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Did the recent Xbox outage change how you feel about digital game ownership?
The recent Xbox outage got a lot of people talking about digital ownership again. Some players couldn't access games they'd already paid for, which raises a bigger question.
Are you comfortable building an all-digital library, or do situations like this make you value physical copies more?
Has your opinion changed, or are the convenience and benefits of digital still worth it?
#games
The recent Xbox outage got a lot of people talking about digital ownership again. Some players couldn't access games they'd already paid for, which raises a bigger question.
Are you comfortable building an all-digital library, or do situations like this make you value physical copies more?
Has your opinion changed, or are the convenience and benefits of digital still worth it?
#games
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Is Heat: Pedal to the metal really good?
So, I've been eyeing this game for a while and I read the reviews and looked at the description and I liked the idea of the game and I bought it...
I played it with a bunch of friends and... It's really basic and boring! Is it just me and we're not playing it correctly or is the game just not that fun? It was kind of bland. I was so disappointed because I paid like £60 for it.
It's too predictable, boring and has no variation. All you need to do is shift gear, floor it. There's somehow always enough cards if you oversteer to correct it, and worst case, you only go back to last corner so it doesn't seem like a big penalty.
We love brass Birmingham, scythe, Carcassonne, dune: imperium, scout, 6nimmt, Azul, Jaipur... Even silly games like king of Tokyo, reef...
We enjoy all these games and they're fun to play. But heat.. it's just I can't get into it. I played it once without any modifiers and then again with full customisation, it just seems like there's not a lot of variety and it's getting boring fast. I'm really surprised at the raving reviews this game is getting so I'm asking myself if I'm not playing it correctly.
Do you guys really enjoy heat? How do you play it? All modifiers? Like engine customisation etc or... what am I missing?
#games
So, I've been eyeing this game for a while and I read the reviews and looked at the description and I liked the idea of the game and I bought it...
I played it with a bunch of friends and... It's really basic and boring! Is it just me and we're not playing it correctly or is the game just not that fun? It was kind of bland. I was so disappointed because I paid like £60 for it.
It's too predictable, boring and has no variation. All you need to do is shift gear, floor it. There's somehow always enough cards if you oversteer to correct it, and worst case, you only go back to last corner so it doesn't seem like a big penalty.
We love brass Birmingham, scythe, Carcassonne, dune: imperium, scout, 6nimmt, Azul, Jaipur... Even silly games like king of Tokyo, reef...
We enjoy all these games and they're fun to play. But heat.. it's just I can't get into it. I played it once without any modifiers and then again with full customisation, it just seems like there's not a lot of variety and it's getting boring fast. I'm really surprised at the raving reviews this game is getting so I'm asking myself if I'm not playing it correctly.
Do you guys really enjoy heat? How do you play it? All modifiers? Like engine customisation etc or... what am I missing?
#games
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Arcade racing game for my boys - hot wheels unleashed 2 legendary the answer?
My boys (9, 5) love playing Cars 3: driven to win. I'm looking for another game for them to try. They have messed around with rocket League but the mechanics are out of their league (pun intended).
hot wheels unleashed 2 legendary (2023) is on sale currently for $17.99cad. Should I go with that one, or is there a better option with a higher replay value and better split screen mode for them?
Sonic racing comes up a lot, but the newer one (crossworlds) is still closer to $50. The old one (team sonic racing, 2019) can be had for $11.99cad.
#games
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My boys (9, 5) love playing Cars 3: driven to win. I'm looking for another game for them to try. They have messed around with rocket League but the mechanics are out of their league (pun intended).
hot wheels unleashed 2 legendary (2023) is on sale currently for $17.99cad. Should I go with that one, or is there a better option with a higher replay value and better split screen mode for them?
Sonic racing comes up a lot, but the newer one (crossworlds) is still closer to $50. The old one (team sonic racing, 2019) can be had for $11.99cad.
#games
source
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I get it now, and I'm sorry for everyone that this is the state of it.
I haven't had a gaming system for 7 or 8 years now. I travel a lot, and haven't had a house, let alone a TV or system. I'm staying rooted for a bit and near where I used to live so I have a lot of friends. One of them let me borrow her extra Xbox One...
