This is a ridiculous article. People are not their government. The fact that Russia is a non-democratic government even makes it even worse. The russian people still deserve to earn a wage, to pay for their necessities, even if their taxes - unfortunately - support a warmongering dictator, and they’re suffering through a draft. How is this any worse than the US government that not only builds itself on constant foreign interference as well as flat out invasions? And their soldiers willingly enlist. Should we ask that every american citizen starve themselves because their taxes support the military? Should we call that companies stop employing US citizens and drive them into poverty because of the countless atrocities the United States support?

To call out a foreign country on not standing up against their leaders is absurd. They control the policemen and the army, they have the weapons, the finances, and the policies. Why didn’t americans - the supposedly defenders of democracy - not easily depose Trump if that’s all it takes? Why are they struggling with a bipartisan system in which both candidates openly support the Palestinian genocide? Why not make a call for the rest of the world to abandon them and just let them die out? Its almost like its not that easy to change your entire nation, huh?

The details are still up in the air, but 404media has chimed in with a legal expert on this deplorable situation. They mostly talk about what damage this could do, and how Nintendo has never lost a lawsuit, but I found this to be an interesting key point

https://www.404media.co/cold-blooded-business-nintendo-is-patent-trolling-palworld-because-it-got-too-big/

Nintendo has, as I mentioned in my tweet, a legendary track record. I think they never lost a lawsuit that they initiated themselves, and under the Japanese legal system, seven years ago, they sued a company called Colopl, which is a mobile gaming powerhouse from Japan. They [Colopl] have, I think, almost 2,000 [employees], nobody but knows them outside Japan but they had a famous mobile game called White Cat Project, not copying Mario, not copying Pokémon, not copying Zelda, nothing at all. Nintendo brought forward six patents that they thought that this company was violating inside their very successful mobile game at one time. It was one of the most popular mobile games in Japan, and they built a huge case. One of the patents was for a confirmation screen after sleep mode. You know when devices are sleeping and you want to resume there’s a confirmation screen in a lot of games? “Are you sure you want to resume?” And then you tap yes or no. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses it. And then Nintendo said, you know, look, you’re using our patent and you cannot do that. You’re not paying us any licensing fees.

And they had five other ones, including one for isometric, pseudo, 3D games, when the character is hidden behind the tree, the game forms a shadow, so you have a kind of sense for where the character is, even though you don’t see the character clearly. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses that technology. And Nintendo said, look, you cannot do this. And this goes on with four other patents, right?

So they had this legal battle. Colopl said, no way, but in 2021 they had a settlement where Nintendo got the equivalent of $20 Million US dollars and Colopl is now paying licensing fees to Nintendo for continuing to use the patents inside their mobile game. So it was a complete win for Nintendo, even though it was technically a settlement. I personally think you will see that after a few years, Nintendo will be in a very, very similar position. I don’t think that Nintendo will even think about filing a lawsuit like this without being as sure as they can that they’re going to win this.

If you are unaware, this was done because of the launch of Dragalia Lost, a game that has long been forgotten, and discontinued.

I’ve had this exact thought in my head the past few days, including the idea that having 3 or 4 different types would actually fulfill the goal of avoiding “Male/Female” choices - something that only Saint’s Row has done, AFAIK.

The issue is that they only changed the label and Body Type A and B are still clearly Male and Female, but for some reason people praise it as not being gender locked because…?

Its even more ridiculous in games like Monster Hunter Rise for example, where you get the Type A and Type B body options…and then you still get gendered outfits where one is fully covered and the other is baring their midriff and wearing dresses! Wow, I wonder which is supposed to be which!? /sarcasm

The more I play, the less I enjoy games that have active combat systems, from the Mario RPGs’ timed attacks to even Final Fantasy’s ATB. I really want to have time to think my turns and just select and use the skills, no reason to try to make it more action-based. So the MegaTen series and Trails series are the ones that cater to my current tastes.

I feel like, aside from the specificity of video games taking far more time and investment to finish than other media, no to mention the dedication to F2P titles, the news could’ve really pointed out that it most likely is not turning a profit because no other streaming service does.

Netflix has always operated with billions of debt that only grows, Amazon, Disney+ and Max only exist because they’re backed by the biggest corporations in the world, and Spotify pays nickels to its artists.

