#<- what’s the abbreviation we’re using gamers

[gristlegrinder]

i heard that the shining blade’s back, baby

[deruel]

I think the evolution of internet culture and the stressors that have come with it have gone down hill. They've gone down hill because the internet is, in my eyes, no longer safe space. Many may argue that it wasn't to begin with, but hear me out.

At the beginning, when we (gen z) were preteens and found our way onto the internet, we were exposed to things we never thought about before. We were able to show our creative sides with drawing and writing, have fun with friends by playing video games, and meet new people who liked what we liked. It was really nice! My overall experience online around that age was a great experience and I'm very happy I was able to have that.

We all sort of started to develop a universal internet culture from this. We would inherit online slang and abbreviations as soon as we learned what they meant, and developed our own texting 'styles' as we chatted with more people. We wanted to portray our personalities and emotions online.

Now, I could go on about how such a small and well intended thing ended up being the downfall of many friendships and the creator of many people's anxieties. People started to get into the habit of texting like that. We started to think that oh, if we don't text like this, they may thing some thing is wrong. If we don't respond like this, they might read our words wrong. But it's more than just that. Everything started to be 'wrong'.

Instead of drawing for fun and being happy that your friends liked it, we started drawing for popularity and attention. Drawing became a competition. We would look at our friends drawings and go 'if I do what they do, I'll get more clout'. Sharing our art with people became a new norm. This shouldn't really be a bad thing, but in the age of 'I spent 7 hours on this piece and someone looks at it for 4 seconds and moved on', it is. These drawings have no worth. Our creations no longer hold the value they used to, when there were less people and a closer knit community.

The same goes for influencers and popular gamers. Influencers really are just regular people. Like you and me. They make mistakes, and respond to these mitakes depending on how they're like as a person. And this effects how many people? 3, 4 million? Millions of people start to rave over something one person does, the internet is in chaos for a day, drama blogs are going CRAZY, apology videos are expected, we're all watching. The world of opinions has now become the world of facts in our eyes.

Artists? Problematic. Writers? Problematic. Gamers? Problematic. Content creators? Problematic. Beauty gurus? Problematic. Problems problems problems. It seems like everything online nowadays has a problem, or will develop one in the near future. Because our whole LIVES are on here now.

Not to mention, our privacy has gotten so invaded it's laughable. Every single site I've gone on for the past month has had an annoying pop up asking to turn off ad blocker or to enable cookies. Algorithms are getting smarter and smarter on every platform and it's very concerning. I'll be vocally talking about a carrot cake recipe to my mom and go to Google for an answer and before I even type anything, 'carrot cake recipe' is suggested to me.

Not only are we not in the same place we were as kids, we're in a more stressful place. Peer pressure, social anxieties, responsibilities and public images. This didn't exist at all. Back then we were all nobodies on the internet messing around doing our own silly little things. Now eyes are watching our every move, good or bad. And I'm pretty tired of it.

[transgamerthoughts]

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Thoughts and Ramblings

Surprised to dust this off but I want to collect my thoughts quickly now that credits are rolling on Remake:

In general, I enjoyed it quite a lot. As one of many players with a unique relationship to the original (I first “played” it watching a childhood friend over the course of several sleepovers before playing on my own and occasionally returning to it) I was skeptical. I’ve express some of that skepticism at Kotaku , a website I write at. Remakes and remasters sometimes fall short or deviate in strange ways. Remake forges its own path and I’m grateful for it.

SPOILERS AHEAD KIDDOS

So! Here’s some scattered thoughts. Maybe they end up on Kotaku, maybe not. And while I’m loathe to immediately rush to create content on a Sunday night, this game has my mind spinning. Here we go.

The characterizations in this game are very strong, perhaps stronger than the original’s Midgar section. Some of that is owed to a very bad localization in ‘97 (you can get insight into that from my former colleague Tim Rogers’ series here) but Remake takes a lot of effort to allow the cast to breathe. That can come from the ways in which Cloud alters his way of taking with Tifa, and it can come in the moment where Barrett is more explicitly an ideologue. It’s quite good even if the script has a flaw that we’ll talk about in a second. 

That flaw is, frankly, that if you’ve not played the original then Remake is going to end up impenetrable in the final hours. This is particularly true once characters like Zack are brought into the fold and the visuals begin to mirror the original. (See: the hard cuts before Sephiroth and Clouds final duel mirroring the Omnislash moment from ‘97.) I don’t think that diminishes the character work here but I think that the more interesting meta-narrative stuff *so* damn crucial to this game that I can’t imagine what a newcomer will think. 

Connected to this, I’ve seen folks disappointed that this is not a perfect remake but in this instance, I think that sentiment is misplaced. Valid, but shortsighted? You can’t make Final Fantasy VII today. Not in the way it existed in ‘97. Which isn’t to say the visuals or script but the context cannot be reproduced. New hardware, FMVs taking a forefront, an advertising campaign that positioned the game in competition with movies, and a cultural splash that the series hasn’t ever quite replicated. Because the weight of expectation hovers over Remake—folks have been obsessed with a new version since the PS3 tech demo stirred imagination at E3 2020—the game *needs* to be about that. To be a game about this moment, the moment gamers have waited decades for, Remake needs to be about itself in a very explicit way.

I can’t not see the Whispers and Arbiters of Fate as anything other than stand-ins for gamers, fans, and the culture as a whole. That’s an obvious reading but an undeniable one. The core question of Remake doesn’t really have much to do with the fictional stakes. It’s this: who owns Final Fantasy VII, and who owns the Remake? Is it the story tellers or the players? I have a cheat answer: it belongs to the characters. In unbinding themselves from player expectation, they claim ownership over the narrative now. 

Aeris just flat out knows she’s in a sequel/alt-timeline thing. Her final line is about missing the surety of something as presumably ever present at the metal sky of Midgar’s plates. 

I like the combat here more than FFXV, which isn’t saying a lot but worth saying. There’s more participation from the player. That’s it. I don’t think *more* active choice inherently makes a combat system better but it is the key reason this works better than XV.

Character swapping breaks things somewhat since enemy aggro is (save for using the provoke materia) focused on the player. Wish the combat design took this into consideration a bit more. It’s the one glaring flaw in the system.

Tifa is the most fun to play as in this game. It’s not even a contest. Starshower is overpowered as hell and Chi Trap rules. Love using her to increase the potency of the stagger meter when the time comes.

Fights do get occasionally Too Busy. Airbuster is a big culprit here. Too many phases for what was essentially a jobber of a boss in the original game.

Train Graveyard section is an atrocious pace killer as well. Again: “too many notes.”

I never found the Nail Bat and that was a bit of a bummer.

I tweeted out a quote from Barrett this weekend and it made the rounds. In general, for this game, Barrett works best in this revolutionary mode even if certain scenes (Shinra middle manager for instance) deploy visual language that’s dated. Of any character, he has the highest highs and lowest lows. Not surprising.

re: that tweet some folks kinda lost their shit about it(?) but I think the quote still holds. Remake does a good job of showing *individuals* within Shinra but Barrett does rightly note they are complicit to an extent in Shinra’s crimes. You can disagree with what Barrett does about it but that’s 100% true. Sorry, not sorry. (The discourse today was just a hassle frankly. Multiple things can be true at once, but I don’t think Twitter is a place where that’s ever acknowledged.) Whatever eventual regrets he might feel about methodology in ‘97′s script, he’s not wrong on this individual point. I’m interested to see where he goes as a character when it comes to all this.

Kinda related to the above, Remake arguably does a better job than ‘97 showing the alternative to Shinra. It’s the communal nature of the individual sectors. It’s the Neighborhood Watch and local leaders in Sector 7, the trio in Wall Market. Remake rejects Shinra’s autocracy and favors the various slums communes. This is made ever more clear by how little of Reeve we see in this script. Who are the leaders shaping life into a passable experience in Midgar? It’s not the Urban Planning guy with the cat robot. 

Also: hey, is that Cait Sith in the plate drop cutscene? Yep! Hope you played the original or there’s just this sad cat that shows up for 4 four seconds.

Is he a Chad? Well, he’s Chad-ley...

Not sure what to think of the Wutai stuff being more explicit but it feels right for 2020 for a variety of reasons. I’ve never been too interested in FF7′s realpolitik tho. It’s not really much of an expansion so much as a background element but one that’s deployed a bit lazily. 

Roche owns in a way I was not expecting. He’s a balls to the wall anime motherfucker and I kinda love him? I’m really, really surprised that (as far as I could tell) he didn’t even come back for the final bike sequence tho.

I don’t really have the energy to litigate or talk about Wall Market much. I think it’s better than the original but pandering in the sense that it’s a very safe and commodified version of queerness. I appreciate that Nomura and folks looked at the original and were like “well, we can’t do *that*” but it doesn’t quite land for me.

That said: “yes, I know, nailed it,” is a fantastic line with a fantastic read from Cloud’s English VA.

Hell House announcers rule. Hell House fight? Kinda terrible actually.

Nice shout out to Kunsel in Shinra Tower. Crisis Core is a messy game but I like Tabata’s work a lot. Even the messy stuff, which is most of it. That game’s story is bonkers but I like Zack and I actually like the idea of the Digital Mind Wave as a mechanic. If nothing else, Squeenix lost a pretty exciting designer when he left.

Less nice? This game’s tendency to pad out dungeons. The whole approach to the Sector 5 reactor comes to mind. Train fight then tunnels then sun lamps then reactor. It’s a lot. Also: all of the extra Hojo stuff. I know we’re padding out like 5 hours but some of the sections could have been abbreviated. Probably would have made the game better.

Even less nice? Zack’s English voice actor. Maybe the only voice actor I didn’t like. Really miss Rick Gomez on this one. 

 Conversely, Red XIII? They nailed it. 11/10. Nanaki, I love you so much.

 Counterstance is an amazing move and I can’t want to carry that over into Hard Mode. 

The Jenova fight fuckin’ ripped. I was a bit huffy when I learned through leaks that there was a Jenova fight (since the first fight in the original is on the boat to Costa Del Sol) but this was a great set piece. One of the moments where everything worked.

Also good: Rufus fight. Bad: losing Rufus’ speech to the party.

Not a ton more thoughts right now? Sephiroth fight was good although for all his presence in the story I think we suffer without the full Nibelheim flashback to round things out. In all really liked it. Want to play again pretty much immediately. Will write something more cogent for the site I guess? Got a few ideas. But yeah! entered as skeptic and left mostly a believer on this one. 

[micahgormly293-blog]

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[glxtchedtogether]

RULES AND OTHER STUFF [READ B4 INTERACTING!]

