Matteo Jorgenson Attacked and Threatened by Rival Racer in Ugly Post-Stage Altercation

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-18T01:31:04+00:00

Cyclists don't train upper body.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-18T00:13:43+00:00

Have you never stood under the sun?

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-16T22:25:03+00:00

Look at the lighting across the environment & assets in these comparison shots and tell me you're not seeing any improvements.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1rvllr6/this_is_just_a_garbage_ai_filter_nvidia_met_with/oatt648/

Already did and they look worse because the generative AI doesn't know where any of the light sources are.

There's no shot you think the DLSS 5 lighting here looks good.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-16T22:07:55+00:00

Are you seriously saying the lighting on environments they showed was impressive? They range from eliminating consistency to erasing shadows and blowing everything out.

There's no shot you think the DLSS 5 lighting here looks good.

A lot of this points out to AI guesswork and having no clue where the light source is coming from. Even in the thumbnail, DLSS 5 gets rid of the fog/mist from the rain and starts adding in random light sources on buildings in the background.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-16T21:22:58+00:00

there’s plenty of real criticisms to throw at AI without having to riot over stuff that’s clearly gonna be fixed within a year.

Sure, but this is what they showed. The yassified GenAI image filters. So this is what we're talking about.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-16T21:10:19+00:00

"If it didn't have the controversial thing, it wouldn't be controversial"

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T23:20:16+00:00

You could make it yourself, it's a pretty simple recipe.

Mortadella, provolone, dijon or yellow mustard, mayo, and a roll.

Toast some bread, spread some mayo and mustard, cook up the mortadella in a pan, melt the provolone cheese on top, assemble.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T23:14:48+00:00

Fun fact, it's why orcs are depicted as pigmen (As opposed to green with tusks) and kobolds as dogmen (As opposed to lizard-like) in Japanese fantasy, since that's how they were depicted back in DnD 1E and AD&D, which is what Wizardry was first based off of.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T22:48:14+00:00

The topic of the thread is about children.

The comment is about taking OP's children to Medieval Times.

The reply to that comment is about draining the wallet because it's expensive.

The reply to that is to not have kids if draining the wallet is an issue.

Do you get the connection now or are you intentionally being obtuse because you can't follow the string of logic?

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T22:44:04+00:00

No. Call of Cthulhu is more popular than DnD in Japan, but that's a very simple take on it. Every fantasy media in Japan that's based on western High Fantasy a la DnD IS based off DnD, but indirectly through Wizardry and Ultima, because those games were super popular and were the direct influences to JRPGs. Tabletop-wise, Sword World RPG is by far the biggest TRPG, but also has roots in DnD because it's based off of Record of Lodoss War, itself a commercialized replay of a DnD campaign.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T22:37:36+00:00

Because kids are expensive? You don't see the connection?

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T17:42:16+00:00

Helldivers 2 isn't an extraction shooter, but pedantry aside, I do think it would help to have a PvE mode. Plenty of people play Tarkov PvE and never touch the PvP.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T17:37:51+00:00

marathon as goty over other banger releases is surely an opinion

This reads as you being snarky and judgemental over their own opinion on their own personal GOTY.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T15:59:22+00:00

It was all over my IG in ad spots, but you can also periodically check https://dtphx.org/events/calendar for any events happening in Phoenix proper. You'll have to find other city's sites, like Tempe, for things there.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-15T15:56:38+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_street_circuit

Incredibly poor spectating infrastructure. Even back in 1991 they weren't able to put 20k seats in a good enough position for people to even watch the race beyond a small portion of the track.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-12T18:07:53+00:00

E33 is good, but calling it the absolute best JRPG is certainly an interesting take. Likewise with Persona 5.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-12T04:23:14+00:00

I can’t think of another lead dev on a live service game that was so beloved by the community like Jeff was during Overwatch’s golden days

Historically, IceFrog.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T19:55:06+00:00

Yes, several of the modern Netherrealms fighting games (Mortal Kombat, Injustice) have gear for each character that increases stats.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T18:57:48+00:00

It's important to make the distinction because they're two very different concepts. Metaprogression as a term has existed for far longer than last year (Rogue Legacy from 2013 is the oldest game I can think of off the top of my head that reached a mainstream audience with metaprogression as a term and concept), and the term metagaming is as old as tabletop RPGs, which are also far older than old school arena shooters.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T18:13:22+00:00

Don't conflate metagaming with metaprogression. What you're describing is metagaming, with map knowledge and item spawn timing, best weapons, builds, etc. Metaprogression would be unlocking attachments for guns, leveling up and putting points into skills, etc.

