mat's recent activity

  1. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    Mate I wasn't being serious. I'm aware finding a job can be a job in itself, especially in tech these days. I've just... never really done it. Startups and self-employment are a different sort of...

    Mate I wasn't being serious. I'm aware finding a job can be a job in itself, especially in tech these days. I've just... never really done it. Startups and self-employment are a different sort of a thing. I'm on at least my third career at this point, so yes, I probably do have a very different view of work than you - but probably not because of my age.

  2. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    The games I first played as a kid - Chuckie Egg (play online here), Revs 5 Tracks, Repton, Dizzy, Manic Mansion, Jet Set Willy, etc - are definitely pretty terrible to play today. (DO NOT point...

    The games I first played as a kid - Chuckie Egg (play online here), Revs 5 Tracks, Repton, Dizzy, Manic Mansion, Jet Set Willy, etc - are definitely pretty terrible to play today. (DO NOT point out that those games are actually more like 40 years old please I am trying to ignore the relentless and terrifying passage of time).

    Elite is the possible only exception from the BBC Micro days. Although that game was some kind of minor miracle, back in the day. I still play Elite Dangerous occasionally but it's not the same. Too many polygons..

    System Shock is fantastic. I guess that is closer to being 20 years old. Fuck, Quake 2 is 30 next year. Man I am OLD.

    Excuse me while I place my head back in the sand. And maybe have a little nap.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy in ~humanities.languages

    mat
    Link Parent
    Yeah, it's funny how the word stuck around but totally changed meaning. In British English 'git' is a low-grade not-quite-swear-word, probably about the same as 'jerk' in US English. It's the kind...

    Yeah, it's funny how the word stuck around but totally changed meaning. In British English 'git' is a low-grade not-quite-swear-word, probably about the same as 'jerk' in US English. It's the kind of word you'd hear on daytime TV.

    It only just occurred to me that probably nobody in 1967 America noticed The Monkees having a record called Randy Scouse Git (RCA UK definitely did though)

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy in ~humanities.languages

    mat
    Link Parent
    My post doesn't show when searching for the .co.uk and cfabbro's doesn't show when searching for the .com. Ideally a slightly fuzzed match should show both posts for either search anyway. Also I...

    My post doesn't show when searching for the .co.uk and cfabbro's doesn't show when searching for the .com. Ideally a slightly fuzzed match should show both posts for either search anyway.

    Also I wasn't aware you can't delete things, thanks for the heads up.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy in ~humanities.languages

    mat
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Ah. That's interesting - I searched for the url and got no results so assumed it hadn't been posted. Feel free to delete this post then. edit: is this how I find out that searching for urls isn't...

    Ah. That's interesting - I searched for the url and got no results so assumed it hadn't been posted.

    Feel free to delete this post then.

    edit: is this how I find out that searching for urls isn't how we're supposed to do it?

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy in ~humanities.languages

    mat
    Link
    Interesting read but also handy to keep around if you find someone complaining about how pronouns aren't what they used to be.

    Which word would you use to refer to yourself? "I", presumably, in the singular. And how about you and a group of people? "We", of course, in the plural.

    But how about you and one other person?

    In modern English, there is no word for that. You would probably just use "we" or "the two of us".

    But more than 1,000 years ago, you would have said: "wit".

    Interesting read but also handy to keep around if you find someone complaining about how pronouns aren't what they used to be.

    17 votes

  8. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    What, even Valve? :) Sony might be able to kill the Xbox. Very big might though. But they'll never be the only console (or console-like device - especially if Valve actually get their shit...

    the end goal of any company under capitalism, complete control over a monopoly and no competition.

    What, even Valve? :)

    Sony might be able to kill the Xbox. Very big might though. But they'll never be the only console (or console-like device - especially if Valve actually get their shit together with Steam machines). Sony will likely never have a complete monopoly. Nintendo aren't going anywhere. Even less so PCs.

