#Why is Nintendo 10 years behind

[bbanghiitomi]

| love is a place to hide

synopsis: with social anxiety and a reserved girl, you're usually seen alone or with a few other students around — everyone knows your name but doesn't know you, except for minji.

— nonidol!softballplayer!kminji × nonidol!loner!fem!reader

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popular loner, that's what most people in your high school call you. everyone knows your name but none of those people have ever been your friend, nor have they ever talked to you before. most of those people who know you are not even familiar to you, you don't understand where this popularity came from and it's creeping you out.

you have one friend, kang haerin. she's just as much of a loner as you are, except she has loyal friends.

meanwhile you only have haerin, and refuse to make friends with people other than her — haerin kind of gets along with other people too, but you find it hard to do so. you have no active social media accounts, your chats are dead and if your socials were a place, it would be covered with cobwebs the way they are abandoned.

you've never changed profile pictures, they've been that same picture of you when you were… 10 years old.

it's like you're dead but technically you aren't, literally.

there's this one person, an exception — she's not a friend nor she's a stranger. her name is kim minji. you've known her since the first year of middle school. you both met during the school orientation, where you were checking out the class lists for that year.

you remember it vividly, you sat alone at a bench and saw her approaching, you continued to ignore her presence while you continued tapping on your nintendo 3ds that you modded yourself. you were playing animal crossing, something that you found to be your new catalyst to kill time when you're bored.

you remember how enthusiastic she was talking about animal crossing, even though you weren't replying to her words. she was persistent in making you her friend but it was taking a bit too long for you to warm up to her.

you found out she was going to be your classmate, it was the day where you saw her sitting right behind you. in just a span of a week, she already made a few friends, and one of them was haerin. you stayed alone, casually conversing with haerin and sometimes a few other students, where it all ended up with you leaving because you drained your social battery.

minji was known for playing softball, she played for the local district's team and would often travel from city to city to play. she's incredible, a lot of people say — she's made a name and was inside everyone's mind, including her rivals'.

you've never watched any of her games, even if she kept inviting you — you tried one time but it all ended up with you going home after a small anxiety attack due to the amount of people watching. the cramped space scared you.

now first year college, most of your schoolmates who knew you before were in the same university as you and minji, you still carried that nickname of yours and minji carried that popularity of hers. she now plays for the university's varsity team.

even after 6 years of her nagging you, she still kept going. you don't understand why, what's with all this nonsense? why does she keep trying even if you've pushed her away thousands of times?

besides, there's hundreds of girls and boys lining up to be with her.

have you even mentioned the fact she's never been in a relationship before? that's how crazy she is, with how many confessions she's gotten none of them convinced her that they were better than you.

"hey y/n, we have training later at 5pm, you want to watch?" it's currently 4pm, and you're heading to the library to catch some work for the librarian — you promised the old lady you'll help arrange some books because the other kids have messed the shelves up.

and now minji is once again trailing behind you, asking you again if you have plans to see her later when she for sure already knows your answer. you turn around to give her a stoic expression, your eyes bore against her round ones.

"no, i have some errands at the library and it's probably going to take me a few hours. i'm sure you'll be fine without me, yeah?" you tell her. minji looks around the hallway and shrugs, a pout evident on her lips. "i mean, your presence could definitely help me." she then flashes you her signature grin, that would probably send an ordinary girl in an orbit.

you feel your cheeks flush but then you shake your head, you are no different to those girls. "you have plenty of girls to do that for you." you respond almost immediately. minji sighs and slump her broad shoulders, before watching you walk your way out of the scene. hiding your almost ripe tomato-like face.

minji scratches her head and looks somewhere else to try and hide the disappointment in her face. another day of getting a no from you.

truth to be told, if it wasn't obvious yet.

minji likes you, loves you even at this point the way she's been pursuing you ever since the first year of middle school. even if she looked crazy, insane, and stupid, she kept running towards you no matter how many times you've pushed her away. there's no other coherent explanation for her actions other than the fact that she's in love. it may seem annoying, but there's no other way for minji to show you her persistence and perseverance other than to reach out for you.

minji loves your wit, honesty, kindness and your hot-headed personality, though most people call you mean and rude, you're actually quite the difference! it's just your face that seems uninterested most of the time, your voice that seems unwavering, brave and icy. you're the prettiest girl in her eyes, no matter what you tell yourself — in fact, she remembers the day she realized her feelings for you.

it may sound stupid but it was during a debate at your classroom in middle school, it was one of those stupid questions the teacher asks and then will group the kids into two groups to let them argue.

the question was: what came first? the chicken or the egg?

oh how you hated this question so much, it kept being asked no matter how stupid the question sounded to any sane person's ears.

your team chose eggs and minji's team chose chickens — minji didn't spare any saliva to even try arguing, she sat on her chair as she watched the other members argue.

you on the other hand sat too, but annoyed.

it's already bugging you how long it took to argue about chicken and eggs, so you decided to take matters into your own hands.

you stood up and spoke. "this is so easy, everyone knows it's eggs. the chickens have only been on the face of earth for just around 10,000 years and chickens came from reptiles. even before chickens existed, the dinosaurs and reptiles were already hatching eggs. as animals were evolving the eggs they hatch evolved too until one day it cracked open and a chick came out and grew into a chicken." everyone was quiet and for a few moments you remembered you were surrounded by idiots and kids.

claps from minji all surprised everyone, mostly her teammates.

"minji! why are you clapping for them!?" minji even stood up and grinned at you, still clapping her rather large hands, the sound echoing the room. your teammates started clapping too and cheered.

ever since that day your teachers were encouraging you to join the debate teams, and minji started following you around and trying to get close to you.

to this day, you're still active at the debate team of your university and minji is still following you around the campus. truth to be told, you're not mad she does that, you won't say it to her face but her presence kept you safe, guarded and cared for.

there are a lot of reasons as to why minji likes you, listing them all would probably take her a week.

"hey y/n, is minji bothering you? is she doing too much? does it creep you out?" you look at your friend, haerin. you flip a book and tilt your head to her question.

"why'd you ask?" you ask back. haerin shakes her head and laughs. "uhm, clearly — everyone is noticing how minji has been following you around, since middle school. most people say you look uncomfortable when she talks to you, and of course i can't ask her about it because she probably doesn't realize it." haerin tells you, smiling sweetly. you can see her eyes are lace with worry, she's concerned for your well being and as well minji's reputation, it seems like some people in the campus are starting rumors about her being a creep.

you furrow your brows and shift your gaze around until you spot the window, the window shows a great view of the field, through the glass pane you see minji running around the field.

you look back at haerin and shake your head. "if anything, to be honest — i don't mind it at all, as you said she's been doing that since middle school and i got used to it. i'm not uncomfortable or anything, this is just how i look everyday." you tell haerin in a calm tone, because really? minji's doing that with no bad intentions, she's sweet and wouldn't hurt a fly even if she sends a softball flying at the speed of 110kmph like it's her everyday routine.

but no kidding, minji is so thoughtful, always have been.

when you were always alone, she'd stand by a few meters away to make sure you won't ever feel lonely. that one time during a field trip in high school, you were alone walking at an aquarium, minji spotted you and decided it was the best time to leave her friends and run towards you. your eyes are glued to the marine life inside the thick glass filled with water, the blue shade of the room illuminated on your face, your eyes shine under the dim lights. minji carefully stood beside you and stared at the aquarium too.

"hey, remember when our teacher asked if prokaryotic cells are better than eukaryotic cells?" she asked, all of a sudden. you looked at her and raised your brows, there's no expression written on your face. but alas, you still gave her an answer. "yes, why?"

minji smiled and tried to contain her face from blushing. "ah, what do you think is the answer?"

you blinked as you looked back at the tank. "i personally think prokaryotic cells are much superior, they evolved and became eukaryotic cells so without them there are probably no eukaryotic cells. plus, it's true that eukaryotic cells are much more complex but really — there are more prokaryotic cells that can survive under the deepest parts of ocean no matter how strong the pressure is, the hottest surfaces, feeding with almost nothing but still thriving while lacking parts that eukaryotic cells have, that something eukaryotic cells couldn't possibly do. but really, i think it depends on who you ask." you finished with a look on minji's face, only to see her staring at you with her lips open.

you furrowed your eyebrows at her and looked away, feeling embarrassed and flattered.

"wow! that's why you're the ace of the debate team!" minji said as she laughed.

that simple interaction made your day better, a whole lot better. and for some reason, it was only minji who had the power to do that.

you realize that the rumors must be weighing a lot more, more than you expected. you hear whispers from other students from other courses, talking about the mvp of the university's softball team being a creep. and others were saying that it must be because you're giving minji a hard time.

it's starting to worry you whether it reached minji, so you decide to give her a visit to the field when she didn't invite you for today.

you spot her from afar, there's still lots of students around. she seems serious and is giving her best at today's training. you hear some girls gossiping behind you.

"oh is that y/n?" one of them says.

"shit it's actually her? she decided to finally visit minji?"

"after minji's 1000th invitation. i've never seen her here."

