John Caveson

https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=220436

What do you think objectively is the Golden Age of TF2, and what is your personal Golden Age with your time with the game?

To be a little fair, this year has been rather scarce in terms of actual good games, at least on the PC/Steam side of gaming. Combine that with normie's aversion to anything other than overhyped, AAA, corporatized, DRM-ridden slop, so they have no frame of reference for what actual quality looks like, and so just vote for what's popular opinion. So you get this.

Labor of Love should have gone to Lethal Company. It was made by one dude after all. Runner up would be DRG.

3 hours ago, TheOnlyGuyEver said:

 

I recently picked up a pretty little CRT for cheap. Thing's in great shape and had a good owner.

Brooooo! This looks almost exactly like mine. Though mine is is a 9-incher, while that's more like ~14 inches. It's also an Emerson brand, not Magnavox.

Aside from that, however, everything looks the same:

- Same color

- The buttons look all the same

- The RCA port is in the same position, same goes for the headphone port and infrared sensor

- Built-in DVD player

- Same looking speakers

I randomly found it my dad's closest one day, still in perfect condition. He said I could have it. I still have fond memories of taking that thing with us up to Lake Tahoe and watch movies every night before bed. In fact, it was at Tahoe where we used the included antenna and watched the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I also remember playing my Gamecube and watching my brother play the first Gears of War when we first got the 360. So, upon re-discovering this thing, I've been kind of on a nostalgia trip. It's just so eerie you stumbled upon one that looks so similar to mine. It's kinda spooking me a bit.

On 7/8/2023 at 4:05 AM, John Caveson said:

And with 2nd Encore slated to release on One/Series sometime this year, I wouldn't be surprised they remember the 360 version exists and delist it. Best case scenario is that they only delist the Xbox store version and forget the marketplace listing so the whole "license carryover" loophole works and you can still buy it. So if you want to get the more "pure" version, you might want to get it while you still can.

Thinking ahead wins again.

As I was browsing the Xbox store I curiously checked to see if Skullgirls was still up and noticed it was "Not Currently Available for Purchase". To confirm it was delisted, I booted up my 360 and went to the S section of the marketplace, and, sure enough, completely missing. Went online to search for news of the delisting, and this was all that I could find really. This was like 3 days after the delisting when I noticed it gone. It was pretty surreal.

While on the topic, I wake up and find this in my recommended. It's a bit of a watch, just a warning, but it's pretty eye-opening on this never-ending drama train.

Valve really just pulled an Overwatch 2 on us, didn't they?

On the other hand, maybe if they ever decide to port TF2 to Source 2, that's how we'll get Team Fortress 3.

On 8/20/2023 at 3:39 AM, John Caveson said:

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/08/17/xbox-360-store-will-close-july-2024/

 

God, I hate when I'm right. The final countdown is on boys, get 'em while you still can. As for me, I've pretty much gotten whatever was on my radar, aside from some Minecraft DLC and OG Xbox games that don't license transfer if you get them from the modern store. That being said, I will still keep an eye out for anything that might catch my interest from now until the closure. I'll try to prioritize non-BC games.

Quick update on the closure:

On Reddit, someone went out of their way to add up and make a list of all games and DLC that will be delisted in July. He even calculated the approximate cost of buying everything still listed as of the date of the announcement. The madlad even accounted for things like Avatar Items, Themes, Gamerpics, and even the trailers and videos. The list even points out observations like the strange pricing of items that were around when Microsoft Points were a thing and they just made a simple conversion to dollar amounts when points were discontinued. It's really in depth and commendable.

Reddit post:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g464Ss0ZuIr9jzWZz-xN-PUQPoEcCgvA

What interests me the most, are the lists of BC games that can only be bought on one store, but not both. It's weird because buying the game in either store will grant an entitlement to download and own a copy from the the other. For example, all of Valve's titles are backwards compatible on the newer systems, however, the non-Portal games could only be bought on the 360 store. The delisting in February closed that loophole, so if you were feeling nostalgic for the 360 version of TF2 or something, but you only own a XBox One S Digital Edition or a Series S, you're SOL.

Nowadays that list is a lot smaller thanks to past delistings, but it still exists. So for anyone who wants to play these on newer consoles, here's what's left:

• Iron Brigade
• Undertow
• Disney Infinity (2.0)
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies [Original Xbox]
• Just Dance 2014 [Kinect], 2015 [Kinect], 2016, 2018, 2019

Of this list, I already Grabbed the Ghoulies, and the others I don't really care about. I'll check out Iron Brigade just in case.

