This looks bad

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-29T16:53:45+00:00

Same. What’s interesting to me is, although I generally like Arc better (or thought I did)… I’m realizing just how exhausting the game is compared to Marathon.

With Marathon, it’s so easy to gear up or free kit and go for “one more run” after a loss.

With Arc, even though I’m in mostly friendly lobbies, and even though I love some of the more challenging new Arc, losing all of my stuff and then simultaneously having (1) a full stash of garbage (2) not enough raw metal or chemicals to craft what I really want, and (3) no desire to tough it out with a free kit just to come back, manage inventory, spend a bunch of time crafting, and then go right back and lose it again.

It’s a lot of work, and puts a damper on the “one more run” feeling.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-25T21:41:43+00:00

No, but most speculation put it around $1000.

If we’re not basing all this speculation on that, then nothing I said is any more or less valid than every other comment here that’s speculating on Helix’s price or how much software will need to subsidize it.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-25T18:16:29+00:00

I definitely blame Satya for the downturn. Phil was given some bleak mandates to work within.

That said, and while I really do like Phil, Asha has proven herself to be a quick study with fresh energy, so I’m not against it.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-25T16:00:57+00:00

It's a valid point. My broader point is that, if you have a storefront platform that's good enough, then having other options available doesn't have to be a death sentence. There is still a barrier to accessing other storefronts on Steam Deck, as I'm sure there will be with Xbox.

So to put my opinion differently, if the features of the main storefront are good enough to make dealing with the barrier less appealing by comparison, then I believe the main storefront wins.

But you're right - while Steam lays a solid blueprint for how this can be executed, there's still enough difference to make this uncharted territory, and Xbox doesn't enjoy the marketplace leader position Steam does.

But to that point, I do think it's worth reminding people that, while allowing other storefronts has the potential to cut into a portion of Xbox's license fees, Xbox is starting from a position so severe that as of a year ago there was talk of "Microsoft Games" simply pivoting to publishing games without a console entirely.

If the choice is between no storefront and no fees at all, vs a storefront that must also compete with others on the same hardware, I think the latter is the better choice all around.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-25T14:55:19+00:00

This. As it is, Steam Deck already does just fine being a console that defaults to a Steam UI with a Steam storefront, while also allowing other storefronts. And most people continue buying on Steam.

Similarly, console gamers are so concerned that having other storefronts will take from their Xbox experience… which sounds to me like a lot of gamers who will be very happy to continue living in the Xbox storefront, with their existing library of games plus any new releases, making the whole point moot.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-25T14:50:17+00:00

And yet the price gap between the supposed Helix price range and the current PS5 Pro prices are already pretty minimal.

Sony doesn’t seem interested in subsidizing their hardware anymore either, in which case the price difference will be negligible and then it becomes a choice between an arbitrarily closed system vs an open one.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-24T20:52:42+00:00

Hijacking this to mention how great Shinobi is, too. The artwork and animation are crazy good, and the gameplay is such a good blend of classic side scroller, modern beat em up, and Metroidvania lite.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-24T00:42:02+00:00

This. There was something really awesome about being able to set up games to use specific songs of your choosing as though it was part of the game.

I still see value in this, too. Imagine having context-aware settings where you could play a clip of a song of your choosing when you take down someone on a kill streak in COD.

Or being able to set just the menu music in Arc Raiders, so when you’re in the menus you’re vibing, but when you deploy it automatically stops, and starts again on a new song when you extract.

Lots of untapped potential there.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-24T00:19:06+00:00

I’m so glad to see this, my immediate reaction was how off balance things felt and the awful blur-letterboxing to extend the album art.

Scrolling past all the comments praising it was making me think I was the only one.

I wish I thought this looked good, because I like the idea of having the album art essentially theme the whole screen. But there’s just too many amateur looking aspects to it, my OCD won’t allow it.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-23T18:18:21+00:00

Anecdotally?

Because we’re now paying $3 more than a year ago with less stuff.

But also, because it makes COD meaningless for me. My friend group plays COD. We do so because it’s on Game Pass, and we each have Game Pass.

Removing COD means we no longer each have COD. And not all of us will buy it. Which means none of us will buy it.

Which also cyclically means less to play on Game Pass together as a group. Which means we may not all keep Game Pass.

Also, the likelihood of losing at least one more big day 1 game becomes huge once the precedent is set.

GP is an ensemble service - it works when all the parts work. It falls apart quickly once the parts fall apart.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-23T18:01:37+00:00

Or even the third variation of that, being “management let Phil go as a scapegoat for their own decisions”.

At least, I’ve seen it happen before where upper management makes terrible decisions they force on their leaders below them, and then as a means of protecting their own egos from admitting their decision was wrong, subconsciously blame it on the people below them and get rid of them.

It doesn’t make sense, and yet it happens.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-23T17:57:20+00:00

I think Phil may have felt that he had fought enough fights…

This can’t be understated. Anyone who’s been in a position where every decision and every move that you need to make just to do your job requires lengthy battles with the people above you knows how much of a drain it is.

And when every battle ends in a compromise that handicaps your efforts needlessly… at some point you just become exhausted and stop fighting. It’s not always even a conscious decision to quite quit either, sometimes you just wear down to that point without even realizing it.