"she probably realized minji's potential."

"it's probably better if she just minded her own business."

you sigh as you walk away.

right after their training you wait outside the locker room for everyone in the team to leave except for minji. you spare the surrounding a glance before entering the locker room.

the locker room… is what you expected a locker room to look like. it's not exactly the cleanest place in the campus, there are clothes hanging by the lockers, and shoes on the benches. luckily, the place didn't seem to smell bad, but the smell of mixed perfumes of different kinds wafted around.

"minji?" you call out, walking past lockers, getting to the farthest part of the place and eventually stopping at exactly minji's locker. you stand still as silence surrounds you, you wonder if you didn't notice minji exiting and if there are still anyone around. "kim minji." you call one more time, your tone sounding more like a command for her to come out.

you hear shufflings just behind a locker and you stretch your neck to take a peek.

"hey y/n!" you gasp as you were surprised by minji's sudden entrance. she has just showered and her hair is wet, wearing newly washed clothes she wraps a towel around her neck and smiles at you. you sigh and place a hand on your chest. "you surprised me." you hiss at her.

minji chuckles and scratches her temple. "sorry i got too excited, what brought you here? did you watch me earlier? why didn't you tell me? i didn't invite you because i thought you were mad at me." you stare at minji before shaking your head and clearing your throat. "no, i'm not mad. i came to wait for you to finish your practice because i have got something to tell you." you look at minji's round eyes, she leans closer to you causing you to step back a bit — your back almost touching the locker behind you.

"u-uh, it's about — i heard that people were spreading malicious rumors about you. and i was worried it would reach you." you see her smiling at you. there's almost a small gap between her face and yours, you can almost feel her breath fanning over you.

"wait really? i thought you didn't want me around you? haerin asked me to not follow you around every single day. so i thought i've done too much, are you really okay with it? is it really okay? i mean, if you don't like it, i'll stop. i don't like botheri—" you put your hands up to her shoulders when your back touches the hard surface of the locker. she closes the gap as she speaks, too absorbed by the idea that you're worried for her sake to even think rationally.

"w-wait! minji! it's okay… i'm okay. we're okay." you whisper. minji's eyes lock with yours, with only a few inches separating you and minji, you can feel her heartbeat thumping inside your ears along with yours. "we're okay?" she asks. you nod and smile at her.

the small moment gets ruined as a bench falls over along with a metal tumbler causing you and minji to be taken back. you gently push minji away to step over and try to look for who might have knocked it.

minji puts a hand on your shoulder. "hey, i'll accompany you to your house." you feel a sudden wave of anxiety twisting your stomach into a knot, realizing it should be impossible for the bench to be knocked over by just a gust of wind.

but you nod at minji, watching her take her bag.

the next day, haerin immediately finds you after one of your lectures. "y/n what happened yesterday!?" she aggressively whispers, a hand on your wrist as she locks you down with her piece glare. you give her a confused look, struggling with her tight hold. "wait a minute haerin, what's the problem?" you ask her.

she sighs heavily and looks around, you notice everyone staring you down and people grouped into pairs or more would often share a whisper. "y/n — " haerin cuts herself off to pull her phone from her bag.

she holds it up for you to see and sure enough, it shows a part of the university's journalism organization blog. and as you look at the headline, the first sentence of the article and the picture of you and minji inside the locker room, you ask yourself.

is this even allowed?

you feel your stomach sink in, your heart clenches in fear. why is everyone making it seem like minji was harassing you?

the truth has been completely twisted around and has been passed around by students in just a matter of hours.

you find yourself hiding inside the library, curled on a ball, your back leaning on one of the shelves — hugging your knee close to you.

there's just no way you can do anything about it.

you pull your phone from your breast pocket to send minji a message.

minji :|

minji

what are we going to do?

im scared

sent.

minji walks down the halls of the building, with a deep frown on her face. she's currently on the hunt for the president of the journalism organization — though that person is years older than her, she's not afraid to take that shit on. students stare her down as minji struts her way to the room where journalism members are gathered. she stands in front of the door and knocks violently with her large hand, causing people walking by to be taken back. "you assholes! open this door!" minji shouts, her voice echoing in the corridor.

the door opens violently to an angry guy, only to be left in shock when he realizes it's none other than the kim minji outside their room. minji barges inside and surprises half of the people in the room. "you!" she points towards a girl standing by the end of the room

the girl seems to realize what's happening and tries to hide behind another girl.

"why did you publish that bullshit article!?" minji shouts, causing everyone to panic. the president of the organization stands up and walks towards minji to try and man up. "we have the right to do so! why? are you mad that we're telling the truth!?"

minji turns her head to the president and aggressively pulls on the poor guy's collar and points at the girls named eunchae and kyujin. "you too! those little minions of yours are spreading lies about y/n and they're literally stalking both of us!" eunchae pushes kyujin and uses the other girl to shield herself. "w-what!? you know that's some strong accusations right!? plus — you are stalking y/n on a daily basis!" minji's slender fingers grip the fabric's collar hard, swinging the guy closer.

"listen here you idiot, what me and y/n do is none of your business, okay? if you don't delete that article off of your blog and apologize to y/n i'll smash your skull on this table." minji brings the president closer to the edge of the table, the two younger girls both bow their heads in unison a couple times as they apologize.

"we're so sorry! we really didn't think it through! we only did that because the organization has a mandatory quota for articles we had to follow." eunchae didn't stop bowing her head, minji glared at the president with a deep frown, the edges of her thick brows almost touching due to how mad minji was. the tall girl shoves the guy away and walks out of the room to look for you.

you stay sitting on the floor of the library, hiding behind shelves of books, in the darkness and silence you find comfort.

you hear faint footsteps but you choose to ignore them, until you look up from the familiar shoes and see minji looking down on you. "hey y/n, everything's alright now." she tells you, before crouching down, wearing her team jersey and her pants. you stare at her before she smiles at you and scoots beside you. "i knew you'd be here." minji whispers, her finger touches yours as she puts her hands on the cold floor. you give her a small smile before sighing.

minji always knew you liked to hide when you're upset.

"it's okay now, i made sure it's never going to happen again. i'm sorry you got dragged down the mud with me." minji continues, laughing. you shake your head. "thanks, it's okay. i just got scared." well, if you were to be honest, you were more than scared — you feared for minji of all, there was no way she's going to lose it all just because people lied about her to feed people's delusions.

"i know, trust me, i'll do anything to make sure no one messes with you ever again." minji gives you a cheeky grin and hooks her arm to your torso to keep you close to her. the warmth of her body gives you comfort, you lean on her body and rest your head on her shoulder. your hands lay on her lap, she reaches out for your hands with her other hand, gently caressing your skin with her palm.

you look up to her, your eyes meet her round ones — then your eyes trail down to her tall nose and plump lips. you smile at the thought of her smooth cheeks. you hold minji's hand in yours, taking her back.

"minji thank you for everything." minji's face glows a different shade of red, the tip of her ears are bright red. she laughs, looking away — speechless. as she was looking in the other direction, you take your cue to give her cheek a chaste kiss, and so you do.

your lips touch her cheek and minji flinches, squirming at the sudden contact of your soft lips against her skin. she lets out a small squeak causing you to immediately hush her down.

"you kissed me!?" she whispers, you roll your eyes playfully and laugh at her response. it's starting to get darker outside, you stand up and brush the dust off of your skirt and watch as minji stands up too, still flustered. "where are you going?" she asks.

"home." you answer, starting to walk your way out of the library.

minji follows behind and says.

"i'll take you home!"

[nintendroid]

Help me raise awareness - Did you ever want a mainline Pokemon game for the Nintendo 64? Well, it kind of happened with Onegai Monsters; A so-obscure-it's-almost-non-existent Japanese exclusive.

Yes this is real, and It's a crime almost no one knows about it. Onegai Monsters is a Pokemon clone released exclusively in Japan in 1999. There's little to nothing online about it aside from a few Youtube videos and a couple of translation guides. Needless to say, it didn't make a big splash upon release.

It has breeding, turn-based battles, a bunch of monsters to collect, a journey that involves letting a 10-year-old out into the world on their own. WHY ISN'T THIS MORE WELL KNOWN? I can kind of see why it's not exactly popular. It's not the prettiest game but when do we care about graphics around here anyway? As long as the game is decent, we can handle walking animations with a whopping 3 frames right?

2023 is the year we put Onegai Monsters on the map. The good folks behind it tried to give the people what they wanted when Game Freak refused and their efforts amounted to near nothing. We have to get this a proper translation and into the hands of geeks like me and you. How do we do that? Spread awareness until someone smart enough does so!

Until then, we have to rough it and play it with what little guides are available on the internet. Incoming link dump:

How to play guide on GameFAQs courtesy of "whowasphone404"

Video from Corruption Quest - "The Forgotten N64 Game"

Translation Guide from Corruption Quest

Discord with a wealth of information

[dededaio]

My current tinfoil hat theory is that Dedede's redesign used in two latest games is a very conscious choice to make him look more marketable.

