If you really want a fresh experience and don't wanna spend more time modding than actually playing, I cannot recommend more strongly Wabbajack. It's a fully automated modlist installer with a huge gallery of available lists.

Some of the available modlists are foundational, giving you just the essentials (Engine tweaks, HD assets, community bug fixes, etc.), and some are total conversions, turning the game into a fully-realized modern third-person action game, with controls, animations, and graphics as good as any modern game.

It does everything for you, from installing Mod Organizer 2 to creating game launch shortcuts, and everything in between. All you have to do is log into Nexus (and whatever other mod sites your modlist of choice might use). It's worth getting Nexus Premium at least temporarily to speed up the process.

Here is the Skyrim Special Edition modlist gallery.

Sounds like something an AI-loving Nazi would say!

Seriously, though, yes. This was exactly my first thought. There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about AI, but conflating it with Nazis is just blatant propaganda.

Tl;dr - Risks are scary. Must make line go up.

Oh, console/PC without a doubt. Mobile development, at least in my experience, is a constant struggle for relevance and a nonstop sense of urgency. Creativity is only allowed if it answers the question "how can we better trick players into giving us their money?"

Console/PC development, however, is focused on making a good product that will last. Nobody ever asks "how much money will this feature make us?" At worst, the question is "how much will this feature drive engagement?"

I've only worked for major companies, so my experiences don't reflect what it's like at indies.

The Steam Deck is the best thing to happen to Linux since... Linux. It's the first time average tech illiterate folks have gotten a taste of Linux on their own systems, and it's driven the development of compatibility tools (Proton) to a hitherto-unheard-of degree.

It convinced me to switch to Linux.

One extremely important factor that this article neglects to address: Valve is a private company - it's not publicly traded in Wall Street. That is the reason Steam has remained the best in the business; it's not beholden to shareholders' short-sighted meddling. It's also the reason Steam is effectively immune to enshittification.

indie

You keep using that word, AAA developer/publisher Square Enix. I don't think it means what you think it means.

Such nonsensical results. It really is a popularity contest.

At this point, I think it's clear that voting restrictions of some sort are necessary. My first thought: players can only vote in a category if they've got at least 5 hours of total gameplay distributed amongst at least 25% of the games in that category, with a minimum of 30 minutes of gameplay per game.

• With the exception of any article that's even slightly political.

If someone tells you they don't care about pronoun usage, believe them. I'm nonbinary and don't care what pronoun people use for me, because I identify as both male and female. Most people default to "he" for me because of my beard, but others use "they" because of my proclivity for wearing skirts, nail polish, and lipstick. Rarely I'll have someone use "she" (or I'll use it myself), but ultimately, I'm just a person who exists outside of the gender spectrum (or right in the middle), and pronouns are just a grammatical tool to save time, so I prefer that people use whatever comes most naturally to them.

A guy just wants to leave his home country and see the world, but his dad won't let him. Even when he gets past his dad, he still can't quite make it. It's in the blood.

Wow, that blog post is truly nauseating and infuriating to read, knowing the context.

Fuck Google. They're the Nestlé of tech.