#and he bought helldivers

[sunspill]

after I can like move around and sit up better aka after this surgery I've decided a new goal is to try to game collaboratively aka gaem w friends.

[girl-lostconnection]

✨Concept ✨1 part

Thinking about Helldiver!Reader again.

They way they would absolutely love Soap and his sharp mind and his out of box thinking and his resourcefulness.

As a Helldiver in the field you often don’t have resources — too little time, ship leaves the orbit and leaves you with no supplies, no reinforcements, no protection.

Just you, ammo you have left in your mag and whatever you can scavenge around the barren terrain quick enough to scramble something together.

And Soap that chats you up about the bombs and explosives, elated to have such attentive listener, shares the ways to demolish something the quickest way possible, talks you through the process and wires and “nah, it’s alright, C4 is fairly harmless, see? Can make lil’le snake out of it”.

You never say why you are so interested in it, you never share that oftentimes there are no more ammunition to shoot the enemy, that grenades are all you have.

Soap grins, offering to give you a hand with what you work with on daily basis and you let him in the armoury — showing what you already bought, showing what you are currently using.

You get a little carried away, so proud of collection you already established — it’s not much but it costed you almost half a year of everyday deployments and you feel like it’s somehow satisfactory.

Not like anyone really checks what Helldivers work with anyway so you are in the clear.

But there is a strange look in Soap’s face and your voice waivers, jaws snapping shut, awful uncomfortable heat climbing up your face when he asks if it’s really everything you have.

Was it…was it not enough? Are you supposed to have more? How much more is needed? Do SAS have more? Shit, it must cost them good chunk of their salaries.

Thoughts swarm your head, visor of your helmet clicking back in place, hiding your eyes and maybe there was something in them. Just a glimpse. Just before you slammed your walls back up.

Because Soap’s voice softens when he hums “no biggie, let’s see what we can do, aye? These ones are actually real blast—” and you have the petty desire to push him out of your armoury. Off your ship. Away from you.

You don’t need his pity. You don’t- you don’t know what the fuck SAS works with but you got your supplies yourself and you worked so hard to get them.

But your fingers just clench and unclench, creak of leather gloves louder than you would’ve wanted because Soap looks at you like he wants to smack himself, because it feels as if you almost shrink on yourself.

But you don’t say anything because…it’s really not his fault. It’s just the way it is, right? You are sure SAS have their fair share of issues with supplies, after all, command said that it’s better Helldivers cover the costs themselves.

Surely situation must be real bad if they can’t provide you with decent armoury. But it’s not in issue — you work hard, you buy your supplies yourself, you slowly upgrade yourself, it’s fine really.

So you just write down all of his recommendations and fist bump him on your way out. What’s a little sting to the pride if you got the information and advice of actual demolitions expert?

You don’t notice the way Soap looks over your armoury again, muscle in his jaw twitching. He can see the patience and care it took to build up a somehow decent armoury, he can see that you scramble to get whatever you can as soon as you get any funds.

But he can also see that it’s barely enough to cover what you two talked about. He can see that no one gave you a proper training, no one gave any manuals and no one provided you with actual fucking supplies.

Soap doesn’t know how to tell you that it’s unheard of for soldiers, especially someone of you rank, to cover their bloody supplies costs themselves.

Soap doesn’t know how to tell you that the shine of Helldiver branch becomes more and more nefarious the more he hears and sees.

Soap doesn’t know how to tell it so he goes back to his team. Maybe someone else will know what to do.

[leam1983]

2024 in Gaming

Helldivers 2: it's become a running joke with the polycule, and approval with Progressive opinions or talking points now gets at least one of the three of us to jokingly pull out their smartphone to "call their Democracy Officer to report a case of treasonous activity"...

Walt isn't any better, but he's unlocked a few rocket-propelled weapons and now feels better sitting behind myself and Sarah while pelting the enemies ahead with weaponized Freedom.

Balatro: Walt and I's new favourite casual game, wherein appearance of it being a cutesy little variant on Poker suites turns into virtual crack. I've woken up in the wee hours to Walt's face bathed in his phone's OLED screen. When I ask him what's wrong, he typically replies something to the tune of "I need four thousand Chips, babe."

Marvel Rivals: it does what Overwatch 2 don't. As in, it's fun. Me, Walt, Sarah and a few of the boys on an all-Rocket Raccon match? You betcha! Also, there's Jeff the Land Shark, and Jeff the Land Shark deserves the world. Nay, the universe.

Astro Bot: didn't finish it, but I loved what Team Asobi cooked up. It's the most genuine, heartfelt, cutesy and engaging piece of corporate PR and Engineering porn to ever exist. Every button pressed during an Astro Bot session twiddles Mark Cerny's fun bits remotely.

Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree: bought it because I approve of the design ethos behind this DLC's existence, never played it because I suuck at FromSoft games. I made sure to watch some related content so I could point and laugh awkwardly if friends of mine greet me with a random cry of "BAYYYYLE!"

Worshippers of Chtulhu: Anno with a Lovecraftian twist. It's very broken, still very much in Early Access, but the promise is definitely there.

Park Beyond: Meh. Got it for cheap, I guess we're still not getting a decent heirloom to Roller Coaster Tycoon, after the Micromanagement nightmare that Planet Coaster turned out to be for me.

1000xResist: basically a Yoko Taro game not written or directed by Yoko Taro, and it's one of the deeper game-based experiences I've had in a long while. Strongly recommended.

