I got an e-ink e-reader in the pocketable form factor of a phone (Bigme Hibreak Color). Instead of doomscrolling social media, I read a couple paragraphs of the Oppenheimer biography. Next I’ll reread Neuromancer. It’s life-changing. 10/10 highly recommended.

I grew up with science classes telling us always state the digits individually. One point three two.

Yo momma so fat she doesn’t have a waist size, she has a Schwarzschild radius.

You callin’ me fat?

My hiccup remedy is to take a moderately deep breath, then say, out loud, “Now” right before you hiccup again.

Usually, the control and attention keep it from happening again. I’ve had many people do this and just go, “oh, I guess they went away…” 👀

Hell yes.

It makes me so mad that Namco patented load screen minigames for long enough that load screens have kinda gotten scarce and short enough that we don’t need the time waster anymore.

True, sure. I’m just saying the overall price of games has gone down significantly over time. An upward correction makes some sense. I’m not cheering it on, just trying to help frame the circumstances.

Ocarina of Time cost $116.91 at launch, accounting for inflation.

Edit: the original Legend of Zelda cost $144.89 at launch, also after inflation.

“We’re having trouble with AI solving problems. Let’s solve the problem with AI.”

It’s not strictly a bad idea or doomed or anything, but it makes me sad.

I would suggest redirecting slightly. Every single publicly traded tech company eventually fully enshittifies into predatory ad/data revenue generation due to the fundamental requirement that they not only generate profit, but that they consistently generate growth.

I could create an amazing app, sell it for $5, and if 5 million people download it and I don’t sell out or incorporate and go public, I could just cruise on it and retire happily. There’s no intrinsic pressure to switch profit models because I don’t owe anybody shit.

They’ve been added to the watchlist.

Wait, is that the watchlist?

Yeah that’s the one. Whew, for a minute I thought we added them to the war planning chat.

Wait, fuck.

Repeat after me: LLMs do not have intelligence.

Assjowl?

Every dollar spent on Meta-owned properties goes towards making Mark Zuckerberg even more insufferable and monstrous.

A lot of it is that depending on who your party ends up being, it stitches together each one’s ending, so beating the game may let you watch several of said endings. You don’t have to beat it 86 times.

That said, it’s still a crazy game.

Glad to meet a fellow traveler. It’s a gem. I should play through it again too. I have so many little retro emulator handhelds I’m sure I could get through it on one of them in my spare time.

I know! But it’s been “Coming soon” for ages now. I hope it’s still going to come out and not suck. Fear Effect Sedna was pretty damn weak.

Thanks! There was a lot of wacky fun in the PlayStation generation.

Some additional deeper cuts:

• Trap Gunner - because sending your friend on a trip around the entire level into a nest of bombs and mines never gets old.
• Syphon Filter - because, how about… the taser? (The commercial is for 2, but the first one has a better taser… trust me.)
• The Unholy War - because it‘s basically chess but with flying bladebots and chompy little toothbastards.
• Die Hard Trilogy - because it’s 3 games and one of them is inexplicably one of the better light gun games ever made.
• Ghost in the Shell - because find me another game where you drive a tank that climbs walls.
• Return Fire - because if playing Capture the Flag with military vehicles while listening to classical music isn’t a good time, I don’t know what is.
• Star Ocean: The Second Story - because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings and dozens of different skills like Musicianship, Blacksmithing, Cooking, and Publishing most certainly is not overkill.
• Blast Chamber - because all sports would be better if they were played in a room where you can rotate gravity.
• Future Cop LAPD - because sometimes I’m just tired of conserving my ammo.
• N2O: Nitrous Oxide - because 90’s techno and lasers.

It’s one of the best, most coherent video game stories I’ve ever experienced. Super fun, utterly engrossing. The unfortunate part is the tank controls, but the story makes it totally worth it.