Now, while, this next list only really applies to anyone that owns, or is planning to own, a 360, here is the list of BC games you can only get on the newer store:

• Boom Boom Rocket
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Galaga, Galaga Legions
• Putty Squad
• The Splatters

Call of Juarez looks neat, will have to check out the others, but no rush. Of course, again, this list is only relevant to 360 owners who would like to one day play these on the 360 instead of the beefed up resolutions, smoother framerates, and better controllers the newer systems offer. But who am I to judge, you do you.

Sidenote: This list would be an interesting guinea pig post-closure to test and see if cross-storefront entitlements still work. If not, no big deal.

I also must reiterate and emphasize, that while a lot of things will be delisted when July 29th rolls around, we....aren't really losing that much in grand scheme of things. Of the remaining games listed, about half of them have physical discs, so you can always hunt down a physical copy and install it on the hard drive to minimize wear and tear. And as for the Arcade titles, most are either BC or have been re-released on the newer systems, or even ported to other consoles/PC. And of the stuff that's left, most of it is shovelware that I think most people won't shed much of a tear over being gone. The loss of the extra content (avatar items, gamerpics, etc.) sucks, but they're also just little cosmetic changes to your console and don't affect the games at all, so not anything you can't live without. The DLC of non-BC titles is probably the biggest hit out of this, just like when the OG Xbox went offline. So many games will feel incomplete without them. Looks like it's back to hunting down "ultimate edition"-type versions of games that have all DLC on disc.

So if you really want to optimize what to get, I would focus on non-BC game DLC and notable digital only titles first. In particular, the small list of non-BC OG Xbox games, as while you can still get them physically, you can't install them to the drive, so if you're paranoid about wear and tear on OG discs, get them now. Then move to avatar items, trailers etc. The last priority being the base games that have physical copies and BC stuff.

BTW, here's the list of BC Xbox games on the 360. You can organize them by what games are forward-compatible on newer systems, were part of the "Xbox Originals" program, or both. Those are all the digitally available OG Xbox games on the store. I would prioritize the Xbox Originals only titles as those are not forward compatible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360#List_of_compatible_Xbox_games

I really must commend Microsoft, for once, on how they're handling the shutdown, and the fact they managed to keep the store open as long as it has. I mean compared to Nintendo's track record with the Wii/Wii U/3DS stores, MS look like saints. Not even Sony was as dedicated to keeping the PS3 store up, and they only reneged on the closure due to backlash, though with this announcement, the PS3's days are definitely numbered.

There are only two movies from that list I would bother missing.

1.) Deadpool 3

Granted, I have not seen #2 yet, I did really enjoy the first one. So depending on how I like the second will gauge where that franchise is going for me.

2.) Sonic 3

Sonic 1, while definitely not perfect, seems to have redeemed video game movies by not blowing chunks. The sequel is unironically a good movie and improved upon every foundation the first one set as good sequel should. Since the 3rd one seems to be delving into the SA2 arc, I am a legitimately hyped. The one caveat is Jim Carry retiring after Sonic 2. If the studio can convince him to don the stache & goggles (and possible fat suit) one last time, I'll be happy. If not, well, it'll depend who will replace him.

On 2/12/2023 at 8:37 AM, John Caveson said:

 

Now, normally, when a game gets delisted from the Xbox 360 Marketplace, it's not that big of a deal, as the 360 is still a traditional console where physical copies contain all of the game data on disc, and installation to the drive is not mandatory. So, for most of these titles, you only really miss out on any DLC. Even if Xbox Live gets shut down entirely for the 360, the 1.0 versions of these games should be perfectly playable from a physical disc.

 

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this is just the beginning. I have a strong feeling this is just Microsoft's way of slowly sun-setting the Marketplace for good. And after that is done? Then Xbox Live multiplayer for the 360, until, finally, the ability to re-download what we have already licensed to our accounts, thus making the 360 a truly offline console like the OG. I only worry what will happen to our digital content once the servers are shut down, as in, whether or not we can access it. I feel like it will be the same a when the OG Xbox went offline.

 

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/08/17/xbox-360-store-will-close-july-2024/

God, I hate when I'm right. The final countdown is on boys, get 'em while you still can. As for me, I've pretty much gotten whatever was on my radar, aside from some Minecraft DLC and OG Xbox games that don't license transfer if you get them from the modern store. That being said, I will still keep an eye out for anything that might catch my interest from now until the closure. I'll try to prioritize non-BC games.

Halo MCC and TF2 update as well. Crazy times.

