#this is my first time ever playing on keyboard and a shooter

[himewonu]

HEART LAKE ౨ৎ hong joshua

౨ৎ you never thought joshua was the type to play video games—until you caught him playing your favourite game at 2 in the morning.

starring bf! joshua x gn! reader genre fluff, humour, established relationship contains guns (literally a video game), they play fortnite together word count 0.6k

from rhin, the title is from fortnite (chapter 2 i think idk i need to google it). anyways i hope you'll like this ame thanks for the req! i fear i can only write abt fortnite if someone asks to write abt a video game... so i hope u aren't tired of my fn obsession guys!!!

when joshua first met you, you mentioned you were fond of video games. he thought you played simple, cozy games like the sims or animal crossing, but you never corrected him.

he wasn’t wrong, though. you do play those games, but recently he found out you’re more into shooter games. it was a bit shocking to find out you like violent games, but he was not one to judge.

the problem is, joshua never plays video games as much as you play. he’s only ever played classic arcade games like tetris and pac man, but he’s never even heard what a fortnite is or what overwatch is even about.

you love joshua regardless of whether he plays games or not. sometimes when he’s at your place, you two would be close together in front of your tv, playing mario kart, hands tangled with each other’s against the controllers.

one of those game date nights happened to be a fortnite run. again, joshua has never heard of a game named after fourteen days. the first round he played with you, he was lost at first but slowly adapted to it. after the second round, he realized that he enjoys this game.

the only problem with this game is that he is absolutely trash at it. no matter what he does in the game, someone will still find a way to eliminate him. even in 1v1s with you, you manage to beat his ass every time before he can even see your avatar in the game.

joshua really likes this game, and he really likes playing it with you, but sometimes it can get insufferable when you win all the time. so every time he sleeps over, he stays with you in bed until you fall asleep. he��ll wait for a few minutes, then he’ll leave you to log onto your computer.

every night, he practices on fortnite until two in the morning. whether it’s aiming or building, he’ll make sure to master everything you do to him in the game. he’s been doing this routine for literally a fortnight—two weeks and three days to be exact.

you were never aware of this until you woke up one night because the blanket was pushed to you. you realised your boyfriend wasn’t next to you, so you waited for a few minutes, assuming he went to the bathroom. you didn’t sleep for thirty minutes, hoping joshua would come back and cuddle with you, but he never entered the room.

you began to hear faint keyboard typing, fast ones. it was coming from the living room, where your computer is. you got up and wondered, could it be joshua? there was no way; he doesn’t play games like that. as you leave your room, you notice the living room has a bright spot on the wall.

“baby?” you call out, walking closer. you stop in your tracks as you see joshua sitting in front of your computer, one hand on the keyboard and the other one tipping his (your) headphones down. he stares at you like a deer caught in headlights.

you glance at the screen; a big ‘VICTORY ROYALE’ pops up. “no way! did you actually get a victory royale?” you freak out as you come close to joshua, looking closer at the monitor.

“yeah,” he sheepishly replies, “i’ve been trying to get this for a while.”

“why?”

“well, you keep winning every time we 1v1, so i thought if i practice every day, i’ll beat you in a match.”

you stifle a laugh and lean on him. “shua you’re so cute, you know that? we can play tomorrow, but let’s go back to bed now.”

“whatever you say, sweetheart.” he presses a kiss on your forehead and turns off your computer.

svt masterlist .ᐟ

[lcvemiyuki]

“when they get jealous” | hq

𓂃𓂃𓂃𓊝 ࿐𓂃𓂃𓂃

content: haikyuu boys x reader, when they get jealous over someone else

warnings: disgustingly cute, kenma x reader + tsukishima x reader are established relationships, fem!reader, osamu x reader (y/n is perceived as shorter than osamu)

characters: kenma, tsukishima, osamu

a/n: more! bc these also have been stuck in my head... (not proofread sorry!)

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Kozume Kenma

'he would get distracted to the point of jeopardizing a game'

It was a weekend afternoon, and Kenma had carved out some precious time to play solos in the gaming room. His specialty was first-person shooter games, and he stayed absolutely silent to focus; a pin drop could be heard from how quiet it was. Only the sounds of his game controller clicking resonated softly in the soundproof room.

You two shared the room, with back-to-back monitors and a personalized setup on each side. Occasionally, you would enter and play a game or two, leaving when you knew he had a stream scheduled.

Today was one of those quiet days, with Kenma fully immersed in his game. His noise-canceling headphones ensured nothing but the game’s audio reached his ears.

You entered the room, aware of his headphones, and left rabbit-cut apple slices next to his keyboard. The colors from his monitor illuminated the slices, casting a soft glow on them as his slender fingers worked like a well-oiled machine.

As you moved, your figure momentarily blocked his sight, and he glimpsed you holding a phone to your ear, a smile plastered on your face as you talked. Kenma's eyes lingered on you for a few seconds before his monitor demanded his attention again. Usually, you would make some sort of light contact to remind him you were there, a gentle touch or a pat on the shoulder.

But this time, you didn’t.

Instead, you turned to your side and plopped down on the plush chair, fully engrossed in your conversation. Kenma wasn't overly nosy, but he couldn’t help but peek out from the side of his monitor to observe you.

‘Who has your attention?’ he wondered.

Knowing he couldn't keep glancing your way without compromising his game, Kenma adjusted his headphones so that only one side covered his ear, leaving the other exposed to the outside world.

Kenma's focus split in half; he tried to concentrate on his game, yet every time he heard your wholehearted laugh, his eyes darted to you instantly. Your joy was infectious, and it pulled at his curiosity with an unfamiliar force.

“Tomorrow? Yeah, that sounds great!” Your voice rang out, clear and cheerful. Kenma's brows furrowed as he strained to make out more of your conversation. His concentration slowly dissipated, the multiple noises becoming a chaotic blend in his mind.

“I can’t wait to see you!” Your exclamation, followed by another giggle, broke his focus entirely. He turned his head fully for just two seconds, enough time for his character on screen to be targeted and shot.

The screen flashed red with ‘GAME OVER’ in bold letters.

Kenma's eyes did a double take as the realization hit—he had gotten distracted a bit too long.

He never lost a game—ever.

He yanked the headphones off, letting them hang around his neck as he leaned back in his chair. A long sigh heaved out, his worn-out hands finding their way behind his head as his legs spread apart for a more comfortable position.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, bro. Tell Mom I can’t wait to see you guys!” Now free from his game’s immersive audio, Kenma heard you loud and clear. His eyes squeezed shut, feeling a twinge of annoyance at himself for getting so distracted.

That really cost him a game—yet he couldn't help but feel his heart rate slow down after realizing you were just talking to your brother.

Lost in his thoughts, Kenma didn’t hear you approach until he felt the soft, slightly wet touch of your lips pecking his. His eyes slowly fluttered open to find you staring down at him with a confused look.

“You lost, Kozu?” Your eyes now drifted to his monitor.

He could only softly scoff at himself, a mix of embarrassment and amusement in his tone. “Yeah, I guess I did.” His lips pursed together, noting the twinge of sweetness they tasted.

He would never tell you the real reason, though.

𓇼𓆉𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 𓆉𓇼

Kei Tsukishima

'his smile looks indifferent, yet his eyes shot daggers'

The sound of someone’s cough echoed through the museum as you and Tsukishima passed through another grand exhibit. The exhibits grew slightly crowded at times, prompting you to lightly grasp the edge of his coat, careful not to fully grab him. His strides were slightly faster than yours granted his slight eagerness. Tsukishima turned his head, peering down at your hand clutching his clothes.

“Is this your way of trying to keep up?” His light eyebrows raised slightly in amusement before he reached back, taking hold of your hand to guide you instead.

“Excuse me!” a slightly loud voice echoed in the room, causing you to close your mouth before you could respond. You turned to face the source of the shout, only to find a young man staring right at you.

Tsukishima halted with you, turning his head around with a hint of annoyance at whoever was shouting.

“Do people not know when to lower their voices?” he muttered, his voice laced with irritation. As he was about to finish his sentence, he noticed the man making his way toward you specifically. Tsukishima didn’t miss the way the man’s eyes were solely focused on you.

Turning his attention to you, Tsukishima also noticed how your squinting eyes suddenly morphed into one of pure surprise.

“Y/N? Is that really you!?” the man exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.

As the man launched into an animated recount of his recent adventures, Tsukishima stood by, feeling a pang of irritation.

Soon enough, a few others caught up to your classmate. Tsukishima couldn't miss the way it took them a few seconds to avert their eyes or the eager way they held out their hands to shake yours.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, ‘How shameless.’

“This is my—” you began to introduce Tsukki, but he beat you to it, turning fully to face the group. “I’m the boyfriend.” His smile was anything but genuine.

His tone might have been friendly, but you could tell Tsukki was irritated.

Quickly realizing he might be upset about the abrupt interruption of your date, you hastily said your goodbyes to your old high school friend.

“Aw, c’mon Y/N, how about a reunion selfie before we let you go?” your old classmate nudged, pointing at the phone he was holding.

You awkwardly laughed, trying to think of a way to politely decline. But before you could say no, you felt a gentle but firm pressure on the small of your back, guiding you forward. You turned to see Tsukishima's long fingers splayed out against your back, his touch insistent. The action caused you to straighten up in response, feeling the solid reassurance of his hand.

You quickly took the selfie with your old classmate, offering a polite smile for the camera. Before you could say another brief goodbye, you noticed the three guys in the back all staring in your direction, only to quickly avert their gaze to some random object in the building.

Curious about what had caught their attention, you turned your head to follow their line of sight. Your heart began to race as you saw the reason for their sudden shift in focus.

Tsukishima, now several meters away, was turned slightly to the side, but his eyes were locked onto the guy next to you. His usual could-care-less demeanor was replaced with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. Tsukishima's glare was menacing as if silently placing a bounty on his head. His hands were comfortably placed in his pockets; his black glasses failed to mask the daggers he shot their way.

There was no mistaking it—he was jealous, and not just mildly so.

You quickly excused yourself, murmuring a final goodbye to your old classmate. You made your way over to Tsukishima, your steps quickening with each passing second.

As you reached him, you hesitated for a moment before gently placing a hand on his arm. His eyes flicked to yours, then quickly shifted away, focusing on anything but you.

“Tsukki,” you said softly, “Sorry that took so long.”

“Whatever,” he muttered, his tone begrudgingly agreeing.

“Were their stares bothering you?” you asked, trying to keep your tone light.

Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“They were just...annoying,” he said, his voice clipped. “Like, read the room.”

A mischievous smirk played on your face as you interlocked your hand with his. “Is that why you were death-staring them like they were your sworn enemies?”

“Obviously. Anyone would with how noisy they were,” he replied, trying to sound indifferent.

He would never admit to it, but you could read him all too well.

𓇼𓆉𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 𓆉𓇼

Miya Osamu

'wouldn't care if a purchase or two gets put on the line'

One day, Atsumu, his doting twin brother, waltzes into the semi-busy shop with open arms.

“Take a whiff, boys—the infamous Miya blood mixes with success,” he says smugly.

Osamu doesn't even welcome them once he sees who it is—he simply deadpans and shoves the curtains to go in the back.

With a bright smile that reaches your eyes, you quickly greet the customers. The two unfamiliar gentlemen behind Atsumu had a muscular and tall build—likely hungry athletes in need of rewarding food.

‘Time to sell the whole shop,’ you think with determination.

Although you weren’t an official employee at Onigiri Miya, you wanted to help Osamu as much as you could. That included selling his delicious food to hungry customers.

You devise a quick game plan and target the first tall guy, hastily approaching him. His eyebrows are furrowed slightly as he examines the menu, trying to decide what to eat.

“Hi there! If you’re looking for something delicious, you can’t go wrong with our classic tuna mayo onigiri,” you suggest cheerfully, your enthusiasm catching his attention.

The tall guy’s face lights up at your recommendation. “That sounds perfect, thanks!” he says, his serious expression softening.

Just as you’re about to show him another flavor, Osamu suddenly walks directly between you and the customer, almost bumping into you. “You should try the natto,” he says, grabbing a natto onigiri from the display, his tone a bit sharper than usual.

The customer looks a bit taken aback, clearly put off by the sudden change. “Uh, I’m not sure about natto…” he says hesitantly.

You frown slightly, trying to salvage the situation. “Well, we have plenty of other options too—how about the umeboshi?” you suggest, stepping around Osamu to point at another onigiri.

Osamu, however, doesn’t move, effectively blocking your view. “Natto’s a specialty here. You should give it a shot,” he insists, practically shoving the onigiri into the customer’s hand, his eyes darting briefly to you and then back to the customer.

The customer looks uncomfortable, but Atsumu, ever the opportunist, steps in with a grin. “Look at ya, ‘Samu. Can’t stand to see Y/N sellin’ your onigiri to my pal, huh?” he teases, clearly enjoying the situation.

Osamu’s scowl deepens as he grabs an onigiri from the counter. “Shut up, ‘Tsumu,” he mutters before stuffing the onigiri into his brother’s mouth, effectively muffling his cackle.

Atsumu’s eyes widen in surprise, slightly coughing from practically choking on a rice ball.

Trying to pretend the twins weren’t going at it, mouthing silent threats to each other on each side of you two, you try to make a pitch once again.

“I hope you try out all, but it’s up to you!” you quickly put all three into the man’s hands and in doing so, your hand encloses them and gives it a slight pat.

The shuffling stops as you feel two holes being burned into the back of your head.

You could hear a soft chuckle as Osamu's large hands suddenly and slightly encircled your neck from behind. His weight leaned lightly against you as he crouched down a bit to join the conversation.

"Y/N's putting in quite the effort to sell you these, man. I'd say take them and enjoy," he remarked, his face close enough to yours that you could almost feel his breath against your ear.

With a subtle maneuver, you sidestep out of his grasp and guide the customer towards the register; the mess the very owner put you through just to sell these damn onigiris. You mentally roll your eyes as Atsumu continues to tease Osamu in the background.

As soon as the trio of athletes bid the shop goodbye, the door chiming softly behind them, your attention soon fell on Osamu.

You could feel a slight tension in the atmosphere, the remnants of the earlier exchange still hanging in the air. Osamu stood behind the counter, his back turned to you as he methodically rearranged the onigiri displays. His movements were precise, almost mechanical as if he were trying to distract himself from the task at hand.

"Why the face, Y/N?" Osamu feigned confusion as he went around the stalls to continue his organizing.

You stood by the register with your arms crossed, eyebrows raised in amused disbelief. "Oh, really," you began, "I mean, I get Atsumu—you guys always go at it—but that guy was just like any other customer, 'Samu."

Osamu paused in his task, his expression shifting into a thoughtful gaze as if pondering something. His fingers tapped absentmindedly on the counter before he finally met your gaze. "Yeah, but there's always something more to it," he said cryptically, a faint smile playing on his lips.

You tilted your head, intrigued by his response. "More to what?"

He chuckled softly, a glint of something indescribable in his eyes. "More to everything," he replied enigmatically, leaving you with a curious smile as he continued to work around the shop. His words lingered in the air.

𓇼𓆉𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 𓆉𓇼

want more?

