#on pc- unfortunately for all the switch users

[sunkingwrites]

Alright, who wants to start a stardew farm with me??

[elveny]

With all the mess around GDocs, I'm still looking for a new writing software that enables me to write seemlessly from different platforms (I switch between my desktop PC, a laptop and an iPad for writing) - thus, a purely app-based program won't cut it unfortunately :( Currently, I'm looking into novelpad and novlr, campfire and worldanvil, but am undecided yet.

And I remember there was a recommendation post floating about, and I think it was a program called Beta (??). I know the person who wrote it got a life-time membership for it bc they wrote the rec unprompted and the program got such a boost in users from it. I cannot for the love of it all find it. Can anyone else? 🥺

Recs are also appreciated. ♥

[mariacallous]

Last week, Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as “X.” New CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted that X would be “centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking,” a step toward Musk’s vision of creating the “everything app” for the Western world. Musk has been focused on this vision for Twitter since before he even bought it, repeatedly praising the Chinese app WeChat in a June 2022 town hall at Twitter. WeChat is known for doing virtually anything an app can do—messaging, audio/video, meetings, translation, social networking, shopping, payments, ride sharing, food delivery, and more. It’s an indispensable app in China, and Musk wants to build X into that app in the United States.

Musk has been laser-focused on his vision of the everything app for longer than most realize. He’s also long been obsessed with the letter X—he named his original online bank X.com, founded SpaceX, and even named his son “X Æ A-12.” His X-ray vision, if you’ll forgive the pun, dates back to his founding of the original X.com. Musk described that firm, which would eventually merge with Confinity to form PayPal, as a “global financial nexus” that could handle bank accounts, mortgages, credit, insurance, stocks—anything and everything financial.

On the face of it, none of this seems unreasonable. Such an app would be one of the most valuable companies in the world if it succeeded. It’s a tall task, but Musk has been involved in the founding of three separate multibillion-dollar companies. WeChat (along with competitors such as AliPay) has proven that such apps can reach scale and be wildly successful. And WeChat was initially built on the back of parent company Tencent’s popular social network, QQ. If it can be done, why not Musk? And why not start with Twitter?

Unfortunately for Musk, his vision of creating a Western WeChat is doomed to failure. Companies like Meta and Alphabet have made attempts before. These companies have every advantage—more cash available than Musk, larger pools of technical talent, better public reputation, and more successful lines of business in the app ecosystem. Nevertheless, none have succeeded in building an everything app. WeChat exists in a very specific Chinese context, and attempts to brute force it in a very different context will crash and burn.

The most important function of an aspiring everything app is payments, which unlock enormous value for the app and convenience for the user. But mobile payments in China are an outlier—87 percent of Chinese people used mobile payments in 2021, almost double the next highest nation. And that outlier status comes from the unique way that China’s payment economy developed.

China’s explosive economic growth over the 2000s saw the country transition from being a mostly unbanked, cash-based economy to a phone-based, app-payment economy without ever having a middle phase of adopting credit cards. As China’s new middle class grew, credit cards were available to a limited upper class—but never became a commonplace part of national financial infrastructure.

What China did have was a lot of cheap smartphones. By the early 2010s, most people there still didn’t have a PC, but they had a mobile phone, and increasingly they were switching to cheap smartphones. But those smartphones were mostly low-end products, with limited processing power and storage space. A high number of bloated apps wasn’t going to cut it for an average user, so many basic functionalities began to cluster inside a small number of super-apps. With the public hungry to abandon cash, apps like WeChat were the natural and widespread solution. Most vendors didn’t have existing relationships with payment companies. But they were happy to jump all the way to taking mobile payments—especially since all they needed to do so was a cheap smartphone, not an expensive terminal. China essentially leapfrogged credit cards all the way to mobile payment.

The United States in 2023 is not in that same position. Americans, for the most part, are not newly middle class and unbanked. Americans love credit cards, have deep experience with them, and use them regularly. And the country is filled with an enormous number of financial firms competing at every level—banking services, credit services, payment apps, stock brokerages, and more. Musk’s X will be entering a far more crowded and competitive market for customers who are already using far better and more developed alternatives.

Competitive is the key word there, because there are many Western companies that would have loved to compete with apps such as WeChat. But China’s government long ago banned nearly every non-Chinese alternative to native Chinese apps in areas including social media, video sharing, messaging, news, search, finance, and more. The list of apps banned in China is so extensive that it’s likely faster to point out the few that aren’t banned.

With so much of the competition absent, it was much easier for Chinese apps to dominate many fields at once as Chinese internet adoption skyrocketed. The Chinese government mostly didn’t pick favorites domestically at first—but it kept out foreign competition and let domestic products thrive. Twitter/X doesn’t live in that same world. The U.S. government won’t protect Musk from competition.

One of the ironies in all this is that the window to develop an everything app may be over in China as well, as the Chinese government’s approach to the tech sector has changed. During China’s boom years, the state often took a laissez-faire approach to tech regulation. The Hu Jintao government and even the early Xi Jinping years saw a booming economy, where tech companies were allowed to grow rapidly and dominate markets as long as they cooperated with censorship, handed over information to the government, and paid off the right people. Analyst XiaoFeng Wang explicitly links this flexible environment with WeChat’s growth, saying, “The more flexible regulatory environment in China at the time gave internet companies like Tencent and Alibaba more room to extend to a wide range of businesses. WeChat benefited from that and grew into a super-app.”

But the Chinese government has grown deeply worried about the power of the super-apps, for both good and bad reasons. Any power that does not reside directly in the party’s hands is distrusted at a time when Xi has demanded total party leadership of everything—and the influence and reach of tech companies has been sharply curtailed in the last few years, wiping billions off their value. Chinese regulators were also genuinely worried about the sheer degree of anti-competitive practices. It had become common, for instance, for firms to block links to their competitors’ products. Breaking down those “walled gardens” has become a major part of regulation since 2021.

Building a super-app would be hard in China today—and even harder in the United States or Europe, with their anti-monopoly legislation and political skepticism toward powerful tech companies. Even if Musk’s X could theoretically succeed, it probably wouldn’t be allowed to do so legally.

Yet paradoxically, while regulators raised eyebrows, elements of the Chinese government also welcomed the opportunities that WeChat and other ubiquitous apps offered. Chinese firms exist at the pleasure of the state and are always subordinate partners to it. WeChat’s parent company, Tencent, is well known for collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party in areas large and small, producing sycophantic patriotic games and engaging in widespread censorship and espionage. Foreign Policy has reported that Tencent was even partially funded by the Ministry of State Security in its early days.

These incidents highlight why an app such asWeChat would be permitted to thrive—because it’s useful to the party. In the James C. Scott sense, WeChat increases the legibility of Chinese society. You can’t control what you can’t see, so make sure you can easily see everything. If all of Chinese daily life is funneled through a single portal, it’s that much easier for the party to observe and control lives. Monitoring a single WeChat account could allow police to see an individual’s travel patterns, spending, and social contacts, which is why many dissidents or activists avoid using the app when possible.

Chinese consumers have become more privacy-conscious about the data they hand over to companies—but are hopeless or unaware of the amount of information the government can get from them. Western companies hoping to emulate WeChat not only don’t have the government on their side, but also face a much tougher and more skeptical audience. And in Musk’s case, who—apart from the most ardent of fans—is going to trust him with their money at this point?

