From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


All the gaming news I think interesting to talk about!

#

* Hardware's getting more expensive, duh! https://www.digitalfoundry.net/news/2026/06/xbox-memo-predicts-over-5x-increase-in-storage-and-memory-costs-by-holiday-2027
A memo from the XBox division was released where they
indicate that one of the challenges facing that platform
(and, indeed, gaming is a whole) is that they expect RAM
and storage costs are probably going to go up by five
times by the end of 2027. We all know who's to blame for
that (and if you don't, it sounds a lot like Ay-Eye), but
these cost increases are definitely going to impact gaming
hard. Although hopefully SOME developers will take this
to mean that MAYBE they shouldn't be releasing games that
require 64GB RAM and 200GB storage just to run properly;
that maybe actually optimizing the games might get more
players able to run their games with a good experience (I
can dream, can't I?). But if you're waiting to buy some
upgrades for your PC, hoping the prices will come down
soon? Don't. Buy now. It's expensive sure, but it's only
going to get worse.


* Check those updates! https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/06/windows-and-linux-users-the-deadline-to-update-secure-boot-keys-is-near/
Okay, it's not entirely gaming related, but if you're a PC
gamer this is still important. You need to ensure that the
cryptographic certificates that protect SecureBoot are up to
date, because the original certificates from 2012 that released
with the technology are going to expire in seven days. And
after that, if you use SecureBoot, you won't be able to boot
your OS. Windows should update them automatically, but other
operating systems may require more work.


* My hat is safe, for now https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-european-commission-will-not-legislate-stop-killing-games-but-the-campaign-isnt-dead-yet-say-its-organisers
The EU has declined to legislate on behalf of Stop Killing
Games, indicating " it cannot propose a legal obligation
to keep video games playable after they stop being
provided commercially". This is disappointing, but not
entirely unexpected. SKG will keep fighting the good fight
(and they're making good inroads in the USA in California)
but so far, my promise to eat my hat if they succeed goes
unfulfilled. Which is good, because I was considering
actually buying a hat and had to put it off because I don't
like the taste of felt.


* AMD makes inroads https://www.digitalfoundry.net/news/2026/06/latest-steam-hardware-survey-shows-amd-radeon-at-new-19percent-high-9060-xt-and-9070-xt-chart-for-first-time
According to the latest Steam Hardware Survey, AMD Radeon
cards now own 19% of the market, a record high. This is
up from 16% at the beginning of 2025. I guess Nvidia's
high prices and basically abandoning the gaming market for
AI are starting to have some effect (all those melting
video cards probably don't help either). While I
personally still lean towards nvidia myself (my bad
experiences with ATI cards from twenty years ago still
sour me on the brand) I very much want to see AMD and
other competitors increase their market-share. It's
better for the industry as a hold, and nvidia's
attitude taking gamers for granted is really annoying.


* Stop being dicks, Blizzard https://www.gamesindustry.biz/blizzard-sues-private-world-of-warcraft-server-for-large-scale-egregious-and-ongoing-infringement-of-blizzards-intellectual-property
Acti-Micro-Blizz are suing private "World of Warcraft"
servers for 'large scale infringement' on their intellectual
property. Which, let's be clear, is absolutely what those
servers are doing but c'mon; the people playing on these
servers are your biggest fans. Suing them is not a good look.
Work with them instead. The private servers are providing them
with something you're not providing. Rather than using the
legal system to force them back into your arms, maybe
actually provide them a product they want to use? Especially
when you state the 'harm' they are causing is to your
bottom line, rather than to the reputation of the product.
It's just making you look greedy. You may be legally in the
right, but it's really hard to emphasize with you.


#

Are you dismayed by rising hardware costs? Are your secure boot
credentials up to date? Should Blizzard be nicer to its straying fans?
Will SKG ever catch a break? And are you one of the 17% using an ATI
card? Digest these bits of news and then let us know!



--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

Are you dismayed by rising hardware costs?

Annoyed but what can you do?

Are your secure boot credentials up to date?

I hope so, although no secure boot on my gaming rig but with my little
Samsung Galaxy Book I (apparently) needed to do something and it
eventually updated something and the "Windows Security" thing now says everything is updated for secure boot. The need to do this something was apparently thanks for turning off telemetry. Spent some time trying to
figure out if there's a BIOS update but after some searching, it seems
those should come from Windows Update and there hasn't been one since
2024.