Design feels a bit "simplified" in terms of shapes than some of his past incarnations, which means it's easier to make his merch. He's rounder, more "blobby" akin to majority of other Kirby cast, with the main difference being that he's "bigger" than most of them.

He also generally looks friendlier, more people would be willing to buy stuff with his face on it It sells the fact that he's actually a good guy now much more.

Like, I dunno, look at some of his past renders, he doesn't really look like one of Kirby's pals if you are not in the know, and now compare to how he looks in RTDX

vs

As for why this is not actually reflected in the merchandise or promotional art yet, well... It's always behind games' status-quo. We have to wait at least 2 years before companies catch up.

In early 10s a lot of Dedede merch still used his anime-inspired look, for example.

We got stock artwork that reflects Dedede's (then-) current design and characterization only by 25th anniversary and western Play Nintendo website STILL doesn't use it

[bellmo15-blog]

Precursor Drone Kiera

Oh Kiera, out of all the childhood crushes I had growing up you are the one I'm surprised I don't get more art off despite the fact that the Jak and Daxter series is still one of my favourite Playstation exclusive franchises. Well, this series and Ratchet and Clank.

Inkling Michael: Wait, what about Crash Bandicoot. That was like THE defining title on the Playstation 1 and you've even admitted you love that series and was even the first video game franchise you played.

I said Playstation EXCLUSIVE franchises! Why would I count a franchise that has been multiplatform since 2001, only the first five games are exclusive to a Playstation system and N.Sane Trilogy was only a PS4 exclusive for a year before going multiplatform anyway as a Playstation Exclusive?

IM: Okay but how do you explain stuff like Bayonetta then where the first game's multiplatform and was even re-released on PS4/Xbox One and PC for it's 10 year anniversary but Bayonetta 2 onwards are only on Nintendo systems?

That's...... complicated because of how no one else other than Nintendo wanted to even publish Bayonetta 2 in the first place... Okay fine, you got me on that one!

Believe it or not, this pic actually has a bit of a backstory behind it's inspiration. I was replaying Jak 2, specifically the PS4 re-release since it had trophy support and I had become a bit of an avid trophy and achievement hunter in the past few years and wanted to add another one of my favourite games to that list of fully Platinumed games especially since I had Platinumed the original Jak and Daxter a few years ago. I... gave up on trying to Platinum Jak 2 after remembering the insane score requirements for some of the optional challenges though and I REALLY didn't want to use the Orb Farming glitch or Debug mode to just get the Platinum instantly. However midway though my playthrough a sudden thought came into my mind relating to the Precursors, the ancient and technologically advanced beings that much Jak and Daxter's world and lore is built around. My though process was basically "Okay but what if the Precursors had hypnosis or fembot technology for controlling hostiles?"

And that's it! That's how this whole idea was spawned! Just a random intrusive thought while playing a game I absolutely adore. I came up with a design, picked who I wanted to be the victim which of course it was going be Kiera (though trust me, I was close to going with Ashelin at one point) and asked Ameer to draw this for my next Fully Detailed Ko Fi reward. And maybe this is just my own childhood love for Kiera talking here, again she was one of my childhood crushes, but this is honestly one of my favourite things I've gotten Ameer to draw for me so far. And finally uploading it for more people to see feels good. Nothing could ruin this night at all.

Genie Michael: Sony ported Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier to PS5 before they ported Daxter! :D

...... Why do I even hang out with you people?

Artist is AmmerAshourDraws.

[eggnogisdead]

As soon as Russel got home, they immediately got to packing. Their plan was to stay at a hotel in Snowwood (which is where they went to school, and where one of the ‘chosen four’, Jeff, lived), until the starmen found them. Then they’d keep hopping through cities until, A, the starmen give up, B, the starmen manage to kill her, or C, she runs out of money and the starmen kill her anyways.

“Can’t forget this.” He said to himself as he put his Nintendo DS in his suitcase. Russel paused. She wasn’t in too much of a rush. She could afford to play some Chrono Trigger.

As soon as she opened up the DS, she was greeted by bloodshot yellow eyes staring at her from behind the screen, similar to the eyes on the possessed TV from last night.

"Oh FUCK OFF!" She said, exasperated. "I HATE THE GHOSTS!"

They almost threw their DS out the window, but stopped. Their DS was very valuable, and also it was, for some reason, talking to them.

"So, Mr. Abendessen. I heard you were trying to get out of Monsoon. I can he-"

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY LIFE."

"Calm down Mr. Abendessen. I'm trying to help you. Ok ですか? Listen very carefully."

Russel was so shocked that they couldn’t even think of anything to say.

"Giygas is real. Don't believe the fools living in denial. It's true that the chosen 4 killed them 10 years ago, but do you really think Giygas is the only one of their kind? On a planet at the ends of our galaxy, there are more like them, but... less corrupted. The armies of that planet are still active, sending starmen, and "UFOs", and "ghosts" like me to Earth. Mr. Abendessen, you are one of the only people left with PSI. You can save the world."

"Why can't you just get the chosen four from 10 years ago? They're still alive! I just want to get away from the starmen, not get dragged into a stupid adventure."

"They'll replace you if you die."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I’m your most sane friend, Mr. Aben-"

"No. Stop that. You’re NOT my friend. Why do you know my last name? Why are you in my DS? WHY ARE YOU IN MY LIFE?!"

Before the DS ghost could say anything, Russel shut the DS and buried it under the couch cushions.

Suddenly, the same yellow eyes appeared behind the screen of the digital clock on Russel's microwave, which began floating over to Russel.

"GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Screamed Russel

"I'll make this quick Mr. Abysmal. There is a starman factory in Onett, Eagleland. I'll teleport you to Onett, you destroy the factory, and then you can go home and I'll just get the chosen 4 to save the world. But you replace them if THEY die. Deal?"

Russel thought to himself. The ghost wasn’t trying to kill him, but was very annoying and wouldn’t leave him alone, which was worse. The only way to get the stupid ghost to shut up was to go to Onett.

"Okay fine. I'll take the deal. I destroy the factory, and then we go right back or else I'll BURN you ALIVE. And we NEVER speak again.”

"Alright then.”

BEGINNING | PREV | [Not yet]

while you wait for chapter 2, join the official eb dinners server!

[code-heiress]

hi its time for my Yearly Foray Into Fandom Stuff and being Sad About How Its Changed Over the Last Decade

its been abt a decade since i like. joined fandom spaces for the first time, since I discovered that fanfiction was just a Thing that was Written. 10 years since reading my first Zelda x Samus shoujo ai yuri fic with lemon (that i was, admittedly, too young to read). since my first link x dark link yaoi fic that helped me figure out my sexuality. 10 years since reading fanfiction on the opera browser on my nintendo wii.

in that time ive only read for a handful of fandoms- zelda, RWBY (my main one, activity-wise), Fire Emblem (my main one, spending-wise), Homestuck (sadly), and general nintendo stuff. Ive only really been ACTIVE in like, two of those, so I guess I can only really speak for these few fandoms.

obviously over the past 10 years we've seen a massive push from corporations to enter the fandom space and milk it dry of all funds available. Which is super cringe and has been the driving force behind part of why ive burned out on fandom stuff. companies figuring out that autistic teenagers have money to spend on Blorbo from Their Show has been atrocious and predatory, especially with the rise of limited time merch runs.

we've also seen an increase in people monetizing their fanworks- ko-fi, patreon, commission work, ect, which is a weird thing. artists/writers/creators absolutely can and should be able to make money off of doing what they love but i feel like the increase in monetisation of the hobbies is a side effect of hustle culture and capitalism, which can force burnout (if i dont do x commissions a week i cant pay rent, added stress, ect).

I was there when RWBY was one of the biggest fandoms on this hellsite. I was there when people were writing fics when WE DIDNT HAVE THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS. when blake being a faunus was a secret. Its weird being a fandom elder when im merely and freshly 25. Its also the fandom im the most aware of the changes in. Not even talking about the death of RT, but seeing how the fandom has like. Splintered. A big part of that i feel is the shipping discourse, but its also like. idk its wack

i think the melatonin is hitting me so this is getting posted as is and im just gonn edit it wgen im coherenr

[omegaremix]

Record Reserve shopping list, 2018.

It’s been how many years since I set foot in any iteration of Record Reserve? “Iteration” because no other record store has moved locations more than any. Looks like Tim has finally found a permanent holding in Northport, close to the water. He’s been dealing since the beginning of the decade and filled in the blanks that other Northport stores Long Island Vinyl Exchange and Permanent Records once supplied. Last time I shopped there I was looking through the hardcore and punk 45′s and always bought a few from him. He said the store would be opened on Monday, so that did it for me. Little did I know that upon arrival, I see on the door that Record Reserve’s only off day was Monday itself. I was lucky.