WeChat and its counterparts in China grew up in unique, nonrepeatable circumstances. They faced a massive middle class with plenty of cheap smartphones but no traditional banking or credit cards. They were protected from Western competition by the Chinese government. That same government applied a very light regulatory touch as the companies grew, and also encouraged centralization as a way to maintain greater control.

None of those factors exist in the United States today, and Musk’s dream of building the X app for everything is essentially impossible without them. American consumers already have dozens of easy payment choices through credit cards, debit cards, and existing mobile apps. Musk won’t be protected from competition by the government. Instead, he’ll be treated in a more hostile manner by regulators concerned about privacy, monopoly power, and his general history with flouting the law.

Larger and more important tech firms than Twitter—or, as Musk now insists, X—have tried and failed in this area. Meta owns several social networks and several messaging apps, and has tried expanding into areas like marketplaces, video, payments and more. But most of these experiments have failed to reach any sort of scale, and Meta’s successes have come from disaggregating and breaking things apart rather than bundling them together. Google’s Alphabet parent company has succeeded in a wide variety of areas such as search, video, email, payments, and more. But its attempts to build a social network flamed out spectacularly, and like Meta, their biggest successes have come from separated apps and brands, not a singular everything app.

For all its cultural importance and for all that the chattering class is addicted to it, Twitter’s just never been that large. Meta has nearly 4 billion monthly active users across its family of apps. Twitter/X, even if you believe Musk’s suspiciously cropped data, is a bit more than a 10th of that. Meta and Alphabet are orders of magnitude larger and more important than Twitter/X. If they’ve tried and failed to create the everything app, there’s no reason to believe that Musk can succeed.

Musk’s vision for the original X.com impressed Silicon Valley. By 2000, X.com had merged with Confinity, and Musk took over as CEO of the new company. He focused his vision on the global financial nexus, the proto-everything app, despite investor and board skepticism. He pursued that idea maniacally, to the detriment of PayPal/X’s core product of payment by email. He also insisted on branding the company as “X,” despite PayPal’s strong existing brand.

And in less than a year, he was coup’d out of the company and replaced as CEO by Peter Thiel. PayPal was saved as a company because its board ejected Musk. This time around there’s no board that matters except Elon, and there’s no one to save him from himself.

[suzuran777]

BLVN Review: Psychic Eclipse (C-Garden NEXT-B)

I finally decided to play this VN after seeing a lot of information about it in Cool-B magazine! It was released in 2021, by a BL visual novel company called C-Garden NEXT-B. It's their first visual novel, but the scenario writer and artist have both worked on some BLVN related projects in the past. I played the PC version, but it also has a Nintendo Switch port now.

The game takes place in the near future, in a world in which humans developed psychic abilities. It was believed that these new psychic abilities would lead humanity to a brighter future, however, one incident changed everything. "On that fateful day, the sky was stolen from us".

The protagonist of this story is Kei, a young man who lives together with his childhood friend Subaru. In this game, a person's psychic ability is ranked on a scale from 1 to 6, and Kei has a level 2 ability which is considered quite weak. His ability allows him to sometimes predict an event in the near future, but since he never knows if his visions will really come true, it sometimes causes more bad than good. After a certain incident, all humans started living in domes, controlled by an AI called Polaris. Six years ago, people suddenly started transforming into creatures called "eclipses", who are known for their aggressive nature. Once a person turns into an eclipse, it seems like they completely lose their humanity and it is unknown how the disease is transferred. Some theorize that it is contageous.

This game has three main routes and a fourth extra route, I recommend playing Subaru's route first because I think it doesn't go too deep into some of the plot elements yet. I played Licht's route first which kind of spoiled the other two routes, so I think it's better to pick Subaru or Sirius first. After playing all three of them, you unlock a fourth route, which focuses on some of the side characters (unfortunately no Mikage route but they pair him up with a side character who appears later).

Subaru is Kei's childhood friend, both of them lost their parents when they were younger and they currently live together because they don't really know anyone else. Subaru has this ability to control blue flames, though he rarely uses it because those living within the domes are told to not use their psychic abilities. He seems to know a lot about technology and Kei gets a bit suspicious why Subaru seems to be hiding certain things from him...

The second character who has his own route is Sirius, an AI who Subaru created. He has a cheerful personality, a male idol who enjoys singing. He talks to Kei through Kei's phone, but he often also shows up as a hologram. This made me wonder how the romance in Sirius's route would even develop since Kei can't touch him, but I kinda liked having a non-human love interest. I've played a lot of visual novels but the only AI/robot character I can remember right now is Clear (from DRAMAtical Murder), so I would love to see more of that.

Kei's first encounter with the other two characters, Licht and Mikage, happens one day after Kei finds a dead body of an eclipse at work. Licht immediately uses his psychic ability to stop him from moving (he's the only person alive who has a level psychic 6 ability, who can use psychokinesis) and later Mikage also threatens him, so Kei doesn't have the best first impression of these two. In his route, Licht actually turns out to be pretty nice, he just has no idea how to interact with people normally because he only talks to Mikage and his own father... One thing I should mention is that psychic abilities do come with certain side effects, they take a huge toll on the body of the user and if they use it too often, it can lead to permanent injury and eventually death, which is also a big theme in this route.

Each character has three kinds of endings: good, normal and dark. The normal ending is the one you'll most likely get first, though don't be fooled by the name because some dark stuff usually happens to the characters in these endings too...! The dark end is basically a mad end, but it's a bit more difficult to get. Luckily each route only has 3 different choices, so I figured it out with a bit of trial and error.

This game is technically "all-ages" but they do occasionally mention explicit topics and some...stuff happens during the human experiments, so I guess "all-ages" just means they won't show any explicit CGs. I think a 17/18+ rating would be better, as some of the endings also get really dark and some CGs can be a bit gorey (limb amputation, decapitation, etc.) I think it doesn't look too bad in this artstyle but it's probably good to be aware of it before playing!

This is the company's first game, so there's a couple of things that could be improved. For example, all side character models are silhouettes, which makes it hard getting attached to some of them, this includes the enemy robots/eclipses. The side characters & extra scenarios you unlock later also aren't voiced. I don't know if I misunderstood some of the endings, but I sometimes felt like all of the problems get solved a bit too easily and suddenly everyone's happy again (well except the characters who died...) but they might explain more of this in the fandisc, which they are currently working on. There's a lot of things about this game I did like though, the game was much darker than I expected and I really enjoyed seeing what would happen in the "normal" and dark endings. I also quite like the artstyle, and the game's OST is really good! Apparently the guy who composed the music used to work for Capcom and has created music for the Monster Hunter games in the past.

They recently tweeted that they would postpone the release date of the fandisc to 2024 because of the large number of scenarios they were adding to it. It seems like they're going to focus a bit more on two side characters I didn't mention before, who only appear in the final route: Licht's brother Kanade and Mikage's acquaintance Kousaka. I might check out the fandisc when they release it!

[skyboxeye]

Capturing the ambience of Ultimate Spider-Man

Running the game

The retail game crashes on startup under Windows 10. Download the "rip" hosted on My Abandonware instead. As a bonus, this package also includes a widescreen + 60fps fix.

However, the widescreen fix isn't perfect - some full-screen effects like lightning flashes will only render at 4:3, and need to be recreated at 16:9 in post.

Hiding the HUD

Use the Debug menu mod. Under its "Options" menu you'll find a toggle for "Render FE UI".