RULES:

i don’t like ooc drama. if you are involved in a lot of drama and discourse, i might unfollow/softblock you. this is just for my own personal comfort.

mun =/= muse. what my characters/muses say in posts and threads does not reflect me.

don’t godmod, powerplay, control my muses’ actions, or just be super op in general. it’s not fun.

respect my boundaries. i am a minor, and i will NOT rp smut, regardless of the other mun/muse’s age. i am also uncomfy with slurs. i am fine with swearing, but i don’t swear myself. my dni is in my carrd, please read it. (it’s linked in my pinned)

non-roleplay/personal blogs, please DO NOT reblog roleplay threads! non-rp/personal blogs are ok to interact in other ways, such as liking, following, and asking.

i am okay with M!As. just don’t be super op with them and we’re good.

please don’t pester me if i don’t respond quickly to a thread, ask, or dm. i have school and other interests like art and writing. just… be patient.

some other things i thought would be important to know:

ooc text is typed “((like this”. in addition, i type in a scene-ish style ooc, abbreviate a lot, don’t use apostrophes, and replace the s at the end of some words with a z. (i’ve paused my typing style for the rules, by the way) if you ever need translations for my ooc typing, please let me know.

this is a sideblog, so i cannot like, ask, or follow from it. all these actions will be through my main (@fandommemequeen). asks intended to be from this blog will be signed off as “- @glxtchedtogether” or “- [insert character here] of @glxtchedtogether” with a little disclaimer saying the blog is a sideblog so i have to ask from my main.

if you’re curious about parts of either glitch’s or robodachi’s backstory, let me know! these funky little miis pretty much live rent-free in my brain and i’ve come up with loads of lore, so i’d be more than happy to share it! i’d prefer asking towards me ooc (the mun, gamer) instead of glitch or robodachi ic since i don’t think they’d be too keen on giving proper answers.

i don’t have reply icons for my characters. please keep this in mind, especially during threads!

this blog is ok with crossovers, other ocs, and aus!

mun info:

hiya, i’m gamer, a chaotic nerd with mii brainrot. i’m a minor (not comfortable sharing my exact age online) and i use she/they pronouns! i’ve been roleplaying since about 2018-ish, so i’m fairly experienced.

[nageki-yuki-blog]

TsukiPara Drama - Chapter 10 Translation

[This chapter is about Six Gravity preparing for the joint live. Enjoy under the cut~]

10章 – Chapter 10

合同へ！～グラビ編～

Towards the joint live! ~Gravi Version~

1話 – Part 1

「ツキウタ。ラジオ」の時間です！

It’s time for “Tsukiuta Radio”!

Koi:  Okay! We will begin again today! Delivered to you in a live broadcast, it’s time for “Tsukiuta Radio”, abbreviated “TsukiRadi”!

 Kakeru:  Your hosts will continue to be the same, December’s Kakeru Shiwasu and…...

 Koi:  February’s Koi Kisaragi, bringing it to you!

 Koi:  Today’s broadcast will feature the special tour for our game app “Tsukino Paradise” so…...

 Koi:  Wow! After a long wait, every member of Six Gravity is gathered, making this a special version episode!

 Kakeru:  Yay! Applause!  Then I’ll hand it over to the representative, Hajime-san, for a greeting!

 Hajime:  Hello everyone.  It’s been a while since I’ve been on TsukiRadi, hasn’t it?  I am Gravi’s Hajime Mutsuki.

 Hajime:  I’ll be with you for only a short while today but, I believe all of our fan’s will have a good time.  Please take care of me?

 Kakeru:  …...And there you have it!  Everyone, are you ready?  All of our listeners, say it together with us!

 Koi:  The “Tsukiuta. Radio”, abbreviated TsukiRadi, special episode is…...

 Everyone:  Starting now~!

 Kakeru:  Good work guys!

 Haru:  Yes, good work.

 Aoi:  It’s been a while since everyone has gathered together for TsukiRadi.  Live broadcasts make me nervous but, it was fun.

 Arata:  It really surprised me when Kuroda barged in though.  Isn’t he already beyond regular*?  How did he get in the studio anyways?

[*I think he means that he’s no longer acting like a regular or normal rabbit]

 Hajime:  Now that you mention it, where did Kuroda go?

 Haru:  Tsukishiro-san got one step ahead of us and already took him back to the dorms.  We could have left him in the waiting room but…...he’s a little big.

 Koi:  Yes he is.

 Arata:  Well then, we have solved the matter of Kuroda for the time being.  Now that I’m relieved…… I’ve gotten hungry.

 Kakeru:  Me too me too!  Let’s eat something and go home!

 Koi:  Oh!  It has to be meat!!  I’m in the mood for yakiniku*!

[*grilled meat dish]

 Aoi:  What? But I’m pretty sure they said there was a meeting right after this?

 Kakeru:  Oh, I guess you’re right.  We still haven’t decided what to do for this Tsukipara Live Festival.

 Koi:  Oh…...Goodbye!  My yakiniku!

 Haru:  Yakiniku would be difficult but…… How about we chow on some pizza while we’re talking together in the dorms?

 Arata:  I have no objections.  Let’s do that.  It’ll be a pizza party with everyone.

 Hajime:  And it’ll be a business meeting, okay?  Well, we might get some good ideas from it.

 Hajime:  …...Well, now that we’re full, we should talk about the Tsukipara live…...

 Haru:  Has anyone come up with any good ideas?

 Kakeru:  I haven’t. I’ve thought a lot about it since we talked with Procella but…...I haven’t been able to think of anything.

 Arata:  Me too, I’ve been seriously thinking about it every day before going to sleep.  Because of that…...

 Aoi:  Have you been unable to sleep?

 Arata:  Nope, I’ve been sleeping very soundly.

 Koi:  Don’t fall asleep!

 Arata:  That’s just how hard I’ve been thinking about it.  But, I haven’t been able to think of anything good enough~

 Everyone:  Hmm…...

 (To be Continued)

2話 – Part 2

珍しく恋が残念じゃないアイデアを出しました

Unusually, Koi has come up with an idea that’s not disappointing.

Hajime:  …… It’s just like Tsukishiro-san and Kurotsuki-san told us before, that thinking too hard will have the opposite effect, right?

 Haru:  That’s right. Let’s just take it easy while we’re thinking.  I think it would be best to do it in a way that allows us to be completely relaxed and enjoy ourselves.

 Kakeru:  Be completely relaxed…...

 Aoi:  …...Speaking of being completely relaxed…...

 Aoi:  We could do something like “TsukiRadi”.  Well, I somehow got the idea just now.

 Haru:  Oh, that might be a good idea, “TsukiRadi”.  We’ve been doing that program for a long time so our fans will know it…...

 Haru:  We’re also accustomed to it.  Even during today’s editing, we were able to continue it, without getting too worked up, so we were naturally completely relaxed.  Don’t you all feel the same?

 Koi:  Ahaha, it is certainly true that I was completely relaxed to the point that I could say there was too much freedom~!

 Hajime:  That seems like it would be good as a main focus.  “TsukiRadi” on stage…… It sounds like it could be interesting?

 Haru:  But different from being on the radio, we will be right in front of the fans, so I want to be able to get them excited.

 Arata:  So we need to do it in a way that both the audience and us get roused up, huh…...

 Aoi:  If you think about what the appeal of “TsukiRadi” is, it would be that we could deliver our voices directly to them live.

 Koi:  Okay! Let’s do a lot of ad-lib!  We won’t know what will occur!  But, that’s what’s so fun about it!  …...That’s what I think we should do.

 Kakeru:  For Koi and me, who are the regular hosts, we always feel some tension each time though. But it’s worth doing.

 Haru:  It’s important that we don’t forget that this time we’ll be “linking it to the game”.

 Hajime:  That’s right. This is originally a live for everyone who enjoys playing “Tsukipara” anyways.

 Koi:  Ding ding! I’ve thought of something!  If that’s the case, why don’t we do a “game live broadcast”?

 Koi:  We could project the game onto a giant screen, and then we could play it there! Then it would be a live broadcast of the game…...

 Kakeru:  Oh! Unusually, Koi has come up with an idea that’s not disappointing!

 Koi:  Stop saying I’m disappointing!

 Arata:  A live broadcast huh.  That could definitely be interesting~.  I’ve watched videos of those once in a while when looking around online.  Not too long ago, those types of videos were really popular too~.

 Aoi:  I know what those are just by hearing the name but, I’ve never actually seen one before. It sounds interesting…...

 Hajime:  I’m the same as Aoi.

 Aoi:  Later on, let’s ask Arata and Koi to show us some videos.  Hajime-san.

 Hajime:  We should.

 Haru:  That sounds great.  The audience can enjoy it together with us while watching the screen, and if we can convey to them the merits of the game, it would be best if they could see it in reality.

 Haru:  Hmm, so have we decided on doing a live broadcast?

 Hajime:  Yeah, I think it would be good?

 Koi:  Hurray! We’re using my idea!

 Hajime:  …… Now that we’ve decided that, we need to verify if it’s actually possible to implement it on stage.

 Haru:  I guess you’re right.

 Kakeru:  …...And if that’s the case?

 (To be Continued)

3話 – Part 3

それじゃあ今から皆で練習しましょう

Well then let’s all start practicing from now on.

Hajime:  First we need to have someone make and install equipment that will be able to use a screen.

 Haru:  After that, we also have the problem of figuring out what would be the best way to place it on stage.

 Haru:  If we just leisurely play the game it will be too simple, so we need to think of how to broadcast it in a way that excites the audience too.

 Aoi:  I guess you’re right…...

 Hajime:  …… And that also means, we need to be able to play the game to a certain degree.

 Haru:  That’s for sure.  If we show an uncool play, it will give us a negative image in many ways.

 Hajime:  You got it right.

 Arata:  If that’s what you’re trying to say, then I might be in trouble~.

 Arata:  I play the game now and then but it’s not like I’ve gotten that high of a score.

 Aoi:  Arata is the type that wants to play at his own pace, rather than aim for a high score.

 Haru:  If you say that, I wonder if the person who suggested it, Hajime, will be okay?

 Hajime:  …...

 Hajime:  …… The truth is, I don’t have any more confidence than Arata.

 Kakeru:  Huuuuuh!? There are times when even Hajime-san doesn’t feel confident!?

 Hajime:  What kind of guy do you see me as?

 Hajime:  It’s just an excuse but, I’ve been so busy I haven’t played it much in the first place.

 Kakeru:  Oh-…...

