Sounds like something an AI-loving Nazi would say!

Seriously, though, yes. This was exactly my first thought. There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about AI, but conflating it with Nazis is just blatant propaganda.

'Bout time. The combat in the games has been what’s kept me from completing any of them. Great stories and characters, but tedious and boring gameplay.

With this news, it’s official: I am hyped.

What an absurd, ignorant notion. Of course social media has a negative impact on developing minds, but forcing sites to display warnings would have zero positive impact. Browser extensions would immediately pop up to hide those warnings, and if anything, the presence of such warnings would increase kids’ use of social media, since the danger is something even adults had a hard time understanding and kids love to rebel against oppressive systems. The warnings would turn into memes.

The only answers to this problem are to break up and ban social media companies (not possible) or get parents to actually be parents and teach their kids about the pitfalls of social media.

I hate to say it, 'cause Bethesda has been very influential throughout my gaming life, but it’s too little too late. Starfield is entirely unsalvageable without a complete overhaul and re-release using an upgraded engine that can actually handle the scope of the game.

Would that be so bad, though? The Nazi wastes money on a useless decorative blade and you get to take some money from a Nazi that might otherwise have gone to something worse.

So this is why Hogwarts Legacy didn’t have playable quidditch.

C

What an inane question. Of course they aren’t saying all Jews are racist. They’re saying that the people in charge of Israel are deeply racist. They also happen to be Jewish, but that isn’t really a factor.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if, in the inevitable Israel Nuremberg Trials, it comes out that the Israeli government intentionally instigated or even carried out the October 7 attack in order to generate sympathy and as a pretext for its genocide.

Yeah, they should really stop killing their own people. Over 30,000 Palestinians, many of them children, dead at the hands of Hamas!

Good thing Israel’s there to stop this horrible genocide and restore order.

/s

Doubtful. I already own Echolyn’s “Mei”. Hard to believe there’s any song I’d like more.

That being said, I’m always on the lookout for new music. I’d love to find a song better than “Mei”, despite how impossible that seems to me.

My old job doing systems design for a predatory mobile game. I quit that job, moved half a state away, and got a job that pays half as much in a company with integrity. Best decision of my life.

The toys-to-life trend ended, as it wasn’t making enough money. The games remain playable, but they have no support and are old enough they they require hardware that I no longer have.

Toys-to-life video games. I went on a Skylanders spending spree less than a year before it officially died. $5-$15 figurines got sold at garage sales for $0.25-$3 each.

I had tons of fun getting into it and I was young enough that I could afford to waste the money, so I regret nothing.

This is the right answer. Hatred just breeds more hatred. If you approach with love and understanding (or at least a desire to understand), you’ll have a much better chance of changing hearts and minds. Try to meet in the middle and you might be able to point them in the right direction.

the only reason Biden hasn’t decriminalized cannabis is because he’s not a dictator and has no control over government agencies like HHS.

The only reason Biden hasn’t decriminalized cannabis is because it keeps (mostly ethnic minority) people in jails, and having full jails is very profitable.

Fixed that for ya.

Are these insanely rich people?

Oh, yes. Emphasis on the insane.

The assumption around the office always was that they were Saudi royals or kids of oil barons.

Very right. As a content/systems designer, it was my job to carefully balance a feeling of progression with a frustrating lack of progression at key points, thereby pushing players to spend.

The first few levels are easy and free, then progression starts to slow, but you’ve already gotten to level 10 easily enough, so you can take a bit of extra time to get to level 15. By level 15, you’ve invested enough time that the sudden valley of progression from 15 to 30 convinces you to make that first purchase; after all, why not spend just $5 to instantly double your level when you’ve already spent a few hours in the game? Progression speeds back up from 30 to 45, letting you feel like you’re in control of your leveling, then another valley hits and you’re now even more invested, and, since you’ve already spent $5 to get from 15 to 30, what’s another $10 to get from 45 to 80?

Rinse and repeat, steadily increasing the cost of each purchase while seemingly improving the in-game value per dollar spent.

Our biggest whales were spending over $10,000 per day on that disgusting “game.”

I had to get out. My next job, one at a prominent console/PC game studio, only paid about half of what I was making at the mobile game company, and I loved it. No more panicked 2 AM meetings because our revenue dipped 10% over the last hour. No more convincing myself that players enjoyed wasting thousands of dollars on an endless treadmill. No more 28-hour shifts.

Rant over.

Bonus: I’ve since become a dad, I’m actually proud of what I’m making now, and I’m excited to share it with my child when they’re old enough.

Oh, console/PC without a doubt. Mobile development, at least in my experience, is a constant struggle for relevance and a nonstop sense of urgency. Creativity is only allowed if it answers the question “how can we better trick players into giving us their money?”

Console/PC development, however, is focused on making a good product that will last. Nobody ever asks “how much money will this feature make us?” At worst, the question is “how much will this feature drive engagement?”

I’ve only worked for major companies, so my experiences don’t reflect what it’s like at indies.

The Steam Deck is the best thing to happen to Linux since… Linux. It’s the first time average tech illiterate folks have gotten a taste of Linux on their own systems, and it’s driven the development of compatibility tools (Proton) to a hitherto-unheard-of degree.

It convinced me to switch to Linux.