This thread is for stupid GAMING questions that don't deserve their own thread

Might as well ask this here.

I have some coupons, gift cards, and points from Best Buy that are going to expire and I'm thinking of wasting them on preordering a Playstation VR. If, after they expire, I decide to then cancel said order, what happens to those points, gift cards, etc? Do I just get them added back to my account or do I lose them? If so, what's then the new expiration dates on them?
 
Might as well ask this here.

I have some coupons, gift cards, and points from Best Buy that are going to expire and I'm thinking of wasting them on preordering a Playstation VR. If, after they expire, I decide to then cancel said order, what happens to those points, gift cards, etc? Do I just get them added back to my account or do I lose them? If so, what's then the new expiration dates on them?

Don't know all the rules, but I tried once in the past and was told I couldn't use my points gift certificates on a pre-order.
 
Might as well ask this here.

I have some coupons, gift cards, and points from Best Buy that are going to expire and I'm thinking of wasting them on preordering a Playstation VR. If, after they expire, I decide to then cancel said order, what happens to those points, gift cards, etc? Do I just get them added back to my account or do I lose them? If so, what's then the new expiration dates on them?

It's been some years since I worked there so things could have changed but I expect for this it wouldn't. The coupon would be gone, reward zone certificates go back to your account to be reissued (or if you're exchanging at the time they can be reapplied then), and gift cards are refunded back to a new gift card.
 
Yeah I like NX as a name. This happens pretty much every time, people get attached to Revolution, Morpheus, Orbis, Ultra 64, Atlantis, Project... Cafe..., Xenon...,

DURANGO!

Okay. they aren't all champions, but there were a lot of really cool code names. I would have really liked the Vita/Orbis/Morpheus/Neo style naming to continue. Vita is a sweet name.

Until this day I still think that Dolphin was a better name than GameCube

idk if I agree. GameCube rolls off the tongue. Dolphin sounds awkward, to me at least.
 
Not sure how stupid this really is but is Deus Ex invisible war a bad game?
im about to install the original and play it for the first time and well for 3$ more i can throw in invisible war.

passable?
overblown hate?
just a disappointment compared to the OG?
 
It is passable, yes, but it's also kind of bland and forgettable. It was maligned as consolized, along with Thief 3.
The stand out good bit is a lenghty side quest involving two competing coffee house chains. If you take a shine to Deus Ex, it's worth playing just to see what it's all about. Either way, it's certainly worth $3.
 
It is passable, yes, but it's also kind of bland and forgettable. It was maligned as consolized, along with Thief 3.
The stand out good bit is a lenghty side quest involving two competing coffee house chains. If you take a shine to Deus Ex, it's worth playing just to see what it's all about. Either way, it's certainly worth $3.

its what i figured,probably meh but i mean...its 3 damn dollars.
 
Is there any real use for the PS4 camera besides showing my ugly face when streaming and that augmented reality app? I know it probably works with that dancing game, but beyond that...
 
Can you get sound to come through the DS4's aux connection if you're using it on PS3? I have a monitor. The stereo earphone cable is not long enough.
 
Is there any real use for the PS4 camera besides showing my ugly face when streaming and that augmented reality app? I know it probably works with that dancing game, but beyond that...

Well, it's going to be an essential component of PSVR, so if you've any interest in that, probably worth hanging on to it.
 
Well, it's going to be an essential component of PSVR, so if you've any interest in that, probably worth hanging on to it.

Obviously not interested in PSVR. You would have it easier trying to convince me that there is a god than making me believe in virtual reality.
 
I don't even own it. Just wondering if there were games that supported it for something, maybe voice commands, etc. But I guess that apart from Tearaway and streaming, it is not really a gaming oriented device.
 
I don't even own it. Just wondering if there were games that supported it for something, maybe voice commands, etc. But I guess that apart from Tearaway and streaming, it is not really a gaming oriented device.

There are *some* sort of voice commands, in that I managed to enter that input mode once. I've no idea how, though!
 
what is a "review embargo"?

Review sites aren't allowed to publicly post/reveal/etc their reviews of a game until a certain date passes. Usually has something to do with a deal made with the pubs in order to get a copy to review, but I'm not 100% on that so someone else will have to chime in on that part.
 