    But even if they did - what would they do that's different to now? Other than put up prices, of course - but that wouldn't change with physical discs still in play either.

    Backlash is worthless

    letting it get even worse with absolutely no pushback.

    Let's not pretend this isn't all worthless. Pushback, boycotts, consumer protests, etc - basically don't work. There are almost no documented instances of "consumer action" - especially for something niche like this - having an effect. Sony remote-deleting people's games might (might, depends on the game) cause a noticeable amount of fuss, but them making a change like this that most of their customers won't be affected by? Not a chance. In a couple of days most of the people making fuss now will move on to the next thing to be angry about and by the time the change actually happens in January, most people won't even remember it happened at all.

    I feel like I'm not talking that crazy when I say such decisions can apply to games in the future.

    I wouldn't say crazy, but I would say it's kinda hard to justify that position. The movie thing was a legal fumble by Sony, and a dick move by StudioCanal (I notice nobody is blaming them, when they are at least as much at fault, arguably more!). I don't think Sony decided to do that, to piss all those customers off, to get all this bad PR. They were forced into it. The upside is that their games distribution lawyers were likely already and definitely will be now, far more robustly on the case to make sure it doesn't happen with the much more profitable gaming market.

    I imagine if Steam were an Epic Games or an EA or whatever things would look significantly different right now.

    Genuine question - how do you imagine things would look in that case? I mean sure, Epic and EA are assholes, but they are still not remote-deleting people's games. Selling people stuff - even if it is generic micro-transaction, loot-box riddled crap - will always be more profitable than not doing that.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    The number of PCs I've built over the years probably approaches the number of hot dinners you've cooked (well no, but "I've done more x than you've had hot dinners" was right there..) I was...

    The number of PCs I've built over the years probably approaches the number of hot dinners you've cooked (well no, but "I've done more x than you've had hot dinners" was right there..)

    I was building systems before GPUs existed. I was there before maths co-processors! I even did it professionally for a while. I have built a LOT of computers - and have also released my fair share of magic smoke along the way. In the bad old days chip sockets weren't polarised and you could fry a Pentium in seconds if you put it in the wrong way round. Fun times.

    I just don't have any interest in doing that right now, that's all. I have other things I want to do with my life than fiddle about with computing hardware. Doing that, which I still need to from time to time for home automation and other things, is annoying where it used to be fun. Maybe when Kid is older we can build them a gaming PC together and it'll be good. So the compromise - including other factors - is a console that I'm perfectly happy with being digital only. I don't want to play 20 or 30 year old games, I did that recently at a retro games fair and they were shit. I didn't think they were shit when I was a kid, because there wasn't anything better. But there is now, and there will be in 20 years time.

    Anyway, good luck finding work! At least you've got some time for playing games in the meantime. :)

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    I have plenty of machines that keep themselves happily up to date without my intervention but last I checked - admittedly some time ago - Steam on linux was not quite there, still. The thing is, I...

    I have plenty of machines that keep themselves happily up to date without my intervention but last I checked - admittedly some time ago - Steam on linux was not quite there, still.

    The thing is, I was already 100% beholden to Sony's whims. Obviously I didn't read the terms I agreed to when I set up my Sony account but there is almost no chance they don't own me entirely already. They could disable any disc from working just as easily as digital games, or even my entire console if they wanted, but there's no reason for them to do that. The backlash would be insane. They are a business, and they exist largely just to make money from me. Stopping printing discs makes them money. Deleting people's games does not.

    It's worth noting that in most cases I don't legally own a disc game any more than I own a digital one - those EULAs are as restrictive for discs as they are for downloads.

    There is, as far as I know, zero evidence that this particular segment of sky is in any danger of falling. I remember a certain segment of PC gamers saying the exact same thing when Steam came along over 20 years ago. And yet in all that time, has it ever happened?

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    Thing is, it's not a bit. A reasonably capable gaming PC which is comparable in performance (both graphically and acoustically, the latter of which is particularly important to me) was always...

    why not just splurge a bit and fully invest in PC gaming?

