Luseth

I think you're missing the point with the S though, yes people who bought it may have to upgrade down the road to a Series X, however a large portion of those who have bought the S have double dipped, so are more sony based players that now have an Xbox (some for the first time because it was so affordable). That may entice them to give the whole Xbox ecosystem a go, and in addition to that upgrading your console mid generation is nothing new. The last generation had PS4 Pro's mid way through, Xbox one had it's more powerful brother, the Switch has had a Switch OLED midway through it's life, the PS3 / 360 era had slim versions. Yeah the Series S might not be capable of running Unreal Engine 5, but for £250 right now you can buy a console that is capable of running 2 of the most anticipated titles of the year, Starfield and now it has been announced Baldurs Gate (with the exception of local co-op). Find a PC that can play both of those for £250? Oh wait normally it's just tough sh*t if your pc can not run a game, at least Microsoft have offered an option that is affordable during a cost of living crisis. Heck Sony just announced a portable handheld for only £50 cheaper and it can't run native games and can't even utilise their streaming service. It is only gamers who are shall I say more elitist that have real complaints about the Series S. Unreal 4 games will remain yes but that's not wholly due to Microsoft, there is nothing to stop devs creating games specifically for the PS5 / PC and then relaunching down the road on the Xbox to generate extra funds, heck they do this all the time at the moment with some of the sh*tty remasters they keep releasing. Unreal engine 5 is not the only way to progress and move games forwards, yeah it will help graphically but games are so much more than just visuals. My final note, I will put the link below as well, the Larian Studios CEO has stated in a recent interview it's not the Series S but more the lack of effort from devs. They want things to be quick, easy and so that they can churn stuff out to maximum profit, it's why we have so little ingenuity within modern triple A games. It comes through at indie level because they have to think about how they can make their games stand out, be a little bit different. If you look back at the history of video games, even back to the 16 bit era, development was so much more, coming up with ideas on how to get a game to run on a specific machine, overcoming the problems that machine might have had. It's easy to just blame a console but we have seen in the past how the lack of a consoles power can be overcome if you think outside the box a little - Resi Evil 2 on the N64 Morrowind on the original Xbox And probably my favourite game, the Witcher 3 on the Switch

I think people forget bugs in a game can make for some of the most memorable in games!

I have a fairly busy month of Saturdays tbh, let me check with the missus and let you guys know if I can do any of them.

I set this to pre-install yesterday on my Series S, I am quite excited for this game (Though keeping my optimism in check knowing some of the recent disappointments within the gaming industry). I am unsure about whether I will play it through on there or the ROG yet. Something I did think about, with how ambitious this game is and it still being released on the Series S, I know a lot of other devs are complaining about the lack of power in the S but it seems more to me that they would have to spend time making it work on there as well as the X which would presumably eat into profits? So it's easier to complain at this point?

Ah it affects you prem fans much less but we are feeling a little the same way at Birmingham at the moment, there is certainly a feel good factor around the club at the moment, and the good results to the start of the season show that considering the team is still a long way off a play off contending side. We made bristol look mediocre, we nicked a win against Leeds at the last second and our new wingers are looking very promising. The stadium is looking in good shape, the new owners have spent a sum repainting the stadium, putting up new screens and club crest as well as regenerating the seats etc. The stadium was looking rather dilapidated so it looks great in comparison. There is talk of a few more players yet to come in, we need some more depth so that's promising, we are lacking a potent striker (though that sounds like something most clubs are struggling with at the moment). It has also been nice to see some faces to our new ownership and some interaction from them with the fans, our previous owners were certainly leaving the club to languish.

I am probably much like you, the SD was mostly used round the house and I suspect this will be too, I have a trip to Liverpool in a few weeks where I am contemplating taking it on the train but then my Switch is probably a less expensive gadget to take in case someone decides they want to do something stupid or something ^_^

Yeah a steamdeck 2 or ultra could be a brilliant machine, the Switch with a bit more power, I have also seen a Lenovo handheld thing that has detachable controllers so there is a lot of potential at the moment. I think with the ROG, at least for the time being I am starting to use it more than my PS5 and it serves the purpose I wanted it for brilliantly.

