Random News not worthy of own thread

[felter]

Here's a good one that I nearly missed, mainly due to the fact it is Norwegian. So it turns out Forbrukerrådet, the Norwegian Consumer Council (I hope I'm getting all of this right) along with 18 other countries have been doing an investigation into none other than loot boxes and their recommendations are pretty serious and could be adopted by the EU while the UK is no longer part of the EU this will still cause ripples even here.

Website with basic guide to lootboxes
The 59-page report.

Basically, they are calling on enforcement for lootboxes or a complete ban of them. Don't want to read it all. Read the conclusion.

Despite being a major industry, the video game sector has largely evaded
regulatory scrutiny. This might be because of the prevailing business models
being technically complex or somewhat novel or because video games are still
considered a niche entertainment market by many authorities. In any case, the
sheer size of the market and the number of affected consumers make it clear
that regulatory investigations and possible interventions should be high on the
agenda for authorities at national level and in the EU.
As the issues surrounding loot boxes are multifaceted and cross-sectoral, it is
crucial that experts from different regulatory authorities cooperate to exchange
information and resources when looking into the video game industry. Relevant
authorities include those responsible for sectors such as gambling, consumer
rights and competition, as well as audio-visual regulators.
Although there have been several initiatives to self-regulate or to increase
transparency in loot box mechanisms, these have proven less than satisfactory.
The combination of deceptive design, randomized rewards, virtual currencies,
and exploitation of cognitive biases is too powerful to enable consumer
education or transparency-increasing measures to ameliorate the harm caused
by these practices.
Based on these cases and a broader overview of the industry, we present
several proposals for industry, regulators, and policymakers:
7. Video game companies must be banned from using deceptive design to
exploit consumers. When consumers engage in video games,
companies must ensure that their decisions are not impacted to the
detriment of the consumer, by the design and operation of game.
8. All In-game purchases should always be denominated in real-world
currency. At the very least, real-world currency values should be
provided alongside virtual currencies, where virtual currencies are used.
9. Protection of minors:
a. Games likely to be accessed by minors must not offer loot
boxes, or other randomized content in exchange for real
money.
b. Games likely to be accessed by minors should not contain “pay-
to-win" mechanisms.
10. More transparency:
Page 58 of 59
a. Researchers and regulators should have access to the
algorithms and datasets that is are involved in the loot boxes to
conduct independent research in the public interest.
b. In cases where algorithmic decision-making is employed to
influence consumer behaviour, the consumer must be explicitly
informed. The disclosure must include information in plain
language about what algorithms are trained to achieve and
which factors are used. In addition, the consumer should have
the option to use the game without algorithmically driven
decision-making that aims to influence consumer behaviour.
11. Better and more enforcement
a. Consumer enforcement authorities must have the necessary
resources and expertise to take enforcement actions, thus,
protecting consumers in digital markets, including against video
game companies.
b. Consumer protection authorities should ensure that existing
and future consumer rights are enforced in the gaming industry
as well.97
12. If other remedies do not alleviate the problems, consider a ban of paid
loot boxes.
Although the video games industry is amongst the largest entertainment
industries, it has often eluded serious regulatory oversight. Therefore, we
call for stronger regulatory action against video game companies that fail to
respect consumer rights and that prey on consumer vulnerabilities

There are a few things in the report that I really like, but I don't think any of the games companies effected by this will like them, especially the part where they say that the algorithms they use should be made available for investigation into how they work and how they manipulate players to make sure they are fair. This report could potentially change everything if the countries who it has been created for take it in and act on it, only time will tell.

[pjknibbs]

Lootboxes are already banned in Belgium and the Netherlands, which is why Blizzard have not released their new mobile game Diablo: Immortal in those countries. Scumbags.

[felter]

Lootboxes are already banned in Belgium and the Netherlands, which is why Blizzard have not released their new mobile game Diablo: Immortal in those countries. Scumbags.

This is actually a good thing, as it shows that these countries governments are looking out for their gaming population. That Diablo: Immortal is really bad it has taken egregious over monetization to a whole new level, so much so that even people who have defended these companies in the past saying that government regulation of the business was not required are now saying we need regulation.

I don't know if you all have been following what's going on with Diablo: Immortal and how bad the monetization in it is, it has been calculated that if you wanted to equip your character with the best equipment it will cost you well over $100,000, yes that's right one hundred thousand United States Dollars wasn't a typo. To let you know how some of it goes, to be able to get the items (gems) required for the best gear you have to do dungeons for the drops, but these drops only happen in dungeons that you have paid for in real cash, not just that the drop rate is so low at 0.05% chance of a drop, so it will take you 20 dungeons to get a single gem while you require 100 to do a single max upgrade so that's 2,000 dungeons you have to do just for that part of the upgrade, and you have to pay for each and every dungeon. It gets even worse, once you have paid your thousands of dollars to get those 100 required gems, they also charge you $25 for doing the upgrade. Then there is also the monthly fee to get bonuses that you can't get any other way, the catch with one of those you have to still log in everyday to get the items, miss a day lose the items, but you still pay for them. This is just some of it, there are plenty of other ways the game want you to pay up, seriously stay well clear of the game.

