#CO – Video Review

[thesimsideofluca]

15+ Sims 4 Mods that will change your game forever 

In today's video I get to show my favorite sims 4 mods that I honestly don't think I could live without! I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do and that you are able to learn something new from today's video!

Here are all of the links in the same order as the video:

Main menu Override by @vixonspixels

Sunrise by Lot 51

Make the bed by @utopya-cc

Iphone 15 pro max by @hera-sim

UI cheats by Weerbesu

Sim Control Hub by Dquiet

Steady Sim & Seat any Sim by @amellce

Smarter Pie Menu by @twistedmexi

Try to make friends by @carl-sims

Object destroy cheat by @twistedmexi

LLamazon Marketplace by @ravasheencc

Functional drinks tray by @somik-severinka

Cookbook S&S by @somik-severinka

Cake a Break by @ravasheencc

Home Barista by @littlbowbub

Functional Topicals faded eye masks by @largetaytertots

Shoutout to all of these amazing creators for their love and creations! @largetaytertots @littlbowbub @ravasheencc @somik-severinka @twistedmexi @carl-sims @amelice @hera-sim @utopya-cc @vixonspixels and the many more that I couldn't find here on Tumblr!

Lots of love,

The Sim Side of Luca

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Sonic Advance 3

Sonic Advance 3 is a curious game. It disregards the speed-focused design of its predecessor, but it doesn’t return to the classic style of the original Advance. Instead it forges its own path, partially based on the teamwork-based systems of Sonic Heroes, to create an experimental co-operative 2D Sonic platformer. One that’s long-winded and often tedious, but nevertheless ambitious enough that it might be worth trying out. 

Read more...

[lokh]

why is the search on youtube fucking garbage

[whimseysthrone]

Immersion & Worldbuilding in Co-op Video Games

Void Crew, Deep Rock Galactic, and Helldivers 2: three co-op games, three “shooters” (kind of, more on that later), and three games that build on their own self-contained fiction. I’ve played all three. I’ve enjoyed all three. So why do I only admire two of them? Continue reading Immersion & Worldbuilding in Co-op Video Games

[exoticalmonde]

So me and my bestest friend @notanegrill began playing a game about making stories. It's called Storybook, and as the title suggests we're coming together to create the most legendary story of them all.

V: *Opens first page*

Me, normal voice: "At the end of this book lies a crown-"

V: "NO! STORYTELLER VOICE!"

Me, using that one voice from the Theatre scene in 'We Were Here': "It is bestowed only to the finest storytellers of the realm."

V: "Hehe, way better."

Spoilers Ahead:

So we start the world as any world begins, with a tale as old as time - Adam and Eve. Which is... Me! Me and V because I will pick his ribs clean if he doesn't 100% the achievements (he enjoys it, ok)

And we were both excited for 0.7 seconds before V hits me with the important questions of:

V: "Who is Adam, Eve?"

Me: "It's you, silly goose!"

V: "Oh, okay." c:

And like with every story that has Eve in it:

:)

It's adorable to see Bernard getting some love though!

This game just flies by so fast when it's the two of us thinking, taking turns on what gets to be where so we push the other forward where our own ideas fail us. Playing games like this with a buddy truly beats playing it alone.

It's tagged LGBTQ+ because you can put two guys or two girls in love in some of the frames and it's adorable. They interact well.

Me: "Oh look! It's the tiers of regret whenever I decide to open up."

Can't believe this whole story is about how Edgar dies and forgets he's dead while being dead so he ends up shocked that he's dead when he sees himself in the mirror.

It's such a good plot for a fanfic not gonna lie... It's Genshin related and not meant to be here, but /I/ am the one who is writing this 'review' and I am the rat that makes all of the rules.

V: "These... Two pixels, why are they so hot...?"

Me: ".... Yeah."

V: "I know you want her dress."

Me: "Oh I want to BE her."

Us two: *GASP*

V: "Are you ready?"