So I let my Steamdeck go, it had an issue with one of the trigger buttons (I think after dropping it) and I managed to sell it and recoup most of my funds still ^_^ I opted to go for one of these instead of rebuying the Steamdeck, I think the big draw for me was having Windows straight off and not having to faff about trying to install it manually on the Steamdeck, playing with drivers etc. So I feel after having it for a week I can somewhat compare the 2 and I think as I was chatting to Greboth the other night there is a market for each of them and I don't necessarily feel like they are stepping too much on each others shoes. Power / Grunt of the consoles - The ROG wins this hands down, I can play Baldurs Gate 3 on high settings, it's also capable of running outer wilds and such which the Steam Deck somewhat struggles with. The ROG is definately the more powerful console. You are able to change the power settings so you can run at I think 5W, 15W & 25W (or 30 if plugged in), so you can adjust the power draw depending on the game you are playing, however it is worth noting that on more demanding games and running at a higher power draw the machine can run quite hot (something I will get onto later) Audio - I don't think there is much in this, the ROG has Dolby Atmos I believe but it does not make too much of a difference, I will note that playing Baldurs Gate 3 I seem to get some crackling in the speakers sometimes, I haven't had this with other games so I am not sure if it's the demand of the game on the chipset. On the whole I would say they are pretty even on this one. Screen - I think the ROG just edges it, it's a higher refresh rate and just looks a little bit sharper, that said, is it enough to justify buying it over the steam deck for the screen alone? Nope I wouldn't say so. Portability / battery - I think this is a point where the steamdeck may just win out, I find myself charging the ROG more, this might be due to the more demanding games I am playing mind. But due to this I have mostly been playing whilst plugged in and this obviously detracts from the portability. For me that is not an issue as I am using it in place of my Playstation when the kids are about at home (they tend to stand in front of the tv a lot when playing) but if you want a true handheld then I probably would not recommend the ROG over the steamdeck. Controls - The ROG does not have the trackpad admittedly, that said I think this boils down to the games you play. The ROG controls are basically like using an XBOX controller, so mainstream games tend work pretty well with it. I can navigate the OS with the gamepad fine or use touchscreen. Obviously the Steamdeck has the trackpad, which if you are comfortable with it is great and obviously for RTS games and such it is brilliant. I think the Steamdeck just pinches this one just by having more options of controls. OS - For me the ROG wins this one, I am a fan of the current Windows and it being installed by default there is no messing around, I can install anything and it all runs simply. Yes it can be a little fuddly on a smaller screen but on the whole the fact that it has a wider compatibility for me is great. For most people Windows is the problem with this handheld as it is not great for touchscreen etc, that said I tend to control it with the sticks fine. The console also has what is called Armoury Crate I think which is a layer over the top which allows you to easily access games or game launchers all from one menu (similar to how the Steamdeck works). Steam OS is great in itself in that it has been designed and adapted specifically for the Steam deck, it works fairly flawlessly and the obvious benefit of having such a good community behind it does help. Being able to access control schemes others have set up and such. Other notes - Going back to heat, the ROG get's quite hot and there have reportedly been issues around the SD card slot location, the exhaust vents are right next to the slot and some users have reported it burning out SD cards, certainly not great considering the device only comes with 512gb storage, a SD card for most people is a must. It has not happened to me yet, but so far I have only used the SD slot to transfer things between my tablet and my ROG and not to game from. I do plan to upgrade the internal storage at some point. Pricing, the ROG has only one price point and it is pretty steep! The Steam deck has options with the bottom rung being much more available and affordable for people (I would not write off getting one again). On the whole I think it is pretty 50/50, yeah the ROG wins out on power, screen and compatibility but the Steam deck is the better designed product. I think it will largely come down to your preference and the sort of games you want to play on it. If you want a handheld that can play great indie games and every now and again you might push it to play the Witcher 3 or something akin to that then the Steam Deck is perfect, if you want something with more grunt but you don't mind being tethered in place or lumping round a big power bank, being able to play current release Triple A titles then the ROG is the way to go 🙂

Thanks guys!