Record Reserve is the narrowest of all stores on the island. Walk in and it’s no more than 12 feet wide. Shelves on both sides of the store allow a quick run-through of its’ entire selection in less than three hours. Behind the storefront window and the left hand side of the store are plenty of shelves of well-known and classic artists for attainable prices. What I did notice (for example) was how I found some titles for $6.00 when further down the store found the exact same copy for $4.00. I also found at least 10 Laura Nyro records in the store, a running joke Tim doesn’t realize he’s made for himself. I was feeling a late-Seventies / early-Eighties kick, so I found two of Peter Gabriel’s solo records and The Cars’ Shake It Up and Panorama. I also found me A Clockwork Orange’s motion picture soundtrack. That’s mine because you take no chances with cult status. I found The Stranglers’ at a low price. Constantly hearing of them and “An Evening With Hugh Cornwell“ which I could never get tired of hearing made me take it. No shame in picking up Debbie Gibson whom was a radio favorite during my Eighties Nintendo youth. At the very end of 20 or so shelves were the 45′s bin with a majority of classic hits and little punk and hardcore. That’s where I found Spent Idols and the Out Cider D.C. label.

On the right hand side of the store are the specifics; racks devoted to jazz, soul, punk, real Eighties metal, and black metal. As I rummaged through all the bins, I stopped at a few and tried to remember if I already had them in my collection. As if I was now holding back on purchasing blind because Youtube and Discogs make my decisions, I was gauging myself to see if I would purchase some titles anyway not remembering if I already had them or not (a future audit told me otherwise). It pained me to pass up Cabaret Voltaire’s The Crackdown, and I almost never see them up for grabs. A shiny copy of The Silver Apples’ debut was there for the taking, too. Both for at least $17.00 or more apiece, I couldn’t. I always feel I can order or find them elsewhere for less. Same for Bathory’s self-titled which was going for $25.00.

A very small selection of cassettes and CDs were a non-issue. Tim also sold taort cards, too. Ready to go? Not so fast. After scanning through both sides of an already-narrow store and a lone bin at the front of the counter, I noticed he had several rolling crates of records hiding under the bins. There goes another 30 minutes trying to strike record-collector gold on possible unexpected finds. Again, I had to swap out some picks for the exact same ones with lower price tags. I could also swear I found five more records of Laura Nyro’s. Almost three hours later, it was time to cash out.

I was the only customer in the entire store for that time. Ready to go. Tim told me that he was open that Monday because he expected to go through his Record Store Day shipments which didn’t come in. So why not open? I asked him about the vintage stereo equipment stacked in front of the registers and was curious what his going prices were. It’s been four years without a reciever since my gramma’s stopped working. Just browsing around, that’s all. He then told me “$60.00 cash or $65.00 credit?” “Credit, no discounts!” I said, because we need to keep these stores going. Tim laughed but he got it. My all-vinyl purchase here would be one of the least expensive. The day was still young, however. It’s 4 PM. Our resident dee-jay Maxwell (MXW) was on-the-air doing his local-music slot. He had his lady folk singer friend Takami aboard for the ride, listening in as I drove to the athletics store in preparation for re-joining the gym.

Cars, The Shake It Up

Rolling Stones, The Some Girls (cut-out)

Peter Gabriel Melt

Weather Report Heavy Weather

A Clockwork Orange motion picture soundtrack

Genesis Abacab

Laura Nyro self-titled

Stranglers, The IV

Samantha Fox I Wanna Have Some Fun

Spyro Gyra self-titled

Cars, The Candy-O

Peter Gabriel Scratch

Debbie Gibson Out Of The Blue

Spent Idols “Chinese Suicide” b/w “Gacy’s Gone” 7″

Out Cider D.C. label Raise The Flag: DC Hardcore Vol. 1 7″

[youtubeyouniversity]

Welcome to the University Jacob!

You have 72 hours to create your account and send a ask to the main!

MUN

Name(What you will like to be called): Cation

Age: 26

Timezone: Mountain

Activity level: Variable with school year (I work for schools, more busy during the weekdays during school year)

Url: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jacobalpharadxsquidx

MUSE

Youtubers name/channel: Alpharad (Jacob Rabon)

Age(age in the Rp 19- 25): 23 (he dropped out when he was 18 and now he’s coming back to finish what he started)

Major: Cinematography and Japanese

Content(beauty, gaming, vlog, etc): Gaming

Secret/ Why they are here: ACCEPTED

Background: Jacob Rabon was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and found an early interest in film as a child. He took video editing and cinematography classes in high school and community college, aiming to be an editor of some kind, but due to the limitations of creative freedom in that line of work, he left college to pursue making videos instead. He started his youtube career at around 18 with videos featuring flagship Nintendo titles, such as Mario, Smash Bros, Splatoon, Pokemon, among many more franchises beyond Nintendo as well like Sonic or Among Us. Most of his content involved challenges, running jokes, or speed runs. He’s been involved both as a player and a host of various Smash Bros esports events, and he’s dabbled in music as well. He streams often now, but he still posts edited or narrated videos of challenges, travelling, or events that he’s done in recent times.        

Para Sample:(Has to be at least 2 paragraphs or 10-14 sentences)

            Jacob absently scrolled through the games on his switch while he waited for the mail to arrive. He had the console propped up in the windowsill so he could see the mail truck arrive above his view of the switch’s tiny screen. Having eventually selected Splatoon, he played with his pro-controller, guiding his Octoling character around the warm-up range, popping the target practice balloons with deadly precision. He had been playing the game off camera to wind down basically every day, but he certainly couldn’t be bad at a game he played every day, could he? Well, he knew for sure he was far from the best, but at least he was far from the worst too. Maybe if the university has a splatoon team, he could play for them maybe? First things first he’d need to get that letter.

Jacob got another match, he was just playing turf war, something he could easily abandon and without worry for his rankings. His Octoling popped out up on top of her spanwer, armed with the vanilla octobrush (of course Jacob used a girl Octoling, they’re irresistibly adorable he couldn’t resist). Eager to dive on the enemy team, Jacob launched his Octoling as far forward as possible from spawn, rushing her down towards the middle of the stage with her brush inking a thin line of paint behind. From here Jacob guided his Octoling into a series of clever shark attacks on his opponents: hiding in a corner of his team’s color ink, and then striking an enemy from behind as they pass by, successfully splatting several opponents in sequence. He pushed the boundary of his team’s coverage as he killed one after another. Soon his special was fully charged, zipcaster, which would let him his zip and cling to walls like Spider-Man and rain ink down from the sky unto his next victims. The enemy team was pushed back up against their spawning grounds, and when Jacob saw that his foes entered danger, he used his zipcaster, changing his Octoling into a glowing bullet of color as she flew high up above. She lept from her high perch, the special already down to 80% and swung her brush, splatting one, then two enemies. Down to 60% he soared her back into the sky, the spot where his Octoling had just been painted the enemy team’s color in the instant after he flew. From an alternate angle, Jacob brought her back down into the fray, splatting a third opponent, leaving just one left. Hitting 20% and severely damaged by enemy paint, Jacob decided to take a risk. He pushed his Octoling further, flying directly into the last opponent. The contact splatted the opponent, but not without Jacob taking a fatal splash of ink at the same time, trading with the last opponent and earning a full team wipeout. A flash of white struck from the corner of Jacob’s eye.

The mail truck had pulled up to his mailbox and was inserting one white envelope inside. With the enemy team heavily endangered and wiped out, with ten seconds on the clock, Jacob dropped his controller to his chair as he flew out the door to get the letter. He came back inside with the letter ripped open and the words “accepted” gleamed from inside. He smiled and picked up his controller, clicking the “keep going” button that appeared on his victory screen. If the university had a Splatoon team, he will need to practice a lot with more than just turf war. 

Secret Password: Chicken Nuggets

Additional Comments: the live splatoon 3 commentary has me DEAD - Lee

[manipulatorkaleidoscope]

Phi and or hyde hcs pleazd

On it boss 🫡

This might be a long post because I’m more personally attached to the antagonists and that also includes Phi and Hyde so… yeah 👍

Phi

thinks he’s all that when he really isn’t all that

dresses up on the regular like he is going to a fancy rich people party that they set up in hotels and they discuss buissness there

Secretly wants to wear ball gowns or those really thought form fitting black leather dresses

Has a fully maxed out (not really) Royale high account where he spent like a bagillion Robux on before

Has a canopy bed. Also, has a big room. Everything is neatly organized and it’s so clean it gives a horror movie aura

Has Hyde’s contact number named as “spare parts”

Also, constantly harassed Hyde during their childhood cause he is a little b*cht

Wears heels. I mean. Cmon why wouldn’t he

Is a bigger drama queen than what he pretends he is.

Doesn’t really have any friends LMAO-

Is probably aroace. There is no love for anyone behind those eyes 👀

One time Hyde said that his eyes looked like the Nintendo switch and Phi was ready to drop everything and throw hands

Only really gets along with Evel. And even then they are just awkward aquantiances

was 15 years old by the time Turbo happened

Hyde

Spends a lot of money on clothes too make it look like he can’t afford clothes

Finds shattered glass cool. Once shattered a mirror just to glue the pieces of that mirror to another mirror

Both Him and Phi had Pokémon once in their corsponding consoles. One time Hyde’s pickachu won against Phi’s Pokémon, so Phi broke his console. Hyde gets all sad when he thinks about it.

