I have read that early DualSense units had a bug that affected battery life. If you still have yours, it might be worth updating the firmware.

For example: Let’s say your email is jane@lemmy.com.

YSK: These domains are reserved for use in examples:

• example.com
• example.net
• example.org

Why YSK: Using these instead of made-up domain names reduces the chance of confusing readers, eliminates the possibility of phishing attacks, and avoids sending unwanted traffic to made-up domains if they happen to belong to someone.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2606#section-3

Neat. I just hope it can be disabled to save power.

A more charitable reading might detect irony in that comment. Their intent might not have been victim-blaming.

I’m encouraged by the facts that Sony’s game controller linux driver works with no signup, and that this announcement mentions needing a Steam account but says nothing about a PSN account.

This is disappointing, though:

some key features, like HDR, headset feedback, eye tracking, adaptive triggers, and haptic feedback (other than rumble), are not available when playing on PC.

I see these tactics being used far more extensively by wealthy individuals and corporate interests than I do Chinese interests.

How can you so confidently distinguish one from the other?

I saw the picture and hoped they had finally added some depth, or at least some interesting interactions, to romantic relationships (once they’re established).

Then I saw the headline. Oh well. It’s still a fun game.

they wanted these machines to be run by workers who had gone through an apprenticeship and got paid decent wages.

A machine that avoids that can be called labor-saving, in the sense that it saves the employer from having to pay for skilled labor. I get the distinction you’re making, and thanks for the article, but it really doesn’t invalidate the use of the phrase.

Still a good clarification, though, and I side with the skilled labor on this one. :)

Thank you for specifying that the collection of data is the problem, not just how it’s handled once collected.

Unfortunately, disabling the SIM or wireless module in the car isn’t enough, since collected data could still be downloaded at a shop during warranty repair, or smog check, or (if you’re unlucky) post-accident inspection, or by a mileage-tracking device from an insurance company.

Luddite…

Avoiding spyware doesn’t mean you’re opposed to labor-saving technology, much as avoiding tasers doesn’t mean you’re opposed to electronics. :)

Reminds me of a real estate developer trying to pressure a small homeowner into surrendering their land by encroaching as closely as possible against their borders.

Perhaps for some people. In my case, I went back and played BotW again, and enjoyed the replay all the way through.

Also, I think the matter of which game is better is pretty subjective. I loved BotW, but got bored of TotK less than halfway through.

similar open world games with good combat systems,

This might be a tall order. Most of the “open world” games I’ve found either fall down in the open world department (lots of restricted areas or nothing varied/interesting enough to make exploring fun) or fall down in the combat department (awkward, unresponsive, or annoying in some other way). Some high-profile games even manage to suffer from both these problems despite being great in other ways (I’m looking at you, Geralt).

I hoped for quite a while that the next Elder Scrolls game would keep the good parts of Skyrim (beautiful environments full of unique things to discover) and overhaul the combat into something good, but recent showings from Bethesda make me less than optimistic.

Some people praise the Dark Souls series (including Elden Ring) for both openness and combat. However, if you loved Breath of the Wild, I wonder if the Souls style would be a bit too combat-focused for your taste, leaving the world feeling cold and empty. I haven’t played them enough to have a strong opinion about this; perhaps someone else can chime in.

I look forward to the suggestions you get in this thread.

Edit:

I just remembered Subnautica! I recommend this game, but there’s caveat in the context of your question: The way it avoids bad combat is to give the player reason to avoid combat as much as possible.

Maybe Valheim?

Depending on the field, perhaps, at least at first. But the more organizations that switch, the more demand there is for support, which is how we eventually get it.

In the meantime, there is usually another way to get things done. Props to this German state for stepping up. Digital sovereignty is important.

“Good thing there are other app vendors.”

I have my criticisms of Steam, but I see no sign of it marching toward some kind of big anti-customer explosion as suggested in this article. Unlike most others, it’s run by a privately owned company, so it doesn’t have investors pressuring toward enshittification. We can see the result by looking back at the past decade or so: Steam has been operating more or less the same.

Meanwhile, the author offers for contrast Epic Games, a major source of platform exclusives and surveillance software (file-snooping store app, client-side anti-cheat, Epic Online Services “telemetry”), all of which are very much anti-customer.

AFAIK, only one of the other stores listed is actually better for customers in any significant way: GOG. (For the record, I mostly like GOG.) But it was mentioned so briefly that it feels like the author only did so in hopes of influencing GOG fans.

Overall, this post looks a lot like astroturfing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be sponsored by Epic or Microsoft.

Edit: I forgot something that has changed in the past decade:

Valve has spent the past five years investing in open platforms: At first by funding key parts (often the most difficult ones) of the open-source software stack that now makes gaming great on linux, and more recently by developing remarkably good and fairly open PC hardware for mobile gaming. No vendor lock-in. No subscription fees. No artificially crippled features. This has already freed many gamers from Microsoft’s stranglehold, and more of us are reaping the benefits every day.

This is the polar opposite of what the author would have us fear.

It’s important that we build incentives for companies to avoid harming people, and hold them accountable when they do it anyway. Profit is not a valid excuse.

Related event (perhaps even a direct example) from a few years ago: the Blitzchung incident.

they make no secret that it belongs to them.

Can we say instead that they think it belongs to them?