Me: "VAMPIRE TIME."

V: *Accidentally does this because he randomly drops characters on the map after figuring out what to do.*

V: "My brain (is so big)... I'm singing up in Harvard."

V: *Struggles with the simpler map later*

Me: "I think we have to sign you off Harvard now."

AND THE ENDING IS SOOO CUTE IT'S SO SUBTLE I BARELY NOTICED BUT IT MADE US SO HAPPY TO GET TO THE ENDING.

Like giving two kids a paper crown and calling them 'champ'.

Someone in STEAM was asking how to solve the Maid and the Knight story and someone commented under it with 'God bless you'. Seriously, we managed on our own and it's all because it was 50/51 and we HAD to finish it to get to the ending.

During our reviews:

Me: "I think the graphics are beautiful. For a game that has a simple idea of making stories via characters and places being put together, everything is very well animated, interactive and apparently, given the achievements, it also has MULTIPLE options to work with."

V: "I agree. Also, there is an update in September."

Me: "Overall, it's a game I'd get if it's on sale. It's 20$ and in comparison to a visual novel with 40K words, a couple scenes, art etc. If that was 20$... I'd still think twice, but the point is - for what it is and it's original, a game I have never seen before, I think it's pretty good. It also doesn't have any background music, it could probably set the mood for some chapters. But the sound was totally good. No sounds overlap no matter how quickly you click around so it doesn't create a caccophony."

V: "Yeah, the music, or the lack of thereof is still fixable."

Me: "Well, there's the update. Might as well wait and see."

V: "Overall ranting?"

Me: "Hmmm..."

V: "On the count of three?"

Me: "Ok."

V: "Ugh I'm stuck between two... Ok, one... Two... Three!"

Me and him at the same time: "Seven."

V: "Why am I not surprised."

And that's it! It was truly a wonderful experience. Big thank you to developpers and the entire team that came up with the game. Can't wait to see what the updates may be and thank you, V, for sponsoring our gameplay.

Hope we get to play much more in the future.

[elitheaceofalltrades]

Unsolved Case - Game Review

Happy Saturday!

It's been a while since I did a game review but my friend and I played a co-op point and click puzzle game for the first time last weekend and I thought I'd talk about it. The game is called Unsolved Case, it's by Eleven Puzzles and it's free to play on steam.

The game was fairly simple and the puzzles easy. Not so easy that you were bored but simple enough to not be that much of a challenge. This was definitely a chill fun co-op than a hardcore mystery or master puzzler.

It took us about 63 minutes to complete the game in total (the devs said 30-60 so just over), which is inclusive of any cut scenes. The cutscenes were pretty interesting and were voice acted which was nice. I wouldn't say that we struggled much with any of the puzzles, though the forklift puzzle took us some time. Actually, i did struggle a bit with the TV guide puzzle as well, because (mild spoiler) I was treating it as connect the dots as opposed to bingo.

The mechanics were easy and I had a fun time playing with my friend. Both parties are required to have a copy of the game but it is free to play. You also need some way to communicate with your partner externallly as the game itself does not support audio communication. We used discord but you could use whatever calling method works best for you.

My biggest problem with the game was how it ended. The game was advertised as the prequel to the Cryptic Killer Series, however in my opinion it was a prologue to that storyline as opposed to a prequel. I'm not sure if it's a mistranslation as I know Eleven Puzzles is based in Poland or a miscommunication because I'm used to books instead of game. In my mind, a prequel is usually a book/series that is set prior to main storyline and usually used to give backstory. Where as a prologue is more the preface/introduction to a story or act. They're both similar but a prequel can be taken my itself whereas the prologue cannot exist without the rest of the work. Maybe I'm wrong in how there terms are defined and used, particularly in gaming space, but that is how I understood them going into this game. And by those standards, this game is a prolgue, not a prequel.