⤷ masterlist.

[smuthospital]

⭐️Yandere Kylar x Reader⭐️

Premise: You're a streamer, and your biggest fan really really likes you

Warning: Non-con, kidnapping, gn reader

Minors DNI

Bright lights flash in your eyes, your fingers rapidly bashing buttons on your keyboard, your other hand furiously clicking your mouse. You whine as your character suddenly falls to the ground, dead.

"Ok, guys! Ok, I get it! I know I'm not that good at this game! No need to tease me!" You laugh. Inside, you're a bit peeved. These stinky bastards aren't here for your gameplay so they better shut up. Shut up and enjoy their eye candy. You're currently streaming an online first-person shooter. You made your little hobby into a little side hustle not too long ago. Guys love watching hot people play games and it's proven to be profitable. "I'm cute? Well thank you, Mr. Husband!" This guy is a regular. Gotta give him those shout-outs he practically pays for.

As much as it hurts to deal with these weirdos, It helps with expenses. You've even seen Robins username pop in and out quickly, probably hoping you didn't see. At first, you were uncomfortable with acting all sweet for your audience, but you warmed up to the idea when it started staving off your bastard Landlord at the orphanage you live in, Bailey. You play games dressed sexy, say sweet dumb things and the money comes pouring in.

These poor, lonely guys send you money in hopes you'll give them a crumb of attention, and you do. Sometimes, you say their names. You don't exactly care that you're taking their money at all. It's a gift! It's not like you forced them to give you money, nor did you even ask. They just want a chance to get in your pants and you're not gonna stop them from dreaming. You can't count the number of times people in the chat have asked if you have an onlyfans.

You'd never, of course, date one of these pigs. You imagine your viewers are stinky, slimy, greasy and would cum in their pants at just seeing you in person. Their whole body is probably sticky to the touch and shower maybe once a month they probably have piss filled mountain dew bottles on the floor next to their pc and shit stains on their seat. You're pretty sure a few guys in the comments are jerking off as you stream this very second.

A few times, you've received ominous messages in the comments from different users, almost threatening you for some ridiculous problem they have with you. How you play, what you're wearing, or just your face, so you make sure to always hide your location and are very vague about your personal life. You're used to them being weird, saying things about what they'd do to you if they were alone with yo- Just have to learn to ignore it. You calm yourself down.

"Well, that's enough for today, I'm getting sleepy! It was nice playing with you today. I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight, love you!" You blow a kiss at the camera. You see people commenting their 'i love you too's and whining about how you could stay a bit longer' in the chat before you disconnect. You made $540 from that two-hour stream. You received most of it from the same person. Mr.Husband. Not one minute after closing the stream, you get a message. You thought you disabled direct messages? You notice that it's to your personal account that's open on another tab from an unnamed account. No bio, no profile picture.

New user: Hey

New user: Do you want to meet up sometime? For coffee?

You: Who's this?

New user: I'm Kylar. You can get to know me when we get coffee.

You: Uh no? How the fuck do you know me?

New user: I love your streams, pretty. Drop the fucking attitude before you piss me off. I knew you'd be more of a bitch off-camera. You just look too good to be good hearted. You have to be taught obedience. You're lucky I care about you so much.

You: Keep your tiny prick away from me. I never want to see you in my presence. Disgusting. Ugly pig. Do me a favor and never ever leave your dirty cave. Go fuck yourself

New user: Wanna watch?

*New user has now been blocked*

You stand up and walk away from your computer. how the fuck did he find your actual account? You don't even have your real name anywhere. You start to undress, not noticing your computer's camera has flicked on again.

In a dark room, a man fists his massive cock slowly, eyes trailing up and down his obsession through the screen. His mind is filled with all the things he wants to do to a little cock tease like you. Ruin you, break you, crush you under his weight, teach you a lesson for whoring yourself out. A cute treat like you should have better manners "Pig...tiny prick. Ah, (y/n) I can't let you just say those things to your husband." he watches as you slide your underwear down, eyes zeroing in on the crevice between your thighs as you bend over. He shudders as hot baby batter coats his chest and thighs, continuing to roll down his cock in fat globs.

Two days later, you're walking back home from a late shift at the cafe. You plan to stream when you get home.

Something is watching you.

Cold sweat dribbles down the back of your neck. You shiver, the cold night air doing nothing to calm you. You can feel eyes drilling holes into your back. You picked up your pace, your eyes darting all around. Who is it? What do they want? You think you can hear footsteps not far away. They're getting closer. You break into a sprint and make it to Danube street before you're tackled to the ground. All air is pushed from your lungs, depleting you of oxygen. You do your best to fight against your unseen attacker, but they're far too strong. You try to scream, but only a wheeze comes out. The man roughly picks you up like a sack of potatoes under his arm and carries you into a mansion nearby.

He walked down a flight of stairs and threw you to the ground. You tried to scramble away, but he grabs your ankle and drags you back to him. You get a look at his face in the dim light. He's handsome, but his expression strikes fear in your heart. Fury is the only word you can think of to describe it. You scream and flail your limbs wildly, trying to get him the fuck off of you. You hear a crack and before you realize what happened, your cheek is burning. "Shut." Smack "The." Smack "Fuck." Smack "Up." He's seething by the end. Your head was knocked back into the ground by the last hit. A dribble of blood runs down your nose, your cheeks completely red and moderately swollen. You're no longer trying to fight him, head far too foggy to do anything but lay there in pain.

"I'm sorry, baby." He huffs, calming down a bit. "Don't fight me and that won't have to happen again." He wiped at the blood on your face with his thumb, cradling your cheek. A blush creeps over his face along with a deranged smile as he stares down at you with his unblinking eyes. "You're just so perfect. Everything." You feel a bulge forming atop you where he's straddled. He pants heavily as he looks you up and down. Hot tears slip down your swollen cheeks at the realization that you can't get yourself out of this one.

You lie completely still as he palms his crotch in front of you. "I...I'm kylar...you said I have a small prick, (Y/n)... That wasn't very nice. You should say things like that to your husband." You stare at him in awe...it's..the guy from the chat. did he find you? He's crazy. He's insane. He's gonna kill you. Your chest heaves up and down uncontrollably. You feel blood rushing to your ears, feeling the most fear you've ever felt in your entire life. He takes notice of your panic attack and tries to calm you. "H-hey! Shhh, it's ok, just breathe!" You don't hear a word he's saying and thrash wildly again. Your legs kick underneath him, but his body doesn't budge an inch.

You freeze when you feel his lips smash onto yours. He grabs your wrists in one hand above your head, effectively immobilizing you. It feels like he's trying to eat you, no longer caring about your little tantrum. "Just stay still." He mutters as his large hands roam up and down your body like he's waited his life for this moment. You feel his ever growing bulge rub against your stomach. He grabs your hands before you could try to fight him again.

"...You know...I've been giving you my good money, (Y/n). All because I knew how hard it was to live on your own. But now you're here with me. You'll be my personal house whore." You feel his breath hit your cheek. "Please...let me go. I didn't do anything to you!" You're full on sobbing at this point and to your horror, you feel his cock twitch against you.

"Oh fuck! Keep crying for me like that, baby." He's clawing your pants. Your eyes dart around the room for anything that can help you, but your blood runs cold when you just see hundreds of photos of you plastered all over his walls, some even on his ceiling. You hear a loud tear. This animal ripped your pants and underwear in the process of ridding them from your body.

You're a shaking mess as he cups your sex in his hand. "K-Kylar, please!" You cry, trying to appeal to his humanity. He groans, a little wet spot of pre cum appears on his crotch. "Say my name again." He demanded. His fingers rim around your hole, threatening to dive in. You quiver at the feeling. He unzipped his pants and you feel something impossibly large, heavy and hot slam onto your stomach with a thud.

He releases you momentarily and moves himself lower on your body, his head between your legs. His arms circle around your thighs in a vice grip. He takes a strong whiff and lets out a moan. You feel his tongue slide up and down your sex as his fingers plat around with your hole before dipping half a finger in. You're too dry, it hurts! You whine and struggle, uncomfortable. His finger dips all the way in, uncaring for your pleasure. You scream as he continues to thrust his finger inside you as his mouth engulfs your sex. He removes his finger and lifts himself off you. You sigh in relief.

That relief dies as you feel his meaty cock push at your hole. He begins to push in, but your hole resists. It's too big. He lets out a sound of annoyance before spitting on his hand and rubbing the liquid up and down his cock. It does little to help aid in his entrance. "This may hurt a bit…a lot actually." He wicked grin stretches across his face before he rears his hips back and forces his cock through. You let out a blood curdling scream he rips through your insides. He's only halfway in, your walls desperately trying to push him back out. He holds onto your waist and pulls you into him, bottoming out. You feel like you're bleeding, but you're too afraid to look down.

You can hardly breathe. His cock feels like it's in your stomach. Your body twitches, hot tears slipping past the corners of your eyes as you wheeze out please for mercy. He only looks down at you in awe at your beauty. "Oh, you're so cute like this! I knew you could take it! I know it hurts now, but just give it time." His thumb rubs at your tears. There's nothing you can do to get out of this. You feel completely helpless.He pulls himself out, and slowly goes back in, groaning. "Fuck, you're so tight" he grunts. You close your eyes and hear a flash. Your eyes snap open to see he's holding a camera. A blinding light fills your vision along with a 'click'. This sick fuck.

You let out an involuntary moan when he shoves himself into you at just the right angle. He presses himself deep inside you, holding himself there, his cock hugging your sweet spot. "Ah (Y/n)! (Y/n)! (Y/n)!" He chants your name like a mantra at each thrust, but you can barely hear him. All you can do is feel him. Hurt hurts so bad but feels equally as good.

You can't help but let little sounds of pain and pleasure spill from your lips as his hips ram into yours. You look up to see his eyes are completely rolled back. His lips press wet kisses to your cheek. You feel a knot start to build in your lower stomach without your consent and you feel yourself lift onto cloud nine. "Oh (Y/n), cum for me! Cum for your husband!" He moans. You feel shame and pleasure wash over you as you do just that. You clench around him, his breath hitches in his throat at the feeling. He slams into you harder and harder. The over stimulation is killing you now. It's too much!

You think he might break something inside you, you think his dick might knock your brain out of your skull with how hard he's pounding. You feel like your organs will never be the same. "Gonna get you pregnant, gonna breed you again and again. Gonna have my babies. We'll be great parents!" His muttering awakens what's left of the fight in you. "Ah! N-no, stop! I-I can't!" His hand slams over your mouth, his bottomless green eyes staring directly into yours. He lifts your legs up and puts them over his shoulders in a tight mating press.

He hits your special spot and your eyes roll back. He can reach far deeper like this. He slams into you with one final thrust, pressing into you with his full weight. You can't breathe. The over stimulation finally comes for you and you cum all over his cock again. You feel his cock twitch before unloading what seems to be an endless supply of semen into you. You can almost hear the wet sound of him cumming inside you. Your lower stomach rises by the sheer volume of cum produced. You wonder if he used to be a bull at Remy's farm or something. That thought quickly vanishes along with your whole mind as your brain is unable to produce anymore thoughts.

With a satisfied sigh, he pulls his slipping wet cock out of you, a rush of lightly pink cum following after, quickly stopping when he plugs you up with a small plug. His cock isn't even fully soft. You pray he doesn't decide he wants a round two. "That wasn't so bad, now was it? You were crying for nothing." He pants. He kisses your temple before picking you up by your waist, once again like a sack of potatoes in one arm. He walks over to a mattress on the floor and drops you on it, your body softly bouncing on top before settling in a heap. He had a mattress the whole time and still fucked you on the cold, dirty cement floor!? You hear a click and see he's chained your right angle to the wall. He smiles at you and pevks you on the lips the way a husband would before leaving to work. His mood did a 180. He's so very cheerful, his handsome face cheerfully grinning down at you like you're a cute little kitten.

"You did really well today, (Y/n), my love. I'll be back tomorrow. You won't get dinner tonight because you fought me so much, but you'll learn to behave. I want to treat you better, so please be good for me. Goodnight." With that, your new 'husband' stands up to his full height and walks upstairs, leaving you in the cold pitch darkness of the basement.

[msx-pocky]

For like, the past decade and a half I have found that any time I got a new games console I would try to work up the same kind of excitement I had when getting new consoles as a kid like the gamecube, ds and psp, and consistently what happened ever time was that I'd buy it, try to work up enthusiasm for it and actually keep up with new releases and get involved in modern gaming communities, but then inevitably every time I'd barely play any of the games I get for it since they just didn't grab me, and then inevitably I'd just sell the console to buy more retro games. this happened with 3ds, new 3ds, ps4, wii u and switch.

It took me ENTIRELY too long to realise that pc gaming was what I needed to get back into playing more modern games. I just assumed I wouldn't like pc gaming without trying it fully because I was specifically trying to recapture, again, excitement I got from consoles, and also pc gamers being pc gamers (the unironic "master race" fuckers) turning me off with their usual selling points of just "4k 180fps and no visible polygon edges", which makes it come off like you need overkill $2000+ gaming rigs capable of that kind of thing to actually experience the advantages of pc gaming

That isn't the case at all! you can build a computer for cheaper than next-gen consoles that is able to run lots of modern games at 60fps and 1080p. If you can settle for 30fps you can go even cheaper. You don't even need to buy a windows license anymore since Linux is free and its compatibility with windows software has gotten so good. If building a PC yourself is intimidating you could do what I did; buy a cheap OEM (pre-made) second hand desktop computer for cheap, like sub-$100 cheap, and use that to experiment with learning how to upgrade CPUs, gpus and ram. Using an old win7 HP desktop computer I bought for under $50, I managed to get it running doom 2016 at 30fps just by adding a new graphics card and CPU. doing it this way let me learn more about PC components so that when it was time for me to take the plunge and build my own PC from scratch I knew what I was doing. start cheap, and then if you discover that you need more powerful parts to run stuff you actually want to play, then you can start upgrading. There's no need to buy the highest end graphics card if a low-mid tier graphics card is already running everything smoothly after all. Just recently I built my girlfriend her own PC and managed to keep the price to around $500 (new zealand currency to be clear, which is like $300 USD). It was enough to run saga emerald beyond at 60fps which I was really happy with, but it did end up at around 30fps in other games like god eater 3, so we got a new graphics card once we could afford it.

And even with a cheap computer you can still experience a lot of what makes PC gaming so much fun. Indie games generally aren't demanding on hardware and there's far more of them on PC than there are on consoles. Indie games are genuinely some of the best modern games out there, frequently outdoing the AAA developers in lasting replay value and fun. plus, even the ones on consoles are better on PC thanks to extra features and content like mods, level editors and so on. there's also mouse and keyboard often being a more natural fit for game genres such as strategy and simulation games (I feel the same way about first person shooters as well but your mileage may vary there. Oh yeah also definitely play doom mods, they're awesome). Even if you're not into mouse and keyboard controls (I do really recommend practicing with it though! the speed and precision a mouse gives you is amazing), you'll still have a ton more controller options available on PC since basically anything that can be connected through USB or Bluetooth can be used. You also get access to fan made ports and remakes of classic games, all with their own mods and user made content, plus a ton of amazingly high quality standalone fan games (dr robotnik's ring racers is a recent fave of mine). You also have MUCH better access to older games on PC. You can be assured that stuff from the PS3 era will work superbly on modern PCs, and even a lot of 90s games work well out of the box on linux without needing to jump through hoops, in contrast to not even being able to play PS3 games on PS4. There's SO many cool aspects of modern gaming you can only experience on PC and it's not just playing microtransaction laden AAA games with marginally better graphics than on consoles.

