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It's early days for Windows on ARM

  Does anyone remember what gaming was like on the first M1-based MacBooks? It was terrible. Apple has made strides to improve compatibility with x86 games in more recent versions of its OS, but they still have some way to go. What they really want, and need, is for developers to produce native games for their processor and OS, and if they can do that, gaming will be a thing on Mac. It's fair to say that Microsoft should have learned from Apple's mistakes, and they made some noise about how their Prism x86 emulator is better than Apple's, but regardless of how bad you think Windows on ARM is at the moment, the fact is, it will improve. The hope is the new Copilot+ PCs will sell, and that Microsoft and Qualcomm will continue to improve the experience. We need a better compatibility layer, we need better GPU drivers, but we also need for developers to create games that are compiled for the new ARM processor. We need a version of Steam that runs natively on ARM, and we need ga
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Still Wakes the Deep (5/5)

  Still Wakes the Deep is an interesting game. There's no combat, and although the game gives you places to hide yourself from the monsters that roam the oil rig you're attempting to escape from, there's not that much hiding to do. Mostly, it's a game about going from point A to point B and interacting with various people as you do so. There's a ton of cussing, and the voice overs are generally excellent, as is the writing. It's a linear game, but there are no waypoints, no journal, and there's a clue system, but it only provides a minimal amount of help. Overall, though, it's easy to play, at least on the easiest difficulty setting. It definitely has its share of frights, and it's a survival horror game, but it's never oppressive. It punches at a more emotional level, not so much trying to scare you as trying to get you invested in the story and characters and make you care about their fate. It's a short game. I completed it in about five an

Why I use Windows

  I started my career in software development in 1991, and at that time, I tested software on DOS, Windows 3.0, and Mac OS. I was an Amiga diehard back then, and none of those operating systems or the computers they ran on compared favorably to AmigaOS and the Amiga computer. But as Amiga support died, I switched to PC, and I was happy with DOS, Windows 3.1, and then Windows 95. IBM's OS/2 was gaining traction in the 1990s as a better Windows and DOS than what Microsoft had created, and I seriously considered switching to it, but in the end, it just wasn't as compelling of an operating system as Windows 95. And to be honest, even the Mac, which has become everyone's darling with the advent of OSX, and more recently, it's M series of ARM based processors, isn't what I want in a computer and operating system. Windows not only has broad compatibly with applications created over the last several decades, but it also has a versatile user interface that makes it easy to a

Copilot+ without Recall is kind of boring so far

I bought the Microsoft's Copilot+ Surface Laptop, and while it's a very nice laptop, with a great screen, well laid out keyboard, great haptic trackpad, and it's fast, its AI capabilities are lackluster. Without Recall, it essentially has the ability to create or enhance images locally instead of relying on the cloud. It has other features such as language translation and webcam filters, but those are features I'm not likely to use very much if at all. So, it's a nice, fast laptop, but it's AI potential is crippled until Microsoft releases Recall.

Fall 2024: The games I'll play

There are a ton of games coming to Xbox Series S|X this fall. Still Wakes the Deep, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, Flintlock, Age of Empires: Age of Mythologies Retold, Stalker 2, Call of Duty Spec Op 6, Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. And those are just the ones coming to Gamepass! Two others I will definitely buy are Star Wars Outlaws and Kingdom Come Deliverance II. I'll probably pass on Life is Strange: Double Exposure (I didn't play much of previous titles in the series), Assassin's Creed Shadows (I've lost all interest in this series), or Dragon Age: Veil Guard (I loved Origins but didn't care for the rest of the games in the series).  I can't remember a fall this jam packed in ages. We are finally past the pandemic and games are freely flowing. I wish half of these had come out in the first half of 2024, and I wish most of these weren't coming out in the last few months of the year, but it's better to hav

2024 Xbox Showcase was a stunner

  I honestly didn't expect much from Xbox this year. I was looking forward to Avowed and the new Indiana Jones games, but beyond that, it didn't seem like Microsoft had much cooking. Fortunately, though, the showcase for 2024 was chock full of games that look fun. Outside of World of Warcraft, which is currently only for PC, and the new Sea of Thieves season and Fragpunk, which are multiplayer only, everything else looked great. Even Call of Duty, a game I rarely play, looked amazing, and since it's on Gamepass, I can play it without spending any additional money. And games like Flintlock, Age of Mythology, and Flight Simulator 2024, just to name a few, are well worth trying even if I don't end up playing them for more than a few minutes or hours. What's coming in the future, though, is what's especially exciting. Fable. Mixtape, Perfect Dark, Atomfall, and more, all look stunning, and they are all coming to Gamepass in 2025 and beyond. Xbox and Gamepass has a v

I try to play games on PC, but I prefer them on console

Old Kraft Brand Joystick I've never been comfortable playing games with WASD on a keyboard, and then controlling the camera with a mouse. Back when I played games on Commodore C-64 and Amiga, I almost always used a joystick similar to the one pictured above instead. Which made switching to the original Xbox such an intriguing prospect when it debuted in 2001. Instead of being forced to use keyboard and mouse, I could use a gamepad, which simplified gameplay tremendously. The Xbox was also great because I didn't have to worry about upgrading the hardware, installing a new operating system, or any of the other things that have always plagued PCs. It was a self-contained platform that didn't require me to do anything except turn it on, pop in a game disc, and play games. Fast forward to today and consoles now have wireless controllers, SSD drives, and stores where you can download any content you need direct from the Internet. The games are bigger and buggier than they've