 Hajime:  Since I don’t play them often, I’m still not really used to playing any types of games anyways.

 Kakeru:  I see……. I want to give you Koi’s useless video game skills and some free time…...

 Koi:  I heard you say useless!

 Haru:  Hahaha…… Hajime has only just begun playing app games after hearing the explanation of what they were.

 Hajime:  However, if you can show skill in the live, it won’t show that kind of dependency.*

[*I’m not sure about exactly what this means, I think it means that their skills would show that they don’t need to depend on anyone else]

 Arata:  Oka-y. Well then let’s all start practicing from now on.  Let’s do this.  Hajime-san and I will do nothing but extensive training.

 Kakeru:  That’s right~.  If we all give each other advice, I think we will improve fast!

 Aoi:  I don’t have a score that’s good enough to be proud of either so, let’s work hard……!

 Koi:  Heh heh heh…...

 Koi:  Hehehe, hehahahaha!  It’s here----!!!  This is my time to shine!

 Koi:  Gravi’s number one gamer Koi-kun, will become everyone’s proper and reliable teacher!

 Arata:  Pink head is getting carried away as expected.

 Aoi:  Hehehe, actually, he’s being pretty reliable.

 Koi:  Now then, everyone.  First let’s get an accurate grasp of the situation!  Show me your scores.

 (To be Continued)

4話 – Part 4

君もきっと一人前の音ゲーマーになれるぞ！！

I’m sure you could also become a public music gamer!!

Kakeru:  Okay!

 Hajime:  …… To display the score.  Where do I press?

 Haru:  …… Hajime, you really aren’t used to operating games are you.

 Hajime:  …… Haru.

 Haru:  Okay okay. Here, let me see.  The score display is…… umm, here.  It’s right here.

 Koi:  Let’s see what we have here…… Everyone’s skills are……  Oh!  Kakeru and Aoi’s scores are pretty good!

 Aoi:  Huh, is that so?  I’m a little relieved.

 Kakeru:  Hehehe-. I guess since it includes our songs, it was easy to get used to. I got better really smoothly!

 Koi:  With this amount, I wouldn’t have any worries about Kakeru and Aoi during the main performance.  Now for Haru-san…...

 Haru:  I’ve tried really hard but, I don’t think it’s as good.

 Koi:  Ah~, but, it’s not that bad.

 Koi:  I’ll show you the tricks of how to play, so if you remember it and practice then I’m sure you’ll get better!

 Haru:  Please teach me.  I don’t want to show the fans an embarrassing side of me.  I want to raise my level before the day of the performance.

 Koi:  To continue on, Arata’s score is………… Huh?  It surprisingly isn’t that bad.

 Arata:  …… Really? I don’t really know what the normal score would be.

 Koi:  It’s not bad. What-, I thought it would be way worse. I think it may be even better than the average score?

 Arata:  Oh…… Is that right.  Good job, me. I feel like I can do it now.

 Koi:  With this score, I’m sure you could also become a public music gamer* after I attentively guide you!!

[*meaning someone that can play music games in front of an audience]

 Arata:  I don’t need such weird and disgusting guidance.

 Koi:  Last is…… Hajime-san!  Can I see your scores?

 Hajime:  Yeah, is this good?

 Koi:  Yeah. …...Huh?  Hajime-san, you haven’t played anything except easy mode?

 Hajime:  I can have enough fun just playing easy mode.

 Hajime:  …… Or rather, to be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard that there are other modes.

 Koi:  I have to explain from there!?  Geez, how many times have I had to say that line!

 Koi:  O-Okay. Nevertheless, I think you can still raise your score a little bit more.  With your reflexes it’s possible.

 Koi:  Hey Hajime-san, it doesn’t matter if it’s the easiest song for you, but could I watch you play once?

 Hajime:  Yeah…… Then, I’ll do this one.

 Haru:  Huh? Hajime, the way you’re holding it…...

 Kakeru:  Ha-Hajime-san!?  It’s not like you have to play it with one hand you know!?

 Hajime:  ?  Is that true?

 Aoi:  N-Now I see…...

 Arata:  All of a sudden, we have solved the riddle of why Hajime-san’s score is so low.

 Koi:  Umm…… Hajime-san.  I’m going to play it now so, can you watch me?

 Hajime:  Okay.

 Koi:  Well then…… Koi Kisaragi, is here!

 (To be Continued)

5話 – Part 5

ゲームの腕前もしっかり磨いておけよ？

Make sure you also steadily refine your game skills, okay?

Aoi:  Wow! That’s amazing!  Such smooth movements!

 Haru:  He’s getting them all perfect.

 Kakeru:  He’s really skillful for just playing it casually…… Even if it’s because he’s sacrificing sleep and his tests……!!

 Arata:  I know what you mean.  He’s the type that as he raises his game level, his real life level lowers.

 Koi:  Just wait a minute~!?  That just plain hurts!?

 Haru:  Score S! As expected…!

 Koi:  Heh, I just unconsciously played seriously.

 Koi:  …… Well, I was trying to look cool but, that’s pretty much how it is.  It’s okay to use both hands.

 Koi:  You can hold it in whichever way is easiest for you.

 Hajime:  I see. That was great, Koi.  Well done.

 Koi:  E-Ehehehehe~

 Hajime:  Now I feel like I understand by watching how you played it.  …...I think I’ll get a little better after this.

 Aoi:  Huh? You are going to try it again already?

 Hajime:  I think I can do it a little.  For the time being, I’ll just try it.

 Hajime:  …… Heh.

 Kakeru:  W-Woah!? Hajime-san, you suddenly got really good!?

 Aoi:  The awkwardness you’ve had until now, has completely disappeared…… It’s like a different person is playing.

 Haru:  Ahaha, that’s just Hajime, as expected.

 Hajime:  It’s certainly true that, now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, it has become much easier to play.

 Hajime:  I’m still not at the level where I can play in front of other people but, if I practice, I should be able to raise my score.

 Arata:  Hajime-san has gone into serious mode.  Alright, with this, I have a premonition that out of all of Gravi’s members, I have dropped to the bottom of the list!

 Koi:  So he’s being serious…… By watching me play it just one time, he improved this quickly…...

 Kakeru:  As expected of the king……!

 Aoi:  So you got a score rank of…… A.  Oh! Just a little more and you’ll reach Koi’s score!

 Koi:  Ugh…… My precious student, has suddenly improved and become my rival!

 Koi:  I also have pride as a gamer!  Even if it’s against Hajime-san, my game score won’t lose!

 Kakeru:  Oh…… Koi has gotten fired up!

 Haru:  Ahaha. But trying to do this, is pretty fun. We should be able to get fired up during the real live too don’t you think?

 Hajime:  You’re right. With a little more practice, all of our skills will be equally matched.

 Aoi:  We’ll also be trying a little bit to level up, right Kakeru.

 Kakeru:  That’s right, Aoi-san.  Let’s devote ourselves to it.  Otherwise, we’ll be surpassed by Hajime-san in the blink of an eye.

 Hajime:  After that…… well.  I guess we should do something like a score showdown with Gravi and Procella?

 Koi:  Oh, that would be good!  The fans would also be able to participate by cheering!

 Arata:  The fans will be cheering, huh.  Then, we seriously must do that.  I want everyone to see me at my best.

 Hajime:  Alright, I guess we should propose this idea to Procella.

 Hajime:  You guys, in preparation for the joint live you should refine your singing and dancing. And after that, make sure you also steadily refine your game skills, okay?

 Everyone:  Okay!

 ~END~

[Next chapter is Procellarum’s version~]

[deniscollins]

Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside

What would you do if another computer hacker told you he had access to download information from 8 celebrity Twitter accounts -- Joseph R. Biden Jr., Barack Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates and Elon Musk: (1) participate in creating a ransom scam, (2) inform federal authorities, (3) nothing? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

A Twitter hacking scheme that targeted political, corporate and cultural elites this week began with a teasing message between two hackers late Tuesday on the online messaging platform Discord.

“yoo bro,” wrote a user named “Kirk,” according to a screenshot of the conversation shared with The New York Times. “i work at twitter / don’t show this to anyone / seriously.”

He then demonstrated that he could take control of valuable Twitter accounts — the sort of thing that would require insider access to the company’s computer network.

The hacker who received the message, using the screen name “lol,” decided over the next 24 hours that Kirk did not actually work for Twitter because he was too willing to damage the company. But Kirk did have access to Twitter’s most sensitive tools, which allowed him to take control of almost any Twitter account, including those of former President Barack Obama, Joseph R. Biden Jr., Elon Musk and many other celebrities.

Despite global attention on the intrusion, which has shaken confidence in Twitter and the security provided by other technology companies, the basic details of who were responsible, and how they did it, have been a mystery. Officials are still in the early stages of their investigation.

But four people who participated in the scheme spoke with The Times and shared numerous logs and screen shots of the conversations they had on Tuesday and Wednesday, demonstrating their involvement both before and after the hack became public.

The interviews indicate that the attack was not the work of a single country like Russia or a sophisticated group of hackers. Instead, it was done by a group of young people — one of whom says he lives at home with his mother — who got to know one another because of their obsession with owning early or unusual screen names, particularly one letter or number, like @y or @6.

The Times verified that the four people were connected to the hack by matching their social media and cryptocurrency accounts to accounts that were involved with the events on Wednesday. They also presented corroborating evidence of their involvement, like the logs from their conversations on Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers and hackers, and Twitter.

Playing a central role in the attack was Kirk, who was taking money in and out of the same Bitcoin address as the day went on, according to an analysis of the Bitcoin transactions by The Times, with assistance from the research firm Chainalysis.

But the identity of Kirk, his motivation and whether he shared his access to Twitter with anyone else remain a mystery even to the people who worked with him. It is still unclear how much Kirk used his access to the accounts of people like Mr. Biden and Mr. Musk to gain more privileged information, like their private conversations on Twitter.

The hacker “lol” and another one he worked with, who went by the screen name “ever so anxious,” told The Times that they wanted to talk about their work with Kirk in order to prove that they had only facilitated the purchases and takeovers of lesser-known Twitter addresses early in the day. They said they had not continued to work with Kirk once he began more high-profile attacks around 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

“I just wanted to tell you my story because i think you might be able to clear some thing up about me and ever so anxious,” “lol” said in a chat on Discord, where he shared all the logs of his conversation with Kirk and proved his ownership of the cryptocurrency accounts he used to transact with Kirk.

“lol” did not confirm his real-world identity, but said he lived on the West Coast and was in his 20s. “ever so anxious” said he was 19 and lived in the south of England with his mother.

