hzl
@hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone
- Comment on Video Game Physical Software and Hardware Sales Just Had the Worst November in the U.S. Since 1995 - IGN 1 week ago:
Consoles are normally sold at a loss if I remember correctly. Companies tend to bet on people buying enough games to make up the difference, because generally people do. Most people aren’t sitting on a console with only 3 or 4 games for it.
- Comment on Resident Evil (Gameboy Color) final build now recovered! 1 week ago:
Barry! We’re Barry, Barry!
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
If SAG hadn’t gone on strike, Netflix would also have been making agreements with actors to use their voice and likeness without actually offering future work too. Was SAG wrong to push against this?
Just because someone makes a deal doesn’t mean it isn’t a toxic business practice that’s bad for the industry or the people involved in it. People also agree to work for subpar wages, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t push for higher minimum wages.
- Comment on Total War: Warhammer 40,000 wants to be "the seminal Warhammer 40K game," says its devs, who sell me in just 8 words: "You can customize the fingers on Space Marines!" plus Gamestar article 1 week ago:
I think the issue is that 40k doesn’t get the message either at this point. It’s just straightforward glorification of the space marines. I don’t see anything in the modern iterations that feels remotely tongue in cheek. Rage Against the Machine may have fans who are chuds, but they’re extremely clear about their message. 40k’s message at this point seems to be “look how cool these fascist soldiers are” and not much else. That doesn’t just accidentally attract chuds, it’s a chud magnet that overly encourages them to become more chudish.
- Comment on Total War: Warhammer 40,000 wants to be "the seminal Warhammer 40K game," says its devs, who sell me in just 8 words: "You can customize the fingers on Space Marines!" plus Gamestar article 1 week ago:
Yeah, I know 40k fans who are certainly anti-fascist, but I’m also acquainted with 40k fans who seem to be generally pro-authoritarian and sometimes it seems like their enthusiasm is the mask slipping. These are usually the ones who are obsessed with 40k and will routinely spend entire days talking about it if no one changes the subject.
The thing is that there aren’t a ton of franchises that lean so heavily into fascism. 40k and Helldivers are about it, and while we’re in a period where real life fascism is on the rise, it’s maybe not a great thing that these franchises are as popular as they are. If there were some sort of rebels to identify with in the setting that might at least improve the situation a bit, but there don’t really seem to be and I don’t really see any sign of 40k having any sort of actual criticism of the outlook they’re spending a lot of time and money presenting to the public. It’s just uncritical glorification at this point, and that’s really the last thing we should want people internalizing.
- Comment on Total War: Warhammer 40,000 wants to be "the seminal Warhammer 40K game," says its devs, who sell me in just 8 words: "You can customize the fingers on Space Marines!" plus Gamestar article 1 week ago:
It seems like the parody elements of Warhammer have completely disintegrated and now we just have an extremely prolific franchise centered around glorifying authoritarianism and pushing the argument that if things get bad enough any semblance of individual autonomy becomes a “luxury” that can’t be afforded. I am fully sick of seeing gamers delight in their imaginary fascism while ignoring the proliferation of real fascism. Even with Helldivers, where there’s at least some still visible parody element, it doesn’t seem to outweigh the glorification and the full-throated glee that comes with it.
Enough of this shit. Give me a franchise about rebellion against authority and stop lionizing bootlicking and thoughtless obedience.
- Comment on Warhammer 40K: 'Dark Heresy's Upcoming Alpha Launches Next Week 2 weeks ago:
You know what we need in a world of increasing authoritarianism? Franchises that initially satirized fascism before being a reason for their fanbase to fetishize it
- Comment on UK issues £1 million fine to adult platform for failing to comply with age verification rules 2 weeks ago:
I’m not sure what you mean by that. UK’s online identification laws create a data security liability and try to fine people for not contributing to the problem. It seems way easier to just block the ip and then if people want to get around it they can use a vpn or push to repeal the law.
- Comment on UK issues £1 million fine to adult platform for failing to comply with age verification rules 3 weeks ago:
Seems like a good argument for blocking UK ip addresses.
- Comment on Sony cracks down on Concord custom servers, issues DMCA takedowns on gameplay videos 5 weeks ago:
Meaningless hair splitting. I still have my entire collection of SNES cartridges. They’re still playable, and no one can take them short of robbing me. If my ownership of those games was limited to a license that could be revoked, that might not be the case.
- Comment on Sony cracks down on Concord custom servers, issues DMCA takedowns on gameplay videos 5 weeks ago:
That is absolutely untrue. Games used to be sold as a physical object containing the game files. No serial numbers to redeem, no servers, no downloads or updates. Sometimes you’d get a booklet with the game that had some codes in it that the game would ask for on startup to make making copies a little more difficult, but that was it.
You’d literally have everything you need just on the CD, disk, or cartridge. We 100% owned the game and the system it was played on, and the only way to revoke that would have been to physically break into your house and steal it.
This whole games as services thing is about 20 years old tops, and it wasn’t even remotely approaching the standard for quite a while after that.
- Comment on Jellyfin: why is the line two different colors? 1 month ago:
Looks like it’s mostly being covered by left-wing and neutral sources.
- Comment on The oldest Minecraft server, MinecraftOnline, is being shut down by Microsoft 1 month ago:
Yeah, that’s the conclusion I came to after reading their wiki. It doesn’t make me think it’s a very nice place to be. Like they explicitly only disallow Nazi symbols in the areas covered by German law.
- Comment on The oldest Minecraft server, MinecraftOnline, is being shut down by Microsoft 1 month ago:
It’s become really hard to tell what something like this actually means. Does free speech mean being able to speak out against authoritarian power structures? Or does it mean throwing slurs and hatred around? Because one of those things is something worth defending, while the other is a pretty reasonable expectation for a service provider to want to limit.
- Comment on Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition - Reveal Trailer 1 month ago:
I won’t give them a dime until it’s for Elder Scrolls 6 or Fallout 5.
- Comment on MOUSE: P.I. For Hire | Official Release Date Trailer [March 19, 2026] 1 month ago:
Honestly the mix of 2d and 3d makes me want to play it. It’s giving Roger Rabbit vibes.
- Comment on Man, seems like Jim Cummings is to classic CRPGs as Jeffrey Combs is to Star Trek. 2 months ago:
It’s set in the 1490s because that’s the current era in Forgotten Realms, just like the first games were set in the 1360s because that was the era that was current at the time. It’s not like they actively chose that specific time period for any of the three games.
- Comment on You Turn! - an app that gives you a co-op experience with a friend while emulating (my article) 2 months ago:
This is cool, but I’m still waiting on a way to play Secret of Mana online that’s actually viable.