Grangle1

@Grangle1@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You knew it was coming: Google begins testing AI-only search results | This version of Google won't show you the 10 blue links at all—Gemini completely takes over the results in AI Mode⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Sadly, I’ve seen how much the average non-tech enthusiast LOVES all this AI stuff. Like, people’s parents/grandparents who only occasionally use a computer when they have to. The types of folks who will call tech support and actually need the answer, “Is your computer powered on?” And there are far more people out there like that than many tech folks think. That’s the market that keeps powering this stuff.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It probably won't give you nightmares or anything⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Probably the most legit scared I ever was in a video game, and I was 13.That, and Half-Mummified Gibdo Dad popping out of the wardrobe in Majora’s Mask.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Balatro wins formal appeal to reclassify poker game as PEGI 12⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Ugh, I remember those days well. I saw personally what MMOs did to two friends of mine (one from high school and one from college), and how the high school friend was able to really pull himself together and make a good life for himself after we helped pull him out of MMO addiction, and how the college friend we couldn’t help just wallowed in a sea of empty energy drink cans and turned EVERYTHING into WoW during that time. I don’t know if he was able to build a solid life/career after college, but I could imagine him looking back at that time and wanting more from it. Either way, I saw both their situations and vowed to never pick up an MMO because I didn’t want the same to happen to me. Just because an addicting game isn’t extractive of one’s money doesn’t mean it’s not harmful if you have a hard time with self-control and moderation. You either lose your money directly or your time, which may cost you money in other ways in addition to other indirect costs. Ultimately you’ll end up losing something of great value you will unlikely get back, if ever.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Announce Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My only frustration was that you had to essentially master the game completely to unlock all the racers. Sure, rewards for mastery all the way to the highest levels of the single player mode are good, but I felt they should have changed it up so you unlock all the racers earlier and offered some different rewatds for the end. Or maybe I’m just salty that I had to go to the very end on the highest difficulty to play as characters I wanted to play from the start, in a Sega racer, no less, which are generally harder than most. At least in a game like Smash Bros Brawl, you just had to beat the final boss to unlock Sonic, you didn’t have to perfect it on the highest difficulty.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Who's making older games so expensive?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, it’s the collectors’ market. I say that as someone inspired by those very YT channels to get into the hobby myself. But I’m just looking to get games I remember and enjoy, not looking to get whole complete collections or anything. If a game I have my eye on becomes some “holy grail” $500 thing, I can live without it. What helps me, though, is living in a bigger town for a rural area that does have one or two brick-and-mortar retro game stores, where I may be able to find games I’m looking for at below eBay prices. That’s another hint; hit up the physical shops you may have near you, be they specialized game shops or even thrift stores. Diamonds in the rough do exist sometimes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Could you imagine a Nintendo title being advertised like this today? (Conker's Bad Fur Day, 2001)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  More of an anomaly than it is today, TBH. The console stores and Steam really do not care anymore what goes up on their shop, as long as they can see even a little $$$ from it. Porn games on the eShop and Steam are rampant.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Could you imagine a Nintendo title being advertised like this today? (Conker's Bad Fur Day, 2001)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Back in those times gaming was still seen as mainly a kid’s hobby by most, so I would almost guarantee Conker fooled a lot of parents (didn’t fool mine, though), especially being on the N64 and starring a “cute” squirrel as the main protagonist. I would actually argue, though, that parents cared a good deal more then than they do now. Night Trap and Mortal Kombat almost got games censored by the US government in the early 90s, and they’d be seen as quaint now. We’ve had a ratings system for 30 years and more underage kids than ever are probably playing adult oriented games today. An M rating is just what marketers need to sell their game to the junior high market because parents are ignorant and retailers just want the money, doesn’t matter from where.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what was the last game you played in 2024?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, a few days ago. Been busy or just didn’t feel like gaming since then.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is the Wii good?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  As many have said, it’s all about the games. How well the WiiMote functions in a game is largely dependent on the actual game as well. Nintendo pretty much showed the peak of what they can do with the Wii Sports games, and there are a few other games that use the motion controls well, but they tend to be the minority. That said, as a traditional controller it’s not the worst thing in the world, and you can still use a Pro controller, the classic controller attachment or a GameCube controller for more traditional controls. The Wii library can be underrated due to the prevalence of shovelware, but there are great games like the Mario Galaxy games, Mario Kart Wii, the last good Mario Party before Superstars, the original versions of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, the aforementioned Wii Sports games, the second Mario Strikers, the best of the New Super Mario Bros games, Metroid Prime 3, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn (if you can afford them), DKC Returns, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, Kirby’s Epic Yarn (another game that used the motion controls well) and many more. (As an aside, I think the Wii U will also be known as a console with an under-rated library down the road.) Sadly, due to its perception and underpowered hardware for its generation, there’s not much actually good third-party software for it, but Nintendo themselves supported the Wii more than adequately.