Computer issues

Making a post using a smartphone because my desktop computer is/was having issues, and I'm currently running a full-ass chkdsk scan on both C: and D: drives (C: scan is at 75% complete, after around 2 hours or so, with supposedly 30ish more minutes left, or so says the newfangled Win10 boot-time chkdsk, haven't started D: scan yet). In any case, I hope this is just some temporary wonkiness and not something more sinister.

(EDIT, 10:40pm) Just finished running the D: chkdsk (or autochk or whatever it is the boot-time thing is called). For some reason, that one took about 5 hours, even though the drives are the same size and the D: drive has less stuff on it. It is a several years older drive, though. In any case, nothing came up on either drives' scans, and sfc and such didn't find anything wrong either. In any case, at least for right now, the computer seems to be acting normally again, so I have no idea what was up with it this morning. Just sucks to have wasted pretty much the whole day sitting around waiting on that shit. On the other hand, I finished "Apt Pupil" in Stephen King's Different Seasons book of novellas, serendipitously within about 30 seconds of the D: drive autochk scan finishing. (/EDIT)

"People Prefer Single-Player Games, According to Sony"

Watch on YouTube

"According to Sony internal documents, people prefer playing single-player games."

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I'm actually kind of shocked, if this is true. I mean, while I certainly prefer single player games and can't even really recall the last time I touched anything that was multiplayer[1], I just figured that most everyone else was all aboard with the whole Call of Shooty type of multiplayer horseshit or the Diablo III type of "must be online even for singleplayer" dogshit. But then, maybe that's only because that's what all the big video game companies have been telling me for years was the case, even though it apparently isn't. That said, I do not see the "always online even for singleplayer" trend ending anytime soon, regardless, because that shit is explicitly for DRM purposes, nothing more and nothing less.

As long as the hand-holding stuff that Ian talks about is optional, I'm totally on board for it, and would maybe even partake of it... but I wouldn't want to have to use it, if I didn't want to.

The whole "what was I doing" thing, though... yeah... that's why I've finished so few of the games I have and have played only the first third to a half or so (if even that much) of so many of them. ¬_¬

And yeah, I agree with Pat, the gatekeepers can fuck right off.

My one main piece of advice for game devs: give more frequent save points, if you must limit saves, or give unlimited save anywhere functionality, if you can, and at this point there's really no reason you can't, outside of snooty "it cheapens my artistic vision to allow saving anywhere" type of reasons and if those are your only reasons, then you can fuck right off, too. (EDIT) Oh, and in case I'm being unclear here, by unlimited saves, I mean manual saves. Auto-saving is nice, but not when it's the only way to save. If I'm playing a game and I miss something or fuck up something or, worst of all, something bugs/glitches out, and then I find out that I'm screwed for that playthrough because the game auto-saved after that point, that is one of the quickest, surest ways to get me to stop playing that particular game altogether, likely forever. (/EDIT)

[1] - Probably Minecraft, however long ago that was, since I don't really count The Secret World or Star Trek Online. Even though those latter two are MMOs, I was playing them purely solo, or as solo as I possibly could, and if there'd been offline singleplayer versions of those, I'd have never touched the MMO shit with a ten foot pole. And I haven't played either of those in years, either, so... *shrug*