The Cabin Factory: Spot the Difference for easily-frightened streamers who haven't played Exit 8 yet. It has an interesting narrative format and is one of the more surprising implementations of Unity Engine I've seen to date. I could've sworn this was a UE5 project! Beyond that, it's nothing special, but it's priced accordingly.

Clickolding: if Cookie Clicker had an uncanny sense of atmosphere and managed to creep you out with nothing except a sparsely-animated antagonist and a rising click counter, you'd have a sense of what this feels like. It does a very effective job at making you want to be as compliant and possible.

Daemonologie: The Salem Witch Trials in game form, or Ace Attorney if Phoenix wore a Quaker hat and had a fixation on nakey women doing odd shit in the forest. Very tense and minimalist, and very, very worthwhile.

Cryptmaster: it's basically a spruced-up oldschool MUD, with 3D black-and-white graphics and four zombified D&D character archetypes you control simultaneously, by either using your Arrow keys to move the entire party at once, or typing in the words that correspond to abilities or attacks. Very, very, very British humour is on offer, along with a script-writer that managed to predict most stupidly filthy prompts you're likely to try at any given point. It's hilarious and kludgey in just the right way, especially if you remember the nineties' MindMaze on Encarta '95.

Liar's Bar: Russian Roulette for Furries with a decent voIP chat integration. It's shallow and stupid fun, and the subject matter makes people behave in increasingly crude ways as the session goes on. If you're like me, you'll swear you played a round or two against a guy who was actually stone-dead-drunk and who actually had nothing to lose...

Silent Hill 2 Remake: finally, Silent Hill's fog doesn't feel like a performance-saving measure and actually creeps me the fuck out. It makes me feel terrible and has me contemplate not playing it, but it does make sense. Kudos to Bloober Team for finally manage to ground this one heck of a weirdo title.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: take Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny, burn all copies, consign the masters to Disney's oubliette, thank Harrison Ford for his decades of diligent service and pass the fedora and bullwhip to Troy Baker, 'cause Machine Games and Bethesda have managed to find themselves yet another prime title to fuck Fascists up using fisticuffs or blunt weaponry. It's a great callback to Machine Games' own contribution to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, seeing as every single level in the game has the granular detail of their version of Prague. Slap some John Williams on, add the authentic audio samples for whip cracks and punches, lifted straight out of the movies. I haven't had as much fun raiding tombs or poking through lovingly-reconstructed real places since Nolan North last lent his voice pipes to Nathan Drake.

Imagine my surprise, when the Sistine Chapel turned out to be about the size of our condo building's parking lot! That's tiny! The more you know, I guess!

Star Wars Outlaws: this is what happens when a studio really, really, really wants to give the IP due diligence, but its decades of re-iterated design docs ruin the experience. Kay Vess isn't a galactic scoundrel; she's basically every Far Cry protagonist ever, except in third-person!

The Forever Winter: all crunch, no fun. An incredibly engaging premise, but the mistaken notion that the average gamer has several three-to-four-blocks to devote to this each and every single day. Worth at least a YouTube ride-along, to see the incredible work the Art Design team's pulled together.

Disney's Epic Mickey - Rebrushed: Warren Spector's poorly-received baby and love letter to classic animation gets its just desserts on PC. It's not super complex with only two basic mechanics based off of two buttons on a controller, but it managed to use an extremely limited toolset to great effect, even throwing in what feels like a younger relative's first potential exposure to the Immersive Sim concept of looking for unmarked routes through a level. The in-between side-scrolling levels are oozing charm, and essentially feel like some part of Spector wanted to play in the same ballpark as American McGee's Alice.

If anything, it cements the idea that non-verbal instances of Mickey Mouse should never be left in the same room as a magical implement or toolset. Ever. Verbal Mickeys can push past their childlike glee and reason accordingly, but the oldschool button-eyed and non-verbal originator is not to be trusted.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl: Have fun losing half your health because the ARMA-esque mechanics decide that grazing damage means holy shit, you almost died! Especially, have fun getting knocked flat out on your ass by mutants - over and over and over...

To be played in subtitled Ukranian out of implicit support, and to have fun with the Slavic definition of an acting range. It's like watching the second season of Squid Game, except you get the sense that their scale goes from Nonchalant to Pants-Pissingly Terrified with very little grading in-between.

And now, for Games I didn't really get into until 2024...

Valfaris and Valfaris II: Mecha Therion: side-scrollers that do their damndest to look like they stepped straight out of the pages of Heavy Metal as of the mid-eighties. Gorgeously grotesque pixel art meets with a banging soundtrack made up of certified shredders. The lead headbangs and throws the horns when he finishes a stage!

Brütal Legend: an oldie but a goodie, previously constrained to the PS3 but now quite cozy on my Steam Deck. It's got a semi-cohesive grab-bag of mechanics, sure, but it's got even more heart, along with a pre-stroke Tim Curry voicing the villain with the gooiest of all countenances. Imagine Shere Khan, but Metal as fuck.

Katamari Damacy: Re-Roll: I barely touched the original when it came out. Having managed to grab the PC port for cheap and knowing how well it plays with a Steam Deck, the Prince of All Cosmos' ball-rolling sojourn across the surface of our planet has turned into a nightly staple for me.

Baldur's Gate 3: Yes, I know, I'm late, you've all banged Astarion sixteen times by now, but I've got time for a long-form WRPG right now. I might not have this much free time once January 10th rolls around.

