#we could play Xbox instead !!!

[koolaidashley]

I think prodigy Leo’s Big Character Arc would be like. Just being a hero in general. He was NOT into the idea 🙁🙁🙁

[floral-hex]

Thought I’d get out for the night, so I’ve been sitting in this gaming lounge for the last hour and it’s… meh. Ordered an overpriced milkshake, just kind of hanging out. Honestly, I’d rather play games by myself at home than deal with whatever’s going on here. Well… it was worth a shot 😒

[a-soft-fluffy-girl]

TL;DR: Steam just made library sharing so much fucking easier and so much fucking better. Instead of login-trading, it's just a simple goddamn invite.

Read this. Really. It's a good read. Because it shows that, full-stop, Valve isn't just doubling down on their stance to make sure that people can and should be able to share their copies of digital goods as easily as they can physical ones, but they're making it better and easier than ever.

But you know how Steam allowed you to, with either friends or family, link accounts with another person to be able to establish an ability to share game libraries with one another? The general gist of Steam Family Sharing was that, with a limit of five people plus you (six in total) on a limit of ten computers total could share account access to willingly mix your libraries. You could play theirs. They could play yours.

This was a huge boon. It was meant to emulate sharing a physical copy of a game. A way to allow children to play games their parents or siblings had bought without having to fork over double the cash to buy it a second game. But it had some major limitations and drawbacks, and was archaic to use.

If a person did not share the same computer, you had to manually log into that computer to give it and the accounts on it access. This wouldn't be a problem if both accounts were used on the same computer, but many households (and astronomically more family and friend groups) had multiple computers, all used by different people.

If that computer, at any point, was hard reset to any point before the sharing occurred, you lost access. And had to do the whole process again. This was also an issue with computer transfers. The whole kit and kaboodle needed to be redone on upgrades. On top of that, the old computer is now just dead weight that you may not realize you have to manually revoke access to.

Putting your account information on another person's computer opens up security issues. They could, intentionally or accidentally, land themselves on your account if the login information was stored. Which could easily lead to purchases or bans you did not want to happen.

If anyone was, at any point, playing any game on their own library, you had no access to their games. Even if it was a totally different game, you had to wait your turn as if waiting for their computer to be freed up to sit at. (Admittedly this is kind of like the "mom said it's my turn on the xbox" meme, but hey, kinda archaic.)

You could not choose whose library you accessed a game from. Not at all. It always prioritized the first library it gained access from, DLC access and multiplayer be damned. If another friend you were accepting games from had more DLC? Too bad.

And yet here we are. Steam Families Beta fixes EVERYTHING about the above issues. By just going through Settings > Interface > client Beta Participation and clicking onto Steam Families Beta? You get:

No more login sharing. No more computer links. You can now choose which person's library you borrowed from. And you can play any other game from someone's library, even while they're in-game. It just needs to be a different game than what they're playing.

Pick five people. Invite them to your family. And now everyone has access to everyone's library. My goddamn library went from 150-ish to almost a goddamn thousand in ten minutes of setup.

Account sharing and password sharing are dirty words that "lose" billions of dollars. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Max. They aren't game storefronts, but they still allow you to access massive libraries and scream like you murdered their firstborns for daring to share your password with your mother after you moved out.

Microsoft tried pushing to demonize and undercut used games sales and borrowed copies of physical games. Remember the first attempt to reveal the Xbox One? People forget, but these vultures tried to make an always online console that checked to see if you were the account that owned the game, even if you had a physical disc, and prevent access to the disc's contents if you weren't the original downloader.

Valve walked the fuck up. Valve tapped the mic. And Valve dropped the fucking thing right onto the ground with one feature's revamp.

About the only issues I can see with this are twofold:

If someone sharing your library gets banned from a game's servers... so do you. No one else in the family does, but the both of you do. This is... rather unpleasant, because banhammers can be dropped quite frequently by mistake. I'd urge Valve to rethink this one, but I see the logic: don't cheat and effectively bite the hand feeding you. Still making me side-eye that, though.

