That was so much fun!

Must be due to the epic prison which they enforce as epic invested in its development (which is in their rights, but I really do not like due to how they achieved this in the long time since their exclusivity buyouts).

I will probably always recommend the Fairbuds for environmental friendly reasons. https://shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds

Thank you for this article, really insightful. That’s good news.

I also agree with you. I think it is one of the factors at play here. But your argument is a big one, too. We outsourced a lot of production and thus knowhow which they have adopted and improved upon. The possibility of a tech wise dependence on one nation gives a lot of power to those, which is also why certain technology sectors should be brought back.

So you say that is the reason for this decision?

Thank you for answering my question.

That’s not what is critizised here, is it?

I might misunderstand but I thought the cheap production of necessary components for green energy coming from China, only possible by shortcuts of reducing worker rights or otherwise exploitation of ressources, should be countered.

That’s fair to be annoyed about. I can understand their approach and their tradeoff for a bit of better water-/rain protection and having less components inside. With an USB-C adapter I am using my analog ear buds, even though I switch more and more to bluetooth as I find them more comfortable.

Mediocre headphones, I would not say. They are definitely not top of the line technology wise, but I find them sufficient and sometimes even more than I expected fairly produced hardware to be.

Better than individual experiences I like to present some reviews, but there doesn’t seem to be that many technical reviews in english, at least I did not find them. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/11/fairphone-fairbuds-review-ethically-made-earbuds-with-replaceable-batteries

However, for in-ears, I find them comfortable, but I am more an over ears person. ANC is alright, I’d say. A bit annoying if I am using it on the train and keep hitting the wall or head rest. But either I adapt to these sounds or the hardware takes a bit more time to filter these vibrations out.

For the tradeoff of better sustainability and exchangability if something breaks or the batteries need replacing, I find the price fair.

If you might also care about the socioeconomic manufacturing process and fair payment for these necessary resources, I can recommend the Fairbuds in-ears or Fairbuds XL for over ear.

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds

Both have noise cancelling as an option and an equalizer via app.

It depends on the content you want to talk about. A general warning won’t help to avoid trigger, stress or anxiety. Better to write your text, read over it, put it in spoilers and prepend content notes (CN) about the included points. These can be various traumatizing aspects and you can be really detailed as people have various stress symptoms. Food, harrassment, bullying, sexism, death - everything you talk about you can warn your readers with content notes.

Something like !upliftingnews@lemmy.world (is this the correct syntax?) ?

More VR games are welcome… however, limiting an already small market by platform exclusivity on Meta Quest really doesn’t seem to be a great idea. I’m really sad about this.

I am so hyped for this title. I really dig its style and theme. Sadly it also has those pre order exclusive rewards, but meh, I can ignore it. 2024.10.11, I’ll be ready!

From NieR Automata - Weight of the World https://youtu.be/P_yaecJ11JQ?si=e5mDeU-lfM1G1E6q

Thank you for your comment! You bring up many arguments regarding their stats I would have added, too, especially that it does cost them per claimed free game.

In my opinion though:

They will use these numbers of higher purchases towards shareholders and publishers. We can see their thought process: e.g. WB Suicide Squad - a game as a service squad loot shooter might potentially bring in a lot of money in the long run, so stop developing singleplayer, go for the player number.

Publishers with their IPs of games might get approached by Tim/Epic, that they should exclusively sell their games on their platform as they have so many active users per month, purchases of this and that high number, with currently x million registered accounts and growing, creating an increased player/customer commitment. And as a player’s library grows, their reluctance to commit to this platform decreases. Resulting in more money for the publishers if they follow Epics road, at least in a predicted long run.

They still have their budget to invest in the long term growth by offering free games and buying exclusitivity of third party titles (in the past), more and more though their own published or development supported titles nowadays (better if I ignore their past behavior).

They also increase their influence by introducing Easy Anti Cheat in more and more titles, which only works due to their reach in the market. This is especially troublesome for Linux players but also for those who do not trust Epic’s scanning procedure on ones tasks, processes, services and files (when we keep in mind how they scanned certain files in folders in the past).

If you should delete your account or not, I cannot say. Data can be interpreted in many ways, they can be read positively by highlighting certain aspects while neglecting others. The same, of course, the other way around.

I have not used my epic account for many years since their Metro bait and switch action, but still keep it as I still have the developer account from previous projects on the UE4. If I had to interpret the data of my account, I have it since a long time, but am no active user, reducing their commitment percentage of active engaging users with their storefront. And I can only hope the attrition rate increases so their store won’t become so attractive to publishers for future titles, reducing the chance of further (time) exclusive games.

We could have tried to discuss our differing views on that topic, but I will not force you.

Thank you for your elaborate opinion.

May I offer you a reading recommendation to form an informed opinion? I edited the comment with a link. Maybe it might just humor you.

The last times I checked, probably a year ago, for Monster Hunter World, this didn’t work as it only supported 1.x, but your comment made it seem like it can be swapped by a modern implementation. Is this really the case for MHW nowadays? That would be amazing!

I am missing an equivalent community to “fuck epic”. With all the relevant information of why this service is still not a good idea to follow, even by grabbing their games “for free”.

Edit: Like this extensive summery: https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/bs4kh6/rfuckepic_for_dummies_a_quick_breakdown/

I am missing an equivalent community to “fuck epic”. With all the relevant information of why this service is still not a good idea to follow, even by grabbing their games “for free”.

Edit: Like this extensive summery: https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/bs4kh6/rfuckepic_for_dummies_a_quick_breakdown/