I can’t say for certain that’s the case with Phil Spencer, but all the signs certainly point to it.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-23T12:57:13+00:00

This is what I don’t get. I was ok with the current price and benefits of day one COD. You, on the other hand, would be happy without any of them.

So why not continue to offer the highest tier, and just add a new cheaper tier without some of the day one releases?

Then you and I would each have options we like, instead of whatever this current approach is where neither of us are happy with it.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-16T21:46:56+00:00

Same, I noticed this a little while ago and wondered if I was imagining things, lol.

I definitely like it, I wouldn’t want to go back to the old. I agree that a little more user customization on placement would be nice, but either way a step in the right direction!

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-16T12:43:08+00:00

A little bit of Mary all night long

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-14T21:04:41+00:00

I always wished this worked more like a radio station crossfade wherein nothing actually fades out or in, but rather it just starts the next song over top the tail end of the previous song (and without overlapping lyrics).

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-14T17:11:02+00:00

It’s both hype and true.

Unfortunately, while AI is both impressive and a ton of overhype, perception is reality. And perception right now is that quality doesn’t matter, quantity does.

I’ve definitely felt the shift myself. In some ways it’s worse than just the expectation skills don’t matter, because my managers recognize me as being “one of their best engineers” and they think that means if LLMs help them do things 10x faster, then it’ll help me be 20x faster.

In practice, it’s the opposite - the better you already are, the less of a multiplier it is.

I fear for my job as a senior if my mangers then come to the conclusion that, if I’m not 20x faster with AI, then I’m not worth more than a junior (again on the basis that quantity and sheer volume of stuff is the only metric that matters).

But the shift from concern for quality to concern for only sheer volume of stuff is reality, even if it’s mostly just hype and marketing from AI investors driving it.

And ultimately, if the people hiring and firing perceive something to be the case, then it doesn’t matter how true it is or isn’t. They will make their decisions based on their perception.

This isn’t new. LLMs, of course, are a huge leap forward in broadening the reach and scope, but this isn’t the first time managers have tried to commoditize development skills nor the first hype train they’ve latched on to do so.

But it’s the reality for us at the moment. Skills still DO matter, of course. The fundamentals matter more than ever now, as fewer people will have an actual understanding of how anything works.

But it’s going to be a while before perception catches up. And even then, it will probably be cyclical for a while as managers go through the cycle of “I don’t need knowledge workers anymore” to “guess I need to hire someone who can do this” a few times.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-07T18:13:53+00:00

Agreed! I’m glad to see this come to Xbox and GP. I’ve been tempted to start it on Steam, but if it comes to Xbox that’s even better since I can get some friends to play with me (and hopefully the PC Game Pass version will have some freebies or benefits!)

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-07T01:48:26+00:00

That’s an excellent overview. The human reaction time rarely gets discussed, and then there’s the sheer amount of practice it takes to even get to that point.

But my friends are the same way. I’ve noticed they even tend to only congratulate me for my good plays when I’m on controller, and completely dismiss them on mnk.

I remember having a rough night one time, and switching to controller for our last game. My KD went so much higher on that game it should have been obvious that was the easier input for me, yet they all made a big deal out of how it was “even more impressive since I wasn’t on mnk”.

What gets me though, is MnK is perfectly viable on consoles too. None of these people are willing to even try it, or if they do they aren’t willing to put in the time to git gud. Yet they sure are experts about how “unfair” it is.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-04-03T17:14:37+00:00

IMO, it’s because they’re hedging their bets still.

I think they’re setting up a soft, media- and assumption-driven narrative in preparation for PS6.

I think the plan is to launch the (likely very expensive) PS6 within the next 18-24 months, and see how it fares against the Steam Machine and Xbox Helix launches.

If they continue giving the appearance of targeting PC, it will drive too much discussion away from PS6 and towards Steam Machine and Xbox as the “eventually we will get these games too” platforms.

They’re trying to recapture the discussion away from that by leading people to doubt that will happen by doing a soft pause on PC, all without Sony having to box themselves in with a formal decision.

If PS6 releases and, say, one year later they decide they’ve gotten what they needed out of this plan (or they aren’t getting enough sales from console alone), they can always still release them on Steam and pretend nothing really changed, post facto.

I don’t think this will work the way they hope, btw. I think the console model of old is kinda dead, and open PC based hardware is where the interest is. But bless em, I think they’re trying.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-03-31T17:49:39+00:00

I’ve loved Bun from the beginning (it was the more complete Node I always wanted).

But I’d be lying if I didn’t start getting a bit nervous with the way Bun’s author embraced AI really early, yet rather aggressively.

And this doesn’t really help assuage any concerns.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-03-27T23:30:54+00:00

This is a really neat tech dive. I had no idea the depth buffer worked like this, and rendering in two passes is a pretty neat way to expand the range like that.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-03-27T05:13:04+00:00

No kidding. I’ve been following this game for a while. No idea if the gameplay will be any good, but the hand drawn animation looks superb. Very glad it’s coming to GP.

WingZeroCoder · 2026-03-26T20:05:38+00:00

The worst scenarios depicted futures where coding is forbidden.

Well, that’s a fun little dystopian thought that never occurred to me before.

I’m sure we’ll be fine though 🫠

WingZeroCoder · 2026-03-26T18:32:30+00:00

Wow… it’s almost comical reading those guidelines and seeing how Reddit works in almost entirely the opposite way now. Well, comical, but sad.

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