From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Man, I'm so funny with the puns. Not.
Anyway, another selection of news stories that passed by, some of
which maybe would be worth discussing but I'm too lazy to make
separate posts for each of 'em.


#


* XBox news https://www.gamesindustry.biz/microsoft-gaming-ceo-asha-sharma-pledges-no-bad-ai-at-xbox
Let's do the big one: long-time head of Microsoft's XBox division
Philip Spencer is stepping down, and being replaced by Asha Sharma,
formerly of Microsoft's AI division... and it's not going down well.
Spencer himself was somewhat controversial --some people think he did
a great job, others not so much-- but it's generally agreed that he
tried to focus on gaming. Sharma on the other hand has no gaming
background, and is a big AI proponent, and her appointment to the XBox
division is filling a lot of people with unease. Microsoft has been
trying to jam its AI-dreams into all its products (mostly
unsuccessfully; only 3% of its corporate users pay for it) and there's
a lot of worry this could be the start of the campaign to shove its AI
into gaming... something most gamers very much do not want.

It doesn't help that some of Sharma's statements indicate that while
she's opposed to "AI Slop", she is in favor of using it to help
develop it games. With XBox already struggling, there are a lot of
people (including some its founders) saying this appointment is the
death knell of the platform.


#


* Oh no, Metaverse is going mobile-only. Anyway. https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-metaverse-is-going-mobile-first-233030532.html
Remember Metaverse, Facebook's half-arsed attempt at making a modern
"Second Life" clone that somehow ended up being worse than that
20-year old game? After being a laughingstock for years (and
attracting almost no users), Facebook has decided the problem is that
it's too tied to the QuestVR platform, and needs instead to be focused
'almost exclusively' on mobile.

Such a loss to the gaming community.


#


* Steam needs to stop being so good so others can compete https://www.gamesindustry.biz/it-needs-to-cooperate-fairly-and-its-clearly-not-why-valve-is-facing-a-656m-day-in-the-uk-courts
"It needs to cooperate fairly", goes the complaint in the UK courts.
It's charging too much for its services, and needs to bring its prices
down to match its competitors. That seems to be the argument they're
making against Valve's platform. Forget the fact that what Valve
offers is heads and shoulders (and chest and hips and legs) above
anything all its competitors are offering. As a developer, you get a
hell of a lot more from Valve than you get if you try to sell on Epic
or EA/Origin or (sadly) GOG. No, the problem is Valve is being
'unfair'.

Epic isn't directly involved in this case, but I can smell Sweeney's
hands all over this one too. It's been said before and it'll be said
again: just make a better product and people will swarm to your
platform. Try being feature-competitive before trying to adjudicate
your way out of your hole.


#


* Mobile gaming sucks... but not because of the hardware https://www.techradar.com/gaming/mobile-gaming/android-gaming-has-to-be-taken-seriously-after-this-this-liquid-cooled-chinese-phone-just-ran-the-pc-version-of-cyberpunk-2077-and-im-shocked
There's a lot to shit on about mobile-gaming, but it's not the
hardware that's the problem. It's becoming increasingly capable. I
mean, sure you have stuff like SteamDeck, but even Android phones can
now run games like "Cyberpunk 2077" at a decent framerate... and that
using PC emulation, which adds extra overhead.

Of course, the device mentioned in the article /does/ need a little
help with a special liquid-cooling setup, so it's not quite something
the average user is going to do, but still, it shows that the problem
with mobile gaming has more to do with the industry trends than the
hardware's capabilities. It's amazing how much processing power you
can squeeze into such a tiny package these days.


#


* Facebook grabs a chunk of AMD https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/meta-could-end-up-owning-of-10-amd-in-new-chip-deal/
So, Facebook (well, "Meta" technically) is going to end up owning 10%
of AMD as part of a swap that gets Facebook a billions of dollars of
AMD chips to use --you guessed it-- in its AI factories. Which is just
bad news all around. It means more AI, Meta having a bigger hold over
a major tentpost of PC gaming, and fewer chips for the rest of us.
Well, at the very least the Meta AI datacenters will be slightly more
cost- and power-efficient than any that use Intel chips?


