lemann

You still kinda need to be online to play Steam games

It depends really, I've personally never been prevented from opening a Steam game with or without a connection.

Some other games are less clear - I'll use Palworld as an example: this can be played offline, on a dedicated server on the same network, but it needs to fetch your username from Steam first, and perform some checks using Epic Online Services. As long as it's started by the Steam client it's OK, and the errors regarding EOS servers can be dismissed.

Some people have managed to join official online multiplayer servers using pirated Palworld copies, so I would not expect the current graceful network error handling to be so lenient in future updates.

you can only launch said game with Steam.

Pirated steam games can be started using an open source steam emulator - protection is basically non existent compared to intrusive DRM like Denuvo. Although I do get where you're coming from in regards to the platform & accompanying client software being a closed ecosystem.

Steam's hardware on the other hand, that's open all day long 👌

DRM free option would be GOG games, which doesn't require online and the GOG launcher to play games afaik.

I fully agree.

I'm going to be controversial here with the launcher requirement though: I use Steam because it is a launcher, games store, save file sync client, online social platform, modding client (Workshop) and games library all in one. Any device I pick up - my deck, linux laptop, or windows desktop - will continue from where I left off, without fail.

For that reason the only DRM I'll turn a blind eye to is Steam's own: it never gets in the way of me accessing what I purchased. With Proton/SteamPlay, games originally targeted for Windows work seamlessly on my preferred platform, Linux. If a game is unsupported, it will still set up the compatibility layer for you at your choice, for further investigation at your leisure.

Their policies also prevent developers from revoking games from users' libraries, unless it's a Free To Play title (most of these will have an EULA orange warning box stating such).

DRM should not have to exist at all to be honest, but in the current reality where publishers want some "protection" on their games, I'll either accept the single, most unrestricted one, or head to the open seas 🏴‍☠️

Great to know this has finally been fixed 💪

I would lean towards either a DS, or switch emulation (using a device such as the Steam Deck, so games that require gyro input such as Super Mario 3D World - can still be played fine)

The DS is really affordable second-hand, and the usual third party SD card carts work just as well. People seem to really like the XL models, so may be worth considering one of those

As for the Switch, you'll likely be able to play your existing physical carts in 20 years time. It's still Nintendo's latest console though, so there's no telling what they may decide to do in future. I think if you have a jailbroken switch you could be in for a difficult time if newer carts use different hardware encryption keys that require a newer firmware...

With emulation though you get to actually own the games and play them on whatever device you want, at any time. The Mii maker and gyro setup does require following some guides to get going, but this stuff is well supported for the Deck (probably similar story for the alternative Windows handhelds but haven't checked). Yuzu's early access Android app already has gyro configured, using the sensors built into your phone. Lastly you can do multiplayer with other Yuzu players over the internet, completely independent of Nintendo's online functionality

I pretty much do precisely this

It is scary to think that people with this much money and influence can be so unhinged - inciting others to make death threats to your city leaders, then proudly tweeting afterwards "I don't care".

Claiming to be interested in funding schemes to solve homelessness, drug use and crime, in addition to additional police, seems kind of nefarious. What essentially boils down to arresting and manhandling individuals that have no money to their name doesn't surprise me coming from a CEO

I pretty much agree with the article writer here:

Tech bros like Tan think they are reinventing whole systems, conjuring terms like “effective accelerationism” to describe their philosophy. But the ancient Greeks already put a name to their core ideas over 2,000 years ago. For example, there’s plutocracy, or rule by the wealthy, and autocracy, rule by dictatorship.

CEOs like this are aiming to indirectly rule/control others with their money

Freetrack in my simulation games is why I still have Windows on my old gaming desktop - the tracking protocol that those sims use isn't supported under Linux 😔 as well as another that specifically looks for the Logitech G hub to interface with the wheel.

Aside from the simulators, I've been gaming on Linux on my deck and haven't run into any issues at all, especially with Proton-GE handy to run "unsupported" titles

Having less personal time and rising electricity costs has made the Deck my primary gaming machine lol.

I don't support games with DRM, so pretty much everything I play works flawlessly on it (as well as "unsupported" titles via Proton GE)

My poor Athlon II x64 6400 isn't that old 😭

I am actually surprised my nostalgia build still works TBH

Pocket was really useful a ~decade ago, when it was still an add-on that did its one job: saving webpages in a "reader mode" to read offline. Now it's just sponsored spam IMO

Sounds like a very neat feature, but IMO still not great for people outside of the discord server esp. if the threads can't show up in a search engine

Oh really? Must have announced that since I stopped watching LMG. She (they?) are still on the show?

Not the OCer, but the last time I saw Emily was in a video posted to their personal channel. I stopped watching LTT a while ago so no idea if there's been any presence in videos since then.

Kind of miss the linux videos and more in-depth tech content. And some of the other interesting personalities like Luke, Riley, Jake etc.

The thing with LTT is, on top of the well known controversies, LTT's current production themes aren't of much interest to me personally, not helped by the PC hardware market being so stagnant. Instead of upgrading my ancient 1060, I opted to purchase a Steam Deck instead - mainly because it runs Linux, supports Steam Input, supports charge limiting on the internal BMS, and given Valve's track record with obsolete devices (my two Steam Link boxes still recieve updates, and they were discontinued years ago) I was pretty firmly sold.

The games that won't work on my Deck are games that I wouldn't purchase anyway (Not a fan of DRM), and every single "unsupported" game that I've been interested in so far has worked just fine under Proton-GE. One demo game didn't support the Deck's 1280x800 resolution, so I just changed the Gamescope virtual resolution to 1080p in Steam's game settings, and that solved it.

Wow, now that is literally insane and super awesome at the same time lol