Shagger

I'd disagree. The skins are more manipulative and more diabolically clever than you might think, especially on game aimed a younger audiences like Fortnite is. It's all about a kind of unspoken class structure. If you're a teenager playing session on Fortnite in lobby full of your School mates donning standard skins, bulling and kind of peer pressure that could put real pressure on vulnerable people to spend money. I remember when I was in high school that kids got made fun of when they wore cheap brands of clothing or shoes, this the same sort of thing in more modern guise. If a lot of ways, the cosmetic microtransactions may be even worse than pay-to-win. I'd say they are even predatory and manipulative, especially in a game aimed at a younger audience.

Wrong, they can work without them. If these game couldn't work without the adds, why would it possible to spend money to stop the adds coming up, which is exactly what these adds are deigned to harass you into doing?

Wow! That is pretty sweet. Nice to see ReCore in there, that games is seriously underrated. It did have a bit of a dodgy though with some the worst load times I've ever seen.

Thanks, @Crazycrab. I feel like I'm understanding this a little better now.

This thread seems more appointee as a "Gaming News" topic, so I'll move the thread to the relevant sub-forum.

You can access the same menu, that's not a mod' only tool.

The same menu can be accessed form a phone or tablet on the mobile version of the site, it's just the layout is slightly different. Here's how it is on my phone and I see no reason it should be any different for yourself. EDIT: Looking at this again, I've noticed how alarmingly low my phone battery is, I'd better charge this bastard.

Well put, and welcome back.

For me, it's Burnout. The games were intense, felt fantastic to control, unique, great soundtracks and massive fun. Apart from Burnout Paradise, that game can suck a smelly toe, but the rest of them are great. Burnout 3 in particular is, in my humble opinion, the best arcade racing game ever made, and given the decline in the genre, will probably be best we will ever see.

And by the way @Awesomeninjagamer, welcome to VGR. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introductions sub-forum if you wish. Glad to have you here.

I actually prefer the new Lara. She's more complex and fleshed out, yet more relatable and realistic. I'm not saying that there was anything desperately wrong with the Lara from the older games, but she was built to be something of a fantasy realized rather than a more genuine character. She was a product of her time, but that time has passed and I'm glad because we got a character that had a lot more work out into her in the end.

I actually think this question is more easily answered not by saying why consoles charge, but by understanding why PC services don't. When you play a game online, it not as simple as playing a game through the internet. The internet is the physical part of the system. The fibre optics, cables, satellites and so on that connect all these devices together. This physical network needs more than just itself to function, there is also software that allows people and devices to re-encode whatever information a person or device wants to transmit along the physical network known as the internet. That is what is known as a Wide Area Network (WAN). There is a number of different WAN's out there. More specifically, when you access online services on a PlayStation, the WAN that is accessed is called PSN or PlayStation Network. On Xbox, the WAN used is Xbox Live. These two were built and are being maintained by Sony and Microsoft respectively at cost to them. They own them, so like it or not they have a right to charge for people to use them. Whether they should and how much they charge is open to debate, but it is what it is. Playing online games on a PC, like through Steam or EGS or whatever, is a little bit different because the wide area network they use is called the World Wide Web. No single person nor entity can own this WAN, only bits and pieces of it, more specifically the domains of websites being hosted on that network. Each little piece of the World Wide Web get's maintained by those that own that little piece of it, so just like how no one person or entity can own the whole thing, it also means it is not the responsibility of any single person nor entity to maintain the whole thing, not like PSN or Xbox Live. So you see that Steam, EGS and other PC based game services can't charge you to use thier network (and trust me, this is the ONLY reason) simply because they don't own that network.

The functionality of smartphones and tablets isn't he only issue with that. If you were to, for example, buy a PS5 and then a cheep computer to used as a utility, that would would still work out as significantly cheaper than buying or building a gaming PC to match a PS5's performance. I even challenged @skyfire to prove me wrong on that on this other thread and instead he through a hissy fit.

Don't get me wrong, it was still brilliant.

That was almost perfect, it should have been;

With all due respect, you're wrong. A few voices can have more of an impact than a thousand voices. A community, especially online, is not measured by quantity, but by the connections that exist within it's members. When I talk to you, I try to be as clear as I can, but you still don't understand that posting as much as you can is not what being active and valued in this community means. Quantity over quality. It is not about posting as much as you can, it's about making posts that add value. Stop posting anything just to post something. How many more ways can I say it? If you are struggling with posting in English, that is all more reason for you to take you time. You of all people should not be making a post every couple of minutes. I literally could not do that, and English is my first language. If need you need help, please ask. But either way, post like you care about what you post and take your time.

Sorry, but what are you talking about? I understand English may not be your first language, but I would not even know how to edit that to have it make sense. That post is mess, clearly typed in a rush. If English is not your first language, that's all the more reason to take your time. But you don't care about that, do you? It's possible your post got muddled in translation; Or could this be the result of making almost 30 posts in the last hour! Care, thought, quality, foresight, clearly these things don't matter to you. I am seriously starting to loose my patience with this. Stop, I and mean right now. Whatever it is you plan to post on next, just stop. You cannot claim to be posting with any level of care for quality, attention falling within the discussions or absorbing the points and knowledge of anyone you claim to be replying to at this pace, so stop. I'm trying to be fair to you lot, but my patience is approaching it's end. Stop posting anything just to say something. just stop.

