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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: January 8th, 2024

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  • RIP Xbox.

    Did they bother looking at the history of console launches that were above $600?

    You know, all those household names like 3DO, Jaguar, and CD-I, that prove how historically there is NOT a big audience for expensive consoles.

    Good ol Playstation even learned their lesson with the PS3.

    And now in the middle of a global recession, one where people are even turning on Nintendo for price increases - Xbox is releasing their most expensive console ever with no exclusives, and not a single reason to use this new “Xbox” because game pass is available on everything else.

    I’m sorry. But whoever is left at Xbox needs to pull their head out of their ass and breath real air.

    This move is out of the 90’s with crossbranding that smells of desperation. WHY would you call it so many names? WHY the ROG Xbox Ally? And not the Xbox Ally?

    You really just had to slap the corporate partnership with ROG in the name of the product at the front like that? People smell that bullshit ten miles away now, as it basically the equivalent of putting corporate flowers on a devices grave. Like the Verizon Blackberry Storm, or the ATT Nokia NGage.

    FFS “XBOX ALLY” is a great name! They could have even called it the “Xbox ALLY by ROG”

    Now it’s going to be another “Xbone” situation because Microsoft can’t unincorporated their brain from making terrible decisions.

    The ROG Xbox Ally is an overbranded ununique afterthought of a console designed to milk Xbox nostalgia from people that don’t have the budget or desire for an expensive portable PC.

    I wish Vegas took odds over the potential failure of this console, because it’s almost certain how much of a failure this thing is going to be at launch.

    Just my 2 cents. Haters better tell me how many of these they’re planning to buy at launch to scalp.


  • What incentive does a rich billionaire have for starting a business? Money? They have billions.

    The only business they start are for themselves / the benefit of other businesses they own. Their wealth accumulates, and it is spent only to perpetuate its growth. It does not find its way into new businesses. It does not create new sector growth.

    However, the people that want billions and don’t have it have a hell of an incentive to start a business and run it well.


  • Incredibly well said. And couldn’t agree more!

    Especially after working as a game dev for Apple Arcade. We spent months proving to them their saving architecture was faulty and would lead to people losing their save file for each Apple Arcade game they play.

    We were ignored, and then told it was a dev problem.

    Cut to the launch of Arcade: every single game has several 1 star reviews about players losing their save files.

    This cannot be fixed by devs as it’s an Apple problem, so devs have to figure out novel ways to prevent the issue from happening using their own time and resources.

    1.5 years later, Apple finishes restructuring the entire backend of Arcade, fixing the problem. They tell all their devs to reimplement the saving architecture of their games to be compliant with Apples new backend or get booted from Arcade. This costs devs months of time to complete for literally zero return (Apple Arcade deals are upfront - little to no revenue is seen after launch).

    Apple used their trillions of dollars to ignore a massive backend issue that affected every player and developer on Apple Arcade. They then forced every dev to make an update to their game at their own expense just to keep it listed on Arcade. All while directing user frustration over the issue towards developers instead of taking accountability for launching a faulty product.

    Literally, these companies are run by sociopaths that have egos bigger than their paychecks. Issues like this are ignored as it’s easier to place the blame on someone down the line. People like your manager end up getting promoted to the top of an office heirachy of bullshit, and everything the company makes just gets worse until whatever corpse is left is sold for parts to whatever bigger dumb company hasn’t collapsed yet.

    It’s really painful to watch, and even more painful to work with these idiots.






  • I made the indie game INK INSIDE, which is based on a lost cartoon pilot I pitched to Nickelodeon in 2015.

    Instead, I turned it into a cartoon show action RPG staring Brian David Gilbert.

    It has a completely unique combat mechanic that’s a combination of beat-em-ups and bust-a-move. It’s big on narrative, loot, and world building and even has live action segments.

    We’re on sale at 50% for only $10.

    Would love for you to check it out, as it seems like you might really enjoy it based on the other games in your cart!

    PS - Game works great on Steam Deck! (We just don’t have the green check yet because it takes Valve forever to provide them)


  • Agreed. And if it wasn’t clear, I think Trump is an idiot. He sees everyone but himself as an enemy, including a vast majority of the country he is President over. He’s not saving the economy in our country - he’s working exclusively for himself and dismantling it for his favor.

