mellotronrules

hmm- in the broad hypothetical case of a game that starts very generic but eventually becomes interesting- yeah, i suppose i would rest the burden of being compelling squarely on the shoulders of the creator. ultimately it's their world we're invited into, so they should probably be mindful hosts (in an engagement sense).

however you did bring up the notion of impatient audiences- and i do think that's a real thing and/or conversation worth having, specifically when you get away from the notion of games as product and lean harder into games as art. when games are product, the successful ones tend to optimize towards being interesting and fun. art oftentimes does not give a flying fig if you're having a good time- sometimes it's designed in the opposite direction.

the other thing to consider is audience conditioning. it's obviously a different space, but when you look at what's going on with songwriting in Spotify (songwriters optimizing towards shorter tracks and upfront hooks to game the Spotify payout scheme)- you start to set an expectation within audiences that, with enough repetition- can certainly mess with public tolerance for certain types of work.

yeah, CoD will getcha.

but i'm also sympathetic to consumers being on the short end of the stick when it comes to anemic device specs designed to bolster a pricing strategy.

case in point- Apple sells new imac configs with their newest processors paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. that's engineered to get you in at the 'starting at' price, and then tax you hard with the upgrades. meanwhile- people will buy that base spec and spend too much time managing fixed resources for the rest of its days.

the Series S isn't quite that, but it does feel like it's showing its limits more readily.

tyranny of the asterisk:

no one gets what's on the tin with local storage, sadly.

@kainhighwind09: yeah i was going to mention that; he's been slashing and burning content all over, hasn't he?

i don't think that exonerates Sony since they sold the content, but i wouldn't be surprised if WB/Dicovery's new approach to their catalogue is having an influence in some capacity.

yeah, this is rotten- no two ways around it. it sucks but i'm not surprised.

it does seem like another 'buyer beware' teachable moment. unless there's significant legislation that enshrines a new digital ownership scheme, i don't think it's realistic to expect purchased digital content to persist in perpetuity. this is triply so with content that exists on the periphery of popularity (critical mass usually keeps things available for purchase).

i've certainly 'lost' content from Apple. but i also continue to buy movies from them because of all the platform holders, they seem the most financially secure and neutral (meaning- everyone puts there content there for the most part). maybe i'm a sucker, but honestly i just haven't been utterly burnt yet.

i feel like a real test is coming for when privately-held Steam is due for ownership change. nothing lasts forever, and i wonder what Unforeseen Consequences occur when a big shift like that happens.

here's an example of an ad misbehaving- this is in mobile chrome on a pixel 4a 5G; refresh fixed but the page was otherwise locked out.

yeah i'm stoked on this patch! i think it's going to trigger me to start that 2nd run (and potentially replay the ending of my first run).

nice to see the vibes remain so positive on this one- Larian seem to be in a good place. (oh god please no terrible work/life exposés in 6 months)

oh man- my mother asked me to replace her 3rd gen ipod nano battery- turns out:

thanks, Apple.

yeah, its not as bad as kotaku, but it's moving in that direction.

i usually can find the 'X' but occasionally it doesn't render properly, and you just need to refresh the page.

the podcast feed is getting pretty brutal with programmatic ads too. i know it depends on luck of the algorithm and/or your region- but having conversations get cut off every 15min by a Dunkin Donuts ad jingle isn't awesome.

well confession time- i said 'OG iPod' which implies 1st gen; to clarify- i'm working on a 5.5 gen iPod (i think my original phrasing was meant to invoke the general form factor rather than the specific SKU). thankfully it seems like one of the more forgiving models to work on- but i'm stoked to hear someone else on these boards doing much the same.