#descendants dreamcast

[rosieuv]

Just watched the 3rd Sonic film and it's so good oh my god

This definitely feels like something only Sonic fans would enjoy as the first 2 films are based on the classic Mega Drive games, which not only are the most nostalgified , but also in terms of lore are quite simple. Sonic 3 on the other hand, is based on Sonic Adventure 2, which has a much heavy lore due to the abilities of the Dreamcast making it easier to mix in story and levels. Therefore, if you're like my brother and don't know what the lore vaguely is, you won't find it as interesting. It's strange how all the clips for the trailer were in the beginning half hour though. It did make me wonder how long this film actually was and what it entailed. Either way, it's a very good film and I feel tired after leaving that cinema due to a burnout from all that action causing some kind of over-stimulation (I know that because typically I fiddle with a hair bobble but I just sat there the entire film either watching or frantically kicking my legs up and down at the fight scenes as if I couldn't go "fuck yeah this is so awesome!" in a room full of 10 year olds, then that was the next best thing to deal with the massive screen, massive speakers and my obligation to point out literally anything if a film is good).

okay spoilers here

The plot has so much action and it's great. There's no stupid plot with the other humans, which is what I was worried about considering the B plot with Sonic 2 and the Knuckles show. Instead, the B plot is focused on team Shadow, as opposed to team Sonic. In fact, the humans don't really do much this film as they have no reason to. I also find it cool how the Knuckes show ties in as the guardian of the Master Emerald is Wade (I think that's his name) and he appears for like a minute using it to play ice hockey on the roof of the police station.

The beginning scene is the best I've seen in any film. The switch between Sonic hanging out with his family and friends and having a race while Shadow just kicks the military's ass and leaves in such a badass way and then it all links with the military guys in the helicopter within the first 5 minutes as there's no time to waste and that fight at the beginning is so good that the marketing is all centred around that (to be fair, Shadow has a motorbike) and it doesn't take long to show that Shadow is very much a threat, to the point where I wasn't sure how the heroes were going to win as he was teaming up with Gerald Robotnik who has all this cool tech stuff, and Eggman was watching soap operas in the crab thing because he lost all his government funding and tech stuff in the second film and is legally dead (they never explained how he survived that but it must be some kind of chaos emerald plot armour). I love how they just showed him as even more insane then he was in the first 2 films as he descends from being a well respected scientist to hiding from the government as all he really has now is the crab so once they find out he's alive, it won't be much of a fight. It's also cool how he has the adventure 2 suit in the ending scenes with the climax.

Okay here's a list of notable things I thought were cool:

Shadow having a motorcycle

Maria actually looking like a human and not some bootleg barbie doll (I know it was 2001 but it's surreal seeing all those scenes in high definition with live action as I'm so used to seeing them as Dreamcast cutscenes with motion capture)

Maria's outfits looking more like from the 70s than the 50s as this canonically takes place in 2024 so 50 years ago would've been the 70s and not the 50s like in Adventure 2

Maria never really having last words as she exploded instead of getting shot, so it would be easier to manipulate Shadow into thinking that she would've wanted revenge as there's no way to prove that she wouldn't've (I haven't gotten 'round to playing Adventure 2 though so my knowledge of Maria comes from video essays, but I'm pretty sure Shadow was motivated by him miss-remembering her words, not by manipulation by others).

Shadow with high budget CGI

Jim Carrey coming back again (seriously, these films wouldn't be as good without him as Eggman)

Eggman dying for real at the end in a big space explosion as a sacrifice feels in character for how he was portrayed in Adventure 2

Eggman land in the VR thing

Knuckles still being well written (seriously, the writers really know what they're doing when it comes to his character)

The ambulances and police cars in the London section being actual British ambulances and police cars and not American ones (Hollywood did their research!)

Shadow's voice actor

The scene with Sonic and Shadow on the moon and all that character development

Shadow having his heelys

Tails is better in this film as he doesn't fanboy like he did in the second film (not a major point, it's quite subtle, but I like it)

The dog having subtitles for 2 gags

The blackout caused by Sonic and Shadow

Tails trying to save Sonic when he's falling into the Earth's atmosphere but failing feels more realistic, and it makes more sense how Knuckles was the one to save them both as I imagine he's probably done something like this before and Tails is like 4 or 5

The idea that the man and the woman that I can't remember their names but they're the ones from the beginning, going down the crochet rabbit hole if the main 3 leave for like 2 days is hilarious

The "Sonic getting blasted to pieces thing" in the plan was funny, especially at the laser section (can't really explain it without the clip)

the cinematic remix of that one song from Adventure 2

Wait...wasn't G.U.N mentioned in the Knuckles show? I swear it was...

In the first battle, Sonic asking Shadow "who does your highlights?" (and calling him "Hot Topic" later in the film)

The flashbacks with Maria fitting well with the rest of the film in a way that didn't feel clunky

Shadow commenting on the soap opera

That final scene with Eggman with the live stream reminded me of the broadcast where he blew up the moon in Adventure 2

The moon still gets exploded...kinda

The chao cafe (I know chaos are in the game but I'm not sure to what capacity)

The doughnut guy almost dying due to a slip up (not really cool but I like the character development it showed...and also how damn strong Shadow is that one punch blew doughnut guy into a coma. Makes you wonder how damn strong the main 3 are to still be standing after all the battles against Shadow...)

Shadow having a super form with Sonic (I know it's from the game, not sure where though)

Shadow surviving in the post credits scene made me in a happier mood when I left the cinema as I was sad he died

Sonic saying "gotta go fast!"

Okay nitpicks time (there's not gonna be many though):

The dance scene with the lasers was a bit too long

No Snapcube fandub references

It's never really explained where the crab came from or how Eggman survived

Not really explained how Gerald Robotnik got all the egg weapons too. They're not recreations as they still follow Eggman so how did he get them from the government? Was this part of the deal when he was released from prison?

Where did the Chaos Emerald go when Shadow almost died? He was in his super form.

How the hell did Shadow survive getting nuked by the explosion? I know he's strong as hell and was in his super form, but still.

How do the main 3 and Shadow breathe in space?

Agent Stone putting the full coffee cups in the bin really annoyed me like at least pour it onto the floor so the grass can drink it

I really like how Shadow was written in this film. He's not just "Edgy The Hedgy" like he's portrayed now (don't quote me on that, I haven't really been up to date on this so "now" is more like pre-renaissance) and his weakness is his own grief, which is how Sonic "defeated" him by talking to him on the Moon about not letting that grief distract him and that made him go to Sonic's side even though Sonic could've just beaten the ever loving shit out of him while he got the super form and Shadow was weakened, but he didn't because he isn't a psychopath. And some stuff I mentioned earlier like the motorcycle and the cool powers. Basically he's his Adventure 2 version but even more badass, and his Adventure 2 version was the best version and my favourite character in the franchise.