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Barrel of Doom | Screenshot of what I'm playing, day 5⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah, yes, that infamous barrel. Claims many a hedgehog’s life due to timing out. I did actually manage once or twice as a kid to get under it through fast and clever jumping, until I only learned in adulthood that you’re supposed to move the D-pad up and down to control it. Really doesn’t help that the game doesn’t show you before how to control a barrel like that, and that stage can push players to the edge of danger timewise with or without that barrel.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Elon's Death Machine (aka Tesla) Mows Down Deer at Full Speed , Keeps Going on "Autopilot"⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I know a lot of people here are/will be mad at Musk simply for personal political disagreement, but even just putting that aside, I’ve never liked the idea of self-driving cars. There’s just too much that can go wrong too easily, and in a 1-ton piece of metal and glass moving at speeds up to near 100 mph, you need to be able to have the control enough to respond within a few seconds if the unexpected happens, like a deer jumping in the middle of the road. Computers don’t, and may never, have the benefit of contextual awareness to make the right decision as often as a human would in those situations. I’m not going to cheer for the downfall of Musk or Tesla as a whole, but they do severely need to reconsider this idea or else there will be a lot of people hurt and/or killed and a lot of liability on them when it happens. That’s a lot of risk to take on for a smaller auto maker like them, just thinking in business terms.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stories and Mechanics around punishing over-aggression⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Competitive Pokémon tends to go back and forth between times of “stall” (turtling) and hyper-offense (aggression) dominating the metagame, depending on which strategies and team builds players will find. Whenever one becomes dominant, fans of the other will constantly hound tournament runners to change tiering or ban certain pokemon to change it.

  As for a “fun” game to go hyper-aggressive with zero HP, max damage, I’ve seen some YouTubers attempt “Danger Mario” runs in the first two Paper Mario games, maximizing FP and BP and never taking HP when leveling, keeping Mario in the “danger” zone where lots of evasion or damage badges will stay activated. They then rely on those badges, items and partner abilities to avoid taking damage.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cable companies ask 5th Circuit to block FTC’s click-to-cancel rule | Cable companies worry rule will make it hard to talk customers out of canceling⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, no shit, that’s what the rule is SUPPOSED to do! No more impossible-to-cancel subscriptions, please.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'It Has Plateaued': Should We Be Worried About Console Gaming's Future?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What I mean is, whether or not there’s going to be a visible graphical upgrade in the Switch 2. The console’s existence has been known for a while.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'It Has Plateaued': Should We Be Worried About Console Gaming's Future?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Within console generations, change has indeed always tended to be gradual, but I think the point here is that we’re talking about the step up to the next console generation, for which the visual difference in graphical power used to be very large, you could do a lot more on the newer console than the older one, but has become more gradual over time. Many already didn’t see the need to upgrade to the new Playstation or Xbox from the PS4 or Xbox One, and a lot of their libraries were backported to the older consoles (granted, the consoles dropped during Covid so scarcity played a part in that but even after production picked back up they’re not doing as well overall). The only console that could still likely make a big visual leap to a new generation any time soon is the Switch to the Switch 2, and we still don’t have confirmation on whether Nintendo is even planning on such an upgrade. Just like the Wii, it sold like crazy while still being the least powerful in the generation because it had a knockout combination of utility and quality games. On the other hand, it is showing its age now, so if Nintendo doesn’t make that upgrade who knows if the fans will continue to support it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Streaming site Twitch accused of unchecked antisemitism, anti-Israel bias.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Anti-Semitism is indeed a problem, but given the situation it should be 100% allowed to criticise Israel’s conduct in its handling of the war. The modern state of Israel =/= the Jewish religion. Many on both sides of the argument forget that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sonic x Shadow Generations | Review Thread⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The original got overshadowed (pun not intended) by high profile releases such as SKYRIM and a new Mario Kart at the time and was followed up by the very mid Sonic Lost World, so here’s hoping the good reviews help people decide to pick this up and actually see 3D Sonic done right.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Trip To Machida, The Real-Life 'Pallet Town' That Inspired Pokémon⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I always thought Pokemon regions being inspired by real-world regions/countries was one of its neater aspects.

