We’ve seen the buyout/burn down methodology against a lot of smaller companies; it sounds a bit like Microsoft is doing that internally to Xbox division. It’s all I can think of to explain so much of the intentional damage.

So, the console war is now basically Nintendo, Sony, and Valve.

Ah yes, the Galbrush problem; in which designing something and then swapping a character’s gender suddenly makes it a gender commentary.

I won’t really fight anyone suggesting “Yarr-harr” approaches, but if you’re just looking for something to watch and legality becomes a hurdle as you describe: Libraries offer a huge backlog of stuff (watched some old Disney stuff I’d targeted, without sending the mouse money) as well as some digital services. It should be pretty easy to rip the DVDs they have on offer too.

This concern exists regardless of what device is running on the TV.

If you have a wireless keyboard that’s comfortable on the couch, use that. Otherwise, just use a controller and launch in Steam Big Picture mode (now basically looks like Steam Deck’s main screen).

Good launchers (not all of them) also take controller input.

EDIT: But I think to reinterpret your question, yes, the device on the TV generally should have the input connected directly. That can be done with Android TV and I think Apple TVs.

May I introduce you to Sunshine and Moonlight.

No, I’m not asking you to open your curtains. Long as you have a good connection between your PC and TV, and some small TV device, you can play a lot that way.

Syrup and gravy are too liquidy for that to work. Honey can get VERY slow and thick, which seems to be why the premise works with this thing.

Emulation seems neat to me, but I know behind every comment on it there’s a whispered implication: Piracy. Very few people are imaging their own game discs. That unfortunately makes it less appealing to me, especially as trustworthiness shifts at many of those sites.

I so want to go back to a wave of media about brutal violence towards Nazis.

Sure, put in a moral dilemma. A little “Is it really okay for us to be doing this?” Just certify that the answer is YES.

Best way of handling this is to load the environment with random events that can occur on various return trips. Sea of Thieves and Red Read Redemption 2 do this, though it doesn’t work for every game.

The other good way to handle it is a fun movement system, eg Insomniac games.

I see this design on earwax cleaners. I think the idea is to be useful for retrieving a thick, viscous substance from a tight place. Rather than scooping it, it provides a space designed for the stuff to “get stuck in” the cracks.

Given honey appears in various consistencies, I can see how that would be useful; maybe more for the beekeepers than the consumer.

To me, it’s an indicator that the rest of the industry bankrupted its talent and innovation. There’s been some great indie games, but nothing overwhelmingly amazing, certainly not in the AAA space.

I miss walmart.horse

(The site was just a picture of a Walmart with a horse in front of it)

If HL3 was ever to get news, I don’t really think Valve would do it on someone else’s awards show. They tend to own their own announcements.

Something I tried to do earlier to help with it, in this very channel, was a “Downvote any game you’ve heard of before” thread. It was a nice exercise to help people post odd games no one had heard of.

I’m a sucker for Zenless Zone Zero. I recognize it’s often catering to male gaze, but I appreciate there’s some uniqueness and interesting themes to the designs.

Basic example, “Corin” being on first blush just a cute maid cut, but also following a Frankenstein design theme with the bolts/chainsaw and hair color.

They’ve also had a “bunny-girl”, Alice, who much like real bunnies is skittish and easily frightened (and is thankfully not nearly as sexualized as the theme often carries)

If you haven’t played games in a while, a subscription service like game pass or PS+ can be a good idea.

It’ll let you try out a lot of games that you might not try otherwise, and also try/discard some games that seemed cool but turn out to be unlikable.

When this happens to me, I think it’s a bit of a mental decision between “They’re going to explain it, it’s meant to be mysterious now.” and “They explained it poorly”.

Biggest pet peeve is when the plot centers on one key character that people only talk about, and you never see. Or when one key piece of information is muttered in a heavy accent during five other things happening.

I of course love the former. I’ve been burnt by the latter many times, like “Oh, I should’ve rewound the movie.”

Silly Poly Beast - 3 GB Another Crab’s Treasure - 7.7 GB

Rabbit and Steel - 376 MB, coop PVE game, plays a lot like FFXIV raids

The worst part is, I consider myself a bit of a gooner; I like alluring, attractive characters. But that was meant to be a story-based game, and yet it designed so many jokes around attractive women dressing in rags, being clueless, easily offended, and seemed to design the story around an intense contact between a shonen hero and a large-breasted woman.

At least in something like Stellar Blade, they evade the subject because they know there’s nothing constructive to say.

dives to 50 feet, removes tube from mouth to shout to Gabe, and fucking drowns