m76

What causes this is lighting. Realistic lighting is a very compute intensive feature to achieve. And games only have rudimentary imitations of light.
Even ray tracing is very limited at this point, it would require the computing power of gaming systems to increase multiple magnitudes to get it close to realism.
Games have single point lights in most cases, and lots of baked in lights. Scattered light and bouncing light are not taken into account by most, and even when it is, it is imitated not natural.  And this becomes most apparent on objects that are not part of the game world but able to move around in it. And that includes the player character.
It is something that we'll have to live with for a while longer no matter how glaring.
What I hate the most is that in many games the character will look different in the character creator than in the game environment, because the character creator uses a lighting model that has no relation to in game lighting.  This is why I find it important for games to have the option to alter the character after starting the game, so you can adjust for these discrepancies.
 

I was brought up with religious values, but I never was a practitioner of any faith. For the most part I did not think of god at all.
I don't know if there was a clear crossover point when I become an atheist. It's just that I realized the absurdity of the whole ordeal.
If god is all knowing and all seeing, why does anyone pray for anything? It should already know what you want. They also say that god has a plan for everyone. If so, that again makes praying pointless. Do you presume to have a better plan than god? If god knows everything why do you need to confess your sins? And the most absurd thing is that all your sins can be washed away by asking for forgiveness from god. Not the people you wronged, who cares about them, it's god you need to appease. They also say god made humans in his own image. It seems to me that it is the other way around. Humans made god based on themselves, with all our faults and vices included. The abrahamic god, is petty, vengeful, jealous, has a fragile ego, and strangely holds to the exact values held by people around the time of his emergence. If god actually existed as described by scripture, I'd be working on bringing down the bastard, I'd not worship that cruel egomaniac.  
As for agnosticism, I think that is even less of a defensible position. I can pardon believers for being deluded or mislead, what excuse the agnostic has? If I said that there is a giant red ant in the middle of earth responsible for rotating it, that is not observable either, so should we go on living not knowing if there is an ant rotating the earth? Of course not. Without proof it's just an assertion. Assertions need scientific reproducable proof to evolve into theory. God has exactly the same amount of proof as my red ant: ZERO.

Deus Ex Invisible War: The sequel to the greatest videogame ever is generally considered a failure, and most people dismissed it. While it is certainly not nearly as good as the original it is still an above average game, that deserved much more. I really enjoyed some aspects of it, it expanded on the concept of being able to play multiple sides, and in case you don't know it was one of the first big games that I know of that allowed the player to choose the gender of the protagonist.
Mass Effect Andromeda: This game really got the short end of the stick when it released, a bunch of 'influencers' convinced everyone that it is terrible and that was it for the game. While it certainly has some glaring issues it is still a very enjoyable game, and far better, than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: This was a typical case of wrong time at the wrong place. The game is simply loathed because it was not what the so called fans expected.They rejected the futuristic sci-fi concept. For me this was one of the most profound single player experiences, it might have been short but very impactful.
Dragon Age 2: Maybe not everyone hated this, but still there was a lot of outcry about EA ruining dragon age when this game dropped. I couldn't disagree more, I absolutely loved this game, despite the recycled maps. The combat was much more fluid and fast paced and less based on luck, and the story is much more interesting than of the first game. This is my favorite Dragon Age by far.
Ghost Recon Wildlands: Narco Road: OK, this is not exactly a full game, only a DLC, but one containing a full campaign that is longer than many other stand alone games. But everyone told me I shouldn't buy this because it is terrible. Well, I did it anyway, and this is why I never listen to the hype or hate anymore as this ended up being my favorite part of the game. Much more visceral, hard, and engaging, than the base game or the other expansion, Fallen Ghosts. I loved those too, but this is the real deal, getting to go undercover in the drug cartel, and being completely alone, not able to rely on anyone but yourself. It was a brutal experience, and the ending is the icing on the cake.
Terminator Resistance: This game opened to middling to outright hostile reviews, from all major publications, but all I've seen in it is a well intentioned oldschool shooter, that doesn't want to be more than that. And the result is a really enjoyable experience, that reignited memories of the old Terminator Future Shock / Skynet games.
 
I'm not sure if The Last of Us II and Cyberpunk 2077 counts as hated, or more like divisive, so I'll only mention them because I enjoyed both very much, they really made 2020 a worthy year for gaming, unlike the disaster that was 2021.

Hungary.
Average monthly income was about $1300 in 2021, which might seem extremely low to people from western countries. But it's above average here. Minimum wage is around $450.to put it in perspective.