    Thing is, it's not a bit. A reasonably capable gaming PC which is comparable in performance (both graphically and acoustically, the latter of which is particularly important to me) was always quite a lot more money and effort than a Playstation, even before hardware prices went insane. And sure, I am capable of spending a day assembling and setting up a PC from a pile of parts, but I don't want to.

    I don't have the space or time for PC gaming. My PS5 sits quietly in a little nook behind my TV and keeps itself up to date until I'm ready to use it. Every few weeks or even months, sometimes, I sit on my sofa, pick up a controller and turn it on, I play a game for a bit. I turn it off again. PC gaming is not like that. I need to keep Windows up to date, which is a bloody nightmare if you leave it more than a few weeks between boots (also I need to have Windows in my house at all, eeugh). I need to keep drivers up to date, I need to keep Steam up to date, I need a keyboard and a mouse as well as a controller, the former two of which are not very usable from a sofa. I don't have room for a desk, nor does my back want me to sit at one if I did. PC controllers might have got better since I last had cause to use one, but my creaky old RSI-stricken hands actually like Sony's hardware. I guess I can use a DualSense with a PC these days though?

    I don't care how my games arrive, I do care how easy they are to get, play and maintain and for me, that's why consoles are still the better choice. Perhaps the rumoured £1k price tag of the PS6 will tip the scales to make a PC more attractive.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    85% of all PS4 and PS5 game sales worldwide were digital in Q4 2025. If you take out the PS4s from that data I bet it's in the mid to high nineties. Out of the small percentage of people...

    85% of all PS4 and PS5 game sales worldwide were digital in Q4 2025. If you take out the PS4s from that data I bet it's in the mid to high nineties. Out of the small percentage of people remaining, I doubt many of them are going to throw away their PS5 on principle. Will they buy a PS6? Perhaps some of them won't. But that's a tiny loss of custom for a LOT of money saved on production and distribution of a bit of plastic most people don't want.

    I am also a middle aged dude who loves games. I just love games more than whatever principle it is you're standing for here. No judgement on your principles, of course, and props to you for holding firm to them - but for me I'm happy to just be able to play games when time allows.

    6 votes

  13. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    I think it's safe to say Sony are well aware of the proportion of their customers who do not care about physical media and that's exactly why they are doing this. If it was "many people"...

    I think it's safe to say Sony are well aware of the proportion of their customers who do not care about physical media and that's exactly why they are doing this. If it was "many people" potentially hopping off the boat then they'd keep pressing discs because there is money to be made that way. But clearly there is not.

    I'm not sure I agree with the assumption that having games in digital format mean they can't be played in future. Sony are shutting down the PS3 online store soon (after a mere 20+ years!) but they've explicitly said people can keep (re)downloading their purchases for "the foreseeable future", and obviously anything already downloaded should keep working indefinitely. Of course they could remote-kill the game if they wanted (not sure why they would want) but they can do that with a disc as well. If you keep your PS3 offline they can't do it in either case.

    The value of consoles, at least for me, is a relatively cheap box that sits behind my TV and requires no fiddling about with and can play games with no hassle in the tiny amount of spare time I have to play games in. That proposition has, if anything, only got more appealing with digital game purchases because I don't have to go and get a disc from somewhere before I can play a game - either initially or just to boot the thing up.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    So what are your options when consoles are as digital only as PCs are today? Because that's what is going to happen and that was my question. Personally as long as the game doesn't vanish while...

    So what are your options when consoles are as digital only as PCs are today? Because that's what is going to happen and that was my question.