As for gaming on that thing, I tried to run old Epic freebie "Lego
Builder's Journey" and some other games I thought were light on it but
got only a black screen. I guess it's really not up to do much for
gaming.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:15:26 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

Are you dismayed by rising hardware costs?

Annoyed but what can you do?

Are your secure boot credentials up to date?

I hope so, although no secure boot on my gaming rig but with my little >Samsung Galaxy Book I (apparently) needed to do something and it
eventually updated something and the "Windows Security" thing now says >everything is updated for secure boot. The need to do this something was >apparently thanks for turning off telemetry. Spent some time trying to
figure out if there's a BIOS update but after some searching, it seems
those should come from Windows Update and there hasn't been one since
2024.

As for gaming on that thing, I tried to run old Epic freebie "Lego
Builder's Journey" and some other games I thought were light on it but
got only a black screen. I guess it's really not up to do much for
gaming.

Another way to check (on Windows) is to look at Event Viewer. If you
see Event ID (in Windows Logs/System) 1808, then the credentials were
updated. If you don't see 1808, look for 1801, which is the ID for
"tried to update but something went wrong). Either way, you should get
a clear picture if you're updated or not.

Of course, half my PCs don't even support secure boot so the whole
thing is moot for those devices. Alas, I fear my 1999-era beige box
will never be truly Windows 11 compatible! ;-)

Note that the lack of updates doesn't necessarily mean you won't be
able to boot... so long as you aren't using anything that relies on
SecureBoot. If you've Bitlocker'd your boot drive, for example, then
you might have problems.

[Then again, if you rely on these protections, then Windows has
probably already updated automatically. If you don't, then its
probably because your hardware doesn't support it anyway ;-)]

But in many cases, you will still be able to boot. You will be missing
out on security patches that harden the boot process, however... and
there are numerous known exploits that take advantage of that
vulnerability in the wild.

But just update, to be sure.



--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

Another way to check (on Windows) is to look at Event Viewer. If you
see Event ID (in Windows Logs/System) 1808, then the credentials were updated. If you don't see 1808, look for 1801, which is the ID for
"tried to update but something went wrong). Either way, you should get
a clear picture if you're updated or not.

Looks like I have those 1808 messages on the little Samsung laptop. But
then I thought Windows Security is also clear when it starts to show
"Secure Boot is on and all required certificate updates have been
applied. No further certificate changes are needed."

Of course, half my PCs don't even support secure boot so the whole
thing is moot for those devices. Alas, I fear my 1999-era beige box
will never be truly Windows 11 compatible! ;-)

Only half?-) I have two BIOS booting comps so those can't secure
boot. Or looks like one of them has UEFI firmware now available. Bit of
a special case as that one is my router. I'm not sure if I dare to touch
that. BIOS updates alone are a little hair raising.

Anyways, everything else is secure boot off, usually because Linux and hibernation is not really a supported combo for secure boot. Or I
haven't checked recently, last time I did there was a fairly convoluted
setup I'll skip.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:10:32 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

Another way to check (on Windows) is to look at Event Viewer. If you
see Event ID (in Windows Logs/System) 1808, then the credentials were
updated. If you don't see 1808, look for 1801, which is the ID for
"tried to update but something went wrong). Either way, you should get
a clear picture if you're updated or not.

Looks like I have those 1808 messages on the little Samsung laptop. But
then I thought Windows Security is also clear when it starts to show
"Secure Boot is on and all required certificate updates have been
applied. No further certificate changes are needed."

Of course, half my PCs don't even support secure boot so the whole
thing is moot for those devices. Alas, I fear my 1999-era beige box
will never be truly Windows 11 compatible! ;-)

Only half?-) I have two BIOS booting comps so those can't secure
boot. Or looks like one of them has UEFI firmware now available. Bit of
a special case as that one is my router. I'm not sure if I dare to touch >that. BIOS updates alone are a little hair raising.

Maybe more? I didn't check my handful of Intel Macs, which technically
could boot Windows.. Honestly, I've never looked into how those boot.
I /think/ they use UEFI but... you know, Macintosh. Even when they're
just PCs, they still do stuff their own way.