This was meant to be about my disinterest in the switch 2 (not to say I think it'll be awful, I haven't looked enough into it, but I've already got my modern gaming covered by my computer unless some especially good exclusives win me over) but I got sidetracked and I just ended up gushing about how much i love computers oops

[thatstormygeek]

Looking “strong” might feel good to him and to them in the moment, but takes away a big part of the motive force of sympathy—to protect someone vulnerable. Trump isn’t vulnerable. He couldn’t even pretend to look hurt. He was THRILLED. He jumped right up with an active shooter on site to get his photo op, a very normal response from a normal human person. And he’s tossed the tried-and-true response to this sort of thing into a volcano because he doesn’t have any idea what human people with human feelings are like, so it never occurs to him to appeal to that. Come on, none of us had to read that Trump didn’t call the widow of his own supporter who actually died, or the injured (but Biden did). Did anyone, even the most devout and worshipful cultist, ever think he would? Why would he start now? I had to go looking on purpose to even find out the name of the professional first responder who died. (It’s Corey Comperatore, by the way.) That is such a massive PR blunder I can hardly believe the party that couldn’t stop braying SAY HER NAME when Laken Riley was killed could possibly make it. That guy’s name and face should be everywhere. His wife should be speaking at the RNC right now. That guy is the martyr. That’s the one who lost something for their wretched “cause,” the person we can all sympathize with at least a little because he’s fucking dead. They should be howling SAY HIS NAME and Trump should be praying with the family and bringing them to his house, paying off their debt or mortgage or setting up a fund for his kids or something. But our Tangerine Trujillo, and his folk, are physiologically incapable of doing that, even if it benefits them. Because that would take a tiny part of the terrible light of collective attention away from the guy who thinks he’s Captain America now, and make someone else the face of it all. They’re so hard for their revenge they can’t even play the PR right. No press conference, golfing immediately, no talk with the widow, no pretending to abhor violence. They can’t play the victim because they can’t stand to be seen as vulnerable even if it would help them. They simply have to smirk behind their hands so their base knows they’re super amazing and strong and cool and awesome and alpha. Then there’s the fact that I have a hard time believing anyone who wasn’t voting for Trump is thinking oh no the guy who keeps saying he's gonna start blasting as soon as he's in office got minimally grazed by a bullet and is totally okay and golfing right now. Better change my vote and embrace fascism!

Four months is far more than enough time for the right to completely pile-driver themselves into the mat, eat their own teeth on this topic, and alienate everyone who hasn’t lovingly worn the “Q” off the Q buttons on their keyboards yet. They’re already doing it. They literally can’t help themselves. They were immediately crowing victory, they’re crowing now, sneering and smirking and laughing at everyone who isn’t in their club of Demographics Who Are Semi-Safe Until We Run Out of Others to Brutalize. Trump announced J.D. Vance, a white authoritarian fuckbeard with the world’s most kickable face, who does nothing to bring in undecided voters, but really must believe you gotta stick it out in violent marriages because he’s prancing down the aisle toward the same one the GOP can’t quit. The RNC is in full scream-sweating fangs-out fall-in-line-maggots swing and no one seems to be upset or shaken, they’re all celebrating like it’s Mardi Gras on Cocaine Planet—so why should anyone feel bad for them? They look super-stoked! No one likes Now I’m REALLY Gonna Get Ya as a campaign slogan. It’s incredibly off-putting, and they couldn’t WAIT to rub everyone’s noses in the reeking shit they’ll make of our future. ... But the thing is, we, who are busy not shooting people over here on the center-to-left, seemingly can’t even hold it together for 48 hours to give these mule-headed Pleasure Island cast-offs a chance to fuck it up for themselves, as they have every single easy lay-up political opportunity that’s ever landed in their laps, because their pure need to be toxic hate-barfing sadistic regular plain old shitty-uncle assholes right now always, well, trumps their plans to be toxic hate-barfing sadistic uncontested rulers of all mankind. They get ahead of themselves. They blow their wad too early. They post their plans online and storm the capitol before they have the numbers and assume they’ve got it in the bag when the bag hasn’t even been opened yet.

[chenfleur]

#1 worldwide! — lee haechan

SUMMARY » You and Donghyuck are both famous Twitch streamers—who just happen to also be in a relationship. So when Donghyuck comes up to check on you after you let out a scream that sounds like a dying elephant and all of your Twitch chat sees him—woah! Your relationship has been *whips* exposed. Have fun with your public relationship! 🥰

PAIRING » streamer!haechan x streamer!y/n ft jeno, renjun, chenle, and twitch chat

GENRE » twitch streamer au, CRACK, humour, fluff

DISCLAIMERS » like a ton of cursing

WORD COUNT » 2.0k

RELEASE DATE » 05.27.21

A/N » i had way too much fun writing this

The bright screen illuminated in front of you as you set up your stream, organizing the space around you. Sitting down comfortably in your gaming chair, you press the purple ‘Go Live’ button. You wait patiently for viewers to join, the chat filling with greetings and questions about your day.

“GOOD FUCKING AFTERNOON, CHAT” you yell, your hands cupping around your mouth to make a megaphone effect.

user2985: good afternoon y/n!!!!

twitchfan4: hi y/n~~

progamer651: what’re you playing today???

“We are going to be playing Valorant with Renjun, Jeno, and Chenle today! I know, not very exciting- I’m just going to win every time! What’s so fun about that?” You say, snickering.

Renjeolmi☑️: listen here u bitch i will beat your ass to a pulp

“Listen here you bitch I will beat your ass- WHEN? HUANG RENJUN WHEN HAVE YOU EVER” you say loudly, throwing your head back in laughter. “Hold on, hold on! Let me join the call.”

ba-dung. “Oh, y/n’s here! Hi y/n~” Chenle said in a sing-song voice.

“L/N Y/N YOU USELESS PIECE OF DOGSHIT I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW YOU WILL BE DYING IN THE FIRST 5 FUCKING SECONDS IN THE FIRST FUCKING RO-“

“RENJUN SHUT UP” Jeno’s voice boomed through the call, yelling loudly.

You snorted at the sound of your two friends bickering. Tapping away at your keyboard, you send a quick message to your boyfriend, Donghyuck, saying you were streaming, before exiting the browser window and booting up the popular shooter game.

“Hey everyone in y/n’s chat, make sure you come to my stream and leave hers- I have free cookies come join-“

“rENJUN I SWEAR TO GOD” You yelled at the boy, the sound of his annoying snickering ringing through your ears.

“Both of you shut up and join the party!” Jeno said exasperated. 

“Jeez, Jen. Did your man period come two weeks early?” You joked. Picking the agent that you always played, the round started and you started to focus on playing the game. Jeno took out his in-game gun and pointed it straight at you. “You say one more thing and you’ll regret it, missy.”

You let out an unpleasant sounding snort at his not-so-scary threat. “Sure, whatever you say, old man.”

The round continued on, Jeno being the first one to die in the team. An endless string of curses coming out of his mouth, words you’d never even heard of leaving his lips. You, Renjun, and Chenle laugh at Jeno’s frustration, that was more specifically directed towards Renjun.

“RENJUN YOU MOTHERFUCKER YOU COULD’VE LITERALLY RES-ED ME???”

“YEAH.,, I COULD’VE.., BUT I DIDN’T… “ He said sarcastically. 

Chenle’s high-pitched dolphin laugh rang through the room. “Jeno malding??? CLIP THIS CHAT THIS IS GOLD”

“If I don’t see Jeno malding all over my Twitter timeline and Reddit, everyone in chat is banned.” You say smiling.

user1_01: AYE AYE CAPTAIN

GHuser: this is a THREAT

Abjiyo_: malding jeno is my new lockscreen

“Malding Jeno is my new locks- PFFFT HAHAHA” You burst out laughing. “YOU HEAR THAT JEN?”

The round ended and in the little intermission you had in between, you pulled up Jeno’s stream and nearly burst into tears at the sight. Jeno’s body was sprawled on the floor, one arm covering his face in exasperation. He was just barely in frame, so everyone watching could see the poor man just star-fishing his life away.

Jeno let out a low, annoyed grunt. “Huang Renjun, I hope you rot in hell and Satan hangs you off a goddamn cliff and feeds you to the DEMONS-“

You chuckled at his childish behaviour, clicking out of the browser window as the new round started.

The game continued on, Renjun dying half into the round, letting out a high-pitched scream. Everyone started laughing at him—never in any of your lives have you heard Huang Renjun let out such a shrill sound.

Chenle died soon after, letting out a frustrated sigh. Realizing you were the only one still alive, he started to cheer you on. “C’mon, y/n! You got this, noona.” He says sweetly.

“Thank you, Lele~” You say back, smiling at his cuteness. “Hear that?” You ask, referring to Renjun. “That’s how you be nice.”

“Oh shut up.”

Your eyes were like lasers on the screen, burning through it as you focused so hard to try and stay alive. 

I have to win this round.

You walk through an entrance, entering B hall. Faint footsteps could be heard close to you, and you froze on the spot. “C’mon, y/n…” Jeno muttered.

You turn around slowly, seeing a player from the other team. You immediately start shooting, and they start shooting back. Their character falls to the floor, dead.

You exhaled a breath that you didn’t know you were holding in. “nICE, Y/N!” Renjun roared into his mic. “Thank you, Junnie~” You respond, proud of the kill.

Now, there was only one more person on the other team. You grew nervous at the thought of a 1v1, afraid you were going to mess up and lose.

Pressing E, you launch a flash at nothing, hoping you blinded the other player—

Rookie mistake. Turns out you just revealed yourself.

Your character starts getting shot at, and your life flashed before your eyes. Well, maybe not your real life—but your in-game character’s life, definitely.

Before you could react, your agent fell to the floor, limp. You let out an ear-piercing scream, not even realizing how loud it was. Your mouth hung open, not even believing what just happened.

You could hear Jeno hiss through the headset. “Y/N WHAT WAS THAT FOR? DUDE YOU’RE LOUDER THAN CHENLE” 

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT???” You yell, shocked.

“Well clearly… you died.” Renjun said flatly.

“I WASN’T SUPPOSED TO” 

“Well, you did.”

You groan, slumping down in your chair, basically becoming Jeno from a bit ago. Cursing under your breath, you sigh in frustration.

In the middle of you wallowing in your misery, you didn’t notice the sound of urgent footsteps coming towards your room. Donghyuck bursts through your door unexpectedly. “Y/n?! Babe, are you okay?” He says, worried.

You didn’t even realize Donghyuck was in the room, only seeing him through the webcam. Which means, the stream could see him as well.

It took a bit to register, but your eyes widened and you turned around abruptly. You both gasp at the same time, Donghyuck moving swiftly to the side of the room, pressing his back against the wall. He was out of frame, gesturing frantically to your stream setup.

You stared at him for a brief second before turning back around and fumbling with your mouse nervously, quickly ending the stream.

“Hyuck? What’re you doing here? I texted you that I was streaming!” You whisper-shout aggressively.

“What do you mean what am I doing here?! Also I didn’t see your message but- do you expect me not to come and check up on you when you’re screaming bloody fucking murder?” He answers back.

You did nothing but stare up at him as nerves started to rush through your body. Your relationship with another public figure just got outed to thousands of viewers, how could you not be nervous? Every possible worst consequence swarmed your mind—you were terrified that your and Donghyuck’s fans wouldn’t support you.

Donghyuck noticed your tense state and immediately strode across the room to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and giving them a comforting squeeze. “Hey, hey… what’s wrong?”

“What… if they hate us?” You ask quietly. “What if we lose all our fans? Our community?”

Donghyuck scoffs. “So what? Fuck them if they don’t. Who cares what fans think? They’re fans, they don’t know us personally. We don’t need their blessing to date.” He says. Standing you up from your seat, he brings you into a warm hug, resting one hand on your waist and the other on the back of your neck. 

“It’s fine, it’s okay.” He says reassuringly, stroking your hair. 

You didn’t respond, nodding against his shoulder as silent affirmation.

“I mean, they were bound to find out at some point.”

Chuckling at the blunt statement, you slapped his arm playfully. “Well, I wasn’t expecting it to be like this!” Donghyuck let out a hearty laugh, hugging you tighter.

“Now…” He sits into your chair, opening his arms and bringing you to sit on his lap. “Start up the stream again. We can’t leave them hanging.” He says, looking up at you with a soft smile.

Your heart fluttered, eyes turning up into a smile. You felt unconditionally lucky to have someone like Donghyuck in your life. He made your days brighter, and you could never thank him enough for all he’s done for you. 

Pressing ‘Go Live’ once again, your leg bounced up and down nervously. Donghyuck put his hand on your thigh, stilling it. “Don’t be scared, baby.” He whispers.

Viewers flooded in just like before. Both of you remained silent as your eyes scanned over the lightning-fast chat. 

dreamzen_: GOOD MORNING AMERICA

renjeolmeme: IM SO CONFUSED

Just1c3lele: YN AND DONGHYUCK????

A small laugh left your lips. “Hi, chat. Sorry for leaving so abruptly.” 

slmsung: YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE WTFFFFFFF

progamer610: congrats on your guys relationship!!! 

Renjeolmi☑️: JOIN THE CALL AGAIN TF

ba-dung. “Y/n!” Chenle’s voice shrieked, catching you off guard. 

“Woah, calm down. Why are you screaming, Chenle?” Donghyuck says into the headset.

“BECAUSE YOU TWO ARE TRENDING #1 WORLDWIDE ON TWITTER???” 

“What?!” You both said in unison, your fingers immediately typing away on your keyboard. Pulling up the website, you gasped at the headline that was trending #1 Worldwide.

#Y/NANDDONGHYUCK Famous Twitch Streamer L/N Y/N and Lee Donghyuck’s relationship revealed on stream! Congratulations to the couple! 500k Tweets

“500K?? WOW CHAT YOU GUYS ARE INSANE!” Donghyuck says loudly, laughing. He looks up at you with bright eyes—arms wrapped around your waist, he squeezed your middle tighter out of excitement. “Look at that, that’s us baby!”

You blushed at the pet name, hanging your head low to shield your flushed face from the camera. Donghyuck giggles at your actions and bounces you up and down in his lap. “You’re too cute.” He says, planting a light kiss on your cheek.

grimjun: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

twitchfan240_: THIS IS TOO WHOLESOME IM CRYING SO MANY TEARS

hyuckuwu: IM TATTOOING THIS ON MY FOREHEAD

“AAAAAAAA”

Jeno groans. “CHENLE PLEASE STOP SCREECHING”

“YOU GUYS ARE TOO CUTE” Chenle says, clapping his hands.