Investigators looking into the attacks said several of the details given by the hackers lined up with what they have learned so far, including Kirk’s involvement both in the big hacks later in the day and the lower-profile attacks early on Wednesday.

The Times was initially put in touch with the hackers by a security researcher in California, Haseeb Awan, who was communicating with them because, he said, a number of them had previously targeted him and a Bitcoin-related company he once owned. They also unsuccessfully targeted his current company, Efani, a secure phone provider.

The user known as Kirk did not have much of a reputation in hacker circles before Wednesday. His profile on Discord had been created only on July 7.

But “lol” and “ever so anxious” were well known on the website OGusers.com, where hackers have met for years to buy and sell valuable social media screen names, security experts said.

For online gamers, Twitter users and hackers, so-called O.G. user names — usually a short word or even a number — are hotly desired. These eye-catching handles are often snapped up by early adopters of a new online platform, the “original gangsters” of a fresh app.

Users who arrive on the platform later often crave the credibility of an O.G. user name, and will pay thousands of dollars to hackers who steal them from their original owners.

Kirk connected with “lol” late Tuesday and then “ever so anxious” on Discord early on Wednesday, and asked if they wanted to be his middlemen, selling Twitter accounts to the online underworld where they were known. They would take a cut from each transaction.

In one of the first transactions, “lol” brokered a deal for someone who was willing to pay $1,500, in Bitcoin, for the Twitter user name @y. The money went to the same Bitcoin wallet that Kirk used later in the day when he got payments from hacking the Twitter accounts of celebrities, the public ledger of Bitcoin transactions shows.

The group posted an ad on OGusers.com, offering Twitter handles in exchange for Bitcoin. “ever so anxious” took the screen name @anxious, which he had long coveted. (His personalized details still sit atop the suspended account.)

“i just kinda found it cool having a username that other people would want,” “ever so anxious” said in a chat with The Times.

As the morning went on, customers poured in and the prices that Kirk demanded went up. He also demonstrated how much access he had to Twitter’s systems. He was able to quickly change the most fundamental security settings on any user name and sent out pictures of Twitter’s internal dashboards as proof that he had taken control of the requested accounts.

The group handed over @dark, @w, @l, @50 and @vague, among many others.

One of their customers was another well-known figure among hackers dealing in user names — a young man known as “PlugWalkJoe.” On Thursday, PlugWalkJoe was the subject of an article by the security journalist Brian Krebs, who identified the hacker as a key player in the Twitter intrusion.

Discord logs show that while PlugWalkJoe acquired the Twitter account @6 through “ever so anxious,” and briefly personalized it, he was not otherwise involved in the conversation. PlugWalkJoe, who said his real name is Joseph O’Connor, added in an interview with The Times that he had been getting a massage near his current home in Spain as the events occurred.

“I don’t care,” said Mr. O’Connor, who said he was 21 and British. “They can come arrest me. I would laugh at them. I haven’t done anything.”

Mr. O'Connor said other hackers had informed him that Kirk got access to the Twitter credentials when he found a way into Twitter’s internal Slack messaging channel and saw them posted there, along with a service that gave him access to the company’s servers. People investigating the case said that was consistent with what they had learned so far. A Twitter spokesman declined to comment, citing the active investigation.

All of the transactions involving “lol” and “ever so anxious” took place before the world knew what was going on. But shortly before 3:30 p.m., tweets from the biggest cryptocurrency companies, like Coinbase, started asking for Bitcoin donations to the site cryptoforhealth.com.

“we just hit cb,” an abbreviation for Coinbase, Kirk wrote to “lol” on Discord a minute after taking over the company’s Twitter account.

The public ledger of Bitcoin transactions shows that the Bitcoin wallet that paid to set up cryptoforhealth.com was the wallet that Kirk had been using all morning, according to three investigators, who said they could not speak on the record because of the open investigation.

In several messages on Wednesday morning, “ever so anxious” talked about his need to get some sleep, given that it was later in the day in England. Shortly before the big hacks began, he sent a phone message to his girlfriend saying, “nap time nap time,” and he disappeared from the Discord logs.

Kirk quickly escalated his efforts, posting a message from accounts belonging to celebrities like Kanye West and tech titans like Jeff Bezos: Send Bitcoin to a specific account and your money would be sent back, doubled.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Twitter seemed to catch up with the attacker, and the messages stopped. But the company had to turn off access for broad swaths of users, and days later, the company was still piecing together what had happened.

Twitter said in a blog post that the attackers had targeted 130 accounts, gaining access and tweeting from 45 of that set. They were able to download data from eight of the accounts, the company added.

“We’re acutely aware of our responsibilities to the people who use our service and to society more generally,” the blog post read. “We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry.”

When “ever so anxious” woke up just after 2:30 a.m. in Britain, he looked online, saw what had happened and sent a disappointed message to his fellow middleman, “lol.”

“i’m not sad more just annoyed. i mean he only made 20 btc,” he said, referring to Kirk’s Bitcoin profits from the scam, which translated to about $180,000.

Kirk, whoever he was, had stopped responding to his middlemen and had disappeared.

[ryuunosenshi]

Me: *sees videos and screenshots and convos of people playing GW2 with their friends/guild and all the funny moments and shenanigans that come with it*

Me: ‘'aaaw man I wish I had a large group of friends to (role)play with, it looks like they’re having a great time'’

Also me: *too terrified to even say hello to another player or thank them after someone revives me or whisper someone to join a guild that seems nice because what if they think I'm stupid or desperate or a lame new player who doesn't know or understand anything*

on a similar note:

Other player: *tries to talk to me but uses a lot of game slang/abbreviations*

Me: *sobbing* ‘’You’re such an angel for wanting to talk to me but I’m still relatively new to the gaming community and I’m not a very good gamer and I’m sure you’re using abbreviations because it’s simpler and faster for you and I don’t want to be a burden and ask for you to change and use full sentences and even if I did I couldn’t anyway because I can’t do the whole ‘playing the game/typing in chat’ multitask thing quick enough and now you probably think I’m a massive dick for not responding but please I just don’t know what you’re saying or what you want from me’’ 

but also....

Some Guild in chat: ‘’HI! We’re (guild name) and we’re looking for new members, come join us and let’s have fun! New players welcome’’

Me, a new player, desperately wanting to join a guild and make friends: Oh, they don’t mean me. They can’t possibly mean me. No, they’re looking for those new players who somehow have complete and perfect knowledge of everything from all the game mechanics to the lore and can quote NPC dialogue from places they’ve never even been.. yeah.. those new players which is probably every new player except me.

[gta5mobile373bestblog-blog]

How To Download Gta 5 Mods On Android

Redmi 5 Gaming Performance Overview

A lot of mobile games are frustrating fluff. A Russian developer team develops the most well known game GTA V, for mobile devices. At present, only standard functions are offered in the game. Walking, running, driving and fighting. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City marked a return of the mobile phone following being absent in Grand Theft Auto two and Grand Theft Auto III The mobile phone's role remains unchanged as it is often used in between missions and significant events, but primarily complements face-to-face interactions among characters.

Download the app from Google Play Retailer (click) and play GTA 5 on Android now. We're also proud to have a GTA 5 Cheats app that you can download for both iOS and Android It gives you the quickest and easiest access to all the cheats on your mobile telephone or tablet. You ought to at least have android 5. device and minimum RAM of 2 GB. Please make certain that your mobile has at least two GB of no cost space for a smooth gaming encounter. Let's jump to the download and installation guidelines.

GTA 2 APK for Android Cost-free Download Complete Version We offer you complete version of GTA 2 APK files for Android Phones with complete Safety Grand Theft Auto 2 APK is an app you can download for no cost from top down point of view Lovers of Gta can get the virus free of charge internet site to download this version of game. GTA five impress us with amazing graphics uncommon for mobile phones or tablet devices. While keeping graphics maximally eye-catching, wonderful and colorful, it nonetheless manages to keep realistic visuals and detailed components in every single aspect of the game.

GTA or Grand Theft Auto is the most loved and 1 of the most well-liked games readily available for Pc or gaming consoles. This game is something each and every game wants to play and the GTA V (5th installment) is the successor to games like GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, GTA IV, and so on. The GTA V was released extended back in 2013-14. The GTA IV was released in 2008 and mark my words all these GTA games are fabulous. You cannot stop playing this game when you have began it. The game delivers so https://gta5mobile812amazingblog.site123.me/#section-5d95f46651fe4 numerous customizations, vehicles, and a substantial map had been missions that you will need to comprehensive are just in a substantial quantity. The initial GTA game was released back in 1998 and it became a hit among the gamers and because then, it is just history.

Grand Theft Auto, abbreviated to GTA, is a video game series developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Style) and published by Rockstar Games. If you're searching for additional information about Grand Theft Auto like screenshots, reviews and comments you should really visit our information web page about it. Under you come across the best options.

Initially thing, as we previously referenced previously, is the illustrations. To make GTA 5 versatile all the a lot more benevolent for telephones, the makers connected a wonderful deal of minor changes. For that reason, when you get GTA 5 Android on your mobile, you will most likely make the appearance, remembering that there will be no difficulties with stops or at all.

Grand Theft Auto is the series of games that gained the fans all more than the globe. It is so popular, even the folks, who are not interested in video games, know a point or two about the cycle. No wonder people began to look for GTA 5 android. Step 3: Now you will have a folder named com.rockstargames.gtasa”. Grand Theft Auto V (GTA five) utilized to be released in the fall of 2013 and proper now modified the panorama for open-globe video games once again.

GTA V APK or Grand Theft Auto V (GTA five) is a video game developed by Rockstar North- a subsidiary of Rockstar Games. GTA V is the 15th solutions of the Grand Theft Auto series, which is the sequel to Grand Theft Auto IV, was released on September 17, 2013, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation three. The game was also released on Xbox One and PlayStation four on November 18, 2014, then published on the Computer on April 14, 2015. The GTA V is expected to be released in early 2013. Even so, because of the technical difficulties, the game was delayed and was released in September of the very same year.

Although the hardware capabilities of mobile devices are growing rapidly and the boundaries of what can be achieved in mobile games in terms of visuals, detail, size and scope increase with them, the most thriving mobile games nevertheless opt for a very simple, cartoony art direction and do not invest in flashy graphics for the sake of reaching the broadest audience attainable.

[saitou-shuka]

ShukaBlog 2017.04.17: Visiting the One I Love.

[Original Post] [←Zenkai no ShukaBlog!]

Visiting the one I love.

