Epic's kept this week's freebie under wraps, rather than announcing it
ahead of time. That's rather annoying to me, since it means I have to
wait until the game is actually available before I start writing these
summaries. But you just know it means it's gonna be a really good
game, right? So here it is: this week's free game from Epic is....

* Death Stranding
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding
Wait... we already got this game. Well, it was on offer back in
December 2022; whether you picked it up then or not was entirely up to
you. But if you missed it the first time, here's another opportunity
to grab it. I can't get all that excited about this game - Kojima's
works are just to "Japanese Weird" for me to engage with - but it has
its fans. It's undeniably unique though, and in an industry that is
filled with cookie-cutter clones, it's worth picking up just for that
reason alone. And sometimes weird is just what I'm in the mood for.

So there you go. Was it worth the wait for you? Well, you have seven
days to decide, and then we start the cycle anew.

>Wait... we already got this game.

If by chance you *didn't* get this game before, consider buying the $5
director's cut upgrade
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding-directors-cut--upgrade
as well, as it includes desirable engine features.

rms

On Thu, 18 May 2023 11:18:16 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>* Death Stranding
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding
>Wait... we already got this game. Well, it was on offer back in
>December 2022; whether you picked it up then or not was entirely up to
>you. But if you missed it the first time, here's another opportunity
>to grab it. I can't get all that excited about this game - Kojima's
>works are just to "Japanese Weird" for me to engage with - but it has
>its fans. It's undeniably unique though, and in an industry that is
>filled with cookie-cutter clones, it's worth picking up just for that
>reason alone. And sometimes weird is just what I'm in the mood for.

You are always on top of this. Thank you for that. And yes, I already
had this one so I am guessing everyone here already has it.

Epic is getting weak with these free games these days. :(

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Epic's kept this week's freebie under wraps, rather than announcing it
> ahead of time. That's rather annoying to me, since it means I have to
> wait until the game is actually available before I start writing these
> summaries. But you just know it means it's gonna be a really good
> game, right? So here it is: this week's free game from Epic is....

> * Death Stranding
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding
> Wait... we already got this game. Well, it was on offer back in
> December 2022; whether you picked it up then or not was entirely up to
> you. But if you missed it the first time, here's another opportunity
> to grab it. I can't get all that excited about this game - Kojima's
> works are just to "Japanese Weird" for me to engage with - but it has
> its fans. It's undeniably unique though, and in an industry that is
> filled with cookie-cutter clones, it's worth picking up just for that
> reason alone. And sometimes weird is just what I'm in the mood for.

> So there you go. Was it worth the wait for you? Well, you have seven
> days to decide, and then we start the cycle anew.

>

--
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people." --Isaiah 10:1-2. RIP, humming bird chick & its unhatched sibbling. Heat melted Celtics down in Boston after a 1.75h nap. A somewhat slammy humpy day.
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/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
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( )

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 18 May 2023 11:18:16 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> >* Death Stranding
> >https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding
> >Wait... we already got this game. Well, it was on offer back in
> >December 2022; whether you picked it up then or not was entirely up to
> >you. But if you missed it the first time, here's another opportunity
> >to grab it. I can't get all that excited about this game - Kojima's
> >works are just to "Japanese Weird" for me to engage with - but it has
> >its fans. It's undeniably unique though, and in an industry that is
> >filled with cookie-cutter clones, it's worth picking up just for that
> >reason alone. And sometimes weird is just what I'm in the mood for.

> You are always on top of this. Thank you for that. And yes, I already
> had this one so I am guessing everyone here already has it.

Ditto.
--
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people." --Isaiah 10:1-2. RIP, humming bird chick & its unhatched sibbling. Heat melted Celtics down in Boston after a 1.75h nap. A somewhat slammy humpy day.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 18/05/2023 16:18, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Epic's kept this week's freebie under wraps, rather than announcing it
> ahead of time. That's rather annoying to me, since it means I have to
> wait until the game is actually available before I start writing these
> summaries. But you just know it means it's gonna be a really good
> game, right? So here it is: this week's free game from Epic is....
>
>
> * Death Stranding
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding
> Wait... we already got this game. Well, it was on offer back in
> December 2022; whether you picked it up then or not was entirely up to
> you. But if you missed it the first time, here's another opportunity
> to grab it. I can't get all that excited about this game - Kojima's
> works are just to "Japanese Weird" for me to engage with - but it has
> its fans. It's undeniably unique though, and in an industry that is
> filled with cookie-cutter clones, it's worth picking up just for that
> reason alone. And sometimes weird is just what I'm in the mood for.
>
>
> So there you go. Was it worth the wait for you? Well, you have seven
> days to decide, and then we start the cycle anew.
>
>

Almost enough temptation to get an Epic account for this one but then I
think if I did want it why is it not already in my Steam library?

