Video Games

Isn't the other downside no haptics? Or have they added that?

oh yeah there's no vibration but I don't see that as a downside.

(old man warning)

Just got a new laptop and I fancy getting all nostalgic and playing OG command and conquer. I see there is a 2020 remaster (that looks like C&C and Red Alert, but slightly polished)

On CDkeys it is £4 "on origin" and £8 "on Steam"
When I were a lad, you bought a game, installed and played it.
I am aware that launchers now exist, but haven't used one.
Is there a reason I should pay double for Steam version?

For me, I think I've got 1 or 2 games on Origin and a good few hundred on Steam. So I try to go for Steam when I can to try to have as many games accessible through one launcher as possible (also got a handful on each of GOG's and Ubisoft's own launchers).

Might be worth checking if you need an internet connection to play on either. Steam is generally fine to play offline in my experience, but with Origin being an EA platform, I wouldn't be surprised if that needed to be online in order to verify that it's a legit licence every time you want to play.

Ah yes, forgot about EAs predatory preferences.
Probably start a subscription service to access things you already own!

https://cncnet.org/command-and-conquer

Another option

having finished Sniper Elite 5 on a pretty hard level, i decided to go for AXIS invasion, but i find it incredibly disappointing ...... as a german sniper entering someone elses missions , the whole point for me is to sit and wait and plan....but you then get pinged by the game for "camping" in a location and it reveals your location....
so you end up running around listening for bullets or looking for the player - and i end up getting fed up with it, because it seems to never really turn out to be "sniping" you end up either quickly getting to close and going for machine gun/pistol, or you end up getting a tiny bit lucky and using the rifle at close-ish range......
i for one dont want to play the game for "luck" - the sniping /wait and plan and stufy element is the best feature for me.....

CDKeys is a reseller, they've always been reliable for me but there's a chance the key you buy is fake or stolen and may get blocked at some point. Also you should check the details because sometimes you're not buying a code but a steam/origin account that has the game assigned.
If you're talking about this one it looks fine.

Mick covered the origin/steam bit.

oh yeah there's no vibration but I don't see that as a downside.

For me that would depend on the game. Some I wouldn't care, but since @mmccarthy has been discussing retro ports to the Switch, in some of those I would miss the haptic feedback because the small screen makes some things harder to notice otherwise.

The trick to get 3 years of Ultimate Game Pass still work?

How does one do it again? What's the best option?

I've noticed I'm paying full price which is silly if I can do it cheaper.

Edit: runs out this month! Nailed it perfectly.

You can only do the £1 upgrade once. Buy some brazillian game pass time codes. Use a VPN, go to the Brazil version of xbox.com and redeem the codes. Then just do the £1 upgrade offer to turn the remaining time in to Ultimate

Cheers buddy!

What are safe sites to get Brazilian XGPs?

Cdkeys would be the first place I try. When i did it they were quite hard to fine. I think MS is winding down the ability to buy gamepass time

I tried following this but CDKeys won't let me add more than 2 to the cart. Didn't fancy buying 9 separately to then find I couldn't redeem them.

If you go back to the product page and just manually add the 3 times rather than update your cart seems to work.

Won't let me buy them. Says I have an active vpn. Doesn't matter which node I use. I tried turning it off, payment went through, then it was rejected. Really fucking frustrating

Is there a reason I should pay double for Steam version?

Never losing access to it and having all games in one place is why I use Steam.

I find if I buy a game outside of Steam that I never pick it up after playing it a while. But inside Steam the discoverability is there even after several machine migrations and I always dip in.

The premium is slight on expensive games, but you've found an extreme example by comparing a reseller to Steam. I'd still buy from Steam.

How easy was it to buy once you found them? Any idea why they know I'm using a vpn?

You don't need a vpn to buy them just to redeem them

Both are on CDkeys, just keys redeemable on Origin or Steam.

To buy it on Steam it is £18.

Not too hard in the wallet either way (especially considering I've spent £60 on a ps5 game without being too concerned)

That worked! Cheers buddy. I have 3 x 12months waiting to the expiry of the last.

I assume I have to wait until its actually expired.

I'm assuming I don't lose my profile when it does, it's just waiting for me to apply the next lot of codes.

Anyone want a 512Gb steam deck?

My place in the queue has come up and I don’t want one any more.

Immediate shipping apparently.

So now it's not letting me convert it to Ultimate

"Change your Microsoft Store region
You currently have a subscription from a different region. If it still doesn't work, please contact customer support."

But when I change the location it wants me to update my profile /address. Am I missing something?

Finally got round to doing the Game Pass thing. Used the method I posted up thread, and although I couldn't figure out how to checkout more than two at a time it seems to have worked.

£64 and I'm subbed until Aug '25.

How many people on here are playing VR games? It's still a niche thing and likely to remain so till the price of the hardware comes down a bit. Those of you who are, would you be interested in a separate thread? I can imagine discussions on the topic might bore the pants off many people on this thread.

This year has seen major shifts in my game playing. I pretty much gave up on video games when my flat was burgled some years back and I just couldn't be bothered to rebuild a gaming setup. Then I got a Switch, but while some of the retro ports work really well, Witcher 3 on Switch made me realise just how much I was missing so I finally got it together, this year, to set up a new games-capable PC. Then I realised it was fast enough for VR and one of my favourite games had done a VR-only version and here I am. Be nice to talk to other people on here about the VR experience but, like I said, I can imagine it being an unwanted thread derail for many.