CWSmith

killyourfm, 8 days ago to random

I can still hear those blades whooshing back and forth. This was peak console UI. Wish there was some type of Steam Deck mod for this.

Image of the Xbox Live dashboard, displaying options such as messages, friends, Xbox Live Marketplace, and the option to open the tray. Text on the screen mentions games, tournaments, and entertainment. A background image shows a crowd throwing objects into the air

Linux4Everyone, 10 days ago to random

Am I imagining this, or did there used to be a Linux distro that let you install it right from Windows. I’m not talking about using Rufus, etc, to burn an ISO to USB in Windows. IIRC this distro actually had an installer you could use in Windows, then reboot into your shiny new Linux install.

Tell me I’m not making this up.

atomicpoet, 12 days ago to random

Why is the 9th generation of video game consoles so terrible?

Here’s a good deep dive that lays the blame at three main causes:

1. No games
2. Generic experience
3. Difficulty in use

Few exclusive games are made for modern consoles. Turning the machines on has become bland. And just launching a game is difficult.

The bigger question: why not get a PC where there’s a bigger game library, a better experience, and it’s easier to use?

That’s a question many traditional console players have been asking themselves recently. It’s a question I also asked myself 10 years ago when I finally decided that PC would become my primary platform for gaming.

I don’t regret moving to PC from consoles. It’s been a richer experience, exposed me to more diverse forms of gaming, and has given me tremendous flexibility.

That said, I don’t think moving to PC means having to give up the console experience. You can have that console experience with a Steam Deck. Hell, a Steam Deck is a lot like owning a Nintendo Switch but with a bigger gaming library and more input options.

If you want the best modern console experience, the Steam Deck is the way to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJxaIP8F3K8

killyourfm, 19 days ago (edited 19 days ago) to linux

In the entire history of computing, there has never been a more important time to teach people about #Linux than right now.

(And never a worse time for me not to be doing @Linux4Everyone -- so I hope my fellow YouTube and content creators will double down and show people the light!)

#Windows #Recall #Privacy

CWSmith, 24 days ago to mastodon

Does anyone have a good post for generating a post bot? All I keep finding never really seems to make a lot of sense.

#Mastodon
#MastoAdmin
#MastodonCommunity
#Bots

CWSmith, 1 month ago to retrocomputing

To the #RetroComputing folks, I got a question.

I am trying to remember a service from the late 90s that allowed you to download news from selected channels and read offline, which was sort of a big thing back in the days of dial up.

I remember seeing it on Cnet when that was a show on Scifi and a decent website.

atomicpoet, 1 month ago to random

The reason why I’m not against A.I. is because it works in the correct context.

For gaming, it’s fine. Sometimes it’s preferable. For example, I like rogue-likes—A.I. works well there.

For writing news? Bad, bad idea.

But again, this isn’t a problem of the tech but of hype. A.I. shouldn’t do everything.

CWSmith, 1 month ago to drupal

Prototyping my Story Archive in #Drupal, which was always going to be partially a repack of the Book module and hoping I can figure out how to do it in #WordPress.

Gonna really need it since Drupal 11 is depricating it, the module that made me try Drupal in the first place.

atomicpoet, 1 month ago to random

What did DOS games actually look like during most of the 80s and 90s?

Usually, it was games like Flight of the Amazon Queen.

Hell, for a good long time, adventure gaming was DOS gaming. Certain people will tell you that PC gaming didn’t really start till Doom. But having had a DOS box during the late 80s and early 90s, I can say with certainty that when you walked into most computer stores, the wall was brimming with adventure games.

That’s because adventure games – more so than platformers or FPS games – really showcased what made DOS special. All that CPU power and hard drive storage allowed truly interactive experiences that were almost cinematic.

And the move from EGA to VGA made it all more awesome. Look at that art! Even though the pixels are chonky, this still looks great.

Games like this made me feel like I was playing a Saturday morning cartoon. You had great Soundblaster music and sound effects, well performed voice acting, and there was a good story.

Flight of the Amazon Queen is about a pilot and actress getting stuck in the Amazon rain forest, having to contend with Amazonians women – transformed into dinosaur warriors by the evil Dr. Ironstein.