On Fri, 19 May 2023 02:17:03 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Epic is getting weak with these free games these days. :(

In fairness to Epic, they are probably not seeing much benefit to the
whole program anymore.

The entire freebies program was designed to promote the Epic Games
platform when it was new. Initially, it was a quick and easy way to
get people to sign up for a free account and download the client.
On-boarding customers is always the hardest part, but once the client
is installed, they are exponentially more likely to buy things. After
all, if you wanted to play your free games, you'd need to install the
client first. It worked gangbusters too; Epic Games user count surged
in its first few months thanks to the program, in a way no other
client - not GOG, not EA Origin, not Ubisoft UPlay - managed.

Epic was also facing another obstacle: Steam. There was a lot of
resistance amongst PC gamers - almost all of whom already had an
account with Steam - to transferring over to Epic. After all, the vast
bulk of their gaming library was already on Steam, so why buy games on
some other store? But with all those free games, people could quickly
amass a library on Epic that rivaled their Steam library in size. This
made it much more likely that - if you were going to start up a game -
you'd be doing in through Epic's client instead of Valve's. And once
you had the Epic client open, that raised the possibility of more
sales.

The constant weekly drip of games was also great advertising for Epic;
it kept their name in the news, and couldn't help but give them a more
positive reputation (something they struggled with in their initial
years thanks to a bungled reading of how gamers would react to
exclusives). Plus, to get those freebies, you'd have to scroll through
the store*... which, again, made it a sale of a non-free game more
likely.

So the free-games program is all to Epic's good... except by this time
most people who WANT an Epic account already have one, and their
libraries are probably full to overflowing by this point too. The free
marketing is always welcome... but does it justify the cost of the
give-away program justify? Furthermore, all those freebies are
probably cannibalizing actual sales at this point; no need to spend
$60USD on "Death Stranding" when you already got it for free.

On the other hand, killing the program would kill a lot of that
hard-earned good will... which is why Epic is probably keeping it
going. But I'm not at all surprised that the pickings have become a
lot less desirable, with a lot of cheaper Indie games, freebies, or
repeats in the mix. Why spend a bundle on offering a hot (and
expensive) game like "Red Dead Redemption 2" when you'll get exactly
the same response from your customers - at least in terms of
engagement - by offering the much cheaper "EA Sims 4 Darling
Lifestyles Pack"?

TL;DR: I'm perfectly understanding of the decline in quality of Epic's
offerings. It's reasonable and expected, and I'm happy to grab what
they give until they finally can the program.

;-P

* Unless somebody fed you the direct links to the free games on a
weekly basis ;-)

On Thu, 18 May 2023 09:34:25 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, rms
wrote:

>>Wait... we already got this game.
>
> If by chance you *didn't* get this game before, consider buying the $5
>director's cut upgrade
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding-directors-cut--upgrade
>as well, as it includes desirable engine features.
>

Can you elaborate on the engine improvements? I really don't want to
spend any money in the Epic Store. I'd generally rather drop it all on a
Steam purchase.

I mean, I read the description, but I don't understand what it has to do
with Cyberpunk 2077?

But worth it is worth it, if it's worth it, and they have it on sale.

So spill the tea, please.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Fri, 19 May 2023 10:06:27 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>On Thu, 18 May 2023 09:34:25 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, rms
>wrote:

>> If by chance you *didn't* get this game before, consider buying the $5
>>director's cut upgrade
>>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/death-stranding-directors-cut--upgrade
>>as well, as it includes desirable engine features.

>Can you elaborate on the engine improvements? I really don't want to
>spend any money in the Epic Store. I'd generally rather drop it all on a
>Steam purchase.

Judging by various reviews, it's technical additions seem to be the
addition ultra-widescreen support and some optimizations that make the
game run smoother and with less bugs. You get support for stuff like
Intel XeSS (which is Intel's equivelant to Nvidia DLSS) and similar
incidentals. All of which, honestly, should have been included in the
base game and not locked behind a paywall but... that is the modern
gaming industry, so whatchagonna do?

Other than that, it's a lot of bonus content: new maps, new missions,
new equipment (including a new vehicle), new abilities, new cosmetics.