Out of spite, I've decided to buy the Xbox 360 version of Skullgirls plus DLC. As far I'm aware, the ESG updates only affect 2nd Encore  (PS4, PC, Switch) & Mobile. 1st Encore (PS3?, Xbox 360) remains untouched. The good news is that the 360 version is forward compatible on the newer Xboxes. That means access to better controllers,1st or 3rd party, and not rely on the god-awful 360 D-pad. So rev up those fight sticks and Elite controllers. Additionally, thanks to the more powerful hardware, you'll be hitting more consistent framerates at max resolution.

The downsides, unfortunately, can't be ignored. SG is unfortunately neither One X Enhanced, nor FPS boosted on Series S/X. So, even on the Series X, you won't go past max 360 settings & performance(1080p max, 30-60 fps max). No 4K, no 60/120 fps boost. Thankfully, since it's a 2D fighting game, I don't think that's too much of a bother to notice. Additionally, any 2nd Encore exclusive content, you will miss out on. So no voice-acted cutscenes, no future DLC, no new updates or balance changes, etc. Whatever bugs, exploits, or characters dominate the metagame currently, that's what you'll have to deal with 4ever.

Some things to note:

The DLC characters and compatibility update is only available on the 360 Marketplace. So if want those, you'll have to buy directly through a 360 console or the marketplace website. The Xbox store for the newer systems only has the base game, and extra color pallets for Peacock and Valentine for $1 each.... for some reason. And with 2nd Encore slated to release on One/Series sometime this year, I wouldn't be surprised they remember the 360 version exists and delist it. Best case scenario is that they only delist the Xbox store version and forget the marketplace listing so the whole "license carryover" loophole works and you can still buy it. So if you want to get the more "pure" version, you might want to get it while you still can.

Funny thing is, I don't even like fighting games.

I wonder how far they went with scrubbing the ports. Like did they patch the console versions at all? Even all the way back to the 360? If not, may as well grab that before they remember it exists and it gets de-listed. When in doubt, there's always emulation, I suppose.

2 hours ago, Gyokuyoutama said:

 

 

For example, consider the recent remakes of the Telltale Sam and Max games.

Times like this, I'm glad I managed to nab the originals before Telltale went kaput.

That last one looks like it could belong in Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss.

I would never think the TF2 Universe could be used in a legit psych horror movie, but here we are. It even still has a little bit of that iconic humor sprinkled in here and there to remind you, that yes, these are the same mercenaries from the same game where you can beat someone to death with a fish, conga dance on his corpse, and spam "Needa' dispensa' he're!", all while wearing a banana for a hat. Most TF2  SFMs that try to take the serious and dramatic route just end up either overtaken by action/comedy, or so over the top that it just comes off as cringe.

I would also like to add my appreciation for the use of original VA work instead of splicing the voicelines/using AI. That would have put off the immersion, as the tones and inflection would be inappropriate for the mood they were going for. That being said, the voices for Heavy and Demo were a tad too off, even after being generous. However, neither have too many lines in the film, so I can overlook it. Every other role was fantastic, which made up for it.

This hole thing must have took years to make, and it seems to have paid off. Bravo.

So, on the 7th, Microsoft started to delist a batch of games from the Xbox 360 Marketplace. Some of them quite heavy hitters. Most notably, all of Valve's titles (Minus the Portal games), several Assassin's Creed sequels, COD: Ghosts & Advanced Warfare, Jet Set Radio, The OG Battlefront and KOTOR II, as well as some notable Indie titles, like Limbo and Castle Crashers.

Now, normally, when a game gets delisted from the Xbox 360 Marketplace, it's not that big of a deal, as the 360 is still a traditional console where physical copies contain all of the game data on disc, and installation to the drive is not mandatory. So, for most of these titles, you only really miss out on any DLC. Even if Xbox Live gets shut down entirely for the 360, the 1.0 versions of these games should be perfectly playable from a physical disc.

The issue is two-fold:

1.) Several of these games are backwards compatible on newer consoles, but are already delisted from the newer store, so, if you only had and Xbox One S Digital version, or in my case, a Series S, and wanted to play these games on better hardware, a work around was to buy them from the Marketplace, and the license would then carry over. This closes that loophole.

2.) Several of these games are also digital only, so, even if you had a normal Xbox One or Series X, you're still SooL.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this is just the beginning. I have a strong feeling this is just Microsoft's way of slowly sun-setting the Marketplace for good. And after that is done? Then Xbox Live multiplayer for the 360, until, finally, the ability to re-download what we have already licensed to our accounts, thus making the 360 a truly offline console like the OG. I only worry what will happen to our digital content once the servers are shut down, as in, whether or not we can access it. I feel like it will be the same a when the OG Xbox went offline.