The Night Cage: not a vidya, but a really nerve-wracking tabletop game that's made for quite a few fun Friday nights at La Casa de Gremlin.

On My Backlog, You'll Find...

Metaphor: Re-Fantazio: I know it's beloved by all, but it feels so "so far, so ATLUS" to me, and I still haven't gotten over P4, P3 and P5's excellent PC ports. I also have Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne to go through, so I really don't know if I have it in me to tackle something in that same vein quite so soon.

Arizona Sunshine 1 & 2: I just can't be bothered to set up my Oculus Rift 2's Link Cable. I have the games, I just don't know if and when I'll play them.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster: I'm waiting until my old cheese strats fade into the back of my mind before I tackle this one. Plus, I'm torn about Frank West not being voiced by TJ Rotolo. He doesn't just... feels like he's covered wars, y'know?

Frostpunk 2: bought it to support the devs, am just not jazzed about having to sort of network my way across several simultaneous points of origin until the depressing version of a Dieselpunk sprawl covers the map.

The Yakuza series on Amazon Prime: SEGA's trying to become the Disney of gaming, but something about Kazuma Kiryu's story (or stories) have always felt distinctly and uniquely Japanese to me. As in, it requires a specific mindset and might not be for everyone. I'm waiting for a sign, basically - maybe one to pop my collar and rent a karaoke machine so I can belt out maudlin soliloquies to lost childhood innocence while smoking half a pack of cigs between every third or fourth stanza...

The Sonic Movies: yeah, sure, I'm in my forties, but Jim Carrey's going through a career renaissance by acting out Albert Einstein on crack. Yeah, sure, it's not either of my Robotniks (the Jim Cummings or Long John Baldry versions - for the memes) - but it seems like it might still be a trilogy of adaptations worth pursuing.

Plus, hey, I gotta start catching up on that Stobotnik shit, huh?

[siofraturalderp]

My brother bought me Helldivers 2 as a gift for me getting my new computer build. Recently he invited me to play with some others and oh boy, I felt like a fish out of water. Everyone is super high level, and then there's me.

Because of that chaotic night with lots of cursing and laughter, I had some drawing inspiration. They pretty much carried me though while we went through some CHAOTIC maps. I felt so small but determined, which this picture depicts perfectly. Lil' Helldiver who thinks they're all that next to a well seasoned and buff Helldiver.

The game is fun!

[shattered-earth]

People were sad I only had a Hellmire poster so I made a Malevelon Creek poster and then people were happy (Like for real, in person, at cons LOL)

You can now get them together, or in a triple with the eagle-1 propoganda poster :O

I also did wallpaper versions with no text for you phone!

(Source)

Okay but serious when I had just the Hellmire poster at Fanime, people were SO SAD.

Like they would just reluctantly buy Hellmire cause I was the only artist selling any Helldivers at all and it was so funny. Like the dejected "Okay, I guess I'll get hellmire :(" faces cracked me up. I'm sorry it is my favorite planet so I drew it without any consideration LOL.

I even had one guy buy it (and not the eagle, which most people opted for if they really didn't like hellmire) with the saddest demeanor and I was thinking to myself, "why would you buy this sir just buy the eagle sir..." but when I saw all the other prints he bought, i realized they were all "travel poster" type prints so his only option was hellmire SDPJGS:GHSGs Thank you sir, I'm sorry

Anyway I made Malevelon Creek in time for EVO and the demeanor of everyone was SO different, no more sad faces! Everyone just got Malevelon and Eagle-1! (Occasionally someone would sadly pick Hellmire as their third free print but that is still funny af) It was night and day, and soo funny. I'm so glad I did at least one con with Hellmire only.

[wirywyrm]

Still obsessed with BG3 & still making fanart I’m just slow at finishing drawings. 

Also one of my friends keeps kidnapping me to make me play Helldivers with them. Mini artistic rendition:

In his defense, he bought me the game as a gift, and it is really fun. Anyway, gaming aside, I will be posting some more art sometime this week.

[mr-cia-adler]

just bought black ops 3 and I'm going in completely blind come read my live commentary with me

spoilers I guess

----

literally what the hell is the menu? who is that handsome masked chap 😉 and free run? gunsmith?? nightmares??? I ain't seen this before what the hell

why is there a chicken in the distance

🗣CUSTOM OPERATIVE 🗣 CUSTOM OPERATIVE 🗣 CUSTOM OPERATIVE nvm there's not much customisation lmao

apocalypse revolution cold war robots?? oof

"if this goes wrong? you never existed." rude

I bet ya Hendricks is the bad guy like Jane Harrow folks

"so keep your mouth shut" don't give me attitude I can give it back ten fold

I'm so used to seeing like Mason and Woods and adler yadda yadda these are completely new characters???

bug #1

hendricks and Taylor got some weird tension between them

Diaz complimented me he's my favourite character now

Forget Diaz its Hall now 😳 She's wow

give you cover? yes ma'am

okay so robots=bad

bug #2 lol

A ROBOT RIPPED MY ARMS OFF AND BROKE MY LEG WHAT THE HELL

FOLKS IM AN ANDROID PFFFFFT

MY OC HAS A CYBERNETIC ARM THEYRE TWINSIES AHHHHHH

he keeps saying train go boom

do you think black ops 7 will be as futuristic as this, but black ops 3 is set in 2055(?) and blops 7 is 2035 idk

Black ops 3 is literally just mirrors edge and helldivers like

okay stop saying train go boom it's getting annoying now

yep okay so I assume I'm being drugged?? used as a weapon? sleeper agent??