If you leave a family you've joined? You have to wait a YEAR to join a new one. It's to prevent people form jumping ship to another group and screwing over who's in the former one in the process, but a YEAR? OUCH.

Problems aside, though... it's probably the biggest fucking power move I have ever seen a media distributor make in the current economic climate. It's the kind of thing that would let so many new games be available in a way that's easier than ever. Just a few clicks to send or accept an invite, and bam. Permanent access to dozens or even hundreds of new games with so much more freedom than earlier drafts of the system.

It's the kind of thing that slaps you in the face with positivity after so many Ls from the games and media industries. And I'm all the fuck for a W like this.

[grimandghoulish]

.

[felassan]

Snippets 🐺💜

John Epler quote: "There’s a difference between playersexual and pansexual. All companions are canonically pansexual." [source]

The opening cinematic Varric narrates at the start of the game plays before CC. "Following character creation, Varric's narration continues, revealing that he's put together a group to stop Solas, having recruited our character and a handful of others so far." [source]

Despite the action-heavy focus, positioning is absolutely key, and using careful timing to hit multiple foes at once can be the difference between victory and defeat [source]

"In-between fights, Varric and the other characters, including your fully-voiced protagonist, discuss events that are unfolding and different things that have led up to this moment. Epler notes for the preview that with how much time has passed since prior games, the team wanted to carefully throw in some reminders without it feeling like ham-fisted exposition." [source]

"The Dread Wolf's ambitions have already been laid bare, but I strongly suspect there's more going on, and Epler cryptically hints that not everything will be as it first seems" [source]

 Mages can move instead of standing in one place, allowing them to get up close and personal with enemies - a major game-changer for magic users [source]

Faction choice affects in-game moments between other factions and locations, as well as characters [source]

"When they were creating this area, they kept that in mind and looked at other locations to figure out how they could make it more grand. They developed the entire area based on a comment someone said in a past game, and if that isn’t dedication to lore, I don’t know what is" [source] (re: Minrathous)

In this demo the press saw femme Rook! [source]

The standard three square hotkeys look like an updated version of past ones [source]

"It sounded like there is also a system that allows hints during battle, like when something is a certain range, etc., that they said could be turned off" [source]

"In cutscenes, rain dripping down a building, blood on someone’s hands, or stepping into a puddle looks outstanding". "Things like clothes and hair are dynamic and move with you" [source]

"what at its core is a beautifully told story of revenge, regret, and the complexities of good and evil" [source]

During the interrogation scene in the bar with the shady bartender, Varric pins her to her own station with a crossbow bolt in order to interrogate her. Rook and Varric then go scrounge the city for clues [source]

Re: using body sliders in CC - "It looked incredibly easy to maneuver around and create a body that is either close to that player's real personage or their ideal fantasy self" [source]

Companions "will not only be influenced by your decisions in terms of how they treat you outside of combat, but closeness to party members will also change how they fight, with those closest to Rook more useful and lethal in battle" [source]

"Our presenter said that each specialization was pretty much as deep as a job" [source]

The game will not be available in India. [source]

The game has a Quality mode and a Performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. it runs the latest version of Frostbite, targeting frame rates of 60fps in Peformance and 30 in Quality [source]

They will have more to share on both graphics modes for consoles in the coming months. [source]

David Gaider quote on the portrayal of Anders' orientation in DAII:

DA2 writer David Gaider told Kotaku in February this was meant to distinguish Anders’ relationship with male or female versions of Hawke, but recognizes this comes off like the mage’s identity was a switch to be flipped in hindsight. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough time to get enough feedback and iterate on those situations,” he said. “We would hit a particular interaction, we would make a judgment call either as a group or the writer on their own, and that was it. There was no time for anything more than one gut-check, which is probably not the way to go.”

edit: forgot to add src for last one sorry. its here

[princessbrunette]

