Once you get into hypothetical situations there's also a world where Sony makes a PS3 more people buy at launch and the 360 is a much less successful console with a still ridiculous hardware failure rate. I don't think MS ever made great decisions, just momentarily less bad ones
I'm convinced that Xbox today would be in a different place if Kinect had never become a thing. This was the point when things started to go off the rails.
For better or for worse, The Xbox Kinect was released 15 years ago today.
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Once you get into hypothetical situations there's also a world where Sony makes a PS3 more people buy at launch and the 360 is a much less successful console with a still ridiculous hardware failure rate. I don't think MS ever made great decisions, just momentarily less bad ones
Imagining "user friendly" without defining an intended user eventually means creating systems that attempt to (often wrongly) intuit user intentions to the point that it overrides the basic intuitive functionality
![ulauncher for "mesen", showing "welcome screen" (welco[me s]cre[en]) ranked above "mesen"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gwfx4qjjq2yhjzrgr5xqcnyz/bafkreihgl6ba46uls4txp7xa5m7xv4rd2a3ft6yamijm2a3q5ommy53cvm@jpeg)
November 2, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Imagining "user friendly" without defining an intended user eventually means creating systems that attempt to (often wrongly) intuit user intentions to the point that it overrides the basic intuitive functionality
People often frame this purely as an entitlement issue but the per unit costs of distributing games are inconceivably low compared to what they used to be. Studios were happy to sell CDs for less than cartridges because they were paying Sony way less than Nintendo up front for manufacturing.
Why is $60 such a sticky price point for video games? It’s been that literally my entire life. I think I buy like two new games a decade at this point in my life and the price seems unchanging.
October 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
People often frame this purely as an entitlement issue but the per unit costs of distributing games are inconceivably low compared to what they used to be. Studios were happy to sell CDs for less than cartridges because they were paying Sony way less than Nintendo up front for manufacturing.
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
one of the most famous characters in literature pulls a straightforward no foolin "he-went-thataway" on one of the other most famous characters in literature and it fucking works
October 21, 2025 at 12:03 AM
one of the most famous characters in literature pulls a straightforward no foolin "he-went-thataway" on one of the other most famous characters in literature and it fucking works
Dino Crisis 3 being one of the first games I ever bought with my own money really hammered home what a room temperature TV dinner of a game it was
What's the worst game you finished/rolled credits on?
(games media folks, it can't be something you were assigned to review; this has to be something you subjected yourself to of your own free will)
(games media folks, it can't be something you were assigned to review; this has to be something you subjected yourself to of your own free will)
October 15, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Dino Crisis 3 being one of the first games I ever bought with my own money really hammered home what a room temperature TV dinner of a game it was
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
NEW ATB!!!!! Dragon Quest 2 is a weird sequel, with some revelatory evolutions and some very frustrating choices. we wonder when does making a better game make a worse adventure: alltimebangers.com/dragon-quest...
October 1, 2025 at 10:33 PM
NEW ATB!!!!! Dragon Quest 2 is a weird sequel, with some revelatory evolutions and some very frustrating choices. we wonder when does making a better game make a worse adventure: alltimebangers.com/dragon-quest...
All organization seems futile if your main concern is enumerating the people you can't persuade
"we need to boycott this thing, we need to cancel that thing" my brother in christ, we can't even get people to stop posting on twitter lol
September 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
All organization seems futile if your main concern is enumerating the people you can't persuade
It's very surreal getting deep into a conversation about something like this and realizing the other person's signpost for meaning/respected time is a bar filling or something. I love to fill a bar and make a number go up but it's just a reflection of how little value I can place on my own time.
This convo I had highlights the difference in what "respect your time" means in games.
A lot of players want to trade time for in-game progress. It's purely transactional: 1 hour = 1 progress
But I want to feel like my actions matter i.e. what I do with time creates progress, not time itself.
A lot of players want to trade time for in-game progress. It's purely transactional: 1 hour = 1 progress
But I want to feel like my actions matter i.e. what I do with time creates progress, not time itself.
September 6, 2025 at 4:59 AM
It's very surreal getting deep into a conversation about something like this and realizing the other person's signpost for meaning/respected time is a bar filling or something. I love to fill a bar and make a number go up but it's just a reflection of how little value I can place on my own time.