Anyways, here's what I got from the list:

So have any of you managed to snag one of these games before they vanished?

CODE ORANGE, REPEAT, CODE ORANGE

Wow, these are really cool, would have loved to try these out if they were finished.

I always thought it was just an emergency backup in case the forum goes offline.

Damn, they're still doing that? Huh. That reminds me, I should probably hand them the reigns of the Steam Group. I've done literally nothing with it. I think the most activity I've seen on it was when the Daily Spuf needed to move to a new home since SPUF was going offline, so it was temporarily down.

You know, this whole recent competitive Smash Bros drama with Panda Global has got me thinking about why Nintendo is such a shitty-ass backwards gaming company. Like I now understand why they hold the views they hold on their products and IP. Why they shut down volunteer fan projects, their stance on emulation, modding and content creation, their reluctance to modernize their online services, or bring in their large stock of games from yesteryear, the sheer neglect of the grassroots competitive scenes for their multiplayer games (Smash Bros in particular), and even why they never let their games go on sale even years after release.

I believe it has to do with Nintendo's background pre-NES days. Who were they before the NES? A toy company, like, say Japanese Hasbro. They made playing cards, board games, action figures, etc. You know, stuff for kids. You know what young kids don't care for? Good quality online services, competitive leagues, modding & emulation, reasonably priced games and good deals on said games. All of the things that adults like you and I care for and expect from gaming, kids don't care for. They simply just don't know any better. All they see, are all the pretty colors and goofy characters, and all the fun they are having on their shiny box that their parents bought them, all without a care in the world. And you know what? That is perfectly okay. Let them be kids, it's not their fault.

Compare to Sony and Microsoft. What did they do before video games? Well both were already involved with tech in some way. Sony was more focused on hardware (Walkman, TV's, etc.), while MS were more software-oriented (Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, etc.). What did these have in common? They were products geared towards a more older audience (at least older teenager age). Hence, their consoles are also geared towards older audiences. People who typically would be aware of, and therefore care for, modernized features like better online services, more mature titles, etc. Heck, the only reason Sony got into the biz was to make an all-in-one home entertainment system, while MS only made the Xbox because they feared the Playstation would oust PCs from the living room.

So now it all makes sense. What I'm getting at is that Nintendo, deep down, at its core, has always been, and always will be, a toy company. And thus, they will treat their products, including their gaming consoles as just that: toys. Thusly, they will treat their audience as kids. They don't care that their audience grew up, they refuse to grow up with them. Why would they? Most people have kids, and one day those kids will see shiny thing and want to play on said shiny thing, bugging their parents until they give the shiny thing. And to the big N's credit, they really have cornered a market in that department. They don't become the richest company in Japan for shits and giggles, they know their niche and they know it well.

So here's what I learned. Instead of bellyaching about the latest thing Nintendo shut down, or refuse to do, or the ridiculous lack of features on their console, we should all just move on from Nintendo, you know, grow up. Treat Nintendo as like the Hot Wheel track you give to your 5 year old nephew: disposable, like a toy should be. When they day comes most of you will probably have kids, give them a Nintendo console. But once they hit those early teen years (assuming they're still into gaming by then), get them a Playstation/Xbox. Or heck, you could even skip that step and introduce them to PC gaming straight away. Give them a Steam Deck to dip their toes in if you must. And hopefully, they'll forget about Nintendo. But if they don't? Set up some emulators and sail the high seas.

It's about time we treat Nintendo as they treat their dedicated fans: with indifference, or outright scorn. Forget 'em.

Personally, I don't mind the cringe that comes with looking at my old posts; It's just a sign that I've matured since then. I feel like I've mellowed out since, touched some grass, did some soul searching, you know, all that good stuff.

Besides, there's some good nostalgia to be had here. If for no other reason than simply being an old forum of its type compared to the likes of Discord/Reddit/Twitter. I feel like I can take my time replying to threads here.

On 10/2/2014 at 6:20 AM, John Caveson said:

Considering Microsoft is desperately trying to revive its failure of a console, and Halo has been an Xbox exclusive since 3, I'll highly doubt it'll come to PC.

Necromancy powers activate! Looks like I need to eat a hat now.

Anyways, the MCC is awesome now. The Steam Workshop update is probably the single greatest thing 343i has ever done for the franchise. Of course, that bar was never particularly high, but still, when you get something like THIS on the workshop....

....then MCC will become the next Garry's mod, because this is epic. Especially for Steam Deck users who are forced to use the anti-cheat disabled version. All I really want now is a version of the Custom Games Browser that can play modded servers with AC disabled. I might even need the AC to work on Proton anymore if that's the case.

