It was a day like any other, and then suddenly... FREE GAMES!
(dramatic sting music!!!!)

This week on Epic Game Store:

Drone Racing League Simulator
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-drone-racing-league-simulator

This game is exactly what it says on the tin. Fly a drone - one of
those small-propellered camera drones that have made going to the park
so annoying - around a variety of environments from stadiums to
shopping malls to city streets. Apparently it has a fairly steep
learning curve, being more simulator than game, but that's not
necessarily a mark against it. Its unimpressive visuals might be; it's
always-on connection requirements certainly are (it does have a
limited offline mode, though). I dunno; even for a free game it's not
really jumping out at me as a must-grab. But maybe others will see the
appeal.

Runbow
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/runbow-fc9fa4

A side-view racing/platformer with /very/ Indie graphics. Mostly
focused on the only competitive aspects, but there is apparently a
single-player mode too. But between its gameplay, its multiplayer
focus and its visuals, none of it looks like something I would be
interested in. Yeah, I'll pass on this one too.

So, not the most exciting freebies but - with a few exceptions -
that's been the rule for Epic's offerings these years. Still, the
mouths of gift horses, and all that. Seven days to claim, as usual.

On Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:50:03 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>It was a day like any other, and then suddenly... FREE GAMES!
>(dramatic sting music!!!!)
>
>This week on Epic Game Store:
>
>Drone Racing League Simulator
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-drone-racing-league-simulator
>
>This game is exactly what it says on the tin. Fly a drone - one of
>those small-propellered camera drones that have made going to the park
>so annoying - around a variety of environments from stadiums to
>shopping malls to city streets. Apparently it has a fairly steep
>learning curve, being more simulator than game, but that's not
>necessarily a mark against it. Its unimpressive visuals might be; it's
>always-on connection requirements certainly are (it does have a
>limited offline mode, though). I dunno; even for a free game it's not
>really jumping out at me as a must-grab. But maybe others will see the
>appeal.
>
>
>
>Runbow
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/runbow-fc9fa4
>
>A side-view racing/platformer with /very/ Indie graphics. Mostly
>focused on the only competitive aspects, but there is apparently a
>single-player mode too. But between its gameplay, its multiplayer
>focus and its visuals, none of it looks like something I would be
>interested in. Yeah, I'll pass on this one too.
>
>
>So, not the most exciting freebies but - with a few exceptions -
>that's been the rule for Epic's offerings these years. Still, the
>mouths of gift horses, and all that. Seven days to claim, as usual.
>
Yeah. It's really hard to make me pass on "free," given my pack-rat, buy
games I'll probably never play nature.

Pass. My Epic and Amazon Gaming accounts are full of enough garbage. It
just makes it harder to find the games I *want* to play.

--
Zag

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

Thanks. I took them even though I doubt I will play them.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> It was a day like any other, and then suddenly... FREE GAMES!
> (dramatic sting music!!!!)

> This week on Epic Game Store:

> Drone Racing League Simulator
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-drone-racing-league-simulator

> This game is exactly what it says on the tin. Fly a drone - one of
> those small-propellered camera drones that have made going to the park
> so annoying - around a variety of environments from stadiums to
> shopping malls to city streets. Apparently it has a fairly steep
> learning curve, being more simulator than game, but that's not
> necessarily a mark against it. Its unimpressive visuals might be; it's
> always-on connection requirements certainly are (it does have a
> limited offline mode, though). I dunno; even for a free game it's not
> really jumping out at me as a must-grab. But maybe others will see the
> appeal.

> Runbow
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/runbow-fc9fa4

> A side-view racing/platformer with /very/ Indie graphics. Mostly
> focused on the only competitive aspects, but there is apparently a
> single-player mode too. But between its gameplay, its multiplayer
> focus and its visuals, none of it looks like something I would be
> interested in. Yeah, I'll pass on this one too.

> So, not the most exciting freebies but - with a few exceptions -
> that's been the rule for Epic's offerings these years. Still, the
> mouths of gift horses, and all that. Seven days to claim, as usual.