On April 16th, 2017, I went to visit someone I love.

That’s right! I went to Numazu, where You-chan and the others are!!

You might be thinking “Why did you go?”

I happened to see all this birthday celebratory stuff on Twitter and other places on the web...

And I thought, “It’s no good unless I see all of this with my own two eyes!”

Then I was like “I’m gonna bring my mom and older brother!!” So we came to visit Numazu together!

We threw our plans together on the 15th for an impromptu day-before trip! Lol

The sounds of “Numazu! Numazu!” kept echoing in my heart. I couldn’t stop them.

You-chan’s birthday is 4/17 I really wanted to visit the day-of, but... There was no way for me to go that day....

So instead, I came to visit Numazu the day before, on the 16th!!!

I picked out all the places that I definitely had to visit. Then Shuka went strolling around town.

First off, first off! You-chan’s house!! We went to Orandakan!!!*

*(Note: In real life, You’s house is a cafe called Orandakan.)

The inside of the shop was also packed with You-chan:

There was a lot of stuff celebrating her birthday too!!!

“I’m happy. So happy...” Saitou cried while meeting the employees at Orandakan for the first time.

After that, a You-chan taxi appeared outside—!

One of the reasons I rushed here is because I heard rumors that the taxis were back! It’s a miracle that I actually found one though!!

Since this was my first time seeing a You-chan taxi in a while... I was bouncing up and down.

Wait, it was more like I was squirming with delight lol

What’s more, Uchicchii was there to ride with me too! I also got to borrow a You hat!

We rode the taxi and toured Numazu together!

While we were going around Numazu... The driver pointed out all these little places and taught us about them. Saying stuff like, “Oh, this is where that one part of the anime took place!”

Once again, when I thought about how the Aqours girls grew up in a place like this, somehow it made me really happy.

To the You-chan taxi driver Who pointed out so many little places from the anime to us... And who took the time to check those places out and study them...

Thank you so much.

⚠️ I will not be revealing the driver’s name since it is personal information.

Then, we visited Shougatsu.*

*(Note: Confectionery shop in Numazu. In the drama CDs, CYaRon! “worked” there part-time; and in real life, the second-year seiyuu visited the shop and helped to make some of the confections.)

Message Text:

Statement of Gratitude

To Shougatsu’s visitors:

Thank you so much.

Since Chika-chan, You-chan, and Ruby-chan came to work part-time here, many more people have started visiting Shougatsu. We’re just a small shop in the middle of nowhere, but thank you so much for always taking the time to shop here anyway.

In addition to expressing our gratitude, we have a couple of things we must apologize for...

☆ Sorry that the three in CYaRon! were absent from work for a long period of time, leaving the shop unattended...*

☆ Sorry that our mikan dorayaki and mikan pound cake are constantly sold out.

☆ Sorry that we shortened our business hours.

Even though we’re like this, we’ll continue to be in your care in the future.

Shougatsu

*(Note: In one of CYaRon!’s drama CDs, Chika, You, and Ruby work part-time at Shougetsu. They pretty much left the store and ditched work for the majority of the drama lol.)

I haven’t been here since “Strolling with Aqours”!!*

*(Note: This is bonus footage from BD2, where the second years visited various places around Numazu.)

Hehe, I was really happy when you remembered me ♡ We shared some really vigorous handshakes lol

Sorry that the three in CYaRon! were absent from work for so long!! ( ･᷄-･᷅ )

Then... I also wrote lots of notes for others to read in the guestbooks and stuff.

Numazu Gamers*

*(Shuka uses the abbreviation “Numaazu” here. In Japanese, “gamers” is “geemaazu”, so Numazu Gamers is commonly shortened to “Numaazu”. Clever pun. Doesn’t quite work in English, though. You have to admit “Numers” sounds pretty dumb.)

Message Text: April 16, 2017 Today is the day before You-chan’s birthday. So, I came to visit Numazu 😊♡ Saitou is really happy to see so many messages. Thank you very much. It’s a day early, but... Happy Birthday You-chan! I’ll always be with you ♡ BY: Saitou Shuka.

Shougatsu

Message Text: 2017.4.16 Today, I came to visit my beloved Shougatsu before You-chan’s birthday 😊♡ Sorry Chika, You, and Ruby were absent from work for so long... 😣 (haha)

SUN! SUN! Sunshine Cafe

Message Text: I came to visit Numazu 😊 April 16, 2017 It’s a day early but... Happy Birthday You-chan. I’ll always be with you ♡

Since I took the time to secretly leave all these messages...  Please take a look when you visit Numazu, okay!!!

It really was a day full of happiness and blessings.

A single day wasn’t nearly enough time for me to tour the whole area. Although there were some places I wanted to visit that I couldn’t visit...

It was still a ridiculously satisfying day.

And since today was a day trip with my family I suddenly barged into a lot of different places.

My apologies for surprising all of you staff members. I must have interrupted your work, too... I’m sorry.

And to everyone who just happened to be at those stores, too... Sorry for surprising you guys.

Sorry for bothering all of you. I even barged in while some of you were eating...

But, once again, I could reeeeeeeally feel everyone’s love. All the warmth and love from everyone in Numazu.

I felt so blessed. Thanks.

And You-chan— Happy birthday.

I’ll always be on your side. I’m right with you.

You seem so skilled and talented, but you’re actually a bit clumsy. I really like that part of you.

I’ll continue be in your care in the future!

Today I’ll say bye around here! Sorry it’s so late at night!!!

Next Post→

[pkgam]

Dissecting “Nintendo Hard”and The Difficulty

Considering I beat Zelda 1′s regular quest fairly recently, I was inspired to type up a little post on this. Almost every gamer has heard this phrase before regardless of how long they have been gaming because it’s so iconic. Yes, even relatively new players because chances are the phrase will be thrown around by others when talking other games. It is a reference to the NES games that were so blisteringly hard that your skin melted off playing them without saying too much more. Like an abbreviation or acronym since if you hear it, you know it’s referring to HARD. I’ve seen it used to describe games like Super Meat Boy and Dark Souls for instance.

The term isn’t totally accurate though because the games on the NES were not all made by Nintendo. Stuff like Mega Man is Capcom and Contra is Konami. They were “licensed” by Nintendo to be made on the system, but not really Nintendo's doing. Also, there were hard games on platforms before the NES so I’m not exactly sure how the term got related specifically to Nintendo. Maybe because people who grew up on the NES coined it?

Why were so many games made so hard back in that time period anyway? There were a few reasons. Back when arcades were big, people wanted that arcade-like experience at home. Well, arcade games generally were made to be ridiculously hard so you’d keep pumping quarters in them. But not really “hard” so much as it is “unfair”. I know some people hate when I use that term to describe a type of difficulty they like, but I don’t know how else to put it. It’s like when people hate using the term “grinding” in RPGs and prefer “power leveling” or “training”. Games like Dragon’s Lair didn’t give you enough time to react to threats so you had to memorize your way through, but when you’d learn everything, you could essentially pop in a quarter and beat the game anytime you wanted every time. Spectators who knew of the game but couldn’t make it through themselves thought you were a wizard (lol) of difficult games. But it’s not really “difficult” because you aren’t given a chance to react with pure skill, all you are doing is memorizing your way through. The same goes with figuring out games like Mega Man or Contra. The date of Dragon’s Lair’s release? 1983, the year of the NES’s realease. :P Now, I’m not saying that it’s Dragon Lair’s fault of course, lol! It’s just that it was one of many games of the time (or before) that were made unfair to suck the quarters out of you. But because arcade games generally had better graphics or whatnot, they were still considered the definitive gaming experience and thus people hoped for that at home.

The next reason was that because carts didn’t have all that memory for large games, they used difficulty to artificially increase the length of a game so people couldn’t beat the game in a short time and make them feel like they paid a lot of money for little game time. So like Dragon’s Lair, it you take you hours upon hours of retries until you memorized your way through them, but after that you could beat most of them in under an hour. Speaking of grinding in RPGs above, grinding was also a tactic used to artificially increase game length back in the days (it still is in some like Final Fantasy really. XD) because new players would not know how to manipulate the game’s mechanics to beat them at a low level (Dragon Warrior NES can be beat at level 7 in speedruns nowadays for instance, but for the longest time I think level 17 was considered the minimum level to beat the final boss.), so the only way around it was to play the game as intended: grind to a high enough level to beat the enemies so they wouldn’t overwhelm you with sheer power, reach the next area and repeat until you beat it. Namely because when you would be at a high enough level, you could finally use real strategy to win fights since you aren’t being killed in like 1-2 hits. So battles on stronger foes than your character basically didn’t turn skillful until your grinding off of the scrubs would make your character climb the grnding wall. The third reason is that progressing was often made to be incredibly obscure. This is another way to also artificially increase game length, but is a entirely different demon. See, maybe a game isn’t overly unfair or grindy, but maybe it’ll stop you in your tracks because there’s some specific combination you have to do to make progress. Remember my talk about beating Zelda 1 above? Combat isn’t unfair for the most part. But finding your way to dungeons? Good luck getting through it without some help because chances are you’ll never make it to the end of the game due to the obscure mandatory secrets and little to no help finding them. The same with Zelda 2. Now, “supposedly” the NES Zeldas were designed to be beat through community effort of finding secrets and sharing info. But it was still a way to artificially lengthen the game because a whole community going in to it blind would have to try bombing every wall and burning every tree at a dead end (You know what dialog I’m referring to if you played it, lol!) and there’s a LOT of those in the game. XD

The fourth and final reason I have been able to think up is that designers often didn’t know what they were doing. Some designers didn’t know how to make something fair even if they wanted to and even if they did, time constraints and/or corporate pressure (Making them more “arcade-like” for instance...) sometimes pushed them to put out what they had rather than refine it into their vision. The designers that knew what they were doing though? Wow did they ever make timeless games! New players now can pick them up and enjoy them just as much as the players did back when they were first released. Most players probably didn’t even realize it at the time though.

Well... I guess there’s a fifth reason and it’s unrelated to unfair game design: The players themselves! If you give a game that is fair to a newbie, expect them to struggle with it regardless because they. Because gaming was relatively new to people, they didn’t have much experience playing them and thus even the simplest jump over a pit to a 1-block landing before another pit (I bet 4-2 and 8-1 made many players poop themselves) may seem virtually impossible to a newbie between the pressures of the pit itself and their low skill in jumping. So perhaps a game like Mario 1 which is mostly fair (8-3 is the exception because of all the Hammer Bros...), ends up being a 30 hour game for a new player with 29 of those hours being practice and the last hour being the successful run through accumulation of skill. (yes, I know you can beat the game in well under an hour, but remember we’re talking newbies here.)