Excited to play I went to the library of which I still had a card, rented a few games, brought them home and hooked up the Xbox without online access just so I could start playing my strictly single players games. Very fun, played XIII remake, they had Halo Master Chief saved on their Xbox so I've been replaying the first Halo. Both very fun. They told me they had a ton of other games not saved on the xbox but online that I could download. Dope!
My experience since: I popped in Guardians of the Galaxy TellTale, a game I've played on PC but never finished. Excited to play it installed fairly quickly, and I see it needs an update. I look up to see it will take an hour just for Episode 1 of 5 to download an update for because it's 5 GB. Again, I've had this game for PC... that's the size of Episode 1, not the size of an update. That's the full install.
Fine... whatever go back to play Halo MC collection. Can't it needs an update. I let episode 1 of GotG finish so I can go play that while Halo downloads in the background. Halo's "update" is 84 GB. What and the ABSOLUTE FUCKING SHIT!? What sort of update is that? I don't have fast internet (if that wasn't clear). It's going to take FOREVERRRRR to play the game I was playing yesterday and loving.
I mean, this is fucking horrendous. I understand ALL the complaints. This shit used to be easy. You got a game, you stuck it in, you could play it without an install. If it needed an update it was 500 MB. What is this horse shit? I'm assuming PS4 is like this too? I hate it.
#games
source
I haven't had a gaming system for 7 or 8 years now. I travel a lot, and haven't had a house, let alone a TV or system. I'm staying rooted for a bit and near where I used to live so I have a lot of friends. One of them let me borrow her extra Xbox One...
Excited to play I went to the library of which I still had a card, rented a few games, brought them home and hooked up the Xbox without online access just so I could start playing my strictly single players games. Very fun, played XIII remake, they had Halo Master Chief saved on their Xbox so I've been replaying the first Halo. Both very fun. They told me they had a ton of other games not saved on the xbox but online that I could download. Dope!
My experience since: I popped in Guardians of the Galaxy TellTale, a game I've played on PC but never finished. Excited to play it installed fairly quickly, and I see it needs an update. I look up to see it will take an hour just for Episode 1 of 5 to download an update for because it's 5 GB. Again, I've had this game for PC... that's the size of Episode 1, not the size of an update. That's the full install.
Fine... whatever go back to play Halo MC collection. Can't it needs an update. I let episode 1 of GotG finish so I can go play that while Halo downloads in the background. Halo's "update" is 84 GB. What and the ABSOLUTE FUCKING SHIT!? What sort of update is that? I don't have fast internet (if that wasn't clear). It's going to take FOREVERRRRR to play the game I was playing yesterday and loving.
I mean, this is fucking horrendous. I understand ALL the complaints. This shit used to be easy. You got a game, you stuck it in, you could play it without an install. If it needed an update it was 500 MB. What is this horse shit? I'm assuming PS4 is like this too? I hate it.
#games
source
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The Worst Sicilian Ever "Played"
Here's my vote for the worst set of moves in the Sicilian line that were ever played on the record. This is in the lichess database. Here's the opening sequence:
1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 g6 3. Qf3 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. c3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Nd2 Qb6 8. b3
Be careful plugging that into your chess engine, it might just retire and walk away.
Accomplishments include players reversing the evaluation every turn (after the initial turn of Sicilian opening); a gracious queen blunder; and ignoring mate-in-one not once, but twice with the same move!
That being said, no single game ever made each of those mistakes, they were all just (real!) individual, blundering responses to each position. **The only game to reach this position**, did not, in fact, get there that way:
https://lichess.org/48vD3EC8
But it was still swinging around pretty wildly for a pair of 1200+ players!
Some analysis of the pasted-together line is probably useful here, if you want to learn from these mistakes:
2. ... g6
The impulse to fianchetto the king's bishop out through g7 is a good one, but the weakness of the f7 pawn to attack is too severe. You are better off focusing on pawn (e6, a6) or knight (Nc6, Nf6) development instead.
3. Qf3
Okay, if you think that your opponent just doesn't see the weakness, this isn't a terrible bait. Yes, it's a weak move, but the potential upside is large. Still, maintaining principles would still be best. You have pawn (c3, d4) and knight (Nf3, Nc3) developments that you could make instead.
