How about “how many pedestrians proportionally have been killed by robocars”? The answer is far far far fewer than cars driven by people and you know that.  So no, you don’t get a discount, because it happens so very rarely.

I mean I guess? It’s just kind of a weird take because you can always move the goal post back or forward. Set the official release date on September 1st instead of the 6th, and suddenly “early release” is August 25th or something?

How bout no.

And that’s fine I have no problem if someone wants to pay more to be first and get some extra stuff, it’s not like being mad about someone else getting to play first does anything. Frankly I rarely buy day one on most games, and frankly I rarely buy games all that often anymore, so many games these days are released br…

They aren’t holding games hostage all they are doing is feeding games who will happily cough up extra just to be first, it’s not all that different than a car dealer charging a mark up for a hot model, they do it because morons will pay for the privilege to be first. Yes it’s stupid, but if people are willing to shell…

Honestly out of all the weird monetisation practices in the gaming industry, this one I am more okay with. Although game dependant. In Starfield it also includes some still to be released DLC, so you’re essentially actually paying for that and getting early access as a perk. For Diablo IV that included Season 1 and…

It’s not sustainable for the devs and thus not recommendable, but waiting until a game has been out for a while and gotten its bugs fixed and maybe even its first price cut has been a pretty good way to enjoy quality PC gaming for me. So unless you need to be at the forefront, I’d say just wait a few months (if all…

The solution is simple: marry. Get heavily involved in the child-making, house-building activities. That will put your gaming on three to five years hiatus. When you come out, you will have plenty of games that: are fully patched and DLCed, can be bought at 25% of their original price at sales (which happen about…

Agreed. I’m glad I’m not the sort to “need” to play games on release. I’m happy to give them a few months/years. I get to play less buggy games, for significantly cheaper - I’m so behind on games anymore anyway - I can’t imagine doing it any other way. 

To repeat what most seem to be saying: Meh.

Yeah release dates are arbitrary anyway. If the game launched on September 6th and there was no early access, nobody would be saying “hey why didn’t this come out 5 days sooner?” The attitude of “I’m not getting to play it until 5 days after everyone else!!!” feels like it’s much more likely to just make you unhappy…

Honestly, I don’t mind this kind of upsale. If you want to waste $10 or more to play a few days early, that’s fine for you but I have no problem waiting a bit and not getting any worse of an experience. If the worst consequence is seeing all the articles about playing it before it releases so be it, I’ll dry my tears…

Fucking THIS. Yes, it’s a manufactured problem, but an utterly inconsequential one unless you’re, say, reviewing the game for your job as a critic.

Yeah I really don't care if someone paid extra and got the game a week early. Bully for them. I waited a week and got it "free" or at least for no more than I'm paying for game pass. It's all horse armour as far as I'm concerned.

Far be it from me to let a corporation off the hook for a scummy business practice, it’s definitely shitty of them to squeeze another $30 for a problem they literally just invented and try to reverse-psychology us into thinking it’s a bonus.

I use my Quest 2 all the time. But surely you weren’t insinuating that Meta spent 40b solely on avatars, legs for said avatars, or their shitty Horizon Worlds app, not when the Quest gets constant improvements to things that actually matter, like hand tracking, AirLink to use the headset as a wireless PCVR headset, or…

As a long time cyclist (I used to race in wool shorts and jerseys in the 1970s), I laugh at the poseurs who buy Pelotons or go to spin classes at a gym. Get a real bike and ride it in the great outdoors. Sur la Plague.

So we’re discounting their privacy policy and eula?

The company’s new “ChatGPT Pleasure Companion’’ syncs up to the company’s remote sex toy and can narrate customized spicy stories.

As a movie fan, the audio totally bugs me as an artistic choice. As someone who’s hearing sucks, it’s super annoying.