I think players from the NES days confuse that as well because if you are new to something, you don’t realize what’s bull and what’s fair because you don’t have experience in it yet. They just see it as being something they have to get the hang of in some way and that ends up being their memory of it, for better or worse. “Nintendo Hard” I guess could end up being anything at that point. Of course we now know the difference between “hard” and “unfair” though, at least most players. So games nowadays end up seeming easier than games way back because not only do most designers know what they are doing, the longtime players do as well. So the combination of pure skill and fair gameplay make for smoother plays. Plus since games can be made bigger and longer due to having virtually no limitations to gameplay (you could even put them on multiple discs/carts if you wanted), they no longer feel the need to artificially increase game difficulty to increase game length.

But unfair games aside, game difficulty definitely varies a lot more nowadays than it used to, which has a way of irking some longtime players. But I bet you that every gamer who gathered games for the last two gens could name games that were hard without being unfair. Of course my examples would be stuff like DanceDanceRevolution II ( :P ) and New Super Luigi U. Meaning it’s more of a matter of seeking out games that are of the difficulty you want (which is easier than ever to find out about nowadays) rather than expecting nearly every game to be hard like it used to be due to the first four reasons. Thus what we’re really seeing now is actually just more difficulty diversity. I guess you could say there’s very easy, easy, normal, hard, very hard, super hard and unfair. :P

Your thoughts? Thanks for reading and have a good one!

[lazuliblade]

I'm surprised ppl haven't brought up Yuuri's gaming hobby. Imagine him and Yurio playing Smash Bros with Yuuri coming out super savage on cat son. Also imagine the trio doing a let's play of Resident Evil 7 with Yuuri playing with stone, cold eyes while Yurio and Victor are scared out of their wits. Lastly, imagine Phichit and Yuuri doing LPs in off seasons during their Detroit days

(Referring to Yuuri’s Japanese Skating Federation online bio. I added the arrow and box to point where it says ゲーム“game” - gaming/video gaming)

Thinking about it…I’ve only seen maybe one or two fanfiction/Tumblr drabbles early EARLY in the season that touched on Yuuri with gaming and I think I’ve seen a couple of fanart here and there. There might be more now, but I don’t watch AO3 every hour, so I do miss some stories (if anyone knows some good fics on this, please rec them!).

I may not be as avid a player as I used to be, but that doesn’t mean I can’t talk a decent amount about video games~ I’m putting a majority of this post behind a cut because it got a bit long with musing on what game genre and platforms he might play, along with some headcanons.

I’m pretty sure Yuuri’s athlete+student lifestyle would mean the depth of his gaming hobby is going to be similar to Yuzuru’s gaming hobby - perhaps a little more since gaming is Yuuri’s only major hobby, or perhaps a little less now that Victor is spending time with him. Regarding Yuzu, he trains hard on and off the ice, balances university work, is a serious audiophile, and has other obligations (advertisements, ice shows, publicity, etc.). But when he plays games, he’s a completionist. His beloved series is Monster Hunter (check out those links for the commercials). When Yuzu has his foot in a cast, or gets out from surgery and is on bed rest, he says that he catches up on schoolwork and plays videogames.

So I imagine that Yuuri also has little time to be a hardcore gamer, but if that’s his single notable hobby, he’ll probably sink time into games that can be done on the go, or games that don’t require lots of planning and forethought (unlike, say Fire Emblem or 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors). Basically, the ideal games would be the kind that he can drop back into, see what the next quest/next dungeon is, and can get back on track. Games that feature lots of grinding, such as RPGs/MMORPGs, are good because they’re pretty straightforward, have repetitive actions/tasks, and offer a range of options and sideplots to keep them interesting for a long time.

Some games/series I headcanon him playing are Pokemon, Elder Scrolls, some of the classic Nintendo series (Mario, Zelda, and Metroid), some Square Enix RPGs (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest), maybe the Tales of series, Monster Hunter (super popular in Japan) and he would likely play some phone app games because of their mobility.For those unfamiliar with phone gaming, there are some great developers that are capitalizing on the iOS and Android market, so it’s not like Yuuri would be limited to simpler games like fruit ninja or candy crush – after all, in real life we’re seeing a YOI x Shingeki no Bahamut collaboration.Smash Bros. and Mario Kart would be classic series I definitely see him playing with Phichit too. (I wonder which character he would pick?)Perhaps he would also have FPS (First Person Shooters) on his computer that he could play in short bursts. He doesn’t seem to have a gamer’s laptop, so I doubt he’s serious about PC gaming, but logging in every now and then and doing a few quick rounds in Left4Dead or TF2? I could see that. He doesn’t need to actively chat, and could still enjoy playing with teams - he could be the silent player who makes all the kill shots.On that note–“imagine the trio doing a let’s play of Resident Evil 7 with Yuuri playing with stone, cold eyes while Yurio and Victor are scared out of their wits.”When I read “stone, cold eyes” I immediately thought of this:

He’s got the dead-eye stare thing down.

LOL(League of Legends) and WOW (World of Warcraft) are super popular and have servers in different countries, so they could be contenders as well. He could polish his English here, too. So imagine Yuuri being super good with online slang and chatting. Even though Phichit spends a lot of time on various social media platforms and likely absorbs all sorts of English phrases, Yuuri has no trouble keeping up with any of his abbreviations and random text speak.I’m not ruling out console gaming, but he would need to have a TV to connect to and I didn’t see one in his room - unless he keeps it tucked away in the closet for some reason. Maybe on some nights when he was younger and the onsen wasn’t busy, he would pull out the GameCube or Wii and play with Mari in the living room.I can imagine him living with Victor in his apartment. While some people would share the movies they’ve liked over the years and watch them together on the couch, Yuuri would bring up that he watched much less movies than he played video games. And when Yurio comes over, he learns this and challenges him to battles – where he promptly gets destroyed (just like at the banquet). Yuuri doesn’t mean to make him feel that inferior in skill, but… he has a reputation to keep, he’s not losing to some rookie, and he knows if he went easy on Yurio then Yurio would only get even more angry.Imagine Yuuri telling Victor during breakfast about his progress in a game recently:

“So I was playing this RPG and the ice magic mod that I installed was glitching so that it drained my mana faster than my pots could replenish it even when spamming–”“Yuuri, love, I don’t have a clue what any of those terms mean. Take pity on me and explain them?”

Personally, I’m curious what character archetype he would play as. Berserker? “I just want to smash and cut things up because in real life I get so tied up in details and insecurities - this is a release.” Archer? “I don’t like being in the thick of things, and it’s super satisfying to do a kill-shot from a distance.” Mage? “I love that I get to use something that doesn’t exist in this world. But in a way, it’s like every time I skate I cast magic on the ice, so I kind of like that I can cast magic for real.”Swordsman? “I want to be the type of classic brave protagonist I could never be in real life.”Considering that now we have a collaboration for the phone app of Shingeki no Bahamut (Rage of Bahamut), I’d like to think he prefers playing as a swordsman of some sort…

I’m ending here because I could make headcanons for ages about what Yuuri would do with a game if he played it. Point is, there’s a variety of options Yuuri has if he wants to play games while travelling or training anywhere in the world, and there are certain genre he’s more likely to play because of his lifestyle’s time constraints. Gamer!Yuuri is such a fun aspect to think about.

[dailykhaleej]

New Royals owner’s first Opening Day is time to focus on ‘the greater good’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The morning dawned shiny and sunny over Kauffman Stadium, simply to the east of downtown Kansas Metropolis. The outfield grass was a wonderfully manicured ocean of inexperienced, the infield grime brushed as if by a fine-toothed comb. Within the air was a pervasive feeling of spring, of hope and alternative and new beginnings.

Lacking had been the crack of a bat and the sound of leather-based hitting a mitt.

This was supposed to be the first Opening Day for the Kansas Metropolis Royals beneath new proprietor John Sherman, the achievement of a lifelong ambition for the native businessman. He had bought the membership late final yr from longtime proprietor David Glass, and the previous season ticket-holder was wanting ahead to seeing his rebuilding franchise on the sector.

As an alternative, the stadium sat empty, like Main League Baseball’s different 29 ballparks, because the outbreak of the brand new coronavirus brings sports activities to a standstill, and amid the persevering with uncertainty whether or not baseball might be performed in any respect this season.

“We want that we had been enjoying baseball at the moment,” Sherman informed The Related Press in an electronic mail, “however we’re rightly prioritizing different issues for the greater good. We’re targeted on preserving our folks protected — our households, our associates, our gamers and coaches and our followers. We additionally need to be current in our group serving to those that want it essentially the most.”

So relatively than giving followers a few hours of leisure — Salvador Perez throwing out a runner, Alex Gordon making a diving seize in left area, Adalberto Mondesi ripping a double into the hole — the membership spent Opening Day launching the Royals Reply initiative to assist the Kansas Metropolis group cope with the virus outbreak.

The Royals created a web site together with The College of Kansas Well being System that gives tips on hygiene and slowing the speed of transmission. Their charitable arm has developed a fund to help native nonprofits caring for these affected by the COVID-19 disaster, and grants supported by followers might be given to Harvesters, The Group Meals Community, Don Bosco Heart’s Meals on Wheels program and myriad different meals pantries and group outreach organizations.

A number of gamers have gotten in on the motion, too. Perez filmed a public service announcement that encourages followers to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” whereas they’re washing their fingers. New supervisor Mike Matheny, who was wanting ahead to Opening Day as a lot as anybody, joined a number of gamers in a sequence of PSAs.

“Clearly, you begin seeing among the different issues which were canceled,” Matheny mentioned, “and you realize that’s going to have an impact on plenty of totally different folks in plenty of totally different areas. You could have to additionally understand individuals are attempting to do the correct factor and with that in thoughts, it’s arduous to go down the highway too far. We’re going to do the correct factor for everybody concerned.”

For now, which means placing baseball on maintain for one thing way more essential.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred lately introduced every large league membership has dedicated $1 million to assist help hundreds of ballpark staff who would have spent Thursday promoting scorching canines and beer and different souvenirs. Most are paid on a per-game foundation, and which means any minimize within the schedule represents a big lack of earnings.

“It’s a whole effort,” Royals common supervisor Dayton Moore mentioned. “From a united baseball entrance, we’re all doing every little thing we will to help what commissioner Manfred has applied at this level in time.”