    The defense money discussed in this meeting is very likely going to Trumps family or friends (like the literal 2 Billion his son recieved from Saudi Royalty) As our economy is very much on its way to another great depression, including the corruption and needless Tariffs that caused it last time.

    Everyone that works with Trump gets ass fucked, because the only thing he wants is fealty and self enrichment. There is no benefit towards our country or citizens in his actions, just himself.

    At the very least, the leaders of NATO understand this, and sucked his dick over this deal just to make sure the US didn’t leave NATO as Trump has made very clear he gives no fucks about. Without the US’s military backing, NATO is at immediate threat of hostilities, certainly by Russia who wouldn’t hesitate to push past Ukraine and into Europe as Putin has made clear is his goal. The leaders of NATO are simply making a deal with the devil to avoid literal hell.

    It sucks you have to deal with those consequences, but at least you have a government that isn’t banning abortion to kill more of your people through sheer ignorance.


  • Yep. But the point is Donald doesn’t realize his dick is getting sucked by someone trying to get a favor out of him rather than just because he’s such a swell guy.

    He’s a narcissist. All he sees is compliments, not the clear manipulation behind them.

    Give Trump praise, he’ll do exactly what you say. Which is why he thinks Putin is his best friend. Putin is just using Trump as a convenient idiot that’ll do anything asked as long as Trump feels he’ll be complimented by it.

    All he has to say is something like:

    “Oh Donny, at this time your big hands and strong will are our only hope. Won’t you please bomb Iran to protect the world and become it’s hero?”

    And that’s all it takes to start WW3. And Trump would post the message thinking it’s a compliment.




  • He’s just playing politics about as well as he plays Diablo.

    He’s actually saying: “I will admit to fucking up this election - DJT is in the Epstein files - admitting to that is proof I’ll say more if my unspecified demands aren’t met.”

    He’s playing political tough guy and threatening the administration by revealing how powerless they are without him. (Which is made funnier in that he has none, just money).


  • No offense, but have you considered that Democrats aren’t left?

    Because compared to the rest of the world and political spectrum, they are not “left.”

    So you are absolutley correct that:

    we’re exactly the same. Both sides believe they are critical thinkers.

    Both the GOP and DEMS have the same corporate blindspots. Both think they’re critical thinkers, but will defend their party as the “correct” one rather than admit that the system has completely failed to keep money away from influencing every outcome.

    We have a congress and senate stacked with millionaires doing the bidding of the billionaires that pay for their campaigns instead of the people that vote for them.

    The only difference between the GOP and the DNC, is that the DNC wants a slow decent into a corporate dystopia instead of a fast one that kills people unnecessarily.

    Actual “left” policies requires the following discourse that is impossible for the DNC to have honestly:

    • reducing the military budget
    • reducing corporate welfare
    • workers rights & Union rights
    • increasing taxes on the wealthy

    All of these things have become “too socialist” for a DEM to even bring up, and you’ll justify that as them “aiming for moderates” instead of thinking critically about how every facet of our society is now corporate controlled and the reason actual “left” socialist policy isn’t talked about is simply because Facebook, Google, and X own the spaces those conversations happen. Instead of actual discourse, and cooperating on collective measures, corporations make sure the algorithms they control make America too afraid and angry of overexagerated BS to not think critically about the failure of their society to move forward in two decades despite the massive wealth concentrating at the top of it.

    DEMS love having a bad guy to point to. So do the GOP. Yet that finger is always pointed at the other party instead of the Billionaires that have used their unspent “Trickle Down” Reagonomic tax breaks to make society worse instead of better, because problems like unaffordable Healthcare are incredibly more profitable than a publically funded one.

    Yet I’ll bet you want to blame the GOP for that too. Not Senator Lieberman, an Independent, who got rid of the public option in Obamacare by simply threatening a filibuster that the Dems immediately capitulated to despite already having enough votes without him.

    If you want to think critically, you’re going to have to start by not pointing fingers at the GOP when the DEMS consistently capitulate on our most beneficial legislation to favor their coporate donors.

    Actual critical thinking is almost impossible in America, as it requires accepting that the system we live in doesn’t work, and insisting on using it the way we’re “supposed to” has lead to massive wealth disparity and the loss of freedoms to corporate interests.