--
Hump day was slammier than usual. Allergies remained during and after Mon's updated/bivalent (Moderna) COVID19 booster's side effects (fever up to 102F overnight, aches, ringing head, dizziness, lightheaded, unable to sleep, hot, sweating, etc.). Dang new bumps. :(
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 Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 10:10:07 AM UTC-7, Zaghadka wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:50:03 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
> Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> >It was a day like any other, and then suddenly... FREE GAMES!
> >(dramatic sting music!!!!)
> >
> >This week on Epic Game Store:
> >
> >Drone Racing League Simulator
> >https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-drone-racing-league-simulator
> >
> >This game is exactly what it says on the tin. Fly a drone - one of
> >those small-propellered camera drones that have made going to the park
> >so annoying - around a variety of environments from stadiums to
> >shopping malls to city streets. Apparently it has a fairly steep
> >learning curve, being more simulator than game, but that's not
> >necessarily a mark against it. Its unimpressive visuals might be; it's
> >always-on connection requirements certainly are (it does have a
> >limited offline mode, though). I dunno; even for a free game it's not
> >really jumping out at me as a must-grab. But maybe others will see the
> >appeal.
> >
> >
> >
> >Runbow
> >https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/runbow-fc9fa4
> >
> >A side-view racing/platformer with /very/ Indie graphics. Mostly
> >focused on the only competitive aspects, but there is apparently a
> >single-player mode too. But between its gameplay, its multiplayer
> >focus and its visuals, none of it looks like something I would be
> >interested in. Yeah, I'll pass on this one too.
> >
> >
> >So, not the most exciting freebies but - with a few exceptions -
> >that's been the rule for Epic's offerings these years. Still, the
> >mouths of gift horses, and all that. Seven days to claim, as usual.
> >
> Yeah. It's really hard to make me pass on "free," given my pack-rat, buy
> games I'll probably never play nature.
>
> Pass. My Epic and Amazon Gaming accounts are full of enough garbage. It
> just makes it harder to find the games I *want* to play.

I'm starting to get to that point too, I may start getting picky about what
free games I'll bother to fire up the Epic nonsense to get.

- Justisaur

On 30/09/2022 23:04, Justisaur wrote:
>> Pass. My Epic and Amazon Gaming accounts are full of enough garbage. It
>> just makes it harder to find the games I *want* to play.
>
> I'm starting to get to that point too, I may start getting picky about what
> free games I'll bother to fire up the Epic nonsense to get.
>

I've only got Amazon but I just pick up the games I think I may like as
what's the point of installing a game you'll never play and never
actually own.

On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 10:33:35 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>I've only got Amazon but I just pick up the games I think I may like as
>what's the point of installing a game you'll never play and never
>actually own.

Because the ladies dig guys with huge.... video game libraries? ;-)

Personally, I often grab games because I never know when I might give
a game a second chance. There are times I've seen a game, thought to
myself "What the @%!$ is this? I'm never going to play this piece of
$#*%!!!" only to be later convinced - by good reviews, or a friend, or
just giving the game another look-over - that maybe it is worth my
time after all. And I'd much rather pay $0 than $10. So it's handy to
have that big library.

(Does this sort of re-evaluation happen a lot? Well... no. But it's
happened enough times that I'm glad of my general policy of
non-exclusivity. I mean, it's not like adding these free games really
costs me anything. Epic/Steam/GOG/Amazon have already hoovered up all
my personal information).

Then again, this is coming from a person who scoops up old monitors
and computers from the curb, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)

On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 13:02:38 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>Personally, I often grab games because I never know when I might give
>a game a second chance. There are times I've seen a game, thought to
>myself "What the @%!$ is this? I'm never going to play this piece of
>$#*%!!!" only to be later convinced - by good reviews, or a friend, or
>just giving the game another look-over - that maybe it is worth my
>time after all. And I'd much rather pay $0 than $10. So it's handy to
>have that big library.

I take everything on offer for free because I will maybe one day give
a game a try that I would never purchase for any amount of money and
end up really liking it. I like having a huge list of games to pick
from in order to do this. Good reviews on Steam for said game will
just encourage me further to try it out.

I already have a ridiculous backlog of unplayed games that will never
dwindle to anything close to zero so I do not concern myself with that
at all.

Bring on the free games.

On 10/1/2022 10:02 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 10:33:35 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>> I've only got Amazon but I just pick up the games I think I may like as
>> what's the point of installing a game you'll never play and never
>> actually own.
>
> Because the ladies dig guys with huge.... video game libraries? ;-)
>
Only so they can permanently borrow games from it.

> Personally, I often grab games because I never know when I might give
> a game a second chance. There are times I've seen a game, thought to
> myself "What the @%!$ is this? I'm never going to play this piece of
> $#*%!!!" only to be later convinced - by good reviews, or a friend, or
> just giving the game another look-over - that maybe it is worth my
> time after all. And I'd much rather pay $0 than $10. So it's handy to
> have that big library.
>
> (Does this sort of re-evaluation happen a lot? Well... no. But it's
> happened enough times that I'm glad of my general policy of
> non-exclusivity. I mean, it's not like adding these free games really
> costs me anything. Epic/Steam/GOG/Amazon have already hoovered up all
> my personal information).
>
> Then again, this is coming from a person who scoops up old monitors
> and computers from the curb, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)
>
The price of curbside pickups?

