Adderbox76

@Adderbox76@lemmy.ca

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Voyager crew incompetence. Has Trek always been like this?⁩ ⁨⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  reset button mashing was a reality of making network television in the 80s and 90s.

  Budgets relied on sets that didn’t need to be updated every week to a consistent level of “damage” in the passage of time. It’s no different than the fact that no matter how many car destroying stunts the General Lee did one week, the next episode it was running fine and dandy.

  I’m tired of Voyager getting shit for that when literally every episodic show in the era relied on it. They HAD to. There was no Cheap CGI. the ability to keep updating the sets with new damage only really came about with the BSG remake, and THAT’S because budgets had increased exponentially.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bunnies are metal⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Sure. But to be fair, you take the fur off a bunny and it looks pretty similar to the scientist’s aproximation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Behold, "the whole story of Steam's economy in one picture": the top 1% of games earn 84.5% of estimated revenue, and most games barely make anything⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not defending anybody.

  I’m saying that if you’re an author (for example) that wants to self publish instead of trying to find a big publisher to accept your manuscript, what are you going to do? Email a copy to anyone who wants to buy it? No…of course not. Similarly, if you’re a dev who wants to release a game without going through a big publisher like Activision or Bethesda or whatever…what are you going to do? Other than Steam and Itch.io, there aren’t many places to do that.

  Does it suck? Yes. But the reality is that if we want to get our work out into the public, regardless of monetary concerns, we have to roll around in one mud puddle or another. Our only choice (until that changes) is to choose how deep of a puddle we choose.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Behold, "the whole story of Steam's economy in one picture": the top 1% of games earn 84.5% of estimated revenue, and most games barely make anything⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So in your mind, no one who is self-publishing a book should put it on Amazon. No one who is trying to sell their product on etsy should use PayPal. No one who is just trying to get rid of a few things around the house should use Facebook Marketplace… etc…

  Welcome to reality. Sometimes the best of a bunch of bad options has to do. Should these companies all be put int he ground. Yes. But if we let perfect be the enemy of good, we never make any progress.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Behold, "the whole story of Steam's economy in one picture": the top 1% of games earn 84.5% of estimated revenue, and most games barely make anything⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sure. You have to rent a stall at farmer’s market if you want to sell your corn, too. No body is saying otherwise.

  The point is that having Steam as an option as an indie dev rather than having to connect to a larger publisher in order to get your work out there, is a good thing. The fact that some titles don’t make money isn’t part of it. It’s the fact that Steam at least allows these devs to cut out the middle man (the publisher). Maybe it’ll work and be a hit. Maybe it won’t. But at least they have the option to try.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Behold, "the whole story of Steam's economy in one picture": the top 1% of games earn 84.5% of estimated revenue, and most games barely make anything⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d argue that that is entirely a good thing overall.

  It means that Steam is very open to Indie devs (something we already know) that don’t make as much money but are passion projects for the creators.

  If they’re making enough from the…let’s call them prestige titles…to be able to afford to give indie devs a place to host their passion projects and maybe get more eyes on it, than I see no problem with that.

  No idie dev is going into it thinking they’re going to be next giant thing. They just want to share their work and maybe make a few bucks. And Steam gives them that, PLUS the chance that maybe they’ll be a Rimworld or a Hollow Knight; something that sparks a giant success for them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Costco Pistachios⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m all for a good conspiracy theory, but I can practically guarantee you that no one is inspecting every singe nut looking for empty shells to bulk up the bag.

  Other than a certain amount of each batch that is kept aside for quality control testing, the bags are filled by machines on a conveyor belt. I doubt a human even looks at them until they’re at the final stage and ready for the last quality control test.

  It’s completely random how many empties there will be in a bag. OP was just unlucky this time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Housing prices⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Nothing broke. It’s working exactly as intended.

  There have always been two distinct economies.