OKAY WAIT- can we pretty pls have ur thoughts on the pussy throb moment but w rafey?? cause i honestly feel like you’d be trying to lock in and ignore it outta sheer embarrassment and not wanting to interrupt him but he just smells so good and his hands and thighs r just so big and yummy so u can’t stop ur body from reacting and him being his cocky self would ofc be all like “you think i can’t tell when my girl needs me?? you’re not slick babe🤨😑” tysm if so, the jj drabble was just tew good i needa hear it w my man 🤭

— with love, 🏵️<3

જ⁀➴₊⊹ ♡

rafe didn’t consider himself much of a gamer, but every so often he’d indulge — xbox controller in his grip as he’d play some kind of sports game, 2K to be exact, muttering to himself about how topper was fucking up the team or how kelce was taking all his shots.

you being you, had to be on him at all times — just not understanding why on earth he’d rather play his stupid game with his friends online instead of give you all his attention, despite spending the entire day with you at the beach — but that doesn’t matter! you were back at tannyhill now, and you needed your fix of rafes dick so you’d be able to sleep properly that night.

he rests his controller on your ass as he plays, laying forward on his lap in your booty shorts, covered cunt feeling the lengthy weight of him in his post-shower-sweatpants snug against you. you bite your lip each time he jolts at a bad play, swearing under his breath.

“raaafe, when are you gonna be done playing?” you don’t wanna nag, but you missed his attention and you needed to be out of your shorts soon because you just couldn’t take it. maybe it was because he’d been so good to you all day, you were feeling spoiled.

“soon, a’ight lemme just — lemme just finish this.” his response is noncommittal, trailing off in concentration towards the end. as he plays, he takes a couple of seconds to adjust on the bed, getting more comfortable against the headboard and inadvertently lifts his hips up, spreading his legs beneath you a little more — all but pressing his natural bulge harder into your cunt for a moment making you sigh out.

you’re silent, trying to be a good girl so you end up getting your way when he’s finished and you latch your bottom lip under your teeth, feeling yourself starting to soak the inside layer of your shorts as you clench around nothing. you whimper sadly to yourself, and without taking his eyes off the screen, your boyfriend fixes his parted lips to speak.

“know i can feel that shit, right?”

dazed, you lift your head a little. “hm?”

“you have a second heartbeat. it’s beating real hard in my lap right now. you know you’d get alot further if you just used your words with me.” he’s calm, almost expressionless for once as he focuses on the game, humiliating you with such nonchalance that you’re sure he could feel this ‘second heartbeat’ of yours beat even harder.

“i’m trying to hold out for you whilst you finish.” you whine, wriggling your hips a little now that the gig was up, his cock already having started to chub up at his own realisation.

“good. hold out a little longer.” he hums, the sound of his fingers mashing the joysticks filling the air. if you weren’t so concentrated on grinding on his lap, you’d have noticed the way he started to miss all his shots despite his nonchalance, eyes darting down to watch you rub on him more and more often. “shit. alright, okay— i’m done with this shit. take these fuckin’ shorts off, yeah?” the game goes quiet due to him exiting out, tossing the controller aside and manhandling you off his lap so he could kneel behind you.

you always got what you wanted eventually.

જ⁀➴₊⊹ ♡

[kagscore]

𝜗𝜚 playing games with the boys

feat. isagi yoichi, nagi seishiro, itoshi rin note. this is self indulgent because i wanna play league with nagi i fear ૮꒰⸝⸝> <⸝⸝꒱ა i hope you enjoy ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

⊹˚. ᡣ𐭩.𖥔 ݁ ˖ playing rocket league with 𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐈 𝐘𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐈 looks like . . .

the two of you sitting in his bedroom, you curled up in his lap as you hold the controller. he holds your hands with his, moving the controller and pressing the buttons for you so you can get a grasp of the movements you need to know. slowly but surely, he lets you take full control and quietly cheers for you as you score goals and block them in his favorite game—car soccer. he's almost brimming with excitement at the idea of teaching you all sorts of tricks—flip resets, [insert other terminology]—anything so that eventually the two of you can play duos together and dominate the game. shows you how to decorate your car, the types of cars you can get and laughing when you ask if you could just drive a vw beetle instead. gets himself a second remote to play on his xbox when he thinks you’re finally starting to get the game and trying to cheer you up when you lose your first game duo’d together.

