BeardyHat's recent activity
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Comment on Core Devices keeps stealing our (Rebble) work in ~tech
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Comment on PSP: The rise and fall of Sony's first portable in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentDamn dude, I'm glad it's not just me. I've had mine for three and a half years now and I love it to pieces; I've even traveled with it plenty, but it definitely feels silly traveling with it and...The Deck is for home.
Damn dude, I'm glad it's not just me. I've had mine for three and a half years now and I love it to pieces; I've even traveled with it plenty, but it definitely feels silly traveling with it and my Thinkpad which has better hardware for gaming than the Deck. I like that it's theoretically compact and I could just bring it and a charger, but I feel like the laptop is just more versatile for everything.
The last time I took both my laptop and my Deck (which was easy, since it was a road trip), I don't think I actually used my Deck at all.
Though, I do guess it depends on what I'm playing at the moment. I brought only my Deck and tablet on a trip over the summer and I was happy, whereas I brought only my laptop on another and wished I'd brought my Deck. Guess it depends on how much time I have to game during a trip as well, which depends on a few factors...
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Comment on PSP: The rise and fall of Sony's first portable in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentFor all the praise the GBA gets (it is a great console), it only has roughly 1,500 games to the PSP's 2000+The lack of consistent support form 3rd party devs and even Sony ultimately killed its lengevity
For all the praise the GBA gets (it is a great console), it only has roughly 1,500 games to the PSP's 2000+
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Comment on For those who didn't know, find what you want to watch and for how much on services! (justwatch.com) in ~movies
BeardyHat Link ParentI never stopped. I have my own digital library shared on my server in my house and it's only become more prevalent with the rise of numerous subscription services. I do buy all my music, however....I never stopped. I have my own digital library shared on my server in my house and it's only become more prevalent with the rise of numerous subscription services.
I do buy all my music, however. But that's in large part because I can purchase it on Bandcamp and download it DRM free.
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Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentAhh ok..I've been a PC gamer for a long time, so maybe that's it..just the idea that I could play my favorite games comfortably on the couch was a huge sell, whether I had a physical mouse or not.Ahh ok..I've been a PC gamer for a long time, so maybe that's it..just the idea that I could play my favorite games comfortably on the couch was a huge sell, whether I had a physical mouse or not.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump rolls back tariffs on dozens of food products in ~society
BeardyHat Link ParentWon't happen, unfortunately. I've been working on my MAGA family for near 10 years now and they just refuse to acknowledge anything. They're off in their own little world.Won't happen, unfortunately. I've been working on my MAGA family for near 10 years now and they just refuse to acknowledge anything. They're off in their own little world.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump rolls back tariffs on dozens of food products in ~society
BeardyHat Link"Good news, everyone! I've lowered groceries prices! I'm the greatest president ever!" And my MAGA family will (literally?) eat it up."Good news, everyone! I've lowered groceries prices! I'm the greatest president ever!"
And my MAGA family will (literally?) eat it up.
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Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentThis is true. I mean, I cut my teeth on the classic games but using cheats all of the time and I do want to get past this part. But it has shown itself to be a constant in this game with these...This is true. I mean, I cut my teeth on the classic games but using cheats all of the time and I do want to get past this part. But it has shown itself to be a constant in this game with these long, tedious wave fights, but at least they've been less egregious up until this point.
I do read that the next level is not great, but honestly having had a look at it, it looks kind of up my alley. Almost like an old Thief level.
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Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI'll have to check that video out, as I'm also a mechanic that's fond of road trips. Just took one and hit 245k miles on my van over September! That said, my van's doors don't randomly fall off....I'll have to check that video out, as I'm also a mechanic that's fond of road trips. Just took one and hit 245k miles on my van over September!
That said, my van's doors don't randomly fall off. The hood doesn't open and shut randomly and my headlights don't just fade in and out while I'm driving at night. I do like Pacific Drive, in theory and it is fun replacing parts, upgrading and stuff, but yeah, everything else just gets tedious.
But, you mentioning turning off some of the annoying stuff in the menu does make me want to go check out those options and see if I feel I could return to the game or not. Pacific Drive is a nice podcast game (what I might call Cozy) and I enjoyed having it because I could play it in the evening while I sat with my wife and she watched TV; I didn't have to be so invested and constantly paying 100% of my attention to it.