Review sites aren't allowed to publicly post/reveal/etc their reviews of a game until a certain date passes. Usually has something to do with a deal made with the pubs in order to get a copy to review, but I'm not 100% on that so someone else will have to chime in on that part.
are all games subject to embargoes or only when the publishers demand it?

and if it is the latter, does it/should it mean anything that the publisher is placing an embargo on their games' reviews?
 
<.<
>.>

W-what EXACTLY is frame pacing? Typing this in Google brings up this:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7195/amd-frame-pacing-explorer-cat138/2

But it seems their focus was AMD tech. I'm kinda confused...

I see it mentioned on gaf a lot but no one ever describes it in detail. They just say it sucks. What I think it is, like in dark souls, where it seems the game just uhhh... Frame skips constantly. Dropping frames for a long period of time? "Microstutter?"
 
Does the fact that Yakuza Kiwami is a remake increase the chances of localization?

<.<
>.>

W-what EXACTLY is frame pacing? Typing this in Google brings up this:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7195/amd-frame-pacing-explorer-cat138/2

But it seems their focus was AMD tech. I'm kinda confused...

I see it mentioned on gaf a lot but no one ever describes it in detail. They just say it sucks. What I think it is, like in dark souls, where it seems the game just uhhh... Frame skips constantly. Dropping frames for a long period of time? "Microstutter?"

Frame pacing is intervals between each frame changing. Say you have a game that runs at 60fps. A game with poor frame pacing would have 59 frames in the first half of 1 second, and 1 frame in the second half. Good frame pacing is having all 60 frames spread out evenly throughout the whole second, if that helps.
 
are all games subject to embargoes or only when the publishers demand it?

and if it is the latter, does it/should it mean anything that the publisher is placing an embargo on their games' reviews?

It's a game-by-game basis, but again I'm no authority on it. Typically the games that do have them are the big releases, or ones that have a big story element to them, etc.
 
Does the fact that Yakuza Kiwami is a remake increase the chances of localization?



Frame pacing is intervals between each frame changing. Say you have a game that runs at 60fps. A game with poor frame pacing would have 59 frames in the first half of 1 second, and 1 frame in the second half. Good frame pacing is having all 60 frames spread out evenly throughout the whole second, if that helps.

So it is essentially a fancy word for a shitty framerate? Ohhh OK. I just thought it was weird people only started using it really this gen. We used to just say "the framerate drops in this area" or "with this enabled, the framerate is poor".


....unless I am still misunderstanding something? <.<
 
So it is essentially a fancy word for a shitty framerate? Ohhh OK. I just thought it was weird people only started using it really this gen. We used to just say "the framerate drops in this area" or "with this enabled, the framerate is poor".


....unless I am still misunderstanding something? <.<

No, the framerate itself can stay consistent at 60 (or 30) FPS, but it's usually like a judder or odd input lag.

Here is how Digial Foundry wrote about it with Bloodborne if it helps:



"Though its 30fps average is technically correct, Bloodborne often produces two unique frames followed by two duplicates – rather than one after another – creating a perception of frame-rate drops throughout. It’s not smooth in motion at all as a result, and frame-time updates swing erratically between 16ms and 66ms – and sometimes higher. It’s an unfortunate oversight by From Software. However, we have seen both Bungie [with Destiny] and EA Gothenburg [with Need for Speed: Rivals] react to the issue in each case, correcting their games soon after launch. We hope this will be the case for Bloodborne as well."
 
So it is essentially a fancy word for a shitty framerate? Ohhh OK. I just thought it was weird people only started using it really this gen. We used to just say "the framerate drops in this area" or "with this enabled, the framerate is poor".


....unless I am still misunderstanding something? <.<

It's a different issue because technically it's still displaying 60 frames per second but yea, it makes the framerate look wonky. It's not new, it's just that the gaming crowd is more savvy or at least more exposed to this kind of terminology with sites like Digital Foundry.
 
No, the framerate itself can stay consistent at 60 (or 30) FPS, but it's usually like a judder or odd input lag.

Here is how Digial Foundry wrote about it with Bloodborne if it helps:



"Though its 30fps average is technically correct, Bloodborne often produces two unique frames followed by two duplicates – rather than one after another – creating a perception of frame-rate drops throughout. It’s not smooth in motion at all as a result, and frame-time updates swing erratically between 16ms and 66ms – and sometimes higher. It’s an unfortunate oversight by From Software. However, we have seen both Bungie [with Destiny] and EA Gothenburg [with Need for Speed: Rivals] react to the issue in each case, correcting their games soon after launch. We hope this will be the case for Bloodborne as well."