“You guys are disgusting” Renjun says.

“You guys are disgustingly cute” Jeno says, laughing softly.

You smile at their comments, thanking them. “Renjun, please. You’re just a jealous bitch who doesn’t have a girlfriend.” You shoot back, rolling your eyes playfully. The boy scoffs, “fucking hate you.” he mutters under his breath, causing you to snicker.

“Y/n, look.” Donghyuck says from behind you. He gives you his phone, where he had Twitter pulled up. “Look at what they’re saying.” 

You take the phone from Donghyuck, scrolling through the never ending list of tweets. What surprised you the most though, was the endless amount of support and kindness that made up those messages. Just reading through the abundance of kind and thoughtful words swayed your emotions, causing a humongous smile to find its way onto your face.

“Wow, y/n. I never knew you even had a soul, let alone be able to smile that big.” Renjun teases. 

Assuming he had your stream pulled up, you flipped off the camera. You could hear Renjun laugh quietly, “Rude.” He says back. Donghyuck laughed, clapping his hands together. “GET FUCKED RENJUN”

You lean your head back onto Donghyuck’s shoulder. His grip tightened around your middle, softly kissing your exposed neck. 

The ticklish feeling caused you to giggle. You savoured this moment, because you knew. You knew that everyone supported you. 

You were thankful. Thankful for your amazing friends, your amazing community, and of course—your absolutely amazing boyfriend.

[vicious-vixxxen]

Kirishima X Male!Reader: Late Night Gaming Session

More of the bestest shark boy! Something short and sweet, not sure where it came from, but I had the scenario in my mind for a while, and finally wanted to get it written down tonight. Hope you guys enjoy it :) ))

Shifting slowly, and stretching your limbs out, you sighed contently- outstretched arms shuffling over the other side of the bed- a frown tugging at your lips when you realized it was empty. What the fuck? You cracked your eyes open then, blinking blearily at the clock on the nightstand, the bright red 2:37 blinking back at you. That’s when you finally clued in to the soft sounds from across the room, the incessant ‘taptaptap’ of a keyboard, and the quiet, intense muttering. Of course. Your boyfriend was so textbook.

“No no he totally downed me! I’m right here, Kamin-no! No Sero don’t go in there, don’t go in there!” Kirishima hissed into his microphone, furiously clicking his mouse, and squinting his eyes, as he’d brought the brightness of his screen all the way down. “What?” Kirishima asked suddenly, silent for all of two seconds before leaning half an inch away from his monitor, and pouting. Shoulders hunched in that adorable way you’d recognize from a mile away. The one that meant Kiri’s brows were drawn down tight, his cheeks were puffed, and his tongue was peeking out. “No, /no/, I can’t turn my headset up, I told you Y/N is sleeping, and he needs his beauty rest..” A pause. “Whoa dude, not cool. He’s the most beautiful thing...creature...person..boyfriend....being..cosmic force EVER. Don’t insult my guy like that, come on...no I know it was a joke, but still- besides, those are his words, not mine. He totally went beast mode in a private with Present Mic today, and now he’s totally out of it. Barely made it through fifteen minutes of our nightly cuddle session before passing out on me.” Kirishima explained- shoulders tightening up even more as he finished, and you couldn’t help the stupid smile that was front and center on your face as you stared at your boyfriends back. He was such an adorable dweeb. Swinging your feet out and over the side of the bed, you stood- arms stretched high above your head, a yawn forcing its way out of your mouth. Smacking your lips together gently, you reached back to grab the blanket off the bed- wrapping it around your shoulders, and shuffling as quietly as possible to stand behind Kirishima as he played. Peeking over his shoulder slowly- trying and failing to recognize the first person shooter he was playing. All you knew, was that barely being able to hear his teammates, or see the screen, was going to frustrate the redhead into a frenzy. His fingers would harden and snap the keyboard and house, as they’d done before, and it was expensive as fuck to replace. “Babe,” You whispered finally, waiting for a response, but Kirishima was deep in strategic thought over the game, and you were happy his back was still turned when you rolled your eyes. “Kiriiii,” You sang, right next to the boys ear- nearly jumping back yourself as the other boy jerked back in his seat- headset ripping off as he looked all around himself- pout returning quickly as you buried your face in his neck, laughing. “Dude! So not cool! I thought you were asleep?” Kirishima whined, turning his desk chair around, arms crossed over his chest, as he looked you up and down- leaning back, pout clear as day on his face. “I didn’t wake you, did I?” He asked, as an afterthought, features softening, shoulders even falling slightly, as you shook your head. Spreading your legs to sit in Kirishima’s lap, cuddling the blanket around the both of you now, as you rested your head in the crook of his neck, and closed your eyes. “I’m feeling...restless, and you weren’t in bed like you usually are for me to wake up and talk about nonsense with you while you’re half asleep,” You explained, fondness lacing your tone, as you leaned back, blush bright even in the dark, as Kirishima gave you one of his signature warm smiles- your hands finding their way into his thick, spiky locks. “Jokes on you, cuz I’m fully awake, and now /you/, have to listen to /me/ play video games, while I explain in great detail how all the mechanics work. Even my custom settings.” Kirishima’s smile turned predatory, sharklike, even, as he bared all his teeth, and spun his chair back around. Popping his headset back on, and cranking the volume and brightness back up. Aware enough to look at least slightly apologetic, as you cringed back from the brightness of the screen- lifting your legs up, and curling into Kirishima’s lap, as the both of you settled in, and he started playing again. “Ah, so sleeping beauty is joining us? Welcome back to the world of the living, princess!” Kaminari shouted through the mic, and you huffed- feeling sorry for whoever’s room was next to his. “Maybe if you spent more time resting, and less time gaming, you wouldn’t short circuit every time you touch a battery,” You called back casually, an eruption of laughter coming from the rest of the group chat- you thought you could just barely make out Bakugou and Mina in there somewhere, maybe even Sero. “Low blow,” Kami muttered into his mic, as you sat up a bit, and actually paid attention to what Kirishima was doing. Before long, sitting up straight, and taking control over the keys, while Kiri worked the mouse- movements in sync, both of you screaming through the same headset, cheeks bumping together as you both tried to work one earpiece over each of your heads. Your noses bumped together roughly the third or so time you tried- both of you cringing, before giggling into each other's faces. And then you were kissing, suddenly, and sharply. Kirishima’s hands on your waist, your hands up in his hair- matching smiles pressed against one another as you kissed. And kissed, and kissed. Soft, needy sounds pulled from Kirishima, as you bit at his lips, and swiped at them with your tongue. “I don’t know if I’m horrified, or if I want a live show of whatever is going on on Kirishima’s end right now,” You both barely heard from the headset on the floor- laughing out loud, and turning your attention back to the game. For the time being. “Half an hour?” Kirishima offered, and you nodded. “I can think of something even more fun we can do, one v one.” Kirishima blushed, growling at you playfully, before ordering Kaminari to mind his own business, as you both got back to the game. Kirishima’s arms wrapped around you, and on his keyboard this time. 

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

My Hero Academia Guys Streaming Headcanons

These are just the guys I can see streaming.

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Characters: Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, Eijiro Kirishima, Denki Kaminari, Hanta Sero, Hitoshi Shinso

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What would the My Hero Academia characters be like as streamers?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plays mostly "cute" games like Cookie Run and Animal Crossing.

His Animal Crossing island is well thought out but it took him so long to decide what he wanted to put where.

There is an All Might shrine near his in game house. That's where he logs out of the game every time without question.

Often has the LoFi Hip Hop radio playing in the background for the vibes. Sometimes he will turn it off to just enjoy the ambiance of the game.

He very rarely swears and when he does, his chat blows up.

Streams are super consistent. If he can’t make a stream due to hero duties, he will be super apologetic next stream.

Does lots of streams with Todoroki and Uraraka. Tried to get Bakugo to stream with him once for the viewers.

Never again.

Swears so much when streaming. And chat has been told they just have to deal with it.

Kirishimi is one of his mods and he set up a donation page that acts as a swear jar. Every time Bakugo swears, chat donates.

All they know is that the money goes to charity and Bakugo has sworn to kill Kiri if he ever tells them that the funds go to helping less fortunate hero agencies.

He mostly streams first person shooters like Halo and Valorant.

He’s pretty good at them too thankfully because every time he loses, chat is worried that he will blow up part of his streaming set up.

He’s been through five mouses and three keyboards already.

Streams are pretty regular but chat knows better than to ask why he didn’t stream when he usually would. Bans have happened for less.

He also refuses to stream longer than the recommended 2 hours.

Very quiet streamer. Chat is trying to get him to talk more. Not that they mind just watching him.

He has a lot of fanboys and fangirls.

But get him streaming with Midoriya and suddenly he is way more talkative. Still not to the extent of most streamers but getting there.

Plays clicker games mostly but will try most things. He’s event tried dating games before.

That was an interesting stream.

Chat has got him to play horror games before to try and ruffle his feathers but nothing has worked. 

All except one game.

Bioshock.

The doctor jumpscare came out of nowhere right as his camera died.

Chat is still fuming over the fact that they can’t prove it was him screaming.

Lots of “Just Chatting” streams. Nothing makes him happier than chatting to his fans.

Also tones of workout streams where he encourages chat to join in.

Chat says he's doing all the work for them before going back to watching him working out.

So many fangirls and fanboys.

Super Smash Bros.

Do I need to explain?

He always plays as either Donkey Kong or King K. Rool.

Does a lot of collaborations with Bakugo, Denki and Sero and the occasional stream with Mina.

Last time he streamed with Mina they played Just Dance and Mina did his makeup.

He thought he looked super manly. Chat agreed.

Variety streamer. Nothing is off limits. Horror: check. Dating sims: check. Open world adventure: check. “Cute” games: check.

If chat recommends a game, Denki will play it.

Oh God. The Phasmophobia collab with Mina, Sero, and Kiri was so chaotic. Chat was screeching.

Denki died within the first minute and spent the rest of the game making fun of what his friends were doing.

The others laughed at the way his character’s body fell for a solid five minutes.

His favorite game is probably Minecraft though. The “Hero Server” has most of the kids in the hero course in it and has Dream SMP vibes to it.

Server wide wars have happened before.

Does a lot of vlogs and “out-and-about” streams as well so his fans never know what to expect.

He has a pretty unplanned streaming schedule but streams regularly because he enjoys it.

Denki has dabbled in being a V-tuber as well but prefers live streams since it's less to set up.

Has the most fans in chat who need to "touch grass" but honestly, so does Denki so it's all chill.

A more laid back streamer unless he’s playing with any of the Bakusquad. That it’s all cards on the table, no limits.

Plays Mario Kart a lot.

Lots of Minecraft too.

Mines predominantly but everyone on the server and I'm chat looks forward to when he builds things.

So much detail in whatever he builds and the designs are usually pretty unique.

Chat is pretty chaotic but has it’s days when it’s calm.

Has streamed with Jiro before and the two sing together.

Chat never realized that Sero could sing before and now they pester him to sing all the time.

Very chill streams. You thought Sero’s streams were laid back? You’re right but they’re also chaotic. Shinso’s streams are ones you could fall asleep to.

And that’s kind of the point.

Chat always compliments Shinso’s voice and on more than one occasion people have told him that his voice has put them to sleep.

Soft music. Candles. Blankets. Cats that he snuck in without anyone Aizawa noticing. The whole deal.

When he does other things it's always something lowkey. Animal Crossing is a favourite just because of the chill vibes.

Shinso also dabbles in first person shooters like Valorant but those streams are rare.

Occasionally streams with Midoriya.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[fridge-reviews]

Dusk

Developer: David Szymanski Publisher: New Blood Interactive Rrp: £14.99 (Gog.com, Steam), £15.99 (Humblebundle) Released: 10th December 2018 Available on: Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 12 hours

Have you ever started a game that you know you've never played before and yet it feels instantly familiar? That was my experience with Dusk from start to finish, I do have a theory as to why this feeling of familiarity stuck with me and it's to do with Dusk's influences. From reading the games Steam page blurb it lists off; Doom, Quake, Blood, Heretic, Hexen, Half-life and Redneck Rampage... These are all games I grew up playing (with exception of Redneck Rampage, that one never appealed). To me each of these influences is readily apparent, however this game is more than just a bunch of references, it's clear that the developers understood the what made those games fun and built on that creating a new, highly polished game that anyone into first person shooters would be a fool to skip.

To say that this game looks dated graphically would be an understatement, it looks like it came straight from the days where the words 'Doom Clone' we're still used to describe any first person shooter. Don't let those graphics fool you though this game is fast paced and absolutely brutal, in fact this game is brutal enough that it encourages you to 'savescum' (meaning use the quick save and reload feature regularly). As is the way of classic shooters the storyline is... barebones, don't come to this game expecting Shakespeare as that just isn't the way these sorts of games work.

Dusk is seperated into three 'episodes' each of which is around ten levels long. Some of these levels are pretty complex and most are absolutely chock full of secrets to discover. Something to remember is that each episode is self contained, meaning the weapons, health etc are not carried over. The game also comes with an endless mode, allowing you to test your skill against wave after wave of enemies that get increasingly more difficult until you succumb.

What I wasn't expecting from this game was to have some genuinely scary moments, not just simple jumpscares but actual scares that are built up over time and through tension. Of course, it's hard to be all that scared when you're walking around with more weapons than the average action hero, but still, points for effort!

I implore you, if you have any love of first person shooters, give this one a go. I don't think you'll regret it. It's just a matter of remembering that gameplay is the most important part of any video game, far more important that graphical fidelity. Also I love the music in this game enough to have bought the soundtrack, its' not quite as good as the more recent Doom or its sequel but its still pretty damned good, if you're into heavy metal that is.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Half-Life Doom (2016) Devil Daggers

[miekasa]

wait so i was scrolling through your blog (as per usual) and i saw that you brought up levi and his streamer gf briefly. care to elaborate a lil causeee im curious ��👀

- 🖤

Absolutely, I can. He’s such a supportive bf even tho he’s far from a gamer himself, and very very proud of you 😌

Whatever game(s) you play, Levi knows the basics. He might not have ever played them himself, but he knows enough to recognize it if it ever comes up in conversation.

He doesn’t always watch your streams, and you can hardly tell when he does because he doesn’t comment or anything. He just tunes in when he’s free to support you and see what’s going on. Sometimes to peep on your comment section, but he’d never tell you that.

He doesn’t make donations. He’d just Apple Pay you money lmfao. Supportive emotionally and financially, but all your followers/subscribers don’t have to see that.

He knows when you’re recording content or streaming and typically doesn’t bother you. The only exceptions are (a) if he forgets or (b) you’ve been in your room for a while and he’s going in to check up on you.

He doesn’t forget often—and truthfully, when he walks in on your streams its not actually because he forgot; it’s because you’re online at a different time that usual and he didn’t know—but it’s pretty cute when he does. He catches himself pretty quickly, and silently asks you if you’re streaming; to which he gently closes the door and just texts you his inquiry.

He doesn’t even really disturb you—it’s not like he enters rooms cussing up a storm on full blast. Nobody could even tell he walked in, except for maybe a small lapse in your attention when you turned to him.

