tomkatt

@tomkatt@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Octopath Traveler 0 – Announcement Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  The main story points are further apart level-wise, leading to more grinding. There’s also more fluff side story content involving multiple characters instead of just one. Which isn’t bad in itself, but none of it is actually optional because of the leveling curve.

  The way it was done, the story beats for individual character plot arcs are very far apart. 30 hours in, I only had a few characters through the second parts of their stories.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Octopath Traveler 0 – Announcement Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I really like the first one, but OT2 felt very padded. At 30 hours I think I was less than halfway through the game. I got frustrated and put it down, never got back to it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: Deezer, the music streaming service, is owned by a company whose Founder and CEO is a Russian Oligarch with connections to the Kremlin and donates to the American Republican party.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I dunno, Qobuz seems pretty fucking solid, and still allows for purchasing your music directly in FLAC and other formats. What drama is there about them?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨true friend⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Has something similar with Bacardi 151 back when I was in college. Me and two friends were playing cards and drinking, losers take a shot. We went through a huge bottle in like 30 mins. I was just utterly blasted, I’d never drink so much in my life. Thought I might die of alcohol poisoning.

  I stayed completely sober for like 5 years after that, and some 20 years later I still rarely drink.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Vintage gaming advertising pictures: a gallery⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sony had some fucking weird ads back in the day.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨We did it everyone, the future is here!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I little of column A, a bit from column B, I suppose.

• We did it everyone, the future is here!lemmy.world ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩ | ⁨5⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Trump Mobile T1 Phone looks both bad and impossible⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Is this provided via T-Mobile or did he just rip off T-Mobile’s logo font?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Trump Mobile T1 Phone looks both bad and impossible⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Is this provided via T-Mobile or did he rip off T-Mobile’s logo font?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do low framerates *feel* so much worse on modern video games?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  True, but even that is higher than the latency was on the original systems on CRT. My previous comments were specific to display tech, but there’s more to it.

  Bear in mind I can’t pinpoint the specific issue for any given game but there are many.

  Modern displays, even the fastest ones have frame buffers for displaying color channels. That’s one link in the latency chain. Even if the output was otherwise equally fast as a CRT, this would cause more latency in 100% of cases, as CRT was an analogue technology with no buffers.

  Your GPU has a frame buffer that’s essentially never less than one frame, and often more.

  I mentioned TVs above re: post processing.

  Sometimes delays are added for synchronizing data between CPU and GPU in modern games, which can add delays.

  Older consoles were simpler and didn’t have shaders, frame buffers, or anything of that nature. In some cases the game’s display output would literally race the beam, altering display output mid-“frame.”

  Modern hardware is much more complex and despite the hardware being faster, the complexity in communication on the board (CPU, GPU, RAM) and with storage can contribute to perceived latency.

  Those are some examples I can think of. None of them alone would be that much latency, but in aggregate, it can add up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do low framerates *feel* so much worse on modern video games?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  F-Zero X ran at 60 fps. Also Yoshi’ Story, Mischief Makers, and probably a few others.

  Also the PS1 has many games that ran at 60 fps, too many to list here in a comment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do low framerates *feel* so much worse on modern video games?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t understand all the technicals myself but it has to do with the way every pixel in an OLED is individually self-lit. Pixel transitions can be essentially instant, but due to the lack of any ghosting whatsoever, it can make low frame motion look very stilted.

  Also the inherent LCD latency thing is a myth, modern gaming monitors have little to no added latency even at 60hz, and at high refresh rates they are faster than 60hz crts

  That’s a misunderstanding. CRTs technically don’t have refresh rates, outside of the speed of the beam. Standards were settled on based on power frequencies, but CRTs were equally capable of 75, 80, 85, 120Hz, etc.

  The LCD latency has to do with input polling and timing based on display latency and polling rates. Also, there’s added latency from things like wireless controllers as well.

  The actual frame rate of the game isn’t necessarily relevant, as if you have a game at 60 Hz in a 120 Hz display and enable black frame insertion, you will have reduced input latency at 60 fps due to doubling the refresh rate on the display, increasing polling rate as it’s tied to frame timing.