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Comment on Twenty-five movies, many stars, zero hits: Hollywood falls to new lows in ~movies
BeardyHat Link ParentIt also just used to be easier and cheaper. When I was a teenager/early 20-something, my buddy and I would hang out at the mall all the time. Frequently, we'd go see a movie, just because. It was...It also just used to be easier and cheaper. When I was a teenager/early 20-something, my buddy and I would hang out at the mall all the time. Frequently, we'd go see a movie, just because. It was cheap and it filled some time and we could talk about it afterwards.
These days, malls aren't much of a thing. The one mall that seems to be popular around here (amongst everyone, including teens) doesn't have a theater. And the price? $22 after taxes and convenience fees. Now, I can't recall what we'd pay back in the early 2000's, but research tells me $6 was the average in 2003 and adjusted for inflation, that's $10 today.
But not only all those things, because now I also have to find childcare for my kids and we're probably going to want to go out to eat too and that ends-up all adding up. Not to mention, just the asspain of finding childcare that doesn't flake or has other plans or you don't want to overuse because they're family.
Yeah, we'll just stay home. I've got popcorn I can make in minutes on my Induction cooktop, I've got a (not amazing) 55" TV, good quality speakers I've refoamed and access to virtually anything I can think of, coupled with a huge backlog of movies that sound interesting and much more so than Marvel Slop 8. Plus, I can drink as much as I want, if I want to and I can go straight to bed afterwards and not have to drive home with a bunch of speeding lunatics on the road.
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Comment on Best Bluetooth controller for sub $50? in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentThat one looks like a pretty damn nice controller. One I may have to consider if my Xbox One controller ever breaks; though I am planning on getting a new Steam Controller and having that be my...That one looks like a pretty damn nice controller. One I may have to consider if my Xbox One controller ever breaks; though I am planning on getting a new Steam Controller and having that be my main one from now on!
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Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
BeardyHat (edited )Link ParentI'm really not sure what they were thinking when it comes to Cultic. I ought to play Episode 1 again, just so I can solidify my critique a little better, but I'm no @Evie and I'm pretty bad when...I'm really not sure what they were thinking when it comes to Cultic. I ought to play Episode 1 again, just so I can solidify my critique a little better, but I'm no @Evie and I'm pretty bad when it comes to criticism and understanding why I do or don't like something, so unfortunately, I can't say much more than, "I think this is bad because it's frustrating!"
DD2 is a good time though. My only complaint is that it's not a chill game, so I often have little to no desire to play it in the evenings, because my brain just isn't able to think about it.
Edit: I'm actually feeling quite tempted to cheat in Cultic. Just throw on God mode and be done with this awful level. Is that giving in though? Or is quitting entirely giving in? I just don't know.
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Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI've had my Deck for three and a half years now and it took me awhile to get the hang of them. I started by playing and configuring some pretty basic stuff, such as playing a lot of Transport...I've had my Deck for three and a half years now and it took me awhile to get the hang of them. I started by playing and configuring some pretty basic stuff, such as playing a lot of Transport Fever 2 and using the right pad as my mouse and changing the left to act as a scroll wheel when I circle my thumb on it one direction or the other. Kind of stopped there for awhile until I started playing Vanilla World of Warcraft on my Deck and realized I could set hot keys and the like to the trackpads.
So as another example, if I play Vanilla WoW, I have my right trackpad set to regular mouse, but my L4 switches to a seperate controller profile that inherets most of the controls, except now converts that right trackpad to scroll. On the left trackpad, I have it set to a circular hot key menu, so I can move my thumb in any given direction and a little circle with assigned hotkeys/actions will appear on screen. From there, I can easily select some of my more uncommon skills I need to use on my character that aren't assigned elsewhere.
Similarly, L4 now switches that left trackpad to a different set of hotkeys I don't need that often, such as Quest Log, Map, Character Panel, etc.
I played through the original Half-Life recently and had the left trackpad set as (upper half) Quick Save and (lower half) Quick Load.
There's all kinds of stuff you can do with it, but I think it's difficult to understand until you see how someone else uses it. The way I discovered uses for it was downloading various controller profiles for different games that had stuff setup in different ways; it gave me ideas for how to configure things, as well as got me to delve into the settings and start messing with stuff. Now I can't live without them and will absolutely be buying a new Steam Controller day 1.