3. ... Bg7
This is mate in one because of `4. Qxf7#`. If you absolutely must do this, at least block the bishop and give your king an escape-hatch first with, `3. ... e6 4. d3 Bg7`.
4. d3
This is obviously bad because you didn't just win the game in one, but it's also bad because it's just a terrible move. `Bxf7+`, `d4`, and developing either of your knights to ANY available position would have all been far better moves, even if they missed the win.
`d3` is terrible, though, because it closes in your position without any real advantage, while also reducing your tempo to develop your back-line, unless you're looking to long-castle, which isn't really advisable, here.
4. ... Nc6
The only problem here is that you haven't resolved the problem from before, and white can still win in one move. You need to address the combination of your king's lack of options and the f7 pawn's vulnerability.
5. c3
Again, white blocks in more of their space without developing any new control over the center. Ignoring the fact that they didn't just win the game, it's still a bad move, and all the advice from before still applies.
5. ... d6
On the positive side, you solved your mate problem by giving the king an escape-hatch. Bravo! But you didn't block the bishop's line of sight to f7, so when `Qf7 Kd7`, the queen is just going to take the bishop, and unless you move your knight out of the way so your queen can protect the rook, they'll take that too!
5. ... e6
This is even worse than d6 was! The queen is blundered immediately, and with great efficiency! Remember, when you move a piece that was under attack, always ask, "what does that attack now see?"
#games
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Here's my vote for the worst set of moves in the Sicilian line that were ever played on the record. This is in the lichess database. Here's the opening sequence:
1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 g6 3. Qf3 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. c3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Nd2 Qb6 8. b3
Be careful plugging that into your chess engine, it might just retire and walk away.
Accomplishments include players reversing the evaluation every turn (after the initial turn of Sicilian opening); a gracious queen blunder; and ignoring mate-in-one not once, but twice with the same move!
That being said, no single game ever made each of those mistakes, they were all just (real!) individual, blundering responses to each position. **The only game to reach this position**, did not, in fact, get there that way:
https://lichess.org/48vD3EC8
But it was still swinging around pretty wildly for a pair of 1200+ players!
Some analysis of the pasted-together line is probably useful here, if you want to learn from these mistakes:
2. ... g6
The impulse to fianchetto the king's bishop out through g7 is a good one, but the weakness of the f7 pawn to attack is too severe. You are better off focusing on pawn (e6, a6) or knight (Nc6, Nf6) development instead.
3. Qf3
Okay, if you think that your opponent just doesn't see the weakness, this isn't a terrible bait. Yes, it's a weak move, but the potential upside is large. Still, maintaining principles would still be best. You have pawn (c3, d4) and knight (Nf3, Nc3) developments that you could make instead.
3. ... Bg7
This is mate in one because of `4. Qxf7#`. If you absolutely must do this, at least block the bishop and give your king an escape-hatch first with, `3. ... e6 4. d3 Bg7`.
4. d3
This is obviously bad because you didn't just win the game in one, but it's also bad because it's just a terrible move. `Bxf7+`, `d4`, and developing either of your knights to ANY available position would have all been far better moves, even if they missed the win.
`d3` is terrible, though, because it closes in your position without any real advantage, while also reducing your tempo to develop your back-line, unless you're looking to long-castle, which isn't really advisable, here.
4. ... Nc6
The only problem here is that you haven't resolved the problem from before, and white can still win in one move. You need to address the combination of your king's lack of options and the f7 pawn's vulnerability.
5. c3
Again, white blocks in more of their space without developing any new control over the center. Ignoring the fact that they didn't just win the game, it's still a bad move, and all the advice from before still applies.
5. ... d6
On the positive side, you solved your mate problem by giving the king an escape-hatch. Bravo! But you didn't block the bishop's line of sight to f7, so when `Qf7 Kd7`, the queen is just going to take the bishop, and unless you move your knight out of the way so your queen can protect the rook, they'll take that too!
5. ... e6
This is even worse than d6 was! The queen is blundered immediately, and with great efficiency! Remember, when you move a piece that was under attack, always ask, "what does that attack now see?"
#games
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