Dark Arc

I get Tim’s reasoning though with Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation. As it stands, these are not general purposes operating systems. You don’t “install apps” on them, you play games, maybe stream a show, and maybe use a web browser (but realistically few people are doing the latter two with these devices). They’re also typically much more subsidized because Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft can recoup a lot of the hardware cost in game sales (where as Apple and Google increasingly make the most money off of the hardware sales).

Compare that to the Apple and Google case; like imagine if Microsoft and Apple had done this with PCs in the 90s. The world would look significantly different because you couldn’t install various things on Macs. Like as an example, Firefox and Chrome arguably wouldn’t exist (or would be a pain to install), because your system would ship with Safari and Internet Explorer (and the other browsers would just “not be allowed”).

This is hugely anti-competitive in a way that’s far more offensive than Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft’s behavior on their gaming consoles. These are not general purposes devices (maybe they should be, but they’re not). Basically nobody is doing their taxes on a Switch or PlayStation … but plenty of people use iOS/Android devices as their only computers (they do their taxes there, pay their bills online via these devices, etc).

Tim is taking a moral stand … and I know he gets a lot of crap, but he’s not wrong to fight Apple and Google about mobile app stores.

Apple and Google created entire operating systems where the flow of almost all transactions flows through them.

Some people don’t even have computers anymore, the just use these mobile platforms.

It’s hugely anticompetitive (especially in the Apple case where you can’t even install – without heroics) non-Apple approved apps.

I disagree with Tim on Linux.

I also disagree with his approach to taking on Steam dominance … mostly because of the Linux bit but also because I don’t like exclusivity deals. That said, people may eventually appreciate what Tim has done here should Steam turn sour. It is kind of scary that so much depends on the good will of the aging Gabe.

I don’t disagree with Tim RE Apple and Google’s app stores.

Well like, basically every shooter currently uses a hitbox to do the hitscan and that never matches the model 1:1. The hitboxes are typically far less detailed and the weak points are just a different part of the hitbox that is similarly less detailed.

I think what they’re doing is using the RT specialized hardware to evaluate the bullet path (just like a ray of light from a point) more cheaply than can be traditionally done on the GPU (effectively what Nvidia enabled when they introduced hardware designed for ray tracing).

If I’m guessing correctly, it’s not so much that they’re disregarding the mesh but they’re disregarding hitbox design. Like, the hit damage is likely based on the mesh and the actual rendered model vs the simplified hitbox … so there’s no “you technically shot past their ear, but it’s close enough so we’re going to call it a headshot” sort of stuff.

If you’re doing a simulated shotgun blast that could also be a hundred pellets being simulated through the barrel heading towards the target as well. Then add in more enemies that shoot things and a few new gun designs and… maybe it starts to make sense.

https://www.pcguide.com/news/doom-the-dark-ages-promises-accurate-hit-detection-with-help-from-cutting-edge-ray-tracing-implementation/

Honestly, I’m not interested in debating it’s validity especially with the exact details of what they’ve done still under wraps … I have no idea if they are really on to something or not and the details are scarce, but I did find the article I read.

It’s a different thing. This is pixel perfect accuracy for the entire projectile. There aren’t hotboxes as I understand it, it’s literally what the model is on the screen.

They used ray tracing for the hit registration so that’s presumably why.

It’s a really interesting idea … presumably that means there are some really flashy guns and there is a very intricate damage system that runs at least partially on the GPU.

Yeah, eternal was for me one of the best video games ever

Everyone I know who actually pays to play Jagex games acts like it’s meth or heroin…

It’s pretty far from that, but it is absolutely an abusive relationship and has been for some time.

While technically true, bridge is ultimately an IMAP server you run yourself … and they do have good reasons for this design.