Which might be another point to consider, that the convenience that users get from subscribing to these services do nothing to actually support the creators behind its titles - see every cancellation, whether its a tv show, movie or game - and while having an ever growing library of media is enticing, having few but objective choices still make far more sense when it comes to gaming.

As an aside I’m not particularly fond of the author brushing the change to digital streaming as inevitable, and going back to buying media being backwards, when we are on the verge of constant media erasure from companies, and with physical ownership - and piracy, in extreme cases - becoming more and more vital. If anything, it is less the technology that got us so far, and more the control that IP holders exercise over digital media, and the ability to delist, control prices and manipulate supply and demand at will.

I believe Steam’s predatory cut is very important to the discussion and not a light matter at all, although that’s a discussion for a different thread.

Those should still a good amount of earnings, even if we aren’t aware of how much it goes to HH and how much to Styczeń, so they do have good reason to take it easy.

I don’t see the sales numbers in the article but even then we don’t know how much it costs for Styczeń to operate, or how much of the profits go to the publisher. I assume they are doing well, but the point is for how long in the foreseeable future that will continue.

I don’t think this is a bad article - or discussion - altogether, but this excerpt really brings out the most crucial aspect, or rather how its missing:

Missing from the discussion is a sense of how much cash Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse need right now to sustain on-going Manor Lords development.

The point being, major games owned by large studios are driven by infinite growth because that’s how their business model has shifted heavily into for the past few years. For minor developers, indie, solo or otherwise, the matter is far simpler: Can they afford their livelihood plus keep working on the game with how much they’re making? If yes, good, keep at it. If not, then we have a problem.

Given how that’s not detailed at any point, its impossible to really pick a side. If Styczeń has made enough money that he can afford to work on the game slowly for several months, this discussion is a non-issue. If he is struggling to make ends meet, or if he foresees struggling soon due to revenue slowing down, it might be time to work on rebuilding that publicity.

Yeaa! Always cheers me up to see brazilian games being reccomended

Glad you think so, this is exactly why I thought of making it!

Thanks, I thought of putting a little extra effort, though I think I’ll definitely stop now because the OP is getting cluttered

Case of the Golden Idol is a must have, I avoided sharing in my OP due to being fairly well known, but if someone also shares it then I have no choice! :D

We’re online, I don’t think you need to apologize for showing off some furries :P

Its Bunlith, the sona of the Bloodborne Kart and Bloodborne PSX games

https://b0tster.tumblr.com/

https://x.com/b0tster

Which reminds me to put Bloodborne Kart up there

I have played very little of both Avernum and Avadon, not enough to have an opinion. They’re both on my “One Day” play list

SpiderWeb games are really good! I’m particularly fond of Queen’s Wish where you deal with political factions and base building while attempting to reclaim (or liberate) an abandoned colony.

They look like they’d be bullshit hard games, but they tend to be actually quite smooth and well made, while still being simplistic

stupid brain, thanks for pointing it out

I’m actually going to make a thread about it and try to focus on more recent releases

So game companies have several ways to increase the ROI for their products: decrease costs, increase price, or increase audience size. As it is hard for single-player titles to signficiantly icnrease the number of players, Novak believes that publishers will continue to charge more for their games. The new $70 base price already seems too much for many customers, so companies try to come up with tricky monetization methods, including various deluxe editions priced at $100 or even higher.

Absolute imbeciles. We’re living in an era where customers have less and less purchasing power, where people can - and should - make more precise decisions when buying products, with wide availability of other options that aren’t AAAA titles, so what are execs thinking of? Charge more, obviously.

It is unrealistic to invest 150 millions in a game and expect a profit because you’re disconnected from your customer base. And you have the bare minimum of self awareness to consider that investing less and expecting less growth is an option, but choose instead to ignore it and push ahead with infinite growth. The development schedule of your average AAAA title is already almost as long as a console generation, there’s nothing that can be done if suits are staring at this wall and choosing to bash their head against it, rather than try alternative options.

A fightstick is the ideal for anyone wanting to invest in the genre, as it provides both precise control and a wide array of movements that neither d-pad or analog can reach.

It was a joke-y cursed option because d-pad are not only wildly uncomfortable but also quite inefficient when it comes to the high speed sequences