(Not) Hiding the player-character

I wasn't able to figure out a good method for this. I tried using TexMod, supplying fully transparent textures to replace those mapped to Peter's body. However this didn't work as there seems to be a vertex color pass on characters:

I also tried simply removing the PCPACK files for certain costumes (e.g. PETER_HOODED.PCPACK), but this triggers a crash. We'll need to simply point the camera away from our character instead - read on.

Free camera

Get the latest version of krystalgamer's debug menu mod. I also found two in-development forks which expanded on that original project: MrMartinIden and MrUltimateSpiderManMODDER.

Inside its expanded menus, you'll find remnants of camera features from the Xbox version this port is based on*, plus many other additional developer options.

After trawling YouTube, I also found a full PC build** with many more debug menu options! Among other things, it offers the ability to freeze the camera, and disable pedestrians. To get overhead shots, we can jump up high and toggle the camera lock.

*This is labeled "User Camera on Controller 2", possible referring to an ability for Player 2 to freely move the camera around. I've seen this in other games before. Unfortunately I only own one controller, so I couldn't test it myself. It also seems like it may be a work-in-progress on the fork linked above. See USERCAM_ON_CONTROLLER2.

**It's unclear who is responsible for this build - this uploader mentioned a user called darkou3487. I found an Xbox prototype that may be relevant to its ancestry. Perhaps it's this repo?

Change Time Of Day

krystalgamer's menu allows users to chose from USM's four possible time values.

Selecting "Switch Hero" from the pause menu will also advance time. You can do this repeatedly until you land on the desired setting.

Extracting sounds

Use vgmstream to convert the game's Data\Sound\pc\STREAMS\STREAMS_SFX.WBK bank to WAVs. You can also check out MrUltimateSpiderManMODDER's scripts and tools to extract game archives.

Version differences

USM was released to many platforms - which version should we take our sounds from? Picking a stream at random, it seems Gamecube offers the highest bitrates:

PC - IMA 4-bit ADPCM 96kbps

PS2 - Playstation 4-bit ADPCM 109kbps

GC - Nintendo DSP 4-bit ADPCM 112kbps

XBOX - XBOX 4-bit IMA ADPCM 108kbps

Admittedly, they all sound the same to my ears!

Putting it all together

Overlay the ambient streams onto your no-HUD footage.

[randomisedgaming]

Cannon Dancer Osman - Not so random review - Vol.3

Format: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed) Also on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S Publisher: United Games Entertainment (ININ Games / Strictly Limited Games) Developer: Mitchell Corporation (Port by Ratalaika Games S.L.) Release year: 2023 (1996 Original Arcade Release) Genre: Platformer Official Website: https://www.iningames.com/games/cannon-dancer-en

Randomised Gaming reviewed the PlayStation 4 digital download version of Cannon Dancer, the code was provided to us by PR Hound to cover the game.

Over the last few years we've had a real renaissance in older games from the 80s, 90s and 00s getting long overdue re-releases. Mitchell Corporation was one such company whose games have largely remained lost to time, best remembered for the PANG series of games they did with Capcom. In 1996 the designer of the Capcom arcade platformer Strider, Kouichi “Isuke” Yotsui decided it was time to make a sequel to the game and so set about at Mitchell to make his version of Strider 2.

With Capcom owning the rights to Strider, there had to be a few changes, but aside from the look of the hero and the name of the game. This really is a true sequel to Strider in all but name. Unfortunately this was a 2D game released in 1996 when 3D was becoming all the rage in arcades and that's not mentioning the fact its 2D visuals look very dated compared to rival arcade games like Marvel Super Heroes and Metal Slug which came out around the same time period.

Cannon Dancer as it was called in Japan and Osman in the rest of the world, didn't do that well. Selling okay in Japan and flopping overseas, the arcade is rare to say the least and to date I have never seen the raw PCB board in action. For most people emulators like MAME are most likely the place where they played this first, which is true of myself.

I always had a soft spot for Capcom's Strider even if the game was somewhat messy in places. So finally in 2023 United Games Entertainment have teamed up once again with Ratalaika Games to bring you a near perfect version of Cannon Dancer and its first ever home release. I say near perfect as Ratalaika Games have made an error in not allowing users to access the game's dipswitch / options menu at present hidden in the service test mode . Which massively reduces the replay value of the game as it means you can't set the difficulty, change the number of lives, set the size of your starting life bar or change the extend settings or even turn the gore on or off. Certain enemy attack moves only appear on the harder settings as well.

That major issue over, which hopefully United Games Entertainment and Ratalaika Games will patch fairly quickly in the future and I'll be sure to update this review as and when they do, if they do. Is the only issue I really have with the port as the emulation here is the best to date of the game.

The missing options as shown in the arcade's service test mode via MAME.

As you would expect from former Capcom staff Cannon Dancer is a superbly crafted action platformer, if somewhat unforgiving. The first few times you play Cannon Dancer you will lose a credit on the first stage and even more on the later stages. It does take awhile to learn the stage layout and design, but once you spend some time practising you can really master each stage and your opponents. The starting level of difficulty certainly would have put off arcade players in the 90s, many players would have likely turned their back on it after one go, but give it a chance and there is a true gem here.

Osman kicks and climbs his way through each stage and has a decent selection of moves in his arsenal, even if the air suplex, rolling throw and running from slide moves aren't detailed in the game and a moves list would have been very welcome. There's also the super bomb attack which is limited to 3 uses per life and acts a a screen clearing move and deal heavy damage to bosses.

Gameplay wise the controls are spot on with Osman using his kicks to attack. Each time you grab a power up orb you get a shadow Osman that will appear and remain in place for a few seconds. Up to a maximum of four with the last upgrade also giving you a kick limited super long range kick that deals out heavy damage. What makes this game tough is any damage you take, reduces your attack by one level and the super kick only lasts for 20 kick attacks, this limit increases each time you collect the super kick, so long as you don't ever take damage.

The 2D pixel visuals are first class, but they look more on par with arcade games from 1993 not 1996. Each stage has a very different visual theme and look. The city feel of the first stage, which clearly homages Strider is very different to the sunken desert of stage three and the submarine of the sea on the forth. The bosses are also a vibrant cast of characters, from machines made of trash and metals, a flaming man, huge monsters, rival assassins and a dark goddess that wants to enslave the world.

The plot is just bonkers and doesn't make much sense, most of the English text in Osman is best described as Engrish at best and a better translation of the text would have been welcome. Not that the plot in the game matters, as you are trying to take down all the enemies around you. The only real average area of the game is the music and sound effects, which don't really standout from the crowd.

This home port comes with both revisions of the arcade that's Cannon Dancer and Osman. It also features a standard mode, which lets you play with any number of all new extras and bonus features turned on or off, to help make the game easier. These extras included a much needed double jump, various invulnerable moves and attacks along with auto fire. Many of them help give Cannon Dancer a new lease of life and improve the quality of the game.

Sadly one extra I would have liked to have seen, would have been to allow the player to remain in the final super kick upgrade state until they take a hit, as the fact it runs out so quickly after you obtain it, is really annoying. Also the fact the super attack (Bomb) uses don't reset after you clear a stage is another downer and one a perk to address this issue would have been most welcome also.

Adding to the gameplay is the new challenge mode, which allows players to take up to two of the extra perks to try and beat the game with and unlock the included trophies and achievements. As the game will take you to the cleaner the first time you play it you will have to get in some practice in order to overcome slaver and her forces. It took me a good couple of hours of practise and I ended up using the invulnerable attack and 4 credits perk to beat the game. The challenge mode adds in a lot of fun and the perks help to make it a far better game. Common place features like rewind and save state which you expect with these types of modern emulation releases are also included.

