I like this take. More shit needs to be not funny.

El-P’s remix of the Nine Inch Nails song Only.

https://youtu.be/2yW31N-F4Yg

And you may well be completely on point. I don’t recall hearing those specifics in articles I’ve read, but at the same time, some large outlets may not be familiar enough with the industry to recognize the importance of Steam keys to the argument.

Because I posted it elsewhere, in going to repost an example of the coverage of those lawsuits:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g1md0l23o

The lawsuit - filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London - alleges Valve “forces” game publishers to sign up to conditions which prevents them from selling their titles earlier or for less on rival platforms.

Also

It claims that as Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam, if they’ve bought the initial game through the platform it is essentially “locking in” users to continue making purchases there.

It was filed in 2024, and given approval to go to trial at the beginning of this year. It hasn’t happened yet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g1md0l23o

The lawsuit - filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London - alleges Valve “forces” game publishers to sign up to conditions which prevents them from selling their titles earlier or for less on rival platforms.

Also

It claims that as Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam, if they’ve bought the initial game through the platform it is essentially “locking in” users to continue making purchases there.

It was filed in 2024, and given approval to go to trial at the beginning of this year. It hasn’t happened yet.

/Edit: The other person responding to this suggests that the “you can’t charge lower elsewhere” clause exists when you use certain Steam features. (Selling Steam keys, using Steam’s multiplayer backend.) And if that’s the case that seems pretty reasonable to me. (I hear they’re VERY kind about keys actually.) But I hope you’ll understand that when articles I see why the case don’t mention them, I don’t know that’s the case.

At the same time, I would almost understand outlets that don’t cover digital goods like this may not understand this, or may not see the importance of them. So maybe they’ve dropped the ball here.

I don’t have a strong hate for Valve, but I’m fairly certain that they often DO have contracts that demand their store gets the lowest price available from at least some game developers. So if you offer a game for lower on Epic, you also have to drop your price to match it on Steam. There may be “sales” caveats in there, but I do think that’s generally the rule in at least many cases.

In fact, I think they’ve been sued over that before. (Maybe they changed the policy after the lawsuit? I’m honestly not certain; sorry.) The argument went that if a developer could offer the game for $40 to everyone, then the storefronts could argue over their own markup, and maybe other storefronts would be willing to take less than Valve does. But as it is, Valve artificially keeps prices high on other storefronts with this approach to contracts.

If your experience is different I respect that, but I don’t think that’s universal.

And they’ll just hire more H-1B visa employees for more and more smaller roles, and they have them in an even tighter place than they could American workers. It’s not like they’re blind to the issue. It’s the plan.

YouTube Premium.

I pay for this, and two other family members pay for two other services. Theirs have each blocked the other 2 of us… So what was once 3 of us buying 3 family plans has become just me doing it. And the second YouTube blocks them, I’m canceling it.

Dreamhost.

More than a decade ago they had a big fuck up where they accidentally charged tons of users multiple times when their contracts weren’t when finished. So one day I woke up and they’d taken a few hundred dollars from my account. That put me in the negatives.

When I called them, they verified my identity, and let me complain a little. (I’m not much of a complainer. But their customer service person was great.) They paid me back the charged amount, and asked how much I’d had in overdraft fees, and paid me that too. And they let my hosting plan date reset at that date for the year-long renewal. So they basically have me like 9 months on top of it.

Mind you, I wasn’t using much at the time. Just a few blogs and a podcast. So it’s not like they’re not making free money off of me. But they handled it so damn well. Didn’t even ask to see a bank statement about my overdraft fees. Just “and how much was that? Got it.” I’m sure it was just a case of cost and smart business… But fuck yeah, reward smart business.

If Infinity Ward’s next game includes a DMZ mode and it’s good, it will probably determine what I do. I’ll probably need a new PC to play it. I’ve got a 1080 and I’m on Windows 10. I play ARC Raiders with no problem now. But if I have the money, and DMZ2 is fun, and it requires Windows, I’ll probably get a new PC with the next Windows. If it doesn’t, I’ll probably just switch my current PC over to some flavor of Linux, and maybe put that money to a down payment of a house. It’ll probably be about the same amount by that point.

I think saying that they “bribed the standards body” suggests the body was in on it. The actual allegation (I don’t know any facts, just these comments) seems to be that the body was subverted by other countries that were bribed by Microsoft. Being someone who doesn’t know the details there’s a worthwhile distinction there. Though that still opens questions about the board’s reaction, and I might read up on it all later.

Barry is a phenomenal show for film/TV nerds, which you wouldn’t expect without someone telling you that.

deleted by creator

Like was already said, I’m considering cancelling YouTube Premium too but our numbers won’t really matter. The reports of worsening Firefox compatibility almost some me in and I didn’t even notice.

I have a family plan with my brother and cousin on it. I know they’re cracking down on sharing with people who don’t live together, but if they cut them I’m done. I’ll figure it out. And I’m probably petty enough to comment about it on everyone’s videos that I follow. (Which also won’t really matter, but I’ll feel better voicing the discontent.)

He’s been talking about it on Mastodon for quite a while now. It’s a shame.

/edit: It wasn’t the game he talked about on Masto; that game finished/released! My dumb. I thought it was continued development.

I respect where you’re coming from, but a) “fool” is literally in my name. And b) you’re saying “there are other good games, leave those games you’re enjoying.” But you’re also saying “there are other people, leave your friends and family that you play with.” And that’s a little different.

Kernel level anti-cheat is what’s probably going to keep me on Windows for a while. I get those games aren’t for everyone, but I like them well enough, and that’s what my friend group plays. Warzone, DMZ, and going to try RedSec tomorrow. Kind of a shame. Otherwise I’d love to make the jump. As it is I’ll probably see about dual booting when I get my next PC in a year or two.

Which is why I encourage everyone to mod a community, be it or on another Lemmy instance!

I wasn’t banned, I just came here because of their API changes like many others. I always bring up “the grass is greener where you water it,” so I came here, and mod [email protected]. I still view and use reddit some; it’s just more popular. But I try to do my part to make the Lemmy space a little more robust.

I’d love to make the move, but there’s a one-two punch of: I play Warzone with family. I think anti-cheat there is only going to get worse. Second? I already get caught with the fiddly bits of errors on Windows sometimes and spend too long searching for answers. Any time I see that on Linux it looks like I’d need years more of active learning new problem solving to reach my current level of comfort.

I’m at that “is it worth planting the apple tree now that I didn’t plant 20 years ago?” thinking.