You get everything in this game: comedy, action, intrigue. You know, a real plot.

I played this game using ScummVM and this is a superior experience over DOSBox. Unlike DOSBox, ScummVM is not merely an emulator. Rather, it is a game engine recreation. Frankly, the results speak for themselves – Flight of the Amazon Queen is beautiful.

Of course, I haven’t mentioned the best part about Flight of the Amazon Queen yet: it is FREE! On GOG.com, you can download it – without DRM – store it on your hard drive. It is a complete playable game.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/flight_of_the_amazon_queen

image/png
image/png
image/png

CWSmith, 1 month ago to random

Quick question.

Has anyone connected to @Mastodon been working to switch from Redis since they went closed source? What's going to be involved in moving to a drop in replacement?

#MastodonCommunity
#MastoAdmin

atomicpoet, 1 month ago to random

RPGMaker is my lowest tier when it comes to JRPGs. I don’t hate that the engine exists – far from it. If you’re new to game development, it’s probably one of the best that exist simply because the barrier to entry is so low.

Anyone – even kids – can make a decent JRPG with RPGMaker.

But that’s a double-edged sword. Because anyone can use RPGMaker, a whole lot of low effort crap gets made that litters Steam. Many people do the bare minimum with RPGMaker and then try to sell it.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that this wasn’t always the case. At one time, if you were a PC gaming JRPG fan, RPGMaker was like mana from heaven. There weren’t a whole lot of JRPGs on PC – never mind cheap ones – so suddenly being able to try out so many fan-made productions was amazing.

When I returned to PC gaming, one of the first RPGMaker titles I tried was Destiny Warriors. In terms of story, it wasn’t much to write home about. It’s pretty much just Naruto, if you’re familiar with that anime.

Yet it had good artwork and was decently challenging. At the time, I had an itch for 16 bit-style JRPGs, this one was on sale for less than a dollar – it gave me 12+ hours of gameplay. Not going to lie, I got a lot of value out of Destiny Warriors.

Even though this game has mixed reviews on Steam, I’m glad this was my intro RPGMaker because I had legitimate fun. Sure, I’ve played much better RPGMaker games, but most of them have been worse.

All this is to say that sometimes D tier has its good points.

Destiny Warrios screenshot (RTX 3080 Ti)
Destiny Warrios screenshot (RTX 3080 Ti)
Destiny Warrios screenshot (RTX 3080 Ti)

atomicpoet, 1 month ago to random

DEAL ALERT!!!

The FEAR COMPLETE PACK has a -90% discount on Steam right now, and is selling for C$5.49. This includes:

• F.E.A.R.
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn (DLC)
• F.E.A.R. 3
• F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point (DLC)
• F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate (DLC)

If you’re not familiar with F.E.A.R., it’s a classic FPS franchise that’s been around since 2005.

I just bought the bundle. 🙂

CWSmith, 2 months ago to drupal

Working on my community sites some. Creating an #AImedia type in #Drupal. I want to make sure I get all the important information an entry should have for this, prompt, models, things of that nature.

I especially want to be sure I can offer stuff for people to play with from the fan sites and my own projects. I started trying to use AI Image Generators to kick start my brain for ideas for writing.

The prompts will eventually be open for people to use for anything of course.

CWSmith, 2 months ago to threads

So, I am gonna start posting links to my Mastodon posts on Threads. Maybe I can convert some folks to a federated group that way, or at least encourage them to concider it.

I would prefer to get folks off Meta platforms.

But is it worth it at all folks?

#Threads

BeAware, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to threads

Hmmm...wonder how long this has been a thing...if it's fairly new, I wonder if Threads is further along in their AP implementation than they're letting on...

To be clear, I'm talking about how Fedi handles show up as links on Threads. They don't actually link to anything yet, but they do show up as links.🤔

Edit: Not necessarily so. Here's a GREAT explanation on how this (probably) works by @m https://thias.hellqui.st/objects/bef3ad92-a688-4c69-80e5-a2e343877e10
#Threads #Fediverse #Fedi #ActivityPub