A lot of people did jump to Mastodon, and apparently it had had another large influx of users yesterday after all the Twitter shenanigans. Not everyone stays though, obviously.

I think part of the issue some have with Mastodon is the lack of Twitter’s algorithm. It’s absolutely true to say it’s harder to find people and topics to follow on Mastodon for the simple reason that you’re not getting anything shoved in your face, which is a massive plus point for many (myself included) but can also make it appear initially less appealing.

That looks rather nice. My Pixel 6 should be good for a few years yet, but I’d like to think my next phone will be a Fairphone if they keep improving like this.

I’ve always wanted to try a farming sim. I think I own two versions of Stardew Valley but haven’t played either of them!

I know if I do get into one it will be game over for any other games.

I think the bubble has certainly burst. COVID resulted in loads of new consumer investers, and the visibility of crypto had never been higher. Exchanges were being advertised by major celebrities on Superbowl ads!

Then the market crashed, and all those investers realised what a mistake they’d made. I don’t think it’s a mistake many will make twice.

It was such a bizarre time, with major governments talking about minting their own NFTs or even their own digital currencies. That all seems to have quietly gone away now, thankfully.

I played it on release, and enjoyed it for the most part.

It’s not as good as the original games, with a weaker story, weaker characters and a wasted opportunity with the new galaxy, but it’s still a decent game in its own right. The combat was great fun, and while the other stuff isn’t up to the standard of the originals it’s also not bad.

I remember some of the collectathon side quest tasks were a bit tedious, but I think they can be avoided.

I switched to Firefox from Brave a while ago, partly due to Mozilla’s Mastodon announcement and their general approach, and to be honest it’s been fine for the most part.

That said, I’ve absolutely run into some minor issues on a couple of sites that were indeed fixed by using Brave again.

That’s reassuringly low. I guess it’s not that surprising as it’s using what I think is a modified version of the Skyrim engine.

I found PCPartPicker really useful when I last built a PC:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

It helps you pick compatible parts, and links to sites you can buy them from. I’d still shop around for the best price after building your list(s), but it’s a great place to start.

Oh wow, I had no idea this was so extensive. I doubt I’ll have time for this on release, but I’m looking forward to trying it out. Sometime…

I love Nintendo and have a Switch I still use, but there’s clearly a lot more to discuss about the Steam Deck right now than there is that console. The hardware is much newer, and there are far, far more questions people are asking about it as it’s a much more open device. Nobody’s asking how to set up multiple stores on the Switch, for instance, and for obvious reasons.

The Starfield Direct showing really sold me on this. It looks like it comes the closest to my dream space game of anything released so far. Elite Dangerous nailed the feel of piloting your own spacecraft, but I didn’t get on with the actual structure of the game. No Man’s Sky continues to do amazing things, but its spaceflight feels a bit too stripped back for me and it still feels a little too aimless for my tastes.

This looks like a perfect middle ground, all backed up with a full blown Bethesda RPG too keep me engaged. :D

My only criticisms based on the Direct are that characters, and indeed character interactions still look a bit dated compared to more recent games, especially Cyberpunk 2077, and that the combat still looks a little janky. Don’t get me wrong, it looks a lot better than Bethesda’s older games, but still seems to be showcasing some rather basic AI and spongey enemies. Hopefully the RPG elements will make this side of the game feel more rewarding.

I played a lot of the first game, but like lots of games of this type it kind of lost me with the endless DLC releases. It would be nice to start over with a fresh game, and it does look cool.

I remember seeing the original go up against the most recent Sim City, and it’s still unbelievable to think how badly EA messed that one up.

It did look cool, although I’d like to have seen more of the game beyond the combat. I wasn’t expecting something like the Starfield deep dive, but from the trailer alone you’d think combat was what the whole game was about.

What an amazingly hostile move. It’s finally pushed me to delete the mobile app altogether.

While Meta are obviously bad news, it is cool to see ActivityPub getting traction from the big players.

But no, definitely not for me. Mastodon is just fine.

Kibu looks lovely too, as does A Highland Song. That one’s definitely getting bought.

I’m watching this now, and I think it’s doing more for me than any of the other gaming shows recently.

I don’t tend to actually buy many of the games in the Wholesome Directs, but it’s just nice to get a glimpse of something a bit different.

Station to Station looks amazing though. I’ll have to check out the demo.

Raises hand

I love my Steam Deck, although at the moment it’s mainly being used as a PS5 remote play device while I’m playing God of War:Ragnarok. I play all sorts of stuff on it though, and it probably gets more use than my desktop gaming PC these days.

Welcome! I’m new here too, so thanks for helping keep this place chil and cool. :)

Paradox are only publishing, and not developing this, sadly.

I hope it’s good as I’d love a proper Star Trek 4X, but we shall see.