According to the Wikipedia page on it, a 4th film is in production. Personally I think this works better as a trilogy as how the hell do you top fighting a death ray that's going to blow up the Earth, in space? Also the main villain guy is dead and definitely isn't coming back because isn't Jim Carrey like 70 something now? I think it's gonna be all time travel-ly as it seems to be based around Sonic CD and that's it's main thing. In the post credits thing there was Metal Sonic (who doesn't really fit the aesthetic of the films as all the robots are egg looking things as it's set on Earth, and not space animals who got robot-y and so are a lot more colourful) and Amy Rose, who destroyed some of the robots with her hammer so it's clear she's not going to be like her flat personality in CD and be more like Tails I guess. It's hard to tell considering she only appears for like 15 seconds, but her first appearance in CD was following Sonic around while love hearts come out of her head, and then getting kidnapped, so I think her personality is going to be like her in the Sonic Boom TV show (she gives me "notable time traveller looking for someone who's important in the future" vibes). I feel like this premise works better as a TV show, with each episode being a different time period in each zone. Maybe this is just me wishing for an episodic cinematic universe Sonic TV show where it's the main 3 doing stuff on Earth and Shadow appears every now and then 'cause they have to be doing something with his character as he's shown to be at least somewhat alive in the post credits scene. I know it'll be expensive as hell to do all that CGI, but I can dream.

Yeah that's basically it. Overall: 9.7/10. Now my new favourite film. God I'm tired.

[dreamcast-official]

hi dreamcast hello !! :D 5 , 11 , 31 fo rhte video gmae ask game ?

hello ghost from tumblr blog ghostapop!!! hi :D!

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

GAUCHO AND THE GRASSLAND!!! its supposed to come out next month and im looking forward to it!!! its a brazilian farming sim type game based around the farm life of the gauchos in rio grande do sul - that's where i'm from :D! im a gaucho :D! well. descendant. i dont live in the south anymore nd my family isnt farmers BUT ITS STILL SO FUNNNN WAHHHHH oooh you want to watch the trailer so bad you want to wishlist it on steam ooooh

there are others but gaucho and the grassland is probably the game im excited for thats releasing the soonest so yeah!!!

11. Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory?

honestly it really depends on the story being told around that character. i feel like blank slate characters can very easily go wrong so im usually cautious of them. i think in general i prefer established characters but sometimes blank slate characters work really well!

31. Someone has never played a video game before but is open to trying any genre. What game would you recommend as their first?

gotta start with the basics, so i would go for a platformer first. since i'm me, i'd probably? recomend a sonic game? a modern sonic cuz they seem to be slightly easier than the classic sonics. generations maybe! i dunno, i never thought about this before... but it would probably be a sonic game. just unsure on which one.

[obiternihili]

i am in Immense Pain due to Health is Shit so I'm going to recount my understanding of something pointless and boring to organize my thoughts and Distract Myself from Feeling Pain and then i'm gonna post it because deleting a lot of writing even if pointless feels bad

Original computers of course were basically one program one machine. Reprogrammability came quick, but still, basically ran one program at a time, kinda like a nes.

As they grew bigger they started to make machines that could access libraries of programs at a time, the line between program and function not being that clear yet

These were eventually developed into the first operating systems by the late 50s. The 60s saw the beginnings of things like Xerox's OS as the technology tried to focus on making OSes shareable - able to be operated by multiple users at once at different terminals. Bell created Multics around this time which introduced the idea of privilege tiers for users or something, but the project was a mess because Bell was kind of a mess and some defectors created Unics, that is Unix, with similar concepts and such. The do one thing and do it well attitude was kind of born out of the Multics thing. IBM also got involved with the OS/360 stuff

Running internal networks in offices and such was the driver for early computers. Throughout the 70s saw Bell license out UNIX, Xerox license out it's OS, IBM did its thing, and competitors emerge at that level. The first GUIs started to become things making the systems more user-friendly.

The rise of home computing upset things a bit. Not a lot, but a bit. IBM launched the PC on its 8086 architecture. Microsoft entered the picture with its UNIX system, Apple launched its Xerox-derived things, popularizing the GUI desktop concept. Linus Torvalds got frustrated with Microsoft's UNIX derivative not being able to support his machine to its full potential and created a free UNIX-like OS with some tools in part written by a crazy man and made GNU/Linux. The x windowing system was ported to Linux. Microsoft dropped its UNIX derivative to work on IBM's DOS, Gates' mother was on the board for IBM I think. That led to Windows.

Other home computers of note were things like the C64. Which didn't have a whole lot in terms of the OS but basically would drop you into a live BASIC environment which was enough for what it was.

The 90s was tough and MS gradually outcompeted other OSes in part because they had such a close relationship to IBM and the most popular flavor of DOS, in part because of dick moves. Apple managed to survive somehow, but barely, mostly by providing cheap mainframes for schools and certain businesses. Commodore went on to Amiga with its own GUI and everything, I think, but failed to win a market and the rights to Amiga OS are split between like 4 companies. UNIX systems managed to be popular as server OSes, because of features going back to the early days. MS and IBM got mad about windows and led MS to rewrite its OS and created the NT family and IBM developing OS/2 that kind of went nowhere.

Apple lost a ton of market space and let go of powerpc architecture and its Xerox-descended OS for intel's 8086 derived architecture and ended up forking BSD for darwin and then OSX which is basically what macs run now. MS dominated everything and were terrible and here we are. Linux established itself as a good thing to build cross-industry shit on and later android was derived from it.

As gaming started to adopt OSes instead of just BIOS (like boot processes) launching programs you'd see the dreamcast i think working on 86 stuff just a few steps aside from MS, which made it easy to port to xbox when the dreamcast died and why xbox is the way it is. xbox is of course windows nt derived. sony adopted a bsd derivative and licensed direct x from ms. nintendo did their own stuff for the powerpc based consoles and suffered security holes for it. ds was similarly in house with arm hardware, as was the 3ds. The switch derives from the 3ds software, with some adapted BSD and android code (but not a lot). steam os i think is just arch linux

i need to map out linux also

because of how modular linux is and because no one can tell you don't do that everything is customizable basically. a really good thing about linux is the concept of a package manager which installs or manages software on the computer in a neat, organized way

the first of these was basically slack back in the 90s. other package managers started coming with fancy things like conflict resolution or dependency management. basically what makes a linux distribution is its package manager; everything is relatively superficial, since in principle you can run any desktop manager your computer can build or whatever.

there's still something to other spins. ubuntu basically forked debian's packages and features more cutting edge software, also canonical's decisions. linux mint forked ubuntu by just adding a layer of decision makers between canonical and the user.

main distros i think are arch, debian, ubuntu, mint. memes meme gentoo and it's probably the most widely supported source based os, but, like, it's a bad idea to do this in ways you can only really learn from experience. there's sabayon which simplifies gentoo but defeats the purpose by existing. redhat was one of the biggest popularizers of linux in the enterprise and other space deserves mention, fedora being the free version, suse is also there, these are fine and cool despite the unfortunate name for fedora

there's a bunch of little spin offs of arch and other distros aiming to make them simpler or provide a preconfigured gui. largely pointless but whatever, sometimes you just want a graphical installer, manjaro's there for you

[razzware]

Okay but can you tell me more about Avians (said nobody)

Why yes I can!

Avians are a clade of Human. They are smaller, winged, and better adapted to rough mountainous conditions. They are descendants of Earthlings.

From the Iwapucenpona Factbook:

"Avians have large, almost barrel-like chests with massive lungs and larger hearts for better bloodflow, alongside a mutated alelle in their EPAS1 gene, a gene that is active under hypoxic conditions, which prevents altitude sickness and Chronic Mountain Sickness that lowlanders would be afflicted with if they were to live in an Avian settlement. They are also digitigrade, meaning they stand on their toes, [they have] have teeth that grow into a beak-like shape, and are oviparous.