While overall the game is very well designed there are a few bits that are just insanely hard. The sudden introduction of reset points on the last stage is one. Forcing you to restart various boss fights on death results in a few frustrating moments and one that will cause you just to spam your super attack lots. While I can clear the last stage without issue now, I still end up using multiple lives clearing the last five bosses back to back. The fake Osman fight is very hard to avoid damage on. As are the three assassins together as Cannon's robot makes it impossible in some parts to avoid hits from the other two, making that fight more luck than skill.

Finally the lack of bonus content is somewhat disappointing, there isn't anything like an art gallery, sprite viewers, moves list or sound test in sight. Considering I was able to find the original arcade flyers and instruction manual detailing all the moves on the internet, it would have been nice to see this content included in this release.

Arcade flyer and instructions taken from the arcade-museum and arcade flyers websites.

In the end Cannon Dancer is a challenging cult arcade game from 1996 that perfectly captures the spirit and gameplay of its predecessor. This is everything you would expect from an arcade title developed by a seasoned veteran of the industry. This version is only hampered by the lack of extra content and the missing dipswitch options, which needs patching in. The emulation has improvements over what is seen in MAME right now, making this the best way to play the game.

Pros + First home release since 1996 + Superb 90s arcade gameplay + Responsive and tight controls + Great stage design and enemy visuals + Strider 2 in all bar name

Cons - Dipswitches are all missing - No extra content, arcade flyers, sound test, moves list, etc.. - Music and audio is very average

Review by Random Gamer Riven. Twitter: RDGamerRiven Email: randomgamerriven@gmail.com

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, for video game, art, reviews, features, videos and more. You can also find us on YouTube, Twitch & Twitter for even more gaming & video content! Buy us a tea on Ko-fi

[definitesolutions]

5 Alternatives to Windows Features That Microsoft Dropped

Microsoft often updates Windows 11 with new features but can also remove ones it considers outdated. If you've lost a program or app after an upgrade, don’t worry—there are plenty of alternatives available. Let’s check out nine replacements for the Windows features Microsoft has dropped.

Find a suitable replacement for WordPad

Microsoft has declared WordPad obsolete, so it will no longer be updated and will be removed in Windows 11 version 24H2. The company advises switching to Microsoft Word, which is a paid option.

Should I switch from Windows Mail to Outlook?

The Mail and Calendar app, which replaced Outlook Express, is designed for handling IMAP and POP3 emails. Its successor, "The New Outlook," has been available to Windows 10 and 11 users for a while. The original Mail and Calendar app will be fully discontinued by the end of 2024.

Currently, users can switch back to the old Mail app from "The New Outlook," but this option only lasts for the current session. If you restart the app, it will automatically revert to "The New Outlook."

Clean up Windows quickly and thoroughly

Over time, your PC can become cluttered, which can slow it down and lead to errors. Disk Cleanup has been a part of Windows since Windows 98, but its days are numbered. Although it’s still available in Windows 11 23H2, Microsoft now recommends using the options found under System > Storage in Settings, even though these options offer fewer features than Disk Cleanup.

When Disk Cleanup is eventually discontinued, Cleanmgr+ will serve as its replacement.

To use Cleanmgr+, open the tool and select "Run as Administrator." The package includes two programs; choose between them at startup. After selecting Cleanmgr, the Burnbyte tool will launch, presenting a drive selection window similar to the Disk Cleanup interface.

Start by selecting the system drive C:. Once you click OK, Burnbyte will show a clear interface detailing the different areas and the space they occupy on your hard drive. Check the options you want to clean and click "Clean Up." Be sure not to check "Download" if you want to retain the files in your download folder.

Uninstall programs and apps faster

In Windows Settings, you can uninstall programs by navigating to App > Apps and features (or Apps > Installed apps in Windows 11). Unfortunately, you can’t uninstall multiple programs simultaneously, and some applications might leave residual files behind.

In Windows 10, you could also uninstall programs through the Control Panel under Programs and Features, which was more user-friendly. This option has been removed in Windows 11.

Expand or collapse the context menu

In Windows 11, right-clicking on the desktop or in Windows Explorer brings up a context menu with just a few options. While this streamlined menu helps avoid clutter when many programs are installed, it may limit quick access to certain features.

To see all available options, you need to select "Show More Options" from the context menu or hold down the Shift key while right-clicking.

[updatecrazy]

Genshin Impact update 3.8 details released for PS4(version 3.80), PC, iOS, Android and PS5 players. According to the official Genshin Impact 3.8 patch notes, the latest "Secret Summer Paradise" update for Genshin Impact introduces a limited-time area called Veluriyam Mirage, new outfits, quests, achievements, and namecards. Apart from this, Genshin Impact update 3.80 also includes optimizations and bug fixes. Previously, a Genshin Impact update 1.6 added new island adventures, rich stories, and exquisite outfits Unfortunately, since the release, players are facing problems when trying to play the game. Today's Genshin Impact version 3.80 will fix a few of these issues. Read more details below. Genshin Impact patch 3.8 notes - July 5, 2023 Limited-Time Area: Veluriyam Mirage This is a story that takes place within the confines of a little glass bottle. Rumor tells of a mysterious domain in the center of the desert, and it is said that those who enter shall be granted their heart's desire. Area Unlock Criteria: Adventure Rank 18 or above, and complete the Archon Quest "Song of the Dragon and Freedom." The Veluriyam Mirage will no longer be accessible after the end of Version 3.8. Treasure chests, gathering materials, and quest rewards will no longer be available in the Veluriyam Mirage. New Outfits: Klee - "Blossoming Starlight": Available for purchase in the Character Outfit Shop at a limited-time discount. Kaeya - "Sailwind Shadow": Obtainable for free through the "Secret Summer Paradise" event. New Quests: New Hangout Event: Hangout Event - Kaeya - Act I "Shenanigans and Sweet Wine." Permanently available after 2023/07/25 18:00. New World Quests: "Purbiruni's Commandment," "Recollections of a Fontainian," "Daiya's Three-Day Reverie," "Returning Curios," and "Capturing Light and Shadow." Other Update Details: New Achievements added to the "Memories of the Heart" category. New Namecard: "Travel Notes: Vivid Illumination" obtained via the BP system. Adds some prompts for loading screens. Adds Set 24 of "Paimon's Paintings" chat emojis. Adds a link in the Source section of "Dust of Azoth" for the Stardust Exchange page. New Furnishing: "Leisure Device: Twang-Bang-Bang." Genius Invokation TCG Gameplay Update: New Character Cards, Talent cards, invitation duels, and guest challenges added. Spiral Abyss Floor 11 Ley Line Disorder changed: All party members receive a 75% Physical DMG Bonus. Updated monster lineup on Floor 11 and Floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss. Lunar Phase refreshes with new effects. Various adjustments and optimizations to the system, enemies, audio, and more. Bug Fixes Fixes an issue whereby Paimon's voice line was missing in the Story Quest "Into the Hinterland." Fixes an issue whereby the enemy "Shadowy Husk: Line Breaker" could not restore HP for "Black Serpent Knight: Windcutter" and "Black Serpent Knight: Rockbreaker Ax" as per normal after its attack hit a character protected by a shield. Fixes an issue whereby switching characters did not work normally after moving close to an Elemental Ring when challenging the boss monster "Iniquitous Baptist." Fixes an issue whereby the Consecrated Fanged Beast and the Consecrated Horned Crocodile would continue pursuing the character even after hitting them with the Savage Roll and Subnautical Hunter skills under certain circumstances. Fixes an issue whereby after the same shortcut key was set for both Quick-Use Gadget and for a particular Gadget in the Quickswap Menu, the user was unable to use that button to switch to the corresponding Gadget from the Quickswap Menu. Fixes an issue whereby food items that had been added to the NRE (Menu 30) gadget would still appear in the list of foods that could be added (but in fact could not be selected) even after having been completely used up. Fixes an issue whereby environment sound effects were missing in some areas of Sumeru City.