Unironically likes Vocaloid

One time he hosted a Vocaloid fan club and the only other person that showed up was Aiger (who also likes Vocaloid) and that’s how they became friends.

Is some kind of gender outside of the binary. idk witch one but it’s one of them.

Looks up articles on how to be a better older sibling, prints them out and shoves them violently into Phi’s face.

His room is a mess but in an Aesthetic kind of way.

Is probably friends with Arthur (yes, Arthur Peregrine 😅)

One time broke into Phi’s room and broke one of his many mugs and then just left.

Hyde invites random people to stay over at dread tower. Hense why Kyle is here.

(I might have WAY more but that’s all I can remember 😌)

Time for my personal ratings

Phi

solid ✨9.9999999999999999999/10✨ Is a lil b*cht that holds no regards to the safety of others and manipulates people (Phi really be like “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss!” Huh) but honestly, that’s the charm. I might be biased because he is one of my 5 baby girls and the only one from beyblade for that matter, But… he’s a genuenly good character ngl. Good job for the story writers for writing him well.

Hyde

… do I really need to explain.

I do??

ok 👍

✨10/10✨ straight up one of the best characters in the series. He is my third favorite so I’m way way WAY more biased with Hyde that how I am with Phi lmao. He deserves all of the nice things in the world. It just cause, at first, you think he’s also a jerk like his brother, but he just acts out and acts that way because Phi… didn’t really care for him. It becomes more obvious as the season goes on. It just makes you sad and it makes you want to hug Hyde. Also. I like the color purple. I’m biased. Enough said

(I’ll do the rest tomorrow! For now, ask away!)

[bryan360]

Here’s my note before I’ll get started….

(NO COPYING OR PLAGIARIZING FROM ME AND ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIEND’S WORK! THAT INCLUDES OUR CHARACTERS, DESIGNS, STUFF, ETC. IMPOSTERS AND SEXBOTS ARE NOT WELCOME TO FOLLOW MY BLOG WHATSOEVER! 😡 That will be all….I mean it.)

“Day 30: Treats!!🎃🍭✨”

This is it! I'd finally reached to all thirdy-one Inktober arts of 2023. It's been heck of a ride recently when working hard throughout this month. Despite some trials and errors to learn back from; especially from past months I'd finished almost of my previous completed Inktober arts this year. That's why where I'd listed from my Inktober list of 2023 for "Day 20" to "31" as question marks/unfinished ones. However, it's time to moving on to other things like checking my Filipino pal's previous posts. Also when continuing one of my previous topic reviews; including with my recent new controller. I tried taking breaks while I'm not doing busy art activities or something. Do hope I'll take a chance for awhile.

Now to close up by having two explorers and the naughty red panda kooplings story its conclusion. It turns out, that giant pumpkin suddenly contains with of course....sweet treats! This is unexpected for Sallie Chips, but her Awoofy companion is excited to see hoards of candy. She don't know if it's safe to eat or not, but this is Halloween. I don't wanted to tell them, but it still contains some magic stuff that the red panda kooplings accidentally cast spell; way back when riding on a clown car before changing a huge pumpkin. I can seen them chuckle from behind. It's this some kind of prepared pranks they're planning. Then It was an happy accident they can go along. Do wonder what would happened next? If Sallie Chips and Awoofy can take one pieces of candy, it'll have side effect whether changing forms or having sick faces. Probably both if you can imagine what it's like.

However, this will be the end of my Inktober arts of 2023. There's plenty of time to celebrate today's Halloween; unless I'm waiting to get some treats from my mom later. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy for October 2023 before moving to November; including feasts and floats. 🦃🎈

Sallie Chips (in her safari/explorer costume and hat) & The Red Panda Kids (as half kooplings) created by me: BryanVelasquez87 (Bryan360) 

Awoofy - “Kirby and the Forgotten Land” (2022); HAL Laboratory, Inc., Nintendo®️

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301 @rafacaz4lisam2k4 @paektu

Previous: ⬇️

“Day 1: Looney 🐰🔨” - Link Here #1

“Day 2: Imposters 🕷️👉👈🕷️” - Link Here #2

“Day 3: Wild 🌲🐶” - Link Here #3

“Day 4: Thief 🐰💰” - Link Here #4

“Day 5: Moon 🌙🎣” - Link Here #5

“Day 6: Love 🐰❤️🐲” - Link Here #6

“Day 7: Dogs 😣🐶” - Link Here #7

“Day 8: Shake🥤☠️” - Link Here #8

“Day 9: Act ☎️ 🤹‍♀️” - Link Here #9

“Day 10: Pirate 🏴‍☠️🗡️” - Link Here #10

“Day 11: Shadows 🔦🙌”  - Link Here #11

“Day 12: Baddies 🚘 🎃” - Link Here #12

“Day 13: Transform 🪵💨” - Link Here #13

“Day 14: Bad Hair 💇‍♀️😱” - Link Here #14

“Day 15: Phantom 👻🦸🏻‍♂️” - Link Here #15

“Day 16: Fighters 😈���💥” - Link Here #16

“Day 17: Ninjas 🌃🥷” - Link Here #17

“Day 18: Grim 💀🐑” - Link Here #18

“Day 19: Hill 🩻❤️👩‍🦰” - Link Here #19

“Day 20: Fury 🐢🔥⛈️” - Link Here #20

“Day 21: Farm 👩‍🌾🛸🥦” - Link Here #21

“Day 22: Magic 🐰🪄🎩” - Link Here #22

“Day 23: Smile 🐰👩‍🍳😈” - Link Here #23

“Day 24: Arcade 🕹️🦁🗡️” - Link Here #24

“Day 25: Camp 🐿️🐶🔥” - Link Here #25

“Day 26: Pets 🎧😌🎃” - Link Here #26

“Day 27: Lantern 🐱🏮⬛️” - Link Here #27

“Day 28: Five Nights 🐰🤖🍕” - Link Here #28

“Day 29: Rollout 🎃🏃‍♀️” - Link Here #29

”Day 30: Leader 🐶⬛️🗡️” - Link Here #30

[omamervt]

I still see bizarre critiques of Scarlet/Violet that betray a lack of understanding about the nature of gamedev so I wanna set a few things straight.

Now because this is the internet, I'm gonna get this out of the way. This is not a defense of GameFreak. They scaled too big considering they had a locked-in deadline beyond their control and a development pipeline that spreads decision-making way too thin between 3-4 separate entities. And this is certainly not a defense of The Pokemon Company International as a whole. They'd happily stop publishing games entirely if they thought they could sell plushies and figurines of brand-new Pokemon without them, and I frankly won't be shocked if they eventually try that.

Now first and foremost, as I'm sure many of you know, the Switch's hardware lags SO far behind its competitors. There are several reasons for this and I honestly can't fault Nintendo for some of them but that's the simple truth - from a modern standpoint, the hardware sucks. They basically just packed Wii-U hardware into a mobile device, and the Wii-U was just an Xbox 360 with a significantly worse video card.

But why is it that some games like Tears of the Kingdom run perfectly with no issues ever under any circumstances, and even other Pokemon games released the same year manage significantly better performance?

Well, long story short, those three games all decided to do the exact same thing, ran into the exact same problem, and came up with three different solutions.

Starting with Tears of the Kingdom, a massive open-world action RPG/Puzzle game, they saw the limits of the hardware, knew there was only so many assets (items, environment art, NPCs, enemies, etc) they could keep onscreen without compromising the beauty and immersion of the world, and decided they were only going to have a handful of enemies on screen at a time. Usually groups of 10 or less. There are a handful of challenges with significantly more enemies, and the game performs noticeably worse in those areas. They also had fixed spawn locations. Enemies would always appear in the exact same spot, every time you go to that area. If you've killed the enemies in that area already, they won't come back until the Blood Moon resets all encounters on the map. The reset happens periodically to prevent a memory overload from crashing the game.

In this way, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were very expertly designed around some luxuries that a Pokemon game doesn't have. Pokemon games need to be able to populate an area with Pokemon. Pokemon need to respawn in that area more than once every 3 hours. Once again, though, an elegant decision was reached. First, they split the map up into 5 Areas, each about as big as the main Wild Area in Pokemon Sword/Shield. Then, they tied Pokemon spawns to a random seed. You know how Minecraft uses "seeds" to generate a new world, and putting in a custom seed affects how the world is generated? Yeah, it's the same concept but with Pokemon spawns. Then, they created a 24-minute Day/Night cycle. Every 6 minutes, the time of day would change. At the end of a full cycle, the seed would be regenerated, giving you a new set of pokemon in the area. You could prevent the generation of a new seed by "Sleeping" at camp, which would return you to an earlier point in the day, potentially allowing one seed to last significantly longer, and thereby reduce the amount of data stored in short-term memory when the seed is regenerated. Returning to Jubilife Village would dump leftover data from the previous seed(s), and generate new seeds for all 5 areas. Because of the seed, the game only needed to generate new pokemon while the scene was loading, which, if you spend less than an hour in a specific area at a time, took significantly less effort. And by creating some, quite frankly, bland environments with LOTS of big clearings where most of the Pokemon appear, they were able to have loads of Pokemon on screen at a time. Also, because the Pokemon are fixed to the seed, the exact same pokemon will spawn in if you walk far enough away from them to make them despawn. Nothing is decided in the moment, so no room for hiccups!

