Isn’t a cracked (old, I think?) Kindle the only way to pirate KU/DRM titles? At least, that’s what I recall from the last time I looked into it. There’s a book I really wanted to format shift from KU since Google TTS was fucking up all the proper nouns, but I gave up. (It was an obscure book that isn’t available anywhere pirated.)

Weird to hear that. My only issue so far has been how hard it is to get movement speed on boots. Granted, I’m only just about to start Cruel, so my playtime is low compared to many, but I’m absolutely loving all the boss encounters, particularly with the dodge mechanics. And not needing to worry about socket numbers, colours, and links on gear.

Maybe I should read what others are saying, but I have nothing significant to complain about so far, aside from move speed being a bit too slow.

Same experience for me on the other side of the country in small-town BC. I had a minor non-urgent issue that needed imaging. I just walked in and got it done immediately after my doctor appointment. It took me as long for me to change into the hospital flasher “clothing” as I spent in the waiting room.

I don’t want to simp for a corporation, but what is Valve doing that’s anticompetitive?

Like, don’t they need to be doing something to limit competitors’ access to the market to be anticompetitive?

Steam requires base price/same price parity for selling Steam keys, but they’re literally giving their services away to developers for free in those cases, so that’s pretty clearly not anticompetitive, right? And there’s no requirements that I’ve seen written anywhere that they require price parity for non-Steam-key sales.

And, based on the massive numbers of bundles of games I’ve bought with Steam keys with total historical-low game prices below best-ever Steam sale prices, they pretty clearly don’t even enforce this rule strictly (it seems like so long as the total bundle price is in line with individual title sale prices, they’re fine, even if consumers get other games as well.)

So I’m not sure what the basis for this suit is. Not saying it’s healthy for the market to have an effective monopoly in this space, but the reason Valve is maintaining its marketshare is because they’re consistently offering the best value to consumers compared to other storefronts, which isn’t illegal.

/Insert “prove me wrong” meme

It’s particularly nice for the Deck, since launchers often break things that otherwise work great with Proton.

Dragon Age: Origins came out 15 years ago. That’s a very long time to stay with the same company in the tech sector. It’s not at all unusual that there are so few people left who worked with the engine for the first game.

Mood.

Very well summarized.

I’m running Win 10 Ameliorated on mine. Manual driver installs were the only big hiccup. Works well otherwise, but it’s not my daily driver.

I can’t really use Linux since my work is deeply embedded in Microsoft everything; I need OneDrive to work dependably.

It was offered as a free upgrade for anyone with Wishes 7/8. And you could get free upgrades to those from earlier editions of Windows, too.

Some people haven’t paid for Windows in 2 decades-ish with a legit retail purchase.

Meanwhile, Steam is raking it in by continuing to offer a better product than piracy. The Steam Deck is making that even more true; it’s so much more convenient to have games in the Steam library than try to keep repacka updated with new patches/content.

Right, but pirating Disney-owned IP is more moral than paying for it. Disney is the number 1 company in the world for lobbying for copyright over-reach. Every dollar that goes to Disney pays for lobbyists who will continue to push for life-of-author + 90+ years, because life-of-author plus 70 years just isn’t enough time to control our shared cultural heritage.

Similarly for Nintendo and software piracy.

Paying for Disney/Nintendo media is immoral.

Putting 2S at the front is part of Truth and Reconciliation, recognizing the intersectionality of being Indigenous and two-spirit and the importance of including Indigenous Knowledge across all systems of power.

With all due respect, decrying their inclusion is racist and continues the perpetuation of colonialist systems of oppression.

I say this coming from a position of immense privilege, as a white, cis male from fairly wealthy and educated non-immigrant parents.

ikr? And they re-elected him!

… he claims there is no point producing proof because they wouldn’t be believed.

He also dismisses any evidence created by others as untrustworthy.

What a load of shit. It’s up to the person making the claim to provide evidence. People have claimed the opposite, and backed it up with “low-quality” evidence. Refusing it would be pretty easy, if it were true; get someone independent to verify in a pre-funded, blind trial.

The only reason not to do this is because they know their product reduces framerate frequently enough to be a problem.

ikr? By buying online, it’s saving them money on staffing, and they want to charge for it? Bullshit.

If anything, they should raise prices and give a discount for buying online to cut down on box-office staffing needs. Customers prefer discounts to fees; everyone knows that. And it lines up with customer expectations that paying more to get more “service” (staff time) is reasonable.

What a stupid plot to alienate your customers.

Agreed; it’s funny reading articles like this about massive marketing budgets when I haven’t seen a single ad.

1. Yes. Many people budget the most they can afford in mortgage payments to identify how much to pay for a home. Lower interest rates -> lower mortgage payments per $100K -> more money they can offer for the house -> house prices go up.

2. Not just “people”, either. Interest rates are the main cost of expanding business activity. Lower interest rates means it’s cheaper to start or expand a business.

3. Yes. Borrowing $100K just became $500 cheaper for each year the loan is held. With interest compounding over time, this has a much bigger impact the longer the term of the loan (mortgages and business loans are the biggest and longest, generally).

I think the building restrictions parent poster was referring to are density restrictions.

As an example, there are narrow strips of Toronto along major roads that allow skyscrapers, a lot of it a block away from single-family-home zoning. So all the demand for multi-unit housing bursts up in narrow corridors.

If, instead, quad-plexes became universally allowed, and lot height limits were increased to 3 (or 4? idk) stories, then single-family homes could be torn down or renovated to make room for up to 4 families to live comfortably on the same land.

Rosedale shouldn’t exist. Single-family homes a short walk from downtown Toronto is a big part of why people are commuting from Barrie.

West Van is just as bad. Even small towns in desirable areas are seeing density restrictions causing a missing middle in housing.

True, but I expect that wasn’t meant literally; it was expressed that way for rhetorical effect.

Most of the capitalist system we’re in has incentivized short-term cashflow over long-term revenue for most stakeholders (annual bonuses, for example), and AAA gaming is almost entirely following those trends, too.

“CO2 is presently at around 420 ppm, near the lowest level in over 1,000 years.”

what now?