Oh snap, thanks for catching that! I edited the title.

As a cleverly written and somewhat complex personal story, Infinite shines. It’s got compelling characters that make you care, and then it puts those characters through the wringer in their search for contentment.

That’s a great point I hadn’t considered, and can’t believe I hadn’t. Rapture felt like its own character to the story in a way that Colombia never really did, but it’s undeniable how well-done the characterization between them was.

Then why even comment? I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Have a good day!

As McLuhan put it, “the medium is the message” and video games inherently work better through a synthesis of gameplay and story, without one dominating over the other. Games that lean too far in one direction or the other (Metal Gear Solid’s interminably long cut-scenes for instance) take you too far out of the gaming medium and too far into other, more detached mediums.

Absolutely banger take, I agree completely. Games have a difficult needle to thread, unlike a book or movie that can be strictly narrative-based, a video game has to somehow give the player enough agency while taking it away to allow the story to progress. And now I have DND on the mind again.

I’m reminded of a comment my older brother made about Final Fantasy X, all those years ago. He described it as basically playing a movie. Go figure, I liked the cutscenes!

<3 I appreciate you.

That’s great! I remember myself enjoying the gameplay a lot, and it ran surprisingly well on my PC at the time. Any thoughts beyond that, anything about the article specifically? The article isn’t over here saying, “This award-winning game was bad!” it’s more so trying to take a closer look at the story and themes of the game as a whole from a 2024 perspective and how our current world can reflect them. Though to be fair ™, it is definitely meant to be a click-bait article that’s part of a greater “Spicey Takes” section.

Faaaantastic! This actually could be pretty dope.

BRB, loading my shotgun with birdshot.

Hm I need a shotgun.

I have no doubts about that either, myself. Though even if such an abomination of a doppelganger were to exist, and it seems that these companies are hellbent on making it so, it would be worse for the reasons you described previously: prolonging and molesting the grieving process that human beings have evolved to go through. All in the name of a dollar. I apologize for being so bitter about this (this bitterness is not directed at you, frog), but this entire "AI’ phenomenon fucking disgusts and repulses me so much I want to scream.

We have a box of old recipe cards from my grandmother that my wife cherishes. My parents gifted them to her because out of all their daughter-in-laws, she is the one that loves to cook and explore recipes the most. I just can’t imagine someone wanting something like that in a sterile technological aspect like an “AI-powered” app.

“But Trev, what if you used an LLM to generate summaries-” no, fuck off (he said to the hypothetical techbro in his ear).

The platformer was pretty decent. I remember the intro cutscene scaring me as a kid, lol.

the GBA titles

I absolutely adored the Urbz game for DS. Pretty sure it’s the same game as the GBA version, but it had an added post-game minigame. I loved maxing out friendships and having bonus areas to decorate!

Hopefully it doesn’t impact them too much. So tired of this AI train man.

Welp, reckon it’s time I take my happy ass down to the local used game store and sell my Xbox. Thing’s collecting dust anyway. I think I’ll get a new camera lens instead.

Basically this, for me. I want my devices to be more dedicated to a singular purpose, so I’m not tethered to my phone all day. Having a camera, an MP3 player, and a handheld makes my actions feel more purposeful. Building off that, having a “one-stop-shop” type of device or service or anything really imo makes the overall experience worse. Think Wal-mart versus a dedicated electronics store or something.

What’s the use of autonomy when a button does it all?

Yeah true, kid-me would be very proud that I’m opposed to anti-labor practices!

I believe Tim means to say that the spread of misinformation can be linked to the rise of Flat Earthers. That if we can only trust what we see before us, and we see a flat horizon, we can directly interpret this visual to mean that the Earth is flat. Thus, if we cannot trust our own eyes and ears, how can future courtroom evidence be trusted?

“Up to the Twentieth Century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one-millionth of reality.” -Bucky Fuller

^ basically that

I will drive my 2003 Envoy I inherited into the ground, and after that it’s a 2008 Camry, and then I’ll ride that into the ground. Good God, if kid-me would have known adult-me would have turned into a Luddite…

I help shops with their inventory.

I have a used Haworth Zody chair I found on eBay, have had it for going on eight years now and recommend it greatly. They’re around $175-250 used.