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 13:43:03 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>On 10/1/2022 10:02 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>> Then again, this is coming from a person who scoops up old monitors
>> and computers from the curb, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)

>The price of curbside pickups?

Well, so far this year the price has been about $5 USD for all-purpose
cleaner (to scrub off the grime), and maybe $10 USD to fill up the car
to take the stuff I don't keep to the e-waste depot. Considering that
got me several monitors and computers out of the deal, I think I came
out ahead. ;-)

(Well, okay, it also cost me some of my time... but since I like
tinkering with hardware that's actually added benefit, not cost. And
it did give me some frustration... not from trying to get the stuff to
work but because I /really/ wanted to keep that 52" TV that
unexpectedly died. Grrrrr! How dare the stuff people dump on the curb
not be in 100% working order?!?)

On 01/10/2022 18:02, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 10:33:35 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>> I've only got Amazon but I just pick up the games I think I may like as
>> what's the point of installing a game you'll never play and never
>> actually own.
>
> Because the ladies dig guys with huge.... video game libraries? ;-)
>
> Personally, I often grab games because I never know when I might give
> a game a second chance. There are times I've seen a game, thought to
> myself "What the @%!$ is this? I'm never going to play this piece of
> $#*%!!!" only to be later convinced - by good reviews, or a friend, or
> just giving the game another look-over - that maybe it is worth my
> time after all. And I'd much rather pay $0 than $10. So it's handy to
> have that big library.
>
> (Does this sort of re-evaluation happen a lot? Well... no. But it's
> happened enough times that I'm glad of my general policy of
> non-exclusivity. I mean, it's not like adding these free games really
> costs me anything. Epic/Steam/GOG/Amazon have already hoovered up all
> my personal information).
>
> Then again, this is coming from a person who scoops up old monitors
> and computers from the curb, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)
>

My view is that the free games I download are just ones I'll browse
through at some point to see if I fancy playing them. That's a lot
easier to manage if they are all games there's ok probability I will
like them.

As a complete aside, one of the things that I find slightly annoying
about modern life is that we have too much choice. I'm sure when I was
younger the selection of tootpaste was limited to about three brands all
which were pretty much the same. Now there's more brands and then each
one of those has a selection of different ones. Don't get me started on
toilet paper or even crisps (that's chips to the non-UK)!

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
>I take everything on offer for free because I will maybe one day give
>a game a try that I would never purchase for any amount of money and
>end up really liking it. I like having a huge list of games to pick
>from in order to do this. Good reviews on Steam for said game will
>just encourage me further to try it out.

Yah, I take every free game, at least for the any service I already have,
regardless of whether I think I'll actually play it or not. Even games
in genres I don't like and likely will never change my mind about
(eg. platformers) I might still be glad it's in my collection at some
point. Maybe I'll want to run it sometime to help someone troubleshoot
a problem with the game. Or just look at the pretty graphics or to hear
some music track. Even a game I already have on another platform might
be useful to have on a second platform as well.

It doesn't really cost me anything add a free game to my Epic account or
whatever, so I'm happy to add games just on the tiniest chance I might
actually want to install it one day.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

On Sun, 2 Oct 2022 17:32:53 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

>Yah, I take every free game, at least for the any service I already have,
>regardless of whether I think I'll actually play it or not. Even games
>in genres I don't like and likely will never change my mind about
>(eg. platformers) I might still be glad it's in my collection at some
>point. Maybe I'll want to run it sometime to help someone troubleshoot
>a problem with the game. Or just look at the pretty graphics or to hear
>some music track. Even a game I already have on another platform might
>be useful to have on a second platform as well.

That is a really good point you brought up about music tracks. A lot
of my music collection is made up of soundtracks from video games. I
have tracks from games I did not like but I still listen to the music
from those games.

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> writes:

> That is a really good point you brought up about music tracks. A lot
> of my music collection is made up of soundtracks from video games. I
> have tracks from games I did not like but I still listen to the music
> from those games.

Interesting. I'm not much into game music, maybe back with Star Control
2 and Crusader: No Remorse which both featured tracker style music which
I liked at the time.

More recently, I have to say I have enjoyed licensed music in games
quite a lot. Borderlands especially since the original and the sequel
had licensed a small bunch of songs I liked. Other games too but nothing
comes to mind right now. Well, I did listen to the Fallout: NV
soundtrack quite a lot but those were all licensed I think.

