Maybe too simplistic for what you’re looking for, but Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager allows you to do some of it.

It’s based on an older title IIRC, and it’s a game more tuned towards education with relatively few graphical elements. You won’t be flying missions directly, nor do you have sandbox capabilities, but for mission planning / R and D / mission control, there is some fun to be had.

I go back to it occasionally.

deleted by creator

Time for a new supervisor.

Microsoft will have plenty more missteps as they continue to fall from relevance.

2026: “My LLM is female and conscious.”

2016: “My body pillow is female and prefers to be called Waifuchan”

I looked around me and saw blocks, floating in the sky. A turtle was at my feet, staring blankly as it approached without hesitation. Mushrooms were walking around like people; I had to jump over them or I knew I would come to harm. I found I could flatten them if I landed on top in the right spot. I knew there was a princess I was trying to save, but she was in another castle.

Pay up, Nintendo!

I leave my Steam update settings to only update on Play. This allows me to pretty easily review what is being patched in to any particular game and choose if/when to apply it (true that choosing not to apply means no longer using the Steam client for that game).

It’s also trivial on Linux to keep the Proton prefixes and game installs backed up automatically. This has the added benefit of making all game installs portable.

Unfortunately GOG still has no official Linux client, though there are workarounds. The “apocalyptic scenario” would ultimately kill either company, so you’re right to think it is moot.

Neither can Steam. Then the difference is down to those games on Steam which are not DRM-free.

Oh, I absolutely would – I’m just making a point based on a previous statement earlier in the thread:

Considering games with no DRM can have it added retroactively, that Steam pushes updates I may not want with no option to decline

If the practice is that you need local backups on purchase anyway, then I fail to see the difference between non-DRM games on Steam and those on GOG. It feels like a different goalpost is being used depending on what service is being discussed.

Does it? What recourse do you have if they change their policy and you don’t have local backups of your games?

Maybe. If you trust them, though now… I don’t.

Depends on the game. As I mentioned in another thread, there are many games on Steam which are DRM-free and do not require the client. GOG’s advertising suggests they are the only method for getting such games, but as always, the devil is in the details.

Mostly it comes down to how much you feel about one issue over the other, but I don’t see how they can be unrelated if there’s a monetary transaction involved.

Because supporting GOG now means supporting unfettered AI usage. If you disagree with such policies, the only way to voice that discontent is with your wallet.

I’m guessing by your wording that you’re aching to bash Steam, so I’ll preface this with: no corporation is ever going to get this 100% right; the world is drawn in greys, and only a Sith deals in absolutes.

“Better” is not very useful without context. In the context of AI usage, Steam is better. In the context of GOG, their main claim about game preservation is “no DRM”, but there is an important point often missed: lots of games on Steam also do not have DRM.

I have no issues “buying” games on Steam which have no DRM. For others, I factor the DRM into the price I’m willing to pay for access. These tend to be larger titles anyway, so I’m not terribly worried about it long term.

Long term game preservation? More about unofficial channels than relying on yet another corporation. GOG wasn’t changing that before, and they definitely aren’t now.

Something tells me the “double down” is to distract from that fallout

I care. Enough to abandon my qualms about AI usage? Not really, it just means GOG is not the answer.

Absoutely. It takes like 5 seconds to get a real photo.

But I have considerable downvotes on my original comment. Maybe bots. Maybe AI bros who need to see the light and that their tech is based on the death of IP law.

Exactly, makes no sense to me

Really cool article. Except this bit:

The image of Saturn was generated with ChatGPT.

Fucking why? Could have saved time and energy with traditional search. Leave the slop out, please.

A bigger issue is that the Steam Deck touchpads don’t work without Steam being open

This is interesting, because the touchpads on the Steam Controller do work without Steam being open, at least on Linux, though without cursor acceleration. I wonder why the touchpads on the Deck were handled differently.