#series entertainment

[storyofmychoices]

PB shared the announcement on their blog.

I googled "Series Entertainment" and found article about this news and the article starts with:

Series Entertainment – itself a game development company that "pioneer[s] the use of generative AI to transform imaginative ideas into unforgettable gaming experiences" – says the acquisition "signifies Series' strategy to build out its studio system to deliver a diverse catalog of different genres that leverage its world class development technology, the Rho Engine", the world’s first "AI-native, multimodal full-stack game creation platform". [X]

And here is another article

Series Entertainment, a fast-growing AI game development company, has acquired interactive fiction mobile game studio Pixelberry.

From the companies website...

So basically we told Choices we didn't want AI and they sold the company to an AI entertainment company 🤦‍♀️

[vivalgi]

I found a short article with an additional 10-min video podcast on the recent PB acquisition by Series AI Entertainment. It discusses a little about what led to it and what could be the implications of AI driven content creation. One of the guys in the video is an industry insider who has deeper knowledge about PB. In the video they also provide some recent revenue and download estimates from Sensor Tower, which is otherwise paid content. One thing that caught my attention was that near the end of 2023 downloads suddenly spiked and then plummeted. If you ask me then it coincides with Blades 2 reaching the end of its weekly releases. It was the book that people had been eagerly waiting for 3 years and also the most successful book of 2023, according to its lead writer. Kinda looks like many people said their final goodbyes to Choices with that book. Many of you did promise to wait for Blades 2 to come out before uninstalling the game due to the declining quality of content in recent times. Overall, if you look at the past 12 months then according to Sensor Tower the revenue has slowly decreased around 30% while downloads have dropped nearly 90%!

The guys in the video told it's mostly the long time players still helping to pay the bills. This is why I find it strange that PB has been trying to attract new players from Chapters with cheap controversial sm*t, instead of focusing on its core player base and what made the game so popular in the first place. It's so easy to lose valuable customers but near impossible to get them back later.

All in all, no matter what we think about the morality of using AI in creative works, the fact is that PB's new sugar daddy is its final straw. If that doesn't work out then it's game over. Only hope is that PB will make Choices available on Steam should the worst case scenario happen.

[tyrilstarfury]

It's over boys, the end of an era... We had a good run.

[cozylittleartblog]

"content creator" is a corporate word.

we are artists.

[scottie-draws-sometimes]

Fun little redraw of this meme by @fish-cakez because it made me laugh so much, I can't stop thinking about it

Oh, and I'm playing around with digital art now (yippeeee)

[somewhereincairparavel]

credits to @aroaceleovaldez for generously revealing the font name i had so much fun w this (the fonts called 'centaur')

[popculturebaby]

Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth for Entertainment Weekly, 1999

[dandelionjack]

> new series release (space babies) coincided with the uk seeing the northern lights for the first time in years

> the devil’s chord coincided with paul mccartney’s long-missing hofner bass guitar being found, by a doctor who fan no less

> boom coincided with an actual meteor crash

> 73 yards is coinciding with a rise in bizarre supposedly-occult animal sacrifice rituals in britain (the folk horror part) and rishi sunak finally calling a general election (the political drama part)

> hypothesis: russell t davies has somehow managed to tune in to the universe’s divine frequency ??

> conclusion: messing with the forces of fate, cause&effect and coincidence, even if it’s for the pop culture franchise you’re showrunning, actually turns it into an egregore, but only if it’s been going for long enough (sixty fucking years to the dot) and watched by enough people (tens of millions). which it has

> ergo, postscriptum: television magick is real and is being unintentionally performed by the creators + audience of the world’s silliest science fiction show

> /jk. unless?

[demifiendrsa]

The Outer Worlds 2: First Gameplay Trailer

The Outer Worlds 2 will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) in 2025. It will also be available via Game Pass. The PlayStation 5 version is newly announced.

Latest details

The call to go beyond the stars is here once again, and it’s bigger, bolder, and more unpredictable than ever. We just revealed a first gameplay trailer for The Outer Worlds 2 during The Game Awards 2024, promising a fresh adventure in a brand-new colony next year. No really, we know we’re not supposed to promise things in marketing, but the setting is completely new, so this is all factual. Just don’t break the colony again. We’re looking at each of you who sent the Hope into the sun in the last game.

In true Obsidian Entertainment fashion, you carve your path through Arcadia, a colony teeming with factions, intrigue, and chaos. It’s also home of skip drive technology and where the fate of the entire colony – and the galaxy – rests. As a daring, undeniably good-looking, and questionably competent Earth Directorate agent, you’re tasked with uncovering the source of devastating rifts threatening the entire galaxy. Talk about stakes (not to be confused with raptidon steaks, those are very different)! The choice of how to deal with the rifts is up to you. “Your worlds, your way,” as we say at Obsidian.

Are the rifts the only thing threatening Arcadia? Of course not! That would be too easy. A factional war between the “benevolent rulers” known as the Protectorate, a rebellious scientific religious order, and a corporate mega power has the colony torn apart. Each is trying to close or control the rifts for their own good/monetarily profitable needs. Church, state, and capitalism! Who will win?! Well, that’s really up to you. This is your game. We’ve said the choices were yours the whole time. See that Obsidian motto above? Yeah, you get it.