Avians are not genetically compatible with any other human species on ma Lipuwesa without intervention from a natal lab due to the vast differences in their genetic makeup, but hybridization with their fellow clades even through genetically engineered means is rare and difficult to pull off. Their respiratory, cardiac and skeletal systems are structured entirely differently and their adaptations for biomes that are scarcely habitable to average humans mean it is hard to strike a balance where a half-avian child would be able to live in either of its clades' homelands comfortably without proper accomodation.

On average their heights range from 125-150cm and weights from 30-50kg with little difference between biological sex. This drastic difference from standard humans is due to their need for a more compact, lightweight stature in order to feasibly achieve flight without assistance. They have lower bone density and burn fat quicker due to the physical strain of flight requiring a higher caloric intake, which is another factor into their lighter weight. Their wingspans range from 5 to 7 meters, depending on an individual Avian's ethnicity and therefore wing shape or their vertical height."

B;irdies.

OTHER BIRD FACTS:

Avians are majority female, partly due to a genetic quirk, partly due to culture, partly as a reference to Harpies, and partly because I love women. Part of this is them having several genders that would be interpreted as female by our societal standards, and prioritizing female genders due to their matriarchal family structures. "Broodparent" is a neutral, but inherently maternal role that often gets lumped into the "standard" feminine gender in foreign translations. They're the primary caretakers for incubating eggs and young children in their Flock, though aren't usually related to the Flock's offspring, instead providing the biological parents a break from constantly watching over clumsy squabs. Otherwise, gender roles are somewhat an inverse- female Avians are viewed as having more power than males, though this is mainly only for hyper-traditional regions, as Avian culture is aligned to make treatment of people roughly equal.

Their names are in order of their Flock name(s)- Birth Flock, which, if the avian is married into another Flock, will go after that married-in Flock's name- then their individual names, and then any foreign surnames if applicable. Examples include: Dreamcast Pidgin Argus, daughter of Lexend of the Dreamcast flock and Levi Argus, who is an Avian, though was born into a non-traditional family with only one Avian parent (and one entirely divorced from Iwapucena culture.) Deadwrecker-Halcyon Cygnus, some distant relative of Lexend on the side of his mother, Dreamcast-Deadwrecker Gallus.

Traditional Avian clothing is often adorned with the molted feathers of loved ones, accentuating one's own feathers in an attempt to both honor the beauty of the feathers' owners and appear more attractive. Bright, full plumage, especially around the neck, is a huge Iwapucena beauty standard, as dull and scruffy plumage often signifies illness or stress. Sometimes, feathers will be woven directly into the fabric, such as with skirts and dresses. Common colors in traditional Avian dress are indigos and powder blues, fuschias and bright yellow-oranges. The Lipuwesan sky is a darker, purplish-blue color compared to our own, alongside its foliage being purple to black in color. Fuschia symbolizes the Avian clade's god and Broodmother, a deity with rainbow plumage and command over the cycles of life and death. Orange is the sun- Lukaniwepu may hold Sowamaja in more reverence than Iwapucenpona, but she is closely tied with their Broodmother, and you often do not find symbols of one without the symbols of the other.

My main Nationstates nations because this is really an excuse to infodump about Vastroyal again

These two countries, alongside their undeveloped (lore-wise) neighbors, make up the bulk of the continent of Kejasan on the planet of ma Lipuwesa, a large Earth-like planet with Earthling ancestry.

The nations in question are the Collective Avian Nations of Iwapucenpona

and the Sowamaja Republic of Lukaniwepu

Iwapucenpona is pronounced with a "ch" for the c, and means "mountain home" in its native language, toki Iwasonu. It's a highly-elevated, chilly, rocky mountain nation full of pigeon people called Avians or Harpies residing in a mountain range called the Alukoja. It is a singular state made up of dozens of self-governing nations and ethnic groups, and has no military, but is very socialist and has its own natural defenses in its harsh environment. It is a very, very old country, with its capitol, Alukoso, being continuously occupied and maintained since its Neolithic. Though its regions are autonomous, it's representative government keeping things smoothed over are the Council Flocks, families chosen from each region, with one proper head chosen from these families. Its current leading flock is the Akalacaku flock, with its matriarch being Akalacaku-Halamun Cahaja.

Iwapucenpona's culture is incredibly familial and social. It often values a group more than an individual, and while a flockless Avian is not discriminated against, systematic bias towards those integrated into flocks means it is harder to recieve benefits, employment, medical care, etc. if you're a lone bird. Most Avians will be raised by several unrelated parents, have several partners, and claim several children. Each member of a flock will have a specific role in their family, which are somewhat ingrained in Avian gender roles, though that has slowly been dismantled as times progress and Iwapucenpona's isolationism lessens. Its family structure influences a lot of its greater culture and political views.

Their main "industry" aside from mountain-related resources is mail. They do all the mail. They fly the mail around and do the mail because they're pigeons. Postmasters and mailpersons and messengers are highly respected. Mail.

Lukaniwepu roughly means "sun's safe-haven" in toki Iwasonu, as it was originally an autonomous citystate called Kukuwan operating under Iwapucenpona's weak central governing force. It broke off amicably in 5607, initially helmed by Avian trailblazer Bluecheck Alano, the son of a renowned Iwapucena Postmaster and a firm but fair man who was somewhat eccentric in his ideas for what constitutes a strong political force. It is currently led by elected representative Silas Sprockett.

It lies south of Iwapucenpona in the coastal region of the Alukoja's rain shadow, and currently a (sadly capitalistic) economic powerhouse due to its ties to Iwapucenpona, which has a major hold in its world's mail delivery services, and its status as a port for maritime shipments, being situated near several major rivers, including the Mikowa river, Kejasan's longest river, and its aforementioned coastline. It is an extremely diverse nation, hosting all of Lipuwesa's dominant species and a melting pot of culture, as its open borders and constant trade leads to vast connections to other nations and their people. It pioneers many feats of city-planning for its unique citizen body.

The "Sowamaja" part of Lukaniwepu's title comes from one of the many aliases of the Lipuwesaja goddess of Sun (and Light and Pride and Dreams and Self-Indulgence and other such things), a profession of faith for her everlasting light and reverence for the Sun.

[edream93]

WLTF Dreamcast: Sammy Smee, Son of Mr. Smee

Despite Harriet disliking anything that makes people think she’s trying to imitate her father (except for the red coat - the red coat is fabulous and it’s easier to wear when dealing with blood), Sammy was Harriet’s first mate before he left for Auradon.

Sammy was the one who suggested to Harriet that the Anti-Hero club was good for their younger crew members.

Squeaky and Squirmy are his younger twin brothers. They live with their mother, a woman who got thrown on the isle because some petty noble who she turned down said she tried to kill him (she didn’t but it happened when the Heroes were trigger happy about throwing people on the Isle.)

Protective of his younger brothers and determined to be a good big brother. (He cares and respects Harriet but he doesn’t always approve of the tough love method of how she treats her siblings.) They’re often found playing on deck of Harriet’s ship. When Sammy left, Harriet promised to look after the “wee little demons”. Sometimes she entertains them by letting them think they’re her replacement first mate in Sammy’s absence. (It’s actually Le Feu Deux.)

Grew up with Harriet, Harry, CJ, and Big Murph so they all have blackmail on each other, though Sammy would only dare to use that blackmail against Harry only if Harriet or Big Murph was there to back him up. He’s not suicidal.

Left with Harriet when she decided to start her own crew.

