jake’s personal expense. With no spending limit on that figure.

But perhaps most surprising was a section declaring that should the developer be found in breach of the contract—something Jake explains is too ambiguously defined—then they would lose all rights to their game, receive no revenue from its sales, have to repay all the money they received, and pay for all further development costs to see the game completed. And here again there was no upper limit on what those costs could be.

It might seem obvious that no one should ever sign a contract containing clauses just so ridiculous. To be liable—at the publisher’s whim—for unlimited costs to complete a game while also required to pay back all funds (likely already spent), for no income from the game’s sales… Who would ever agree to such a thing? Well, as Jake tells me via Discord, an awful lot of independent developers, desperate for some financial support to finish their project. The contract described in his tweets might sound egregious, but the reality is that most of them offer some kind of awful term(s) for indie game devs.

“My close indie dev friends discuss what we’re able to of contracts frequently,” he says, “and the only thing surprising to them about mine is that it hit all the typical red flags instead of typically most of them. We’re all extremely fatigued and disheartened by how mundane an unjust contract offer is. It’s unfair and it’s tiring.”

Jake makes it clear that he doesn’t believe the people who contacted him were being maliciously predatory, but rather they were simply too used to the shitty terms. “I felt genuinely no sense of wanting to give me a bad deal with the scouts and producers I was speaking to, but I have to assume they are aware of the problems and are just used to that being the norm as well.”

Since posting the thread, Jake tells me he’s heard from a lot of other developers who described the terms to which he objected as, “sadly all-too-familiar.” At one point creator of The Witness, Jonathan Blow, replied to the thread saying, “I can guess who the publisher is because I have seen equivalent contracts.” Except Jake’s fairly certain he’d be wrong.

“The problem is so widespread,” Jake explains, “that when you describe the worst of terms, everyone thinks they know who it is and everyone has a different guess.

While putting this piece together, I reached out to boutique indie publisher Mike Rose of No More Robots, to see if he had seen anything similar, and indeed who he thought the publisher might be. “Honestly, it could be anyone,” he replied via Discord. “What [Jake] described is very much the norm. All of the big publishers you like, his description is all of their contracts.”

This is very much a point that Jake wants to make clear. In fact, it’s why he didn’t identify the publisher in his thread. Rather than to spare their blushes, or harm his future opportunities, Jake explains that he did it to ensure his experience couldn’t be taken advantage of by other indie publishers. “I don’t want to let others with equally bad practices off the hook,” he tells me. “As soon as I say ‘It was SoAndSo Publishing’, everyone else can say, ‘Wow, can’t believe it, glad we’re not like that,’ and have deniability.”

I also reached out to a few of the larger indie publishers, listing the main points of contention in Jake’s thread, to see if they had any comments. The only company that replied by the time of publication was Devolver. I was told,

“Publishing contracts have dozens of variables involved and a developer should rightfully decline points and clauses that make them feel uncomfortable or taken advantage of in what should be an equitable relationship with their partner—publisher, investor, or otherwise. Rev share and recoupment in particular should be weighed on factors like investment, risk, and opportunity for both parties and ultimately land on something where everyone feels like they are receiving a fair shake on what was put forth on the project. While I have not seen the full contract and context, most of the bullet points you placed here aren’t standard practice for our team.”

Where does this leave Jake and the future of Scrabdackle? “The Kickstarter funds only barely pay my costs for the next 10 months,” he tells Kotaku. “So there’s no Switch port or marketing budget to speak of. Nonetheless, I feel more motivated than ever going it alone.”

I asked if he would still consider a more reasonable publishing deal at this point. “This was a hobby project that only became something more when popular demand from an incredible and large community rallied for me to build a crowdfunding campaign…A publisher can offer a lot to an indie project, and a good deal is the difference between gamedev being a year-long stint or a long-term career for me, but that’s not worth the pound of flesh I was asked for.”

Source: Game Dev Turns Down Half Million Dollar Exploitative Contract

For the music industry:

Source: Courtney Love does the math

Source: How much do musicians really make from Spotify, iTunes and YouTube?