“you sure you wanna keep playing? i know it isn’t the easiest thing in the world…” “i think it’s so cute you wanna get good at this game baby, of course we can play when you come over again.”

⊹˚. ᡣ𐭩.𖥔 ݁ ˖ playing league of legends with 𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐈 𝐒𝐄𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐎 looks like . . .

nagi absolutely tossing you in headfirst into aram, knowing that you won’t get kills or assists and will die a lot but absolutely sweating his balls off so that he can still carry you to a win. you ask a lot of questions about who you’re playing, who you’re playing against, your abilities and ultimates and just generally what to do and him answering every single question you ask with patience and a soft explanation. sometimes you do questionable things in game, but he just laughs and says it’s okay. congratulates when you finally figure out who you want to main, celebrates when you get your first kill, and even buys you that skin you want as a gift for taking the time to play a game with him and spend time with him. always rerolls his character in aram, trying to find someone you like and getting a bit teary eyed when you recognize his favorite character to play once.

“it’s your favorite character, babe, swap me for them.” “i know you’re new, but please stop dying to tower. i’ll even take us out for dinner, i’m begging.”

⊹˚. ᡣ𐭩.𖥔 ݁ ˖ playing valorant with 𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈 𝐑𝐈𝐍 looks like . . .

rin trying his hardest every game you play together to be the top frag to impress you subtly, and him avenging you every time you die because how could he let his person die without killing the person that killed you? drops you his gun skins and even switches them when you guys wait in queue to skins you prefer—if he doesn’t have the skin you like, he always gives it to you when he finds and kills the person with it in a game. goes into deathmatches to one v. one you to try and help you learn the mechanics of the game and the shooting. if anyone is rude to you in a game, he’s immediately cursing and hexing their family and generational lineage in his head/in chat. he doesn’t like talking in game, but will if it means defending you against everyone else being mean because you’re bottom fragging. buys you your first skin after you get your first kill and periodically logging into your account to buy you more and surprise you sometimes.

“you should try a duelist if you want to get more kills, my love.” “now we just need to get you an ace, and we can do something special.”

[foone]

I don't even go here but I'm very disappointed that the new Dagron Age is going with 2024 graphics instead of the 2009 graphics of DA:O.

I think that's a poor creative decision. We have more than enough AAA games with 2024 graphics. We need more 2009 games. Those are way rarer these days, and it's help the games maintain a continuity of visual style.

I'm also disappointed that I can't play it on my Xbox 360 like I could the other two games. Really spitting in the face of longterm fans* here, bioware.

* this term doesn't include me

[blazehedgehog]

Do you agree with the TheGamer's article, Astro Bot Isn't A Celebration, It's A Graveyard?

I have not read the article or played the game, but watching talk about Astro Bot and how it's this "great celebration of Playstation" is absolutely a bummer. Watching Astro Bot get Spike's net and run around catching monkeys in an Ape Escape level feels more like a cry for help than a celebration of anything.

It's Team Asobi saying, "Hey remember when they used to let us create weird, wacky, super creative games? Well they consolidated like eight teams down to just this Astrobot group here, so this is a toast to our fallen comrades."

I'm sure that, to Sony, doing that "made sense," because games like Locoroco or The Last Guardian or Gravity Rush were not hitting the right "sales targets." (A made up number that doesn't mean anything to anyone other than shareholders) So, you restructure, you filter out all but the best and brightest talent, and that's how you get Team Asobi.

But I've been saying it for a while, and so have a lot of other people, that we're back to the same kind of egotistical Sony that launched the PS3 to the sound of dead weight hitting the pavement. Now, that Sony turned the PS3 around towards the end, but that's because they got humbled by the Xbox 360 and had to figure out a way to bounce back.