Has a pretty okay relationship with his father. Though Mr. Smee is probably one of the few okay parents on the Isle who actually cares if their kids are doing okay or not, Sammy doesn’t understand why his father still chooses to follow Captain Hook. They haven’t seen each other much since Harriet started her own crew because Mr. Smee is always making sure Captain Hook doesn’t do anything too crazy in his drunken state.

Though they don’t have as strong or intense relationship as another Captain and first mate, Sammy is one of the few people that Harriet trusts. Though she would deny it if you asked her, she was sad to see Sammy and Big Murph go but she knew that Auradon would be a better place for her kinder hearted crew mates.

Thinks Anthony Tremaine is full of himself and doesn’t understand why Harriet even bothers with the such a “prissy fuck boy”.

Really likes drawing and collecting maps and has drawn several of the Isle and of Neverland (or at least what he remembers Hook’s crew telling him about the homeland he’s never been to).

Though he has a pretty mellow personality, the resistance that he and the other members of the Anti-Hero club have faced makes him worried about bringing his brothers over in the next round of transfer students.

Would like to visit Neverland just to have a more accurate map of the place but it would be a very short stay. For some reason, the thought of staying to long there never sat well with him.

[crackshipsanddreamcasts]

[spiritforestwrit]

thank you for the tag!!! :D

everyone here is my jugdral OC meren :>

so like i’m still developing his story but uhh essentially he’s quarter-earth dragon, since the archanea dragon wars were only ~300 years earlier to the start of fe4’s main plot. in my mind his dragon grandfather managed to sneak away from the chaos by being one of the few earth dragons to choose to seal their powers in a dragonstone. however this also meant the Dragon Genes weren’t very strong so by generation three, a full dragon transformation isn’t possible.

although, sometimes this happens…

which was sorta inspired by the form corrin takes when their dragon fang skill activates and they half-transform.

other than that, it’s basically got the same effects as having Major Loptous or Naga, growths-wise. it’s not completely changing the jugdral power levels lol

he gets himself in jugdral by washing up in verdane one day after a storm hits archanea - specifically right near the spirit forest. since he’s got white hair, he’s kinda got the loptous descendant look (although it’s not exactly the silver hair they have), and they offer to have him stay there. so he’s also besties with deirdre because i like deirdre 😌

anyways because i basically project myself onto this guy and i like being self-indulgent and hanging out with my favourite characters, in my head this is all happening in an AU where someone catches manfroy trying to abduct deirdre (maybe ayra with the brave sword coming in clutch once again) and everyone lives happily ever after <3333 thracia conflict? solved. grannvale uprising? stopped with the power of friendship. hotel? trivago.

in conclusion, always choose joy and whimsy, make an oc to be besties with all your faves, it’s good for the soul

tagging:

@princ3y @dreamcast-official @mitsubinyuri @dithorba @celice-13 @chaosisdying @fairy-love and YOU, the person reading this post!

The OC-A-THON!

Tag a buddy and add your OC. You can do a Bio (Like the one below), a picture, a blurb, whatever! Just do something creative and original and show it off!

And tag some bodies at the end.

Age: Possibly 30, probably much older.

Here's mine.

Name: Michael Greene

Description: A somewhat unkempt man in a black hoodie, working blue jeans and heavy work boots. His eyes are tired, and he doesn't smile with his teeth.

Occupation: Enforcer/Problem Solver for The Ecehlon, and organization run by some of the most famous Monsters in the world with the express purpose of stopping other Monsters from blowing their cover.

Bio: Originally an orphan child taken in by a church, he worked in his youth as the candle lighter until one night a terrible storm destroyed the small village. When the candles went out, Michael stopped being Michael and became something else altogether. Something with infinite teeth, insatiable hunger, and a marked indifference to the sanctity of life. Many, many years later, Michael is a Monster in the employ of Monsters, working cases of an inhuman nature to subdue, apprehend, or most often kill things man was not meant to know. This is vitally important to his boss because if man were to know, they would undoubtedly respond violently, and there are just so many more humans than monsters these days. In the Dark, he is a thing of terror and nightmare and virtually unkillable. In the Light, he is a grumpy man with poor social skills and a sour disposition, but he is still determined to use what he calls his curse (and a baseball bat when the moment calls for it) to good ends.

Quirk: He drives an old Jeep because he can keep it running, and he does not, nor does he want to own anything more modern than 1970s technology, if only so he can limit how his partner can get in touch with him.

Likes: Light bulbs, sunny days, and a decent sized breakfast.

Hates: Slasher villains, The Hook Man, and Sea Monsters.

TAG: @youtry2replaceurself @garmrin @rivenantiqnerd @billowingangel @th4xz @maladaptivedaydreamerstuff @sleepeatdancedream @1-sleep-deprived-writer @renatogpadilla @missstar489 @princessofwhiteshadows

[empressmanuscript]

Thomas Doherty as Terry McGinnis

[youhavelovelyeyes]

W.I.T.C.H Fan Cast

Okay, so I’ve finally made up my mind about the ideal cast that I would like for the main girls of W.I.T.C.H. 

As it’s a Disney franchise, I thought it would be interesting to pick some of the Disney’s new generation of actresses that could definitely rock the part of each of our favorite magical girls. I also tried to pick not too old women for this, as all of them are in their 20′s (so they could still be playing teenagers, but probably not as ‘teen’ as in the beginning of the comics)

Disclaimer : It’s my vision of the girls and anyone can have is own, or disagree with mine. I just been wanting to make a actual fan cast for a very longtime so here it is.

First off : Will Vandom // Sofia Carson

I’ve always pictured Will as biracial because of her mother, and I discovered that many of you in here think the same way. I have this headcanon that Susan was actually from a (fictional??) Latino American country. So, there I chose Sofia who is Colombian. I know that she’s not a red head, but hey hair dye exists (and then again it’s my vision of things). Other than that I think some of their features actually look alike. [eye color; smile :D]

Next up : Irma Lair // Ryan Newman

I just think these two look alike so much. I’ve discovered Ryan as she played in a Disney XD TV show I watched when I was younger, as she played ‘the evil little sister’ in a way. I think she has this touch of mischief and playfulness in her eyes that is so significant of Irma. 

In third place, my favorite : Taranee Cook // China Anne McClain

I’m in love with China ever since she starred in Jonas. Her personality is just so bubbly and adorable but at the same time she’s very educated and woke in general. I think this description fit Taranee as well, as the is very study oriented but also very nice and gentle. AND, Taranee loves photography and dancing, and China is an amazing dancer!!! A WOMAN.

Then comes : Cornelia Hale // Olivia Holt

THE BEAUTY IS THE BONE STRUCTURE OF THESE GIRLS’ FACES. (Also I know they eyes don’t match but, hey contacts exists :D)

Last but not least : Hay Lin // Leah Lewis

Leah is a Chinese descent, which was super important for me to find for my fan cast because P.O.C are not interchangeable. Hay Lin’s Chinese heritage is something very essential in the comics (and the cartoon) so it was crucial to not overlook that in order to choose a potential actress. 

