I think it’s one of the best independent art projects/movements of the 21st century. I don’t care how long it takes, those folks are not just making a mod, they’re developing themselves professionally, collaborating at a high level of sophistication, stewarding a community, and breathing new life into work that should not be forgotten, even though its original creators are willing to let it be forgotten.

If nobody’s ever paid you to play it, how would you know it was a good game 🤨

Love this game conceptually but I’m going to have to try again when I have mental bandwidth to get absorbed into it

Rare bookmarked comment

Thanks for fielding this one, I didn’t have the mental energy tbh

Did not enjoy having to explain the idea that it’s a child labour scam to a five year old, but I was able to get the point across.

Time to pass laws, this shit keeps happening. If you sold a game over $x that completely ceases to be playable within X years, you should be forced to open-source your code.

Won’t bother guessing at what the best numbers should be, hardly matters as I’m sure lobbyists would defang the whole thing as much as possible.

It does! Thanks, looking forward to the next dispatch ^^

Great to see another update. One of my buddies is practically a game industry savant so I always feel a bit out of my depth with him. Reading this is my cheat sheet for talking points with him.

Who do you know of that talks about games as art? That’s more my focus, and the only one that really seems to tick that box for me is Noah Gervais - and he’s great, but I would love more variety if you know anyone doing pieces like that.

Mental note to never buy Hopetown.

It’s a reasonable concern, but let’s be honest - so is the concentration of chipset manufacturing in Taiwan.

That’s a deep cut and I’m so glad you said it

I’m not a big “power gamer” as I also game on my laptop mainly and it’s a bit less powerful than yours. My suggestions tend toward retro graphics and indie titles; I have a type.

In no particular order, I’m going to recommend Ruiner, Make Way, and Hyper Light Drifter. Ruiner and HLD both have incredibly intense atmospheres and stylized storytelling with an emphasis on action. Make Way is heaps of chaos, totally unrealistic, and the AI can be brutally hard, but it’s extremely simple and unless you crank down the difficulty to zero, it’s easy to find a flow state in the rapidly evolving mayhem.

It’s a little cringe in retrospect, but I really liked my time with Makai Kingdom. Avoid if anime stuff isn’t your bag.

Ico had some interesting ideas that are worth a look.

Rogue Galaxy was pretty okay.

Psychonauts deserves a mention, though it’s kind of obvious.

Red Faction had cool political leanings for a game of that era.

You’ve got heaps of great suggestions already so I’ll leave it at that.

You ever hear that joke about goth culture being a recession indicator? I think they’re going to have to start taking that seriously if these stocks don’t bounce back. They might have to announce Barbie 2 or …something… Polly Pocket?

Goth girls are gaining. Can’t wait to tell the missus.

I’m honestly just jonesing for some Split/Second, looks like it’s still not there yet!

Thanks for the newsletter! I am not good with fediverse how do I like and subscribe… Your talk of emulation on the deck awoke something in me. I checked and yes, it appears you can emulate 360 on it too.

I was interested in the rest, but this has driven every other thought out of my head. I don’t even know how to make breakfast in this state. I’m a wreck.

Seeing it now, not sure what was up with my searches. Good for those employees who walked out, that’s the energy we need these days

Couldn’t turn anything up, you?

Well spotted. Looks like it had been essentially dormant for a good while after being something of a failed launch, so perhaps they cut ties. Looks like they’re working on getting it off the ground again. I’ll give it a try later

That’s what it said on the steam page.

Under £1 for an Annapurna title? Yes please.

What’s your fave?

It’s one of my top five all timers, and my kid’s. Raising em right. I was just trying to figure out where this other fella was coming from.

I suppose you’re right, I guess I had a blind spot there. Haven’t played it.

I’ve never heard of B: AA described as a metroidvania… How do you figure that one?

I still haven’t gotten to Ori yet (a glaring omission I know). Never heard of the other one but I’ve wish listed it.

I’ve seen video essays about metroidvanias that talk about “getting lost”. The real point is to follow clues, feel immersed in a world, learn to find your way, and make interesting decisions.

In Hollow Knight, it’s no problem to use the compass if you find that aspect too burdensome. I really enjoyed my time with Axiom Verge, and I seem to recall it came with a compass as standard? Perhaps that’s wrong, it’s been a few years since I picked that one up.

More to the point, which metroidvanias did you like and what did they do differently?

Seems like games with that good old novelistic style is now entirely dependent on indie developers.

I’ll probably get it if I hear Obsidian took any creative risks, but so far I’m hearing that it’s a mass appeal oversimplified ARPG with looter shooter vibes. Not really the kind of thing I crave from Obsidian.

I really loved his work. Thankful to be finding out from the ones who introduced me to him.

Zombie Kidz is quick, cooperative, and has plenty of achievements (with a sticker book to record them) as well as unlockables through gameplay. You get to use teamwork and planning, and turns occur in quick succession.

I think it might tick every box you mentioned.

I think it would make more sense to have good journalism and honest coverage of markets, and an informed, financially literate populace. While I’m at it I want a pony who cleans the dishes and shits sunglasses.

Oh, nobody thinks what we have now is AGI. Not even the AI thinks it’s AGI. It’s just a words firehose being hyped to hell and gone because billionaires are so excited to fire their employees that they’re jumping the gun.

I’ve read a couple of his books, and he’s been developing a theory of human intelligence with the express goal of creating true AGI. His Thousand Brains book espouses a theory I find just about credible and, perhaps eventually, actionable.

It’s all to do with cortical columns working in parallel on a pseudo-voting type of system. If at some point he says “we know how to make AGI now, but we’re going to need really good GPUs”, I will find that credible based on having read his work.

As to genuine AI needing better GPUs, I’ll believe it when Jeff Hawkins says it’s so.

Pretty typical that the only ones to suffer any lasting harm will be the longs and shorts who weren’t first to act.

The thing about market cap is that it’s kinda not real. You think Rivian was ever worth 130 billion dollars, for example? Nah.

Nvidia has only lost about the last three months of stock gains. It’s quite bad, and they’ll cry, but they’ll be fine in the long term.

I didn’t plan on buying this, but now I extra don’t.

Wishing them luck. I love all their work so far, I don’t mind games that size at all.