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Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI think this is exactly correct. While I think the Steam Machine is pretty cool, I have no need for one with all my various PC's, including a TV PC. But I watched this video yesterday from a...I think this is exactly correct. While I think the Steam Machine is pretty cool, I have no need for one with all my various PC's, including a TV PC. But I watched this video yesterday from a creator who is pretty explicitly a console gamer and just wants a plug and play experience.
He mentions being frustrated or uninterested in PC gaming because it's often a faff, but loves his Steam Deck because, "It Just Works." and while I, as a techinical person and PC gamer of 30 years thinks PC gaming is incredibly easy these days, there's definitely a hurdle to overcome for people who don't want to fuck with things all the time and just play games. That's exactly who this is for.
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Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentJust out of curiosity, what's the hassle with a TV PC? I've had one for well over a decade and we don't have any particular trouble with it. My non-technical wife uses it and my kids also use it...Just out of curiosity, what's the hassle with a TV PC? I've had one for well over a decade and we don't have any particular trouble with it. My non-technical wife uses it and my kids also use it without issue.
Nothing special setup on it either, it's just Windows. Boots directly to desktop and then the kids know how to navigate to Firefox, Steam or Minecraft. Otherwise we have a link to our folder of movies on my server and just browse that with the wireless keyboard/mouse.
Obviously, it's not as easy as just having a controller you point at the TV, but it's not that much more difficult either.
Edit: I see your response further down. I don't necessarily agree, but I find the experience fairly trouble free unless I actually need access to the PC internals, which is a hassle given it's an ITX build.
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Comment on Best recommendations for PC couch multiplayer games? in ~games
BeardyHat LinkA few my family and I enjoy: TMNT: Shredders Revenge Beat em up Hypercharge: Unboxed Co-Op FPS tower defense Toybox Turbos Casual, goofy racing. Ever play the old Micro Machines games? This is...A few my family and I enjoy:
TMNT: Shredders Revenge
Beat em upHypercharge: Unboxed
Co-Op FPS tower defenseToybox Turbos
Casual, goofy racing. Ever play the old Micro Machines games? This is that, but you can add weapon pickups and such. This has been a regular tournament game for years when extended family comes over. -
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
BeardyHat LinkMode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25 Interactive fiction Comedy Military/realistic shooter FPS ✅ Darkest Dungeon 2 Cozy Third-person shooter ARPG Metroidvania/search action Base building Shop...Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25 Interactive fiction Comedy Military/realistic shooter FPS Roguelike
✅ Darkest Dungeon 2Cozy Third-person shooter ARPG Metroidvania/search action Base building Shop keeper Horror ★ Wildcard Sim racing Survival horror Arena/boomer shooter
✅ CulticAction-adventure Management Walking simulator God game Driving/piloting
✅ Pacific DriveCity builder Exploration Real-time strategy/tactics Soulslike Alright, so... I had basically expected to get through my first two games (Pacific Drive and Cultic) without trouble. But last week, I pretty much gave-up on Pacific Drive after 12-hours. The appeal really wore off and it's repetition set in to the point where I end-up just feeling annoyed at the game. The game certainly has a lot of friction to it, which I don't mind, but it feels arbitrary and unearned. Like my car has issues just because it can and there's nothing I can actually do about it until I get further into the game and build the thing I need to solve those issues. It all feels like the developers had this vision and executed on it, but kind of just did things randomly which piss me off and leave me frustrated. So, on to.
Cultic. This was one of my favorite Boomer Shooters of the last couple of years. Playing the first episode felt like going back and playing Blood for the first time back in 1996; it had some horror elements, but was largely focused on fun shooting, cool levels and challenging enemies, without all the bullshit that comes with Blood (hit scan galore). So I eagerly jumped into Episode 2, which just came out in September aaannnd...
I'm frustrated. I'm not enjoying myself. I feel supremely disappointed. I've seen some complaints about the large, complex levels, which frankly, don't bother me. I'm an explorer at heart, so I enjoy moving around the levels and finding stuff; it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I don't even mind backtracking. But what's gotten really tedious is the developers over reliance on big arena fights without saves or checkpoints. I'm only on the 6th level and again, I'm trapped in an arena while hordes of enemies are thrown at me with not enough resources to really compensate for it and the enemies are massively overtuned. I keep dying and having to repeat the same stuff over and over and over and I'm frankly, just done.