We’ve said choice a few times already, but guess what? This is an RPG so it’s going to come up a few more times. When it comes to crafting your commander, it is full-on “RPG with RPG elements” time from ability points to skill checks in conversations, to even how flawed you want to be because, let’s admit it, no one is perfect. Except those who think they are. Look at you go. Being perfect.

How you build your commander and chart your way through the narrative is uniquely yours as you plunge into this player-driven story. Whether you’re a disciple of diplomacy, a smart strategist, a crusader of chaos, or defiantly different (so we can keep the alliterations), the choice – you guessed it—is yours. Oh, and with this being The Outer Worlds, yes, you can dumb!

While The Outer Worlds 2 is a single-player RPG, you won’t be alone! Not virtually anyway. Enlist a crew of companions to help you achieve your goals. Nothing says “middle management” more than sending people out to fight your fights for you, then having them judge everything you do with a visual reminder of how much they loved or hated it. Maybe you’ll help them fulfill their dreams or goals along the way. Clearly you care enough about the people working with you to see their dreams realized… right?

As excitement grows for the upcoming 2025 launch, now is the perfect time to revisit The Outer Worlds and relive the adventure that started it all. Whether you’re a seasoned spacer or are setting foot in Halcyon for the first time, there’s no better moment to prepare for the next chapter. The Outer Worlds is available for purchase on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. You also can jump in today if you’re a Game Pass member.

On top of that, the universe is expanding beyond the game! The Outer Worlds 2 will be featured in the upcoming Secret Level anthology series, streaming on Prime Video. Tune in on December 17 for a short story that takes place between The Outer Worlds and The Outer Worlds 2. While you may have thought that was a lot of shilling, the Secret Level episode is legitimately good, and if the Board were around, they’d tell you it was mandatory viewing.

Wishlist the game today on Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox app on Windows PC, and Steam, and stay tuned for more updates on The Outer Worlds 2—we can’t wait to share what’s next with you. The galaxy is yours to explore; the only question is, how will you shape it?

[titfairy]

[bean-there-done-that]

Another fusion, this time with our favourite divorcees turned besties!

[dustykneed]

so jim got bit by a space mushroom that takes away his impulse control... welcome to daycare on the bridge with his xo and cmo

obviously the salad cat meme is still going strong in the 23rd century because these guys reenact it on a daily basis lmaoo

prompt fill for @mcspirkevents' mcspirk bingo prompt "mask off" 🩵💙💛

[neonnix]

two idiots and their babysitter

(click image for higher quality - reference under the cut)

[salemoleander]

Chaos vs. Patronage: How Life Series winners grapple with skill disparity

As the Life Series has gone on and matured into more noticeable patterns, some winners have pivoted to a mentorship/support role to their chosen 'champion'/ a favored player.

Scott spent Limited Life as a duo with Martyn, and then joined a high-skill group in Secret Life that ultimately saw him sacrifice himself trying to get Gem the win. Pearl spent Secret Life with her stated goal being one of her teammates winning, pivoting to support Scar at the end when they'd died. Now in Wild Life, she has outright stated her intent to support Impulse to get the win. (Scar supporting Jimmy in Wild Life may also fit this pattern; we'll get to that.)

In contrast, winners Grian and Martyn² are not sticking to that single-minded attempt to get a player to win, whatever it takes. They will express support for teammates winning, but generally do not take actions that would worsen their own chances of winning/surviving to help a teammate. They aren't playing "meta", which here means putting all their resources into one person.

These two categories of behavior ultimately reflect the Winners' approaches to answering the question of how to balance disparate skill levels in the series cast. (Second half of writing + footnotes under cut.)

Grian has spent game after game altering mechanics & playing with randomization to try to level the playing field without directly intervening against specific players.³ Martyn is invested enough in the narrative/story that making less-than-optimal decisions isn't hard for him or atypical (this is the player who beelines for the Nether every single season).

It seems like Scott and Pearl realized they're very strong players and are interested in nerfing themselves more actively... but they still don't want to throw the match. The compromise there is to put their effort & skill towards helping another player achieve victory.

A case could be argued that Scar is moreso the former group by nature (he's similar to Martyn in his penchant for making entertainingly bad decisions that render nerfing unecessary). However, after witnessing multiple seasons of Scott & Pearl acting as mentors, seeing them compete head-to-head in the game he ultimately won, mentorship now seems like a normalized route to take once you're a winner.⁴

¹ Unsure if BigB in LimL counts? They were a duo, but Scott fomenting Martyn's win seems to be what kicked off Pearl's dedication to support another player.

² Cleo is a winner but they do not fit this analysis for a variety of reasons I don't want to get into. So I won't, bc this is a tumblr post & not an academic paper. Ignore that there are footnotes and an academic-ass title

³ Grian seeing Scott win: "Oh no I've created an unbalanced game. Ok lets randomly assign players together to try to balance things... why has RNG betrayed me?!" RNG does not stop betraying him btw. I have another post in draft about this but it's kind of nuts how dedicated Grian is to Not Rigging The Game Even A Little.

⁴ Incidentally imo this is what will force Grian in the next few games to either end the series, create dual winners/some other atypical win structure, or bust his ass trying to get a second win & break that taboo. Based on his game design so far, he can put up with a bit of interference, but ultimately will not abide "we all do schoolyard tradesies on who gets to win until everyone gets one".

[b4kuch1n]

polymer broadcast signal hijack

[tubi]

4 million people visit Old Faithful every year. 75 million monthly watch Tubi every month. Tubi is more popular than Old Faithful.