Fixes an issue with Collei whereby her "When the Sun Is Out" voice-over would not trigger properly. Fixes an issue with Kirara whereby, after holding her Elemental Skill and entering the Urgent Neko Parcel state, voice-over lines for other states would be triggered abnormally. Fixes an issue whereby the treasure's appearance near a non-outdoor Teleport Waypoint in Hangeh Afrasiyab located within Gavireh Lajavard is erroneously displayed. Fixes an issue whereby the shadows of Polearms, Swords, and Claymores are unable to be displayed properly under certain brightness conditions. Fixes an issue whereby there was a chance that the achievement "Dolorous Stroke" could not be completed normally. Fixes an issue whereby after disconnecting from the server and then reconnecting, characters or certain opponents that were Frozen only remained in this state for abnormally short periods. Fixes some text errors in 15 languages and optimizes text. (Note: Related in-game functions have not changed. Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.) Text-related fixes and optimizations in English include unifying the capitalization formatting for the "More About Character" showcase and optimizing inconsistencies for certain voice-overs in Chongyun > Profile > Voice-Over. Various other bug fixes not specifically mentioned in the provided context. Genshin Impact Update 4.0 Release Time? Genshin Impact update 4.0 will be available in August 2023.

[greenscreenwizard]

How to Choose the Best Software for Chroma Keying

It is all too typical in today's dynamic and digital world to separate "Chroma" from a photo, image, video, etc. Unfortunately, we discovered that some pricey and subpar solutions are also discouraging people from looking for clever, efficient, and expert wizard-like software. Let's examine the details of the top Chroma Key Software for 2023 and discuss how to utilise it to the fullest.

Without a straightforward & user-friendly tool, removing the green screen from a photo or video is a difficult operation. We pay particular attention to the following elements as we look for the top Chroma Key Software in 2023:

User-friendliness: The majority of marketable software relies on its end-users' ability to use its straightforward, intuitive user interfaces. Professional and amateur photographers should be able to use green screen software for desktop, PC, Mac, or iPhone in this situation.

Features and versions: The software industry has segmented and profiled its user base in order to produce software that is specifically designed for each stakeholder. You could search for green screen software with capabilities that specifically identify the requirements at various professional and super-professional levels in order to get excellent outcomes.

Platforms: Photographers should find it simple to access over Desktop, PC, or iPhone and produce amazing artworks on schedule in order to accommodate overlays and special effects. The most flexible green screen apps provide users with extra functionality.

Demonstration: Use the Free Demo versions to familiarise yourself with the various capabilities, special effects, overlays, enhanced effects, etc. that a green screen software has to offer the user.

Cost: When purchasing green screen software for a PC, desktop, or Mac, one configures settings to consider all the variables, and it's vital for the appropriate reasons. Before switching, compare the costs.

Green Screen Wizard, the most popular green screen backdrop removing programme with wizard-level functionality, satisfies the aforementioned prerequisites. We think 2023 might simply prove to be an excellent year for moving photo and video editing to the next level.

[seeklovenet]

8 Finest Black Relationship Sites 2023 One Hundred Pc Free Apps To Join!

8 Finest Black Relationship Sites 2023 One Hundred Pc Free Apps To Join!

We licensed inside this web page 12 months and a half again, i is off awhile. On prime of that, I became pleased to have plenty of meets every day, which pressured me to be expect simpler. Soon sufficient, we met an pleasant choice review dating sites person, seen the biochemistry and connection between us, and we also go alongside completely now. I would possibly claim that the high quality pub prices are acceptable and inexpensive.

Moreover, it presents a chance to do a fast search of potential matches according to the user’s preferences even earlier than the registration. As a outcome, users who are not registered can see profiles of registered users, together with their profile pictures and location. Therefore, customers of Black Dating For Free should be cautious about the personal data they share on the net site. EliteSingles is a great dating app for black professionals in search of significant connections.

Particular Features

Amazingly I lately found me personally solitary and almost invisible on the site. Then again, we yanked myself along and is considering what I was finishing up utterly incorrect. I've dropped by web courting online forums, questioned my associates, and ultimately switched my personal strategy. For starters, we grabbed great love knowledge throughout profile. Using is a chunk of cake, and all configurations are clear and accessible without a challenge.

To begin using this black courting web site, you’ll first have to specify your gender and the gender you have an interest in relationship. Then, the location will take you thru a few pages of questions about your location and ZIP code to assist match you with singles in your region. If you’re in search of dating sites specifically for black individuals and are thinking about starting a marital-focused relationship, we suggest BlackPeopleMeet. This platform is the premier courting web site for black and biracial singles.

Newest Blk Experiences

Unfortunately there are no dating websites meant for black seniors, thus we suggest Senior FriendFinder. The workers guarantees to evaluation each single dater profile and even examine the images, as a countermeasure against scammers. The website is focused in the course of the growing older group above their 60s, and the location presents free registration and a smartphone app.

Christian Cafe is a good place to search out companionship or just communicate with like-minded Christians. It has a singular matchmaking system that components your spiritual values as nicely, and couples it with a layered profile system. Christian Cafe can also be robust on mobile, offering an app for both iOS and Android users. Even though free accounts aren’t on the table, you probably can nonetheless see for yourself the means it works with the 10-day trial period. I got here throughout myself personally attempting to loosen and leap into recovery gender if not informal going out with after a separation. But I managed to get not a clue of constructing they using the internet.

[purpleprincesseater]

As a lifelong Linux user, I get it.

I've made the decision for myself, but it's not without a few downsides. If you're the type of person who thinks replacing their entire OS would be neat then you should absolutely give it a try. But people who can't or don't want to do that deserve privacy too. Everyone should be able to use their computer without being constantly bombarded by ads and sleazy cloud service pitches. Unfortunately the situation unlikely to change any time soon because all this technology moves many times faster than the laws needed to regulate it even when there is political will, and the last election sure didn't help.

There are some ways that individual consumers can reduce their own burden, e.g. adblockers, PC decrapifiers, and yes alternatives like Firefox, but that doesn't help us on a societal level, it just splits users between the technically-skilled 'haves' and the less-skilled 'have-nots', it makes privacy something that costs time and effort that most users who aren't like me would rather spend messaging their friends or uploading video.

A Republican trifecta is unlikely to improve any of this--in fact I'm betting it will get much worse, long before it starts to get better again. Europe has made some headway in holding tech companies to account, but certainly not enough, and of course if you think switching OS is high-effort, moving to Europe is way harder.

So, while in principle people who just want to use their computers like a normal person absolutely deserve privacy too, in practice they're not gonna get it.

I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!

[carmenblogs]

Are gaming communities becoming more toxic environments for some (e.g. women, LGBT communities, and ethnic minorities)?

