#cause HOOO boy

[system-of-a-feather]

Man its really odd how our subsystem is really layered and almost polyfragmented. Really odd cause we don't have that severe sexual trauma and therefore its kinda wild that we have such an organized and high level of dissociation especially in our corner cause thats the ONLY severe trauma right guys?

*sweats*

Right guys?

*sweats harder*

.... right guys?

[luna-lovegreat]

Nice to see everyone on here losing their minds

I think it explores downfall timeline

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

ready to be funky!

[shinovii]

Question: What do these...

have in common with...

these?

Initially this was gonna be a simple topic on my mind to ramble about, but I guess with the latest words from a soft gaming executive hitting the community in 2024 I now have more of a need to talk about this than ever. It's funny how gaming over the past couple decades went from something rather simple and expressive to complicated and, admittedly, dull in some areas. Wait did I say funny, I meant "completely baffling" and the worst of it, imo anyways, comes from this pretty egregious push towards a digital only future we're seeing, with no consideration for physical media, storage space, possible alternative formats to use, or even us gamers wanting to actually possess and own our games. Yeah we live in an age where media is offered to us in such convenient ways, but with gaming it is a whole other beast entirely and as such it requires a different way of thinking in regards to convenience. Thinking that needs to address some of the issues I have with what's presented to us nowadays, starting with...

Video games back then were pretty small in comparison to the massively large scale stuff we've seen these past couple generations, with every gen growing further and further to reach this point. However with that came this rapid race to pushing out not just the biggest of games, but the most visually stunning games as well...sort of. While there have been plenty of games that went for gorgeous stylized looks and graphical effects there have been way more games that aimed for graphics so realistic and lifelike, it resulted in detailed effects and textures that likely took up a ton of file space. Listen, I don't mind if a game looks great, but if the game's high resolution graphics and such are why it ends up with anywhere over 100GB of data to store then clearly we have a problem. I get it, 4K and 8K resolutions are indeed a thing, but to be honest it is not that much of a necessity in the grand scheme.

The overwhelming file size isn't just cause of graphics either, lack of optimization is just as prevalent and boy does it show. Okay sure, devs have to work under a deadline, gotta get as much of those release day sales as possible, but if optimizing a game to scale down the file size and keep it looking good and performing smoothly is a hassle, then maybe something has to give in order to make it easier to manage. Ya gotta know what's best to prioritize if you want the gaming experience feel fun for the player and save space for more, ya know?

Remember how simple storing game data was, where all you had to worry about was simply having a memory card was all you needed to keep your progress and you had the choice to buy or rent a game to pop in your system? That's what my question earlier was about, stuff like SD cards, flash drives, SSDs and HDDs all store data like the memory cards of old, however there is one difference: the latter mostly stored save data and occasionally DLC for some consoles, the former can fully store games.

After the 7th Generation there definitely was a push towards being able to play games digitally but imo it always felt sloppily done even to this day, unless you played on PC where everything had a designated file directory you could set up of course. For consoles sure you only had to buy an SD card or SSD for extra storage, but it didn’t practically feel like a requirement until games started taking up more and more space. Add onto that the save data, update patches and loads of DLC, and you're piling on more and more files to keep track of with every game you get. That hits even more when you realize that the you fill up more space buying digitally than physically, though nowadays that applies more to Nintendo Switch owners since Playstation and Xbox have treated physical copies like glorified installer discs since the 8th Generation.

Speaking of installer discs I should probably talk about the physical side of gaming, since now there's more of a prevalent discussion amongst the gaming community going on. I've always wondered why out of all the Big 3 in gaming, it was Nintendo that kept it mostly right on what format to use for games and how to store it, especially now. They had cartridges down to a science from the NES to the N64 (the handheld scene was well done too), their disc based systems were touch and go with the Wii being their best one, and when it came to the Switch they didn't follow the trend at all and went "cartridges are fine enough for what we're doing," kudos. I say all this because, for the most part anyway, all of the base game that gets released on Switch is in the cartridge, leaving you extra room for DLC and some digital games that may not take as much space in your storage. That's something I appreciated way more than one would think, as it let me pick and choose what games were worth buying physically and what won't eat up my SD card space, something I feel is greatly missing elsewhere to be honest.

Granted I know cartridges are probably more expensive to manufacture but it's clear the gaming industry wants to shy away from DVD/Blu-Rays as the years go by, however I do wish there was some consideration for not just cartridges, but other physical ways to store games and reduce all the clutter. SD cards are as abundant as can be and come in various capacities, I wouldn't think it'd be too hard to make great use of that and solely store games and DLC in em (shoot Sony themselves toyed with SD card-sized cartridges with the Vita before, they could've tried that format again without the Vita's failures weighing em down). A single SSD could potentially store those 100s of gigabytes that one game had and they're just as readily available to produce too, imagine a system that contained a slot for you to plug one in that had the game ready to boot anytime and could store any extra content.

