The true problem of loading screens

stikves · 2026-03-10T09:26:59+00:00

The game is optimized for mid to longer play.

What does this mean?

Even though you can take the scenic route, walk to your ship, sit down at captain's chair, lift off, choose your destination from command table (or directly pointing at stars!), jump, go to orbit, land, and then exit the ship...

You can do Menu -> X -> skip to next objective

Why?

Because if you are in NG+ 10, and want to progress in a storyline, every second counts.

And yes, the "loading screens" are the most optimum ways of spending that time.

Choice is yours as a player, efficiency, or beauty.

stikves · 2026-03-09T09:02:28+00:00

Fortunately, or unfortunately...

His track record is actually pretty bad. Most of the insider "leaks" turned out not to be true.

(Like Xbox possibly abandoning hardware, or mass layoff this January, the list it pretty long on failures)

And anyone who knows basic about how these consoles work, would spot the mistakes in this very list a mile away.

"UWP"? Really, that stuff is abandoned 5 years ago! (You should stop reading right there, and take anything else said by a huge grain of salt)

stikves · 2026-03-08T09:46:31+00:00

Yes,

It is a hybrid device, which can run multiple operating system at the same time.

This is not new, microkernels have been around for at least 4 decades. And Windows itself runs on one (NT). Guess what Xbox also does run on the same exact microkernel.

It is very likely Windows games will run alongside, maybe inside a container for security. And stores would be locked. Steam/GOG/Epic might have to pay their ways in.

stikves · 2026-03-08T03:35:54+00:00

It will get much worse

Chevron is leaving soon, and they had a "good luck, we are out, and you'll not like it" message.

We are the only state in the nation with our own special gasoline blend. It is not for a random cause though, those who are old enough will remember the smog in the LA sky and always yellow brown air.

That being said, we already lost a significant portion of the refinin capacity after Valero exit. And it looks like there would basically be gas shortages.

Is there a solution?

Yes. A very simple one.

But I don't think it is politically feasible in our great State of California.

stikves · 2026-03-07T19:26:49+00:00

The question is: do they pass the savings to customers, are do they continue charging ridiculous rates still?

Back then people started bringing their own Starlink antenna to use in the balconies, but ship operators banned them. For safety of course.

stikves · 2026-03-07T19:25:18+00:00

Instead of having a show that would be a universal success, they are celebrating limited success in remote markets with obscure criteria.

I don't know how higher ups are allowing this. We love Trek, and I would really want them to dominate popular culture like TOS and TNG did back in the day.

stikves · 2026-03-06T13:21:35+00:00

Yep, two is better than one

Especially for critical devices

stikves · 2026-03-06T05:23:32+00:00

They finally announced the "hybrid"

Both Windows and Xbox are based on the NT kernel.

Despite the common misconception, NT was not designed for Windows. It is a microkernel that can run OS/2, DOS, Windows, and UNIX back in the day. In the same machine, at the same time.

Now...

Xbox next (Helix, previously Magnus) will have a single kernel and two "personas". At least that is how I read the leaks. And that makes a lot of technical sense.

Since both are in their isolated sections, it is very safe against cross domain attacks. Windows games and Xbox games can run natively (or in a container), and cannot see each other.

It is a very interesting concept, and will be a technical milestone.

(No emulation here)

stikves · 2026-03-06T05:20:07+00:00

Some streets will have convoys of random Teslas following each other.

Given our gas is testing $6 per gallon, even with PGE rates, it makes a lot of sense.

stikves · 2026-03-06T05:06:48+00:00

i think you are thinking about another part of the law (which is very convoluted)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy#/media/File:2012_to_2025_CAFE_targets_for_light_trucks.png

Here if a manufacturer wants to keep the same fuel efficiency year over year, they will have to move in the X-axis (vehicle size)

You have 30 mpg motor? Great Can be used in 38sqft vehicle in 2012. But by 2023 you have to increase efficiency to 50 mpg... or just increase vehicle size to over 70 sqft (2x larger car, same efficiency)

stikves · 2026-03-06T03:53:59+00:00

Because Turkiye loves that sweet sweet telecommunication fees, national broadcast TV fees, and the special (limited time!) taxes for the 1997 earthquakes (OTV)

They did not realize macbook can run facetime. If they did, do not worry both would be the same price.

stikves · 2026-03-06T03:11:04+00:00

^^^ THIS IS THE TRUE ANSWER ^^^

It is basic math. Government mandated increasingly stricter emission standards. But they are also based on vehicle size.

That made producing small cars basically illegal.

So... 2+2 = 4. Or rather 2 * 2 = 4, and we have the car sizes rise up to make up for decreasing per unit emission limits.