When you’ve been in your room for a while, he does come in to check on you. His intentions aren’t necessarily to get you away from the screen; he just wants to make sure you’ve had dinner or some snacks at the very least. When you have all night tournaments or streaming fests, he comes by with dinner for you; silently puts it on your desk, and on occasion, leaves you with a little head pat.

He doesn’t normally appear in your streams, but he is in two of your YouTube videos: one shopping haul, and once when he helped you make him/your friends in the Sims. They happen to be two of your highest viewed videos.

People constantly ask about him. They know Levi exists, but they don’t see him often, and newer fans especially are obsessed with catching a glimpse of your mysterious boyfriend on screen. If you asked him, he’d come in for a few seconds to show his face, but he wouldn’t do it unprompted.

You mention him, of course, it’s not like you’re hiding him away either. He comes up particularly often when you play with your friends or are just chatting in lobbies. You don’t exactly explicitly refer to him as your boyfriend, but you say his name—and so does Hange—and people kinda get the picture.

Hange constantly asking for Levi when you guys are playing together. It’s one of the few times Levi comes into your chat/comments to tell them to shutup. (Yes, your subscribers go crazy for the glimpse of Levi on your channel).

He’s not a gamer, and he sees no reason to disturb your streams by appearing if you don’t ask. But, also, he’s a little camera shy, not that he’d ever tell you that. You’ve got a lot of followers, he’s not prepared to be live in front of thousands of people every night; he’ll leave that up to you.

Levi built nearly everything in your gaming setup. From the adjustable standing desks, to the wall mounts for your accessories and decorations, to your chair, to the shelves. He built it all and tailored it to your exact taste and to fit your room perfectly.

So, sometimes you feel bad when people ask about stuff because you can’t exactly give them a link or recommendation—“Oh thank you! The thing is, my—well, Levi built the desk for me so you can’t buy it—but! There are some similar ones at IKEA!!”

(Levi scoffs ever so lightly when he sees that clip. His craftsmanship cannot be found at IKEA, but they can try).

He also helped mount the TV in your room so that the cables were hidden and everything. Truly a godsend. And whenever you wanna move things around, he’s there to help you. Sometimes he even has ideas of his own, “You were looking at accent walls the other day right? I think you could do something with this back wall…”

He does play games with you, just usually offscreen. He’s scarily good at first person shooters… even tho he claims to not have any past experience with them… extremely suspicious activity.

And when he mains D.Va and Symmetra then what. Then what.

Just don’t ask him to play Fornite. Ever. (He’d be good at it, but he feels so fucking dumb playing it especially when he can hear that he is competing against a twelve year old pls).

He plays games by himself, too. Think “classic” run of the mill console videos games, I guess, nothing too crazy; Zelda, Mario, Kirby… Animal Crossing. His island is nothing short of immaculate, his only regret is that he doesn’t have oranges as his island fruit. Levi really likes oranges (he got peaches instead).

He knows that you’re pretty popular and he’s super proud of you. That doesn’t mean he likes to see fancam style edits of you on his feed. He knows that you’re pretty but still 🙄🙄

Constantly on the look out for computer/keyboard parts that you mentioned. If he sees it online or anywhere else, he’ll try and snag it for you <3 that goes for new console games, too.

He’ll also periodically upgrade some of the tech in your setup. Get you a better mic, some more lighting for your desk, a cute desk mat he thinks you might like. He’s observant, so he knows your taste in design and takes note of things you mention.

Okay okay okay but imagine putting the headphones with the kitty ears on him. He wouldn’t even notice at first and then you turn on the LEDs and bam. Very focused, very cute kitty Levi playing games on your PC.

If you’ve got a merch store, he helps you run it, and by that I mean, he practically runs it for you. Periodically, he might even have a design idea. You can count on him to get things out for shipping right on time. It’s one of his many ways of supporting you.

He’s also the one who remembers to check your P.O. box for packages from fans and from companies. It was his idea initially, too (he wasn’t too crazy about anyone, even major brands having your home address on file).

Look, he knows you’ve got some super fans, and some people who really do adore you. That doesn’t mean he’s necessarily happy when you get sent non-tech or gaming related merch (like jewelry or shoes or whatever). If he happens to put them a little bit out of sight then no he did not <2

Occasionally he’ll meet someone who recognizes your name when it comes up in conversation. He very proudly confirms that yes, he is talking about you, the streamer.

Sometimes, people will even recognize him back—“Oh, so you’re Levi, then!” Obviously. You only have one Levi in your life 🙄🙄

[leileisa]

video girl [ kenma kozume x reader ] 

⌙ kenma’s not too sure what his feelings about you are.

video girl who rocked my world for a whole two seconds, and now i know i’m not about to be another victim of the video girl syndrome

part of the love is on it’s way series [masterlist] 

word count: 1.1k

genre: fluff idk it’s cute tho

if someone were to ask kenma what he loved, he would say video games.

he’s played them his whole life. ever since he was a kid, he’s been addicted to having his eyes on a monitor with some sort of electronic in his hand, be it a keyboard and mouse, a controller, or his switch. he’s grown accustomed to the all genres: the thrill and precision needed in first person shooters like call of duty or overwatch, or the relaxing music and mindless playing in games that require much less concentration, like minecraft or animal crossing.

every button and key is almost part of him, and the repeated noise of persistent clicking provides an unwavering form of familiarity that calms him down.

he thinks that if someone were to ask him why he was so addicted to them, his answer would simply be ‘because it’s different’. different scenery, different methods, different themes that create new worlds that are so unlike the one he’s living in- it’s a reassurance that there’s always a way to escape.

kemna loves video games because they’ve always been part of him.

“what are you thinking about?”

but then- then there’s you. a refresher from the false realities that he indulges himself in daily.

yet “nothing,” is kenma’s response to your question.

“it’s impossible to think about nothing,” you say, and for a second he thinks you sound just like kuroo, “plus, it has to be something important. you’re not playing anymore.”

he lets out a quiet ‘huh?’ when you say that, but when he looks at his monitor and then his hands, he sees that, while lost in his own mind, he has stopped playing. “oh, sorry.”

he can hear you shuffle on his bed behind him, and not long after that he feels your weight on the back of his chair, leaning it forward. “no need to be sorry,” you tell him with a laugh, “i was just wondering if you were okay. i’ve never seen you stop playing like that.”

“it’s nothing,” kenma says, as quiet as he always is, and gets back to his game.

“you sure?” you ask, and kenma can still feel how you’re leaning on his chair.

“yeah,” he says, and his heart swells. you’re so caring- too caring, kenma thinks, to someone like him. he knows he’s quiet, and unapproachable- he always has been, ever since he was a kid. he keeps almost all his thoughts to himself and he’s not one to step out of line. he has no idea why someone like you- someone who’s always been bright and optimistic, someone who’s always been people’s first choice to go to in a time of need, someone who’s willing to give another person their all just to make them happy would be with someone like him.

someone like you- who’s everything he’s not.

“if you say so,” you pout, and he can tell you’re thinking about it a little too hard. the two of you have been friends long enough for him to tell how far your mind travels by your tone of voice, and he knows that you’re worrying about him. so kenma saves his game and when the glaring light from the title screen shines back at him, he turns off his computer.

“do you want to go get some food?” all he hears is your hum in response, and when he turns to look at you, he’s met with the sight of you laying on his bed fiddling with his nintendo switch.

“are you hungry?” he tries again, and you look his way.

“are you?” you ask, putting the device down, “i can go order something, if you want.” he knows you’re asking him because he’s not a fan of going out, and doing anything unnecessary, but he can’t help but feel a little guilty when he thinks about having you go out and get something for the two of you- just because you know he wouldn’t want to do it.

so he stands up and takes his headset off, and the rustling he makes in the process causes you to look up at him. “no,” he says, “i’ll go with you.”

and as you smile at him, a smile that’s so soft, so caring, so you- it makes his heart sore and he can feel the heat rushing to his cheeks.

in that moment, he takes a good look at you. you’re really pretty- beautiful, even- just standing there, smiling at him. your eyes are soft and gentle, and he thinks it’s a perfect representation of you as a person. there’s no hardness when it comes to you, nothing fake or artificial. for all the time that he’s known you (which has almost been two years), you’ve always been completely natural and raw.

when the thought comes to his mind, he can’t help but revel in the irony. aside from kuroo, his best friend since childhood, he’s surrounded himself with artificial things. his electronics: the t.v., his computer, his switch (which he’s noticed you have taken a severe liking to).

you’re the sweetest breath of fresh air he’s had in what seems like forever, and there’s an odd feeling in his stomach when he thinks about it.

it’s your voice that breaks kenma from his thoughts, a ‘yeah?’ followed by a small laugh.

“what’s wrong?” he asks you, but you just laugh at him, a big grin on your face.

“kenma, it’s like eleven at night,” you say, and kenma’s intense eyes just blink in confusion.

“so?”

“there’s not really a place to go for a quick snack,” it’s a yawn that separates the first sentence, and kenma can’t help but think you look cute when you yawn. “i was just going to order something on uber or door dash.”

“oh, sorry.” he says, and you just give him a reassuring smile.

“it’s convenient,” you grin at him as you sit back on his bed, switch already in hand. “you get to play your computer games, and i get to go back to redoing your whole island on animal crossing.”

kenma just smiles at you- a soft smile that you don’t see because you’re already too focused on renovating, but a smile that’s filled with adoration and appreciation. to him, you’re the embodiment of perfection, his complete opposite, but the butterflies kenma feels in his stomach are the undeniable confirmation that’s he’s utterly and hopelessly in love with you.

and so when he sits back down in his seat, still smiling and chest warm, he knows that he’d have a real answer to the question “what do you love?”.

taglist: @noya-sleftankle​, @crayonwriting​, @aonenthusiast​, @nekogakuro​

►send an ask/dm me to be added to the taglist!

[lacquerware]

2020 Recap - My Year in Gaming

2020. What a year for video games. I had big plans for last year, but in the end I did very little besides play video games, and I don’t think I’m alone there since we were all stuck at home looking for a way out of reality. I wanted to do a year-end recap as I’ve done sporadically in past years, but this one will be different than the typical “Games of the Year” format because despite all the games I played in 2020, almost none of them came out in 2020, and some of the things that defined my year in gaming weren't even games. 

Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4)

RE3 was one of the only games I played in 2020 that didn’t coincide with the deadly pandemic's spread across the US. RE3 is, of course, a game about the spread of a deadly virus in Anytown, USA. It was an appetizer, I guess. 

When the Resident Evil 2 remake dropped in 2019, there were some things I loved about it, and a few things that felt like steps back from the original. I feel much the same about RE3. I had also theorized that a Resident Evil 3 remake would be better off as RE2 DLC than as a separate full-length game, and considering how short RE3 turned out, with some of the best sections of hte original cut entirely (namely, the clock tower), I stand by my theory. 

Oh well, at least Jill gets this rad gun, which for the time being is the closest thing to a new Lost Planet we can hope for anytime soon.

Sekiro (PS4)

Sekiro is the first video game I ever Platinumed. This is partly because conquering the base game was such a spartan exercise that going the extra mile to get the Platinum didn’t seem so bad, but it’s also surely a result of the pandemic. I needed a project and a big win. Who didn't? 

I wrote at length about why I like Sekiro more than every other modern FromSoft game, and also about the game’s cherry-on-top moment that reminded me of blowing up Hitler’s face in Bionic Commando. Please read them!

Death Stranding (PS4)

Release date notwithstanding, this was obviously the Game of 2020. I wrote about it here, here, and here. This game bears the distinction of being the second one I ever Platinumed. It took 150 hours. Only then did I learn I had a hoverboard.

Streets of Rage 4 (PS4)

This is the only 2020 game I played for more than a few hours. In fact, I cleared the entire game at least five times. I still don’t think it captures the gritty aesthetic of the prior Streets of Rages (nor even tries to), but this is probably the best-feeling bup I've played. Huge bonus points for finally bringing back Adam, but in the end I found it hard not to pick Blaze every time.

Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch)

What impressed me about this sequel from Inti Creates was that it wasn’t just more of the same, even though that would've been fine. BMZ2 builds on its already excellent predecessor with a catchy new format where players can freely cruise the cosmos and stages take the varied form of planets—some big and sprawling, others short and sweet. Hopping at will from planet to planet without ever knowing what experiences and treasure each one held felt like system jumping in No Man’s Sky and island hopping in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, both of which felt like opening presents.

Dragon Force (Saturn)

Charming, satisfying, and addictive as a bag of chips. Unlike a bag of chips, when it’s over, you can do it all again. And again. And it’ll be different each time! This might be the first strategy game I've truly loved. Better late than never.

The PC Engine Mini

The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 Mini seems a particularly justifiable mini-console for people outside Japan because so many missed these consoles entirely, the games are hard to obtain, and the lineup includes titles spanning the entire convoluted Turbo/PC Engine ecosystem—the TurboGrafx-CD/CD-ROM², Super CD-ROM², Arcade CD-ROM² and SuperGrafx, in addition to plain, old standard HuCard games. I myself didn’t know the first thing about these systems before. It’s like reliving the nineties again for the first time. 

Most of the titles included are simple action games that don't require a command of Japanese, but make no mistake: being able to understand Snatcher and TokiMemo does make me feel like an elite special person worth more than many of you. 

(Side note: From a gender representation perspective, the difference between Snatcher and Death Stranding is stark. Virtually every interaction with every woman or girl in Snatcher is decorated with ways to sexually harass her. Guess someone finally had a conversation with our favorite auteur.)

A Gaming PC

I’d threatened to transition to PC gaming for years after beholding the framerate difference between the console and PC versions of DmC in 2012, and last July I finally took the leap, buying an ASUS “Republic of Gamers” (ugh) laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU. It seems like consoles are getting more PC-like all the time, especially with all these half-step iterations that splinter performance and sometimes even the feature set (à la the New 3DS and Switch Lite), so with the impending new generation seemed like a fine time to change course.

In the half-year since, I’ve barely played a single PC game more recent than 2013, but just replaying PS3-era games at high settings has been like rediscovering them for the first time. 

I also finally experienced keyboard-and-mouse shooting and understand now why PC gamers think they're better than everyone else. Max Payne is a completely different game with a mouse. Are all shooters like this??

The USPS

Early in the year, I rediscovered my childhood game shop, Starland, which is now  an online hub known as eStarland.com with a brick-and-mortar showroom. To my delight, it has become one of the best and most modestly priced sources for import Saturn games in the country, and I scored Shining Force III’s second and third episodes, long missing from my collection, for a mere ten bucks each!  

In June, I treated myself to a trio of Saturn imports from eStarland: the tactics-meets-dating-sim mashup Sakura Taisen 2, the nicely presented RTS space opera Quo Vadis 2, and beloved gothic dungeon crawler Baroque. Miraculously, this haul amounted to just around thirty dollars total. Less miraculously, they never arrived. This was the second time I’d had something lost in the mail in my entire life, and also the second time that month. Something was wrong with the USPS, and it wasn’t just COVID pains. We would soon learn Trump had been actively working to sabotage one of the nation’s oldest and most reliable institutions in a plot to compromise the upcoming presidential election.