The options are right there and they'd be great logical next steps in how to sell physical copies of video games, or any media for that matter, but man it's crazy how unnoticed they've gone. I just wish it were given some thought and considered at least.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would dare say that gamers need to feel comfortable not owning their games, that is perhaps the biggest slap in the face to anybody who picks up a controller old and new. For decades it was pretty much an unspoken agreement between the gaming industry and the gaming community that we buy their games and thus we owned em until we either traded it, gave it away or sold it simple as that, but nowadays (since this past decade even) the industry has gotten bold. Between scummy business practices, horrible business mindsets and finding any which way they can to screw people over, it's disrespecting to the very essence of why we play video games.

Now I'm not gonna trash the very notion of digital gaming as a whole, it's here to stay and has been for a long time, but I cannot and will not accept it being the only way we play games when having the options and balance of choosing between it and physical titles in a better format is a perfectly fine way to go whenever we wanna buy a game.

The more limitations and restrictions you place on gaming and the more shenanigans you cause the more likely people are to relent against the industry, and when people relent well...

Hey, a service issue is a service issue is all I'm saying, there are definitely people out there who won't mind the high seas if push comes to shove.

[symphonicdemise]

You’d look so good reduced to a writhing little plaything for me, gagged and fettered. I might even just remove those pesky limbs, keep you from ever getting away from me.

It takes all his willpower to keep his fans from clicking on. Once he gathers his wits, he finds the words to speak.

"Given the subject matter, my first assumption would be this is Overlord trying to be romantic in his own way..." He pauses for a moment, reading over the message again. "However... this is far too much vocabulary for him, and he'd be brazen enough to say this to my face." Now that's got him thinking...

Who sent this?

[honey-beezer]

Really did not expect Mentopolis to be my reawakening of my teenage crush on Mike Trapp

[unbound-space-trash]

roomie and I went to an oddities expo for like, taxidermy and specimen jars and bugs and the like

the goth market, if you will

I got a cute coffin shaped heat pack with moths on it, a little diaphonized fish and octopus tentacle, some expo merch, and roomies xmas present

I also had to talk myself out of so many skulls and bugs and this one diaphonized mantis shrimp that was gorgeous but also $300 ;-;

[areyoudoingthis]

I'm so glad they ended it there the head bonk wouldn't have fit the mood

[strawburrymeadows]

heard the toh episode got leaked 💀💀

i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag i will not look at the toh tag—

[teamfortresstwo]

I actually love the new monster high designs but it’s… I don’t know. It feels, bland? Washed? Maybe it’s just the style.

[doctor-loki-sherlock]

Soft asks! 23, 26 and 30 <3

The start of your answer had me grinning, it's adorable 🥰

23. Favorite piece of clothing?

The sweater I'm currently wearing even though it's far too hot in FL to be wearing long sleeves. My step father gifted me a bunch years ago and this one just really screams "old man" and is super comfy!

26. What movie would you want to live in?

Probably The Fast and Furious lol I just think I'd be able to fit in pretty easy. I learned how to drive before my parents figured out I needed glasses so I'm actually still very good at driving fast and avoiding things without my glasses and even better if I have them 🤣

30. What reminds you of home?

Windy back roads. Gravel. Pine Trees. The smell of rain about to roll in. That moment in the morning when the sky is orange and just peaking out from behind the trees. When I manage to find an empty walking trail through the little bit of woods that's near me and I can just wander off the path and be surrounded by nature for a little while. But the thing that hits the hardest is when I'm driving back home and I can see the flat land turning into hills and then mountains. It does something to my soul lol like something got knocked out of place the day I left and seeing the mountains finally lets it settle back where it belongs and lets everything calm down.

[desperatepleasures]

I've got like 3ish volumes left so I know there's got to be another Big Confrontation narratively speaking but honestly I don't think anything is gonna beat the fuji confrontation...like kantarou having to literally defeat haruka's Evil Ex was an emotional peak that simply cannot be surpassed

[dorksofcydonia]

Hey I - (please don’t hurt me) I think we should be able to criticise-(PLEASE DONT HURT ME) we should be able to criticise celebrities freely without people threatening to kill us

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

Teehee

HELLO?? omfg ZJHSSSSSSSSSGJWHATWHAT<33333333

[cinastre]

ive reached a point where i just want to be done with this project so i can move on with my life

[rivaiin]

currently suffering the consecuences of my own actions and ive just been living off of the adrenaline of being on the verge of a panic attack for the past 3 days cause i Need to get this done