Manfred mentioned in an interview Wednesday he hopes baseball can start making ready for an abbreviated season sooner or later in Could. However pinpointing a date stays unimaginable as executives stroll a tremendous line between beginning as quickly as attainable — every day missed means tens of millions in misplaced income — and as quickly as specialists decide it’s protected.

Within the meantime, there are dozens of different particulars to work out: whether or not gamers who’re set to be free brokers after 2020 are nonetheless granted that chance; when the commerce deadline would happen throughout a shortened season; would there be a rise in doubleheaders or a lower in off-days; extending the season into October or November, when climate normally turns into a difficulty; and the potential for an expanded playoffs this season.

These are all points that MLB and its gamers affiliation try to work out as Opening Day comes and goes.

“We’re not even going to hypotheticals at this level,” Moore mentioned. “Proper now we’re simply targeted on what commissioner Manfred indicated, and our gamers are doing very nicely mentally and really nicely bodily, they usually perceive they’ve an ethical accountability, if you’ll, to do what’s proper for our group.”

Which means an empty ballpark on what has grow to be an unofficial vacation in America. It means empty parking tons, replays of previous video games on tv and an indefinite await Sherman earlier than he can see his very personal crew take the sector.

“In fact we — like everybody — need to get again to the sport we love. We glance ahead to a brand new Opening Day,” the Royals’ new proprietor mentioned. “Within the meantime, we’re finishing up our accountability to do the issues that may get us again not simply to baseball however to our lives and to our communities.”

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[theliterateape]

Problematic Movies of the '80s | Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

By Don Hall

In high school (1980–1984) I was part of a group of four known throughout the school as The Four Guys. There was Lynn, the eventual valedictorian of our class who was about four foot eleven with a huge strawberry birthmark on his face. Lew, a Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast who was both a drummer in the band and played the organ for fun. Merc (his last name was Mercer and, given we were both named Don, the abbreviation stuck) a soft-hearted Christian rock kid with a goofy smile and built like a Great Dane pup. And me. Known as Don R. because I signed my name with the middle initial and my debate coach thought that was funny.

We did skits in classes that didn’t call for them. We played hearts at lunch. We were all four in the band. Lynn was super-smart as was Lew. I was bigger and louder than my three friends so when the jocks wanted to beat on us, they always had to go through me first. Lynn and I were debate partners and led our team to regional, state, and national victories. We all four loved computer class with Coach Strong. We graduated as the top four in our tiny class: Lynn, then Lew, then Merc, then me.

We were nerds.

We didn’t really care that we were nerds nor that the football players made fun of us. My girlfriend and I broke up my senior year so Lew was my prom date and we had a ball. Lynn probably never once saw himself as a nerd because he was so razor sharp that he just carried himself as slightly bullet proof. Of course, I was almost always in some sort of battle with the jocks because I had (had?) such a big goddamn mouth, but we were nerds of the highest level.

We graduated in 1984 and all four of us went of to college just like Lewis (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert (Anthony Edwards) in a movie that sought to define the dilemma faced by nerds across America.

What film is more iconic of the ‘80s than Revenge of the Nerds? What iconic film of the ‘80s is more prescient for today?

It is easy to connect the idea of the Nerds using the hazing tactics and bullying methods against their Frat Boy and Sorority Sister Oppressors to the social justice movements of today. In 2019, the marginalized, outcast, oppressed minorities of identity have taken to utilizing the strategies of the Alt Right to turn the table on them. In the ‘80s it was the wealthy frat boys using public shaming and media shout outs to shame the Left into losing elections. Today, the Rage Profiteers on the Fringe Left use online call outs, prank videos, and YouTube gotcha moments to do the same thing.

Don’t get me wrong, the Alt Right uses these tools as well but the Radical SJWs out there are smarter than them and far better at it. Just recently there’s been squawk about the scene at the end when the head of the Bad Guy Sorority gets tricked into having sex with the head nerd, so that may be quite problematic. Nikki Sixx, in his book The Dirt and the subsequent Netflix film, tells a random story about having sex with a groupie who was so wasted that he switched out with Tommy Lee and she didn’t notice, which sounds similarly horrifying, was in real life, and Motley Crüe were hardly nerds.

Anyway, that’s about all I can remember. This was not one of my favorite comedies of the day but I recall liking it.

Revenge of the Nerds Directed by Jeff Kanew Written by Tim Metcalfe, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Steve Zacharias, & Jeff Buhai

The set up is relatively simple and the film wastes little time establishing things through the use of broad stereotypes. Gilbert and Lewis are nerds going to college. They drive up to Adams College, get a dorm room, and due to the stupid jock frat (the Alpha Betas) who burn their house down by drunkenly blowing fireballs at a set of curtains, are moved with an entire group of nerds to a corner of the gymnasium. Here they meet Booger (Curtis Armstrong), Poindexter (Timothy Busfield), Lamar (Larry B. Scott), and Takashi (Brian Tochi). The group of nerds find a rundown house on campus, fix it up, and apply to be a fraternity house.

They only manage to become a probationary member of Lambda Lambda Lambda, a black national fraternity, through a by-law. When the Alpha Betas are threatened by the nerds joining their game, they try to destroy them and the nerds fight back and win. It’s not terribly complex and it isn’t supposed to be. Relying on the caricatures of drunken white frat boy jocks, big-boned nerd girls in the Omega Moo sorority, John Goodman as an abusive asshole football coach, David Wohl as the milquetoast Dean, and the broad swath of nerds in the Tri-Lambda frat makes for some quick setups and quicker storytelling.

It is notable that venerated actor James Cromwell is listed as “Jamie Cromwell” in his short role as Lewis’ father.

Problematic Moments/Themes

Oh, Nelly — there are almost a catalogue list of jokes, images, and plot points of things 2019 would consider problematic.

The caricature of Takashi (Asian, pigeon English, a series of jokes around his inability to pronounce “Rs,” and perhaps the most bizarre — in the talent contest, these brainiacs decided to take the stereotyped Asian kid, dress him up as a Native American chief with feathered headdress and have him play the gong. Not only problematic but completely unnecessary.

Lamar is gay. You know he’s gay because he speaks like a girl, does aerobics, has a limp wrist and brings a guy as his date to the frat party.

Once the nerds get hazed by the Pis and Betas, they decide to take — you guessed it — revenge. For the guys, they put Liquid Heat in their jockstraps. For the girls, they stage an elaborate panty raid with plenty of gratuitous naked sorority chick shots, all to create a diversion so that Lamar and Wormer (a genius kid sent to college before he even hit puberty) to rig giant cameras (1980s…) so that they can sit on a couch and peep on the unsuspecting and surprisingly nude sorority girls. The revenge on the guys gets about four minutes of screen time and no tit shots. The revenge on the sorority gets about twenty minutes of screen time and exists almost entirely to showcase 1980s’ co-ed jugs.

And, of course, there’s the rape. And, yes. It is a rape by every definition minus the violence. Betty (the über-chick) is refused by Stan (the alpha-male) for an invitation of sex (“You’re like a goat,” he says) and Lewis, seeing Ted McGinley’s mask, takes it, pretends to be Stan and fucks Betty under these false pretenses in a funhouse. Does it matter that Lewis is so good at sex that Betty, once she sees it isn’t her boyfriend but a nerd, falls in love with Lewis? Nope. Still rape. Does it make any difference at all that Betty is not traumatized or in any sort of distress? Not at all. Still fucking rape.

Sure, at the end there is an odd co-opting of the mantra of the Civil Rights Movement to unify the nerds against the jocks but, for crying out loud, they use the black fraternity members of the national Tri-Lambdas as Black Panther muscle (marginalizing, awkward, and, yes, problematic).

In 2019, unfortunately nerds have become incels (The Involuntarily Celibate) and are so hellbent on the same basic goals as the 1984 Tri-Lambdas that even the theme song evokes images of hostile white guys plotting revenge against women who find them unattractive and end up hating women and sometimes killing them.

Mom packs us a lunch and we're off to school They call us nerds 'cause we're so uncool They laugh at our clothes They laugh at our hair The girls walk by with their nose in the air

So go ahead, put us down One of these days we'll turn it around Won't be long mark my word Time has come for revenge of the nerds

We wear horn-rimmed glasses With a heavy duty lens Button down shirts And a pocket full of pens Straight "A" students Teachers pets They call us nerds But we don't regret

While the jocks work out  With the football team We're trying to score  With the girl of our dreams You know we ain't good looking But here's the surprise (gasp) Nerds are great lovers In disguise (ah)

So go ahead put us down One of these days we'll turn it around Won't be long mark my word Time has come for revenge of the nerds

If I heard a 2019 gamer dude singing this song, I’d alert the authorities.

Did It Hold Up?

Not really. Not even close.

Overall

Scale of 1 to 10 1 = Classic 10 = Burn all VHS copies of it

Revenge of the Nerds gets a 9

Next Up: National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

[cabletechtalk]

ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero (X370,AM4) Review

You’ve probably heard about ASUS’s ROG brand. The abbreviation stands for “Republic of Gamers”, and marks those pieces of hardware that ASUS deems to be the best for gaming, overclocking, and eSports. When we combine this brand name with the new AM4 platform, we get a model that has already been proclaimed as the flagship of all ASUS motherboards. The new Crosshair VI Hero sports a great power delivery system, all the necessary ports, as well the attractive RGB lighting. Let’s go over the specs and main features of this popular model!

Specifications

Chipset – AMD X370

CPU Socket – AMD AM4 Socket

Memory – 4 DIMMs, DDR4, up to 64GB

USB – 8x USB 3.0 Type-A, 4x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x USB 3.1 Type-C

Audio – ROG CODEC S1220

Top Features of this ASUS AM4 Motherboard

This Motherboard comes in a packaging that’s typical for the ROG products, featuring the famous combination of black and red colors. There are a number of useful accessories here – a Q-connector block, an extension cable for the RGB LEDs, an M.2 screw, four SATA cables, the SLI Bridge, and the rear IO shield. There’s also the usual documentation, as well as the sheet of stickers with ROG logos.

When it comes to the look of the motherboard itself, we have only words of praise. It’s formed with a gray and black color scheme that looks very neutral. This allows the users to more easily match the motherboard with the other PC components. Of course, the onboard LEDs will enable you to add some color to the whole build.

Memory wise, the Crosshair VI Hero allows you to place four sticks of DDR4 RAM into its DIMM slots (single-latch). You can expand it up to 64GB, which is the usual case in this price category. The manufacturer quotes support for the standard 3200MHz memory through the overclocking. Unfortunately, this is currently only possible with some memory kits, as the whole AM4 platform is still in its infancy.