Frankly it’s a miracle there’s still such a thing as “delivery” at all, and a few missing video games is the last of my worries considering what caused it, but nevertheless this was an experience in my gaming life that could not have happened any other year. I won’t forget it.

*By the way, USPS reimbursed me for the insured value of the missing order, which was fifty bucks. So I actually profited a little off the experience.

Mega Everdrive Pro

I love collecting for the Genesis and Mega Drive, but I will not pay hundreds of dollars for a video game that retailed for about sixty.  The publishers never asked for that, and the developers won’t see a (ragna)cent of the money. I'm also far less inclined to start collecting for Sega CD, since the hardware is notoriously breakable, the cases are huge and also breakable, and the library just isn't that good. 

Still, I'd been increasingly curious about the add-on as an interesting piece of Sega history, so when I learned Ukranian mad scientist KRIKzz had released a new Mega Everdrive that doubled as a Sega CD FPGA, I finally took the plunge into the world of flash carts. This has proven a great way to play some of the Mega Drive’s big-ticket rarities I will never buy—namely shmups like Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer and Eliminate Down—as well as try out prospective additions to the collection. I never would have discovered the phenomenal marvel of engineering and synth composition that is Star Cruiser without this thing, but now that I have, it’s high on the shopping list.

The Mega Everdrive Pro is functionally nearly identical to TerraOnion’s “Mega SD” cartridge, but slightly less expensive, comes in a “normal” cartridge shell instead of the larger Virtua Racing-style one, and supports a single hardworking dude in Ukraine rather than a company with reportedly iffy customer service.

Twitch

Getting a PC also resolved issues that had long prevented me from achieving a real streaming setup, and much of my gaming life in 2020 was about ramping up my streaming efforts. I even made Affiliate in about a month. Streaming has been a great creative outlet and distraction, as well as a way to connect with other people during the COVID depression and structure my gaming time. Find me every Monday through Thursday 8-11pm Eastern at twitch.tv/lacquerware.  

Metroid: Other M (Dolphin)

PC ownership also gave me access to the versatile Dolphin emulator, liberating a handful of great Wii exclusives from their disposable battery-powered prison. 

One of the Wii games I fired up on Dolphin was Metroid: Other M, a game I’d always wanted to try but had been dissuaded by years of bad publicity and the fact that I never had any goddamn batteries. I know I should temper what I’m about to say by acknowledging that I was playing at 1080p/60fps on a PS4 controller so my experience was automatically a vast improvement over that of all Wii players, but I’m increasingly confident Metroid: Other M was the most fun I’ve ever had playing a Metroid game. I haven’t decided yet if I’m willing to die on this hill, but I will just say that if you like the Metroidvania genre in general and aren’t particularly attached to the Metroid series’ story or its habit of making you wander aimlessly for hours, there’s a very high chance you will enjoy Other M—especially if you play it on Dolphin.

Don't Starve Together (PC)

Don't Starve is the only game my friend Jason plays, so last year I tried to get into it with him. I respect this game's singular devotion to the concept of survival, but make no mistake: every session of Don't Starve ends with you starving to death. Or freezing. Or getting stomped by a giant deity of the forest. The entire game is staving off death until it inevitably comes. Even when death comes, you can revive infinitely (in whatever mode we were playing), which means even death is not an end goal. There is no end goal. You don't even have the leeway to "play" and create your own meaning as you do in similarly zen  games like Dead Rising. 

Don't Starve is a game for people for whom hard work is the ultimate reward in and of itself. Don't Starve told me something about Jason. 

G-Darius (PS1)

In the early fall, Sony announced they were dropping PS3, PSP, and Vita support from the browser and mobile versions of their PSN Store, and since the PS3 version of the store app runs like a solar-powered parking meter in Seattle, I decided this was my last chance to stock up on Japanese PSN gems. 

Among my final haul, the PS1 port of G-Darius proved an instant favorite. Take down the usual cast of mechanized fish in a vibrant, chunky, low-poly style that perfectly inhabits the constraints of the original PlayStation hardware. I believe this is the first Darius game that lets you get into giant beam duels with the bosses, which is quite definitely one of the coolest things a video game has ever let you do. The PS1 port is also surprisingly feature-rich, including some easier difficulty levels that present an actually surmountable challenge for non-savants.

This one’s coming to the upcoming Darius Cozmic Revelation collection on Switch alongside DARIUSBURST, a good-ass romp in its own right.

Red Entertainment

In my effort to shine a tiny spotlight on some of the unsung Interesting Games of gaming, I found myself drawn again and again to the work of Red Entertainment. First there were cavechild headbutt simulator Bonk’s Adventure and twin shmups Gates of Thunder and Lords of Thunder on the PC Engine Mini. Then I streamed full playthroughs of the PS2’s best samurai-era, off-brand 3D Castlevania, Blood Will Tell and the Trigun-adjacent stand-‘n-gun, Gungrave: Overdose. Then I was dazzled by Bonk’s Adventure’s futuristic spin-off cute-‘em-up, Air Zonk, which was also sneakily tucked away on my PC Engine Mini in the “TurboGrafx-16” section. It turned out all these games were made by the same miracle developer responsible for Bujingai, the stylish PS2 wushu game starring Gackt and a household name here at the Lacquerware estate. How prolific can one team be???

Month of Cyberpunk

In November, I started toying with the idea of themed months on my Twitch channel with “Cyberpunk month.” It was supposed to be a build-up to Cyberpunk 2077’s highly anticipated November release, but holy shit that didn’t happen, did it? Still, I always find myself gravitating toward this genre in November, I guess because I associate November with gloom (even though this year it was sunny almost every day). A month is a long time to adhere to a single theme, but cyberpunk is such a well-served niche in gaming that I could easily start an all-cyberpunk Twitch channel. The fact that we’re so spoiled with choice makes Cyberpunk 2077’s terrible launch all the more embarrassing. Here are just some of the games I played (and streamed!) in November:

Ghostrunner Shadowrun (Genesis) RUINER Remember Me Transistor Rise of the Dragon (Sega CD) Shadowrun (Mega CD) Cyber Doll (Saturn) Binary Domain Shadowrun Returns Blade Runner (PC) Deus Ex: Human Revolution Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Observer

Shadowrun on the Genesis gets my top pick, but the two most recent Deus Ex games are great alternatives for those looking for something in the vein of 2077 that isn’t infested with termites.

Lost Planet 2

Every year. I played through it twice in 2020.

Dead Rising 4

I slept on this one too long. While it's a far cry from the original game, it's easily the most fun I've had with a Christmas game since Christmas NiGHTS. This is the game a lot of people thought they were getting when they bought the original Dead Rising with their new Xbox 360--goofy, indulgent, and pressure-free.

Devil May Cry 5: Vergil (PS4)

Vergil dropped for last-gen consoles in December and breathed a whole lot of life into a game that was already at the head of its class.

Nioh 2

I’ve only played a few hours of Nioh 2 because I promised my friend I’d co-op it with him and wouldn’t play ahead. But he’s a grad student with two small children. Nevertheless, Nioh 2 is my Game of 2020.

And that's it! Guess I'll spend 2021 playing games that came out last year, and maybe eventually getting vaccinated? Please? 

[nickburn]

Things I Enjoyed in 2020 Despite Everything

Seasons Greetings! This year has felt like an eternity for so many reasons, and before it’s over, I’d like to take a look back on the distractions that got me through it. Along the way, I’ll occasionally point out where I was emotionally at the time and whether I got into a particular thing before or after the pandemic hit in mid March. I hope you enjoy this little retrospective of some of my experience during one of the worst years of human history!

Games & Mods

Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven

When I was making my 2020 resolutions list late last year, one of my goals was to play more old games in my backlog and not buy many new games this year. That goal largely went on hold, because, well, I sought out enjoyment wherever I could find it instead of forcing myself to play one thing or another. But before Covid, I was really enjoying my new playthrough of M&M6. I’d made attempts at it before, but it was really GrayFace’s mod that made the game click for me. Modern features like quick saves and mouselook make the game much more accessible, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to try an old-school RPG. It’s a great stepping stone into a mostly-dead genre. I’m hoping to get back to it soon. I just jumped ship to simpler ventures like Doom Eternal after the pandemic hit and haven’t looked back since.

Pathologic 2

I learned about the Pathologic series late last year and have since become a little obsessed with it. Hbomberguy’s lengthy video essay on the original game really intrigued me and lead me to trying the sequel/remake in April via Xbox Game Pass. In a weird way, it was cathartic to be a doctor in an even more dire situation than our current one and still see signs of the townsfolk trying to help each other deal with a supernatural plague and little help from their local government. The game helped me express a lot of what I was feeling at the time, when I was still getting used to working from home and wondering just how long this could go on for. I’ve gone back to it recently, and I’m hoping to finish it someday, if I can find a way to stop dying. Above all, Pathologic 2 teaches you how to make choices in no-win scenarios with little information or resources and still persevere, despite the world going to Hell around you. And that’s maybe the most important thing to practice at the moment.

Overwatch

I’ve continued to look forward to weekly Overwatch nights with my friends every Thursday, and it’s really important to have something like that right now. Even if it’s just a new episode of a show airing, a new video from a favorite YouTuber, or a regular Zoom call with coworkers, it helps so much to have something to anticipate from week to week and month to month. Otherwise, it’s really easy to feel like nothing’s going on besides the entropic deterioration of the universe. Overwatch itself helps with this, because it’s such a positive, bright, and optimistic game, as only Blizzard can create. And it’s improved a ton in the past couple of years, in a lot of ways. If you haven’t played in a while, hop in and check out all the new content with your friends; I think you’ll have a great time. It’s looking more and more like Overwatch 2 is right around the corner, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Go

I learned how to play Go after watching a documentary released this year about  AlphaGo, the computer that beat the Go world champion, and I have a huge appreciation for the game now. I think it’s even more beautiful than chess, though even more insidious to learn. If you haven’t played before, start with a 9x9 board, teach yourself the basics, and try playing with another beginner friend. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at the amount of strategy and imagination that a game ostensibly about placing black and white stones on a grid can inspire. Go’s one of several new hobbies I’ve picked up this year, and those new hobbies have really helped me pass the time in a way that feels productive as well as take my mind off whatever depressing news just got blasted across Twitter.

Doom 64

Doom Eternal was fine, but Doom 64′s where my heart lies. The PC port on Steam is great, allowing everyone to easily play the game with mouse and keyboard. Its levels are tight and colorful, often asking the player to backtrack multiple times through the same areas to unlock new ones and take on whatever new twists await down each darkened corridor. It’s a surprisingly fresh experience. Unlike many modern Doom mods that strive to be sprawling marathons, 64′s levels are short but memorable, and the game is a great entry point to the series for newcomers because of that. Retro FPS’s continue to inspire and entertain me, and Doom 64 is one of my new favorites.

Golf With Your Friends

I’m not usually that into party games, but Golf With Your Friends strikes the right balance between casual tone and skill-based gameplay. The maps are vibrant and devious, the different modes are creative and often hilarious, and the pacing is near-perfect. If you’ve got a squad itching to play something together for a few nights, I guarantee you’ll have a lot of laughs trying to knock an opponent off the course or turning them into an acorn just as they’re about to attempt a nasty jump.

Quake 1 Mods

I probably sound like a broken record by now to a lot of you, but I won’t rest until I get more people into retro FPS’s. The outdated graphics and simple gameplay can be off-putting at first, but it doesn’t take long at all to get hooked after you’ve played the likes of excellent mods like Ancient Aliens for Doom 2 or Arcane Dimensions for Quake 1. And it’s only getting better, with this year marking probably the best year for Quake releases ever. The industry even seems to be taking notice again, with many talented mappers getting picked up for highly-anticipated, professional indie projects like Graven and Prodeus. And while the marketing around the retro FPS renaissance as the second coming of “boomer shooters” should be much maligned, the actual craft involved in making mods and brand new games in the genre has never been stronger. I even contributed four levels to the cause this year, but you’ll have to play them yourself to decide if they’re any good: https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/?filtered=burnham.

Streets of Rage 4

I had not tried Steam Remote Play before this year, but it works surprisingly well if you have a decent internet connection. Because of Remote Play, I was able to complete Streets of Rage 4 with my friends, and it was very close to the experiences I had as a kid playing brawlers like Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo. The game is just hard enough to make you sweat during the boss fights but just easy enough that the average group of gamers can complete it in a night or two, which is ideal for adults with not a lot of free time.

Hard Lads

Hard Lads is a pure delight of a game by Robert Yang about the beauty of a viral video from 2015 called “British lads hit each other with chair,” which is even more ridiculous than it sounds. It made me smile and laugh for a good half hour, and I think it’ll do the same for you.

Commander MtG

The Commander format for Magic: the Gathering is one of my favorite things, and in 2020, I dug into it more than any other year. More so even than playing or watching it being played, I created decklists for hours and hours, dreaming up new, creative strategies for winning games or just surprising my imaginary opponents. I sincerely believe this little ritual of finding a new legendary creature to build around and spending a few days crafting a brew for it got me through the majority of this summer. I didn’t have a lot of creative energy this year, but I was able to channel the little I did have into this hobby. Especially during the longer, more frustrating or depressing days at work when I had nothing else to do or just needed a break, I could often dive back into card databases and lose myself in the process of picking exactly the cards that best expressed what I wanted to do for any given deck. And it’s nice to know I can always fall back on that.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

I played a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh! growing up but never had the cards or the skill to be particularly good at it. I just knew I enjoyed the game and the 4Kids show, but I quickly them behind when I got to high school. Fast forward to 2020, and the game and franchise have evolved substantially, not always for the better. But I do find it so intriguing, with a skeptical kind of adoration. It’s not nearly as well-supported as Magic, but what it does have are gigantic anime monsters on tiny cards with enough lines of text to make your head spin. And it’s so interesting to me that a franchise like that can continue to thrive alongside more elegant games like the Pokemon TCG and Hearthstone. And the further I’ve delved into how the game has changed since I stopped playing, the more invested I’ve become, going so far as to start buying cards again and looking into possible decks I might enjoy playing. An unequivocal win for Yu-Gi-Oh! is Speed Duel, which seeks to bring old players back to the game with a watered-down, nostalgia-laden format with fewer mechanics and a much smaller card pool. So if all you want to do is pit a Blue Eyes White Dragon against a Dark Magician, that’s 100% still there for you, but the competitive scene is still alive, well, and astoundingly complicated. And I think that’s kind of beautiful.

Black Mesa

I wasn’t expecting to have the tech to play Half Life: Alyx this year, so Black Mesa seemed like the next best thing. And it really is a love letter to the first game, even if it’s far from perfect. I even prefer the original, but I did very much enjoy my time with this modern reimagining. If you’ve never played a Half Life game before, I think it’s a great place to start.