And then they bounced back right as Microsoft's ego started to humble them and it launched the Playstation 4 into such a huge lead that they're still kind of coasting on that, particularly because instead of bouncing back, Microsoft has just kind of rolled over and accepted their fate. Whatever success they have with Game Pass isn't good enough for them to really swing back at Sony very hard.

So we get this clownshoes company that closes down all of their Japan studios, that launches a VR headset peripheral that's more expensive than the console it's made for, and that same VR headset has no backwards compatibility with older PS4 software even though the console itself does, and then they launch an equally expensive wifi-only remote dock (read: a Wii U Gamepad) for that console, they keep raising their prices in Japan, they launch and then two weeks later shut down a live service game that spent 8 years in development...

And then you look at Astro Bot, brimming with "Remember when Playstation used to be the coolest thing in the world?" references, from Parappa the Rapper to Ape Escape to Shadow of the Colossus, and it's like... yeah, I do remember that, and I can only remember it, because that's not the kind of company Sony is now. This is a party primarily for things that don't exist anymore.

You could call that a graveyard, sure. It's a wake at the very least.

[kassymalone]

A Little Rant about Fun

Remember fun?

Remember when you could do things just because they were fun?

It keeps coming to mind recently, and it's starting to drive me nuts.

I've always done things with my hands - I used to do art before uni destroyed my love and confidence, I write things, I cross stitch, I make models, and I do these things because I enjoy them. Unfortunately I've come to hate talking to people about my hobbies because the almost always have the same response - 'what do you do with that?'

Do I sell on Etsy? No I fucking don't, this pattern took me 15 hours to finish, do you know how much I would have to charge for it?

Do I do freelance writing? No I fucking don't, why would I want a second soul-crushing job on top of my first soul-crushing job?

Why don't I actually get published instead of wasting my time with fanfiction so I can actually make some money off it? WHY DON'T YOU DO IT IF ITS SO FUCKING EASY

I've been thinking of making a quilt recently, with patches of all my favourite things, but I don't want to talk to anyone about it because I can already hear them asking 'and what are you going to do with it? Is this your practice one before you sell them? No, don't do it that way, that's the wrong way, no-one will like it!'

(Don't get me started on the 'you're doing it wrong' crowd, gatekeepers are a different rant.)

JUST LET ME DO THINGS. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO MAKE MONEY. I know we're in a cost of living crisis right now, but I've been hearing this shit since I was a teenager, twenty fucking years ago! I still remember being talked out of singing lessons when I had a little extra money because 'what would I do with it?' Well fuck, my fat ass was never going to be the next Adele, but maybe I could have just had fun doing something I enjoy, but better?!

ON A RELATED NOTE!

You know what disproportionately annoys me? When people call the Nintendo Switch a 'toy' as if it's a bad thing. Like... yes? It's a toy? I play games on it?

'But the frame rate!', 'But the graphics!', 'But it can't run XX game!' WHO FUCKING CARES.

Yes, the xbox and playstation can connect to netflix and play blue rays and cook you dinner and raise your children, but they also cost a months rent and have all these bells and whistles to distract you from the fact that they JUST FUCKING TOYS. There's nothing either of them can do that I can't do on my PC, better and cheaper, and not have to turn on five different peripherals to make it work.

'But 4K!', 'But you can see the character follicles in this new game!', 'But the horses testicles react to the weather!'

Are you not having fun? Are you not enjoying playing your game? Never once have I been in the middle of a game and thought 'I'd be enjoying this more if it had more pixels.' I'm not even against other consoles, use whatever you prefer - if you like modern real-to life graphics then more power to you, but the amount of people who act like it actually matters somehow is concerning...

Yes, the switch hardware is behind what the xbox and playstation can do... but its a toy. Nintendo has never forgotten that it makes toys, and that's why I like it. It sits on my table, connects to my other monitor. I listen to long form youtube videos while I play TOTK. If I'm feeling sassy, I play it handheld.