  This is why, for example, the Steam deck OLED has lower input latency than the original Steam Deck. It can run up to 90Hz instead of 60, and even at lowered Hz has reduced input latency.

  Also, regarding LCD, I was more referring to TVs since we’re talking about old games (I assumed consoles). Modern TVs have a lot of post process compared to monitors, and in a lot of cases there’s gonna be some delay because it’s not always possible to turn it all off. Lowest latency TVs I know are LG as low as 8 or 9ms, while Sony tends to be awful and between 20 and 40 ms even in “game mode” with processing disabled.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨CODE VEIN II — Announcement Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  My experience with Code Vein was briefly playing it on game pass, but couldn’t get past the weeb bait waifu chick. Like seriously, first cutscene and her boobs are waving in the breeze while she’s standing still, like their fucking flags or something. It’s was downhill from there when the gameplay was mediocre and I was supposed to somehow connect with and protect said waifu as my motivation.

  Uninstalled in under an hour. Wife and I jokingly refer to the game as “Code Titty-Flap.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do low framerates *feel* so much worse on modern video games?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Couple things. Frame timing is critical and modern games aren’t programmed as close to the hardware as older games were.

  Second is the shift from CRT to modern displays. LCDs have inherent latency that is exacerbated by lower frame rates (again, related to frame timing).

  Lastly with the newest displays like OLED, because of the way the screen updates, lower frame rates can look really jerky. It’s why TVs have all that post processing and why there’s no “dumb” TVs anymore. Removing the post process improves input delay, but also removes everything that makes the image smoother, so higher frame rates are your only option there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨autofocus glasses⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Sounds great. I’m in my 40s with myopia, astigmatism, and more recently, presbyopia.

  Progressive lenses don’t work for me, and needing two pairs of glasses is not ideal, even if it mostly works. Autofocusing lenses sound awesome.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Broadcom ends business with VMware’s lowest-tier channel partners⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  As a former VMware employee this is just sad.

  VMware was a great place to work, with a lot of people who cared about what they were building and supporting, and now it’s just a hollowed out vulture capitalist’s pump and dump.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whatever happened to cheap eReaders? – Terence Eden’s Blog⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This is a weirdly aggressive take without considering variables. Almost petulant seeming.

  6” readers are relatively cheap no matter the brand, but cost goes up with size. $250 to $300 is what a 7.8” or 8” reader costs, but there’s not a single one I know of at 6” at that price.

  There’s 10” and 13” models. Are you saying they should cost the same as a Kindle?

  Not to mention, regarding Kindle, Amazon spent years building the brand but selling either at cost or possibly even taking a loss on the devices as they make money on the book sales. Companies who can’t do that tend to charge more.

  Lastly, it’s not “feature creep” to improve the devices over time, many changes are quality of life. Larger displays for those that want them. Frontlit displays, and later the addition of warm lighting. Displays essentially doubled their resolution allowing for crisper fonts and custom fonts to render well. Higher contrast displays with darker blacks for text. More recently color displays as an option.

  This is all progress, but it’s not free. Also, inflation is a thing and generally happens at a rate of 2% to 3% annually or thereabouts during “normal” times, and we’ve hardly been living in normal times over the last decade and a half.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whatever happened to cheap eReaders? – Terence Eden’s Blog⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I would rather pay more for a better device, and preferably not one from Amazon if I can help it. Its only a matter of time before they start cracking down even more on side loading

  They already started that technically with removing USB downloads. I got sick of their shit and jailbroke my Kindles. They live in KOReader now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whatever happened to cheap eReaders? – Terence Eden’s Blog⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Is the price of an eReader that big of a deal? They practically pay for themselves with use over time, and they last a ridiculous number of years.

  My first Kindle was the K3 Keyboard for $140 in 2011. It finally died in late 2018 after nearly 8 years of use. I regrettably binned it, as I didn’t know you could replace the battery at the time.

  I bought a Kindle PW4 for “cheap” ($80 or $90?) in 2019 to replace it, but I hated it after spending some months reading on a larger tablet, Replaced it with a “premium” Boox Nova 2 eReader for $310, and I still use that one today. I plan to just get a cheap battery replacement when it kicks the bucket, as it’s easily user serviceable and a new battery for it is less than $15.