VR via the Oculus Quest

Around halfway through this year, I started to get really stir crazy and yeah, pretty depressed. It seemed like I’d be stuck in the same boring cycle forever, and I know for a lot of people, it still feels like that. So VR seemed like the perfect escape from this dubious reality where you can’t even take a safe vacation trip anymore. And you know, I think it works really well for that purpose. The Oculus Quest is especially effective, doing away with cords or cables so you have as much freedom as you have free real estate in your home. I don’t have a lot of space in my studio apartment, but I have enough to see the potential of the medium, which is completely worth it. Next gen consoles are neat and all, but I’ve got my heart set on picking up the Quest 2 as soon as possible.

* Beat Saber

I was most looking forward to trying Beat Saber on the Quest, and I was not disappointed. You’d think rhythm games had reached their peak with Rock Band and DDR, but the genre keeps on giving with gems like this. It’s hard to convey if you’ve never tried it, but the game succeeds so well in getting your entire body into the rhythm of whatever song you’re slashing through.

* Half Life: Alyx

Again, I really did not expect to be able to experience this game as intended this year, and I still don’t think I really have. The Oculus Link for the Quest is admittedly a little janky, and my PC barely meets the minimum specs to even run the game. And yet, despite that, Alyx is one of my top three games of 2020 and maybe one of my all-time favorites. Even as I was losing frames and feeling the game struggle to keep up with all the AI Combine soldiers running around, I was still having a blast. For me, it is one of the best reasons to seek out and own VR and a pinnacle of game design in its own right.

Hades

For me, Hades has mostly been similar to every other Supergiant Game that I’ve played: fun and well-polished but ultimately not engaging enough to play for very long. And there’s always this sheen of trying to be too clever with their dialogue, narration, and music that rubs me the wrong way. But Hades is certainly their best game, and I can’t deny the effect it’s had on people, much like Bastion’s reception back in 2011. And I’m really hoping Hades gets more people into roguelikes, as a more accessible and story-driven approach to the genre. Timing-wise, I wish it hadn’t come out around the same time as Spelunky, because I think it did make some people choose one over the other, when the best choice is to play both and realize they’re going for very different experiences. The precise, unforgiving, arcade-like style of Spelunky isn’t fun for everyone, though, and Hades is thankfully there to fill in that gap. I’m really glad I found more time to play it this year at least to succeed on one escape attempt; it’s a fun game to think about in a game design context. And I do think the game has a lot of merit and is doing some clever things with difficulty that the studio likely could not have honed nearly so well without the help of Early Access. The most impressive part of the game to me is not the story or the music or the combat but the massive amount of contextual dialogue they somehow found time to program, write, and record at a consistently high level. All of this is just to say, Hades is obviously one of the best games of the year, and you should play it if you have any interest in it at all.

Spelunky 2

I’ve spoken a lot about this game on Twitter, so I’m not going to rehash much of that here. For me, it’s been a journey of over 1,000 attempts to learn the intricacies and secrets of a deep and demanding game that’s been as frustrating as it’s been rewarding. But it remains a constant source of learning and discovery as well as mastery and pride for me, and I still have hopes of reaching the Cosmic Ocean and getting all the trophies someday. It’s been a joy to watch other Spelunky players too, even as some fair worse than me and others fair far better. And the Daily challenge keeps me coming back, because seeing my name high up on the leaderboard just makes me feel so damn good (or at least I’ll get a good laugh out of a hilarious death). At its heart, Spelunky is a community endeavor, and I think it succeeds at that better than almost any other game this side of Dark Souls. I think it is my Game of the Year or at least tied with Alyx, I really can’t decide. If you don’t think you’d enjoy it, all I’ll say is, the frustration and difficulty are integral to the experience of discovery and surprise, and your brain is better at video games than you think.

Chess

Okay, yes, I watched and enjoyed The Queen’s Gambit, but I think 2020 had already primed people to get into chess this year regardless. Like Yu-Gi-Oh!, chess was a childhood pastime of mine that I really enjoyed and then quickly left behind as I discovered things like music and the internet. If I had to assign a theme to my 2020, it would be rediscovering old hobbies to remind myself how good life actually is. And now I’m more committed to chess than I ever was before. I’m watching international masters and grand masters on YouTube (as well as the incomparable Northernlion), I’m playing regularly on Chess.com, and I’m even paying for lessons and probably my own theory books soon. Like most fighting games, chess is a complicated form of dueling a single opponent with zero randomness, so mistakes are always on you. And modern chess platforms offer extremely good analysis tools, showing you exactly how, when, and why you screwed up so you can do better next time. Like Hearthstone, it’s a quick, addicting, tense, and rewarding way to train your brain and have fun. And it seems more popular now than ever, in part due to a certain Netflix original TV show...

TV

The Queen’s Gambit

I think a lot of people want to be Beth Harmon, even if they know they shouldn’t. It must feel so good to be the best at something and know you’re the best, even while under the influence of certain substances. It’s what makes characters like Dr. Gregory House so fun to watch, though you’d never want to work with the guy. For me, anyway, I always wanted to be a prodigy at something, and what little success I’ve had made The Queen’s Gambit very relatable to me. More so, it’s easy to relate to growing up in a conservative environment with few real friends and fewer outlets of expression, only to realize you’ve finally found your thing, and that no one can take it from you. That’s mostly what I’m going to take from The Queen’s Gambit anyway, more than chess or the Cold War commentary or the problematic relationships Beth has with her cadre of rivals/boyfriends. The show gets a strong recommendation from me for fans of chess as well as lovers of optimistic coming-of-age stories.

March Comes in Like a Lion

Similarly, March Comes in Like a Lion features a protagonist who is scarily close to a version of myself from like eight years ago. My best friend has been urging me to watch this show for years, and I’m still only a few episodes in. But I love how it portrays a young person who’s moved to a big city away from home for the first time, with nothing more than some meager possessions and the hopes of becoming the best in the world at something. And Rei is not confident in himself or outgoing at all, he’s extremely depressed despite pursuing his dreams and trying to distance himself from his somewhat toxic family. It’s a great reminder that the smallest kindnesses can often change our entire perspective on the world, and that even the people that seem the most well-equipped to handle life often still need help. I’ve been very fortunate to have people like that despite mistakes I’ve made, and I hope to be that person for others too.

Umbrella Academy

I’m pretty burnt out on superheroes, but UA put a good enough spin on them that they felt brand new. The show is rough in places, but it’s surprising in some really clever ways. And the comics are some of the wildest stories I’ve ever read, like Hitchhiker’s Guide meets Watchmen.

HunterXHunter

I binged about 100 of the 148 episodes of HxH this year, which I recognize is not a significant number in the wider world of long-running shounen anime, but it’s quite an undertaking for me to finish a show of this length. The series goes places I never expected and made me care so strongly for characters I thought I’d hate at first. It’s the smartest and most endearing show about a band of misfits going on crazy adventures and punching people for the good of the world that you’re likely to find.

Hannibal

This is the rare show that’s simultaneously comforting and nightmare-inducing if watched for extended periods. I can remember nights after binging a few episodes where I couldn’t get many of the disturbing images out of my head. Fair to say, Hannibal is not for the faint of heart, nor is it without some low points. But for those who enjoy gory thrillers or gritty detective dramas, it’s a must-watch. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Original Series, English Sub

You can probably imagine my surprise as I discovered this year that the Japanese version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is not only much better than the 4Kids version we got in the States, but it’s actually a decent show. The plot makes much more sense, it’s more interesting, the stakes are higher, the voices are better, and overall it’s just more enjoyable to watch. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it long enough to finish it this time, but this is definitely the way I’d do it and would recommend to others.

Fargo Season 4

It’s a miracle we even got another season of Fargo this year, let alone on time and of the same high quality as the first two seasons. It has a great setting, cast, and conflict. I love Chris Rock, and it was so cool to see him act so well in such a serious role. There’s a Wizard of Oz homage episode that is nearly flawless. And the post-credits scene at the end of the season is just the cherry on top. If you haven’t checked out Fargo by now, you are really missing out on some of the most interesting stuff happening in TV. I can’t wait to see what Noah Hawley does with the Alien franchise.

Movies

Cats

I had to include this one because it was the last full movie I saw in theaters before the pandemic hit. I technically went to Sonic too, but my friends and I walked out after about 30 minutes. The less said about that movie, the better. Cats, though, is a strange and curious beast (pun intended), adapting an already unruly animal (pun intended) to the big screen and yowling to be recognized (pun intended). But for every awkward or embarrassing scene, there’s one of pure joy and magic, like the extended ballet sequence or Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat. The film knows exactly what it is and leans into it hard, like a familiar yet slightly insane feline begging to be stroked, which I imagine is exactly what fans of the musical wanted.

Children of Men

There’s not much I can say about this film that probably hasn’t been said better elsewhere. I was intrigued to watch it when I learned it was one of my friend’s favorite movies. And I have to say, it’s really profound in a prescient way. Clive Owen gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. You should watch it, but only when you feel like taking a severe hit to the feels.

Basic Instinct

Vertigo is probably still my favorite film, so when I learned this year that Paul Verhoeven made a bloody, sex romp homage film to it in the 90s with Michael Douglas starring, I simply had to watch it. And you know, it’s not bad. It’s nowhere near as good as Vertigo, and you can see the ending coming a mile away. But what it does have is the immaculate Sharon Stone, who you cannot take your eyes off for the entire movie. And the movie knows it, making her look as alluring and suggestive as her character is to the detective investigating her. You could do worse than to watch it, just don’t expect any of Hitchcock’s subtlety or looming dread to seep into the final product.

Books

Dune

I finally finished Dune this year, and I can genuinely say it lives up to the hype. It’s not the easiest book to get through, but it’s by no means one of the most difficult either. I’m still bummed that the new film was delayed, but it might give me time to read the rest of the original book series.

The Fifth Season

Another fantastic piece of fiction, I cannot recommend this book enough. N.K. Jemisin is one of the best living authors of our time. If you want an original setting with a brilliant magic system and complex, compelling characters, look no further.

Video Content

Northernlion

I’ve been a fan of NL for years, though I’ve never been that into The Binding of Isaac. He just has a charismatic intelligence to him that sets him apart from most “Let’s Play” YouTubers to me, and he’s very funny to boot. I guess I’d say he seems a lot like me or the person I could picture myself being if I were a professional video content creator. So I was really excited for NL’s series of Spelunky 2 videos, and I still watch them every day, months later. And now he’s teaching me how to get better at chess, being a good 600 ELO higher than myself at the moment. His sarcastic and improv-laden banter have withstood the test of years and gave me some much-needed comfort and laughter in 2020. Somehow, the man even found a way to keep up his prolific output this year while raising his firstborn child. There are those who said it couldn’t be done...

The Command Zone - Game Knights

Josh Lee Kwai and the rest of the crew at The Command Zone continue to put out some of the most well-produced tabletop gameplay videos on the internet. It’s perhaps no surprise, seeing as how Lee Kwai created trailers for such blockbuster films as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Jimmy Wong had a supporting role in the live action remake of Disney’s Mulan. But the crew around the two hosts are just as important and talented, and it’s clear that they all share the same singular vision for the channel’s future. They’ve carefully crafted a team of expert editors, animators, cosplayers, and voice actors to deliver one delightful video after the next at a consistently high level. If you’re into Magic: the Gathering at all, you simply need to watch Game Knights.

Cimoooooooo

I found Alex Cimo’s channel shortly after the algorithm learned I was interested in Yu-Gi-Oh! again, and at first, I was less than impressed with him. But it’s clear to me now that he not only loves what he does, he’s an expert Yu-Gi-Oh! player and analyst. Plus, he’s very good at explaining some of the more complex concepts in the game in a way that newcomers can understand. I’ve watched every new episode of The Progression Series and The History of Yu-Gi-Oh! so far, and they’re the best way I’ve found to learn how the game developed and changed over the last 20 years.

Team APS

This is another great Yu-Gi-Oh! channel, focusing more on skits, gimmick videos, and casual games rather than analytical or theoretical content. Mostly, they seem like a really great group of friends that just have a blast playing Yu-Gi-Oh! together, and their love for the game makes me want to play more too.

Tolarian Community College

Somehow, a community college English professor’s channel went from a quirky little deckbox review platform to the most popular Magic: the Gathering channel on YouTube in only a few years. But it’s easy to see why when Brian clearly loves what he’s doing more than most people ever will. He’s not only a fantastic reviewer and MtG scholar, he’s one of the most outspoken voices for positive change in the community and the game. Is he too hard on the Magic team at Wizards of the Coast? Perhaps, but without his measured and well-reasoned takes on all things Magic, I think we’d be much worse off.

IRL

Cooking

Even I get tired of eating the same things every day, so I’ve taken it upon myself to learn how to make more dishes, mostly out of sheer boredom. And I know I’m not alone in that, but I have to say it’s been a rewarding and fun adventure. It’s really surprising what you can throw together with a decent recipe and a little creativity in a modest kitchen when you decide to break away from the microwave for once.

Chinchillin’

Like many people, I felt that I needed a pet to survive this year, and I’ve always wanted a chinchilla. So I took a risk and bought one from a seller on KSL a few months ago, and my life has definitely changed for the better. No longer simply alone with my thoughts all day, I have a furry little companion to commune and bond with. And it’s more difficult to find time to feel sorry for myself when a basically helpless tiny creature depends on me for almost everything. Not to say it’s been a perfect experience however, people don’t say chins are difficult to care for for nothing. And I have learned more about them than perhaps I ever cared to know before, but that’s only made them more interesting to me as a result. Overall, I would recommend them as pets, just be prepared to give them a lot more time and attention than you would to say, a fish or a hamster. I’ve seen the commitment compared to that of a large dog, and I think that’s fair, though chins seem far more difficult to train and are far less cuddly. Basically, imagine a fluffy, super fast squirrel that can jump half your height, shed its fur at will if grabbed too tightly, that sleeps all day and bathes in dust, and that cannot get wet or too hot or eat 99% of human foods without serious complications. And they get lonely, and they all have their own surprisingly distinct personalities, some shy and mischievous, others bright and social, and everything in between. But I’m glad to be part of my little buddy’s life and hope to make it a long and enjoyable one for him. Part of why I wanted a chinchilla so badly is they typically live between 10-20 years, much longer than the average rodent or even many cats and dogs. And they’re sadly endangered in the wild, poached for their incredibly soft fur, which is why I believe it’s critical that we care for and learn more about them now. And above all, I adore my chinchilla’s antics, even when he continually tries to dig up and eat the paper bedding below his cage when I’ve provided perfectly edible hay and pellets for him in much easier to reach locations.

And that’s all, folks...

If you’ve read this far, know that I really appreciate it and hope you learned something new about yourself, art, or the world. And please do let me know what’s kept you going the most this year too, as I suspect I’ll still be searching for new distractions next year, even after I’m able to get a Covid vaccine injection. As Red Green would say, we’re all in this together, and I’m pullin’ for ya. <3

[gamescare217]

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[cyberramblings]

Ex-CoD Kid’s Thoughts on the New One

I wanna talk about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This is 2019′s Call of Duty game (there is one every year). This is a little confusing because it is a reboot of the Modern Warfare sub-series that started with 2007′s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The first three Call of Duty games were set in World War II, which is funny since the whole series is now associated with a modern or near-future setting in most of the games, to the point where 2017′s Call of Duty: WWII stood out by being set in World War II again, which hadn’t been done since 2008′s Call of Duty: World at War (which was the first one to ditch the numbers and also the first one I got into as a kid).