[mageofcolors]

ive been wanting to do a little sonic tag game so!!! anyone can do it, but i will tag a few people at the end (you dont have to do it if you dont want to either ofc!!)

the only rule is please repost, dont add on to this post pleaseee

QUESTIONS:

how long have you been into sonic? i was into it when i was like. 10??? i was hyperfixiating on it. and now 15 years later im back again babey

what was your first sonic game? the first one i played was a demo of sonic adventure on the dreamcast that my friend had. it only had the first sonic stage and we played it over and over and over

whats your favorite sonic game? sonic frontiers!!! i think the open world combined with the stages and the intermittent dialogue and stuff made it super enjoyable for me

whats your favorite sonic media (movies vs games vs shows vs comics, etc)? i'm a huge fan of the idw comics, it has some of my favorite writing in the franchisr

favorite character(s)? when i was little it was amy bc girl power, then as i realized i was trans it was tails bc gender. now it's those 2 + sonic + surge and kit

favorite character dynamic? sonic and tails!!!! best bros my beloveds!!!!!

favorite stage? i actually dont think i have one? ive been sitting on this and i cant think of one

favorite boss? im a big fan of shark in frontiers!!

favorite song? I'M HERE!!!! REACHING FAR ACROSS THESE NEW FRONTIERS!!!!!

favorite stage music? casino park!!! it's SO fun

do you have a sonic oc? if so tell us about them! when i was little i made sonic ocs but they were actually just recolors of amy fjgjjg now i have an oc though!!!! i dont have much of a story for them tho. but their name is star!!!!

(my art)

(art by candycatstuffs)

what character do you most relate to? oh this is a hard one. a mix of sonic, tangle, and silver i think?? i think the biggest trait is the positive attitude

which character design do you like the best? tails is amazing also chao!!! i love the chao so much in general

what are some headcanons you have about the characters/lore? the chao descend from chaos, who is rrlated to the koco. idk if this has been confirmed in any way but yeah

what are you looking forward to most in the franchise? all the new lore building and the lore team's writing for the new games aaaa

tagging!!! @aceshadow @squash-daisy @rouge-the-bat @candycatstuffs and anyone else who wants to do it!!!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Patent troll's IP more powerful than Apple's

I was 12 years into my Locus Magazine column when I published the piece I'm most proud of, "IP," from September 2020. It came after an epiphany, one that has profoundly shaped the way I talk and think about the issues I campaign on.

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

That revelation was about the meaning of the term "IP," which had been the center of this tedious linguistic cold war for decades. People who advocate for free and open technology and culture hate the term "IP" because of its ideological loading and imprecision.

Ideology first: Before "IP" came into wide parlance - when lobbyists for multinational corporations convinced the UN to turn their World Intellectual Property Organization into a specialized agency, we used other terms like "author's monopolies" and "regulatory monopolies."

"Monopoly" is a pejorative. "Property" is sacred to our society. When a corporation seeks help defending its monopoly, it is a grubby corrupter. When it asks for help defending its property, it is enlisting the public to defend the state religion.

Free culture people know allowing "monopolies" to become "property" means losing the battle before it is even joined, but it is frankly unavoidable. How do you rephrase "IP lawyer" without conceding the property point? "Trademark-copyright-patent-and-related-rights lawyer?"

Thus the other half of the objection to "IP": its imprecision. Copyright is not anything like patent. Patent is not anything like trademark. Trade secrets are an entirely different thing again. Don't let's get started on sui generis and neighboring rights.

And this is where my revelation came: as it is used in business circles, "IP" has a specific, precise meaning. "IP" means, "Any law, policy or regulation that allows me to control the conduct of my competitors, critics and customers."

Copyright, patent and trademark all have limitations and exceptions designed to prevent this kind of control, but if you arrange them in overlapping layers around a product, each one covers the exceptions in the others.

Creators don't like having their copyrights called "author's monopolies." Monopolists get to set prices. All the copyright in the world doesn't let an author charge publishers more for their work. The creators have a point.

But when author's monopolies are acquired by corporate monopolists, something magical and terrible happens.

Remember: market-power monopolies are still (theoretically) illegal and when companies do things to maintain or expand their monopolies, they risk legal jeopardy.

But: The corporate monopolist who uses IP to expand their monopoly has no such risk. Monopolistic conduct in defense of IP enjoys wide antitrust forbearance. What's the point of issuing patents or allowing corporations to buy copyrights if you don't let them enforce them?

The IP/market-power monopoly represents a futuristic corporate alloy, a new metal never seen, impervious to democratic control.

Software is "IP" and so any device with software in it is like beskar, a rare metal that can be turned into the ultimate corporate armor.

No company exemplifies this better than Apple, a company that used limitations on IP to secure its market power, then annihilated those limits so that no one could take away its market power.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

In the early 2000s, Apple was in trouble. The convicted monopolist Microsoft ruled the business world, and if you were the sole Mac user in your office, you were screwed.

When a Windows user sent you a Word file, you could (usually) open it in the Mac version of Word, but then if you saved that file again, it often became forever cursed, unopenable by any version of Microsoft Office ever created or ever to be created.

This became a huge liability. Designers started keeping a Windows box next to their dual processor Power Macs, just to open Office docs. Or worse (for Apple), they switched to a PC and bought Windows versions of Adobe and Quark Xpress.

Steve Jobs didn't solve this problem by begging Bill Gates to task more engineers to Office for Mac. Instead, Jobs got Apple techs to reverse-engineer all of the MS Office file formats and release a rival office suite, Iwork, which could read and write MS Office files.

That was an Apple power move, one that turned MS's walled garden into an all-you-can-eat buffet of potential new Mac users. Apple rolled out the Switch ads, whose message was, "Every MS Office file used to be a reason *not* to use a Mac. Now it's a reason to switch *to* a Mac."

More-or-less simultaneously, though, Apple was inventing the hybrid market/IP monopoly tool that would make it the most valuable company in the world, in its design for the Ipod and the accompanying Itunes store.

It had a relatively new legal instrument to use for this purpose: 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act; specifically, Section 1201 of the DMCA, the "anti-circumvention" clause, which bans breaking DRM.

Under DMCA 1201, if a product has a copyrighted work (like an operating system) and it has an "access control" (like a password or a bootloader key), then bypassing the access control is against the law, even if no copyright infringement takes place.

That last part - "even if no copyright infringement takes place" - is the crux of DMCA 1201. The law was intended to support the practices of games console makers and DVD player manufacturers, who wanted to stop competitors from making otherwise legal devices.

With DVD players, that was about "region coding," the part of the DVD file format that specified which countries a DVD could be played back in. If you bought a DVD in London, you couldn't play it in Sydney or New York.

Now, it's not a copyright violation to buy a DVD and play it wherever you happen to be. As a matter of fact, buying a DVD and playing it is the *opposite* of a copyright infringement.

But it *was* a serious challenge to the entertainment cartel's business-model, which involved charging different prices and having different release dates for the same movie depending on where you were.

The same goes for games consoles: companies like Sega and Nintendo made a lot of money charging creators for the right to sell games that ran on the hardware they sold.

If I own a Sega Dreamcast, and you make a game for it, and I buy it and run it on my Sega, that's not a copyright infringement, even if Sega doesn't like it. But if you have to bypass an "access control" to get the game to play without Sega's blessing, it violates DMCA 1201.

What's more, DMCA 1201 has major penalties for "trafficking in circumvention devices" and information that could be used to build such a device, such as reports of exploitable flaws in the programming of a DRM system: $500k in fines and a 5 year sentence for a first offense.

Deregionalizing a DVD player or jailbreaking a Dreamcast didn't violate anyone's copyrights, but it still violated copyright law (!). It was pure IP, the right to control the conduct of critics (security researchers), customers and competitors.

In the words of Jay Freeman, it's "Felony contempt of business-model."