My niece has one. We play Pokémon together and I let her win battles because the point is to be fun.

WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO MY POINT!

FUCK the grindset 'but how can I monetise every possible second?' bullshit, FUCK the 'taking this thing that should be fun way too seriously' bullshit.

LET PEOPLE DO THINGS JUST BECUASE THEY'RE FUN.

LET THINGS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN BE FUN.

And now I've used the word 'fun' so much it's lost all meaning.

Much like fun itself.

[pagodazz]

spare patrick/michael andersen headcanons to cure my brainrot mayhaps?

are you a god send????? I have literally been sitting here rocking back and forth waiting for someone to ask for more of these PLEASE IM SOOO HAPPY TO PROVIDE!!!!

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how Michael and Patrick function as a "We", I think it's so interesting because all the other characters we deal with when they have an entity they want them out and are begging to be saved while it's just not like that with them.

they're able to communicate with each other and they're able to understand each other's needs. They're very dependent on each other or atleast Patrick is VERY dependent on Michael, which to be fair he's like a parasite, a chip in Michael's head, right??? Which is what I think separates them from everyone else, Patrick and Michael are not like Evan and HABIT, Evan is HABITs favorite toy, Patrick and Michael are MADE for each other.

Now I've even thought about what this means for dating and stuff HELP. as someone who has a stupid crack ship or Vinnie w these guys (but you can use this for ur own or just ignore this part of you don't see them in relationships), I've tried to find something that makes sense,, and it's pretty much just polyamory but your 2 boyfriends share a body. A two for the price of one type of deal HELP. I don't think Patrick is one to actively seek out romance but if it happens to be something that finds him, I don't think he'd have the strength to really push it away, him and Michael really only knows how to run. I think they'd be a package deal if you love one you have to love both because they're JUST THAT INTERTWINED. I don't see them as being very romantic with each other, but I can see them being so in touch with each others emotions that they can't help but feel the same things.

Michael would probably explain his situation to people and if they're not able to understand him and accept him he can't be with them because what is the POINT. If they don't accept him for all the shit he's got going on, they could never really even love him. And I think he would want Patrick to be loved too, he doesn't want him to be alone even if Patrick is with him, he knows it's just not enough sometimes.

-----------

I think Michael would write stories when he was in the ward, him and Patrick would come up with ideas because the other kids would be too scared to talk to them. Instead of playing with the others Michael would hide off In a corner writing stories or just playing alone when in reality he's actually playing with Patrick. They would come up with endless stories and Michael knew he wouldn't share them with anyone else, except maybe Shaun.

The stories would probably be more true stories, even if Michael didn't know they were, Patrick would. Patrick obviously would wait a long time before ever revealing to Michael that they both truly know more than anyone could ever know. Michaels stories would be dark and violent, they'd be horror filled, he wouldn't be able to write about happy things, because he doesn't have anything happy to write about.

-----------

MICHAEL ANDERSEN IS A STONER, it's easy for him and it feels good, even when he does too much and gets paranoid he's just glad his head isn't screaming at him and all he really has to worry about are the figures he see out of the corner of his eye, which he'd see if he was sober anyways.

I think he is a big fan of stuff from the 80s - early 2000s stuff. I think he'd have the original Xbox and a box tv. IM TALKING OLDD.

I think there's just something about it that's so him,,, AND HE WOULD SO OWN A PLAYSTATION ASWELL. he's such a gamer to me, he wants to make up for all the shit he missed out on.

I think he would really like this one hulk game "hulk ultimate destruction",,, I USED TO BE OBSESSED WITH THAT GAME AS I KID.

I like to think in my own slenderverse world Vinnie (& Shaun would too) would show Michael all these games and get him OBSESSED. he's definitely a my sims guy, NOT REGULAR SIMS,, IM TALKING THESE FUCKERS

I feel like he would absolutely ADORE THIS GAME. am I projecting?? absolutely. But they are SO HIM TO ME.