  I also got a Kindle Paperwhite Signature in 2023 for $135 as an “upgrade” to the Boox, but it was more a sidegrade. I use both of them alternatingly today.

  So I’ve on average paid about $48 a year on eReaders. Seems reasonable considering how many books I’ve gotten for free or very deep discounts via stuff like Bookbub, as well as “free” Prime First reads and Kindle Unlimited books I read over the years as a Prime subscriber, Project Gutenberg and Standard eBooks, as well as digital library access.

  I’ve paid more than $48 in one month for subscription services at times that I used less than my eReaders, which see use daily. And you don’t have to be like me and buy multiple, you can buy one reader and use it pretty much indefinitely so long as the battery is user replaceable, so the upfront cost is sort of irrelevant over a long enough time span.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expedition 33's Composer Breaks Down the Soundtrack⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This game is pretty high on my list to check out, but I didn’t realize the music was so amazing. I went right over to buy the album on Bandcamp.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is it, and it’s been happening for years. I had a new home built in 2021 and it’s already appreciated by 25%, and periodically been valued even higher than that. I’m not selling, but that still seems crazy to me.

  Bonus points for the fact the newly built home and land purchase were about the same cost as it would have been to buy an old run down home in the area that would have needed a ton of work and updates. Free people seem to be building new housing, which in conjunction with the corporate housing acquisitions is driving prices way up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Airlines Are Selling Your Data to ICE⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You got one of those dongles, like State Farm’s Drive Safe and Save program? Carry a cell phone? You’re still being tracked.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shinji need a little bit of motivation⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨U.S. Secretary of Commerce says the ‘new model’ is factory jobs for life—for you, your kids, and your grandkids⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Think I’ll pass, bud. I’ve read The Jungle, I know how this ends.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨8BitDo no longer shipping to US from China due to Trump tariffs⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just ordered a second Ultimate 2c just in case on this news. Was considering the Ultimate 2 for gyro support but 8bitdo’s offering there is confusing and it’s unclear if it would actually work with my Steam Deck (apparently gyro only works in Switch mode?).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A mechanic that ain't cursing is a mechanic that ain't working.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Not a mechanic, but I work from home and my wife gauges how busy I am by the intensity and frequency of the swearing. Post checks out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨90s band alignment chart⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m just glad Veruca Salt made the list.

  Also, I dunno if I’d lump Sublime into the “happy/horny” category. They’re more on the “sad/horny” side of the chart.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plex is locking remote streaming behind a subscription in April⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  See my previous comment, I’m 100% on board with Lyrion server and client these days.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plex is locking remote streaming behind a subscription in April⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Disclaimer: Plexamp used to be great, but it’s stagnated badly. It was a good reason to buy plex pass at one point, though I don’t think it’s worth it now.

  I’m not familiar with Symfonium, but the major defining thing with plexamp is the DJ features for exploring your local music library.

  Unfortunately, a few months back Tidal support was removed from Plexamp and that was kind of a deal breaker because now it’s only local library, and its “killer app” feature was using the DJ mixes in conjunction with Tidal to do real time mixes with your local and streaming music together.

  I’ve switched to using Lyrion instead, along with the Blissmix and “Don’t Stop the Music” plugins with LastFM support. It integrates with Tidal, Deezer, or Qobuz (and I think Spotify, but not sure, I only use hifi streaming services). They work similarly, and in some ways better because you have full control over Blissmix’s functionality for chroma, timbre, tempo, album and track repeats, and more. Also, Lyrion can stream directly over DLNA to a client, whereas Plexamp was just Airplay/Bluetooth/Google Cast (I have Apple stuff, but Airplay is terrible quality).

  It’s sad, but plexamp is just my “local download” player now on my phone for when I’m driving, since it downconverts flac to Opus at higher quality than MP3 and at smaller sizes.

  I highly recommend trying out Lyrion. I’ve used nearly everything for music in the past, including even having a year of Roon, but Lyrion has replaced pretty much everything.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plex is locking remote streaming behind a subscription in April⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They have sales, and it’s not really worth paying the “MSRP” price. My wife got Plex Pass for $80 back in 2023, and I got it late last year for $90.