cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/45447390

dipos-lintas dari: https://lemmy.ml/post/50128205

In this video, creator OhNoItsAlexx discusses the growing concerns surrounding the gaming industry's shift toward an all-digital future, particularly focusing on PlayStation's plans to move away from physical discs by 2028.

Key themes discussed:

• The Illusion of Ownership: The creator argues that gaming companies, pundits, and journalists are trying to shift the conversation away from the loss of physical media and toward Digital Rights Management (DRM). He contends this is a strategic move to push gamers into a "walled garden" where they have no true ownership of their content (1:51 - 3:36).
• Contradicting Corporate Claims: The video challenges statements made by former PlayStation executive Gordon Thornton, who claimed Sony does not control digital pricing structures. The creator highlights a 2021 class action lawsuit that suggests Sony established a monopoly on digital sales to control retail pricing, effectively eliminating competition (5:59 - 8:46).
• The Necessity of Physical Media: Alex emphasizes that for console gamers, physical media remains the only way to bypass the restrictive "walled garden" ecosystems. He contrasts this with his experience as a PC gamer, noting that open platforms allow for DRM-free options like GOG (13:17 - 13:48).
• The Future of Gaming: The creator warns that the ultimate goal for these companies is a transition to cloud-based streaming, where users will have even less control over their library and hardware (14:07 - 14:26).
• The Rise of Preservation: Despite industry pushback, the creator highlights how quickly the community is responding through advancements in emulation, such as early reports of PS5 games booting on PC, signaling that gamers are determined to preserve their content regardless of corporate policies (16:11 - 17:25).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72341319

121 countries are unable to make PSN accounts, which means that they are unable to use the PlayStation Store. In a digital-exclusive future—which looks likely for the PS6 after Sony announced plans to cease production of game discs in 2028—that means everyone in those countries will be locked out from purchasing titles on the platform.

crosspostato da: https://feddit.it/post/30928404

SCS Software has announced the development of the Coaches DLC for "Euro Truck Simulator 2". With this DLC players will be able to drive buses alongside trucks.

We've been playing as a family since it first came out, but they've definitely slowed... I still haven't gotten all my 100iv shinys so I'm still collecting.

Built a userscript that checks the publisher on Steam and GOG game pages against the Stop Killing Games Dead Game List. If the publisher has shut down always-online titles before, you get an amber banner with the reason.

Currently flags 16 publishers: Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft/Activision, Warner Bros, Bandai Namco, Sony, Square Enix, 2K, NCSoft, SEGA, Capcom, Rovio, Gameloft, NetEase, Nexon, Atari.

Open source, no tracking, dismissible banner.

https://codeberg.org/kimmitk/skg-publisher-warning

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48892852

End of an era!

As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.

We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store. We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans and we thank you for your continued support.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48800951

I just got an email from dBrand cancelling the Steam Machine companion cube shell.

They posted the rationale on reddit, /r/dBrand but for the good folks who don't do reddit anymore, here's their post:

"RIP Companion Cube

🚨 Announcement 🚨

As you’ve probably noticed, the Steam Machine Companion Cube was eviscerated from our website, YouTube, and other social media platforms last week.

The blunt version is that we made the Companion Cube without a license from Valve. Everyone who purchased a Companion Cube will have their refund issued by end-of-day. Everything else beyond this is just detail. If you want the full story, keep reading.

On November 12th 2025, the day the Steam Machine was announced, we put up a concept render and sign-up page to see if anyone would be interested in a Companion Cube enclosure. It went moderately viral, with over fifteen thousand people signing up to be notified in the first day. In the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could.

We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time.

Over the next seven months, we poured our souls into this project. More than a thousand hours went into engineering from our industrial design team. Forty-four sets of injection molding tools were developed, one for each of the cube's sub-components. The entire product was redesigned from scratch more than once, just to get the way it cradles the console exactly right. We literally rented out a university campus to film the launch video. By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didn’t matter. This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization.

Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it.

We launched around 3am on Monday, June 22nd. Overnight, it became the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch.

Shortly after, Valve’s legal team reached out. They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.

We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project alive: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.

That’s basically the whole story. We made something a lot of people were excited about, then incinerated our shot at bringing it to market. It’s a hard lesson to learn publicly.

It goes without saying, but we’ll say it regardless: Valve didn’t do anything wrong here. They built a game franchise a lot of people love and they alone get to decide how it’s used.

To everyone who was as excited about this project as we were: thank you, and sorry. Refunds are being issued today. If it hasn’t landed in your account by the end of this week, you know how to reach us.

To Valve: thank you for Portal, and sorry for the headache. We should’ve asked first."

It looks like the PS6 could cost more than 1k Dollars, if it would launch next year. And maybe even more expensive if the prices go even up. So I had an idea for Sony:

An Upgrade hardware extension that turns the PS5 into a PS6 equivalent. Think like a 32X or something like that from the 90s. All it does is, add some RAM, has a CPU and GPU and that's it. All other parts are basically PS5. This PS5-to-PS6-Upgrade-Kit could cost maybe 400 Dollars? Every owner of a PS5 would be eligible to play PS6 games, without spending another 1k Dollars. No need to reinvent the controller too.

We don't know how much different a PS6 is planned to be, and if this approach is even technically possible. I think back to the 90s where Nintendo and Sega had multiple hardware extensions to upgrade the consoles. Back then it didn't always go well, but in today's day and age this approach could be very welcome. What do you think?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8882542

It's a different story for the more established studios with an existing following and previous titles. Game Oracle found that the use of AI by these studios resulted in a significant 40% to 60% drop in sales.

That's a huge difference. AI stigma seems to hit competent developers with a lot to lose the hardest, and I'm not sure that game studios are ready to accept it.

Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticised rival Valve for forcing studios to disclose when they use AI in game development.

Epic recently showed how it was integrating AI into Unreal Engine 6.

Time Sweeney said:

“If you want to launch a game, and get it as widely publicized as possible, you’ve got to put it on Steam so people can wish list it, and if you want to play it on Steam, then you have to get this Scarlet Letter of AI attached to your product, and now there is a hater community trying to kill the game.

“I think it’s really irresponsible of Valve. They shouldn’t do it, because it makes it much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success. You have to choose from either not using tools that can make you way more productive, and probably failing due to competition that does.”

Which is totally ignoring the factor that the user should know about the purchase it makes and be able to decide for themselves. Transparency for the player is not a bad thing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/48914616

Like a cult classic movie, Godot 4 has only gotten better with age. The first few releases focused on stability, granting the engine a rock-solid foundation that could be safely and easily iterated upon. Gradually, this has shifted more towards polish and quality-of-life, peaking in Godot 4.6 giving developers the tools to put them and their workflow first.

This brings us to Godot 4.7. With 3 years under its belt, the 4.7 Director’s Cut offers colors of never-before-reached intensity. HDR output radiates bold and brilliant new hues, allowing your projects to shine like never before. Inject some juice to your UI without breaking a sweat using the new Control offset transforms. Find the plugin that will help push your game even further with the new Asset Store, bask in the ease of creation with standalone Android exporting and publishing, and helm a bevy of new features to eliminate any remaining friction between you and your vision.

A screenshot of a tweet stolen from reddit, as is lemmy tradition.

You can't compel companies to keep a server up. It's a silly request that was doomed from the start.

But you can make it legal for fans to host their own servers, regardless of the financial success of the game. If "Stop Killing Games" wants to actually achieve something, they should fight for legal protections for fan servers.

Publishers shouldn't be able to issue Cease & Disists for fan self-hosted communities around games who's dev's they've shuttered. Hell, push it one step further, fans should be allowed to host their own servers even when the publisher is still maintaining their own.

TF2 is kinda the gold standard here. Why the hell can't we have community servers for Elden Ring, or League of Legends?