For Scarlet and Violet, GameFreak flew too close to the sun and got burned. Rather than use the smart system they came up with for Legends: Arceus, they wanted one big open world that'd be heavily populated with Pokemon, those pokemon would have minor interactions programmed in, and the player was given access to the whole map as soon as they finished the tutorial! And... oof, you can't put that on a seed anymore, it's too many moving parts over too big of an area! With virtually no areas to load into, you can't load the Pokemon from the next area all at once. You also don't have anywhere to hide a memory dump. The only two areas that aren't part of the same big open world are the city of Mesagoza, and Area Zero. So, pokemon spawn and despawn based purely on proximity to the player and the area the player is standing in. If the player leaves the pokemon's proximity, it's gone forever, and a brand-new pokemon is generated on the spot in its place. Even though it keeps the amount of assets on screen low, it's still a lot more ongoing work that the system has to do. And to trade off for that, they cut down on the amount of environment assets even further. EVERYWHERE in Paldea is a big open field. This game doesn't even have a proper forest, and no, Tagtree Thicket doesn't count. The trees are so sparse that you can't even properly call it a Thicket. It's an embarrassment to Thickets everywhere. And even with that compromise, there were STILL massive areas of the game that simply couldn't handle the amount of work that was needed to keep up with making these big, empty fields look populated.

Look, the point is, Scarlet and Violet don't suck because of corporate greed preventing them from getting a proper development cycle. Another year in the oven might have helped, but frankly it wouldn't have fixed this mess. The core issue at the heart of Scarlet and Violet is that GameFreak had a specific experience they wanted to deliver, they made massive compromises to deliver it, and in the end, those compromises weren't enough to provide a smooth experience. They should have split the map up the same way they did Legends: Arceus, with the school and Mesagoza as the hub area you'd return to after an expedition. It's perfectly set up for it, they just chose not to for some reason. If they had, they could have copied the setup they used to make Legends: Arceus work, and the game would have likely had significantly fewer performance issues.

But even so, I find it hard to fault them for trying. They did it because it's been clear this is the experience they've been building to ever since the series went 3D. Scarlet and Violet are the games they've wanted to make for a long time, and it's evident everywhere you look that a LOT of love went into building it. This game had possibly the best supporting cast of any Pokemon game ever, a story that focused on those characters rather than the world's lore, and an absolutely killer finale. Despite its technical flaws, it's a delight to play, and even after it's been out for months, I still can't put it down, and if the people making it didn't love what they were doing, I don't think that would be the case.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: May 2023

If you notice I haven’t read as much this month, it’s because I got the new Zelda game. But between my vanquishing of evil I still managed to fit in some other media! Here’s how I spent the month of May.

……….FILM……….

BlackBerry (2023) Having grown up in Waterloo Region I didn’t have any interest in seeing a retelling of the story I mostly knew but this was really great! Surprisingly funny and frenetic and a truly unhinged (in the best way) performance from Glenn Howerton. Good stuff.

John Mulaney: Baby J (2023) I naively thought “I wonder how much this’ll touch on the drug stuff?”... turns out it’s all about the drug stuff. Cool that he was talking about it so openly, and made it so funny, but I wonder if there was more material that got cut? He briefly mentions a trip with his son and I would’ve loved to hear more about that. Anyway as a comedy special it’s really great.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) You know I haven’t been interested in the last few Marvel movies but this one felt like it was going to be different..and it was! So many moving parts but I never had trouble keeping track of character motivations or story beats and the whole thing was really beautiful. I mean even the really gross stuff was fun to watch. Keen to go back and watch this as a trilogy down the road.

The Suicide Squad (2021) I was excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy so at the start of the month I rewatched this. Still impressed at how this can be equal parts a gross out dick joke movie and also built on a foundation of community and family. Builds well, nothing feels repetitive, and the finale doesn’t overstay its welcome. Really great stuff.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Bear (Episode 1.01 to 1.03) Never have I felt so stressed watching television. Really captivating episodes and I’m very excited to watch more.

Ted Lasso (Episode 3.08 to 3.10) Maybe it’s the time away from season 1 and 2, or maybe something happened behind the scenes, but season 3 feels different. Some eps really hit, and even some moments within those other episodes, but it all feels rather unfocused. Maybe it’ll stick the landing but my confidence has been shaken.

The Most Hated Man on the Internet (Episode 1.01 to 1.03) Perfectly paced. Just enough detail to get invested but after 3 eps it felt like I experienced the full journey. Really interested to see the public’s perception of revenge porn shift over time and I can only assume this website (and its founder) played a part in that.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Down the Off-Grid Rabbit Hole... by Maggie Mae Fish Love simultaneously learning about a corner of the internet and also how it’s exploiting others. Just wild. VIDEO

Why so many people need glasses now by Vox Turns out kids need to spend more time outside for legit biological reasons? Who knew. VIDEO

How Nintendo Solved Zelda's Open World Problem by Game Maker’s Toolkit Hey maybe you’ve been playing the new Zelda and if you have, you’ll find this interesting. I sure did. VIDEO

……….READING……….

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (Page 165 of 500) The first time I read this, it really helped me understand the perspective some folks take on divisive topics. There was a sort of comfort to finally seeing what they’re seeing. In rereading this, I find myself getting angered while reading. The book is over 10 years old and while still relevant, it often feels quaint when talking about the widening gap between political parties. Its neutrality feels almost naive to me? Maybe I’ve forgotten a key chapter that helps.

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (It doesn’t have page numbers...maybe 1/3 of the way through) Murder in old hollywood is just so cool. I’m really digging this so far and the art, characters, and pacing feel thoroughly natural. Every reveal is just so casual cause to these characters, it’s just their lives, and I love that. Big fan so far.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 8 by by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and more (Complete) I always liked the smaller stories in this volume that focused on Peter’s personal life...like break-ups and dating other superheroes and stuff. But for some reason the Jean DeWolff/Kingpin/Moon Knight stuff always just felt kinda rushed? I dunno maybe I like everything to be a little more fantastical or suuuuuuper mundane. None of this in-between shenanigans. Give me highschool or give me death.

……….GAMING……….

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo) So good. I walked past a house that was redoing their driveway and had a bunch of construction stuff covered in a tarp and I immediately thought “hmm I wonder what I could build” and that...is the sign that I’ve played this game too much. Big fan 10/10 change nothing.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 Crew did some downtime planning ahead of a heist/attack combo that worked out pretty well! We played out events in weeks instead of in real time (for both the players and their enemies) and it worked pretty well!

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The group is still navigating a rival adventuring party on the island and seeing what happens now that they’ve let their star-collecting duties slip. Big trouble. You can read about it here.

Anyway that’s it. See you in June!

[kanzgamesandtrailers]

Hogwarts Legacy - Tour the Ravenclaw Common Room | PS5, Ps4, Xbox One, P...

Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy is a role-playing video game (RPG) developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in collaboration with Portkey Games. The game will be released in February 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC (Windows, via Epic Games Store and Steam); in April 2023 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in July 2023 on Nintendo Switch. This game takes place in the world of wizards created by J. K. Rowling, without her being involved in the development and the scenario of the game. In 2022, Hogwarts Legacy is considered by some journalists to be the most anticipated video game of the year. Initially scheduled for 2021, the game's release was later announced for Christmas 2022. In August 2022, Avalanche Software announced the postponement of the game for the beginning of the following year, with a specific first release date. Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy, available Friday February 10, 2023 on PS5, PC and XBoxSeries. --------------------------------------------- Can you get into Ravenclaw common room? While the entrances to at least two of the other common rooms are guarded by means of passwords, the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room is a wooden door with no handle, only a knocker in the shape of an eagle. Does the Ravenclaw common room have a password? It was 'Caput Draconis' which is Latin for 'dragon's head' and that definitely fits as a straightforward password for the common room. What is the description of Ravenclaw common room? Description. The Ravenclaw common room was one of the airiest rooms at Hogwarts. It was a wide, circular room with graceful arched windows that punctuated the walls which were hung with blue and bronze silks and a midnight blue carpet covered in stars, which was reflected onto the domed ceiling. Where is Ravenclaw house located? Entrance. The entrance to the common room was located on the west side of Hogwarts at the top of a spiral staircase located on the fifth floor, and was a door without a doorknob or keyhole, but a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Why is Ravenclaw so good? Ravenclaw is famous for welcoming eccentric people Intensely intelligent, Ravenclaws are also unique and think outside the box. This is usually a good thing, unless by 'thinking outside the box' you mean stealing other wizards' stories and erasing their memories, like a certain Ravenclaw called Gilderoy Lockhart. Who is the last heir of Ravenclaw? Andrea Deanisi as Wiglaf Sigurdsson, the Heir of Rowena Ravenclaw. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *- How many hours is Hogwarts Legacy? According to a leaked art book of the game, Hogwarts Legacy will reportedly take 35 hours to complete the main story. *- What GPU does Hogwarts Legacy use?                     Recommended/High Specs RAM                                 16 GB GPU                                 NVIDIA GeForce 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or INTEL Arc A770 DX VERSION                         DX 12 STORAGE                        85 GB SSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *- Can you get married in Hogwarts? Technically, weddings are not allowed at the Wizarding World, so they had to do it guerrilla-style (having a wedding while not booking the public venue). To get it done on the sly, they met behind The Three Broomsticks for a super quick and really small ceremony with a handfasting and personal vows. You'll need at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti to play at 1440p, while the developer recommends jumping up to an AMD RX 7900 XT if you plan to play at 4K. Although the minimum system requirements don't seem like much, Hogwarts Legacy quickly becomes more demanding as you move past 720p.