Similar to how I am playing Pathfinder then ^_^ I will be honest I have not got too far in Divinity 2 yet, I think I got pulled away by another game so maybe I might go back to that first and see if I can hold out till a deal on Baldurs Gate crops up ^_^ Only downside then is you get a bit of FOMO 😄

I am looking forward to playing this, I have been umming and arring about getting it for my Playstation though, I know it means waiting a little but I think it will be easier to play ^_^ In the meantime I am playing the last Pathfinder game, I always find the combat in these games tough mind!

So off the back of Saturday's DnD night, my wife was paying attention throughout it seems and she has been chatting to me about it since and want's to give it a go herself ^_^ So if we do this again in the future I have another player 🙂 We have also ordered one of the starter kits so we can have a play at home (my brother's joining us too) so that should be good fun! I think @Lurchzy need's to plan another night to complete this as well 🙂 Maybe sometime in September? (I imagine people are on holiday's over the next month or so). But yeah it was great fun and definitely something I'd do again.

My character reached level 5 in an epic duel with a necromancer that had just raised an army of undead dragons to destroy the realm, on defeating the necromancer the dragons fade away saving the realm. The army he fought side by side with erupts in celebration only for them to watch on as the hero slips on the way down the castle stairs, tumbling down he bashes his head off the steps and dies instantly.

That looks brilliant, I never played these games, I got into Desperados when I was younger but they are of a similar style I think? I need to sort out screenshots, I have a few from Final Fantasy to put up here yet ^_^

But we also know what humanity is like, we will create AI for war, we will create it for profit and they are two things that will not create better wellbeing for us, it won't result in more time to spend with family. It will result in more time for the rich to spend with family while the rest of humanity starves and suffers. It will become something for the rich, do you think we will be giving AI robots to third world countries to help them survive, help them grow enough crops and such. I think the issue is not what AI is capable of, it's how we get to it's end goal. Remember the whole idea is this AI will learn from us and it won't be learning just the good aspects of humanity but the bad traits too. We need to get ourselves in order first and I just do not see that happening.

Done 🙂

I would be interested, think you're gonna have to remind me how to join the league though 😄

I think AI is incredible I really do, that said I am staying away from it a little as I think this is where humanity will lose itself, what do we all do when AI is running things? I can't sit and play call of duty with you fuckers 18 hours a day. What will be left when an ai robot is doing everything round your house, has taken your job and produces everything in the world? To be fair what need is there for humans at that point? ^_^ Surely we would be the inefficient cog by that point because robots are still having to produce food for us, surely they would be better off without us then? Not to put a downer on it all but yeah you can go down a rabbit hole of where we could be in 20 years time (let's be honest AI advancement will be scarily quick).

I won't lie I am pretty stoked about dreams, it's one of those that I have always fancied picking up and it could open up the door for loads more content being added to it

I will be honest, I have no intention currently of picking this up, I think I am with Biron in that I can't see it being anything other than dlc wrapped up as a new game and if so I really hope the community let's it fall flat on it's face for the scumminess of it.

Multiplayer has been unlocked ^_^ So when you play multiplayer, do you use cars you have gained during the career and tuned or pre-built cars? If it's the former, what PP cars are you guy's using? (So I know what to aim for) I think my best car is only around 5-600 odd

Put me down as well @Antpool84 I imagine I will just be propping you all up but I will give it a go 🙂

I think as with a lot of big developers, they lost sight of the core fan base. They are the fans you want to keep on side at all times because without them your game would not exist and won't exist in the future. They have tried multiple times now to capture audiences of COD, fornite etc by bringing in their stupid battle royale modes on one hand or increasing the map & player number sizes exponentially. But these are things the fan base never asked for or wanted. In fact the thing that really put me off Dice / EA this time around was blaming other games and developers, in fact they even blamed Covid. If I remember rightly Halo was blamed because the two games launched around the same time and Halo was incredibly polished while Battlefield wasn't, I mean well fekkin release a polished game then instead of the turd they did release. That said the real issue was the direction they went, it had nothing to do with what was going on in the world, they again tried to do something that no one wanted all because they keep seeing green dollar signs (pushed by EA). All most battlefield players ever wanted was more of the same, more explosions, more destruction etc etc and instead we got a couple of tornados that you could fly around with your wingsuit..... Feel like fortnight much?

I can't do the 9th - 10th September as I am in Liverpool but any other weekend I imagine should be ok 🙂