Unsolved Case cuts off on a cliffhanger which apparently continues in Unboxing the Cryptic Killer (which is Cryptic Kill Series Part 1). That was very much a let down and we were both startled when it ended as we felt it ended rather abruptly. (We both actually went "it ends here?" simultaneously😂😂). I get that it was supposed to entice you to play the original game but I would have preferred they call it a prologue or demo or teaser as opposed to a prequel so that i could have expected it would have had an open ending as opposed to being a game by itself. In fairness to them, Unboxing the Cryptic Killer is only like £5 and less than $10 in USD, CAD or AUD but still. If it's a free to play demo, call it that. Again though, this could simple be a miscommunication since I'm not a gamer or since English isn't their mothertongue. Still though, it unsettled me enough to take half a star off.

All in all it was a pretty fun hour of our day and it was a good low stress way to spend time together but I wouldn't play it again. Given that my final rating of this game is about 3.5 stars!

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

(There isn't a half star emoji and that makes me to sad.)

~Eli

Ace of All Trades, Pro at None😆

[mira0000000-blog]

SONIC FROMTIERS SQUID GUARDIAN OST JUMPSACARE

[staying-elive]

I gotta stop getting into arguments with guys in youtube comment sections.

[diomedrian]

Maisie needs to write a new album that is nowhere related to heartbreak and is just about thriving and having fun and being absolutely in love with her friends and there's zero boys breaking her heart cos there's zero boys she's giving attention to

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Denver's Dead Pioneers Share a Much-Needed Politically Charged Ripper

New Video: Denver's Dead Pioneers Share a Much-Needed Politically Charged Ripper @hasslerecords @grandstandhq

Denver-based punk outfit Dead Pioneers — Josh Rivera (guitar), Abe Brennan (guitar), Shane Zweygardt (drums), Algiers’ Lee Tesche (bass) and acclaimed indigenous visual and performance artist and activist Gregg Deal (vocals) — will be releasing their sophomore album PO$T AMERICAN on April 11, 2025 through Hassle Records. Deal, who is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, is a visual and…

[sweecute-jamie]

Do you know which game avatar is this ? Checkout on https://Gamepodcasts.com and play online games

[hysteric-machine]

If you haven't played Badland in co-op did you even really played in co-op at all ?

This game is so well designed for co-op that it could honestly be a learning tool for children.

The game is about little fluffy creatures creating numerous clones to survive in desolated forest full of traps. You will have to sacrifice some of them, think through and plan how they will split or stick together, and honestly it does bring a lot of things even solo but once you experience it in co-op the gameplay takes all of its meaning.

It's hard enough so even people good at video game will struggle, but the gameplay is one button push style so even novices can try it.

You continuously evolve within each level by failing over and over again to grasp what is happening and understand how to get through each obstacle, you can't clear the game without failing on obstacles the first time you encounter them, so everyone has the same learning curve each time.

You CAN'T be selfish and try to outshine other players because you will randomly have to either sacrifice yourself for others or push through an opening others created, and these roles are continuously changing.

You have to COMMUNICATE or you will not get far. If you don't communicate you can't sync, and if you're not in sync your can't advance because you will bother one another. This game forces you to be vocal.

Taking initiative is also important so natural reflexes can shine, but you also need a bit of thinking and puzzle solving skills so slower brains can definitely enjoy their time too.

Cheering IS part of this co-op gameplay. In this desolated survival of the fittest setting, you will get very excited even if only one of you survives a level, and you will take turn cheering to one another.

Also, the background scenery is beautiful, colourful, disturbingly peaceful compared to what happens in the foreground. The world is such a twisted and terrible place, but it will be alright because we get to navigate through this hell together and survive. That's what it tells.