And that's where the Ipod came in. Steve Jobs's plan was to augment the one-time revenue from an Ipod with a recurrent revenue stream from the Itunes store.

He exploited the music industry's superstitious dread of piracy and naive belief in the efficacy of DRM to convince the record companies to only sell music with his DRM wrapper on it - a wrapper they themselves could not authorize listeners to remove.

Ever $0.99 Itunes purchase added $0.99 to the switching cost of giving up your Ipod for a rival device, or leaving Itunes and buying DRM music from a rival store. It was control over competitors and customers. It was IP.

If you had any doubt that the purpose of Ipod/Itunes DRM was to fight competitors, not piracy, then just cast your mind back to 2004, when Real Media "hacked" the Ipod so that it would play music locked with Real's DRM as well as Apple's.

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3387871/Apple+RealNetworks+Hacked+iPod.htm

Apple used DMCA 1201 to shut Real down, not to stop copyright infringement, but to prevent Apple customers from buying music from record labels and playing them on their Ipods without paying Apple a commission and locking themselves to Apple's ecosystem, $0.99 at a time.

Pure IP. Now, imagine if Microsoft had been able to avail itself of DMCA 1201 when Iwork was developed - if, for example, its "information rights management" encryption had caught on, creating "access controls" for all Office docs.

There's a very strong chance that would have killed Apple off before it could complete its recovery. Jobs knew the power of interoperating without consent, and he knew the power of invoking the law to block interoperability. He practically invented modern IP.

Apple has since turned IP into a trillion-dollar valuation, largely off its mobile platform, the descendant of the Ipod. This mobile platform uses DRM - and thus DMCA 1201 - to ensure that you can only use apps that come from its app store.

Apple gets a cut of penny you spend buying an app, and every penny you spend within that app: 30% (now 15% for a minority of creators after bad publicity).

IP lets one of the least taxed corporations on Earth extract a 30% tax from everyone else.

https://locusmag.com/2021/03/cory-doctorow-free-markets/

Remember, it's not copyright infringement for me to write an app and you to buy it from me and play it on your Iphone without paying the 30% Apple tax.

That's the exact opposite of copyright infringement: buying a copyrighted work and enjoying it on a device you own.

But it's still an IP violation. It bypasses Apple's ability to control competitors and customers. It's felony contempt of business-model.

It shows that under IP, copyright can't be said to exist as an incentive to creativity - rather, it's a tool for maintaining monopolies.

Which brings me to today's news that Apple was successfully sued by a patent troll over its DRM. A company called Personalized Media Communications whose sole product is patent lawsuits trounced Apple in the notorious East Texas patent-troll court.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-19/apple-told-to-pay-308-5-million-for-infringing-drm-patent

After software patents became widespread - thanks to the efforts of Apple and co - there was a bonanza of "inventors" filing garbage patents with the USPTO whose format was "Here's an incredibly obvious thing...*with a computer*." The Patent Office rubberstamped them by the million.

These patents became IP, a way to extract rent without having to make a product. "Investors" teamed up with "inventors" to buy these and impose a tax on businesses - patent licensing fees that drain money from people who make things and give it to people who buy things.

They found a court - the East Texas court in Marshall, TX - that was hospitable to patent trolls. They rented dusty PO boxes in Marshall and declared them to be their "headquarters" so that they could bring suits there.

Locals thrived - they got jobs as "administrators" (mail forwarders) for the thousands of "businesses" whose "head office" was in Marshall (when you don't make a product, your head office can be a PO box).

Productive companies facing hundreds of millions - billions! - in patent troll liability sought to curry favor with locals (who were also the jury pool) by "donating" things to Marshall, like the skating rink Samsung bought for the town.

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-south-korea-s-samsung-built-the-only-outdoor-skating-rink-in-texas

Patent, like copyright, is supposed to serve a public purpose. There are only two clauses in the US Constitution that come with explanations (the rest being "truths held to be self-evident"): the Second Amendment and the "Progress Clause" that creates patents and copyrights.

Famously, the Second Amendment says you can bear arms as part of a "well-regulated militia."

And the Progress Clause? It extends to Congress the power to create patents and copyrights "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts."

I'm with Apple in its ire over this judgment. Sending $308.5m to a "closely held" patent troll has nothing to do with the "Progress of Science and useful Arts."

But it has *everything* to do with IP.

If copyright law can let Apple criminalize - literally criminalize - you selling me If copyright law can let Apple criminalize - literally criminalize - you selling me your copyrighted work, then there's no reason to hate on patent trolls.

They're just doing what trolls do: blocking the bridge between someone engaged in useful work and the customers for that work, and extracting a toll. It's not even 30%.

There is especial and delicious irony in the fact that the patent in question is a DRM patent: a patent for the very same process that Apple uses to lock down its devices and prevent creators from selling to customers without paying the 30% Apple Tax.

But even without that, it's as good an example of what an IP marketplace looks like: one in which making things becomes a liability. After all, the more you make, the more chances there are for an IP owner to demand tax from you to take it to market.

The only truly perfect IP is the naked IP of a patent troll, the bare right to sue, a weapon made from pure abstract legal energy, untethered from any object, product or service that might be vulnerable to another IP owner's weapons.

A coda: you may recall that Apple doesn't use DRM on its music anymore: you can play Itunes music on any device. That wasn't a decision Apple took voluntarily: it was forced into it by a competitor: Amazon, an unlikely champion of user rights.

In 2007, the record labels had figured out that Apple had lured them into a trap, selling millions of dollars worth of music that locked both listeners and labels into the Itunes ecosystem.

In a desperate bid for freedom, they agreed to help Amazon launch its MP3 store - all the same music, at the same prices...without DRM. Playable on an Ipod, but also on any other device.

Prior to the Amazon MP3 store, the market was all DRM: you could either buy Apple's DRM music and play it on your Ipod, or you could buy other DRM music and play it on a less successful device.

The Amazon MP3 store (whose motto was "DRM: Don't Restrict Me") changed that to "Buy Apple DRM music and play it on your Ipod, or buy Amazon music and play it anywhere." That was the end of Apple music DRM.

So why hasn't anyone done this for the apps that Apple extracts the 30% tax on? IP. If you made a phone that could play Ios apps, Apple would sue you:

https://gizmodo.com/judge-tosses-apple-lawsuit-against-iphone-emulator-in-b-1845967318

And if you made a device that let you load non-App Store apps on an Iphone, Apple would also sue you.

Apple understands IP. It learned the lesson of the Amazon MP3 store, and it is committed to building a world where every creator pays a tax to reach every Apple customer.

[we-ride-with-the-tide]

I could probably create a dreamcast to recast Descendants with for every character but China Anne McClain and Thomas Doherty are PERFECT

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #482

Top Ten Sega Games

So I read somewhere on the internet that in June it’s the thirtieth birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog (making him only a couple of months younger than my brother, which is weird). This is due to his debut game, the appropriately-titled Sonic the Hedgehog, being first released on June 23rd. As such – and because I do love a good Tenuous Link – I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s list to Sega (also there was that Sonic livestream and announcement of new games, so I remain shockingly relevant).

