On 26/01/2025 15:01, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Or "Matter", where the heroes are all (mostly) killed off and the
> story ends. "Excession" is similar too.
>
> I don't actually think it's the author running out of ideas; it's part
> of his style and messaging. But given the pacing and tone of the rest
> of his books, the sudden end leaving so many things unresolved (the
> latter of which, I think is the whole point) is incredibly jarring.
>
> It's as if Star Wars ended right when the X-wings start attacking the
> Death Star. Because of how the rest of the story goes, you know the
> heroes --armed with mystical powers and knowledge of the planet's
> secret weakness-- are likely to win... but you sort of want that
> resolution. And I think that's an apt comparison, because in many ways
> the Culture books are very space-opera sci-fi, and that genre
> typically gets its heroic end. Banks is obviously writing in a way
> that purposefully subverts those expectations, which is an interesting
> experiment but overall not to my liking.

I did recently read Look To Windward and although I enjoyed it I'm
probably not going to revisit the series anytime soon. It's a shame
really as I like my sci-fi and I've read several of his contemporary
fiction novels which he writes under Iain Banks instead of Iain M.
Banks. Not really hiding anything there.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> It's a new year, with the promise of many new games to come. Are we
> excited about any of them? Here's a partial list of titles expected to
> release this year; do any of these wet your whistle?
>
> -- Borderlands 4
> -- Grand Theft Auto 6

These two from the list. But it's more like hope for the best, fear the
worst. Or vainly hope for something decent, wait for the sale otherwise :)

Also possibly space opera game Exodus.

Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> writes:

> #2 Outer Worlds 2 - I suppose I need to get around to playing the
> original with DLCs first though.

Oh, they made a sequel? I kind of bounced off the original. Fallout
without the charm or whatever je ne sais quoi the Fallout games have
that keeps me playing those games.

> I don't even know if I can rouse myself to play PC games much
> anymore. I got hooked on reading sci-fi/fantasy again and have been
> blowing through books like crazy.

I had a bit of stint like that last year. Robert Galbraith detective
stories, finished the Expanse saga (books 5-9), then the first two books
of the Ninth House trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

Kinda trying to get some non-fiction reading done now for a change. Some
work related, some psychology, some defense related.

On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 21:03:51 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>I did recently read Look To Windward and although I enjoyed it I'm
>probably not going to revisit the series anytime soon. It's a shame
>really as I like my sci-fi and I've read several of his contemporary
>fiction novels which he writes under Iain Banks instead of Iain M.
>Banks. Not really hiding anything there.

Well, no worry; he's not writing anything under any name anymore.
Banks died in 2013.

The addition of the "M." in his name for his contemporary fiction
novels was largely at the insistence of his publisher, to avoid
confusion with another author. When he started writing sci-fi, they
suggested adding it in to make those novels distinct from his other
works. Or so the story goes.

On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 15:58:51 +0200, Anssi Saari
<anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

>Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> #2 Outer Worlds 2 - I suppose I need to get around to playing the
>> original with DLCs first though.
>
>Oh, they made a sequel? I kind of bounced off the original. Fallout
>without the charm or whatever je ne sais quoi the Fallout games have
>that keeps me playing those games.

Not yet. This thread is about games to be released in 2025 that have
caught our eye, after all, and 2025 has only just begun. Whether
"Outer Worlds 2" actually releases this year is, of course, uncertain
(release dates tend to change) but it's _scheduled_ to come out this
year, anyway.

On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 14:38:38 +0200, Anssi Saari
<anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> It's a new year, with the promise of many new games to come. Are we
>> excited about any of them? Here's a partial list of titles expected to
>> release this year; do any of these wet your whistle?
>>
>> -- Borderlands 4
>> -- Grand Theft Auto 6
>
>These two from the list. But it's more like hope for the best, fear the
>worst. Or vainly hope for something decent, wait for the sale otherwise :)
>
>Also possibly space opera game Exodus.

I hadn't heard of that one. (more info here for the curious:
https://www.exodusgame.com/)

[At least, I'm assuming its this one.]

Not knowing more than the very basics, I'll admit that it LOOKS
interesting, in terms of visuals and setting, but I can't help but
worry that it'll be another too-large open-world grind fest. There
isn't much info about the actual gameplay but it looks like it has
more similarities to something like "Destiny" than "Mass Effect".
Which is fine, if you like that, but definitely not something that
appeals to me.

On 1/26/2025 11:31 AM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:02:45 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com>

>> It'd be nice if more games had demos again so you didn't have to pay for
>> a month of Gamepass. Especially as there's a number of games that are
>> on Elite Gamepass (let us gouge you for more!) that I'm mildly
>> interested in, but not enough to pay more.
>
> For those of us into multiplayer games, I think the demo would really
> need to be in the form of a 30 day trial which is a bit different than
> the classic business model around releasing demos. And to some extent
> I'm not sure I would want them giving away 30 days for free, because
> it would probably just attract more hacker/cheater attempts.
>

Good point. I don't think you'd need a 30 day trial, a free weekend has
been enough for those when they do those.

--
-Justisaur

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