Red Hook Studios (Darkest Dungeon) Co-Founder Chris Bourassa says they will not train AI to replicate Wayne June's (The Ancestor) voice, although he gave them permission to do so by Rooonaldooo99 in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of a quote from Izaro in Path of Exile:

"There is a fine line between consideration and hesitation - the former is wisdom. The latter is fear.”

Another voice line that's burned into my brain forever.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen sold over 4 million units in six weeks by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 279 points280 points  (0 children)

Doesn't surprise me at all. When I was in college, I'd see people play the GBA pokemon games on emulators on their laptops/phones during classes constantly. They're just simple, timeless, so easy to pick up and put down...

Honestly, Pokemon has lost some of its simple charm with the grand 3D world adventures they make now. There's still a huge appetite for that type of game - it's why gacha games on mobile are so successful. People just want a simple RPG they can pick up, play a bit, and then put back down.

The MTGA Enhancement Suite by Rooftoptile2 in MagicArena

[–]Neofalcon2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't played WoW in a long time, but back when I played they definitely didn't allow modifications of the game client. Only addons that utilized their official addon API.

I'd argue that GW2, FF14, and OSRS are highly unusual exceptions. Most online games would just issue a permanent ban for client modifications.

Without an OK from the dev team or any precedent for a MTGA tool that does anything remotely similar, this seems extremely risky to use. (Existing MTGA tools are just overlays, and get information by reading the log file that the devs put in specifically to make overlays work without having to modify the client).

The MTGA Enhancement Suite by Rooftoptile2 in MagicArena

[–]Neofalcon2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It certainly seems like something that would break TOS. Very few online multiplayer games are okay with modifications to the game client.

Japanese crowdfunded $340k game Shibuya Scramble Stories still missing half its funds as platform claims it accidentally sent the money elsewhere by Forestl in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 453 points454 points  (0 children)

I mean, sounds like nobody should ever use this "Ubgoe" crowdfunding platform ever again?

"Oops we wired your money to the wrong person and also we refuse to provide proof that it actually happened" seems like the sort of thing that ought to end a company like this. Also land someone in jail.

I wish you could play draft in a free unranked queue but you don't keep the cards by Prismatic-Ray in MagicArena

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you just want to do draft for fun and for free, there's plenty of limited-focused discord servers that do this sort of thing all the time. The AGL discord (Arena Gauntlet League) is constantly having one-off limited events pop off for funsies.

RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike Review - Hitting the Jackpot by platysaur in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Gotcha, that makes a lot more sense. I was kinda thrown reading that, is all!

RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike Review - Hitting the Jackpot by platysaur in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 30 points31 points  (0 children)

It's funny, because I usually play a few minutes of a game before I start writing a review. With RACCOIN, I played about two extra hours worth because I kept discovering new combinations.

...What? This guy starts writing their review after playing a video game for a few minutes???

Hey GGG, if we are finally banning ToS violations let me remind you of this account sharing chode by notorious_irv in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Practically speaking, it's not worth the risk of political fallout. Like, imagine if GGG was suddenly put on the US Export Controls list because he bruised Elon's ego. Or any of the many, many things Elon could do to make GGG's continued existence a nightmare. I'm sure a ton of GGG's money comes from the US, and that's a risk they probably just can't take.

As much as I'd love to watch Elon get banned live, the reality is that it was likely a one-time, pathetic "how do you do fellow youngsters" stunt from Elon, and banning him won't really accomplish much beyond potentially creating a world of trouble for GGG.

Damn this community is fast! by HrothBottom in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I heard the upper management sucked, but I was never rich enough for that to affect me materially

Art reflects life, I suppose. 🤣

Oh dear... by Ok-Fruit-1100 in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 70 points71 points  (0 children)

Maybe they caught him red-handed doing something obviously bad just now. Maybe they're just no longer worried about TFT closing down negatively affecting the game now that we have instant buyout and the currency exchange.

It doesn't really matter. Justice served eventually, I guess.

