Op-ed: Slowed manufacturing advancements are upending the way tech progresses.

"These price increases have multiple intertwining causes, some direct and some less so: inflation, pandemic-era supply crunches, the unpredictable trade policies of the Trump administration, and a gradual shift among console makers away from selling hardware at a loss or breaking even in the hopes that game sales will subsidize the hardware. And you never want to rule out good old shareholder-prioritizing corporate greed.

But one major factor, both in the price increases and in the reduction in drastic “slim”-style redesigns, is technical: the death of Moore’s Law and a noticeable slowdown in the rate at which processors and graphics chips can improve."

  • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
    314·
    1 day ago

    $850 is way more expensive than a PS5 though lol. Linux also means you can’t play the games that top the most played charts on the PS5 every single month of every single year.

    • Psythik@lemm.eeEnglish
      21·
      11 hours ago

      If you’re willing to get a base model, sure. The PS5 Pro is a $700 console, and that’s not including the subscription fee for multiplayer (which doesn’t exist on PC unless you’re into MMOs).

      Edit: Also every Playstation (and Xbox) game eventually comes to PC, so unless you’re so impatient that you have to play the latest games right fucking now, there’s no reason to own a console. Even Switch games are fully playable on PC, at higher resolutions and framerates as well. I sold my Switch because the games look and run so much better on my gaming rig.

      • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
        1·
        10 hours ago

        Also every Playstation (and Xbox) game eventually comes to PC, so unless you’re so impatient that you have to play the latest games right fucking now, there’s no reason to own a console.

        This isn’t true yet (the games thing). Playstation haven’t brought or even suggested that they’ll bring every game to PC. Microsoft are, sure, which is amazing - but Sony very much still want to protect their walled garden of consoles. Playstation, more specifically the 30% cut they get of all game sales, and their online subscription fees, are the only thing keeping Sony afloat. If sony were to go full PC like MS, Playstation and Sony would go down like the Titanic.

        As for the “there’s no reason to own a console”, eh I see the point and I agree to an extent but I also disagree. My Series X’s UI is just so much better than any PC UI, not to mention the features. Quick resume for one is an absolute game changer, and it’s not on PC. Everything that you could ever want to do while playing online is just so much easier to do on a console than on a PC. I say this as someone who plays more and more on PC these days, and wishes I could boot my PC into a Xbox OS type UI.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6·
      1 day ago

      https://www.metacritic.com/pictures/best-playstation-games-of-2024/

      Works on Linux:

      Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown

      Silent Hill 2 (Remake)

      Marvel vs Capcom: Arcade Classics

      Shin Megamei Tensei (V)engeance

      Persona 3 Reload

      HiFi Rush

      Animal Well

      Castlevania Dominus Collection

      Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

      Tekken 8

      The Last of Us Part II (Remaster)

      Balatro

      Dave the Diver

      Slay the Princess: Pristine Cut

      Metaphor Re Fantazio

      Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (and base game)

      Does not work on Linux:

      Unicorn Overlord (Console Exclusive, No PC Port Allowed by Publisher Vanillaware)

      Destiny 2 (Kernel Level Anti Cheat)

      FF VII Rebirth (PS Exclusive)

      Astro Bot (PS Exclusive)

      …

      Damn, yeah, still consoles gotta hold on via exclusives, I guess?

      And then there’s the mismanaged shitshow that is Destiny 2…

      …who can’t figure out how to do AntiCheat without installing a rootkit on your PC, despite functional, working AntiCheats having worked on linux games for at least half a decade at this point, if not longer…

      …nor can they figure out how to write a storyline that rises above ‘everyone is always lore dumping instead of talking, and also they talk to you like a you’re a 10 year while doing so.’

      Last I heard, a whole bunch of hardcore D2 youtubers and streamers were basically all quitting out of frustration and feeling let down or betrayed by Bungie.

      …

      Maybe we should advocate for some freedom of platform porting/publishing for all games, eh FreedomAdvocate?

        • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          31·
          17 hours ago

          Most Call of Duty games work on linux, you’re gonna have to be more specific as to which particular one of like 25 you mean by ‘COD’.

          The ones that don’t, they don’t work because the devs are too lazy or incompetent (or specifically told not to by their bosses) to make an AntiCheat that isn’t a rootkit with full access to your entire PC.

          I used to play GTA V Online (and RDR2, and FiveM, and RedM…) on linux all the time, literally for years… untill they just decided to ban all linux players.

          IMO they owe me money for that, but oh well I guess.

          …

          Again, there are many AntiCheats that work on linux, and have worked on linux for years and years now.

          Easy Anti Cheat and Battleeye even offer linux support to game devs. There are some games with these ACs that actually do support linux.

          But many game devs/studios/publishers just don’t use this support… because then there wouldn’t be any reason to actually use Windows, and MSFT pays these studios a lot of money… or they just literally own them (Activision/Blizzard = MSFT).

          Kernel Anti Cheat that only works on Windows?

          Yep, that’s just a complicated way to enforce Windows exclusivity in PC games.

          Go look up how many hacks and trainers you can find for one of these games you mention.

          You may notice that they are all designed for, and only work on… Windows.

          The idea that all linux gamers are malicious hackers is a laughable, obviously false idea… but game company execs understand the power of rabid irrational fandoms.

          …

          You are right that you can’t run games with rootkit anticheats on linux though, so if those heavily monetized and manipulative games with toxic playerbases are your addiction of choice, yep, sorry, linux ain’t your hookup for those.

          Again, this is another game platform freedom advocacy issue, and also a personal information security advocacy issue, not a ‘something is wrong with linux’ issue.

          Game companies have gotten many working anticheat systems to work with linux. The most popular third party anticheat systems also support linux.

          But the industry is clever at keeping people locked into their for profit, insecure OSs that spy on their entire system.

          • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
            11·
            10 hours ago

            Most Call of Duty games work on linux, you’re gonna have to be more specific as to which particular one of like 25 you mean by ‘COD’.

            I was more specific - I said COD MP as in multiplayer, as in the current COD Multiplayer that people play, which all have anti-cheat that doesn’t work on Linux. Warzone, again, doesn’t work on Linux.

            The ones that don’t, they don’t work because the devs are too lazy or incompetent (or specifically told not to by their bosses) to make an AntiCheat that isn’t a rootkit with full access to your entire PC.

            Because without full access to your PC, anti-cheat is essentially useless and easily bypassed by cheaters.

            I used to play GTA V Online (and RDR2, and FiveM, and RedM…) on linux all the time, literally for years… untill they just decided to ban all linux players.

            Because of cheaters.

            Kernel Anti Cheat that only works on Windows?

            Yep, that’s just a complicated way to enforce Windows exclusivity in PC games.

            It’s also one of the only ways to try to stop cheaters.

            The idea that all linux gamers are malicious hackers is a laughable, obviously false idea

            That’s not an idea that anyone is saying though, other than you right now. The idea is that without that kernel level protection you can’t even hope to stop a high percentage of cheats.

            You are right that you can’t run games with rootkit anticheats on linux though, so if those heavily monetized and manipulative games with toxic playerbases are your addiction of choice, yep, sorry, linux ain’t your hookup for those.

            So like I said, the most popular, most played games on every platform (apart from linux) every year.

            Again, this is another game platform freedom advocacy issue, and also a personal information security advocacy issue, not a ‘something is wrong with linux’ issue.

            It is a “something is wrong with linux” issue if Linux doesn’t allow/provide for something that game developers - and game players - want, which is anti-cheat that does the absolute best it can to stop cheaters.

            • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              11·
              7 hours ago

              Because without full access to your PC, anti-cheat is essentially useless and easily bypassed by cheaters.

              This is false.

