Epic's Epic Rewards

Sure, the Point system offered on Steam is cute and fun. But what it's missing is real monetary value. Of course the Steamoroids will always find something wrong with any other digital distribution platform on the Personal Computer, but Epic Games is once again showing us that they can be a step more advanced than Valve's digital storefront. Today, they introduced the Epic Rewards program alongside their month-long Mega Sale a.k.a. we really, really want you to spend money event - and I have seen some truly incredible discounts!

I rather have cashback than the next cute emoji or profile background to be honest.

Perhaps It's Time to Let Them Go?

Packing up all of my physical games had me thinking. Is it still necessary for me to hold on to these things? Sure, they are worth quite a lot to me. I have played a majority of them and as the saying goes, you can't take it with you, and in this rapid digital age, physical game ownership just feels quite limp, quite vapid. I know it's probably the exhaustion talking - I dare you to pack around 3,000 games and smile at the end of the process - but I want to entertain the thought seriously for a minute. Do I lose anything if I let go of these games at this point in my life? Sure, the void can be felt with such a drastic measure, but I have a majority of my games digitally these days, thanks to the fully evolved Personal Computer gaming distribution. Let's just pretend that I am willing to make this change in my life as a gamer, will I miss my physical games? I mean, once they are shelved, it's not like I caress them every single day, and it's not like I actually play them often. I get a lot of digital games nowadays, so it's not like I am ever going to run out of things to play before my eventual death. So then why are they still here? They are causing me a lot of headaches because I have to ensure that they are well taken care of both when they are stationary and when they need to be transported somewhere. This move involves a long, fantastical, epic, dangerous(?) journey that in itself will take a lot out of me - I am already feeling the effect of it - and it just feels like perhaps it's just not worth all the pain and hassle of taking these along with me.

Guess what's in all of these boxes?

What Is Life but a Constant Stream

Looks like I'm moving again, perhaps for one final time. It has been close to 3 years and I have been well-adjusted to living in Ketchikan, Alaska. Now, I get to play this game from the beginning all over again. I knew that this was a possibility when I started redecorating this Game Room just recently, so I can't be mad about this whole thing. I just know that it will be exhausting because this one will also be a long-distance migration. Am I moving across state lines, perhaps across the pond, or maybe to the other side of the continent? I'll leave that up to your imagination. I've decided to keep this private from now on.

From today's livestream: The Game Room deconstruction process has begun.

Diablo IV: The Ultimate Gift?

I participated in the Diablo IV open beta last month and it was fine. The game felt like Diablo III, only with amazing graphics - probably one of the best this year - and it was so well optimized that I didn't even have to use DLSS to run the game at 4K 60fps with all the settings maxed out. Unfortunately, once I got to the "MMO" part of the game, everything pretty much fell apart. The frequent lag was horrendous, where my druid was teleporting and stuttering all over the place. It's unfortunate that Blizzard is turning Diablo IV into a live service game, well Diablo III on the Personal Computer was pretty much that. The financial success of Diablo Immortal is the main driver of the game's current model here and you can't blame Blizzard for wanting to make money. I have always felt that it was a mistake to drive these developers away from the loot box mechanics - if you don't have self-control, that's on you and you should stop playing the games with loot boxes, there is a reason why we don't let blind people drive cars - because now they are hooked on selling season passes, and Diablo IV is the latest victim of that trend. Silly loot-box complainers thought they did something good when instead, they just doomed us all. Unfortunately, in this world of ours, there are just too many idiots and that's just the way everything works.

No amount of blood cape can justify that game price... Unless you're in love?

The Games of Steam Spring Sale 2023 Part 3

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2

Sea Horizon ► Roguelites are easy to like and easier to enjoy. I prefer playing them over your typical linear titles. This game reminded me of For the King, especially the graphics style. I am always up for some fantastical, random quickie adventures. I know I have quite a few of these games already but just like those Vampire Survivors clones, I will never get tired of them, as long as they are somewhat decent.