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I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

blog.zarfhome.com

121–127 of 127 posts

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except others have done the same comparison to current PC prices and still found a ~50% markup.

Grab pc part picker and do it yourself, it's not complex. How can there be 50% markup if the ram price is alone like 500$

And the parts aren't comparable when it comes to size and acoustics (and, frankly, aesthetics). The Steam Machine is a very small and, by all accounts, very quiet box. Might not be worth it to most people, of course, but I've seen a ton of supposed comparisons that don't take that into account at all. To say nothing of the people who claim to be able to build something cheaper but then talk about buying used parts or reusing RAM and SSDs they had purchased last years or earlier.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you didn't even ask me what my favorite sci-fun gun is?

I didn't... Is it the one from Existenz? The one from Portal is pretty cool.

Nah, it's the gun the psyclos have in Battlefield Earth; it looks like a piece of junk like some power tools mated with a pistol, it seems really painful to get hit with but like the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun it doesn't do tissue damage when set to stun.

https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth

https://3dprintedprops.com/shop/looker-light-gun/

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't... Is it the one from Existenz? The one from Portal is pretty cool.

Nah, it's the gun the psyclos have in Battlefield Earth ; it looks like a piece of junk like some power tools mated with a pistol, it seems really painful to get hit with but like the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun it doesn't do tissue damage when set to stun. https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth https://3dprintedprops.com/shop/looker-light-gun/

Can't say I have an emo attachment to any gun--- but I'll admit a couple make me pause the way avantgardey prime my third eye to underserved sources of attraction.

Eg The Doodad (after Gibson, neither 0% nor 100% lethal, cf Venezuela, "Middle America"). PP gave me retro-pause marvelling at the Chinese supplying precursors to the WestHem factions (existenz). kinda vibe-prophetic.

My best take on what you meant by the tragedy Handmer is that he has the mike (and loves to drop it whenever he can)--- but the tragedy of the rest of us here is that we don't quite. ?.

And Martian ice caps?

Just realized I'd never connected face to name, so I'd bounced off his Dwarkesh clips BC 1st impression was "fake genZ". Oops.

Now admiring the ambiguities in "rough patch" and "Cindy".

My takeaway from the French essay was that there was nothing stopping others from learning from one's mistakes (ie "without doing")

Edit:

https://youtu.be/1aQrPK9ulD0

https://lethalindisguise.org/crowd-control-weapons/acoustic-...

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a32892398/...

Very ICE, also vibe-prophetic

Edit 2 (reel vs real)

The RI SV

Met Dems (sorry if too heroic but no one else wants to be official with stubbers)

Klepts "Trumpians"

Stubbers DSA

Edit 3: ah so it's an IMI Micro Uzi

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the problem is that there aren't people in the market for it, but more that increasingly products that used to be meant for the average middle class are now perks for wealthier individuals - to the point where I think if there's a collapse of the AAA gaming industry is because there's not enough wealthy people time to accommodate for all the titles. Like GTA VI is speculated to release at around 90$, an…

For basically my whole gaming life starting in the early 1990s, PC games have been ~$50. It is frankly shocking that the price points have been so sticky. $50 in 2000 dollars is $96 today. Inflation is real. It sucks, but that's the reality of economics. It is completely reasonable for video game prices to appreciate along with everything else.

The problem was mainly the income not following inflation.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#125
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also stream games from your powerful PC to the mini PC using Steam, so specs are not as important.

I've always worried about latency for that - but it's ironic since I regularly stream over dedicated WiFi to my Quest VR headset. I'll have to give it a try some time. If they have some asynchronous reprojection tech for streaming that would be ideal

I've co-op games with my friend who lives 2 hours away. Same household should be fine.. It helps if your desktop is plugged into ethernet.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#126

I am flabbergasted by the negativity. It is more expensive of what we hoped for. Is it overpriced? I tried to calculate what a PC would cost NOW and it's exactly the same cost. I have a big Steam Library, a Steam Deck (actually 2), a desktop PC, a very old desktop pc. We are also a family of 4 and both my kids enjoy gaming (they are my kids after all), recently they started showing a lot of interest for games I play…

I don't think the problem is that there aren't people in the market for it, but more that increasingly products that used to be meant for the average middle class are now perks for wealthier individuals - to the point where I think if there's a collapse of the AAA gaming industry is because there's not enough wealthy people time to accommodate for all the titles. Like GTA VI is speculated to release at around 90$, an…

People have been buying $1000+ iPhones for a decade now.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the problem is that there aren't people in the market for it, but more that increasingly products that used to be meant for the average middle class are now perks for wealthier individuals - to the point where I think if there's a collapse of the AAA gaming industry is because there's not enough wealthy people time to accommodate for all the titles. Like GTA VI is speculated to release at around 90$, an…

For basically my whole gaming life starting in the early 1990s, PC games have been ~$50. It is frankly shocking that the price points have been so sticky. $50 in 2000 dollars is $96 today. Inflation is real. It sucks, but that's the reality of economics. It is completely reasonable for video game prices to appreciate along with everything else.

Back then you paid $50 and got the whole game - and you actually own it. I still have game install CDs from that time. Now you pay $80-90 and you get a cash shop that is selling you incomplete parts of a game, and also it has online DRM that can revoke your access at any time if they decide to ban you.
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