ShaggE

Just cements my decision to wait a few months. (which I was going to do anyway to save for it without breaking the bank, but still) I've gone from telling myself "I don't need a PS5 yet, I don't need a PS5 yet..." to "Okay, but seriously, I really don't need a PS5 yet". I'm realizing that the main draw for me as of right now is the load times, and that's not a $500 benefit to me just yet.

Minimum: Cheese, sour cream, jalapenos.

Bog standard: Cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, beef or chicken, salsa, black olives.

That goodgood: All of the above, guacamole, cilantro, preferably pico instead of salsa but that's optional.

Fantasy "fuck the rules" nachos: All of the above, but replace the chips with a big-ass Tex-Mex burger wrapped in a taco pizza and served on a plate equivalent to the landmass of Idaho. ... Okay, even I'm starting to think that my hunger-based imagination defaults to "wrap a hamburger in a pizza" a bit too often. At this rate, I'm actually going to end up trying it, and even my freakish metabolism couldn't fight that monstrosity.

I wouldn't be surprised if they go with $550 just to avoid the dreaded $600 and still be competitive with the Xbox. I can't see them undercutting, but I could maybe see them matching, best case scenario.

Okay, I might have brought it up here before ages ago, I don't remember, but I've been trying to ID this thing for well over a decade to no avail and I'd like to finally put this mystery to rest.

This was somewhere from 96 to 98... I was too old for it and have no idea how or why I had it, but it was one of those "interactive storybook" CD-ROMs. It's none of the well-known ones, I've scoured every one of those in my searches, but here's what little I remember: There were at least two stories on the program, and I seem to remember there being three, but I know there were two for certain. The first one had three creatures sharing a house, and the main thrust was that the house was very messy. Guessing the "moral" was "clean up your shit, kid". I remember the creatures being tall and lanky in a cutesy way, not entirely unlike tall versions of the Dodos from Looney Tunes, but that's sort of a reach.

The second story I remember less of, but I recall two things quite clearly. One of the random clickables was an old style toilet, and upon clicking it, it would flush and a deepish voice would say "Ahh, what a relief!". The other thing was a scene in which tiny humans were kept in jars (which doesn't help, since that's a trope used in a million things).

For the longest time, I assumed this was a homebrew thing I had somehow gotten from one of the local computer shows we always went to back then, but in hindsight it was way too polished and high quality. It had to have had a wide release. (also, my vague descriptions of what I recall make it sound like the rumblings of a creepypasta, but none of this was even vaguely creepy, it was very much kid-friendly)

I'd be happy if I could even get a "Hey, I remember that" out of someone, just to know for sure that I didn't have some beta or local homebrew that nobody outside of PA ever saw. If that was the case, I'm basically screwed, lol.

I hear ya, I've been a one hand typist my whole life, and while I'm weirdly fast, I can't hold a candle to traditional styles. Still, it works for me.

After The Zoo Race was released, I think all other potential religious games just seemed pointless to make. There's simply no competing with it.

We Hate Movies is a personal favorite. Also really high quality is Now Playing, although it's annoying going through their archives and finding that a large chunk of their catalog costs money (still a ton of free content, thankfully).

Halloweenies is incredible if you want a superfocused long form horror-centric podcast.

And one that's long gone (I don't even know how easy it is to find the episodes anymore, the hosts sort of took the nuclear option in ending it): Yeah, It's That Bad. Well worth seeking out. [edit: thankfully, it looks like a fan archived it all on various hosts]

Depends on genre, quality, etc. Puzzle platformers? One of my least favorite genres. Old-school adventure games? One of my favorite genres. Time and place for everything.

I like how Spiderman PS4 did it: Want to take a break from forcefully extending your limbs at people until they fall over? Pop by the lab and make lines look like other lines. Don't like making lines look like other lines? It's cool, you don't have to. (I liked the puzzles in that game, but making them mostly optional was a great idea)

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PC). Man, I wasn't expecting to be so invested in the plot. I'm still super early (avoiding spoilers, I'm at the point where the world opens up and the main thrust of the game starts), but I already can't wait to see what happens next. So glad I've avoided spoilers all this time.

The fact that I carry a computer in my pocket exponentially more powerful than the desktops I grew up with (and mine's a $50 phone I bought at a Rite Aid, FFS) still blows my mind. Hell, there's a million things I could mention just regarding mobile tech: We carry the majority of all human knowledge with us (yet still argue over whether science and general knowledge are a political conspiracy... sigh), the long anticipated advent of "video calls", mobile games that look and run like console games, etc., etc.

Affordable VR in the home that blows the shit I tried in the 90s out of the water also still amazes me.

3D printing. I mean, holy hell.

Even little things like animated advertisements on the sides of bus stops and such, touch screens everywhere, even Roombas... the sci-fi future snuck up on us so gradually (yet so quickly) that we barely notice we're in it.

And that's just tech! I haven't even touched on societal and cultural changes I never thought I'd see, although many of them are admittedly a byproduct of tech advancements anyway.