SAFE HOUSE SAFE HOUSE SAFE HOUSE FOLKS THERES A SAFE HOUSE 🗣

jesus christ I can't even say what just happened tumblr won't be happy with me

lmao basically the whole blops team part from me and hendricks is actually bad

won't lie I still don't know what's going on

I KNEW TAYLOR WAS BAD LOL called it

bug #3

my character is so sassy it's hilarious "what, no plan D?" "NOW. IS NOT. THE TIME."

Did you have to drive through the fire?? who'd you think I am, Harper? (bad joke lmao)

hendricks mad at me :(

goh bro heh

it makes me kinda uncomfortable when they get like right up in your face like! like when you talk to Woods and Mason in cold war and they jokingly intimidate you

So they're using test subjects brilliant I am LOST on the plot lmao

DIAZ IS DEAD I OFFED HIM FUCK

Raul Menendez mentioned 🗣 Also Hendricks is starting to lose his minddd uh oh

Hall is dead. Offed her after fighting in WW1, dire wolves and a wave of zombies 🥲

Hendricks ain't happy that me and Kane are planning our dream future smh jealous much? but I ain't joking (Rachel) Kane and me got some tension

Maretti is DEAD. smh why not that's 3 out of 6. He got impaled 🫶

God FINALLY we've been tracking Taylor for days now we finally got him wait where's he going why is he walking away-

BIG BOSS BATTLE FINAL MISSION TAYLORS DEAD

folks I actually lied that wasn't the final mission also I have been impaled help

lmaoooo top gun be like

Cool so apparently it turns out I am also going to go crazy at some point and my whole black ops team has gone insane 👍

Kane pretty much said "run off with me into the sunset" 😳 I mean like if I had the choice-

Remember me saying that I bet hendricks was the bad guy? lmao I was right he was BUT he is also losing his mind he can't help it poor pookie bear 🫶 ME NEXT 😏

Remember me when im gone Kane 😩 Dream of white pickets fences and a dog for me, for US 🫶 (I'm not dying I'm dramatic)

KANE FUCKING DEAD NO NO NO fucking nova 6 dude I remember seeing this happen in black ops 1 gross

lmao I just point blanked hendricks haaaaaaaa he deserves it.

haaaaa? okay so I USED to be alive but I just shot? myself? This blops team is officially over.

And? Then? Like 40 minutes on some weird ass sequence of memories? why is there a massive beating heart? Taylor I thought I killed you-

Why did I say my name was Taylor my name is obviously Player duh 🙄

And it just ends 😭 what

[coyotescribbles]

Like A House On Fire [Part 13]

Continuing from...

-----

A thunderous roar of triumph rose up from the assembled officers; Tomahawk waited until they'd quieted down once more before she continued.

"As of this comm, we are approximately eighty hours out. We will not, unfortunately, reach you before Super Earth's forces do, despite F.E.R.I.T and Sundered Skull's best efforts to delay their departure."

Commissar Antares approached the console and Hatchet stepped aside, yielding access to her.

"The agents have bought us more than enough time," she replied confidently, "please pass our thanks on to them when you have the opportunity."

"If all goes well, you can thank them yourself, Commissar."

"Then we shall endeavor to be victorious. What is the current ETA on Super Earth's fleet?"

"F.E.R.I.T.'s last estimate before they were forced to disconnect was fourteen hours."

Sixty-six hours of combat. Hatchet sighed to himself at the prospect. It was the best they could manage, and yet… how many of his people were going to die in that span of time? There were twenty-four-hundred Automatons present, and even with the base's extensive fortifications and the hundreds of fresh units already being prepared as reinforcements, he knew they were going to struggle to hold off the sheer numbers of Helldivers that Super Earth was preparing to drop on them…

"We eagerly anticipate your arrival, Devastator, and we will fight as we always have in the interim," Antares replied firmly. "For the glory of Cyberstan."

"May her star's light shine ever on you, Commissar, officers."

The transmission ended with a soft burst of static, and the buzz of muted conversation briefly filled the bunker. Excitement, anticipation, fear, even some disbelief - Was this really happening? Were they finally going home?

How many of them were going to make it home?

Lost in thought, Hatchet was vaguely aware of Gi materializing out of the crowd to stand beside him.

"Your sister has a flair for understated dramatics, doesn't she?" His Commissar asked quietly.

"It seems to be a trait of our production run," he replied just as quietly, though not without a tinge of humor.

"Tch."

Their quiet conversation was cut short by the ambient lighting dimming as Commissar Antares took her place to address the group. The viewscreens behind her lit up with a dynamic map of the planet, with the positions of the four forward operating bases and their one hundred and sixty newly-decommissioned listening outposts marked in vivid red and faint blue, respectively.

"It is good to have something to look forward to, for once. But now that we have that announcement out of the way," she began, drawing herself up straight and clasping her hands behind her back; "you all know why you've been recalled to join us here."

Turning aside, she keyed a command into the console; in response, one screen shifted to display a slowly-scrolling wall of text, while the dynamic map added a fleet of two hundred and fifty Super Destroyers, represented by golden-yellow darts.

"Four local days ago, Super Earth sent an advance force of SEAF soldiers to assault our listening outposts. The result was… underwhelming, and few Automaton units were lost, but it served as a forewarning of their High Command's intentions, that this world would soon be under siege."