This article envisions Silksong as the bellwether in this scenario but I think the fact that an article about criticism dying will probably outperform any impressions or critique indicates that criticism is already as dead as it will ever be and Silksong is just another marker
Criticism is dying, for video games and all arts, and by foregoing reviews Silksong helps speed up the process, writes @gracemachine.bsky.social. www.endlessmode.com/article/silk...
Silksong Hastens the Death of the Critic
Criticism is dying, for video games and all arts, and by foregoing reviews Silksong is trying to speed up the process.
www.endlessmode.com
September 5, 2025 at 2:29 AM
This article envisions Silksong as the bellwether in this scenario but I think the fact that an article about criticism dying will probably outperform any impressions or critique indicates that criticism is already as dead as it will ever be and Silksong is just another marker
I'm a millenial and understand the despair but the fact that people are in their 30s and 40s and imagine themselves as passive viewers (essentially consumers) of the world feels way more damning on this issue compared to whether or not the "techno-optimist euphoria" switch is on or off
Millenials watching on in horror as their lifetime has witnessed the internet went from a hopeful new frontier of endless possibility to in large part "societal rot accelerator operating at the speed of gigabit ethernet"
August 28, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I'm a millenial and understand the despair but the fact that people are in their 30s and 40s and imagine themselves as passive viewers (essentially consumers) of the world feels way more damning on this issue compared to whether or not the "techno-optimist euphoria" switch is on or off
"Ambient" and "pervasive" being qualities they think they should signal in external messaging really speaks to how much big tech either can't or doesn't care to perform even basic salesmanship to their captive audience
Microsoft's Windows lead has teased the future of Windows will be more ambient, pervasive, and multi-modal in the wake of AI, promoting voice as a primary input method for using your PC. www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/wi...
Microsoft's Windows lead says the next version of Windows will be "more ambient, pervasive, and multi-modal" as AI redefines the desktop interface
In a new video, Microsoft CVP and Windows boss Pavan Davuluri has teased that the future of Windows will consist of a truly ambient and multi-modal experience made possible by AI that will redefine…
www.windowscentral.com
August 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
"Ambient" and "pervasive" being qualities they think they should signal in external messaging really speaks to how much big tech either can't or doesn't care to perform even basic salesmanship to their captive audience
Humanities vs STEM is just console wars for the professional-managerial class; a bored, distinctly middle class kind of desolation
August 10, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Humanities vs STEM is just console wars for the professional-managerial class; a bored, distinctly middle class kind of desolation
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
I think the net effect of this idea and a few others permeating thought has mostly been disengagement no matter how correct they are, because what it amounts to is permission to shift ethical concern into some abstract future
Sometimes, I think people need reminding that 'No ethical consumption under capitalism' is a critique of capitalism, not ethics.
August 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
I think the net effect of this idea and a few others permeating thought has mostly been disengagement no matter how correct they are, because what it amounts to is permission to shift ethical concern into some abstract future
not a huge fan of the narrative that people were simply tricked by capital into centralizing the web into 5 websites in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it was definitely a choice made around convenience and comfort that capital positioned itself to exploit, this will repeat until you acknowledge it
August 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
not a huge fan of the narrative that people were simply tricked by capital into centralizing the web into 5 websites in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it was definitely a choice made around convenience and comfort that capital positioned itself to exploit, this will repeat until you acknowledge it
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
Nintendo Switch Announcer (gravely): What is the true origin of man's inhumanity to man? What fate awaits our souls in the next life? Death and oblivion await all of us, this September.
<fade to black, slight pause>
Nintendo Switch Announcer: Who's up for ice cream? That's right - Hello Kitty!
<fade to black, slight pause>
Nintendo Switch Announcer: Who's up for ice cream? That's right - Hello Kitty!
July 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Nintendo Switch Announcer (gravely): What is the true origin of man's inhumanity to man? What fate awaits our souls in the next life? Death and oblivion await all of us, this September.
<fade to black, slight pause>
Nintendo Switch Announcer: Who's up for ice cream? That's right - Hello Kitty!
<fade to black, slight pause>
Nintendo Switch Announcer: Who's up for ice cream? That's right - Hello Kitty!