[hardcore-gaming-101]

I.Q Mania

A few months after I.Q Remix‘s release, the games’ developer Sugar & Rockets was folded into Sony’s internal development studios, and there wouldn’t be another Intelligent Qube for a good few years. It seemed like the series was more or less done, with nowhere to go and nobody willing to take a chance on it. Then came the PlayStation Portable.  The excitement of creating games as powerful as those on the original PlayStation for a handheld resulted in many ports, remakes and reworkings of classic PS1 titles during the PSP’s early years. It was in this context that Intelligent Qube came back one last time with I.Q Mania, which returns to the style of the PlayStation titles and supposedly includes all of the puzzles featured in the previous games. 

Read more...

[maaarine]

'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine (Megan Twohey and Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, The New York Times, Dec 21 2024)

"Last summer, as the release of “It Ends With Us” approached, Justin Baldoni, the director and a star of the film, and Jamey Heath, the lead producer, hired a crisis public relations expert.

During shooting, Blake Lively, the co-star, had complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.

Their studio, Wayfarer, agreed to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator, bring in an outside producer and put other safeguards on set.

In a side letter to Ms. Lively’s contract, signed by Mr. Heath, the studio also agreed not to retaliate against the actress.

But by August, the two men, who had positioned themselves as feminist allies in the #MeToo era, expressed fears that her allegations would become public and taint them, according to a legal complaint that she filed Friday.

It claims that their P.R. effort had an explicit goal: to harm Ms. Lively’s reputation instead.

Her filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained through a subpoena.

These and other documents were reviewed by The New York Times. (…)

Mr. Baldoni was best known for the CW satirical romantic dramedy “Jane the Virgin.”

Wayfarer provided the resources for bigger ambitions. It was bankrolled by the billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is co-chair of the studio with Mr. Baldoni.

They and Mr. Heath, the chief executive, are all deeply involved with the Baha’i religious organization, which promotes unity, peace and gender equality.

Mr. Baldoni has presented himself as an ally to women, writing books, co-hosting a podcast with Mr. Heath and giving talks on toxic masculinity. (…)

She claimed Mr. Baldoni had improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, including encounters in which he said he may not have received consent.

Mr. Heath had shown her a video of his wife naked, she said, and he had watched Ms. Lively in her trailer when she was topless and having body makeup removed, despite her asking him to look away.

She said that both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding. (…)

As the film release neared, Ms. Lively and other cast members informed Sony and Wayfarer that they would not do any appearances alongside Mr. Baldoni.

So did Ms. Hoover, the author, who had her own dissatisfactions with him and had become more upset after he told her about Ms. Lively’s allegations, according to text messages from Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.

By the first week of August, Wayfarer and Mr. Baldoni had retained Ms. Nathan, who had worked with high-profile clients including Mr. Depp, whose ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of physical abuse. (…)

Three days later, Mr. Baldoni texted Ms. Abel, flagging a social media thread that accused another celebrity of bullying behavior and had generated 19 million views. “This is what we would need,” he wrote.

Ms. Nathan soon floated proposals to hire contractors to dominate social media through “full social account take downs,” by starting “threads of theories” and generally working to “change narrative.”

“All of this will be most importantly untraceable,” she wrote. (…)

When Ms. Abel wrote to her Aug. 4 that “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it,” Ms. Nathan replied that she had spoken off the record to an editor at The Daily Mail.

“She’s ready when we are,” Ms. Nathan wrote.

A flurry of articles followed the Hollywood Reporter piece. Many made it seem as if the only rift was over creative control.

Some journalists had gotten wind of complaints about Mr. Baldoni’s behavior, but none of the most serious ones were published.

“He doesn’t realise how lucky he is right now,” Ms. Nathan texted Ms. Abel. (…)

It is unclear exactly how Mr. Wallace operated.

There are references in emails to “social manipulation” and “proactive fan posting,” and text messages cite efforts to “boost” and “amplify” online content that was favorable to Mr. Baldoni or critical of Ms. Lively.

“We are crushing it on Reddit,” Mr. Wallace told Ms. Nathan, according to a text she sent Ms. Abel on Aug. 9.