  For those who don’t know:

  • Kanto: Kanto region, Japan (Tokyo and surrounding area)
  • Johto: Kansai region, Japan (Osaka, Kyoto, etc)
  • Hoenn: Kyushu island and Okinawa, Japan
  • Sinnoh: Hokkaido island, Japan
  • Unova: New York City metro area, USA
  • Kalos: France
  • Alola: Hawaii, USA
  • Galar: the UK
  • Paldea: the Iberian peninsula (Spain, Portugal)
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google looks to be fully shutting down unsupported extensions and ad blockers in Chrome, such as uBlock Origin – which might push some folks to switch to Firefox⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  IIRC Mozilla doubled down on their v2 support when Chrome announced the shift to v3. But then the Chrome monopoly judgment came down and with it a lot of speculation on Google dropping their funding of Mozilla, so maybe Mozilla could be changing its tune to either protect or find a replacement for that funding? Nothing of substance is happening yet, it’s still all speculation, but I do hope nothing like that does happen.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shigeru Miyamoto comments on AI, says "Nintendo would rather go in a different direction"⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That said, they’re not likely to license an already made AI for their projects either, which is also nice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mozilla faces a privacy complaint over Firefox's tracking⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Falkon is better for privacy than stock Chrome or Firefox, but I still find Brave or LibreWolf better than that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Most Loved Video Game Character in Every Country⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If they’re just scraping tweets, it’s probably looking at mentions of a million and one regular guys in the US named Sam Fisher and not the character.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do people actually starve themselves to play games like World of Warcraft?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve been a part of two different friends’ attempts to quit addiction to MMOs. A high school friend had a problem with Everquest back before WoW. His brother recruited us friends to help give him alternative stuff to do like movie and other game nights. We succeeded, and he was able to put the game down. Some college friends and I were not so successful in pulling one of my roommates away from WoW. Activision Blizzard have it literally down to the science of addiction.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nintendo Insiders Considered An N64 Handheld To Compete With The Game Gear In The 90s | Retro Dodo⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I dunno, the N64 had just as long a lifespan as the other consoles at the time. That said, the Game Boy was still selling like crazy, especially with the Pocket and Color out in the N64 era, and the Game Gear was already effectively dead by then. I don’t know what Nintendo would’ve been so afraid of there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It just wasn’t a problem to them and it was a problem for people they didn’t like (whom they call Nazis, various “-ists” and so on if they dare think differently from them). Now it’s flipped and it’s a problem for them but not the people they don’t like. Every platform needs some form of moderation, but that moderation can run the risk of being too harsh on certain groups depending on the opinions of the moderators. Dorsey himself admitted this was happening at Twitter (being too harsh on legitimate conservative views (not just real Nazis) because the mods didn’t like them) to Congress before it was sold, and he did little to nothing about it. Now the moderation seems to be at the whims of however Elon is feeling on any given day, and due to his own stances, liberals are now getting the brunt of it. It really would be nice to just have somewhere where only the very extremes of left and right, and any actual illegal content, would be moderated out and the mods could keep to that no matter what “side” they or ownership is on. But I know that’s just a pipe dream.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Demo For Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Now Available | Retro Gaming News 24/7⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  At this point I’m just quite happy Capcom went back and localized it at all. I know they were planning to at first and then staffing issues hit, but after 15+ years it seemed they were just going to ignore it, especially since localizing games like these with so many other aspects outside straight translation can be a lot of challenging work that can require a lot of communication between the dev team and localizers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Should art be regulated by the SEC?” NFT artists file lawsuit⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The SEC also regulates trading in stocks, which are contracts that show ownership, just of a portion of a corporation instead of a piece of art. They’re both classified as securities because they can be bought, sold and traded as investments where people can stand to gain or lose large sums of money in said trades. They work in very similar, if not identical, ways. If the NFT did not function so much like a stock investment and was just something you could buy or sell as a regular good, then the implementation would not be so weird.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rumble boss ‘departed’ from Europe after Telegram CEO arrest⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My mistake, I meant Telegram. I get the two confused.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rumble boss ‘departed’ from Europe after Telegram CEO arrest⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  With the proliferation of actual illegal material on Signal I can at least understand Durov being arrested, even if I’m undecided on whether I agree with it. But why in the heck would they reasonably go after Rumble? It’s just American conservative YouTube. I haven’t heard of any actual illegal/illicit material (political opinion pieces don’t count, that is in fact free speech) at all connected to Rumble, or at least no worse in proportion to YouTube or Twitch.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Exciting Return of Backyard Sports: A Nostalgic Revival | Retro Gaming News 24/7⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  But could he beat Matt from Wii Sports?