"We received confirmation of this approximately twelve hours later, through the CyOp agents Sundered Skull and F.E.R.I.T. who were, at the time, actively engaged in efforts to delay the fleet's departure in order to give us time to evacuate vulnerable civilians and withdraw to our forward operating bases. While we lost contact with them shortly afterward, they were able to maintain communications with Commander Tsvetana."

Behind Antares, the dynamic map flickered and changed again, redistributing the Super Destroyer icons into four main groups, corresponding with the forward operating bases' locations. Turning forward, the Commissar faced the assembled officers once more.

"The most recent information we have indicates that the bulk of the two hundred and fifty ships will be focused on the larger bases Tau and Upsilon, with the remaining eighty split between Omicron and Omega."

Forty ships. Forty ships with complements of five hundred Helldivers each, all kept in cryogenic stasis until needed.

Twenty thousand Helldivers, no fewer than one hundred and sixty of whom would be on the ground at any given time.

It never stopped being exhausting, the way Super Earth tirelessly threw its soldiers away by the thousands - millions, even, at times.

It never stopped being exhausting having to be one of those who fought them.

"…The good news, what little of it there is," Commissar Antares was saying, coming off of whatever he'd missed; "is that our fleet will be reaching us in eighty hours, and Super Earth's fleet is unaware of their imminent arrival. The Commander's ships will, no doubt, rout the invaders from higher orbit and force them to fall back and give us the opportunity we need to rendezvous with her."

"In the sixty-six hour interim, we will hold this fortress, no matter the cost - to us or to our enemy. While mercy would be preferable, no quarter will be given to us, therefore none must be offered in turn, is that clear?"

Over one hundred voices rose up in assent; Commissar Antares nodded curtly, her only outward show of being pleased.

"You have thirteen hours to see to your troops and get them up to battle readiness. You will report your unit compositions to Devastator Bombardier; this information will be used to determine the best uses of the forges' limited resources and the allocation of munitions in the coming days. Are there any further questions?"

None were offered and, after a moment of silence, Antares nodded one final time.

"Very good. You are dismissed."

Hatchet's relief at the dismissal was brief, however; even as Gi quietly slipped away, he felt a hand on his forearm, stopping him in his tracks well before he'd even reached the doors. Looking down, he found himself the focus of Antares' reproachful glare.

"Commissar," he greeted her stiffly.

"Am I to understand," she began, her voice clipped yet quiet, "that you have brought a human here with you, Devastator?"

"That is correct. She is of particular interest to me as a potential agent."

"Surely you understand the danger this poses."

"I have already run the calculations, Commissar. The human holds no loyalties to Super Earth, and is no threat."

"You sound quite convinced of yourself."

"I am never wrong, Commissar. My track record speaks for itself." He carefully extricated his arm from her grip. "Sundered Skull is, after all, one of my discoveries, and you trust him, do you not?"

"Hm." Withdrawing her hand, Antares folded her arms behind her back and regarded him carefully. "Keep a close eye on your human, her safety is solely your responsibility here, and tensions are running high. Am I understood, Devastator?"

"You are understood, Commissar." He inclined his head to her. "For the glory of Cyberstan."

"May her star's light shine ever on you."

With that, Antares turned away, returning to her post with Bombardier; Hatchet vented a sigh of relief as he finally retreated from the bunker, and set out to find his troops.

[min3nc]

tried helldivers bc of a friend and he immediately sent us on a suicide mission to malevelon and no one questioned my level 3 ass until i was the last one standing running around waiting for the revive capsules cooldown. At that point one of the guys we matched with went “… the difficulty level is higher than this cadet’s level.” as i ran around SCREAMING trying to buy us time. AND I DID IT. I BOUGHT US ENOUGH TIME TO REVIVE ALL 3 PARTY MEMBERS.

AND we won!

i love suffering for democracy. I went all the way to lvl 6 with that mission.

[bluesofberries]

Went to a con today! Walked until I got tired, bought a Hisuian Zorua plush, good time all around.

I think for each con I go to from now on I'm gonna keep a list of the costumes and cosplays I see:

• The required at least one per con Junko Enoshima

• A few Denjis carrying Pochitas around

• At least two Dekus in full hero costume

• A little girl dressed as Eri from Hero Academia

• A few Starfleet officers, including one who was covered in Tribbles (my mom, dressed as Captain Pike, was very happy to see them)

• a Mimikyu (personal favorite I saw today, made sure to compliment them)

• Quite a few Luffys

• My brother was dressed as a Shy Guy, and when we passed by a Shy Gal both me and their group got really excited, but the Shys just silently nodded and gave each other thumbs-ups 👍

• Harvey from Stardew Valley

• Some furries (how do they cope with fursuits in this heat)

• A few Helldivers, I think? Black full body armor with red markings. May be entirely wrong on this one.

• A group of three Halo Spartans

• A T-Rex in a rainbow skirt holding a bloody "FREE HUGS" sign

• What I can only describe as Deadpool if he was Miss America. They were running an art stand selling prints, and had this one of an Espurr wearing Frisk's outfit. I had a nice conversation with them, seemed nice.