Deus Ex Invisible War: The sequel to the greatest videogame ever is generally considered a failure, and most people dismissed it. While it is certainly not nearly as good as the original it is still an above average game, that deserved much more. I really enjoyed some aspects of it, it expanded on the concept of being able to play multiple sides, and in case you don't know it was one of the first big games that I know of that allowed the player to choose the gender of the protagonist.
Mass Effect Andromeda: This game really got the short end of the stick when it released, a bunch of 'influencers' convinced everyone that it is terrible and that was it for the game. While it certainly has some glaring issues it is still a very enjoyable game, and far better, than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: This was a typical case of wrong time at the wrong place. The game is simply loathed because it was not what the so called fans expected.They rejected the futuristic sci-fi concept. For me this was one of the most profound single player experiences, it might have been short but very impactful.
Dragon Age 2: Maybe not everyone hated this, but still there was a lot of outcry about EA ruining dragon age when this game dropped. I couldn't disagree more, I absolutely loved this game, despite the recycled maps. The combat was much more fluid and fast paced and less based on luck, and the story is much more interesting than of the first game. This is my favorite Dragon Age by far.
Ghost Recon Wildlands: Narco Road: OK, this is not exactly a full game, only a DLC, but one containing a full campaign that is longer than many other stand alone games. But everyone told me I shouldn't buy this because it is terrible. Well, I did it anyway, and this is why I never listen to the hype or hate anymore as this ended up being my favorite part of the game. Much more visceral, hard, and engaging, than the base game or the other expansion, Fallen Ghosts. I loved those too, but this is the real deal, getting to go undercover in the drug cartel, and being completely alone, not able to rely on anyone but yourself. It was a brutal experience, and the ending is the icing on the cake.
Terminator Resistance: This game opened to middling to outright hostile reviews, from all major publications, but all I've seen in it is a well intentioned oldschool shooter, that doesn't want to be more than that. And the result is a really enjoyable experience, that reignited memories of the old Terminator Future Shock / Skynet games.
 
I'm not sure if The Last of Us II and Cyberpunk 2077 counts as hated, or more like divisive, so I'll only mention them because I enjoyed both very much, they really made 2020 a worthy year for gaming, unlike the disaster that was 2021.

Redesigning characters sends the message that there was something wrong with them. Which is quite hurtful to those who already come to like them and identified with the character as they were. So unless we are talking about a complete reboot of a series redesigns are a big red flag to me.
As for locations, that's an entirely another thing, with technical advancements locations can be made bigger and more detailed, which necessitates some degree of redesign. The important bit is that the location keeps its atmosphere and general vibe.

Can it even be called playing, when you are doing something for money and not for fun?
I feel that if there is an opportunity to earn money in games then they loose their purpose of being escapism and become part of the grind.
If someone offered me to money to play my favorite game, I'd refuse. Because I know it would ruin that game for me.

They don't cover the same market. Nintendo is seen more as a toy, than an enthusiast gaming console. No use getting offended by this, it's just the truth. Nintendo vs. Playstation can happily live and let live by the other. Unlike XBOX vs. Playstation.
Even when you look at gaming influencers, they rarely talk about nintendo, they talk about playstation and xbox, and maybe PC.
It has nothing to do with how large or small the company is. They just cover a different segment of the market, with little overlap between them. And as such I don't think either Sony or Microsoft sees Nintendo as a threat.

No, I'm not referring to games that were cancelled, but games that were made and available, and you wanted to play just didn't for various personal reasons before they went completely out of date.

 
 

I've recently purchased  Snowrunner after playing it on games pass.
I also purchased Jedi Fallen Order after playing it on EA Play, but it was only 40 cents to buy, so as my late grandfather would say: For that kind of money I couldn't leave it there.

They are never finished
There is no final, complete version of a live service game. As they are ever changing. Content and features are added, removed and changed on short notice.
Yeah, changes are generally seen as an improvement, but there are always people who enjoy a game more before a change. So why take that away from them?  They try to organize your time for you
Live service games demand the player to log in at specific intervals, to get access to some benefits. They also force them to play certain content within a specified time frame.
I think if we consider gaming addiction a problem, then this is a big driving force for that, as you are encouraged to play even when you normally wouldn't want to. "Oh, I'll loose my XP boost if I don't login every day" They are not a fair transparent transaction
When you buy a regular game you see exactly what you get for your money. With live service games it is not clear. Whether you get your money's worth out of that season's pass is anyone's guess. Which basically makes it a gamble. You gamble on getting content that's worth your while. The sunken cost fallacy
After paying for games as a service, you feel obliged to play them even if you don't enjoy it that much. I experienced this first hand when subscribing to either a live service game, or even just a service like games pass or EA Play. I played more than I'd normally, in the hopes of getting more out of the deal. This might also be bad for those prone to addiction. The eventual abandonment
It is only a question of when, not if a life service game gets abandoned by its developer. So games preservation is impossible. They sometimes operate on live support for a while, but the servers are always shut down eventually. This might even be illegal for games that you purchased as retail, and not just free to play. But that never stops them, it's not like anyone is going to sue a company worth billions for loosing access to a $60 game. Trickle fed content
This might only be my gripe with live service content, but after I play a game I forget all it's quirks and controls within a few weeks. Then when new content is released I have to spend time re-familiarizing myself with the game, only to play a mission that often takes no more than 15-20 minutes to complete. It's like if a restaurant only gives you a sample of the food, and says, oh, the next bite will be 2 months from now, cheers. But you already paid for the full course.
 

