from the copyright-is-strange dept

HoMM3HD

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The most classic installment is on sale for only $3.74 during the autumn sale, which is nearly at its historical low. After receiving a generous tip, the tavern keeper said: "This HD version does not include Shadows of Death and Armageddon's Blade." Friends who want to play should note that this version lacks random maps, elemental towns, and neutral creatures.

Songs of Conquest

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The highest-selling spiritual successor has surpassed 50K copies sold after finishing its EA this year. During the autumn sale, it is priced at $13.99, which is close to its historical low. Given the game's level of completion, it's quite worth it.

Pennon and Battle

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If you’re not a fan of the pixel art in Song of Conquest, you might want to check out the 3D model version, Pennon and Battle. The game was released before the leaks about Olden Era, but it incorporates many gameplay elements from those leaks, such as the Hive faction, online arena battles, and other designs. In addition to the classic gameplay of HoMM, the heroes also feature external progression, allowing players to spend points on a talent tree after playing a few matches, which makes it increasingly addictive. Currently, there are 5 factions, 6 types of magic, 7 tiers of units, and 3 branches, with the designs of the Mechanical Alliance and the Eternal Night Council being particularly distinctive. Most importantly, the game is updated weekly, and even if you haven't played, you can suggest ideas in the forums and groups. The initial release was quite discouraging, but most issues have been addressed now. The price is also at a historical low, only $12.59.

Silence of the Siren

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The game is a sci-fi themed version of HoMM, introducing initiative to determine the order of unit actions. The consumption of magic for combat and exploration skills is quite high, and even equipping ordinary items requires resource expenditure. Currently, there are 3 races, and during the autumn sale, it is priced at nearly $23.99!

Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, released in 2022, lets gamers play as the fictional character “Ahmad al-Falastini,” a young Palestinian student, as he takes revenge on Israeli soldiers who tortured him and killed his family. An updated version of the game called Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the name Hamas uses for its October 7, 2023 attack, was released on Steam earlier this month.

Nijm, who identifies as a Muslim Brazilian, said that his game was intended to be a political protest and was not affiliated with any specific Palestinian group.

“I tried to show that we Palestinians have rights to resist against Israeli occupation and the genocide we clearly see [on] a daily basis on the news. But I also like to always stay ‘under the thin red line’ between freedom of speech and ‘terrorist propaganda,’” Nijm told Al Jazeera.

Operation al-Aqsa Flood’s cut scene was intended to be provocative and “to ‘trigger’ Zionists”, Nim said, but the gameplay itself is more toned down, with players immediately failing if they shoot unarmed civilians.

“I do not blame Valve nor Steam; the blame is on the UK government and authorities that are pissed off by a video game. On their flawed logic, the most recent Call of Duty Black Ops 6 should be banned, as well,” he said.

“As you play as an American soldier and go to Iraq to kill Iraqi people. What I can say is that we see clearly the double standards.”

As Valorant players with all kinds of Asus Xonar sound cards have noticed since the 9.x patch series, the support for these devices has been dropped and the game will no longer function acceptably. After roughly half a minute, the entire system, not just the game, loses its audio output. Reddit user /u/travishenrichs has contacted support and received following statement: "In order to protect the competitive integrity and security of our games, some pieces of hardware are not supported with VALORANT and will not function properly with the game. Having said that, this is something being looked into by our QA team, but I can't provide an ETA at this time."

Since this critical bug is known for half-year, is not fixed by 9.10, it is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon as the doubtful support response suggests. I hope software developers avoid situations such as these to avoid forced obsolescence of hardware devices, as these devices do function correctly on Windows 10 and 11.

Have anyone else noticed that UE 5 is significantly harder to run than other game engines in the current generation. Every game that uses UE 5 is hard to run and the visuals doesn't look worth the performance hit. Games from other engines and Games uses UE 4 is so much better.

Just take a look at S.T.A.L.K.E.R, yes they might be qble to optimise it more but even games less buggy if it's UE 5 it's hard to run. I play a LOT of AA games that uses UE 4 and all of them hits 100+ fps without breaking a sweat while still looking beautiful. It's crazy.