Anyways, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (the 2019 game, which I will now call MW) is one of the biggest leaps the series has taken in a while. These games are kind of notorious for not changing much from entry to entry. The Call of Duty franchise is also kind of notorious for alternating between three different developers in order to crank out a game every year. This gets a little weird because obviously the franchise as a whole shares a lot of traits and code in common, but for example, the Modern Warfare subseries and its corresponding characters can only be touched by one of the three developers, while another of the developers has exclusive rights to the Black Ops subseries and its characters. All this to say that yes, a new Call of Duty game, but the folks (Infinity Ward) who make it only get to make a new one every third year (formerly every other year until the PS4/Xbox One era).

Well, I guess what I mean to say here is that the Call of Duty games tend to be two steps forward, one step back. There’s actually relatively little consensus on which features to include or throw away between games. 2018′s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 got rid of regenerating health, only for 2019′s MW to bring it back, but also bring back Black Ops 4′s healthkit item. Imagine that times a hundred every year. Even Call of Duty fans usually don’t agree on which features should return or not.

So with that all being said, MW introduces the most new features that I can recall in a Call of Duty going all the way back to its namesake (CoD4) which either invented or popularized the modern model for picking a loadout and unlocking new items for it. I want to run through a few of them and why I like them.

1 - Attachments Reborn

Call of Duty has long featured attachments for guns as an integral part of multiplayer gameplay. At first, you would have to pick between a scope or a silencer or more bullets. The red dot sights were so popular that some of the games introduced ways to have multiple attachments, but at the cost of other parts of your loadout, such as forgoing grenades. MW finally, gloriously allows you to have up to five attachments on your gun with no tradeoff.

It also features far more attachments than before, up to 70 on some guns as opposed to the dozen or so maximum before. This is because there are multiple subvariants of suppressor, stock, laser, nearly two dozen scopes even if they mostly fall under a handful of categories. This also means that attachments are less of a pure upgrade and more of a trade off, but this means you can transform almost every gun into more of a short range weapon or long range weapon. It’s really satisfying to transform a gun into something it’s not, especially when you need to for...

2 - Camo Challenges

Call of Duty the last decade has featured unlockable camouflage patterns as a reward. At first, they were an incentive to get headshots with each weapon, then later special camo challenges would be unlocked after getting all the headshot-based camos. MW skips that first step and has you unlocking  ten categories of camo challenges, each with ten camos each as you complete the specific task. At first, the challenges are things like getting kills, getting headshots, getting kills while crouching, but later they become getting 3 kills in a row, getting kills from far away, etc.

What this essentially means is that every single gun in the game has 100 little milestones of progress and each of those milestones has a tangible cosmetic reward that even other players can see. After getting all 100 camos for a gun, you get the 101st camo: Gold! But it gets better: getting Gold for every gun one of a certain type (assault rifle, pistol, etc.) unlocks Platinum for all guns of that type! One step further: getting Platinum for every gun type (and thus Gold for every gun) unlocks Damascus (named after Damascus Steel), which is a cool multicolored camo. More importantly, it shows that you spent a lot of time getting these challenges done. And most importantly, it basically means that you can “beat” the multiplayer of MW.

I really like this because it gives me a goal to work towards, even if I don’t stand much of a chance of ever actually completing. It was really cool to pick a gun as my favorite right off the bat then use it at close range, long range, etc. as I completed all the milestones and unlocked all 100 camos for it, which let me “beat” that gun and move on to the next one. On one hand, I can see how the game becomes less fun when it is just a grind for these camos, but on the other hand, it is really cool to have a goal to work towards, and I have never felt as attached to the unlocks in a Call of Duty since I was a kid. I’ve almost never played Hardcore mode (a Call of Duty staple that takes away your crosshair and minimap and reduces everyone’s health) but it has become my go-to for getting some of these challenges done, and now I really have a taste for it.

3 - The Rest

MW has a bunch of other little new features that aren’t as life changing, but I wanted to mention anyways. The visuals, animation, and sound design are much improved and much more realistic. The gun sways so much more realistically as you walk forward, for example. The nighvision missions of the single player mode particularly look realistic since they’re just green. The campaign itself is much better than other recent Call of Duty’s, but it is still ultimately forgettable at the end of the day if slightly more enjoyable. I did appreciate that it gives you rewards for the multiplayer mode instead of expecting you to play it just to play it. MW also brings back the Spec Ops coop mode from prior games but with unlocks and XP tied to multiplayer, which is nice, but I’d rather just play multiplayer.

Speaking of, MW lets you toggle which modes you do or don’t want to play online instead of having to pick one mode to play, which is nice because otherwise, certain modes never get played online, especially as the game ages. Also this CoD features special “Missions” that you have to commit to focusing on one at a time that unlock free gun cosmetics (slightly different looking attachments and versions of guns) that offer yet another way to be rewarded for just playing the game, while also helping to make me experience different playstyles.

Of course, this CoD also features a free battle royale mode that seems to be a big success, and I enjyo it fairly well, but it can’t compare to the nonstop action of normal multiplayer. Also this CoD features crossplay sorted by controller typer, so I can get matched with Xbox players or PC players but only if they’re using a controller rather than a mouse and keyboard. This is great because it lets me play the free battle royale mode with my dad on my PC while he is on the PS4, so we can each have our own screen.

Also I appreciate that this game offers splitscreen at all, even if it can’t be used in battle royale, Spec Ops coop mode, or even the larger multiplayer maps such as the brand new Ground War, which features big maps, vehicles, and selectable spawn points just like the FPS competitor Battlefield. It feels a little janky, but it is nice to have the option when I need to blow up vehicles or shoot people from very far away for a challenge.

Oh, you can also reload while aiming down the sights. That’s new. Plus you can mount your gun on a waist high surface to reduce recoil, but it just ends up being annoying since you are forced to do it for challenges. Also this is minor, but certain weak killstreaks or overpowered perks have been turned into “field upgrades”, a usable ability with a cooldown. I like this because they’re not quite like an “ultimate ability” in Overwatch or Black Ops 3/4, but they add a tiny bit of a skill ceiling and agency.

Oh! This is also the first CoD in a long time to not feature a 50 dollar season pass that just provides a little over a dozen multiplayer maps. For context, the other big shooters (Rainbow Six, Counter Strike, Overwatch, Paladins, Battlefield) don’t charge for maps and haven’t in years, since it just divides the playerbase and makes matchmaking harder.

This CoD also doesn’t lock new guns behind lootboxes, which had become a big problem for the last several games. Furthermore, this game doesn’t feature lootboxes at all, which is a new development in the right direction. Instead, this game has pricey (10-20 bucks) cosmetic bundles in the style of Fortnite and a battle pass (again like Fortnite, but almost every game has this now).

Conclusion

So what’s the takeaway? Well, I know Call of Duty is a very popular game that doesn’t need defending, but I really think this new one is special and very much pro-consumer. I refused to get excited for it before release after years of microtransaction-riddled cash grabs, but this one is a real breath of fresh air. There is a lot of content here, and they provide more for free. You get to play all the new maps and modes for free and unlock the new guns for free. The battle royale and normal multiplayer are both getting a lot of support and constant content. I just hope this game doesn’t drive off the edge of a cliff when this year’s new game comes out, but that is a whole other topic (there are rumors, but nothing has been confirmed about this year’s Call of Duty if there even is one. It would need to come out pretty soon, despite no information about it existing. If there isn’t one, it would be the first year since 2004 without one, but this most recent game has been pretty exceptional in my opinion and Corona couldn’t be predicted).

[xtcpanda]

Seriously, is playing Video Games as BAD as mom says?

If you grew up playing video games like I did … you’ve probably heard lots of conflicting information about games from your parents and people. Some say too much gaming will ruin your vision or rot your brain … While others claim it improves your hand-eye coordination, response time and can even make you smarter so what exactly does gaming do to our brain and body?

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with video games.

  I would stay awake for more than 48h till I wake up with keyboard marks on my face, red eyes and my body is so tired to even get up and drink some water... trust me I am not exaggerating. After all that I would go to sleep only to dream about the perfect headshot with that “AWM”.

  But there were physical effects, too. My thumbs turned into machines, quick and precise. During especially difficult levels of play, my palms would sweat. My heart would race. I’d have knots in my stomach from anxiety. It was the same feeling I’d sometimes get from watching scary movies or suspenseful TV shows.

These days the gaming industry is booming and becoming more like sports with fans, medals and everything! and thanks to smartphones and free games like fortnight and League of Legends … Gamers are increasing more than ever before. So, given that we can play virtually anywhere at any time How is all this gaming changing us physically?

Scientists are discovering that playing video games can change the way we act, think, and feel. Whether these changes are good or bad has become a subject of intense debate.

  Action games like counter-strike, overwatch and PUBG are some of the most popular with gamers these days and probably you’ve heard once or twice your grandmother says “these games will make you more violent from all the blood you see!”

Whenever a wave of teenage violence strikes, movies, TV, or video games often take the heat. Some adults assume that movies, TV, and video games are a bad influence on kids, and they blame these media for causing various problems.

  But media don’t necessarily cause violence, says James Gee. Gee is an education professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

“You get a group of teenage boys who shoot up a school—of course they’ve played video games,” Gee says. “Everyone does. It’s like blaming food because we have obese people.”

  Video games are innocent of most of the charges against them, Gee says…

  Well, based on 15 years’ worth of study researchers have found that action games biggest positive effects were on perception: how our senses interpret external stimuli like sights and sounds, spatial cognition: which helps you orient yourself in navigating 3d environments and top-down attention: the ability to focus on one object while ignoring distractions.

  A good video game is challenging, entertaining, and complicated. It usually takes 50 to 60 hours of intense concentration to finish one. Even kids who can’t sit still in school can spend hours trying to solve a video or computer game.

“Kids diagnosed with ADHD because they can’t pay attention will play games for 9 straight hours on the computer”, Gee says. “The game focuses attention in a way that school doesn’t.”

The captivating power of video games might lie in their interactive nature. Players don’t just sit and watch. They get to participate in the action and solve problems. Some games even allow players to make changes in the game, allowing new possibilities.

  Different games have different impacts on the brain and that has to do with what you’re asked to do … just like food it doesn’t have the same vitamins after all, does it?

   “Failure is key to success”.

Ask anyone who has ever had any success in anything if they have ever failed. You will get a big clear “Yes!” because everyone has failed at something. Most people probably know about Thomas Edison and his spectacular failure rate but here are a few other examples:

J.K. Rowling -known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series- was rejected by 12 publishers

Einstein didn’t speak until he was 4 and didn’t read until he was 7

Van Gogh only sold 1 painting in his lifetime

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

In games you get 1000 lives and more! We don’t stop playing till the game says “Game Over” but then we click on “New Game” or new try.

  “Gaming could be good for pain relief”.

a 2012 literature review published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that in the 38 studies examined, video games improved the health outcomes of 195 patients on every front, including psychological and physical therapy.

Plus, in 2010, scientists presented research at the American Pain Society's conference, which found evidence that playing video games, especially virtual reality games, are effective at reducing anxiety or pain caused by chronic illness or medical procedures.

"The focus is drawn to the game not the pain or the medical procedure, while the virtual reality experience engages visual and other senses," said Jeffrey Gold from the University of Southern California.

  “Better Decision Making”.

Shawn Green from the University of Rochester wanted to see how games affect our ability to make decisions.

The study had a group of young adults with no gaming experience play an action game for 50 hours.

A second group of the same age played a slow-paced strategy game instead.

  After the study, Green had nothing but good things to say:

“Action video games are fast-paced, and there are peripheral images and events popping up, and disappearing. These video games are teaching people to become better at taking sensory data in, and translating it into correct decisions.”

A colleague of his even went on to say that shooters can change the brain by dramatically enhancing many of our low-level perceptual functions. Definitely good news for all the Halo and Call of Duty fans out there.

  “Games Can Help (Not Hurt!) Your Eyesight”.

Who grew up without ever hearing their parents say “you’re going to go blind watching that screen all day”.

  For a while, it did seem like they had a point since we tend to blink much less frequently while playing a game.

This can cause serious problems like eyestrain and dry eye syndrome.

  Another team of researchers from the University of Rochester sought to prove if games really worsen our vision.

The 2009 study involved having a group of experienced first-person shooter gamers plays Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament 2004 while more casual gamers played slow games like The Sims 2.

  After testing, those who played the first-person shooters showed signs of having a better vision than the others.

Daphne Bavelier, the leader of the study, discovered that playing action games improves an ability called contrast sensitivity function.

This ability helps us discern between changes in shades of gray against a colored backdrop, which is very beneficial while driving at night.

“Video Games May Help Treat Depression”.

A few years back researchers in New Zealand sought to find out if video games can be used to treat mental disorders like depression.

This was done with SPARX, a game specifically designed to provide therapy to teenagers in a way that’s more active and enjoyable than regular counseling.

Over 168 teens with an average age of 15 participated, with all of them having shown previous signs of depression.

  While half of the group received traditional counseling, the other group got to play SPARX.

The game involves creating avatars to rid the virtual world of enemies representing gloomy, negative thoughts.

Every stage also introduced general facts about depression, including ways to relax and deal with negative emotions.

Here’s their conclusion after discovering that SPARX players did better at recovering from depression than the other group:

  “SPARX is a potential alternative to usual care for adolescents presenting with depressive symptoms in primary care settings and could be used to address some of the unmet demand for treatment.”

  “Games has a purpose, meaning and can actually help!”.

Darfur is Dying is a video game made in 2006 by Students at the University of Southern California that provides a window into the experience of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. It is designed to raise awareness of the genocide taking place in Darfur and empower college students to help stop the crisis. The game was developed in cooperation with humanitarian aid workers with extensive experience in Darfur.

First, you choose a Darfurian character to represent your camp. Next, you are instructed to go out and get water, which is the goal of the game. You are warned about the implications of some of the game's rules,

In the game, the user chooses a Darfurian character out of 7: a guy at the age of 30, a 26 years old woman, 5 kids from 10 to 14 years old from both genders to find some water... but watch out hide yourself from the Janjaweed militia! Upon success or failure, they learn that their chances of succeeding were predetermined by their gender and age if they are still young the militia takes them, if they are adults they get killed or raped. The navigation system in the game enables the player to learn about the situation in Darfur, get involved with stopping the crisis.

  As we saw no one plays a game and doesn’t gain something ... either you get a positive impact or a null impact. We haven’t seen any area that has been damaged where there is worse performance.

  Playing video games can be very high speed, can create a lot of chaos, create a lot of multiple environments where you have to make decisions, and all of these are forming skills in brain so … No, I think games really help improve our cognition and awareness training our brains making us better Human beings.

But of course, too much of anything is going to be bad after all.

You will get more learning gained from smaller sessions spread out over time than one BIG block.

  When it comes to my own experience, I’ve played games for more than 13 years never suffered any gaming related injuries. While may I never know if gaming helped my brain, I do know it didn’t destroy it … so take that mom!

  —   Moaaz Akram