It's nonsense but "This NPC behavior having logic is actually AI" really has been a marketing mainstay in the games business for basically half a century now, so it really slots in perfectly into AI hype
This is an insane thing to write about game development. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/a...
July 29, 2025 at 2:09 PM
It's nonsense but "This NPC behavior having logic is actually AI" really has been a marketing mainstay in the games business for basically half a century now, so it really slots in perfectly into AI hype
So many institutions whether explicitly political or moral have failed to take action (even when action is as simple as condemning something as morally wrong) because they saw calls to action as challenges to their authority instead of appeals to their basic function
I think it is awe inspiring how almost every source of moral leadership has failed and this is obvious because every source of moral leadership is now rapidly turning coat on the genocide like a college kid half assing a college assignment due in an hour.
INBOX: Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis & American Conference of Cantors issue a lengthy statement declaring:
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
July 28, 2025 at 4:06 AM
So many institutions whether explicitly political or moral have failed to take action (even when action is as simple as condemning something as morally wrong) because they saw calls to action as challenges to their authority instead of appeals to their basic function
A tribute to no one's favorite rapper by no one's favorite writer
Even when he writes something that isn't politically incoherent or morally revolting I can't get over how *boring* he is.
The least essential writer of his generation and he has stiff competition.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The least essential writer of his generation and he has stiff competition.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
July 27, 2025 at 1:12 AM
A tribute to no one's favorite rapper by no one's favorite writer
I think there's two modes of consideration: it's never an object of consideration as a suitable, preferable replacement. It's always an object of consideration as a known medium for online contraband transactions. How much it matters is a function of how bad repression gets and not preference
cryptocurrency is, in 2025, not even remotely an object of consideration in familiar ‘de facto censorship of NSFW by payment processors’ saga
July 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I think there's two modes of consideration: it's never an object of consideration as a suitable, preferable replacement. It's always an object of consideration as a known medium for online contraband transactions. How much it matters is a function of how bad repression gets and not preference
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
> the long arc of history bends toward a bunch of vital services on the internet being run as a commons
Dating apps are a good idea that can never be implemented correctly because there’s no realistic business model that aligns the incentives of the company with the users.
What you’d want is a dating all that doesn’t need to worry about profit, but a nationalized dating app is a dystopian nightmare.
What you’d want is a dating all that doesn’t need to worry about profit, but a nationalized dating app is a dystopian nightmare.
July 23, 2025 at 6:15 AM
> the long arc of history bends toward a bunch of vital services on the internet being run as a commons
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
my has wife asked me to stop my running Werner Herzog commentary during our Donkey Kong Bananza playthru
July 20, 2025 at 3:57 AM
my has wife asked me to stop my running Werner Herzog commentary during our Donkey Kong Bananza playthru
Reposted by Fun Enjoyer
An insidious online vice is the notion that sometimes seeing bad people get their comeuppance is a justification for systems and conditions that fundamentally contort human sociality into steady streams of spectacle and judgment, where being seen is likely to ruin your life but it IS content
The gleeful doxing of someone cheating in public is bad even if they are a CEO and even if they are a Coldplay fan. It's bad because this kind of thing is happening to random people on TikTok for such crimes as "sitting silently on a plane" or "being attractive"
www.404media.co/the-astronom...
www.404media.co/the-astronom...
The Astronomer CEO's Coldplay Concert Fiasco Is Emblematic of Our Social Media Surveillance Dystopia
Facial recognition and crowdsourced social media investigations are constantly being used not just on cringe CEOs, but on random people who are simply existing in public.
www.404media.co
July 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
An insidious online vice is the notion that sometimes seeing bad people get their comeuppance is a justification for systems and conditions that fundamentally contort human sociality into steady streams of spectacle and judgment, where being seen is likely to ruin your life but it IS content
All the political apathy I have ever felt is basically a result of the idea that I am supposed to believe these people are competent enough to rise to any moment when they can't even be bothered to leverage massively unpopular stuff against their opponents for free
Nancy Pelosi characterizes the Epstein scandal and seeming coverup as "a distraction" from kitchen table issues
July 18, 2025 at 1:47 AM
All the political apathy I have ever felt is basically a result of the idea that I am supposed to believe these people are competent enough to rise to any moment when they can't even be bothered to leverage massively unpopular stuff against their opponents for free