I’ve got a funny relationship with Sega, largely because I’ve got a funny relationship with last century’s consoles in general. As I’ve said before, I never had a console growing up, and never really felt the need for one; I came from a computing background, playing on other people’s Spectrums and Commodores before getting my own Amiga and, later, a PC. And I stuck with it, and that was fine. But it does mean that, generally speaking, I have next to zero nostalgia for any game that came out on a Nintendo or Sega console (or Sony, for that matter). I could chew your ear off about Dizzy, or point-and-click adventure games, or Team 17, or Sensible Software, or RTS games, or FPS games, or whatever; but all these weird-looking Japanese platform games, or strange, unfamiliar RPGs? No idea. In fact, I remember learning what “Metroidvania” meant about five years ago, and literally saying out loud, “oh, so it’s like Flashback, then,” because I’d never played a (2D) Metroid or Castlevania game. Turns out they meant games that were, using the old Amiga Action terminology, “Arcade Adventures”. Now it makes sense.

Despite all this, I did actually play a fair few Sega games, as my cousins had a Mega Drive. So I’d get to have a bash at a fair few of them after school or whatever. This meant that, for a while, I was actually more of a Sega fan than a Nintendo one, a situation that’s broadly flipped since Sega stopped making hardware and Nintendo continued its gaming dominance. What all of this means, when strung together, is that I have a good deal of affection for some of the classics of Sega’s 16-bit heyday, but I don’t have the breadth or depth of knowledge you’d see from someone who, well, actually owned a console before the original Xbox. Yeah, sure, there are lots of games I liked back then; and probably quite a few that I still have warm nostalgic feelings for, even if they’re maybe not actually very good (Altered Beast, for instance, which I’m reliably informed was – to coin a very early-nineties phrase – “pants”, despite my being fond of it at the time). Therefore this list is probably going to be quite eccentric when compared to other “Best of Sega” lists. Especially because in the last couple of decades Sega has become a publisher for a number of development studios all around the world, giving support and distribution to the makers of diverse (and historically non-console) franchises as Total War and Football Manager. These might not be the fast-moving blue sky games one associates with Sega, but as far as I’m concerned they’re a vital part of the company’s history as it moved away from its hardware failures (and the increasingly lacklustre Sonic franchise) and into new waters. And just as important, of course, are their arcade releases, back in the days when people actually went to arcades (you know, I have multi-format games magazines at my parents’ house that are so old they actually review arcade games. Yes, I know!).

So, happy birthday, Sonic, you big blue bugger, you. Sorry your company pooed itself on the home console front. Sorry a lot of your games over the past twenty years have been a bit disappointing. But in a funny way you helped define the nineties, something that I personally don’t feel Mario quite did. And your film is better than his, too.

Crazy Taxi (Arcade, 1999): a simple concept – drive customers to their destination in the time limit – combined with a beautiful, sunny, blue skied rendition of San Francisco, giving you a gorgeous cityscape (back when driving round an open city was a new thrill), filled with hills to bounce over and traffic to dodge. A real looker twenty years ago, but its stylised, simple graphics haven’t really dated, feeling fittingly retro rather than old-fashioned or clunky. One of those games that’s fiendishly difficult to master, but its central hook is so compelling you keep coming back for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive, 1992): games have rarely felt faster, and even if the original Sonic’s opening stages are more iconic, overall I prefer the sequel. Sonic himself was one of those very-nineties characters who focused on a gentle, child-friendly form of “attitude”, and it bursts off the screen, his frown and impatient foot-tapping really selling it. the gameplay is sublime, the graphics still really pop, and the more complex stages contrast nicely with the pastoral opening. Plus it gave us Tails, the game industry’s own Jar Jar Binks, who I’ll always love because my cousin made me play as him all the time.

Medieval II: Total War (PC, 2006): I’ll be honest with you, this game is really the number one, I just feel weird listing “Best Sega Games” and then putting a fifteen-year-old PC strategy game at the top of the pile. But what can I say? I like turn-based PC strategy games, especially ones that let you go deep on genealogy and inter-familial relationships in medieval Europe. everyone knows the real-time 3D battles are cool – they made a whole TV show about them – but for me it’s the slow conquering of Europe that’s the highlight. Marrying off princesses, assassinating rivals, even going on ethically-dubious religious crusades… I just love it. I’ve not played many of the subsequent games in the franchise, but to be honest I like this setting so much I really just want them to make a third Medieval game.

Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, 1994): what, four games in and we’re back to racing? Well, Sega make good racing games I guess. And Sega Rally is just a really good racing game. Another one of those that was a graphical marvel on its release, it has a loose and freewheeling sense of fun and accessibility. Plus it was one of those games that revelled in its open blue skies, from an era when racing games in the arcades loved to dazzle you with spectacle – like when a helicopter swoops low over the tracks. I had a demo of this on PC, too, and I used to race that one course over and over again.

After Burner (Arcade, 1987): there are a lot of arcade games in this list, but when they’re as cool as After Burner, what can you do? This was a technological masterpiece back in the day: a huge cockpit that enveloped you as you sat in the pilot’s seat, joystick in hand. The whole rig moved as you flew the plane, and the graphics (gorgeous for their time) wowed you with their speed and the way the horizon shifted. I was, of course, utterly crap at it, and I seem to remember it was more expensive than most games, so my dad hated me going on it. But it was the kind of thrilling experience that seems harder to replicate nowadays.

Virtua Cop (Arcade, 1994): I used to love lightgun games in the nineties. This despite being utterly, ridiculously crap at them. I can’t aim; ask anyone. But they felt really cool and futuristic, and also you could wave a big gun around like you were RoboCop or something. Virtua Cop added to the fun with its cool 3D graphics. Whilst I’d argue Time Crisis was better, with a little paddle that let you take cover, Cop again leveraged those bright Sega colours to give us a beautiful primary-coloured depiction of excessive ultra-violence and mass death.

Two Point Hospital (PC, 2018): back once again to the point-and-clickers, with another PC game only nominally Sega. But I can’t ignore it. Taking what was best about Theme Hospital and updating it for the 21st Century, TPH is a darkly funny but enjoyably deep management sim, with cute chunky graphics and an easy-to-use interface (Daughter #1 is very fond of it). The console adaptations are good, too. I’d love to see where Two Point go next. Maybe to a theme park…?

Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox, 2002): I never had a Dreamcast. But I remember seeing the original Jet Set Radio – maybe on TV, maybe running on a demo pod in Toys ‘R’ Us or something – and being blown away. It was the first time I’d ever seen cel shading, and it was a revelation; just a beautiful technique that I didn’t think was possible, that made the game look like a living cartoon. Finally being able to play the sequel on my new Xbox was terrific, because the gameplay was excellent too: a fast-paced game of chaining together jumps and glides, in a city that was popping with colour and bursting with energy. Felt like playing a game made entirely of Skittles and Red Bull.