None of it is essential and while some of the equipment is helpful,
some reviews felt the new equipment made the game easier than intended
(others, on the other hand, thought they were welcome quality-of-life
additions that should have been included from the start).

IMHO, you might as well grab the game free on Epic and use it to demo
the game. If it runs well for you, then you can probably don't need
the director's cut optimizations, and can hold off on purchasing the
upgrade until you play the base long enough to decide whether or not
the bonus content is something you'd be interested in. At that point
you can choose to buy it on Steam, Epic, or wherever.

>I mean, I read the description, but I don't understand what it has to do
>with Cyberpunk 2077?

Dontcha know, the 'big thing' with games these days is crossovers,
even if they don't make any sense and work contrary to the overall
theme and aesthetic. Anything to make a quick buck and attract fans of
game X to your own title. So, with "Death Stranding", you get various
pieces of new equipment and cosmetics lifted from "Cyberpunk 2077"
(e.g., a robot arm, sunglasses, holograms). Similarly, there are items
added that originated in "Half Life: Alyx" and "Portal" (a gravity
glove, Freeman's eyeglasses, a headcrab, etc.).

On Fri, 19 May 2023 11:42:34 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>>I mean, I read the description, but I don't understand what it has to do
>>with Cyberpunk 2077?
>
>Dontcha know, the 'big thing' with games these days is crossovers,
>even if they don't make any sense and work contrary to the overall
>theme and aesthetic. Anything to make a quick buck and attract fans of
>game X to your own title. So, with "Death Stranding", you get various
>pieces of new equipment and cosmetics lifted from "Cyberpunk 2077"
>(e.g., a robot arm, sunglasses, holograms). Similarly, there are items
>added that originated in "Half Life: Alyx" and "Portal" (a gravity
>glove, Freeman's eyeglasses, a headcrab, etc.).

What The Actual...

....

....

(*face palm*)

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 19 May 2023 02:17:03 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

> >Epic is getting weak with these free games these days. :(

> In fairness to Epic, they are probably not seeing much benefit to the
> whole program anymore.

> The entire freebies program was designed to promote the Epic Games
> platform when it was new. Initially, it was a quick and easy way to
> get people to sign up for a free account and download the client.
> On-boarding customers is always the hardest part, but once the client
> is installed, they are exponentially more likely to buy things. After
> all, if you wanted to play your free games, you'd need to install the
> client first. It worked gangbusters too; Epic Games user count surged
> in its first few months thanks to the program, in a way no other
> client - not GOG, not EA Origin, not Ubisoft UPlay - managed.

> Epic was also facing another obstacle: Steam. There was a lot of
> resistance amongst PC gamers - almost all of whom already had an
> account with Steam - to transferring over to Epic. After all, the vast
> bulk of their gaming library was already on Steam, so why buy games on
> some other store? But with all those free games, people could quickly
> amass a library on Epic that rivaled their Steam library in size. This
> made it much more likely that - if you were going to start up a game -
> you'd be doing in through Epic's client instead of Valve's. And once
> you had the Epic client open, that raised the possibility of more
> sales.

> The constant weekly drip of games was also great advertising for Epic;
> it kept their name in the news, and couldn't help but give them a more
> positive reputation (something they struggled with in their initial
> years thanks to a bungled reading of how gamers would react to
> exclusives). Plus, to get those freebies, you'd have to scroll through
> the store*... which, again, made it a sale of a non-free game more
> likely.

> So the free-games program is all to Epic's good... except by this time
> most people who WANT an Epic account already have one, and their
> libraries are probably full to overflowing by this point too. The free
> marketing is always welcome... but does it justify the cost of the
> give-away program justify? Furthermore, all those freebies are
> probably cannibalizing actual sales at this point; no need to spend
> $60USD on "Death Stranding" when you already got it for free.

> On the other hand, killing the program would kill a lot of that
> hard-earned good will... which is why Epic is probably keeping it
> going. But I'm not at all surprised that the pickings have become a
> lot less desirable, with a lot of cheaper Indie games, freebies, or
> repeats in the mix. Why spend a bundle on offering a hot (and
> expensive) game like "Red Dead Redemption 2" when you'll get exactly
> the same response from your customers - at least in terms of
> engagement - by offering the much cheaper "EA Sims 4 Darling
> Lifestyles Pack"?

> TL;DR: I'm perfectly understanding of the decline in quality of Epic's
> offerings. It's reasonable and expected, and I'm happy to grab what
> they give until they finally can the program.