There’s a total of 12 delivery phases, and they’re split between the SOC (4) and CPU (8) voltage duties. The manufacturer uses an ASP1405I PWM controller to manage the 12 MOSFETs, 6 IR3599 phase doublers, and 12 Rectifiers IR3535M drivers. The memory, on the other hand, is administered by the ASP1103 controller.

The eight SATA 6Gbps ports that are present on this model are provided by the “Promontory” X370 chipset. Every single one of these ports can be used anytime. Sadly, there is no U.2 port here, but ASUS makes up for that with a whole abundance of USB ports on the IO part. Eight 5Gbps 3.0 ports are something we don’t see very often – it’s a huge plus in our book. There are also four 2.0 ports and two 3.1 ports, as well as the Gigabit Ethernet (provided by Intel’s I211AT NIC).

The PCI-Express 3.0 slot houses drives that are up to 110mm long, and also handles M.2 SSDs (SATA-based). The mounting location allows the single-GPU users to install the M.2-to-U.2 adapter, which they will be able to use without interference.

On the audio side, it uses the so-called S1220 codec, combined with an ESS ES9023P DAC and the Nichicon audio capacitors. Software such as Sonic Studio III and Sonic Radar III are supported.

The UEFI of this AM4 motherboard is something we’re quite used to – it’s very similar to that of the manufacturer’s other models. The default entry page is called “Ez Mode,” allowing the user to easily control the basic settings related to boot devices and fan speeds.

What’s Wrong With it?

When compared to other competing motherboards, the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI has minimal onboard RGB LED lighting. Also, we would like to see some additional UEFI features. The UEFI is clean and straightforward, but lacks some advanced options – like the option to control the AURA RGB LED.

Pros & Cons of ROG Crosshair VI Hero

PROS

A great range of overclocking features

Good fan control with DC and PWM compatibility

Internal USB 3.1 header (10Gbps)

Works correctly with 3200MHz DDR4 when tweaked

Compatible with 3D printed accessories

CONS

No additional UEFI features

Not as much LED lighting as we’d like to see

Conclusion

If you intend to purchase a Ryzen processor, the Crosshair VI is a good choice for the motherboard. It will allow AMD’s powerful new CPU to show its power, but also comes with numerous features which are something we expected from ASUS. The model is also an excellent choice for overclockers, but also for the people who don’t like messing with these things and just want a good performance out of the box. In our opinion, the Crosshair VI Hero is certainly a model worth considering for purchase.

The post ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero (X370,AM4) Review appeared first on Cable Tech Talk.

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How to Stay on the Right Side of the FTC When Publishing a Sponsored Video

The #Sponsored session at Advertising Week 2017 promised to shed light on the do’s, don’ts, and grey areas of #sponsored content “from multiple points of view.” And the panel discussion started off strongly.

Mary Orton, the style blogger behind Memorandum and the co-founder of Trove, a mobile style app, talked about how the updated FTC requirements have changed she discloses paid partnerships. Orton said she thought #ad and #sponsored are terms from another era and a different medium. The high profile influencer added that she only works with brands that she actually uses and often creates more content than an agreement calls for because she so passionate about the brand. Now, that promised to be a point of view that coulda been a contender.

Melissa Davis, the EVP of ShopStyle, the world’s most fashionable search engine, added her two cents on how to be successful, creative, and remain authentic while working within the guidelines of the FTC.

Kim Waite, the VP Global Communications at Laura Mercier Cosmetics, disclosed how her brand has shifted traditional marketing and advertising budgets to influencer partnerships and discussed their stance on transparency and best practices.

But, then Ellie Altshuler, an attorney at Nixon Peabody, spoke. Altshuler, who specializes in influencer contracts, is the lead council for Digital Brand Architects. She discussed game-changing rulings and said the lines between influencers and celebrities are now more blurred than ever. Once she weighed in, the other three panelists deferred to her comments as if they were the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO).

So, what had promised to be a lively discussion “from multiple points of view,” turned into asymmetrical conversation with more than one panelist asking at one point or another, “What do you think, Ellie?” Nevertheless, video marketers still need to know if “Sponsored is a dirty word or new normal. So, let me summarize what Altshuler had to say about how to be successful, creative, and remain authentic while working within the guidelines of the FTC.

If you have any influence over influencers, alert them to three developments, including the FTC’s first law enforcement action against individual online influencers for their role in misleading practices. According to the FTC, Trevor Martin and Thomas Cassell – known on their YouTube channels as TmarTn and Syndicate – deceptively endorsed the online gambling site CSGO Lotto without disclosing that they owned the company.

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FTC & Law Enforcement

Here’s the backstory: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (also known as CS: GO) is an online, multiplayer, first-person shooter game. “Skins” are game collectibles that can be bought, sold, or traded for real money. Skins have another use: They can be used as virtual currency on certain gambling sites, including CSGOLotto.com. On that site, players could challenge others to a one-on-one coin flip, wagering their pooled skins. In 2015, respondent Martin posted a video touting CSGO Lotto:

We found this new site called CSGO Lotto, so I’ll link it down in the description if you guys want to check it out. But we were betting on it today and I won a pot of like $69 or something like that so it was a pretty small pot but it was like the coolest feeling ever. And I ended up like following them on Twitter and stuff and they hit me up. And they’re like talking to me about potentially doing like a skins sponsorship like they’ll give me skins to be able to bet on the site and stuff. And I’ve been like considering doing it.

Martin followed up with more videos on his YouTube channel showing him gambling on the CSGO Lotto site. In addition, he tweeted things like “Made $13k in about 5 minutes on CSGO betting. Absolutely insane” and posted on Instagram “Unreal!! Won two back to back CSGOLotto games today on stream – $13,000 in total winnings.”

Cassell promoted CSGO Lotto in a similar way, posting videos that were viewed more than five million times. In addition, he tweeted a screen shot of himself winning a betting pool worth over $2,100 with the caption “Not a bad way to start the day!” According to another tweet, “I lied . . . I didn’t turn $200 into $4,000 on @CSGOLotto. . . I turned it into $6,000!!!!” Then there’s this one: “Bruh.. i’ve won like $8,000 worth of CS:GO Skins today on @CSGOLotto. I cannot even believe it!”

Well, Bruhs, while we’re on the subject of things we cannot even believe, did either of you like consider clearly disclosing that you like owned the company – a material connection requiring disclosure under FTC law?

The complaint also challenges how the respondents ran their own influencer program for CSGO Lotto. They paid other gamers between $2,500 and $55,000 in cash or skins “to post in their social media circles about their experiences in using” the gambling site. However, the contract made clear that those influencers couldn’t make “statements, claims, or representations . . . that would impair the name, reputation and goodwill” of CSGO Lotto. And post they did on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook – in many instances, touting winnings worth thousands of dollars.

According to the FTC, Cassell, Martin, and CSGOLotto, Inc. falsely claimed that their videos and social media posts – and the videos and posts of the influencers they hired – reflected the independent opinions of impartial users. The complaint also charges that the respondents failed to disclose the material connection they had to the company – and the connection their paid influencers had. The proposed settlement requires Cassell, Martin, and the company to make those disclosures clearly and conspicuously in the future. The FTC is accepting public comments about the settlement until October 10, 2017.

An interesting aside: This isn’t the first time Cassell’s name has appeared in an FTC complaint. In a 2015 settlement with Machinima, the FTC alleged that Cassell pocketed $30,000 for two video reviews of Xbox One that he uploaded to his YouTube channel. Although the FTC didn’t sue him, the complaint in that case alleged, “Nowhere in the videos or in the videos’ descriptions did Cassell disclose that Respondent paid him to create and upload them.”

FTC: Warning Letters

The next development of interest to influencers relates to more than 90 educational letters the FTC sent to influencers and brands in April 2017, reminding them that, if influencers are endorsing a brand and have a “material connection” to the marketer, that relationship must be clearly disclosed, unless the connection is already clear from the context of the endorsement.

21 of the influencers who got the April letter just received a follow-up warning letter, citing specific social media posts the FTC staff is concerned might not be in compliance with the FTC’s Endorsement Guides. But the letters are different this time. The latest round asks the recipients to let the FTC know if they have material connections to the brands in the identified social media posts. If they do, the FTC has asked them to spell out the steps they will be taking to make sure they clearly disclose their material connections to brands and businesses.

Updated Guidance for Influencers and Marketers

The FTC has also just released an updated version of The FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking, a staff publication that answers questions about the use of endorsements, including in social media. The principles remain the same, but we’ve answered more than 20 new questions relevant to influencers and marketers on topics like tags in pictures, disclosures in Snapchat and Instagram, the use of hashtags, and disclosure tools built into some platforms. You’ll want to read the updated brochure for details, but here are four “heads up” points for influencers:

Clearly disclose when you have a financial or family relationship with a brand. “But everybody knows!” No, they don’t. It’s unwise for influencers to assume that people know all about their business relationships.

Don’t assume that using a platform’s disclosure tool is sufficient. Some platforms are starting to offer disclosure tools, but that’s no guarantee they’re an effective way for an influencer to disclose a material connection to a brand. Like so many things on social media, it’s all about context. One key consideration is placement – whether the disclosure attracts viewers’ attention, taking into account where people are likely to look on a particular platform. For example, when paging through a stream of eye-catching photos, a viewer may not spot a disclosure placed above the picture or off to the side. The ultimate responsibility for making clear disclosures is yours. That’s why you want to make sure your disclosures are hard to miss.

Avoid ambiguous disclosures like #thanks, #collab, #sp, #spon, or #ambassador. Clarity counts. When disclosing a material connection to a brand, use language that’s clear and unmistakable. It’s unlikely that abbreviations, shorthand, or arcane lingo will communicate the disclosure effectively to consumers. Think of it like football. Unless the quarterback throws the ball and the receiver catches it, it’s an incomplete pass.

Don’t rely on a disclosure placed after a CLICK MORE link or in another easy-to-miss location. Consider your own viewing habits on social media. Do you click every CLICK MORE link? We don’t either. When disclosing a brand relationship, the better approach is to hit ‘em right between the eyes. Furthermore, on image-only platforms, superimpose your disclosure over the picture in a clear font that contrasts sharply with the background.

Now, I’m not a lawyer. But, I know enough to recommend that you talk with one about how to be successful, creative, and remain authentic while working within the guidelines of the FTC. That’s right, I would have differed to the HiPPO, too. Hey, there are plenty of other things worth debating.

How to Stay on the Right Side of the FTC When Publishing a Sponsored Video was originally posted by Video And Digital Marketing Tips