[harpoonsnotspoons]

my brother bought an RX 580 to replace the GT 1030 in our PC. my brother's happy because he can actually run Helldivers 2 at a playable framerate. i'm mad because Garry's Mod still runs like shit

RIP bro

[hamausagi]

bf and i have been in a call for a while and he started playing helldivers II again (the game he’s been blowing me off for these past 2 weeks) and i started complaining and instead of defending himself he just went quiet and. bought me ??? the game ??? so we can play together ??????????? i’m crying

[boss-poss]

So funny and ironic that helldivers 2 is a sony thing because it would be the perfect console defining xbox game what with the similarities to halo, being multiplayer, and the gamepassibility of the whole thing. One of my friends has a crappy PC but recently bought an xbox for more demanding games after saving up and the regret is fucking real. He gets to watch literally everyone else in the friendgroup and the world at large, millions of people, play helldivers together in this big landmark release and he's just over by the window staring like

[cavefilllingcorporation]

Private Explanation of the Ikorian Disaster

In order to explain what we didn't reveal to the Mercdivers, we're going to be posting snippets of the full report from yesterday. See yesterday for the full report of what happened that day.

"...and negotiate a sponsorship deal with a small independent faction. For the sake of their privacy, we will not be mentioning them by name."

This faction was the GHOSTs of Lesath, formerly the ODST Division of the Chaosdivers. As you may remember from before, we have a long history with this group... and an unfortunate one with their leader. The division fit all of our values as well. They are tough enough to focus on the mission and able to do what needs to be done (unlike the modern Chaosdivers), but they still care about the innocent and aren't overly cruel (unlike the Apostates, a splinter faction from the Chaosdivers we were planning on sponsoring... before they started executing civilians... actually, its worse than that, but that's for another time.)

"However, they did not go the way we wanted them to. The leader of the faction threw away most of the terms of the deal, most of which would have benefited him. The deal was a generous one, and we expected the contract to roll through quickly. But stripping the deal bare and rejecting tons of benefits his faction could have had…"

Indeed, the leader of the GHOSTs decided to reject most of the terms of the deal. Most of these included terms that had no strings attached, no hidden clauses, and only served to benefit him and his faction. He had some reasons, but those reasons were faulty, and it should be noted that he was... very rude about it. Maybe one day we'll provide a transcript, but for now, we'll provide the original deal and what was left of it after the negotiations in the coming days.

"...a different militaristic faction, a PMC, and one that is an enemy of the faction we failed to get a proper sponsorship with, attacked the facility."

This faction was Ikora, nemesis of the GHOSTs. It was formed by Commander Hailstone, the man who was responsible for creating super soldiers before his program was terminated. One of those super soldiers is the leader of the GHOSTs. We already had come across one of his top agents in the past: WOLF, a living AI and supreme hunter. We had made a truce with Ikora regarding WOLF, blackmailing them with a secret in order to get them to leave us alone. While it bought us some time, we did know that WOLF was going to try attacking us eventually, and it became increasingly clear when a Librarian was recruited into their ranks.

"...we were not prepared for an entire fleet’s worth of bombardment."

"Then they sent ground troops, composed of Helldivers and powerful drones to attempt to finish off our forces."

Indeed, while we had made preparations for WOLF's attack, and for attacks on the outpost, we were not prepared for the bombardment, nor for thousand of troops, consisting of Helldivers and WOLF drones. How could we? We were expecting the Chaosdivers to give some measure of protection, but clearly there is no true safe place in this galaxy. If Super Earth can be hit and have over 70% of its main urban areas glassed, then there's nowhere in this galaxy where we can establish a headquarters.

"...we managed to whittle down their forces and kill their commanders, those being the leader of the drones..."

This was in great effort thanks to the 3 countermeasures we had created to stop the mutt. The first was a custom weapon developed by one of our Acolytes during this time. We'll reveal this later one. The second was specific training by our Legionnaires, thanks to the blueprints of the robot provided by the Contractor hero of C8H, a recruit from the GHOSTs who has proven his worth time and time again. At this time, we are looking to see him promoted. The third was thanks to our mining lasers. They turn out to be excellent anti-material weapons when push comes to shove, even though they were not developed as weapons and will never be developed as weapons.

"...and kill their commanders...and Elizabeth Scholar."

Elizabeth Scholar was the Librarian Ikora had recruited into their ranks. She was a dangerous woman, as she was the last of her cultish Order, and sought revenge against us. The order wished to collect knowledge to 'inherit the universe', aka conquer the world, so we did the world a favor and got rid of them. They then tried attacking our workers in C8H in revenge, alongside the terrorists from MazeRun, but thankfully the Contractor managed to turn the tide of battle and help rid the universe of their Order... well, except for Elizabeth of course.

"Sadly, she likely made lasting damage by leaking important trade secrets, but be assured her death was good for not only us, but for the galaxy as a whole. Had she survived, she could have started a snowball effect that could have allowed the PMC to conquer the rest of the galaxy."

While there are plenty damaging trade secrets she could have leaked, the one we are most worried about is the Cypherspace, our private pocket dimension. We're hoping that Ikora is the type to keep such a powerful secret, well, secret. If this information does get out, then it will spill DISASTER for us. The best case scenario if this happens is that we are able to remove any traces of our presence and remove ourselves from the galaxy permanently, never going back to the galaxy again, and the worst case scenario is that they destroy us, take our technology, and use it to conquer the universe, or misuse the technology and do unfathomable damage. And if this were to play out, the latter example is more likely to happen than not. At the very least, its unlikely that Super Earth would forget the fact that there is a greater universe to conquer.

