We’ve had an R18+ rating for video games since 2013, so not sure why Hotline Miami 2 wouldn’t have been able to receive classification.
Funnily enough, I own the game on Steam, so at some point Valve also made the same mistake. But at least they won’t pull the game from my library.
I’ve recently been dabbling with Linux for the first time, so here’s a few things I’ve found along the way.
First, look at whether you can disable secure boot. Most computers can, but as I’ve recently discovered on my laptop, the option just isn’t there for some motherboards. If you can’t or don’t want to for whatever reason, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll just need to pick a distro that supports secure boot, I know Ubuntu does, and I believe a few of the other more popular ones do too.
Next, grab a few distros to try out. You may want to look into recommendations if there’s anything specific you want to do. For example, I wanted to make sure gaming setup was as straightforward as possible, so I looked at distros that were tailored towards that. Create some bootable USBs and spend a few minutes just looking at each to get a feel. You’ll pretty quickly decide whether or not you like a distro, there’s really no point spending more time with one if there’s something that puts you off from the get-go.
Dual boot is the way to go until you feel like dropping Windows entirely, if you can. And if there’s something that just isn’t going to work on Linux, it’s good to be able to just jump across to Windows for that purpose. The only annoying thing I’ve found is that Windows updates can break the dual-boot partition, so just be aware of that. If it happens, it’s not that difficult a process to repair it.
Other than that, Linux isn’t that different from other OSes in how you’ll probably use it. There are a few different ways you can install programs due to the different distros, so you’ll want to look at things like how to install a flatpak. For Windows programs, you can look at whether you can get it running in Bottles or a VM if you don’t want to bother rebooting.
I don’t think that’s their goal at all. Otherwise we wouldn’t see any sequels released on PC, that would be a much better strategy for converting players to console. The only reason publishers require their own logins in games, at least for single-player titles, is data collection. Data is very valuable.
They’re referring to Sony’s stance that all their PC releases should require you to have and sign-in to a PSN account. That’s separate to PS+, you don’t need to pay a sub.
A lot of publishers include this requirement on their PC releases, regardless of whether they’re single-player or multiplayer, and I think a lot of people are fed up with having to have so many different accounts.
That probably would be a better solution. Particularly since the rating system is pretty easy to ignore. And if they do start slapping the R18+ rating on games that don’t really warrant it like Mario Party, people will be more likely to simply dismiss the entire system.
I would hope that the government and ratings board wouldn’t be that stupid, but look at how long it took to give us an R rating for video games in the first place.
I think the government could definitely be doing more, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to force companies to clearly disclose the nature of their products so consumers can make informed choices.
I think the major difference between the two is that in video games, the cost of the loot boxes is deliberately obfuscated through the use of whatever single-use currency the publisher has dreamed up, and made worse by the fact that the currency is only purchasable in select denominations, meaning you’re always spending more than you’re going to use.
You’re not wrong that there are plenty of examples of physical “loot boxes” marketed at children, but at least with those you know exactly how much it costs straight up.
I wish our government would look into the actual predatory practices that these publishers are using in these games, but this is a good first step. At least the EU is looking into it.
Just want to point out that it might not be OP’s fault. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the one folks in the US will be used to) has a habit of switching the headline depending on whether you’re viewing on mobile or web. I wish they wouldn’t, the clickbait headlines can be a bit of a distraction from otherwise generally high-quality articles.
Just make sure your family has a way to access your account. I very much doubt that Valve or most publishers will care that your kids have access to decades-old games after you’re gone. Although I could see Ubisoft trying to take action out of spite, but that’s only if they’re still around by then, they’re on pretty shakey ground at the moment.
Better option if this is an important issue for you is to only buy DRM-free. You’ll have to wait for most AAA games, but most AAA games these days are increasingly not worth it anyway.
I also believe a lot of the hate stemmed from an undercurrent of real-life red-pill misogynists, but that’s not to say all criticism was invalid.
The social commentary around She-Hulk was wild. The fact that certain parts of the fanbase were losing their minds over a silly post-credits twerk with Meghan the Stallion was both unsettling and entertaining to witness. If anybody had a problem with that but not the recurring America’s ass joke in Endgame, they really need to go and take a good long look at themselves.
Thanks for this, I’m going to try this out on my way home. My main use for Gmaps is to determine the quickest way to and from work during peak hour, so keen to see how Magic Earth’s traffic data compares.
Trebuchets aren’t really a tool for defence. They have tremendous range and aren’t exactly speedy to load, aim, and launch.
Unless you meant defence in the same way that a country’s military operations are known as “defence forces” regardless of intent, in which case carry on.
Hifi Rush is in Humble Choice this month, and I noticed they have a redemption deadline which is a bit out of the ordinary. So it’s possible it’ll get delisted, or maybe Humble is just playing it safe with the keys they have.
I never owned a NES, but had a SNES and my brother also borrowed his friend’s Mega Drive (Genesis for those of you in the US) from time-to-time. All of us would blow the connectors on the cartridges, regardless of console. If anything went wrong with a game, the first step to troubleshoot was to take the cartridge out and give it a good blow.
It was never about how the console actually worked, a five year-old isn’t going to logically think about that. It was all about a perceived performance increase by doing it.
Nuclear isn’t green energy though. It’s greener than coal, but it still involves mining and the waste produced by the process isn’t exactly environmentally friendly.
Nuclear is absolutely a viable option in other countries, but we have better alternatives in Australia. There are only a few reasons the Coalition has latched onto nuclear energy after decades of campaigning against; it still involves mining for their donors, it’ll take awhile to rollout which means mining coal stays viable for longer, and it’s another thing they can argue over with other parties, further prolonging the rollout of actual renewable energy.
Not available in Aus either, and other Kobo bundles have been. Probably a publisher issue.
I’ve been able to strip the Kobo DRM out of a couple of book bundles using Calibre. Haven’t bought this one yet, but I’d assume there wouldn’t be a problem.
That’s an oversimplification. All works are derivative to some extent. There’s a huge difference between taking inspiration from something, to taking the characters and setting from something. Particularly if you’re intending to make a profit.
If an author makes something that a large number of people enjoy, why shouldn’t they be able to make money off it for the rest of their life? Why exactly should an individual give up the rights to their creation simply so that someone else can use their characters and their worlds?
To be clear, I’m talking solely on an individual level. I think the system we have where a corporation can own an idea is very broken. I’m also talking about this from a perspective of the world we currently live in. In an ideal world where money wasn’t the endgame for survival, ideas would flow more freely and nobody would need to care. But that’s not the world we live in.
I think an argument could be made to set it to the date of death of the author. I agree with the other guy that it should only apply to commercial works though.
I also don’t think that the copyright should be transferable. The trading of ideas is an absurd concept to me. But then us humans do a lot of absurd things so I guess it’s just par for the course.
Oh, absolutely. I was only commenting on the weird timing, the game was released 2 years after an adult rating for video games was implemented.
We definitely have an odd and often archaic view on things here in Aus. Personally I think the classifications should be a purely informative system rather than something that decides whether or not something should be banned. Films are given much more artistic leeway than video games, and I could rant for hours on the government’s stance on gambling, which is much more harmful than most things you’d find portrayed in any artistic medium.