On a side note, a lot of reviewers refused to give the game a review score as they noticed that the game they were reviewing had hiding monetization that was not activated in their review copies, currently the user review score is sitting at 0.5, this means Activision|Blizzard currently have 3 games in the lowest worst ten user reviewed games, nice achievement.

[felter]

So just a continuation on just how crazy expensive Diablo immortal actually is, someone came up with a simulation to show just how much it costs to get a 5 stare gem for your gear as the only way to get them is to pay $25 for the chance of them dropping, no pay then no 5-star gems. You can try the app for yourself, it can be found here. Now some may think that it is exaggerating the chance, but there is a New Zealand streamer called Quinrex who must have too much money as he paid to see how much it would cost to get that first 5-star gem, it cost him $25,165.57 NZD which at the time was $15,870.66 USD and that was just for a single gem you need 6 for your gear and that's just for a 5-star they can go up to 10-stars and which you need around 100 duplicates of 5-star gems to achieve that, so you are looking at potentially hundreds of thousands to get that one maxed out gem. By the way, once he got that gem, he deleted the game. But anyway, go ahead and try out the sim for yourself, I was lucky I got my first one on £5,625 USD to get the 6 it would have cost me $34,425 USD and remember each gem has a different stat so even though you have the 5-star gem, it may not be the one you want or need.

[mr.WHO]

Lootboxes buyable by microtransaction should be considered gambling and regulated like gambling.

Every game with microtransaction lootboxes should be automatically PEGI 18 and have specific warning "this game contain gambling".

[Star_Raider15]

Lootboxes buyable by microtransaction should be considered gambling and regulated like gambling.

Every game with microtransaction lootboxes should be automatically PEGI 18 and have specific warning "this game contain gambling".

The problem I've read is that a game can just skirt around this by not adding lootboxes, but instead adding a "chance" mechanism that works roughly the same way, but is hidden under several deeper layers of game design.

Also, I remember a ruling by the UK gambling commision (I think?) that said lootboxes are NOT gambling, because there are no monetary rewards you can obtain from them.

[burger1]

Graphics card market going through a correction with mining crashing, over supply/over purchasing, inflation slowing purchases and new gpus coming?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/sho ... ar-AAZrX6y

[felter]

Nvidia are no longer making any more 30 series cards, so once they are gone they are gone with no replacements, so price drop or not pretty soon they will become scarce and guess what, when that happens the prices will once again rise.

As for the new 40 series, the MSRP for the new 4090 cards is currently being rumoured to be $3000 USD mark, yeah you read that right 3 grand and that's for the 4090 not the 4090TI version. Also, you will need a minimum 1KW power supply and a massive case, as these new cards require a massive amount of power to run, generating a massive amount of heat where they will take up 3 or 4 slots and some will need 4 fans to keep cool.

Right now with the way the big games companies are going with over monetized free to play live service games, the massive price for hardware and with the price of electricity required to operate them going through the roof, only people with a lot of spare cash are going to be able to play games in the future.

[CBJ]

As for the new 40 series, the MSRP for the new 4090 cards is currently being rumoured to be $3000 USD mark, yeah you read that right 3 grand and that's for the 4090 not the 4090TI version. Also, you will need a minimum 1KW power supply and a massive case, as these new cards require a massive amount of power to run, generating a massive amount of heat where they will take up 3 or 4 slots and some will need 4 fans to keep cool.

Right now with the way the big games companies are going with over monetized free to play live service games, the massive price for hardware and with the price of electricity required to operate them going through the roof, only people with a lot of spare cash are going to be able to play games in the future.

If true, these prices and specifications are indeed ridiculous, but I would challenge your final conclusion. The real top-end flagship hardware has been at pretty silly prices for years, and that hasn't stopped gamers from buying more sensible mid- to high-end alternatives and playing games on those. No sane game developer would release something that was only playable on a system with flagship hardware, and equally no sane graphics card developer is going to release a flagship device that hardly anyone can afford without backing it up with lower-priced alternatives for the mass market. Things have certainly been a bit odd recently, with even older second-hand cards being expensive, but that's what people are saying seems to be coming to an end somewhat now.

And I'm not a fan of subscription services personally, but there is an argument that this actually makes gaming more affordable rather than less, since you don't need to keep investing in expensive hardware upgrades in order to keep up with the latest games, and can just pay a subscription during months when you know you will have time to play rather than having hardware sitting around idle when you are otherwise occupied.