Seriously, whoever is leading the MCC team is single-handedly keeping the franchise alive, cuz Infinite sure shit ain't.

Damn, i just bought both KOTORs. Should have waited...

Anyway, I'll take Grim Fandago if you don't mind.

10 hours ago, Gyokuyoutama said:

I had a long post about how to play games without DRM on Steam but then deleted it because it only applies to certain games, and definitely not Halo.  If you're interested this page has pretty much everything I was talking about anyway:

 

https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

 

I would be extremely hesitant to buy anything on Steam for archival purposes.  It is true that if a game gets delisted you'll generally still be able to download and play it.  That happened to me with Peter Molyneux's The Movies which hasn't been available for sale for over a decade at this point (which annoying means that there's no good way for me to get the expansion.)  But this is most reliable if you are in a situation where the publisher loses rights to sale or just doesn't give a shit about the game anymore.

 

If they are actively fucking around they could give you forced updates.  Even if they delist it now they might bring it back as part of a "remastered" version and then you'll get the forced update.  This kind of happened to me with Sword of the Stars.  I had the base game and the first two expansions, but not the third.  They delisted these for a while, but eventually they came back with a "complete collection" which was basically all the expansions with some other minor fixes.  This wasn't too bad for me since I finally got the last expansion after having missed it for sale on the store.  But if they wanted to also add a store with a bunch of microtransactions they could have, and then that would be the only version of the game that I could play on Steam.

This seems to be an Achilles Heel I've noticed for PC games lately. Unlike consoles, PCs have theoretically infinite backwards compatibility. You can still buy and play games that are from the 90's like Doom or Half-life on modern hardware. You can even throw away your decade-old rig in the trash and get an entirely new one, but as long as you have access to the service you bought it from, you can always re-download it on your new system. This means older games that would normally get abandoned by both the developers and players as the new console gen comes around, still sees life on the PC space.

This may lead to game that has high praise and a dedicated playerbase getting re-noticed by the publisher/developer, who, in a best case scenario, may occasionally keep the game updated for new hardware architectures and features, like ray-tracing, 4K, or full controller support, etc. Some examples being classic Doom II, which recently had all of its expansions consolidated into a single install for convenience, or with the classic Battlefront games which had their online capabilities re-enabled by Disney.

However, then you can also get the worst case scenario, where said publisher/developer notices the persistent popularity of an old game as a sign to make a quick buck with a low-effort remasters that contain all of the content and DLC of the old game, but integrated with all the "modern gaming" trends of the day, like always-online DRM, intrusive anti-cheat, and double launchers, etc. As with the above Bioshock example, another notorious example is Burnout Paradise. When EA released the remaster of that game, they not only delisted the original on PC, they also delisted it on consoles, including the DLC. So if you have an Xbox 360, but not an Xbox One/Series S/X, and you don't have the DLC for the 360 version of that game, you're SooL. Your best hope is to hunt down a physical copy of the Ultimate Box edition, which has the motorcycle DLC and multiplayer updates up to that edition's release on the disc itself. However, the big expansion for that game, 'Big Surf Island', is not on there, and therefore is not available get in anyway, unless you get the remaster on modern systems, which also means putting up with the mentioned "modern gaming" nonsense that EA is fond of.

This can happen to almost any game on PC nowadays. Consoles typically don't have to deal with this. What to 2k did with the above Bioshock situation will most likely not happen to the original 360 versions of those games, because why bother? Nobody but retro game collectors play those versions anymore, and even if they did bother, the used physical market still exists. So barring a few cross-gen titles and oddball outliers like Burnout, these scummy retroactive updates just don't happen to consoles.

TL;DR PC gaming has unlimited backwards compatibility, but also unlimited potential for publishers/developers to ruin decades-old games with a retroactive patch, unlike consoles.

Aaaaand Infinite (along with the remasters of 1&2) got review bombed on Steam. R.I.P.

I immediately uninstalled all 3 from my Steam Deck. The classic versions of 1&2 appear to be untouched with these QoL "updates", so I'll try those. They take up less space since there's no 4K textures to load. Not like I needed them on a 800p screen anyway. The downside is they require more tinkering and are more buggy on Deck compared to the more seamless, OOTB experience of the remasters, according to ProtonDB. Infinite, meanwhile, has always been a buggy mess on Linux in general despite having a native port, so this is probably a last straw for me. If all else fails, I'll just get the classics on Xbox. Fuck it.

BTW, I would recommend getting the classics on Steam while you can. I have a funny feeling 2K is going to delist them soon in response to this. I wouldn't be surprised anyway.