    It’s certainly not hard to see when the greatest threat to United Health and costly health insurance in the last 15 years has come from an assassin instead of our elected officials. Show me a DEM explaining Luigi Mangionis actions instead of chastising him for it.



  • Interesting take!

    I’m not sure how well recieved it will be here on Lemmy, but it’s well reasoned and explained with clear references.

    Even if others don’t agree with you, you’ve certainly earned respect for so cleanly writing out how you’re looking at this and why.

    Personally, I think your answer aligns itself well with the classic solutions to these problems.

    Machiavelli wrote extensively about what you’re saying in “The Prince” and came to a similar solution that institutions and any position of power over them needs to be completely transparent and open to critique. He pushed for heavy regulation becuase it’s the literal singular mechanism that pushes institutions towards benefiting the public instead of benefiting themselves.

    The most interesting takeaway from reading The Prince in a modern context is how deregulation killed every system of governance we’ve tried going all the way back to ancient Rome.

    Nero fiddled as Rome burned because Roman government was deregulated to the point an idiot could hold power over them.

    USSR couldn’t keep communism regulated, so those that were stealing and breaking the system used their illegally gained resources to deconstruct the communist regime in its entirety.

    Now, in the US we’re watching as both of these happen at the same time. A social system deregulated to the point several reality TV stars can hold the highest military and government positions while bailing out our Oligarchs so much they’ve evolved from “too big to fail” into “too big to stop.”

    Tansparency and regulation are a necessity in any functioning society to prevent the minority of horrible humans among us from becoming subjugators.


  • It’s not that we refuse, we just can’t help but put stupid arrogant people in charge of everything. They don’t listen to science, just themselves, so nothing changes.

    As a species, we’ve basically been doing this forever. Or at least since Machiavelli wrote the Prince, which is literally what’s happening everywhere now.

    Simply put, those with intelligence know enough to realize what they don’t know. So they won’t make claims they can’t pursue. Politically, this will always work against them, and in favor of any loud idiot that promises everything, but can’t deliver. People will always pick the loud idiot, because the loud idiot will promise more than the intelligent option could ever reasonably accomplish.

    The secret to solving this is simply transparency, and regulation.

    That is: don’t let stupid leaders be stupid behind closed doors. Bring it into the open for scrutiny by professionals. Don’t let stupid people hold positions of authority by placing requirements for those positions to be held. Military service, or public service requirements work, but so do simple tests that could prevent hostile idiots from holding positions of power they will guarantee abuse.

    There’s more solutions provided in the Prince as well. So this problem certainly isn’t a new one.



  • Reddit had an AMA with a Bank Robber ten years ago that they’ve since deleted for corpo purity reasons 😂

    Here’s the big points from it:

    • Banks don’t care about losing amounts under 5k.
    • Security won’t stop you if you don’t have a visible weapon.
    • Worst they do is lock the door, so bring a hammer.
    • the goal is to get in, and get the teller to give you a couple grand asap, then leave under 10 minutes.
    • Guy did this to at least 5 different banks (all different companies) in one day, once a month, for several months.

    He eventually got caught because of the money he had, not because his face was on every security camera.

    He recommends not doing this, as do I, as it’s just not worth it.

    But just in case you wanted to know how it was done a decade ago, fuck Reddit, here’s the details they recently deleted.


  • These experts sound like they rolled high for their intelligence stat, but low for wisdom.

    As an expert, they should know how well hiding has historically worked against fascists. Eventually, the only place that ends up being available to hide in is the mass grave the fascists dug for you.

    How about fighting before it gets worse? How about you make the thin skinned idiots scared to be so openly fascist? How about showing them there is a resistance against their behaviour instead of immediate capitulation at the earliest necessity of protest.

    Because from where I’m sitting, running away encourages fascists to think they’re scary enough to avoid the consequences of their actions via intimidation. Yet, they’re a bunch of old geriatric idiots that take offense for calling their hands small.

    Fucking calling them names works better than running away.

    Running away makes it seem like sticks and stones are necessary when words will always hurt them.

    All thats needed to beat these idiots is a stream of childish insults being lobbed at them publically at a near constant rate. Trump would literally quit being president if he had to hear about having a small dick, hands, and brain everyday. But heaven forbid such a stupid solution ever be pursued by academics. (Despite it being incredibly effective when Trump did the same to Biden).