On Mon, 03 Oct 2022 18:19:31 +0300, Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> wrote:

>Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> writes:
>
>> That is a really good point you brought up about music tracks. A lot
>> of my music collection is made up of soundtracks from video games. I
>> have tracks from games I did not like but I still listen to the music
>> from those games.
>
>Interesting. I'm not much into game music, maybe back with Star Control
>2 and Crusader: No Remorse which both featured tracker style music which
>I liked at the time.

>More recently, I have to say I have enjoyed licensed music in games
>quite a lot. Borderlands especially since the original and the sequel
>had licensed a small bunch of songs I liked. Other games too but nothing
>comes to mind right now. Well, I did listen to the Fallout: NV
>soundtrack quite a lot but those were all licensed I think.

Oh, those classic "Crusader" MOD files; some awesome tunes. There was
the briefest of eras when tracker music was used in PC games (it had a
longer and richer history on Amiga, of course). I remember how excited
I got when I realized Unreal was using tracker files of some sort. But
as disk-space got cheaper, everything switched to digitized streams
and tracker files became a forgotten art to most gamers.

(Although apparently "Ion Fury", Apogee's 2019 retro-FPS, used them)

My game music collection has grown over the years. The aforementioned
"Crusader 1 & 2" are in there, of course ("Unreal" too. "Unreal 2",
too! ;-). "Deus Ex" - also tracker music - found itself a place as
well. The Mechwarrior games all had their CD-Audio ripped to disk. But
there are other, less well-known games that get an unusual amount of
play: the forgotten 1996 mech-shooter, "Amok" (with its soundtrack by
Jesper Kyd"; the melancholy dirges of "Emperor of the Fading Suns"
from '97, the eclectic tunes of "M-25 Racer", and the surprisingly
good music of "Wheel of Time" (also tracker-tunes). And - me being me
- every damn song from the Ultima games.

(also, also, Omikron, Halo, System Shock 2, Loom, Hitman, Novastorm,
Planescape Torment, Grim Fandango, Mafia, FX Fighter, Wing Commander,
Full Throttle, Skyrim, Need for Speed 3, Tyrian 2000, Vietcong,
Homeworld, Interstate 76, Civilization 4, Doom, Advent Rising and
-oddly enough- Dark Sun Online. And that's still just scratching the
surface, because disk space is cheap and I've been doing this a long
time ;-).

On Mon, 03 Oct 2022 18:19:31 +0300, Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> wrote:

>Interesting. I'm not much into game music, maybe back with Star Control
>2 and Crusader: No Remorse which both featured tracker style music which
>I liked at the time.

I have a few songs in my collection from Star Control 2.

>More recently, I have to say I have enjoyed licensed music in games
>quite a lot. Borderlands especially since the original and the sequel
>had licensed a small bunch of songs I liked.

Same here. I have several songs from both Borderlands 1 and 2 in my
collection as well. Both the licensed theme songs from the games but
also just instrumental tracks.

On Sun, 2 Oct 2022 11:30:00 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>As a complete aside, one of the things that I find slightly annoying
>about modern life is that we have too much choice. I'm sure when I was
>younger the selection of tootpaste was limited to about three brands all
>which were pretty much the same. Now there's more brands and then each
>one of those has a selection of different ones. Don't get me started on
>toilet paper or even crisps (that's chips to the non-UK)!

It's a recognized problem; there's something called a "paralysis of
choice", where - given too many options - people freeze up when asked
to decide. To some degree it's easier - and arguably healthier - when
you don't have as many choices because you can unconsciously do the
cost-benefit analysis. Too many options and you can freeze up.

And it's certainly something I have come across myself with regards to
computer gaming. Given that I have a very large (if we're being
charitable, obscenely large if we're not ;-) collection of games,
choosing what I am going to play next can be a daunting task. I can
end up scrolling through the list of titles for hours trying to find
'the perfect game', because for every title I find that looks
interesting, I am sure there is something that better suits my mood if
I just keep searching. So instead of settling, I keep scrolling and
scrolling...

(Often, if my end-of-month playlist contains "Eurotruck/American Truck
Simulator", it's a sign that I wasn't able to overcome that
paralysis).

So, from that regard, I completely understand the desire to keep one's
library small and manageable. It's just a bit late for me, so - at
least in my case - I might as well keep adding more. And a lot of
times, once I do make a choice, it's for a unique and random game that
I might never have played if I hadn't been so greedy as to grab it
when it was offered as a freebie.

So, there are benefits either way. ;-)

(And, anyway, there are ways of dealing with 'paralysis of choice,
usually involving a purposeful limitation of what options you make
available to yourself. In case of video games, don't look at the full
library, but only search through your most recent acquisitions, or
only at first-person shooters, or only from a curated list - perhaps a
selection of games recommended in a monthly playlist by stodgy old
Usenetters? ;-)