  • There is their economy (meaning the billionaires economy of venture capital, real estate investment firms, speculative markets, etc…) It’s a market that exists on paper only. Theoretical billionaires with assets instead of bank accounts, capital instead of paycheques. Money isn’t a real concept in that economy, it’s simply a measure of profit and loss. It’s just a score keeping device and something used to leverage power.

  • Then there is our economy. (meaning the rest of us, who get a paycheque, spend that paycheque, etc…) Maybe we’d be able to put something aside for retirement or college for the kids. . Money itself has a real, tangible impact in our lives. It’s not theoretical.

  Maybe we have enough to play in the paddling pool of the speculation market, telling ourselves that “we’re shareholders!” like our 10 shares means squat against the 10,000 shares owned by the investment firms and LLCs run by the billionaires. Employers like to do things like offering you stock options, selling it as “you’ll be an owner and have a say in the company”. Yeah…no…you’ll have a piece of paper and a sense of self-importance because you “dabble in stocks”.

  The idea being that if we invest hard enough, and risk enough, we’ll make enough to jump us from one economy into the other. But we won’t. That’s the lie they tell to keep us mollified.

  Because the truth is that their economy, only works at the expense of our economy. Profit in their economy, only comes from loss in ours. A corporation can’t make more profit without taking it from somewhere. And that somewhere invariably is us; our health benefits, our cost of living, the quality of the products that we use, our lack of raises, etc…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Theft⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Spot on. Very well said.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 749 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  • Syndicate (loved), Black Flag (Fun to be a pirate, fun story, but again…that same gameplay loop)

  • Original Assassin’s Creed (I recognize its groundbreaking nature for its time, but found it kind of underwhelming),

  • Rogue (got it for free at some point…don’t know where or when or how. But found it similar to Black Flag; fun to be a pirate, but the same gameplay loop)

  • When I had Game Pass, I also took stabs at Origins and Oddysey.

  I think anyone can recognize the loop I’m talking about. Go into an area. find a point that let’s you sync a bunch of little mini games (in AC it’s syncing from high points, in Watchdogs it’s hacking towers, etc…) Then you just randomly do enough side-plot and main plot missions and kill the sub-bosses until you “control” that part of the map and then do it again. Every game. Every Franchise. They all follow the same loop.

  It’s only when a game adds something somewhat different to the equation (a grappling hook in Syndicate and a train that is constantly looping through the city or sailing a pirate ship in Black Flag) that it has any sort of novelty for me.

  Those cheeky buggars have made the same basic game for over a decade just by changing time periods and art assets.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 749 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve always had trouble getting into the Assassin’s Creed games, even though as a history buff they should be right up my alley. There’s something about the Ubisoft generic play-loop that bores me after a certain amount of time. ( I have that same issue with the Total War series…love history, so I should love those games, but for some reason they just don’t click with me).

  Weirdly enough, the only AC game that has really clicked with me is (AFAIK) one of the least popular ones, and that’s Syndicate. I think it’s because the setting. Victorian London had a lot of verticality from the various buildings that allowed a very spider-man like experience.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Palantir CEO Alex Karp predicts he will get 20x richer from AI—but middle-class workers will get left behind⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  As long as I have enough money to buy ammo, it’ll all work itself out in the end.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is your favourite gaming console you have played?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The OG Playstation had, by far, the biggest collection of games that I consider my favourites.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is Exaptation, Alex?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  • cunilingus condom.

  • analingous armour

  • tipping the velvet behind a shower curtain.

  • bringing a rain-coat for the man in the boat.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is a game that you know is bad but really enjoy(ed)?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  X-Com: The Bureau Declassified. Your “teammates” are fundamentally suicidal, making keeping them alive almost impossible. But the setting, story and challenge made up for it. It was inventive.