    Personally as long as the game doesn't vanish while I'm playing it, I don't really care. They're transient pieces of entertainment. I am not a museum who hoards piles of bits for future generations to marvel at, I'm just someone who wants a few hours of fun.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Sure. That's not games though. Stupid, yes; annoying, also yes; games, no. One would assume (or at least hope!) Sony have better contracts for their game distribution deals than their movie ones

    Sure. That's not games though. Stupid, yes; annoying, also yes; games, no. One would assume (or at least hope!) Sony have better contracts for their game distribution deals than their movie ones

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    Did Sony remotely deactivate games post-purchase there, or did they close down a digital shop for a 20+ year old console? Like how physical stores also often don't stock physical games for ancient...

    Did Sony remotely deactivate games post-purchase there, or did they close down a digital shop for a 20+ year old console? Like how physical stores also often don't stock physical games for ancient consoles.

    While the store is going down, Sony says that any digital games you bought on either system will be downloadable “for the foreseeable future.”

    7 votes

  17. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    I mean, I guess. Is that likely to happen? Has it ever happened? Seems like they could disable discs as well if they wanted, it wouldn't be too hard to make a software update that says "Tony Hawks...

    I mean, I guess. Is that likely to happen? Has it ever happened? Seems like they could disable discs as well if they wanted, it wouldn't be too hard to make a software update that says "Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 discs no longer work"

    Also that doesn't really change that there aren't many other options. I don't have the money or space for a gaming PC, nor do I want one.

    6 votes

  18. Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games

    mat
    Link Parent
    So what are your options then? I am not a PC gamer but I'm pretty sure you're looking at download only for most PC games nowadays. Microsoft are likely to follow Sony's lead on this, rumours are...

    So what are your options then?

    I am not a PC gamer but I'm pretty sure you're looking at download only for most PC games nowadays. Microsoft are likely to follow Sony's lead on this, rumours are that the next XBox won't have an optical drive at all. The Switch is great but it's not like I can get a huge range of games for it.

    I don't think I've bought a single game on a disc in the entire time I've had my PS5.

    13 votes

  19. Comment on Do you cook with cast iron? Is it the hassle everyone says it is? in ~food

    mat
    Link
    Yeah cast iron is a massive pain in the arse. I do not have time for a pan which needs it's hand holding like cast iron does. Ooooh, hand wash only, wah wah wah don't use metal tools, boohoo you...

    Yeah cast iron is a massive pain in the arse. I do not have time for a pan which needs it's hand holding like cast iron does. Ooooh, hand wash only, wah wah wah don't use metal tools, boohoo you need to strip the coating off and reseason me, are you using the right sort of oil? Stuff that. I am busy. My cookware gets a kicking and goes in the dishwasher and if it doesn't like that then it's not welcome in my kitchen.

    If you really want to go down that route, carbon steel outperforms cast iron in just about every way - it's cheaper, tougher, easier to handle and has considerably better thermal performance - but the best thing to do is learn to cook on stainless. That's what professional chefs use more than any other sort of pan, and there's a reason for that. I got rid of my cast iron and carbon steel in favour of mostly stainless. I do have a non-teflon ceramic non-stick pan for cooking eggs and pancakes in, and because it's only used for those relatively low-temperature things, the coating is still super slippery after several years. But non-stick is best thought of as a consumable anyway.

    I was told that iron cookware doesn't really impart much iron into your diet and particularly seasoned cast iron won't do so at all because the polymer layer is between the iron and your food. A nice cast iron teapot does a little bit though. And you get to have a nice cast iron teapot, which doesn't need any special treatment.

    8 votes

  20. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    mat
    Link
    I have had Rosa Walton's new solo album Tell Me it's a Dream on pretty heavy rotation this week. Jangly, dreamy, weirdy indie pop with some really beautiful songwriting. A really lovely collection...

    I have had Rosa Walton's new solo album Tell Me it's a Dream on pretty heavy rotation this week. Jangly, dreamy, weirdy indie pop with some really beautiful songwriting. A really lovely collection of songs for long summer days, well worth checking out.

    You may or may not have heard of her as one half of Let's Eat Grandma, who I also recommend although personally I do find Two Ribbons to be a little bit emotionally intense for casual listening.