It is now noted that female gamers frequently report encountering harassment and other unfavourable behaviours when participating in online gaming (Cote 2015; Gray et al. 2017; Holz Ivory et al. 2014; McLean and Griffiths 2013; Vermeulen et al. 2014). According to Yee (2006), playing online games encourages users to be more outgoing, interactive, and cooperative among team players. However, there are also negative aspects of online gaming, especially for women.

What is gaming?

Simply put, online gaming is the act of playing a video game via the internet—often with friends. Gaming can be played on a variety of devices, including PCs, laptops, mobile phones, and specialised gaming consoles like PlayStations, Xboxes, and Nintendo Switches, which can all be used to play online games. According to Bowman et al. (2015), playing online video games has long been perceived as a source of entertainment for many people, and one of the major factors in their popularity is their capability to create a sense of sociability and belonging.

The Downside of Gaming

In the gaming industry, it has been reported that 20% of female players have been victims of sexual harassment from males or other players, involving objectifying comments and threats of rape and death. A US, German, and Chinese poll discovered that 59% of women conceal their gender to avoid sexism and mistreatment online (Bougacha 2022). Personally, I don't play video games but I've seen and heard a lot of toxic stories of women getting inappropriate remarks from the online gaming community, especially from men who often mistreat female gamers online.

According to Bougacha (2022), Molly Fender Ayala, an online gamer and Twitch streamer who is the community development lead for the computer game Overwatch, wrote an online complaint to expose Omeed Dariani, the CEO of online performer groups, a production company that manages several streamers, of inappropriate advertising and sexual harassment in a tweet. Later, he quit his role as the company's CEO.

Unfortunately, it's not just Molly who experienced the same issue. Many female gamers online are constantly being harassed and have decided to speak out. According to Oppenheim (2021), Sunpi, a well-known gamer named Sunpi reports that she receives dick images from men she doesn't know on a daily basis or requests that they do so. Besides that, the verbal bullying she receives is often violent. "I've had online trolls threaten to kill me and my family if I don't pay any attention to them," she said. She also frequently discovers that innocent footage of her casually playing video games while fully clothed has been uploaded to the pornographic website Pornhub without her consent.

According to research conducted by the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), 35% of women reported getting offensive messages or content from other gamers. While playing multiplayer online games, 28% of female gamers reported being verbally or sexually harassed by other gamers, and 40% reported getting sexually harassed. Due to the constant mistreatment experienced by women, many female gamers decided to quit online gaming as most men violently harass women (Oppenheim 2021).

In light of these facts, while gaming can create a sense of sociality and belonging, the gaming community can be an extremely toxic environment for women who are most likely to get verbally harassed and bullied due to sexism and 'white male supremacy'. The idea of women playing video games seems to be a novel attraction for men to take advantage of women. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed that many do not speak of.

References:

Bougacha S, 2022, 'Gaming: Hidden Sexism and Harassment', IVolunteer International, viewed 27 November 2022, <https://www.ivint.org/gaming-hidden-sexism-and-harassment/#:~:text=In%20the%20gaming%20industry%2C%2020,to%20avoid%20abuse%20and%20sexism.>

McLean, L & Griffiths MD, 2019, ‘Female Gamers’ Experience of Online Harassment and Social Support in Online Gaming: A Qualitative Study', International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 970–994, viewed 27 November 2022, <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=a9h&AN=137907679&site=eds-live>.

Oppenheim M, 2021, 'The dark threats and sexual abuse women gamers endure', Independent, viewed 27 November 2022, <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-gamers-sexual-abuse-harassment-b1860003.html>

[nikomedes]

i wanted to wait till i got my skins to post but. i have acquired a Deck. i have named her the Creature (my gaming desktop is the Beast) and i love her very much so far

specs on the deck, screen protector, skins, etc under the cut, and a little on my experience so far

so i placed my reservation day one for the most basic model of the steam deck, the 64gb w/o the ~special glass~, and was projected to receive in q2. i got my order confirmation email on 5/20, purchased that day, and received fedex tracking info the next day. i received my deck on 5/27. in anticipation of its arrival i ordered a set of 4 tempered glass screen protectors from amazon for $8 (lit just search "steam deck tempered glass" and you'll find what i got), and a 512gb uhs-i micro sd card to expand that pitiful 64gb. after playing with the deck for about a week i put in an order for skins: i got the dbrand steam deck skin in Kind of Purple on the front and black Swarm on the back/touchpads.

(a note on the skins: i find the cuts were of EXCELLENT quality and getting a good result, with minimal wrinkles/warping, is a matter of going very slow, using a lot of heat, and trying to pull the skin off and on during application as little as possible. i really like the feel of both the matte Purple front and the textured hexagonal pattern on the back. idk how much i'm going to like it on the touchpads, but i can always peel the Swarm squares off and put on the Purple that came with the front piece. i think they're a good value for the money, but i wouldn't buy their ultra special tempered glass at $25 for a 2 pack. at the end of the day it's just sticky tempered glass rectangles...)

the steam deck itself-- i REALLY like it. i'm an ideal user for this device, tho: i have a large steam library, i built my own pc so i appreciate the hardware and design work on this, and have become a primarily switch gamer this last year bc my gaming time has gradually shifted more towards an hour or two before bed or work than the 4-8 hour gaming marathons of college. the steam deck fills that niche well. i've picked up and played 3 different games so far (aperture desk job to learn the controls, tacoma, then night in the woods as pictured above) and had a great experience in all of them. even if a game is listed as iffy on the deck, it's worth giving it a shot-- often the biggest issue you'll run into is text size. the deck lets me particularly play smaller indie games i really want to play, but haven't felt up to booting my whole ass pc and sitting down at a desk for since i bought them. i bought tacoma the year it came out and JUST NOW got to it, and loved it! im very excited for how many more small projects the deck will let me finally spend time with because of its portability.

urgh okay switching to bullets to try to better organize my thoughts:

i got the good fan! i haven't found it to be loud at all, but i HAVE found the deck gets hot fast even running non-AAA titles. i actually went and toggled off their new fan settings that minimized when it ran in favor of the old BIOS-based ones. i would rather hear the soft sound of my fan all the time and know the unit's temp is well-regulated, rather than possibly degrade my hardware faster for Silence. glad i have the option to opt in or out of integral device updates, too!

i tried using the deck in desktop mode to install some of my itch.io library with mixed results. the linux desktop is intuitive, if small, and as a firefox user on all devices it was very easy to log in to firefox pre-installed on the device and get all my bookmarks/logins. i was able to download and extract game files from itch. i was even able to run a couple games! unfortunately the input scheme translation issue between the deck and a game running in desktop mode is rough, and the onscreen keyboard can't bridge the gap. i'm going to keep futzing with this, though! i want to play those games and it's definitely (theoretically) possible

the steam deck os is DEFINITELY in beta, and is missing some features big picture mode has. the onscreen keyboard is... bad. but software is a comparatively easy fix, and it's by no means unusable

the ergonomics work well for me! granted, i have big hands, but the button/trigger placements feel very natural, and switching to using the touchpad vs the right analog stick is nothing. for how many buttons they stuck on this thing, i'm impressed they all feel pretty good! it's definitely heavier than the switch and i haven't felt comfortable commuting with it yet. but in my experience so far, preventing wrist strain is as easy as curling up in bed or in a chair and naturally resting some point of the deck on a pillow/arm/side table, which was my same strat with the switch.

i haven't used any bluetooth peripherals yet, so nothing to say there. but it still has a headphone jack. THANK YOU. my god, i missed being able to use some of my best headphones. not to mention p much any gamer headset with headphones and mic routed through one jack.

the case is nice? no room for other items (sd card case, stylus, cable, etc) but it's very solidly built. but again, haven't travelled with the deck yet

right now there's an issue with where shader caches and other supporting data files for games get stored. i've loaded about 300gb of games on my sd so far with no problem, but my deck's default 64gb storage is almost full just from files supporting those games being saved there instead of on the card. as more people get decks, i expect a patch to make sure all files get saved one place or another will come down, though rumor has it there's a linux thing you can run to fix this... but ive been too chickenshit to try running too much on the desktop side that could alter the device's os

whew thats a lot!!! to distill, ive been enjoying this device for what it is: a new piece of tech with some flaws to be addressed, that gives me another way to interact with games i already own, and feels much more transparent in its development (and reparable! i didnt even get into the replacement parts!) than the switch. i really like it, and if you're expecting one or thinking about reserving, i hope this gave you some more info about the experience!