[aerypear]

Tears of the Kingdom Review

A very very Long and honest review of the game. I’ve played ... I think almost all of the Zelda titles to completion and I wouldn’t say I’m terrible at playing games (but certainly no expert in playing them.)

I have played botw to 100% completion (Fuck Koroks) So this is from the angle of TotK being a sequel.  There will be Spoilers.

So starting out, the game is very exciting. The whole introduction to the story and plot is very solid. This is the only section of the game where the story is this solid. Thrust onto the main Sky Island where a second Temple of Time rests and you’re released to the races to get through tutorial mode. The progression of this area felt like the Great Plateau in hardness level, which is to say Very forgiving with maybe one or two enemies that may stump you. I did enjoy this area immensely and had fun finding all the ways to get across them with my own problem solving and exploring the various Caves. There’s a few problems immediate problems I noticed but ignored with a “Maybe it’s me solving the problem wrong” or “Maybe I’m using this device wrong”. Minor enough to ignore as there are other ways to solving things. That’s the blessing BotW gave and up until that point TotK also displayed. This quickly became a fallacy in various areas to varying degrees.

The second you leave the Sky Islands you’re off to the races to do... BotW Master Mode. This isn’t a big deal as I had goofed off in BotW in this way and dabbled in it’s Master Mode. While the challenge was happily accepted, I quickly grew weary of it. Monsters in this immediate zone after tutorial mode Can and Will one shot three hearts. The skill ceiling is already much higher than I expected. Add to that that you’re almost punished for making mistakes and not using the weapon fuse system (which require monster parts). Again, wrote off the previous sentence’s revelation as “The weapons are Rusty, It’s to be expected that they don’t perform well”, but this doesn’t go away even after you find their non rusty variants. In a sense, you’re not every relieved of this system. 

Why is it a problem? To get monster parts you must use your weapons, to use your weapons means you’ll need a constant supply of new weapons. This becomes a vicious farming cycle. Add onto this layer that enemies do in fact hit like tanks, this becomes a balancing problem. Nintendo made a Souls level of hardness game and marketed it to children. E10+ means ages 10 and older.

This game would frustrate and upset 10 year olds. Not it’s elements or story, no. But it’s gameplay. The game is tuned too hard for 10 year olds. They don’t get a choice in playing a Master mode level of hardness, they don’t get the freedom to problem solve and bumble through mechanics yet still beat the game. BotW was a little too easy but at least I could confidently say a child could beat that game. I can’t confidently say a child can beat some of the mini bosses and major bosses in Tears of the Kingdom. (and that’s without getting into the weirdness behind the ESRB labeling system.)

Let’s talk about the major mechanic that has everyone excited and making thousands of memes about. The Ultrahand system. It drops your frames (to varying degrees of noticeability) and is tedious. Not to mention tedious. Most of what you make won’t work even though they are designs you see npcs using, the base construct itself will not function as intended, and they added a feature where items will vanish after a certain distance/time has been met. While I’m not typically a harper on items have time limits, it does take the freedom of exploration out of the game. What does it matter that I wish to use a wing glider and soar the skies? Instead of the air balloon vanishing, why not put the fire out after a certain altitude because the air is too thin? The only wing glider I can excuse for having a limit is the one in the Tutorial zone, but outside of it; it takes me out of the game, and puts a damper on the spirit of exploration. I already explored the land in it’s entirety in BotW.  Let me explore it from a new perspective! Let’s round back to the wing Gliders actually. These are the devices that have the most ire from me. When they do work, they work fabulously. When they don’t, You fall out of the air like a rock, for no reason. I can understand this happening in the depths where air is stagnant. But Failed to understand this in the Sky and Land. When it does work, It’ll vanish. Very annoying.

I’m also disappointed that there aren’t more Sky islands that aren’t dedicated to Puzzles. There’s no other islands that exist for the sake of Lore. We’ll come back to lore later. I want to move on to other mechanics that were introduced yet you’re punished for using. Unlike BotW, we can attach buggies to our horses and put just about whatever suits our fancy in it. Koroks, Food, weapons, Zonai devices, etc. This system instantly was rendered null and void with enemies lining the main road wielding fire. I don’t know how npcs are getting to and from locations with a cart because you certainly can’t. They’ll burn anything made out of wood to spite you with ridiculously good aim. The other way this system was rendered useless is via the Save feature. Any items you drop, once you load up a save will be gone. This includes anything you fused onto your cart. 

A not so surprising issue that the game still has is Constantly triggering a blood moon. Something Nintendo said they had fixed, but given the amount of enemies you need to kill just for their supplies to function, was made null and void. Near the start of the game I found I was triggering a blood moon every other in game day. If you’re taking it slow and avoiding every enemy there is, a natural cycle is 7 in game days. 

Let’s finally talk lore. It’s a mess. I have lofty opinions of the Zelda lore as I can word vomit just about any game’s lore at the drop of a hat, and TotK lore is disappointing, pointless, logically flawed, and doesn’t make sense. It’s trying so hard to be it’s own identity but too busy running in the guise of almost every Zelda game. The Wind temple boss was literally Gohma from Windwaker that can fly like Mogera and it’s called... Colgera. I’m fine with Legend of Zelda reusing boss names, and switching up their concepts, but it becomes FAR too on the nose that the wind temple is associated with the Rito, and Gohma was on the Rito’s Island in Windwaker.  Like previous Zelda games, we are once again introduced to the concept of Sages. A plot beat that you can get instantly from going to the major regions where the other races reside like the npcs tell you to do, or one you can scratch your head at if you beelined it to Kakariko. 

Every game had their way of highlighting a Sage, Link to the Past the 7 maidens are descendants of the 7 wise men, Ocarina of time there are 7 sages, 6 of which are the elements Light (Hylian), Forest (Kokiri), Fire (Goron), Water (Zora), Shadow (Sheikah), and Spirit (Gerudo). The Sage of Light’s name, Rauru, makes a reappearance in TotK reprising his role as wielding light. WindWaker introduces us to two new elements that are Sages, Wind and Earth. Laruto (zora) being the previous Earth sage before Medli (Rito), and Fado (kokiri) being the previous Wind sage before Makar (Korok). Twilight princess has six Sages with the sage of water being killed. Spirit tracks shows there are 7 sages called Lokomos, introducing us to 3 new concepts Snow, Ocean and Sand. Link Between worlds are Seven sages that are descendants from the seven maidens. Most of which are Hylians. In Four Swords, it’s a reversal that the 7 maidens are descendants of 7 sages. Wise Men is To Maidens is to Sages is to Maidens.

All of this to say, that in all the games, unlocking the majority of the sages was a part of the plot and the over all story. This is true for learning more about the story in TotK, but you do not need to unlock the sages to face ganon, and you certainly don’t feel their weight of importance as Sages like previous games. Various roles the Sages preformed in previous game was unlocking other sections of the map, Powering the Master Sword, Protecting the Sacred Realm, Helping to Seal Enemies, Acting as Link’s Guides, or requiring rescue because their power being sealed Bolsters Ganon. They’re only Fighting buddies in Tears of the Kingdom. Optional fighting buddies that are a bigger hassle to use than it is worth as you must run up to them and click A. During mid Combat that can be hard. The story takes a “Link doesn’t have to fight alone” narrative but the sages don’t come with link. Their Spirit Simulacrum forms do. Their purpose in the story is Zelda bidding the Ancient Sages to Stand with their temples for a long ass time for the sake of passing on their power to their descendants to take up the mantle of being the next Sage. That’s it. That’s their plot narrative. Did I inundate you with Sage information just to make it clear how VERY off to the side these sages are? Yes. I hope it drives home my disappointment that the sages in this game are just more Tedious versions of BotW Champions that Link for some reason doesn’t have their abilities of anymore. One could even argue that the Champions were more plot relevant given their affiliation with the Divine beasts being taken over by Ganon and that’s what is causing problems in the 4 regions of the world. Not, the ancient Sages left behind their contraptions in very inconvenient locations that are screwing their descendants over...