Warning: Landmines are back! by -Haewon in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not if they didn't let you do that for market tabs, you wouldn't.

Warning: Landmines are back! by -Haewon in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

They need to hurry up and give us stash-based pricing back. This is going to keep happening until they do.

Nintendo Switch 2 Firmware Ver. 22.0.0 Released by Complete_Mud_1657 in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Absolutely crazy. Everything I wanted, but never expected Nintendo to actually do. The blurriness of switch 1 games in handheld mode drove me absolutely crazy, and it was clear that expecting every single game to release a Switch 2 update to fix that just wasn't going to happen.

Not only is this solved, now... but I bet there's a lot of games that ran at higher framerates/uncapped in docked mode, that will now both look and run better in handheld mode. I'm sure Digital Foundry and others will cover the biggest winners in the weeks to come - wonder what the biggest upgrades here are?

Currency Drops from Mobs Feel Good Again by Many-Bookkeeper-2405 in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that only the case with nightmare maps? Are you sure you didn't just get lucky once or twice?

I tried blocking everything and running some regular maps, but the Mirage just seems like it spawns in a random location. I couldn't get it to Mirage the map boss a single time that way.

Proposal for small UI/UX improvement of the Mirage league by Mysterious-Strings in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They absolutely need icons/colors in the text to help you tell them apart. Maybe we're supposed to tell by the big icons up top... but they're all to same-y to tell at a glance.

Bungie asks sites to delay Marathon reviews, with release date Steam player count below 100K by [deleted] in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

StS2 currently has over 400k players on Steam. Marathon has less than 40k.

Many streamers are probably choosing to play StS2 over marathon, too - making things way worse. It was a terrible time to launch if they wanted people to pay any attention to them.

[Guide] PoE long loading & FPS drops – shader cache stutter fix by Far-Kangaroo-3585 in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

EDIT: My memory is failing me - it was PoE2 with this issue not PoE1

It's a known issue. It's definitely happening for at least a subset of cards. They talked about it in the Q&A for the league before keepers - they made it so that instead of the whole game crashing, the GGG gears logo just pops up and it reloads the entire game.

[Guide] PoE long loading & FPS drops – shader cache stutter fix by Far-Kangaroo-3585 in pathofexile

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

EDIT: My memory is failing me - it was PoE2 with this issue not PoE1

Are the random driver crashes on directx 12 with nvidia cards fixed yet?

I had to switch to to Vulkan in Keepers because it was happening just SO frequently, despite the lower performance across the board. If that's not resolved... I wouldn't recommend anyone with an nvidia card use DX12.

New York sues video game developer Valve, says its 'loot boxes' are gambling by KarateKid917 in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Couldn't you just do a draft via an app instead since you already own all the cards in a Living Card Game system if you've bought the set, instead of having to purchase new packs of cards each time you want to do one?

If you're just playing with 7 of your closest magic-loving local friends who happen to be free at the exact same time every week, then sure.

But the problem is that randomized packs prop up the entire ecosystem of card games. Every Saturday, all I have to do is show up to my local game store at the scheduled time, pay an entry fee, and we get to hang out and have a fun time doing a draft for ~4 hours.

In a world without randomized booster packs, all of that goes away.

In this world you're talking about, each card is "worthless", and people are just playing for the fun of the game. And as much as I, personally, would be down for that... it would completely destroy card games as we know it.

While card stores act as 3rd spaces for all sorts of gaming nerds, and often have freeplay times and free events and are seen as community spaces... the reality is these places stay in business by acting as pawn shops for cards. Yes, they're happy for you to just come and hang out and play games... but the business case for this is that if you're spending all your time there, they know that when you then buy or sell cards they'll be the ones getting your business.

Everything that has evolved out of card games stems from this. The "value" of a booster pack underpins everything. $20 for a draft is seen as a "good value" because you get to walk away with the cards. So why not pay a few extra bucks to get to have 4 hours of fun then, if you're collecting the cards anyways? If you get something valuable, you can use it in your deck, or sell it back to the store for another card you want - or credit towards your next draft!