[alt3rn1ty]

Its early days for Intel Arc but it looks like they are going to be good competition for AMD and NVidia

https://youtu.be/uctDN9uYcXI

More info here https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... s/arc.html

[Chips]

Forgot to say, I saw Rammstein in June, in the UK.

I don't usually recommend people do anything (other than more reading about things), and I've not been to every band on the planet. But regardless, if you enjoy music, shows, etc... then the most amazing show I have been too. I knew they were special live, but it was simply insane compared to all bands I've seen. I fear seeing any others now... will just be a disappointment. I nearly booked another date immediately, it was just that awesome.

So, if you're able to catch them on their tour and you enjoy music - go see them. Also, ear protection Feuer zone, best decision ever made (went solo... no-one wanted to go!).

[CBJ]

Somehow this wasn't a headline I was expecting to see: Man fleeing Wiltshire crash scene attacked by emus

[X2-Illuminatus]

Emmanuel's relatives are crime fighters! Who would have thought?

[Chips]

Weather forecasters received abuse during UK Heatwave...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62323048

Includes the gem of a tweet to them

"Absolute scaremongering. Heatwave was created Sunday night by aircraft dispersing substances that blocked the sun and created a heat dome to trap heat within it in order to give off a greenhouse effect so gov can use these statistics to justify their climate change agenda"

I mean, mentions greenhouse effect... but only emissions causing it are aircraft dispersing stuff, and not humans in general. Mental

[felter]

So there are consequences when you tell lies to make money, just ask Alex Jones who has just learned a very costly lesson that free speech does not mean you can say whatever you want as he was fined $4.1 million yesterday, which was topped up today by another $45.2 million, meaning he was fined $49.3 million for spouting horrible mean lies about the Sandy Hook shooting. I have to say, it couldn't happen to a more deserving person. Also, it's not over as he has another two court cases where he will probably be fined the same again in both of them.

BBC.

[Gavrushka]

Gotta say, Felter, I took tremendous pleasure from the verdict. A truly, truly vile man.

[felter]

It's interesting learning just how much of a scumbag the man actually is, to be honest I don't think there is much of a difference between Jones and one of those Indian phone scammers. For example, during the pandemic, he got into trouble for selling toothpaste that he said could protect you from Covid. He also has an advert that he made just after he was fined crying that he was poor and couldn't afford to pay the fine, and he needed help and all you had to do was buy some of his T-shirts, books, video's, vitamins or supplements (which no one has any idea exactly what those are).

One lawyer made the comment that it is pretty rare for someone to turn their civil lawsuit into a criminal lawsuit, as there is a darn good chance he is going to be charged with perjury. Meanwhile, the Jan 6 investigation are on the verge of getting their hands on those email and text messages he said never existed. I would not be surprised if at the end of it all, he is going to end up in jail.

[Golden_Gonads]

So there are consequences when you tell lies to make money, just ask Alex Jones who has just learned a very costly lesson that free speech does not mean you can say whatever you want as he was fined $4.1 million yesterday, which was topped up today by another $45.2 million, meaning he was fined $49.3 million for spouting horrible mean lies about the Sandy Hook shooting.

The second part of the fine is misleading. Whilst the jury said he should pay the extra $45 million, punitive damages in Texas are capped at $750,000.

[felter]

So there are consequences when you tell lies to make money, just ask Alex Jones who has just learned a very costly lesson that free speech does not mean you can say whatever you want as he was fined $4.1 million yesterday, which was topped up today by another $45.2 million, meaning he was fined $49.3 million for spouting horrible mean lies about the Sandy Hook shooting.

The second part of the fine is misleading. Whilst the jury said he should pay the extra $45 million, punitive damages in Texas are capped at $750,000.

Looking into this you are right and wrong, there is a cap at $750,000, but that's per plaintiff, and I think there were two in this trial, so that's $1.5 million. Then there is also a but, where the punitive damage can't be more than twice the compensatory damage plus the maximum $750 thousand pre plaintiff, compensatory award was $4.1 million, so potentially those are then added together, meaning a maximum fine of $9.7 million. Then there is another but whereas far as I have gathered the Judge has some leeway on what the fine will be, as the cap only affects what a jury recommends. But then there is a final but in that some say the cap in itself could be deemed unconstitutional and could be challenged in a higher court. So it's not over yet, also remember there are another two trials and at least one of them is outside of Texas jurisdiction. So all in all it does not look good for the Cretans future. Texas is a crazy place with too many but's.

[Vertigo 7]

As much as I hate to say it, whatever damages he ends up having to pay won't impact him. His earnings have been as high as 800k per day and this is nothing but more publicity for him and his platform. The same morons that listen to him also listen to that orange clown and you've seen how gullible they are. The worst he'll have to endure is a couple months prison time for perjury and he'll be right back out spouting the same rhetoric.