Zelda’s Role in the game is also complex and stupid. Acting as the Sage of Time (not a surprise given her affiliation with Hylia, and the Princess’s natural born power) she decides that leaving behind anything that would help Link is too logical. See, she does a lot of things for him but doesn’t actively partake in actually helping him. In fact, she’s your biggest road block. Which is a shame because they set her up in such a way in the beginning of the game that made it seem like this wasn’t yet another “Link, you must find me” Round two. The whole game she taunts you in the sky as the Light Dragon (and no this doesn’t make sense), and flies particularly in inconvenient locations While with the Master Sword in her head. It’s fine that she has it. It’s not fine that she’s actively your biggest fucking thorn in the side to retrieving it. Zelda takes a role in the game that I can only explain as Savior Complex.

For a Game that promised to be lore heavy given the implications of talking about ancient hyrule, there’s quite frankly nothing there to learn about it. You’re teased with the prospect of many things having occurred in Ancient Hyrule and the most the npc robots left from this bygone era can tell you is their function and what the location served as. You know small things like the ancient temple of time originally being on land, but now isn’t, you know that they dug underground and made the depths one big mining facility. That’s it. It’s a game that focuses on mechanics, and a good deal of them weren’t thought through.

If you made it this far, you might be wondering if I even like this game? It’s complicated. I enjoy the game. I have become a depths gremlin. I live there now. However, if someone were to say “I love lore, should I play TotK” I would tell them to go play a different Zelda game. If someone didn’t play BotW and wanted to play TotK, I would strongly suggest they go back to BotW and play that where it’s more forgiving to learn your controls. If someone likes dark locations where you can’t see, Come join the depths club. Way more than enough room to join down here. We waited 6 years for this and it honestly feels more like a DLC but at least it has some fun aspects to it.

[mallowninja]

finished tears of the kingdom so i'm thinking about it now

good game. i'd call it a 9/10 alone, 8/10 as a sequel

so I don't need to get into details about the plot opportunities Nintendo didn't capitalize on in the presumably 4-ish years of development or the lack of playable Zelda or any of that. It's all been addressed before I got here. We're going to take that all as given and move on.

That said, I do think there are some easy things, and some not-so-easy things they could and should have done with this.

Remember Zelda's diary in Breath of the Wild that you could locate in her bedroom? I think they should have done that here. I'm not sure where specifically they'd place it, but I think it'd be reasonable to tuck it away somewhere in the sky, either in one location from earlier on in her time in the past, or in scattered pieces and imply they're travel logs from gathering up the Sages. Point is, I wanted more of Zelda's feelings written out here. It's straightforward and right to the gut in getting the player to make Zelda feel more Real even as she's not there.

If not a diary, there should have been little notes from Zelda carved into stonework throughout Hyrule, of her trying to leave help behind for him. It would've been a fun detail that they could have spread at least to the four major regions as per Zelda's implied traveling in order to request the Sage's aid for Link in the future.

Put a little scar line around Link's bicep if you're going to give him his original arm back! You could even make it a little Zonai green-ish if you wanted!

On that note actually, instead of giving Link his arm back, keep it gone. It's wrecked. Give an opportunity to show how Sheikah technology has been progressing in the post-credits by giving him a Sheikah prosthetic that still has full articulation. I'd believe it.

Give Zelda a lil' scar on her forehead. (bonus points it's a target for link kisses)

Anything textual about the Sheikah tech from BotW that got overtaken by Ganon being dismantled in the aftermath would have done a lot to explain why none of it is present in TotK. Even if it's all text and none of those lines are voice-acted. This is kind of what I assumed happened but I really appreciate the game actually giving me the info (or telling me outright) where stuff like that is concerned. Player assumption should only go so far!

please for the love of god let the Gerudo children wear full tank tops or something. please. PLEASE

Why is controlling Mineru so awkward and slow. I don't know what necessarily should be done to improve this but PLEASE do SOMETHING. Give her a run button or something.

I think there should have been at least one walk and talk cutscene for Zelda in the past, just like we had the game open with Link walking and talking with Zelda through the forgotten foundation down toward where Ganondorf was imprisoned for ten thousand years. I know we see glimpses of Hyrule's past when we see Zelda's memories in the geoglyphs but. I want more please.

Realistic or not, a walk and talk cutscene to close the game after the credits would've been fun too, at least to get up to the scene with Mineru and the others. I dunno. I like gameplay actions coming full circle. (Like Link reaching out for Zelda with the same hand he lost at the beginning. Very good, devs. A+)

why are there dogs at all the stables but no cats. why are there absolutely no cats in this Hyrule. Are there no mice in Hyrule? No vermin? We know squirrels exist. where the fuck are the cats.

Take the Amiibo button and the Map button off the Zonai menu. Put the Amiibo button somewhere in your key items. Why did you put the Map button on there if just to fill in the 8th slot. This was extremely unnecessary.

Good game though. If you liked BotW you'll like this one, I think. If you didn't then sorry it's more of the same.

The vibe is fantastic, the gameplay is engrossing, the difficulty spikes in a way that's a little hard to figure out until you really embrace either keeping stat buffs on via food or keeping your armor upgraded but is otherwise pretty reasonable, and the shrine puzzles are a ton of fun, even the battle ones. The Sage dungeons are overall MUCH better than the Divine Beasts (Mineru's is hit or miss; the Thunderhead Isles are great imo and the Depths portion is fucking dogshit) to the point I actually... had fun? Doing them? Holy shit.

Also the voice acting is fine. It's fine! Patricia Summersett is Good as Zelda. I thought this in BotW and I think this now. Don't bother to fight me because I don't care to engage.

I truly hope the dev team goes back to more structured storytelling after this because there's a LOT of opportunity narrative-wise to capitalize on in this game that they didn't follow up on, but just enough really nice details that makes me want more meat in the story even if the gameplay side suffers a bit.

But then, I like visual novels, so that says a lot about my priorities.

[sallie-may-gaming]

Some thoughts on the burnout from big studio made movies and games

Basically they've brought it on themselves. Audiences are starved for new things, and studios are in a better position than ever to put them in the audience's hands, they've got prospective artists banging down their door for jobs, and they've got boatloads of money now. The problem is they don't want to. They want to sit on their asses and be greedy. They want to keep grinding out reboots and remakes and whatnot. Now don't get me wrong, these can be great -I myself am a huge fan of the Carmen Sandiego and She-Ra reboots- but then you have stuff like voltron that shows how badly that can go. But that's all anyone wants to do, is make the next Sherlock of Voltron that will get people to watch it based off of nostalgia and then move on to the next. They're cutting old original content too, so all you can watch now is that paste. You're seeing it in video games now too, with your hogwarts legacy and your Mario. Once in a while they'll make something new and bold that people really want and go crazy for like Mario Odyssey, or will update their old fan classics like metroid prime and metroid dread, but why bother when they can just churn out a half-finished Pokémon or another 2D Mario and people will eat it up and slap dozens of games of the year and 10/10 scores for just being repetitive sanded down drivel, while you have your star fox, your captain falcon, your wario fans left starving because they don't want to make new original ideas anymore when realistically they're in a better place to do so than ever. They have so much money, why not throw it at something new? And it's showing. People are getting tired of it and going to the indie scene, to the people who HAVE to be original, otherwise they might get buried in court. The studios have gotten too comfortable in their wealth and only see churning out more of the same as free dollars signs and originality as an uncomfortable -an often unnecessary- risk. And I think we're approaching a singularity. The studios are gonna keep making the next marvel movie, the next soulless 2D Mario, and people will be like, "yeah, that's nice, more of the same, I'll watch or play it later I guess." Because they've become oversaturated, and they only have so long before they run out of stuff to reboot, and the content runs dry. Nostalgia can only carry them so far and people now either have a very clear idea of what they want, or they're bored and want something new and exciting. Either way, the steams, the A24s, have them covered. The studios want to bank off how big their IPs are without putting in any of the innovation that made them so big in the first place. The Mario IP is so good and has so many fans because of the 3D Mario games, the series about the side characters like yoshi luigi peach wario, the series that Nintendo is now sleeping on. And the fans, they're moving on to greener pastures. They're finding their new warios in the Peppino Spaghettis, the Dynamite Antons and Susan Taxpayers, they're finding their new Samuses in the Hollow Knights, the Dead Cells, and they're enjoying it and it's raising their standards. The corporate needs to step up their game, or the gamers, the show bingers, are going to be moving on and not looking back.

But yeah. Mark my words, backwards compatibility is going to make or break consoles soon people are gonna get fed up with the artificial nostalgia of having the same thing over and over fed to them while the companies lock away access to the actual older games behind lack of backwards compatibility and refusal to remaster or make new entries. And perhaps one of the biggest sins is that the corporations are raising the prices. They're trying to raise the price to $70 and saying that video games are more expensive than ever to make and that's not necessarily the case, and indie devs prove it with their premium experiences at 5, 15, maybe 40 dollars. Some of them hit the $60 mark but I'd rather spend 60 or 70 dollars knowing it'll go right to someone who actually cares about queer people and has worked hard to bring that experience to us.