The next day, one of Ms. Nathan’s employees texted, “We’ve started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team’s efforts to shift the narrative.”

Ms. Nathan wrote to Ms. Abel: “And socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.” (…)

On Aug. 16, Ms. Nathan shared the Daily Mail article headlined “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED?” with references to ‘hard to watch’ videos and a ‘tone deaf’ promotional Q. and A.

“Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Ms. Abel responded.

“That’s why you hired me right?” Ms. Nathan replied. “I’m the best.”"

[thebookpeddler]

Journey Through Tyria | Guild Wars 2 Review

(This was my submission for an exam at a company I was applying at. Putting here to serve as part of my portfolio. Will update with images soon.)

Guild Wars 2 is an immersive and groundbreaking MMORPG that has captivated many players since its release. With its vast open world, dynamic events, diverse classes, and engaging storyline, Guild Wars 2 offers a gaming experience that stands out from the rest of the genre. 

Guild Wars 2 presents a very unique take on the genre with its unique weapon-based combat, expansive character customization, focus on exploration and jumping puzzles, and nonlinear progression. 

Guild Wars 2 offers a diverse range of classes to choose from: from the generic broadsword-wielding warrior to its one of the most unique classes, the mesmer. The game offers vast customization options that deviate from the holy trinity of Tank-DPS-Healer formula seen in any other MMOs today. You can focus on making your paladin a one-man killing machine or turning your necromancer into a support that can absorb your party’s banes and convert them into boons. Basically, any class can play any role. 

Its combat emphasizes by its weapon-based skills. Whichever equipment you arm yourself with can determine what type of playstyle you are heading into. Paladins using maces to heal allies, or go with a one-handed sword for those flashy one-on-one duels.

The nonlinear progression highlights one of the key aspects of the game: its exploration. Never would you ever grind so much for the next tier item. Once you get the highest level 80 exotic-grade armor, you do have the option for getting ascended gear. But the stats are quite negligible so you can totally ignore it. You also have the option to craft legendary gear, which would take you a lot of time. But again, all these are optional once you get the best equipment you can afford.

Guild Wars 2 wants you to go out and explore the world. It does so by its unconventional questing structure in comparison to other MMORPGs. You encounter these dynamic events that occur spontaneously which makes the world more immersive. This innovative approach keeps the gameplay fresh and encourages players to collaborate with others, fostering a strong sense of community.

You also come across various points of interest, vistas, and one of its coolest parts: jumping puzzles. Hidden in one map is at least one jumping puzzle that contains treasures and adds to your achievement score once you get through it. Aside from minigames, it is one of the most engaging parts of the game.

Guild Wars 2 offers a captivating storyline that keeps players invested in the game world. The personal quest combined with the overarching storyline 

Guild Wars 2 follows a "buy to play" business model, which means that players are required to purchase the game upfront in order to access the core content and play it without any additional subscription fees. Unlike any other traditional MMOs, Guild Wars 2 offers a buy-to-play model that offers more bang for your buck. It has free-to-play with limited features. But for what it’s worth, the game’s purchase, along with its expansions, will get you so much content compared to other games with the same price but offer so little content. 

Guild Wars 2 is a masterpiece in the realm of MMORPGs, offering a vast and visually stunning world, dynamic events, diverse classes, and an engaging storyline.

[esperderek]

I have to have a chuckle at the Screenrant article posted recently about the Galactic Starcruiser, which totally wasn't about Jenny Nicholson's video honest.

In part, because early in Nicholson's video, she talks about how unnatural it is to have your influencers speak in adcopy and copyright rather than the more colloquial nicknames, and how it makes the people speaking about the product seem very insincere and, well, paid off. Because normal humans don't speak that way, but advertising does.

What's the first two lines in this article?

"As a life-long fan of Star Wars, there was nothing quite as exciting as finding out that I would be working on the immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience. Located at the Walt Disney World Resort, the Galactic Starcruiser opened on March 1, 2022, and welcomed passengers to board a two-day, two-night cruise through the stars, during which they could live out their own Star Wars adventure."

