It’s a great game but definitely flawed in places. I will agree that the world building really carries the game. By modern standards the open world is rather small (and some parts look like they simply didn’t have time to develop - the hotel in downtown), but it works really well.

I will pick a less commonly chosen favourite; you get to meet the creator of the zombie movie genre and help him out.

And I love the Hollywood map music track (and this just excellent track among many).

VTMB2 sounds like an action game that’s lacking in RPG elements, so it’s not for me.

I might get it at as some point if the game + all DLC are available for under $10. If not, no problem, there are more than enough games to keep me occupied.

Office applications (Excel, Powerpoint, PowerBI, Word) is one area where I can’t have any friction at all, since that’s how I get my income. I need the latest version of these applications for desktop, web version does not cut it and Linux emulation seems very spotty unless you are OK with using a much older version of office like 2013/2016.

That just on the Microsoft side, there is also Tableau desktop, some Adobe applications and even open source Windows applications that I rely on that don’t have native Linux versions (Notepad++, Paint.net).

I am planning to buy a new laptop, might be worth trying to switch to Linux on the laptop and experiment with emulated Office solutions (while always having a reliable fallback on desktop).

I wish the EU would require Microsoft to release the latest desktop (no cloud subscription required) version of Office for Linux (and broad, open ended criminal liability if they try any tricks).

I cannot switch without a native, official supported version of Office.

You can continue getting updates for Window 10 for free and they don’t really add new software to Windows.

Microsoft Office and lots of line of business apps (e.g. I prefer Tableau desktop over the web version) require Windows. Many game (not only multiplayer ones) continue to have issues with Linux (although there have been massive improvements in the last ~5 years).

This is a very unique game both in terms of setting (and how it relates to gameplay as highlighted in OP) and overall fusion of genres.

One issue with KoDP is that it can become a bit min/max focused. The gameplay isn’t as organic and open ended as I would like.

From what I remember while HL2 was demanding it was relatively well optimized at release. That being said, I would have been fine with 30-40 FPS back then.

I am assuming he is promoting his new game.

Star Ruler 2. If you choose a map with ~450 systems, it plays more like a space economic strategy game, as opposed to the RTS/4X hybrid of the default map settings.

Molyneux almost seems to reflexively say something stupid every time he gets an opportunity to do so. Or perhaps this is just a PR trick?

I remember first seeing Total Biscuit play this in the early 2010s.

For sure, I missed that (and the fact Valve seems to be deploying protections as well).

The commentary about Windows Defender was just a random remark in passing. I wasn’t expecting the WinRAR zero day to be addressed (it’s a zero day after all), but the malware itself (the Monero miner) was around for a while (current version at the time was at least a year old) and WD had zero protections against its methods (that did not use the WinRAR zero day, that was the entry point).

That being said, I do think this more of an edge case. WD works pretty well in my experience (especially for non-power users).

I didn’t know that Windows Defender essentially blocked the vulnerability.

I will also note that there can be situations when Windows Defender doesn’t work.

I got hit by a WinRAR zero day exploit (the archive was supposed to be just images) that installed master Monero minor that disabled Windows Defender and blocked installation of other tools. I was able to clean my computer, but I only found through a non-english site (and I happen to speak that language so it was easier to validate that it was legit).

A lot of older games are simply not going to be updated. Does this mean that presence of said (post Unity 2017) games means your system has a local escalation privilege vulnerability on a permanent basis (if the game is installed)?

Cheers! Will need to schedule this for my evening reading session.

Thank you for the support!

Thank you for the commentary (PCGamesN blocks IPs from Ukraine so I can’t read the article). Will need grab a copy of the paper.

Yes, they even have a separate Steam store page.

TF2 Classic already exists (not too many users though), but after Valve’s change in policies around TF2 modding, they will able to have a proper Steam release and keep building out the mod.

Really hoping TF2 Classic’s population will increase in the run-up to their new release.

Started playing TF2 again, while it’s fun, I am really looking for a more classical TF2 experience.

These are almost certainly “functionally real but fake” benchmark results.

Note how they claimed that early X Elite showed ~3,100+ in GB6 ST and no devices ever hit that. Their own marketing doesn’t even refer to ~3,100 when comparing X2 Elite verse X Elite (they use ~2,900 which is also not really true outside of some edge cases).

I am no fanboy of AMD, Intel Qualcomm or any company. I want top end CPU SKUs for ~$200 (due to intense competition that brings down margins to a low single digits); that’s what I am a fanboy of.

Cities in Motion 1 with the free look and largest size maps mods. Even at 1440p (not to mention 4K) it will bring a modern CPU to its knees in the mid to late game if you completely disable fog.

Chris Robert and his family members appreciate your support.