#


* The Times, They Are A'Changing https://kotaku.com/game-industry-generational-divide-roblox-nintendo-2000672648 More an editorial (and on a topic I've espoused already) but this
article just summarizes how the gaming industry is on the cusp of a
major shift. There's the technological upheavals, AI, employee
problems, major studios shuttering, and now reports on major shifts in
how gamers themselves are engaging with the hobby. But meanwhile, the
industry as a whole still seems to be chasing strategies set in stone
five or ten years ago, chasing after dreams that the next Live Service
game they crank out will be the One Big One to rival "Fortnite"...
even as "Fortnite" itself is starting to slip in popularity.

Younger gamers just aren't interested in these games, or the usual
churn of trying something new every few months. They've got "Roblox"
(which is more of a social hub like Facebook for them than something
to actually play) and are dividing their time with other hobbies too.
But vegging out on the couch just playing games is something old
people do. And the industry doesn't seem ready for that.

Which means the industry just needs to abandon that market (unlikely)
or we'll start seeing fewer traditional games that older gamers enjoy.
Sad either way.


#

That's a nice five-course meal, right there (I'm still punning of that
'digest' joke I made in the topic above, see?). Anything catch your
eye? Personally, I found the AMD story most interesting. Get your
hands off my next CPU, Facebook! ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 2/24/2026 7:45 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* XBox news
With XBox already struggling, there are a lot of
people (including some its founders) saying this appointment is the
death knell of the platform.

From one failing project to another, XBox has been dead for awhile,
shoving AI into it is definitely the death knell. Might as well make it
an NFT platform too, you can just have AI generate the NFTs.

* Oh no, Metaverse is going mobile-only. Anyway. https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-metaverse-is-going-mobile-first-233030532.html
Remember Metaverse, Facebook's half-arsed attempt at making a modern
"Second Life" clone that somehow ended up being worse than that
20-year old game? After being a laughingstock for years (and
attracting almost no users), Facebook has decided the problem is that
it's too tied to the QuestVR platform, and needs instead to be focused 'almost exclusively' on mobile.

Meh. I'm not sure how meta is going to work on mobile to attract people.

* Mobile gaming sucks... but not because of the hardware https://www.techradar.com/gaming/mobile-gaming/android-gaming-has-to-be-taken-seriously-after-this-this-liquid-cooled-chinese-phone-just-ran-the-pc-version-of-cyberpunk-2077-and-im-shocked

10 years ago I expected to just have a phone by now and be hooking up my
TV or a 'tv monitor' on my desk to play games and do everything I do on computer. We're closer, but not quite there yet.

* Facebook grabs a chunk of AMD https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/meta-could-end-up-owning-of-10-amd-in-new-chip-deal/

Boo.

* The Times, They Are A'Changing

Younger gamers just aren't interested in these games, or the usual
churn of trying something new every few months. They've got "Roblox"
(which is more of a social hub like Facebook for them than something
to actually play) and are dividing their time with other hobbies too.
But vegging out on the couch just playing games is something old
people do. And the industry doesn't seem ready for that.

Roblox is having some scandals about supporting predators over kids (wtf
are they thinking?!?) Oblivious parents don't seem to care or didn't get
the message though. My kids still play it a bit, but they're both teens
I taught pretty well how to be paranoid on it, and played it with them
enough when they were younger. So maybe I'm one of those Oblivious
parents. *shrug*

They don't play it that much any more, both are more into computer games
now. Neither really play much on their phones/tablets either.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* XBox news

Just wanted to remind everyone here who purposefully ignore people that
Spalls throws me fish food every once in a while. You who have
considered me judged compartmentalized and dealt-with will get yours.
--
Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down
those who rise up
against us.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:23:40 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
said this thing:

On 2/24/2026 7:45 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* XBox news
With XBox already struggling, there are a lot of
people (including some its founders) saying this appointment is the
death knell of the platform.

From one failing project to another, XBox has been dead for awhile,
shoving AI into it is definitely the death knell. Might as well make it
an NFT platform too, you can just have AI generate the NFTs.