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now. Thanks guys!
 
What game is this?
delete-56.png
 
Dumb question here, I clicked on a random game this morning on steam and saw two lists for reviews, overall and recent
fWhItBZ.png


Is this new?
 
Xbox Live problem here. My wife's gamertag has been "lost" while I was fiddling around with her MS account email address. In the end the email address stayed the same and her old profile is still live on the Xbox service, but if I log in with that email address to Xbox Live, we get a new gamertag and a zero gamerscore. How do I get back her old profile, any ideas? Or did I lose it in the Live ether?
 
Are you ALWAYS connected online in Watch Dogs?

Can people invade your game as soon as you get in? Or do you have to set it up somehow?

Im trying to get invaded
 
Was randomly thinking about this today, considered making a thread about it.

Ok, so games are developed on PC and made for consoles. I know its probably not this simple but has there been any instances where the PC code or whatever for a console exclusive game has leaked? The only thing I can think of that comes close was either Pikman 1 or 2 had a PC executable left on the disc I think.
 
Was randomly thinking about this today, considered making a thread about it.

Ok, so games are developed on PC and made for consoles. I know its probably not this simple but has there been any instances where the PC code or whatever for a console exclusive game has leaked? The only thing I can think of that comes close was either Pikman 1 or 2 had a PC executable left on the disc I think.
Developed on PC doesn't mean runnable on PC at all.
 
I know that, but I mean there's gotta be some leftover pieces sometimes right? If not, what's the explanation behind Pikmin having leftover runnable PC files.
Well, just about all game development is done on PCs, very few, if any, consoles allow you to program C++ directly on the hardware. So it makes sense that the games are runnable on PC since you gotta test and compile your code there regularly. In most cases, you also have access to console dev kits for testing (unsure if you need to print discs or not to run the game though). But again, most code is written on PCs at some point. Maybe the Gamecube had an architecture similar to a computer so it was just a matter of transferring the files to a disc and someone forgot to enceypt the exe or something? Porting a ps2 game done in assembler might be more difficult than newer games done in C++ (and especially if they're done in unreal or unity). I assume porting a game would require a new compilation of the code to a new language so it could work with computers but it might be more or less impossible given the odd structural hardware of the console at hand. So a game working interchangeably between a console and pc is sure to be a rarity indeed.

Personally, I only have experience in coding and designing pc games with no intent of releasing them on console. I do have one game up on google play but that game was still made on a pc thanks to unity, which compiles the code for your target platform behind the scenes. Maybe something like that went on with Pikmin? Ios games are usually coded on a mac even though they're mobile games. In that case, the platforms can talk to each other due to a common language the games and apps are created with.

Newer games are probably playable on a monster pc during development due to A) the engine like unreal and unity being platform agnostic, and B) because they all share the x86 pc hardware standard, which helps with porting, supposedly (microsoft seems interested in this thanks to win10).
 
Well, just about all game development is done on PCs, very few, if any, consoles allow you to program C++ directly on the hardware. So it makes sense that the games are runnable on PC since you gotta test and compile your code there regularly. In most cases, you also have access to console dev kits for testing (unsure if you need to print discs or not to run the game though). But again, most code is written on PCs at some point. Maybe the Gamecube had an architecture similar to a computer so it was just a matter of transferring the files to a disc and someone forgot to enceypt the exe or something? Porting a ps2 game done in assembler might be more difficult than newer games done in C++ (and especially if they're done in unreal or unity). I assume porting a game would require a new compilation of the code to a new language so it could work with computers but it might be more or less impossible given the odd structural hardware of the console at hand. So a game working interchangeably between a console and pc is sure to be a rarity indeed.

Personally, I only have experience in coding and designing pc games with no intent of releasing them on console. I do have one game up on google play but that game was still made on a pc thanks to unity, which compiles the code for your target platform behind the scenes. Maybe something like that went on with Pikmin? Ios games are usually coded on a mac even though they're mobile games. In that case, the platforms can talk to each other due to a common language the games and apps are created with.

Newer games are probably playable on a monster pc during development due to A) the engine like unreal and unity being platform agnostic, and B) because they all share the x86 pc hardware standard, which helps with porting, supposedly (microsoft seems interested in this thanks to win10).

Thanks for the in depth answer and the insight. Hopefully going forward there are less console exclusives. I love reading about stuff like this.
 
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