No one talks like this naturally. No one writes like this naturally.

This is supposed to be your passioned defense of the place you worked at, the people you worked with, and the memories you made along the way. C'mon! Why don't you open with a story, perhaps an anecdote about the best moment you had working there, or the devastation of the day you lost your dream job. We need to feel your humanity! But there's nothing of that here, to the point where you can just hear the TM behind Galactic Starcruiser.

The first half of this article continues in this vein, reading like a press release Disney marketing put out, just with past tense rather than present or future tense:

"Essentially, the Starcruiser experience was a 48-hour movie that passengers were actually a part of. It was all facilitated through the "datapad," which was accessed through the Play Disney Parks app."

"To facilitate the overarching immersive experience and storytelling, the Starcruiser built a jam-packed itinerary for each and every guest that would consist of a variety of important activities: the captain's toast at muster, a bridge training exercise, lightsaber training, and more. These types of events were essential to understanding what was happening, as they would give passengers the chance to interact with characters and build their story. This is why the Starcruiser could never be just a hotel; every part of it was designed for enthusiastic interaction."

Like, c'mon. I used to work in television. I've seen and used adcopy in my former job, and this is some serious adcopy. It honestly wouldn't shock me if the author dredged up some old adcopy they had lying around about the topic and just transferred it over, changing the tense. You're not here to sell us this product, because there is no product to sell. It's gone, it's been gone for a year, you don't have to sell us on IT. Speak about your experiences.

The next part is yet another topic that Jenny Nicholson pointed out, the bad faith excuses that influencers and advertisers made for the extreme price point:

"What many people don't know, however, is that the price included much more than just a room. The passengers' food, park tickets, recreation activities on board, non-alcoholic drinks, and more were all included - with merchandise being one of the few additional costs on board."

Which is absolute bad faith reasoning, especially when there are plenty of other vacation options that are ALSO all-inclusive, but are MUCH cheaper and offer MORE amenities than the Galactic Starcruiser did! Including Disney Cruises, owned by the same company! Seriously, you can go on a halfway decent sounding cruise or all-inclusive resort somewhere warm for, like, a week or two and spend far less than GSC cost.

Then the last part is essentially: "All the workers liked working there and the bad reviews afterwards make the workers who worked on it feel sad. :("

Which, like, companies have been hiding behind that reasoning for ages. Curiously, the author never offers....any reasons or stories. WHY did working on it impact you so much? What set it apart, what were the people like, what did you like about working there, why are you so passionate about it even a year later? There's nothing, just a generic sort of "We worked hard." and "We're sad it's gone." Why? How? What happened? The video you're obviously writing this in response to is filled with personal anecdotes and stories, it's the backbone of the video! Again, you need to give us something to show your humanity!

Especially when you consider that Nicholson repeatedly points out that the only highlight about her experience, the only thing that kept the damn thing going was the workers.

She had nothing but praise for them, and nothing but contempt for the higher ups who wasted and abused that enthusiasm, to the point where one of her last points was "Hey, Disney is basically exploiting labor."

Much like Jenny, I'm also not condemning anyone who had a good time working there. Good! If you were having a good time at work, that's great. If you have good memories about the people, awesome. But I'll note two things:

a) That doesn't meant you weren't being exploited, and

b) That doesn't mean you have to be a useful idiot for the corporation you worked for afterwards.

I'm not conspiracy brained enough to go "Oh, Disney TOTALLY forced this article into being.", because a cursory examination of the author's prior works and such suggests a lifelong passion for Star Wars, she did work at the hotel, and she's a Star Wars Editor (whatever THAT means in this day and age) for Screen Rant. Apparently one of the heads of Screen Rant says that Disney had no hand in it either.

Though, I can see why people would think that way. It READS like a press release, not something a normal human being would write about an experience they feel passionate about.