To be fair, Microsoft isn't saying they are putting AI on XBox. They
just aren't saying they AREN'T. But Microsoft has bet big on AI and
even if Sharma hadn't been appointed, people would have assumed that
was their end-goal anyway.

But as you pointed out, XBox --both the hardware and the brand in
general-- has been struggling for a while. And going against what
customers want (and spending a hundred billion dollars to do it!)
doesn't seem a winning combination.

Microsoft's current attitude very much reminds me of how surprised
they were when they originally suggested the XBox-One should be a
digital-only device with no optical drive, and people HATED the idea.

(Then again... look where we are now. Oh god... could Microsoft be
/right/?!?!)

* Oh no, Metaverse is going mobile-only. Anyway.
https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-metaverse-is-going-mobile-first-233030532.html
Remember Metaverse, Facebook's half-arsed attempt at making a modern
"Second Life" clone that somehow ended up being worse than that
20-year old game? After being a laughingstock for years (and
attracting almost no users), Facebook has decided the problem is that
it's too tied to the QuestVR platform, and needs instead to be focused
'almost exclusively' on mobile.

Meh. I'm not sure how meta is going to work on mobile to attract people.

I don't think they expect it to. I think it's a last-gasp "We spent
100-billion dollars on this boondoogle so we can't just throw it away.
put it on mobile; people will buy anything there" attempt.

Mostly it seems they are just trying to disassociate the QuestVR line
with MetaVerse. "Hey kids, VR is still fun. Metaverse? What's that? Oh
isn't that some piddly mobile game for the rubes? No QuestVR is
totally different!"

* Mobile gaming sucks... but not because of the hardware
https://www.techradar.com/gaming/mobile-gaming/android-gaming-has-to-be-taken-seriously-after-this-this-liquid-cooled-chinese-phone-just-ran-the-pc-version-of-cyberpunk-2077-and-im-shocked

10 years ago I expected to just have a phone by now and be hooking up my
TV or a 'tv monitor' on my desk to play games and do everything I do on >computer. We're closer, but not quite there yet.

Whether we ever achieve that goal or not, it does show that ARM chips
are capable of handling gaming, should it be necessary. Maybe not
quite yet, at the full resolutions and detail we expect from modern
gaming (certainly not with just the chips embedded in a phone)... but
it implies the transition from x86 to ARM may be closer than we think.

* Facebook grabs a chunk of AMD
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/meta-could-end-up-owning-of-10-amd-in-new-chip-deal/

Boo.

I used a slightly stronger (and one-letter longer) word when reading
that article.

* The Times, They Are A'Changing

Roblox is having some scandals about supporting predators over kids (wtf
are they thinking?!?) Oblivious parents don't seem to care or didn't get
the message though. My kids still play it a bit, but they're both teens
I taught pretty well how to be paranoid on it, and played it with them >enough when they were younger. So maybe I'm one of those Oblivious
parents. *shrug*

To be fair, Roblox has been fighting this scandal for nearly a decade.
The platform has been a haven for nasties for a long, long time and it
hasn't slowed its growth a jot. They keep saying, "Oh, we've taken all
new steps to protect the kids" and then getting found out that they
hadn't, or that their protections were useless, or easily worked
around. The company is swill.

They don't play it that much any more, both are more into computer games >now. Neither really play much on their phones/tablets either.

Children raised by a sensible parent. But I'll be more impressed when
they can edit the registry (or better, a config file on linux) and
know what an IRQ is ;-)


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 2/25/2026 6:49 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:23:40 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>

* Facebook grabs a chunk of AMD
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/meta-could-end-up-owning-of-10-amd-in-new-chip-deal/

Boo.

I could guess, probably one of those 7 words Carlin talked about.

They don't play it that much any more, both are more into computer games
now. Neither really play much on their phones/tablets either.

Children raised by a sensible parent. But I'll be more impressed when
they can edit the registry (or better, a config file on linux) and
know what an IRQ is ;-)

I don't see why they would ever learn what an IRQ is. I think my son's managed something along the lines of editing the registry. The music
software (FLStudio) he uses has lots of arcane config stuff he's had to
go through. I helped him initially, but he's been doing it on his own
since before he got his new computer... what a year and a half ago?
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2