hauntedhamster

[hauntedhamster]

new DB Cooper theory: he’s still falling

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He's so smalllll

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it is really weird what like. 4 years perspective on something you believed fully to your core will do

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How do they keep making later and later stages of late-capitalism

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Based on the promotional material before Veilguard came out people were like, "welcome back da2" but Veilguard turned out to have a very different vibe

Instead I'd like to propose that Veilguard is just Awakening with updated graphics (warning for spoilers):

our base of operation is the previous residence of one of our antagonists (Lighthouse belonged to Solas, Amaranthine to Howe)

can't talk with companions at will, instead they talk to us after specific plot points/when receiving gifts

also companions are unphased and accepting of spirit possessions (Justice/Spite) and, like, atrocities (Lucanis being an assassin, and Velanna murdering humans), and overall are on friendlier terms than other DA titles

the female elf companion has a personal quest related to her sibling joining the antagonist

darkspawn are different now (more primitive in Veilguard, more sentient in Awakening)

possibly the most important choice in the game is about which one of the two locations to save

there's a very sexy eldritch-monster-like antagonist (Ghilan'nain/The Architect) (<- I will accept no criticism about this point)

companions survival rate depends on the completion of their personal quests and city upgrades

(this is a silly post btw don't take it seriously)

[hauntedhamster]

Gift illustration of Persona Obscura by MalkyTop, commissioned by @obstinaterixatrix!

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horror style

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So on a bit of a whim, with a few people I work with, we created The Game Awards for Games Who Can't Afford the Game Awards.

Or TGAGWCAGA for short.

It's pretty much exploded over the past week on Bluesky where a lot of indie developers have made their home.

We asked indie games to nominate themselves, whether they had released this year or whether they were an upcoming game that couldn't afford to pay for the advertising space at the Game Awards.

Geoff Keighley said that Gamescom's Opening Night Light were going to be charging as much as $480,000 for ad spaces during next year's showcase.

That's simply not remotely affordable for thousands of studios.

So while it's a bit of a parody, we also hope it'll shine some light on great indie games, and our form is of course written in Comic Sans.

[hauntedhamster]

🐚"And their children, forever true..."🐚

This piece is called Witness, with a painting style inspired by Van Gogh's work.

I have a bunch more in my back pocket, so keep your eyes open (pun intended) for more! Thank you for looking!

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I 100% agree with the criticism that the central problem with "AI"/LLM evangelism is that people pushing it fundamentally do not value labour, but I often see it phrased with a caveat that they don't value labour except for writing code, and... like, no, they don't value the labour that goes into writing code, either. Tech grifter CEOs have been trying to get rid of programmers within their organisations for years – long before LLMs were a thing – whether it's through algorithmic approaches, "zero coding" development platforms, or just outsourcing it all to overseas sweatshops. The only reason they haven't succeeded thus far is because every time they try, all of their toys break. They pretend to value programming as labour because it's the one area where they can't feasibly ignore the fact that the outcomes of their "disruption" are uniformly shit, but they'd drop the pretence in a heartbeat if they could.

[hauntedhamster]

Theres no words that can describe the complete alienation of having severe long covid. One infection, caused directly by political decisions to remove public measures, and i cant walk. Can't stand except on really good days which are getting rarer. Sitting is a privilege i dont always have. Cognitive work is too much of a risk to consider for the moment. I live in constant fear of going back to being utterly bed ridden in the sense that i cant even feed myself, drink water, speak, move my limbs beyong my fingers and toes. For days and days without relief.

Nothing feels real. Every gain can be lost in a literal second. And on top of this, the fear of reinfection. The very real possibility of death, given how weak a single infection has made me when I was healthy and young. The even more real possibility of a worsened state, where there are no good days. That means death, too. If i am constantly in a state where I cannot move, i am going to have to resort to euthanasia because it is not a bearable existence. I can barely tolerate it when it know it will end. Last time was 14 days and I am still so traumatized by it 2 months later nothing feels real.

And on top of that, i am being told that my life doesnt matter. Covid is not a real concern. Let it fester. Even if the stairs in my building didnt lock me in, all public spaces have become lethal to me. I cant see my friends because they cant avoid exposure when theres a wave. To love me, you must live in a horrific world where no matter how many precautions you take, no matter how much they ostracize you, you might still cause my death.

Covid is a privileged issue they say. Im not even in the room for it bc i cannot be in the room. You can move your body, youre not afraid of death, you havent lost everything that makes you *you*, but im the privileged one. I cant even emote the way i used to. If i get too excited, too happy, i cant move. I talked to countless people who cant work anymore, are losing their jobs their houses their partners their immigration permits but no. Covid doesnt matter. I dont matter. Everyone cheered when i got covid bc they got to party for new years eve. I hope it was a good party. I will never agree that it was worth my life.

For the past 2 years ive had to share classrooms with students and professors who know everything about my story, who have seen how disabled i am by long covid, who ive begged to mask. They all refuse to mask. And i have to sit there and pretend its not a cosmical level farce that theyre talking about social justice and ethics and just what good people they all are. Not to mention that most of them have revealed themselves to be zionists. I have to sit next to an iof soldier and act as if its ok that she gets to sit in this classroom, except im not even sitting in the room because cases are too high and im too weak to be there physically anyway, so im on zoom. At least i get to remove my earbuds when she speaks so i dont have to think about the atrocities she has committed.

[hauntedhamster]

every time i see someone call kirk and spock the oldest ship, i'm filled with the urge to go "hmm actually the holmes and watson girlies have been here for a hundred years now", and i refrain because i know the natural conclusion of this game is gilgamesh and enkidu

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no london because that's the capitol obviously but this broadly corresponds to the ONS regions

[hauntedhamster]

Daniel Craig as William Lee — QUEER (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino

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he makes me so happy and so profoundly sad at the same time

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the double-edged sword of old British literature is that there’s a solid chance it’ll feel gay but there’s an equally solid chance it’ll also feel racist