Why do you think this is? Also while you're commenting, drop the best performing 9th gen game you've played too!

Edit: particularly Nintendo haha

I think itscalled a Lets play or something

https://archive.ph/Zp89O

Dear Reader who I shall never know, in your eyes, I know this game was ultimately a fiction. However, I hope you’ll follow us in our analysis and recounting of this fantastical adventure. I hope I will be able to reminisce and review what we saw together. Even if your journey is over, I hope you’ll still want to tag along. And, most importantly, with all my heart, I hope that fantasy will keep giving you strength.

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I think gamers as a whole, though specifically those in niche communities, need to take a long and hard look at themselves. We should celebrate the volunteers that create wonderful content for us, generally with no financial gain. Instead, commonly, there are communities that criticize and tear down every little thing they can think of. They even went as far as to doxx the poor woman. We need to be better, and we need to hold these kind of toxic trolls accountable. Especially those of us who are men, we have a responsibility to call out other men who mistreat women in the gaming industry, or gaming in general.

*Edit: I apologize if I insinuated that all gamers are guilty of this kind of behavior, that was not my intention at all. My sentiment is that many of us do not think about this kind of thing, and less are willing to speak out against their friends. We need to be better about that as a whole. I appreciate you as a person if you are already of this mindset.

Happy Volts caters to the mentally ill residents of Bullworth, as stated by its sign ("Home for the Mentally Unwell") which may include the Townies Otto Tyler, Leon and Clint (aka Henry), who Jimmy helps return to the asylum. During the course of the game, the English teacher Mr. Galloway, and Greaser leader Johnny Vincent are admitted into the asylum, only to escape with help from Jimmy. And during the missions, Fenwick can also be seen on grounds. It is also rumored that Gary Smith was admitted into the asylum.

The building is divided into three blocks A, B, and C, Block B being reserved for patients who have violent tendencies. At first glance it may seem that only A and B block can be accessed, as only those two have the icon indicating that the door can be opened. However, the door to C Block can be broken down through punches, jumping against it, or weapons. Blocks A and B are in active use, but C Block is run down and decrepit. There is a mortuary located inside C block, along with what appears to be operating tables and a X-ray viewer depicting x-rays of humans with physical defects. If Jimmy regularly visits Block C he may encounter a door marked with EMPLOYEES ONLY with a green arrow under it, which is normally locked. If Jimmy opens this door, he will enter a fenced-off area. He will not be able to return to the building, and will have to wait till 2 am. Alternatively, Jimmy can use a weapon to hit an orderly though the fence, then he will be busted through the wall and then brought to Blue Skies Industrial Park police station. (Jimmy must be close up to the fence otherwise the orderlies won't spot him.)

During free roam, not a single patient is seen in the cells, though they can be heard screaming. The asylum is patrolled by the Orderlies, who wear white uniforms and look for trespassers. This interior is the most interactable in the entire game. If Jimmy wears the Black Ninja Outfit or Orderly Uniform he can explore the asylum without getting in trouble for trespassing.

I’m in my late 30s now and over the past 6ish months, I have been gaming a lot less or I find myself gaming but not enjoying it.

I used to always have a game I wanted to play or revisit, but it seems that nothing is really catching my interest.

I’m mostly a retro gamer so I was always happy to revisit old titles. But now I get bored of them quickly.

Only took like 4.5 years

I have an RTX 3060 that I bought about two years ago. Until recently I only had a 1080p 75Hz monitor, so I could play pretty much anything on max settings.

Then I decided to treat myself to a 1440p 180Hz monitor, which has been amazing. Obviously this is a lot more GPU intensive, so I have had to turn down some settings. Then I decided to try out FSR. I'm on Linux and gaming mostly through Proton, so it was as easy as adding a launch command.

Holy crap. Elden ring (admittedly not a very intensive game) went from a choppy 50 fps on high settings and medium ray tracing, to a smooth 60 fps on maxed out settings and high ray tracing with FSR Quality. And I can't even tell the difference from the upscaling! I'm super impressed and can't wait to try out FSR 2 and DLSS now!

The fourth iteration of a game jam all about accessibility is now open for registration, a month long jam about creating blind accessible games that starts in February! The page was just created today, so if you want to join a team they are just starting to form so you have plenty of time!