  The Technomancer: Mid-budget game by Spiders. Was short and straightforward, which most people disliked, but I thought it was a blast. The story still sticks in my head screaming for me to write a novel based on it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve honestly been having some trouble getting into Prey. Don’t know why. It theoretically should be everything I enjoy in a first person game, but somehow I always turn it off after a half hour or so. I’ll keep trying because, hell, I paid for the damn thing. But yeah… It’s no dishonored (but what is really)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s your favorite video game that most people didn’t like ??⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Which one? I don’t recall running into anything critical.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s your favorite video game that most people didn’t like ??⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I would desperately love a remaster but upgrading the squad mates AI operate similar the Mass Effect squad mates.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s your favorite video game that most people didn’t like ??⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  XCom 2 - War of the Chosen (with the Long War mod) is easily in my top 3 games of all time. Its a must-play.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s your favorite video game that most people didn’t like ??⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  X-Com: The Bureau Declassified

  Its fatal flaw was simply that the A.I. squadmates would far to often make suicidal decisions unless you micro-managed then, which made winning far more about luck than skill.

  But the setting, the writing, the story were all super interesting to me. And the graphics hold a special charm for me (I still say the facial animations were better than LA Noire)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Neo, wake up!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Smith is just upset he’s never invited to the rave-orgies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Neo, wake up!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s not a requirement. There’s nothing stopping them from happening in the Matrix, and probably with people who smell a lot better.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Neo, wake up!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The older I get, the more I realize that Joey Pantaloons was right.

  If I’m living a life in the Matrix, I’m not being harmed in any way while they use my body to generate electricity. Who really gives a shit? Does it make a difference?

  Reality is just neural inputs translated by our brain; does it even matter where that input comes from? Does it make a difference if those inputs simply skip my five senses and plug directly into my brain?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon is a paramedic⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A large part of my younger self wanted to be a paramedic. But I quickly realized I didn’t have the emotional resilience to be one.

  I remember watching Nic Cage in “Bringing out the Dead” (Excellent film by the way) and that movie putting the big ol’ nope on that plan once and for all in the early 2000’s.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨lmao⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s been Mamoa’s fate since Stargate Atlantis.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there an "Avoid Amazon" community for people who want to support smaller online retailers?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I go to ebay and select “Canada Only” when trying to find a particular item. (Am Canadian)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨lmao⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s true. But Blockers and Trainwreck are a part of what I’m describing. He’s content to mostly stick to the same basic character; a jovial everyman, basically. I don’t see him ever wanting to tackle the stage on Broadway or play Macbeth, or anything for “serious” actors. He’s just happy to be doing his thing. And hey, that’s fine and dandy. More power to him.

  I see Bautista as someone who (Ironically I wasn’t a fan of at all in GotG) legitimately wants to climb that acting ladder. I don’t think he’ll succeed…let’s be clear. He won’t be winning any oscars any time soon. But I respect the effort to stretch himself with things like Bladerunner 2049, Dune, Knock at the Cabin, See, etc… which are all drastically different characters.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨lmao⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  None of them are “great”. But Bautista puts in the most effort with trying various roles and actually “acting”, and improving every time he tries a new role. So he gets the nod for actually taking the craft seriously, even if he’s not particular great at it yet.

  Cena is likable enough and he plays his character well. But he doesn’t stray into trying to seriously act, he just takes fun goofy roles for the most part and that’s fine. But I haven’t seen him challenge himself like Bautista does.

  And the Rock is…just “The Rock”. He has no characters. In any movie it’s just “The Rock climbing a skyscraper”, “The Rock get’s lost in a Jumanji game”, “The Rock cosplays as Buford Pusser”, etc… etc…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there an optimal angle when using a urinal?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Same as always. Just going with the flow.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When drawing up the middle east after WW1 and 2 how come the Kurds got the shit end of the stick?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The Sykes-Picot agreement basically fucked over anyone who was white or Jewish.

  At the end of World War 1 it carved up the middle east into areas controlled by the allied powers (France, Russia, England). Each of those sides puppeted their zones of control with varying degrees of civility, while the original groups that still had to live there day-to-day radicalized over being controlled by outsiders.

  That was exacerbated by the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in which Britain basically said “tough titty-toenails, Arabs. We’ve promised to give the Jews a homeland, and we’ll have to take it from you.”