The most historically accurate were probably the cold war era games that I've played. Obviously the individual stories are fictional, but a fictional story can either fit into history, or contradict it. I think COD Black Ops was pretty good in this regard, also Vietcong is a good depiction of the Vietnam war, down to tactics and the details of warfare.
Ghost Recon Wildlands while not  historic but seems pretty accurate in its depiction of South American cocaleros, the culture, the architecture and the environment.
But overall I play much more fantasy and science fiction games that are only loosely based on real settings. For example I consider Assassin's Creed a  fantasy game, as a historical period piece it would be terrible.

I don't remember any dick jokes, the whole customize your junk is a frivolous pointless gimmick in the game, it has no reason or rhyme for existing.

I think they tweeted about it recently as an interesting fact but I can't find it anymore.
There is also a Wiki page and a news article from 15 years ago about it - https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/WKTT_Radio and https://www.destructoid.com/wanna-hear-your-voice-in-gta4/

The first one was a Quake2 port on the original PSX, and it was truly horrible compared to the PC version. I played it at one of my wealthy schoolmates house, as only the 1% could afford a console at the time here in Eastern Europe.

Branded games are basically advertisements in game format, they are games designed to promote a commercial brand. Not to  be confused with games that feature licensed brands.
Have you played any game like this, and were they any good? 
 
 

I hate it when games force you into situations. Like walking into obvious traps, knowing fully well that it is a trap, but the game does not allow you to avoid it.

Assuming that it's true I have to strongly disagree. Not only is 500 hours is ridiculous, but the only realistic way to achieve that is to pad the game with a bunch of bullshit filler and grinding.  How much of our free time do these fuckers want!?
 
In my opinion for an open world game campaign (not including post game content) the sweet spot is around 35 - 50 hours, then up to 100 -150 hours for 100%.

In an interview Nicolas Pouard, VP at Ubisoft's Strategic Innovations Lab, had expressed frustration over the pushback they experienced for the launch of their NFT scheme "Quartz".
But he also reveals that they very well knew this will be the player reaction but they went ahead with the rollout anyway. - Shows how much they care about gamers.
The most egregious part of the interview is however where he says that gamers just don't get NFTs. "So, it's really, for them. It's really beneficial. But they don't get it for now."
https://www.finder.com.au/ubisoft-interview-nfts

So you're basically asking is it OK to kill innocent people? Since no matter how extreme the example you bring, before committing the heinous act they are innocent. Even genocidal dictators like Hitler or Stalin were at some point innocent. 
It's not justifiable to go around killing people who we suspect will do something bad in the future. This sounds very much like the witch burnings to me. Which is a very nasty can of worms.

So you're basically asking is it OK to kill innocent people? Since no matter how extreme the example you bring, before committing the heinous act they are innocent. Even genocidal dictators like Hitler or Stalin were at some point innocent. 
It's not justifiable to go around killing people who we suspect will do something bad in the future. This sounds very much like the witch burnings to me. Which is a very nasty can of worms.

No, I think it should have a custom character creator where each player can chose whatever they want.
 

I use my gaming laptop literally once or twice a year when I'm stuck in some  hotel on a work related trip. It just sits on my desk the rest of the time.
The recommendation is to leave the battery in it but don't leave it fully charged, just let it discharge to about 50% when in storage. But a few weeks shouldn't matter, this is more relevant for long term storage.

I always freeze when I have to come up with names on the  spot. Same thing happened when I had to choose a nickname when I first got online and went into a chatroom. So the only thing that came to my mind was the last movie I watched which was the mummy. So I used that name, and then was forced to keep using it so ppl I met online would recognize me. Then later when in one particular chat mummy was already taken I became mummy76. Which later got abbreviated to m76, because I'm lazy. And no, 76 is not the year of my birth, it comes from the game Interstate '76, as does my current icon.