Anyways, everything else is secure boot off, usually because Linux and >hibernation is not really a supported combo for secure boot. Or I
haven't checked recently, last time I did there was a fairly convoluted
setup I'll skip.

AFAIK it's really only a crucial issue if you've Bitlocker encrypted
your boot-drive. If you've done that and you have out-of-date
credentials, you've just locked yourself out of your PC (or at least,
you need to reformat your drive, with all the potential data-loss that
may imply). Otherwise, you're probably fine; you'll miss out on
whatever secure boot 'benefits' in the future but your computer will
still work.



--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:32:19 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> said this thing:

* My hat is safe, for now
The EU has declined to legislate on behalf of Stop Killing
Games, indicating " it cannot propose a legal obligation
to keep video games playable after they stop being
provided commercially".

I am sad to report that the California legislation has failed too.*
Well, mostly sad. I really didn't want to have to eat a hat.

I'm not surprised at this outcome. I am surprised --and pleasantly
so-- at how much success the SKG movement actually had. The California
bill failed by only three votes. /ESPECIALLY/ in California (where the
tech and media industries have a major foothold), I would have
expected total resistance to the idea. But SKG made a compelling
enough case that a number of Senators were willing to put their votes
on the line for it. All the more impressive in that the SKG movement
has a budget of virtually zero dollars. In a country where money is a
major part of politics, getting anywhere without it is a major
achievement.

Will they ever succeed? I hope so. The recent Sony fiasco (where they
ripped purchased movies out of users accounts because of licensing
issues) just shows how important it is that we establish legal rights
for digital purchases. The entire idea of 'you're not buying, you're
only licensing digital media' is being increasingly abused by
publishers, forcing people to buy and re-buy media they already own.
And I suspect it's only going to get worse in future.

Nonetheless, my hat (and tummy) are currently safe. But just to be
sure, I hereby retract my offer of chapeau-consumption should they be successful at anytime in the future. ;-)





* news here https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/we-were-only-three-votes-away-stop-killing-games-backed-california-bill-to-keep-online-games-playable-fails-to-win-over-senate-committee
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 6/30/2026 7:47 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:32:19 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> said this thing:

* My hat is safe, for now
The EU has declined to legislate on behalf of Stop Killing
Games, indicating " it cannot propose a legal obligation
to keep video games playable after they stop being
provided commercially".

I am sad to report that the California legislation has failed too.*
Well, mostly sad. I really didn't want to have to eat a hat.

I'm not surprised at this outcome. I am surprised --and pleasantly
so-- at how much success the SKG movement actually had. The California
bill failed by only three votes. /ESPECIALLY/ in California (where the
tech and media industries have a major foothold), I would have
expected total resistance to the idea.

California is a very liberal state politically. Coming that close does
not surprise me at all.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:18:15 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 6/30/2026 7:47 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:32:19 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> said this thing:

* My hat is safe, for now
The EU has declined to legislate on behalf of Stop Killing
Games, indicating " it cannot propose a legal obligation
to keep video games playable after they stop being
provided commercially".

I am sad to report that the California legislation has failed too.*
Well, mostly sad. I really didn't want to have to eat a hat.

I'm not surprised at this outcome. I am surprised --and pleasantly
so-- at how much success the SKG movement actually had. The California
bill failed by only three votes. /ESPECIALLY/ in California (where the
tech and media industries have a major foothold), I would have
expected total resistance to the idea.

California is a very liberal state politically. Coming that close does
not surprise me at all.

A 'fun' aside from the commitee meeting is that SKG's opponents, the Entertainment Software Association (a lobbying group for US video game publishers) argued that private servers are 'piracy'. Even if the
software for running private servers are provided by the publishers
themselves and you have full license to use them. It's piracy, they
say.

Pure cluelessness on their part? Or just an open admission of the
industry's secret goal that running any software on any hardware
except their own should be made illegal? Because that's pretty much
how the industry would like it. If you're not making them money while
playing games you paid for, then you shouldn't be allowed to do it.

Just look at how EA --upset that less than 5% of players make up close
to 90% of live-service income-- want to start shoving adverts into
their games. How dare these other 95% leech off of EA's hard work!





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