The Typing of the Dead (PC, 2000): The House of the Dead games were descendants of Virtua Cop’s lightgun blasting, but with zombies. Yeah, cool; I liked playing them at the arcades down at Teesside Park, in the Hollywood Bowl or the Showcase cinema. But playing this PC adaptation of the quirky typing-based spin-off was something else. A game where you defeat zombies by correctly typing “cow” or “bottle” or whatever as quickly as possible? A game that was simultaneously an educational typing instructor and also a zombie murder simulator? The fact that the characters are wearing Ghostbusters-style backpacks made of Dreamcast consoles and keyboards is just a seriously crazy detail, and the way the typing was integrated into the gameplay – harder enemies had longer words, for instance – was very well done. A bonkers mini-masterpiece.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch, 2019): the very fact that erstwhile cultural enemies Mario and Sonic would ever share a game at all is the stuff of addled mid-nineties fever dreams; like Downey’s Tony Stark sharing the screen with Bale’s Batman (or Affleck’s Batman, who the hell cares at this point). The main thing is, it’s still crazy to think about it, even if it’s just entirely ordinary for my kids, sitting their unaware of the Great Console Wars of the 1990s. Anyway, divorced of all that pan-universal gladhanding, the games are good fun, adapting the various Olympic sports with charm, making them easy-to-understand party games, often with motion control for the benefit of the youngs and the olds. I don’t remember playing earlier games extensively, but the soft-RPG trappings of the latest iteration are enjoyable, especially the retro-themed events and graphics. Earns a spot in my Top Ten for its historic nature, but it’s also thoroughly enjoyable in its own right.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if all those crazy internet rumours were actually true, and Microsoft did announce it was buying Sega this E3? This really would feel like a very timely and in some ways prescient list.

[clickbliss]

Gunlord X Review

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Gunlord X

Developer: NG Dev Team

Publisher: Eastasiasoft

PS4, Switch

NG Dev seem set on single handedly changing my mind about the Euroshooter. Born of the European PC scene, the genre is notorious for tossing away all the arcade conventions that STG fanatics appreciate, instead rooting itself in the demoscene mentality and using the shooter as a medium to flex their technical prowess and deliver overwhelming sights and sounds. 

Gunlord X inherits every one of these problems. Touchy, ambiguous, and honestly a bit sloppy at points, Gunlord X carries all the hallmarks of the European PC shooter, despite its origins as a posthumous Dreamcast and Neo Geo game. In spite of that, it remains enjoyable throughout, making a case for a more relaxed take on the genre.

Gunlord’s basic structure will be familiar to anyone who’s played a Turrican title, with short detours into more traditional scrolling shooter stages. Areas are large and open, with several nooks and hallways to explore on your way to the goal. Its goal isn’t to create a non-linear space, but instead give each contained area a wider sense of scale. Areas stretch both vertically and horizontally, often folding into each other or snaking beneath previous spaces, occasionally hinting at what’s on the other side. 

To go along with these larger spaces comes an arsenal that lets you travel fast and fill the area full of bullets. A wheel mode drops you into an morphball-esque form that lets you plaster the floor with bombs, and your guns frequently cover half the screen or ricochet through corridors, taking down anything you’re vaguely aiming at. The only weapon that needs anything close to precision is your high powered alternative beam weapon, but I rarely needed it for anything other than bosses, which crowd so much of the screen it’s hard not to hit them.

Damage comes to you as easily as you deal it. Separation between the foreground and background is often ambiguous, hitboxes are wide and damage feedback is weak. Combined with the oversaturated visuals I often never noticed I’d been taking hits until I’d lost my final hit point and detonated. 

The first scrolling shooter stage provides the perfect illustration for this. Large battleships flank the sides of the stage, which you’re free to fly right over. Naturally, I assumed this meant that I’d only take damage from their weapon fire, since there was no collision with the ships themselves. It was only when I noticed the quiet flashing preceding my ship’s explosion that it became clear that I was in fact, taking damage from flying over them. 

Gunlord is full of these weird collisions and eccentricities. Stages objects have weirdly precise collision boxes, making it easy to get caught on them as you try to jump onto or descend from them, introducing a stuttering pace to navigation instead of a smooth flow. 

Jumping itself is off--gravity is abrupt and heavy and wheel mode doesn’t preserve any momentum, dropping you straight to the floor when you transform and making your jump arc even smaller. It can even be difficult to determine what you can jump on. Steppable platforms often appear to be background objects, and the visual design of certain platforms had me expecting them to move when I boarded, but instead ended up being static, while other seemingly static platforms abruptly started. 

And despite every one of these problems Gunlord X manages to still be enjoyable. Levels never demand any serious precision, which keeps the fiddly controls from being a problem. Hitboxes may be vague and damage feedback weak, but it’s mitigated by enemy patterns that are so indirect and linear that you can avoid them if you stand slightly out of position and point your massive cone of fire vaguely in their direction. 

Gunlord X isn’t about surgical precision. It’s about big, expressive spaces, massive bosses, and giving you absurd levels of firepower to pelt them with. Gunlord is just difficult enough to make you pay attention, and forgiving enough that death rarely feels like it matters. Playing careful and clean is a fool’s errand. Fast and loose is the philosophy here. These spaces are made for you to run over. Once I gave up on that little voice seeking perfect play, Gunlord X finally made sense, and I found enjoyment in the simple act of shooting it all down.��

[mojavejourneys]

TrickStyle Glitch Hunting - UK Race 1

Revisiting TrickStyle to find some interesting stuff to play about with and my first thought was to go glitch hunting. The game was originally released on the Dreamcast but has been ported to Steam. All screencaps are from the Steam version.

My initial runs had been focused on trying to find away out of bounds, but at the beginning of the race, after the London Zoo sign, if you jump and 360 at the right time you can get onto a ledge which wouldn’t benefit you in normal gameplay, but it’s interesting that you can get up here.

For basically all of these, you WILL need the infinite time cheat ‘iwish’ active.

This ledge can be reached through jumping at the top of the stairs and doing a 360. However, try to approach the ledge at more of a parallel angle to the wall or else your momentum may make you bounce off the wall and back to the ground.

There is a section here where it looks like you could jump out, but an invisible wall blocks your path and you can’t get out from here.

Moving on, this time to a trick I’m going to call the LUGE WIGGLE.

While stalling a speedluge, ram yourself up against a wall or barrier as close as you can (works best in a corner and at around a 45 degree angle). Then wiggle your directional buttons left and right and you should start to ‘climb’ the wall. This will NOT work while stalling a boogiedrill or a handstand as you’ll bail either immediately or as soon as your rider’s invulnerability after taking a hit wears off.

DEMO VIDEO of the luge wiggle technique

Now moving on. Some of the barriers have a different reflection on the X than what the background textures are. Usually these Xs are solid but in a couple of areas they are reflective. How odd.

And now onto more of the subway section. I did try to see if it was possible to luge wiggle out of bounds but it doesn’t seem like that’s possible. However, I did find a wall that you can just clip through.

Clipping through this wall from either end will make you bail but it’s interesting that this is possible.

You can also clip through the floor on the upcoming magno rail too.

Stall on the rail close to the beginning and then switch to handstand, then simply rotate your rider and they’ll clip through the floor to the point where you can see underneath the stage.

Nothing much else of note around checkpoint 2 besides my failed attempts to try and luge wiggle out of bounds again.

The real kicker comes near the end of the race. Just after you either boogiedrill through or go around the clock tower (sadly no Big Ben), you’ll come to a section where you can see through the floor and it’s connected to a halfpipe-looking wall.

Now stall a speedluge here and luge wiggle your way up this wall. Your rider may get rather excited but push on and don’t stop until you get over a lip and start to descend. Congratulations! You are now out of bounds!

There’s a long road you can ride up and down to your heart’s content, and there is some water you can land on. If you go completely off the edge you’ll get a ‘Fall Out’ message, which is not something you can get in normal gameplay on this particular track.

FULL VIDEO with some demo of the luge wiggle and two encounters out of bounds!

[edream93]

Question I’ve been thinking about for awhile: Who would you cast as Ursula in Descendants?

I know in the D2 she was supposedly voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and I know that OUAT had a version of Ursula that could be used but is there anyone in particular that you think of?