Sign up here!

https://itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-gamers-4

Over the last 3 iterations we as a community have created over 70 blind accessible video games, and we would love if you all signed up and helped make this the most successful jam yet!

https://itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-gamers-3/entries https://itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-gamers-2/entries https://itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-gamers/entries

Never considered making a blind accessible game? Join the discord linked in the jam pages, where not only do we have accessibility veterans, but blind community members who are happy to help people putting in the effort to make more accessible games.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you sign up to Help make gaming accessible for all!

It's only compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based browsers afaik.

SteamDeck TOP Played list.

In the past week, I've already spent dozens of hours on the new DLC of Brotato and Vampire Survivors, it's so addictive! In a few weeks, there will also be the official releases of DarkchaserBattletide and Jotunnslayer. There are just too many survivor-like games to play!

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I'm interested in something that games and front-ends can implement in order to play online and connect with friends, independent of the actual front-end in use.

This would allow gamers to connect without being reliant on companies' stores.

Is there such a thing? Are there any discussions about creating one?

Just finished 12 Minutes and Indika with my wife. Enjoyed the tight 5-ish hour gameplay with decent not-too-challenging puzzles and great story.

Basically 5-hour date night that’s more engaging than a movie.

Any other games that you can recommend in this category?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21551205

Astro Bot is an incredible experience from the moment you open the box. Or download it, if you went that direction. It's a joyful experience that is both a celebration of PlayStation and gaming in general. It's characters from dozens of franchises, bright and cheerful music, gorgeous art style and graphics, and excellent platforming make this truly one of the best video games I've ever played.

Just finished it up - really enjoyed it, doesn't take itself too seriously or punishes the player with difficulty.

Definitely didn't drag as much as the original. The french dwarf dude wasnt as annoying. Will have to replay the original to see what was cut. Curious as to what others thought.

The Hobo is a veteran of the Korean War. While in Korea he saw combat regularly, and lost most of his platoon in a friendly fire incident. It's unknown how he first came to Bullworth Academy, but he currently lives in a fenced in yard behind a broken down school bus on the school grounds. He is an alcoholic and spends much of his time either drunk or looking for a way to get drunk. He occasionally has flashbacks to the war, and may suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is also collecting radio transistors with a great urgency, claiming he needs them to finish a device he's building before it's too late.

At an unknown point in time the Hobo was a member of the Bullworth faculty. He occasionally says he should go back to teaching, and calls Dr. Crabblesnitch a spineless weasel. The nerds mention that he was a former teacher in smalltalk. Miss Danvers occasionally announces over the PA system that "contrary to rumor, the old drunk by the school bus is not a former teacher at Bullworth". The exact nature of the Hobo's relationship to the school and its staff is unknown, however.

The Hobo's last name is Grant. One of the townswomen has a line of dialogue that states about a Mr. Grant and the Korean War, and in fact the game's data files list his name as Mr. Grant. It is vaguely hinted by putting various lines of dialogue together that Mr. Hattrick was responsible for the friendly fire incident in Korea. Another reference to Mr. Grant is Miss Kopke saying that she heard "that Mr. Grant was once a star of the Scottish stage", an allusion to his voice actor's theater career. Moreover, Mihailovich claims that Mr. Grant may have been the mayor of Bullworth at some point.

Valve announced a change for Steam today that will make things a lot clearer for everyone, as developers will now need to clearly list the kernel-level anti-cheat used on Steam store pages.

In the Steamworks Developer post Valve said: "We've heard from more and more developers recently that they're looking for the right way to share anti-cheat information about their game with players. At the same time, players have been requesting more transparency around the anti-cheat services used in games, as well as the existence of any additional software that will be installed within the game."

I played Cyberpunk at launch and while I had some bugs, I generally really enjoyed it and did each of the missions in the game,

I decided to replay it since it’s been updated a lot and I’ve found that I’m just bored when playing it. I think I spend about half the time just skipping dialog and the other half shooting.

The combat sections seem to pass too quickly just to have a bunch of story to wade through.

Maybe I’m just in the mood for a different kind of game.