              Many functional AntiCheats work well without Kernel Level access… and many Kernel Level AntiCheats… are routinely bypassed by common, easily purchaseable hacks… which, again, only work on Windows.

              I used to play GTA V Online (and RDR2, and FiveM, and RedM…) on linux all the time, literally for years… untill they just decided to ban all linux players.

              Because of cheaters.

              That’s not an idea that anyone is saying though, other than you right now.

              Uh… you are also basically saying this, with that combination of statements.

              So… please refrain from obviously contradictory, gas lighting arguements, thanks!

              Anyway: GTAV uses BattleEye.

              BattleEye works on Linux.

              Rockstar just … chose not to use that Linux support.

              It’s also one of the only ways to try to stop cheaters.

              There are many other ways to stop cheaters that are quite effective, namely, actually designing your game more competently and more cleverly, with less client side authority and more server side authority, less intrusive system client side AC that is more reliant on randomized realtime logging and verifications of game files, server side hereustics that pick up ‘impossible’ player input patterns, etc.

              You know, all the other methods that have been used for decades, and still work.

              No AntiCheat method will ever be 100% effective.

              As I already mentioned, Kernel Level AntiCheats are defeated all the time, and you can easily find and purchase such cheats/hacks… which only work on Windows… after maybe 30 minutes of web searching or jumping around discord communities.

              Beyond that, its not that hard or expensive to setup your own, or just purchase a tiny microcomputer that plugs into your PC, then you plug your mouse/keyboard into that, and then the microPC middleman performs aim hacks and otherwise impossible movement macros like stuttersteps and such.

              Kernel ACs are routinely defeated by competent executions of this concept.

              You can never stop all hackers.

              It is always a trade off of exactly how much you inconvenience and degrade the system integrity/stability/security of the user, versus how many hackers you believe you are likely to stop.

              …

              Kernel Level AntiCheat is basically going to 99.99% effective from previous methods being 99.9% effective… and the cost is literally you are now installing a rootkit on your own system that could very well be reading all your web history and saved logins and passwords.

              The code is black box, and tech companies lie all the time about how much data they gather from you… and then sell to every data broker they can.

              The only actual numbers and statistics anyone has to work with, when justifying or arguing against effectiveness levels of different kinds of AC… are the claims put out by AC companies.

              And even then, most people, such as yourself, aren’t even aware of or refuse to acknowledge that AntiCheats have worked on linux for years.

              It is a “something is wrong with linux” issue if Linux doesn’t allow/provide for something that game developers - and game players - want, which is anti-cheat that does the absolute best it can to stop cheaters.

              I see how you just completely did not address how I stated that EAC and BattleEye both support linux, other ACs have and still do as well… certain game publishers just don’t use these features that have existed for years.

              Valve Anti Cheat, for example?

              You can find more info if you look, but I’m guessing you won’t.

              You just have an idea, of ‘the idea’.

              Have you ever written a hack?

              Written game netcode, and other client/server game code?

              … I have! … back when I still used Windows, ironically.

              Best way to test your own design is to try to defeat it.

              …

              Installing a rootkit onto your personal computer… to protect you from hackers in a game… is like trying to fight a stomach flu you got from Taco Bell by intentionally infecting yourself with Covid.

              Oh and uh, after the whole… CrowdStrike fiasco, where Windows just allowed CrowdStike to write and update kernel level code without actually doing their own testing or validation… and then they pushed a bad update… and that took out basically 1/4 of the world’s enterprise Windows machines for a week or two?

              Yeah… Windows is now removing direct kernel level access from third party software.

              They’re making everything move up a level or two, kind of inventing a new interface layer/paradigm…

              Becauase it is in fact, empirically, objectively, way, way, waaaay too dangerous to just let every ‘verified’ third party partner fuck with the kernel.

              So… your idea of ‘the idea’ of Kernel Level AC is no longer valid, as it is no longer able to run at such a low layer, and will thus be more vulnerable to… the kinds of hacks Kernel Level AC is supposed to be necessarry for dealing with.