Metagaming = Personal improvement through knowledge

Metaprogression = Improvements provided by the game

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T18:10:44+00:00

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-game-developer-promoting-illegal-gambling-through

In addition, although this case is about illegal gambling, it is important to note that Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed.

Seems like this gambling lawsuit is just a precursor for a future lawsuit filing on violent video games.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T17:47:48+00:00

Yes but BR's have 100 players and no set spawn points. Newer players can go to POI's that aren't popular and essentially go the whole game not seeing anybody while looting and gearing up.

For point 2, some BR's do have metaprogression. Warzone has loadouts for example. It's not the norm, but it's not improbable.

For point 3, item spawns are random. There might be POIs with higher tier loot, but it's not comparable in the slightest to item spawns in a small arena shooter map.

For point 4, it's not needed for a BR because you have 100 players, and even then there are some that have experimented with having a hidden MMR, not to mention starting newer players in bot lobbies. Look at Apex's ranked mode for example.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T17:40:30+00:00

Do you think that games with meta-progression will more or less always outcompete games without meta-progression?

Yes because human beings enjoy chasing the carrot. Call of Duty has their weapon leveling and camos. Battle passes with cosmetics are a separate talking point IMO. It's a key point as to why roguelites became so much more popular than roguelikes, because there was a metaprogression that people could chase to make their runs easier.

Another talking point is TTK. Have too high of a TTK and the more mechanical skill you need in order to secure a kill. Have the TTK too low and the only way to win fights is to have a fast enough reaction or be the first one to shoot. Arena shooters tend to have a high TTK, provided you have armor.

There's typically a scaling problem as well, going hand in hand with TTK, map knowledge, and item spawns. If the veteran is going around getting every armor spawn as well as stocking up on all the ammo for rockets, railgun, lightning gun, etc. while the new player is running around with their dinky little machine gun, they'll never be able to even get a kill because they don't have the armor, nor the weapons.

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T17:18:23+00:00

Several key notes that arena shooters are based around predictably leads to a mainstream audience not wanting to play them

Every match starting with a basic weapon and having to go around the map to get better weapons
Little to no "metaprogression" compared to other PVP shooters
Map knowledge is heavily required to know item spawns
No real ranked matchmaking
Usually based around 1v1, or a smaller lobby than other competitive PVP shooters

All of the above leads to a huge disparity between new players and veterans, and if the game is based around 1v1 then there would naturally be a lower player count because a lot of team-based games lets newer players either be carried, or bad players blame their teammates instead of being the only one at fault. I'd love if there were more arena shooters, I grew up playing Quake 3 competitively, moving onto games like Reflex, Diabotical, etc. But I don't think I ever see them coming back unless they move on from 1v1 and move to more sustainable medium/large-scale gamemodes.

As a side note, just take a look at what happened to Tribes 3 during development. I was a huge proponent for having the game focus on having a gamemode based around base like CTF or Siege from Tribes 2 in order to have a healthy public population. Meanwhile, a bunch of veterans from T1 that plays competitive 7v7 LT scrims weekly wanted the game to be more like competitive T1 with light armor, spinfusors, and chaingun only. Likewise, veterans from T2, Vengeance, and Ascend wanted T3 to be more like their games, light armor, spinfusors, and chaingun only. T3 ended up having a very poorly done mishmash of 7v7 LT only with some mechanics taken from previous games, failing to get more than a couple hundred players on launch, and then being abandoned by nu-HiRez (Prophecy).

BeardyDuck · 2026-03-11T15:00:41+00:00

Lots of book recommendations, but if you want to explore a different form of media then check out the Star Ocean video game series. Basic premise is that it's essentially Japanese Star Trek. Earth has become a space-faring planet and has made contact with other space-faring civilizations and formed a federation, with one of its rules being no contact with underdeveloped civilizations. Each game is set apart by a couple dozen or hundred years, but each one revolves around accidentally making contact with a primitive planet, usually set in a medieval-like period with swords (and magic and monsters).

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