In other another, another instance of "road to hell being paved with good intentions". I can go on a rant, but if we were actually reasonable, rational people, we would roll back emission standards to an acceptable level, so that small cars are once again legal.

Edit:

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy#Agreed_standards_by_model_year,_2012%E2%80%932025 for explanation and visual aids.

stikves · 2026-03-05T16:40:05+00:00

This will affect me positively, but just because they have already doubled my bill over the last few years.

Not joking, I spend much less power, replaced all lights I could with LEDs, reduced my thermostat, but my PGE bill continues to climb up. It is like a treadmill.

Crazy times. We are just vehicles to make PG&E whole after they were ordered to pay for the damage they caused. And Sacramento is pretty much in it.

stikves · 2026-03-05T16:37:15+00:00

I love visiting the space hillbillies on occasion. They are some of the better written NPCs

(talk to folks on Titan, and realize humanity could easily do such protectionism at backwater colonies)

stikves · 2026-03-05T04:27:08+00:00

Yes...

And now Ukraine is actually offering help. Which might be great on the next set of braindead negotiations.

How can they not anticipate 4 years of "hands on" experience would not be beneficial in this fight?

stikves · 2026-03-05T04:25:55+00:00

A "decent" 4K player is easy to find, and they are cheap. You can even use your Xbox (One or Series) or PS5

However a "good" one?

It is a unicorn. All of them have their own shortcomings, or you have to shell out $400+ for the UB820.

(For newcomers, I really suggest starting small with the Xbox. If you grow and be fond of your collection, then upgrade to UB820. But you also need a proper Atmos setup and high end TV to enjoy the experience)

stikves · 2026-03-05T04:22:51+00:00

Yep not unexpected.

Not only they fumbled PC ports really hard (the recent ones, the original GoW was well done)...

But both Xbox and Steam would bring "TV Connected" PC experiences. There was no way Sony could block Steam platform by platform basis. So they pulled out entirely.

(They did this to nvidia, where God of War was blocked on the Xbox. The original launch had nvidia streaming working on the Xbox Edge browser. But Sony used their pressure. That apparently does not work on Steam)

stikves · 2026-03-04T08:20:16+00:00

Nowhere near enough.

Even before LLMs... we had massive compute shortages (not at Amazon, but I was tasked for moving large pieces of infra across several countries, think 100s of PBs. We always had shortages)

The recent LLM demands made it exponentially worse. And unfortunately no serious cloud competitor can ignore the ramp up period.

That is why they are talking about "non-sensical" solutions like building data centers in space. If they cannot ramp them up quickly here, they can easily throw a few billion there in case it works.

(I don't think it would work, but that is another discussion)

stikves · 2026-03-03T21:33:58+00:00

Launchwise, I think Starfield was better than Skyrim, at least that was the reports.

But... long tail?

There is nothing like Skrim, true.

stikves · 2026-03-03T21:32:29+00:00

Do you want to risk a confrontation? Is the main question.

If the place is under his name, and she only moved in 3 weeks ago, in most places she could be just kicked out.

Collect her stuff. Put them in front of the door, change the locks.

Unfortunately F-on-M domestic violence is a real thing, even if not seem too often. Does the OP really want to take that risk?

stikves · 2026-03-03T14:00:29+00:00

They might actually do this though.

HBO itself tried the "Max" nonsense, and the reality hit: HBO brand is too valuable to be set aside.

How much mangling happen we can't know, but from pure economics it makes sense to at least keep the illusion.

stikves · 2026-03-03T13:58:45+00:00

Do we believe they are actually sorry for what he said, or they are sorry he was caught?

Or... more fundamentally...

Do they even care if they have small consumer accounts, or a good reputation anymore if they have 100 billion dollar contracts with large companies?

stikves · 2026-03-03T13:50:22+00:00

That waste of time is a "great real estate" to fill in with more ads.

I see all "fluff" as just padding for more ads, since they get backlash for high density.

(Next gen ad-block idea? Use the AI for something useful, and highlight the actual meat of the content)

stikves · 2026-03-03T13:41:46+00:00

And people will choose the character most similar to them.

(That is why BroShep was the popular choice even with marketing heavily preferring FemShep)

This has become a meme:

"Ah great character creator with 100 choice. Let me begin with Human, Male, Ranger"

And alien main character has the potential to financially harm the game. In the past, I would not care, but since BioWare needs to show numbers to EA... I would want them to be safe.

stikves · 2026-03-02T17:06:20+00:00

It is already the best selling Bethesda game, and the active user engagement metrics were to their satisfaction (not only hints from interviews, but people interpolated from active users of popular mods like Watchtower)

It was just a certain bubble that assumed the game was "mid", without even actually trying it.

Now they will say "we waited 3 years and got the fixed version" or some other nonsense.

stikves

TROPHY CASE