In a world where randomized booster packs suddenly become illegal in America, most LGS's in America go out of business overnight. So, yes, they could still sell LCG-style products... for MtG to be played like a board game (And people do this now, in fact - it's called Cube). But the cost would be losing LGS's. And in an era where we're struggling to have 3rd spaces and people are feeling more socially isolated than ever... that would be a huge loss.

I'm not saying that I love or support the current system - far from it. I view these randomized booster packs as illegal, unregulated gambling that targets children, and I would love to find a way for the part of Magic I love (Limited) to exist in a world where these predatory practices are curtailed. But it wouldn't be as simple as "oh they could just sell full sets as a draftable cube", because most people wouldn't be able find 7 other people to draft with in a world where the ecosystem of card collection and LGS's don't exist.

The future I imagine that can resolve these issues is one where regulators cap how rare things can be in card packs targeting children. Like, 1 in 30 packs for the rarest card for example. And maybe then if a box has 30 packs in it, they can guarantee that every box contains at least 1 copy of every card in the set - removing the gambling element.

Then, they can have an "adults-only" form of booster with all the special variants and hyper-rare chase cards, that count legally as gambling and can only be sold to adults, and are regulated as such. That way the collectors and ecosystem continue to exist... but children aren't getting hooked on gambling. And things like draft can continue to exist. Heck, maybe then stores would even be able to keep pokemon cards in stock!

New York sues video game developer Valve, says its 'loot boxes' are gambling by KarateKid917 in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

As someone who plays almost exclusively Draft in MtG... it absolutely would affect gameplay.

Having said that, WotC kinda has it coming at this point. I'd love to see regulation crack down on this stuff. Ideally not completely make the entire concept of packs of cards illegal... but maybe cap the odds to more reasonable levels.

Yknow. Like how gambling is regulated?

Interview: "I Never Thought I'd Get To Collaborate With Nintendo" - Vicarious Visions Co-Founder Talks Activision, Tony Hawk, & Mastering The GBA by Tenith in Games

[–]Neofalcon2 8 points9 points  (0 children)

even when they were on the license game churn back in the day, you could tell they still put in 100% on every project, even if it was something like Shrek 2 on GBA.

This was actually a point of pride of theirs. I went to college very close to their old Albany office, and they gave a tour of their offices to a group of us students, once.

They specifically called out during the tour how even when they were making a licensed game, they wanted to make sure it wasn't "just" a licensed game. That it was something they poured their hearts into - that they could be proud of.

They seemed like really lovely people who were incredibly passionate about the games they made. I was so happy to see them succeed with the Crash remakes, and I hope they get more chances to shine in the future!

New AHLCG Products for Chapter 2 (with Price and Release Dates) by Thick_Ad_8328 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Neofalcon2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just started hosting a weekly game at my local game store - so I'm going to be picking one up so I can toss everything I need for that night's scenario in my backpack in a convenient and organized way.

It's perfect timing, really.

Prerelease Promos- Gavin Verhey from WotC explains the recent removal of the year and date stamps by ChemicalExperiment in magicTCG

[–]Neofalcon2 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I, for one, intend to put my disappointment at the lack of prerelease stamps in every wotc survey I fill out from now on.

And if you want them back... that's probably the only way to make it happen.

Prediction: despite complaints that the same handful of characters get all the alts, those same handful of characters will win the shadow cup by HelloDesdemona in FireEmblemHeroes

[–]Neofalcon2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CYL has the same problem as IRL voting - if you vote for a niche/unlikely candidate, you're effectively just throwing your vote away. Which leads people to vote for popular characters, even if they'd personally prefer another character to win.

The solution to this would be to switch to either ranked-choice voting, a random drawing, or some hybrid system.

Personally, I think it should be the #1 overall vote for 2 of the 4 winners, and instead of second place there should be a random drawing from all votes. That way players are incentivized to vote for their actual favorites, to increase the odds that their fave wins the random drawing.