I feel hugely disappointed with this outcome, as I love the first Episode and was so stoked for more, but it really feels like the developer lost sight of their vision for what this was supposed to be. Either that, or they took massive inspiration from the new Doom games, which are basically just that, arenas with hordes of monsters. Anyway, I may try again, as I was reminded that there's a Dash/Dodge I haven't been using and I'm willing to see if that makes a difference, given I'm not using all the tools at my disposal.
Otherwise, I've started Darkest Dungeon 2 this week. I played it about a year ago and really didn't gel with it, but got the hankering for some Darkest Dungeon relatively recently. I figured, rather than go back to the game I love and have spent 100+ hours in, I'd try 2 again and try and reframe my approach, remembering that it's not the same and it's meant to be different and so far? I'm enjoying myself. I've only played about 9-hours, but I feel like I understand a little better what's happening and what I ought to be doing, even if I suck at it.
I've been more focused on what routes I take and how that plays into my long term strategy of getting more Candles to unlock more, as well as unlocking more Hero abilities through visiting Shines of Rememberance or whatever they're called. I've gotten to the point where I've unlocked a reasonable amount of abilities for the first four Heros, as well as having unlocked the Vestal and pumped her up with new abilities. I tried this new team comp which is the Vestal without any damaging abilities and purely buff, heals and support and the Man-At-Arms as a pretty pure tank with minimal damage and control. Between the two of them, I'm actively mitigating damage and pumping up my own damage where possible so that my Bandit and Grave Digger can focus on taking out enemies fairly quickly.
It's been fun to begin to find a groove with the game, though I still feel like that I don't know enough about it. But I intend to keep at it and hopefully figure it out and see the end at some point.
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Comment on Best Bluetooth controller for sub $50? in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI have an 8BitDo SN30 Pro I picked up on eBay for $25 and I love it. My only complaints with it are that it doesn't have analog triggers, which is minor and only comes up if I want to play...I have an 8BitDo SN30 Pro I picked up on eBay for $25 and I love it.
My only complaints with it are that it doesn't have analog triggers, which is minor and only comes up if I want to play something focused on driving where I need variable throttle (rarely) and the other complaint that it's a bit of a pain to change the buttons. I like to switch between Nintendo and XBox layout depending on what I'm using the controller for.
Those are very minor complaints. It's a pretty great controller and I love that it fits in my pocket, though there's not really a need for that.
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Comment on That new hit song on Spotify? It was made by AI. in ~music
BeardyHat Link ParentI mean, the only stuff that we go back to from those decades is stuff that was popular because it was at least semi-decent. All those eras had their own slop that's been forgotten. How many...Now compare that to how they made music in the 70s, 80s, 90s. A lot of this can be blamed on the record labels I think.
I mean, the only stuff that we go back to from those decades is stuff that was popular because it was at least semi-decent. All those eras had their own slop that's been forgotten. How many generic Hair Metal bands were there in the mid 80s to the early 90s? Pantera started as a Hair Metal band for example, but no one is going back to Metal Magic.
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Comment on Data centers are now hoarding SSDs as hard drive supplies dry up in ~tech
BeardyHat Link ParentI have two of these. I bought them for $130/$140 respectively and they've been great.I have two of these. I bought them for $130/$140 respectively and they've been great.
Having now skimmed both of these (Much as I loved my Pebble, used Rebble for years and would love a new Pebble, I'm not that invested here), I feel like this is such an open source community thing to do. One group or person accuses another of something specific and then the other defends themselves and this rift forms.
Not that open source software is bad or anything, but I feel like I've seen this time and again in the Linux community, the emulator community, the MMO private server community and on and on. Maybe it's not fair to say that it's an open source thing, but it just seems to happen to stuff like this.
All that said, I'm mulling over a Core Pebble, but I think I may be over the Smartwatch thing. I loved my Pebble and tried to replace it when it was good a dead a few years ago and never found anything that felt the same; eventually I bought a cheap, basic Timex Expedition watch and it's been great. The backlight died, but otherwise, I don't have to pay attention to it ever and it just tells me the time and the date with no fuss.