> ;-P

> * Unless somebody fed you the direct links to the free games on a
> weekly basis ;-)

Oh gosh. I hope they don't kill their online services. All of our games!
:( Unless they want to move them to Steam like Bethesda did. Maybe Epic
should stop doing weekly Thursdays and just do once a month? I hope
their Christmas season's offers will still happen and be good even if
they're repeats like in the past.
--
"The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere." --1 Thessalonians 1:8. SW:TPM is 24! :O Come on, Lakers & Heat!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On Fri, 19 May 2023 19:26:40 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, 19 May 2023 02:17:03 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
>> >Epic is getting weak with these free games these days. :(
>
>> In fairness to Epic, they are probably not seeing much benefit to the
>> whole program anymore.
<snip>
>> TL;DR: I'm perfectly understanding of the decline in quality of Epic's
>> offerings. It's reasonable and expected, and I'm happy to grab what
>> they give until they finally can the program.

>Oh gosh. I hope they don't kill their online services. All of our games!
>:( Unless they want to move them to Steam like Bethesda did. Maybe Epic
>should stop doing weekly Thursdays and just do once a month? I hope
>their Christmas season's offers will still happen and be good even if
>they're repeats like in the past.

It's not likely that Epic is going to kill the Epic Games Store. They
went into knowing it was a long-term investment; reports (admittedly
from last year) said they didn't expect to see any profit from it
until 2027(!). Whatever you think of their tactics, the company has
made a great start of things, accumulating one of the larger customer
bases in record time, and getting their name out there to the general
populace. The attraction of all that 'free money' from running a store
is to great to ignore too.

Thanks to Fortnite, Unreal-engine licensing and their increasingly
lucrative forays into Hollywood SFX, Epic has a huge warchest to fund
their Epic Game Store that will fund the project until it reaches
profitability. Still, even if they have cash to burn, that doesn't
mean they HAVE to take a match to it, and I'm sure Epic is looking at
ways to reduce expenditures.

Will the freebies get the cut? I've no idea, but I wouldn't be
surprised. The biggest disadvantage would be the blowback from
entitled customers who have grown used to the freebies, but even this
can be massaged with some clever marketing. Personally, I think the
reason the offerings recently have been so poor is BECAUSE Epic is
trying to make people less excited about the program, so that when it
inevitably is stopped, it's not seen as big a loss.

On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 6:51:41 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Fri, 19 May 2023 19:26:40 +0000, a...@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
> >Spalls Hurgenson <spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Fri, 19 May 2023 02:17:03 +0000, a...@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
> >
> >> >Epic is getting weak with these free games these days. :(
> >
> >> In fairness to Epic, they are probably not seeing much benefit to the
> >> whole program anymore.
> <snip>
> >> TL;DR: I'm perfectly understanding of the decline in quality of Epic's
> >> offerings. It's reasonable and expected, and I'm happy to grab what
> >> they give until they finally can the program.
> >Oh gosh. I hope they don't kill their online services. All of our games!
> >:( Unless they want to move them to Steam like Bethesda did. Maybe Epic
> >should stop doing weekly Thursdays and just do once a month? I hope
> >their Christmas season's offers will still happen and be good even if
> >they're repeats like in the past.
> It's not likely that Epic is going to kill the Epic Games Store. They
> went into knowing it was a long-term investment; reports (admittedly
> from last year) said they didn't expect to see any profit from it
> until 2027(!). Whatever you think of their tactics, the company has
> made a great start of things

Except their client is still ass, finding anything even among all the free
games is near impossible. They still have trouble with their servers
when anything remotely decent is on their free giveaways too.

- Justisaur

On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 8:45:05 AM UTC-7, Zaghadka wrote:
> On Fri, 19 May 2023 11:42:34 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
> Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> >>I mean, I read the description, but I don't understand what it has to do
> >>with Cyberpunk 2077?
> >
> >Dontcha know, the 'big thing' with games these days is crossovers,
> >even if they don't make any sense and work contrary to the overall
> >theme and aesthetic. Anything to make a quick buck and attract fans of
> >game X to your own title. So, with "Death Stranding", you get various
> >pieces of new equipment and cosmetics lifted from "Cyberpunk 2077"
> >(e.g., a robot arm, sunglasses, holograms). Similarly, there are items
> >added that originated in "Half Life: Alyx" and "Portal" (a gravity
> >glove, Freeman's eyeglasses, a headcrab, etc.).
> What The Actual...
>
> ...
>
> ...
>
> (*face palm*)

Same Epic is making their money from with Fortnight, micro-transaction
cosmetics from every franchise possible. I agree with the *face palm*.

- Justisaur