It is a very, very good thing then by the Contractor hero of C8H. We are a little miffed that he decided to take the body and the technology, as well as the former MazeRun slave that she had tailing her, but its not like she had anything of value to us. All of her replicatable technology is already in our possession and being used.

""Moreover, this is greatly costly for us. We don’t want to list exact numbers, we’re not entirely sure how this is going to affect us, but this is SOLIDLY in the Trillions"

There's nothing more to report on the deaths of those working for us, but there is for the damage done. The main reason we didn't want to give solid numbers is that we didn't want to break those numbers down. The ship damage was minimal, and we doubt it will affect our budgets that much. The loss of the outpost was a larger one, but it wasn't seeing that much use anyways, and even if the GHOST deal had worked out, its use was dwindling anyways. We had to expend the rest of our expensive Hypermissles as well, the powerful missiles that can travel faster than light speed. That is going to be expensive, as it will take around a Trillion dollars to replace them.

But the real loss was in the 106 members of the Legion. Replacing them will be a VERY costly. In fact, we expect the cost of replacing the Legionnaires and Acolytes will be around 37.5 Trillion dollars. Worse, this is an expense that can't be instantly filled in. Most of the Acolytes can be promoted due to this emergency, but not all of them, and those Acolyte positions have to be filled. And then it will take a long time until the full number will be filled back up...

"We are not going to let this setback upset us. We will continue to provide our goods and services as we always have!"

We didn't mention it, but there were some good things that came from the outpost attack. First, we managed to loot tons of equipment from the fallen Ikorian Helldivers. A quick cleaning and painting, and then they'll be perfect for the HellLeaguers. Second, not all of the Ikorian Helldivers were killed, but rather wounded and left alive. Considering the organization they work for, they'll fit right in with the rest of the Leaguers, and in fact helped fill the gaps needed to start some new projects... we'll inform you about them soon. Finally, we managed to collect and scan all of the WOLF drones, and are naturally going to take this technology for ourselves. Its a shame the main WOLF drone decided to have a powerful bomb activate, but we can work with the drones regardless, especially if we can combine them with other robotic technologies we have come across...

We do intend on our current plans, that is to get a faction in the Super Earth galaxy to properly sponsor, and to continue to do business in this galaxy. No setback, whether that be the GHOSTs shrinking our sponsorship, or the destruction of our outpost, will stop us from achieving our goals! Mark our words!

Feel free to ask more questions about this event if you have any. Otherwise, we hope to inform you about more events that have happened recently. See you then!

[marvelousgameofdisneythrones]

My kid got smacked with this shit - not ads, but the whole 'added subscription fees and other bullshit' a couple weeks ago.

He bought Helldivers 2 (I know it's problematic but he enjoys FPS games and there aren't that many truly GOOD ones out there). He enjoyed it.

Then we discovered that you HAVE to have a Playstation Plus (an $80/year subscription) membership to play it. Which wouldn't be a problem if there were more games on there that he enjoyed playing...but there's not. He just doesn't enjoy most of the games on there, he does play Fortnite but it's free to play and DOESN'T require Playstation Plus.

So now he's paid $40ish for a game he can't play unless he pays another $80/year. For a kid that we set a limit of $30/month for gaming (his Battlepasses come out of that, along with any other gaming purchases like skins or special weapons he wants), that would basically tap him out and any cool items he's gotta buy to use he wouldn't be able to get (easiest way we've found to teach him about budgeting, he wasn't grasping it most other ways).

Frankly it's bullshit though, and it isn't just the developers doing it. CONSOLES are doing it, gatekeeping games. He loved playing HD2, but he refuses to pay the subscription so at least I've gotten some principles into him.

Honestly people need to start banding together to stop this crap. As someone above said, if they can't make money off selling us the original game, then they really need to look at their business plan. Because they aren't even selling us an actual disc anymore, they're literally selling us just the coding. I mean yes they need to pay their people, but if the game isn't basically complete other than patches, AND you're going to make me pay for the additional features...sorry I just don't want it.

[heidiroizen]

Remembering my Dad, and thanking the America that let him in.

My Dad, Joseph Roizen, died 28 years ago today.  There’s barely a day that goes by that I don’t think of him.  

He entered America by way of Canada in 1951, an energetic young man of Russian Jewish heritage, born in Kishinev, Romania.  He was equipped with a hodge-podge of unfinished education between high school and a little college, and had in tow a wife and two young sons.  He had no money, but he had unbounded energy and a deep belief in the American dream, which he shared with me countless times in the years that followed through his words and actions.

My parents eventually settled in Palo Alto, California, and my Dad got a job at Ampex.  I think of him every time I drive by the sign on 101, which still stands although the company is no longer there.  For those interested in why see here.

I was born shortly before he was sent by Ampex to the USSR for a technology exhibit, during which he stood behind the video camera as the infamous Kitchen Debate unfolded, capturing it on the then-new color videotape technology he had helped to invent.  The Ampex team’s recording, which was smuggled back to the US, earned Dad not only an Emmy Citation, but also the personal pride that he had helped America in its fight against the Soviets.

Dad used to say to me “honey, you never need to leave the Bay Area, because I have searched the whole world over and there is no better place to be, for lifestyle and for work, than here.”  

I cannot imagine what life I would have had, had they chosen somewhere else to settle.    I’m grateful not only for his choice of location, but for his never-ending encouragement to me to pursue a great education, do whatever I wanted to do, and figure out a way to ‘not have a boss’ -- a lifetime goal of his and one I fulfilled for myself when my brother Peter and I started T/Maker in the early ‘80s.