Source: How Musicians Make Money — Or Don’t at All — in 2018

Source: Kanye’s Contracts Reveal Dark Truths About the Music Industry

Source: Smiles and tears when “slave contract” controls the lives of K-Pop artists.

Source: Youtube’s support for musicians comes with a catch

Amazon Drops Policy claiming ownership of Games made by employees After Work Hours

Amazon.com Inc. withdrew a set of staff guidelines that claimed ownership rights to video games made by employees after work hours and dictated how they could distribute them, according to a company email reviewed by Bloomberg.

[…]

The old policies mandated that employees of the games division who were moonlighting on projects would need to use Amazon products, such as Amazon Web Services, and sell their games on Amazon digital stores. It also gave the company “a royalty free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, transferable license” to intellectual property rights of any games developed by its employees.

[…]

The games division has struggled practically since its inception in 2012 and can hardly afford another reputational hit. It has never released a successful game, and some current and former employees have placed the blame with Frazzini. Bloomberg reported in January that Frazzini had hired veteran game developers and executives but largely dismissed or ignored their advice.

Source: Amazon Drops ‘Draconian’ Policy on Making Games After Work Hours – Bloomberg

So tbh if they can’t make games during work hours, what difference is it that their incompentence after work hours can’t be sold outside of Amazon. Or are the employees ripping the Amazon Games division off?

1994’s Star Wars: TIE Fighter Remade With Modern Graphics

If EA’s Squadrons wasn’t quite to the scale you were hoping for from your Star Wars flight game, never mind: you can always replay 1994 classic TIE Fighter, which now has vastly-improved visuals and some other modern tweaks instead.

What you’re looking at here is TIE Fighter: Total Conversion, which isn’t actually the original TIE Fighter. Instead, it’s a mod for its sequel, 1999’s X-Wing Alliance, porting the original game’s menus and missions into a more robust engine, then using more mods on top of that (the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project) to make everything look nicer.

Having been in development for years, the project was finally and fully released over the weekend, and is so much more than just “TIE Fighter with better lighting.” Because this had to be rebuilt in a whole other game, the developers decided to take the opportunity to mess with the original, and have designed a “reimagined” campaign that goes for 37 missions and adds “more ships, bigger battles [and] in some cases completely new missions.”

The soundtrack has also been remastered, proper widescreen resolutions are available, and there’s VR support as well. Though it’s important to note that both those reimagined missions and the soundtrack are optional improvements; you can still play the original campaign and listen to the old MIDI soundtrack if you want.

Source: 1994’s Star Wars: TIE Fighter Remade With Modern Graphics

‘GTA Online’ will shut down on PS3 and Xbox 360 on December 16th

It’s almost the end of the line for those who’ve been causing havoc in Los Santos with their friends on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Rockstar Games says it will shut down the Grand Theft Auto Online servers for those consoles on December 16th, bringing an end to the multiplayer mode as well as website stat tracking via the Rockstar Games Social Club. The move doesn’t affect the single-player side of Grand Theft Auto V.

You’ll still be able to buy PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Shark Cards for GTA Online until September 15th. However, you won’t be able to get a refund or transfer your digital currency or virtual items to another platform.

PS3 and Xbox 360 GTA Online players can no longer transfer their character data or progress to another platform either. When the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto V arrived, players were initially able to port their GTA Online progress to the newer consoles. Rockstar ended support for those transfers in 2017.

The publisher says it will “continue to move forward with updates and support” for the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions of GTA Online. In November, it’ll release versions of GTA V and GTA Online optimized for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. PS5 owners will get free access to GTA Online for three months. It’s not yet clear whether PS4 and Xbox One owners will be able to transfer GTA Online data to the upcoming versions.

Rockstar will also shut down online features for other PS3 and Xbox 360 games on September 16th. Multiplayer, leaderboards and website stat tracking will no longer be available in those versions of Max Payne 3 after that date. PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of L.A. Noire will also lose website stat tracking. The single-player aspects of both games are otherwise unaffected.

Source: ‘GTA Online’ will shut down on PS3 and Xbox 360 on December 16th | Engadget

This is a real problem, also for the history of gaming. Regulators should force an open source variant of the server to be released to the public so that these games are not at the mercy of the publisher to kill as and when they please.