Well, I'll let you decide whether or not this counts, but... On topic though, what @Crazycrab said is true. Companies file trademarks for things that have barely even gone so far as idea all the time just to stop someone else from taking the next step. Konami probably have patents stopping others from creating a Metal Gear Solid themed gear knob or a Castlevania themed file folder, it's just what these companies do. These patents can only be upheld for certain amount of time before they have to renewed, so these companies then renew the same patent, it doesn't mean for one second that there's plan for it. The sooner people stop reading more into these things then what they are, the better.

Based on this and the last post I quoted on you on, I'm starting to wonder if you actually know what Steam is. It is not a lot of things, including a casino.

The stats apply to users on Steam. Steam is a launcher and storefront for video games, it is not office or cooperate software. Those 28 million users don't include people using Microsoft Office. Even if it happens to be on the exact same device, using a PC as a utility and using a PC as a gaming planform is not the same thing. You do not need a PC with the kind of specifications a gaming PC to write up a quarterly report, study for a geology exam or organise a company's payroll. It's true that someone may use that same PC to do those things kind of things, but the only reason someone is active on a Steam account is to play games on it, even if they use the same PC for other things.

Why would you say the number of PC users is "too high? There's nothing wrong with playing games on PC, it's a great platform for gaming. True, some people take thier appreciation of PC gaming too far with the "Master Race" carp and go all fanboy with it, but a PC being a popular ad current place to play is not a bad thing. It's a great option that has a great many befits for those who are willing to suffer it's drawbacks.

To @Reality vs Adventure and @Crazycrab as well as anyone else who wishes to comment on this. I feel compelled to point out that the opening poster (Jayson) has been banned form VGR between when he started this topic and now that people are actually starting to reply. That doesn't mean the thread will get locked or anything, it's still a valid enough topic even without him, I'm just pointing that out so people don't expect a reply from Jayson that will never come. Now that's said, let's continue. I'm not American, so I expect an American to take anything I have to say on this issue with a grain salt. I have not lived in a society with the kind of attitude and culture towards firearms that America has, so I'm not in a place to say what that is like. However, I'm with @Crazycrab completely on this. There is truth to the cliché "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." as attitude is as important a factor as anything in this. The gun itself is merely a tool, a machine. Like all machines, it's function is to make doing a certain task easier for a human being to do. It is only as dangerous as the person wielding it. However, when that deigned purpose is to kill, it has to be looked at a little bit different. You can kill somebody with a hammer or a hacksaw, but that's not what they are designed for. So to me, the gun isn't the problem, its the amount of respect people show it. And as far as I can tell, too many Americans who have guns do not respect them. I remember this horrifying story from a few years ago about an 8 year old who shot his Grandmother after playing GTA IV. Can't say I blame the kid, after being asked by Roman to play pool or go bowling for the 800th time, I'd kill the first living thing I find as well. All joking aside, many people tried to blame the game. Well, at least one neighbour had common sense. From the article; Neighbour Johnnie Scott said: "Where did she have the gun? Where did he see the gun, was it in his eyesight? That's the thought that goes through my head." Exactly! Imagine if this situation had exactly the same, expect instead of the boy shooting his grandmother, he had accidentally shot himself. That woman would been beyond ridiculed and criticised for leaving that gun in a position, locked, loaded and ready to go, where an 8 year old was able to get his hands on it and shoot it. For some reason I doubt the safety catch was on when he picked up the gun, otherwise he'd have to know how to disengage it. So l believe found the gun in that condition, just lying out in the open ready to fire. Both morally and legally it's difficult to blame the child and people don't want to blame the grandmother because she died in the incident, so take the easy way out and blame the game. Just because she died in the incident, doesn't change the fact she 100% and solely responsible for what happened. And it is this casual attitude that she, and much of America, have towards guns that killed her. If I had a gun along with a small kid in the house, it would have it's safety catch on, out of easy reach, with a trigger lock attached, be locked in a safe hidden being a inconspicuous paining behind a secret wall guarded by robots and lasers, it would NOT be just laying around. So my question is, especially to Americans reading this who own a firearm, what is it to you? Is it something you would happily leave in it's pride of place next to the TV remote, or is a deadly device you keep secure, because I cannot imaging living with a gun and treating it like that grandmother did.

As far as I can tell Viconia DeVir is not a character from Skyrim, but from Baldur's Gate II. She only appears in Skyrim as a mod (Be aware, some might consider this mod NSFW, you have been warned) . However, @The Blackangel is right about a couple of things. Her voice actress, Amber Lee Connors , is indeed gorgeous; And even though her "appearance" in Skyrim was only a part of mod, she actually did do the voice over for that mod, which is really cool. So the title of thread is a little bit misleading, but the point still stands. I is a opportunity to get to meet this talented and beautiful voice actress. here is her Wikipedia page for those who want to learn more about her career.

Face it @egghead, @Crazycrab has point and he is right. And this is the same thing I was talking about in the Xena thread. You make posts where it's abundantly clear you have literally nothing to say on the topic, so just post anything at all. In the Xena thread you made a post that says nothing except that you have nothing to say, and here you don't know about about the movie 127 Hours (a great film, by the way), so just post about a completely different movie. Why? Like @Crazycrab said, if you want to talk about Castaway, then talk about Castaway, just on thread about about Castaway! Or Tom Hanks, or whatever. A thread that's relevant to that, a thread that is applicable. If there isn't a thread that's applicable, start one. It really is not difficult. Here's a tip, if you have nothing to say, then say nothing. Nobody is forcing you to reply to thread just because you clicked on it. There is never a good excuse to attempt to derail a thread, but doing just because you can't think of anything to say that is relevant to topic is ludicrous. Please stop it.

Windows user here. It's what I'm used to and grown comfortable with. Yes, it's not perfect, but I do feel it presents more options and flexibility than people give it credit for.