[embedded4554]

That Embedded Product - Did You See It?

Shows. Screens. They sparkle at us and splendidly yell at us from practically every contraption we contact or see as we travel as the day progressed. The hyperactive super-sized shows on Times Square are an undeniable illustration of our century's fixation on besieging the faculties. We are to be sure a general media society with an unquenchable hunger!

We interface routinely with presentations, fastens, and contact screens without a second thought. They are an important and basic piece of practically every electronic gadget available today, from your phone to your vehicle, to the cockpit of the plane that whisks you away an extended get-away. The human maintains that the machine should follow through with something, and they should impart. What's more, some way or another, they do. "In any case, you inquire, "who can say for sure how to assemble this stuff?"

Just a moderately little cross-segment of our general public become individuals that are the minds and strength of the business that comprehends the "how" of making such an electronic item, a "gadget," work. Individuals that wrench out these electronic treats consider their industry the "Embedded Product" industry. An entertaining name? Indeed, think about this. Every one of these superb man-made wonders contains one, or many, chip. You don't see them, and accordingly you simply don't contemplate them! For instance, you most likely don't call your wireless a PC, yet inside that smooth gadget there is, well…, a PC - - a microchip. The microchip is accordingly 'embedded' inside the gadget. It is an offspring of the "Embedded Product" industry.

Truth be told, each kid in grade school today discovers that a PC is a "PC" whose mind is a "chip" which runs "software" on an "working framework. The human collaborates with it through a "GUI" (pronounced "Gooey") or Graphical User Interface. In any case, do they, or do you, besides, question what is happening behind that now-natural GUI, inside that charming ladybug PDA? As my three year old child used to say, "How's this thing work?" Does it contain a working framework or a chip or software? "Review says…YES!"

As a matter of fact, a variation of the "track down the secret Mickey" game can be played the entire day. I challenge you to take a couple of seconds and cause a rundown of the quantity of things that you remember to have a "covered up" chip inside. Might it be said that you are finished? You neglected to record your microwave, isn't that right? Unfortunately you likewise neglected to list your TV!

Embedded items, obviously, are all over. A captivating gathering of specialists and item directors all over the planet team up to plan, construct and market these high technology items that our general public requests, expanding on the shoulders of those that have preceded them. No longer do we track down gadgets with needles, measures and switches. The intelligence of the chip utilized in embedded items has killed generally these burdensome actual parts and have supplanted them, all things considered, with the recognizable electronic showcase. Rich embedded GUIs, for example, one could track down on an Apple iPhone or the dashboard of another Mercedes, warmly connect with us consistently, asking for us to contact them or, at any rate, to simply respect them.

In this way, the exceptionally next time that you end up flying down the roadway in your vehicle, paying attention to your "tunes," taking a gander at your dashboard graphical connection point, with all its virtual meters and needles, noting your cell and advising the children to turn down their DVD, kindly require a moment to ponder the way that your vehicle alone has a lot a greater number of microchips than does the Space Shuttle. I think you'll then, at that point, concur with me that there is a lot of work yet left for our kids to do!

For more information please visit : TinyML

[rhaaclaws]

New Discord malware attack

pretty much what the title says. There’s currently a new socially engineered malware attack on Discord since possible around July, and currently it is vicious. I’ll make a brief explanation of what it is, what to do if you click on the link and a measure me and some friends have done.

What it is

A direct message from a friend (currently) talking about checking out the game they're working on. The typing style may look very similar to what they actually talk like. What clicking on the link does is steal your account, install a downloader (most likely a crypto miner), a keylogger, harvest logins from all your browsers and possibly something else since this is very new. While its a simple “don’t click any suspicious links” advice since the start of the internet, I’m making this for those that are unaware. 

here’s an analysis of what it does:

[ID: Doing some analysis now, it's absurd, the thing BROKE MY DEBUGGER, it got a lot of weird misplaced bytes in the exe header and a tentative of buffer overflow that didn't work thankfully because I was in linux, so the kernel just crashed -.- This thing is a Node Executable as front, have a token stealer, have code to break into passwords kepts in lots of places of your OS (covers every browser), it also monitors your network, hooks NtOpenKey, WSASend, WSARrecv, AND EVEN CREATEPROCESS. Oh yeah, it also hooks to your key inputs, so call it a keylogger too. It's designed to break debuggers and try to f*ck with you... from inside the debugger, without executing it. It's a complete Security Stealing Ware. Didn't find anything that could point tentatives to mess with your bios/firmware (in these cases, even reinstalling the OS may not be secure enough lol) I still can't believe a virus just tried to do with me, what I try to do with the Switch and PS4 on my spare time lol. end ID]

What to do if you click on the link

this screenshot (and entire post) is from twitter user @/PhleBuster and it goes in detail on what to do if you actually click the link.

[ID: @everyone Related to the ongoing socially engineered malware attacks, if you end up unfortunately executing code given to you by an attacker, here's what you need to know: #0 Disconnect internet from your PC RIGHT AWAY - if you do this fast enough you may be able to stop your accounts from getting stolen. #1 Change your Discord password RIGHT AWAY, on your MOBILE. This is their first priority and unless you act immediately, you will lose access and it will be very slow to recover via support. #2 Change your email and other critical passwords, on your MOBILE. This malware is extremely advanced, won't be caught by any existing virus scanners, and will install a downloader, likely a crypto miner, a keylogger, will harvest logins from all your browsers, and who knows what else. [in bold:] If you are exposed and didn't immediately disconnect internet, expect that all of your existing logins have been compromised - and any changes you make on PC will be immediately leaked as well. [normal font:] #3 Do a clean reinstall of Windows. A system restore is not safe enough. #4 While that happens, report any stolen accounts, and keep changing the rest of your passwords. #5 After reinstall, change all your passwords one more time, and you should be safe. #X - if you are notified of any suspicious login attempts to any account, immediately attempt to recover it with password recovery before your logins, emails, and other support details are changed. #Y - If you lose access to any accounts, do your best to notify your friends who may be vulnerable to further attacks through that attack. ID end]

Prevention between friends

Since this is still relatively a new attack, please take this part with a big grain of salt. Me and my friends made a system for our own group of sending a personalized message between a spoiler filter before sending links. I’m not sure how the hacked message is supposed to look since from my own research, it just looks like your regular spam message. Try to figure out a 2FA system with your friends on what links are trustworthy. While it is currently a “hey check out my game” type of message, it worries me that it might spread to other types of links. 

