Río Robayo
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riorobayo.bsky.social
Río Robayo
@riorobayo.bsky.social
🌟She/Her
🌟Writer and Reviewer for Qualbert.com
🌟Spanglish Speaker 🇦🇺 🇻🇪
🌟Professional Whinger
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Finally finished this monster piece about the Alters! This is my second big feature for Qualbert, and gets into why I want genAI out of my damn games www.qualbert.com/ai-use-in-th...
I’m Still Not Done Talking About AI Use in The Alters | Qualbert
The more we let companies use GenAI in development, the more we all stand to lose. We examine the ripple effects of AI use in games, beginning with The Alters.
www.qualbert.com
Reposted by Río Robayo
Metroid is a fascinating study of fandoms vs shifting official presentation, clashing visions of what and who a character is, and also of a franchise that is way more popular overseas than it is in its home country.
The entire fandom’s (and Retro Studios) initial assumption: “Oh she hunts down the baddest monsters in the galaxy and gets paid for it, right?”

Nintendo: “What? No. She’s like humanity’s motherly guardian. What are you talking about.”

www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/04...
November 15, 2025 at 10:49 AM
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Been laughing at this for about 10 minutes.
November 14, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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I have a million things I could add to this and only so many characters. I have heard some version of this from almost everyone in games PR in Aus, but the names they use are News or Nine. They want normies, new audiences, not the core. Whatever they’re selling, they already expect you to buy it.
I've had this chat with PR people and they know that supporting smaller sites and freelancers makes sense and would help build a healthier games media.

The problem is game publishers pretty much exclusively want GI cover stories or an IGN First and anything smaller isn't worth it.
I don't understand this mentality as long as the person/website has reputable people. How does it hurt you to provide a code? With how hard it is to get publicity for games of all sizes even "small" coverage seems like it would only help?
November 14, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Río Robayo
Anyone else noticed how Nazi rallies get the go-ahead fairly easily from state governments, then the horrified public reaction is weaponised to pass anti-protest laws, which are then used to quash anti-genocide dissent and justify police assaults on small brown women? You picking up on this, too??
November 13, 2025 at 10:54 PM
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Despelote
Fill in the blank:

Before you pick your Game of the Year, make sure you play _______
November 14, 2025 at 12:20 AM
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hard not to feel like we (whoever is left in games media) waged a battle for a decade we could never win
Hard not to connect yesterday's Media Watch stuff to more games media job losses.

Sad fact: these fuckups are inevitable when there is no way for people to cover video games ethically and pay the rent.

We exist in an ecosystem built to sell us shit with zero oversight. It's all by design. Borked.
November 12, 2025 at 1:44 AM
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La nomenclatura Juana la Loca sigue la misma estructura que Sonic el erizo
November 10, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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Si ves a alguien leyendo y crees que está siendo performativo es más un problema tuyo que de la persona leyendo
Oh fuck off
November 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM
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I read a thread about games with terrible UI earlier and this video has been destroying me all day.
November 10, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I wasn't able to come to this!! Super keen to fire this up!
The Parallels 2025 recording is live! Whether you want to revisit a favourite talk or see the show for the first time, it's available on our channel now:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD2a...

🎩🏈💀🃏⬜💐🧚🏠
Freeplay Parallels 2025
YouTube video by Freeplay
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by Río Robayo
is it better for countries to invest in boring things like transport and energy infrastructure or should they invest all their money in useless chatbots that talk in reddit-voice on the vague and completely unsubstantiated hope that they'll be able to do something profitable one day
November 7, 2025 at 10:19 PM
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arc raiders, alters, same story

aftermath.site/the-alters-a...
November 10, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Not to be the fun police but I do hope people know that Arc Raiders does use generative AI for voice acting, and by supporting the game you're letting higher-ups know that this is an okay practice.

They try to downplay this on the Steam store page by describing the AI usage as vaguely as possible.
November 8, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Río Robayo
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.

This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
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When @kjpalmer.bsky.social and I worked at EB Games together, some kid called up asking for “Grand Sex Auto” and to this day it might be the funniest joke I’ve ever heard
In 2008, the children would ask me for GTA Eye Vee. In 2013, a new crop of children would ask me for GTA Vee. In 2026, the children will ask a dead eyed clerk for GTA Vee Eye. And so the wheel turns, forever.
Thinking about when I was working retail during the GTA IV launch and people were coming in asking for GTA Eye Vee.
November 7, 2025 at 1:57 AM
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Isle of Feathers has ✨SIX HOURS TO GO✨!! Screaming internally XD

Also, had a wonderful night at Netherworld with @zedgames.bsky.social celebrating local indie games! - thanks @erisalar.bsky.social for a splendid evening!
w @riorobayo.bsky.social @degari.bsky.social Jono & Hazelx2! :D
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
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australian indie developer deciding on a setting:

australia
November 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM
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July 15, 2025 at 9:59 AM
really good stream so far
November 2, 2025 at 8:30 AM
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Reposts are appreciated
Okay! Christmas comes early as I just realised there are a lot of keys I purchased last year that expire in less than a month! (Some expire in 3 days)

So comment down below for a free game! No guarantee's that they'll work but it's free so who gives a damn!
a merry christmas greeting card with a christmas tree gingerbread man candy cane and present
Alt: a merry christmas greeting card with a christmas tree gingerbread man candy cane and present
media.tenor.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Río Robayo
This type of incidental humour is the very best type of in-game writing. It doesn’t interrupt gameplay. It rewards attentiveness, immersion and gentle curiousity.
in honour of the new katamari game coming out, here's some of my favourite insane item descriptions from it
October 30, 2025 at 9:46 AM
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Hey everyone, here's a real simple way to disable "Super Resolution" on your channels:

• YouTube Studio
• Settings
• Channel
• Advanced settings
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance visual quality"
• Uncheck "Let YouTube enhance audio quality"
October 29, 2025 at 10:56 PM