Yes, it is technically not called a facebook account, but it is effectively the same thing in terms of privacy.

I disagree. The worst thing about the facebook account requirement was that it meant your VR profile was directly tied to a public social media account with your full name and possibly even more personal info. That’s much worse when it comes to privacy. It forced people to join an otherwise unrelated social network just to get their VR headset working. You could lose access to your VR library by getting banned on facebook. Without all that, it’s the exact same thing as the regular Oculus accounts that existed before the facebook requirement.

In any case, you can think whatever you want about meta accounts. I simply pointed out the fact that facebook accounts are no longer required. I didn’t say that meta accounts have good privacy or that you should get a Quest. I personally use a Valve Index. Downvoting an easily provable fact or calling it bullshit seems silly to me but eh. I guess reddit’s debate culture is slowly taking hold here as well.

Read my post again carefully. They used to require a facebook account, which they no longer do. A Meta account is just an email address and a password, not automatically connected to a social media profile.

Meta devices no longer need a facebook account FYI. That requirement was scrapped over 2 years ago.

I have a perfectly capable gaming PC but more often than not, I choose to play on the Steam Deck instead. I already sit at my desk for work most of the day, so it’s nice having a dedicated gaming device that I can take with me and sit in the garden or on my sofa. And of course I can take it with me when travelling.

That won’t do much. Each of the spam accounts I’ve seen is on a different instance.

It’s not shielded properly, so the surrounding electronics cause crackles, buzzing and similar noise. AFAIK this was the case for all OLED models on launch. Might be fixed for newer ones, I’m not sure. Apparently it can be fixed by opening the Deck and sticking on some eletric insulation tape.

I mostly use the built-in speakers. Sometimes my IEMs, using a USB-C dongle as my OLED’s headphone jack is pretty noisy (I know it’s easy to fix, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet).

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There was a lot of panic about “killer games” in the 90s-00s. Politicians and parents blamed video games for school shootings. Nowadays nobody cares about the topic at all, but the strict rules remain. Steam just kind of ignored the local laws so far, but now decided to actually adhere to them.

That depends… many games blocked in Germany on Steam also can’t be activated in Germany.

I have a Z flip and while it’s far from perfect, foldable flip phones are great and I’d choose them over a same-spec regular phone every day. Much more convenient to carry in my pocket compared to a slab and basically having an included tripod for photos is pretty nice as well.

Google Glass was not AR. They were “smart glasses” with severely limited functionality for an extremely high price. That’s mainly why they failed, not the privacy backlash. The majority of people don’t care about privacy, just look at what information people put on the Internet.

Technically yes, but they didn’t actually require it in the beginning and they even sold it in regions without PSN.

Steam refunds are easy and convenient. I wouldn’t personally bother doing that just to post a “protest review” either, but it’s definitely possible to do without losing any money.

No, that’s incorrect. None of the previous games required it, except for multiplayer. For example you could play the Ghost of Tsushima campaign just fine without an account. This one seems to be entirely singleplayer and yet requires an account for no reason.

Only thing I can think of are maybe the catching mechanics (which are straight out of Legends: Arceus). No idea if these would be considered unique enough to be patentable, guess we’ll find out.

Great bundle, but not worth it for me as I already own 5 of those games. I highly recommend Ragnarock and Pistol Whip. Spin Rhythm XD is great as well, but only really in 2D as the VR mode is very meh.

so… I take the multiplayer parts are going to be going away soon-ish, as offline mode is incoming and 1€ pricetag atm? Is this a last squeeze for the game?

Maybe, but it’s worth noting that Ubi gave away the Crew 1 for free back in 2016, 7 years before it shut down. So I wouldn’t necessarily take this sale as an indication of a shutdown coming soon (though it definitely could happen).

FWIW, they’ve announced they’ll add an offline mode to this game. Personally I liked this game less that The Crew 1 when I played it during a free weekend though.

I’ve been playing the new Guild Wars 2 expansion “Janthir Wilds”. Very enjoyable, with a nice setting and soundtrack.

I’ve bought Spin Rhythm XD on the recent Steam Sale. Quite a nice rhythm game, with excellent native Steam Deck support.

I’ve also been giving Deadlock a go. So far hasn’t really clicked for me though. Doesn’t help that I’m not a big MOBA player, the only one I’ve enjoyed so far is Heroes of the Storm.