I’ll try to update this if any new information arises, but please stay wary of any links being sent on discord. Stay safe

[phoenotopia]

2020 October Update

So... we've launched. And our launch was... actually kind of... bad...

This is a dev blog, so I'll speak on it. But before that, we do have the game's steam page up. If you're anticipating the PC release, please do visit the steam page and add it to your wish list. It would help us a lot.

VISIT STEAM LINK

...

So what didn't go so well?

1. We launched in Nintendo's Americas and Europe territory. If you've been following the release, you'd know that America got the game first. We didn't move to launch in Europe at all since I thought the EFIGS languages (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish) were pre-requisites for Europe. By the time I learned that this wasn't necessarily the case, and attempted to course correct, the damage was done. We had half the allotment of keys to do outreach, and maybe some European outlets that would've covered us, did not.

2. When the game launched, rather than a victory lap, what we experienced was more of a public lashing. We did get some reviews that praised the game highly, but just as many reviews lampooned the game for its high difficulty or other failings. I've since released two patches (or 3, depending on how you count it) to address the difficulty. A lot of overnighters. If you recall in the last blog post, I thought it'd be a good start if we got 20 or so reviews on Open Critic. But we've only 8 as of this writing, and the aggregate score isn't so hot. So that's a fail by my metric.

3. A publisher reached out to us because they were interested in physically printing the game! Yay! But... to advance our talks, they wanted to see the game's sales numbers to ensure that there's a good chance their investment could be recouped. And unfortunately, the game's sales numbers are pretty low. They backed out :(

Some hard lessons were learned. The biggest lesson for me concerns how well we playtested the game. Looking at the original playtester list, it's a short list. You may recall from a previous blog post that our ability to test was severely hampered by technical limitations. Add to that, a lot of people on this list are objectively really achieved players. We're talking power ranked in Smash Bros, regular tournament goers, and people who've played and bested every Souls game. And as the maker of the game, I am most blind to the game's challenges.

Now, I'm definitely more of the opinion that you prioritize PC development first. I still have some reservations about some stages of PC development. But if you do PC/Steam first, you have the great benefit of being able to do Early Access, which gives you access to a greater testing pool. I now view it as an invaluable part of the equation. If we had been able to do Early Access for 1 or 2 months before release, we probably could have ironed out most of the game's difficulty and balance problems. Hard lessons, indeed.

There were a lot of other notable events that occurred over the past 2 months - the travails of press outreach, realizing my own limits as a developer, feeling defeated and getting back up again, etc. There's too much stuff to chronicle or go into detail. But it wasn't all bad.

Some good things did happen...

We got a publisher to publish for Japan! It came as a huge relief, because clearly, we don't know what the heck we're doing.

The publisher has been an invaluable source of information and feedback. They've recommended some changes to the game to improve user experience. Some of these changes I was hesitant to do at first because they concerned systems I thought integral to the identity of the game. But after trying it, I have to admit, they're good changes.

So a Japanese version of the game was moving ahead. And it looked like that'd be it. I wasn't planning to move forward with any other language translations due to the game's low sales and our funds being depleted. 

But, I was approached by a translator who urged me to move ahead with translations. He told me he was willing to work for only a small price initially and then be paid the rest after from a percentage of the game's sales until the cost of the translation was paid in full.

I was surprised translators were willing to work under such a model since it's entirely likely the game's current low sales trajectory would continue and they wouldn't earn back the full cost of translation. But I was also flattered they were willing to take a risk with me. After that, I approached some others with the same hypothetical deal, and long story short, we're now moving forward with French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian translations. As for why these languages in particular, they were languages for whom I had contacts (because they reached out to me at some point in the past). And also because they were deemed more likely to be profitable based on their home country's gaming market/buying habits. I'd be personally happy to have my native language be represented, but it's not expected to be a profitable territory. But if the game does better in the future, it may justify the costs of translation. There could be a chance!

The plan right now is to get the game supporting these first round of languages and then to patch that into the Switch version as well as launch the PC version with these languages - all in December. A lot of things need to align for this to occur, so a delay isn't out of the question. It'll be busy... I'll update the blog again in latter half of December, probably near the game's PC launch date... OR to announce a delay. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Fan Support

While the past two months have been grueling, one good thing remains constant - fan art! Thank you everyone who submitted. It means a lot to me and the team!

Big thanks to Pimez who's taken on watching over the reddit community as moderator. He also combs the other communities and makes sure I see every new art piece. Despite juggling his own life and all these tasks, he still found some time to draw.

Pimez's piece reminds us that just because the new game's out doesn't mean we can't still celebrate the original flash game. The jail dog is a dog found only in jail and only in the flash game. I imagine Gail is just tossing a stick, and they're playing fetch.

A new artist to this scene æv draws both the Phoenix logo AND a super cute picture of Gail playing the flute. So precious, you want to pinch her cheek. Even the Sand Drake is enthralled!

Another new artist, beet4ppy arrives on the scene with two pictures! One features a no-nonsense battle-hardened Gail looking stoic and tough! Kinda reminds me of Vinland Saga actually. The other, a more cheerful group composition - I must say I'm a big fan of Fran's classic anime-style eye!

A returning artist, Cody G, returns with a picture depicting the tribulations of cooking. Gotta love Gail's frantic expression! I've heard the complaints, which is why we've added an option to slow the cooking mini-game down. An improved button font is also on the way.

Gamesing with two undertale x phoenotopia crossovers. Thomas being a robot builder makes sense taking a role similar to Alphys. But why is Alex dressed like a clown? Perhaps there is a hidden meaning here... 

A new artist, Warotar, draws both a pooki wearing Gail's clothes and Gail wearing pooki clothes. Awww. The pooki is a bit scary - it kinda reminds me of a tragic event in a certain anime. But the Gail is adorable!

POL#5655 submitted this one to KM's discord which made its way to me. Here, a stylized Gail appears unnerved by the dark red eyes stalking her in the background. Are they bats or something more sinister?

A new artist, MilesCPW, arrives on the scene with three rare well-vectorized arts! Love it! One scene depicts Gail balancing a bomb on her head - that's a speedrunning trick I only learned about recently after someone emailed me a video O_O

The other drawing gives us new insight into Katash - he could actually look cute if he wasn't trying to kill you.

And the bees... Okay, this one got a chuckle from me :D

A returning artist roccy_chair draws this heart-warming scene from the beginning of the new game. Aww. Mika doesn't get much screen time for story reasons, so it's nice to see her represented.

UnrealWorld_32 returns with another drawing of Gail in Panselo, this time capturing a more idyllic time. I like the tranquil nature of this piece. And Gail does in fact play the guitar, denoted by the guitar in her room.

Returning artist shafiyahh draws a nice portrait of Prince Leo - looking regal and princely. I like the storybook art style of this piece. It made me immediately think of "the Little Prince" - one of my favorite books actually!

Negativus Core returns with a beautiful group composition of Gail and the gang - flying from a Switch shaped window - totally sensible considering the game is only Switch right now. As usual, I'm impressed by Negativus Core's use of challenging angles to frame a more dynamic shot of the characters. Great job!

And it wasn't only artists bearing the banner. I'd like to give a big shoutout to everyone in all the game's little communities (from the reddit to the discords to this tumblr). I've seen this community help newcomers with gameplay and walkthrough advice, discussions, updating the wiki, and so on. It does bring a smile to my face. Thank you everyone!