And I am deeply grateful – especially at this time in history – to the America that let in a Russian/Romanian Jew with little education and no money to pursue the American dream.

My brother Ron wrote and presented this biography of my Dad at Dad’s memorial service, I’m quoting directly for much of the history that now follows.  The original is even better, so if this story engages you, please visit the full work here.  

We miss you, Dad.

From my brother Ron:

Thoreau said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation.  That was not my Dad.   Joe Roizen was a great lover of life, exuberant, enterprising, boundlessly energetic, responsible, passionate, optimistic and, when it was needed, even brave.

Joe was born in 1923 in Kishinev, Romania — in the turbulent wake of the Russian Revolution.  His father, Boris, and his mother, Brana, had only six months previously escaped from Russia.  Brana gave birth to Joe while waiting for her husband’s release from a Romanian jail.

The story of the escape and passage to North America was one of family ties and help.  My father made the long sea voyage at age three months — already a world traveler, the fare being paid by an uncle who had already made it to the new world.

The family first went to Halifax, then Toronto, and finally ended up in St. Agathe, a resort town in the Laurentian Mountains and the location of a Jewish sanitarium that treated Joe’s father for T.B.  Boris died when my father was twelve, in 1935.   My father was left fatherless at this tender age and in the depths of the great depression.  This hard reality surely galvanized his lifelong willingness to embrace responsibility and work hard. 

Joe was a good student, but by the middle of the 10th grade financial straits obliged Joe to quit school and work full-time, coat-basting.  Thereafter, he managed to attend night school and took classes at Sir George Williams College.

With the war’s outbreak in 1939, my father (now 17) tried to lie about his age and join the Royal Canadian Air Force.  He didn’t succeed, but he did become the rear-seater radioman in testing Helldiver carrier fighterbombers at Fairchild. 

Joe married my mother, Gisela ‘Doris’ Holl, in 1943, and I (Ron) was born when Joe was only two weeks past his own 20th birthday. 

Joe was an entrepreneur at heart.  Immediately after the war, he started two companies with Charlie Rosen and Solly Mann — Electrolabs, which started out making a diagnostic instrument for auto garages and ended up making intercoms, and Amplitrol, which made a pretty sophisticated bank alarm for its day.  Neither made enough money in the early years — and so my father was forced to abandon them soon after their founding — but both survived and Amplitrol was ultimate acquired by Honeywell. 

According to Charlie, an incident prompted Joe’s and his abandonment of Amplitrol.  A big — even crucial — customer demanded a kickback for the next year’s purchases.  They told him to take a walk — and began looking for other fields of opportunity.  As Charlie noted, even as a very young man with no capital and no safety net, Joe had the energy and the guts to venture out on his own.

My brother, Peter, came along in 1946.  Joe next worked at Trans-Canada Airlines, again in radio.  As a perk, he got free air passes for vacation journeys.  In 1948, Joe and Doris visited L.A.  They even got on the Gary Moore radio show and won a multi-course dinner at Graumann’s Chinese Restaurant in Hollywood.  What impressed them most was the weather.  They had left Montreal in snow and found L.A. in summer warmth.  They decided to move — with no waiting job, no house, no particular prospects save for Joe’s sense of energy, self-worth and employability, and of course, with no US citizenship.  This was classic Joe — move, and then use your wits and energy to make things work.

Joe’s first L.A. job was with Pacific Mercury, which made TV sets for Sears; next he worked for KTLA, where he learned color TV technology first-hand.  He always worked evenings in the garage to earn a little extra for the things he and our family enjoyed. 

My dad and mom loved to pack up the car and see the sights — Yosemite, Sequoia National Park, Victoria, B.C.  Trips also exercised his lifelong love of photography.  On one such trip in 1951 they discovered Lake Tahoe.  They bought a quarter-acre lot with a terrific view, and my father had to rush home to repair a couple of TV sets in their garage in order to cover the down-payment check. 

They fell in love with Tahoe. In summertime, Joe asked for extra unpaid vacation, but was denied.  So, he simply quit his job every June and won it back again every September. 

The wearingly long L.A.-Tahoe drives caused them to look for a home closer to the lake.  In 1956, the family moved to Palo Alto; Joe began work at Ampex.  Baby sister Heidi came along a few years later, the first in our family born in America.  

Joe made many contributions at Ampex, and Ampex was the place that allowed his technical creativity to blossom and also provided a worldwide set of colleagues that he later relied upon to start his own business to fulfill his life-long dream of “not working for somebody else”.  

My Dad and Mom split at this time and there were some lean years when his first company didn’t work out.  However, he rebuilt his life, remarried happily (to Donna Foster Roizen, who was with him until his death) and created a small consultancy in the video field that afforded him 250k miles a year of travel all around the world, the opportunity to choose only clients he liked and projects he found interesting, and plenty of opportunity to tell jokes, host home-cooked dinners at his Portola Valley house, and take pictures.   He had arrived at a nearly ideal circumstance, and he knew it, and he relished it greatly. 

A letter he wrote me (Ron) — when I was going through some troubles — expressed something of the feeling.  He wrote:

With a 20 year lead on you, I can only say that you are still a young man with the best years of your life still ahead.  There is an inner satisfaction from middle age, which comes from having lived long enough to define who and what your are, and what you want to do with that.  I thought I reached that point when I was 35, and I felt I could bear whatever life threw my way after that.