----------

have some pictures that make me think of Michael and Patrick

[losttoliterature]

my brother and i used to be absolute menaces to each other and we still are but he's old enough now that we can also actually be friends. like last night our parents were out and we ate pizza and played xbox together and ate sweets we weren't supposed to have together and fucked around with each other and it was so nice to not fight i mean holy shit it was awesome. he was even enthusiastic about the new skirt i bought (which btw is so hobbitcore and i love it) and said that while it wasn't for him he could see how it suited me, and it was such a nice change from when he used to just call me and my clothes ugly all the time. and i was enthusiastic about his games, which i don't understand much but i am now able to happily watch and ask questions and it clearly makes him happy to explain stuff and he just came into to excitedly tell me about a new fortnite season and a video he wanted to show me about something he was going to learn to do on the game. when he came in, i closed my laptop to talk to him (and, admittedly, so he wouldn't know i was writing this) instead of fighting with him about keeping out of my room and we jumped in circles for no reason but the fact that it made us both laugh. he has been able to come to me with things that he doesn't feel comfortable to tell our parents and it makes me so happy he trusts me like that. and sure, we'll still fight, but at least not every interaction will be angry and if he ever sees this i will actually die, but i love him and like him now, rather than just the former.

tldr: my brother and i are finally friends with a mostly healthy relationship and it makes me happy

[pico-digital-studios]

KinitoPET console port ideas

In the wake of KinitoPET's growing success, I thought about how a console port of the game would work if troy_en ever decides to do something like that.

WARNING!: Spoilers are prominent for the game ahead, so don't read on unless you've played or watched all of KinitoPET, including the game's secret ending.

To start, let's talk about the...

Interface

Since the game takes place on a simulated PC, changes will obviously have to be made for the game to function there.

To begin with, the control scheme. The general idea I had was for the mouse cursor to be moved with the left analogue stick, and for interactions to be made with one of the different buttons on the controller. Pressing the console's respective start/pause button will quickly bring up the pause menu for you to change settings or return to a regular desktop.

As most of the consoles lack their own wallpaper settings built in (Nintendo Switch, I'm especially looking at you for your lack of themes), the My Pictures folder instead links to some pre-prepared images that you can set as the in-game desktop background. For 3D Pinball's controls, it works similarly to games like Pinball FX, using the trigger buttons to move the flippers, and one of the normal buttons to control the plunger.

Now, about the game's achievements/trophies. Steam was the main way of unlocking KinitoPET's various achievements, so I felt the system could also be applied for the Xbox and PlayStation systems. However, a new workaround is needed for Switch, since that lacks an achievement system outright. As such, like with the Portal and Stanley Parable ports, I thought about a separate Achievements menu/application where the unlocked and yet-to-be-unlocked achievements can be viewed from.

KinitoPET in general

Since the game needs keyboard input at various points, the ports would have ways to overcome this, using the console's respective on-screen keyboard for these inputs. If it supports touch-screen, then all the better, too. Kinito's instructions are also tweaked to make up for the consoles not actually having keyboards by default.

As the game also reads from your Steam friend list and what Steam games you have in your library, I thought about the game also having its own way of reading this; namely, pulling the options from your console's friend list, and if your highlighted favourite game is in the respective console's store, along with various others you have save data for.

For the 3D sections in the game, the left analogue stick helps with movement, while the right analogue stick (for controllers that support it; otherwise, the D-Pad works) moves the camera view.

Fourth-wall scares

Now, this is something that definitely needs tweaking due to it being on consoles.

First off, a lot of fans will know that when Kinito is told that he's NOT your best friend, he turns up your system volume to reiterate that question. Obviously, this isn't going to work for consoles that have their audio come from a TV, but if the console has built-in volume controls on its own (like Switch), Kinito will raise the console's volume from there.

Next, the Paint jumpscare. This one opens up your PC's actual MS Paint briefly to facilitate the scare, but in this case, a fullscreen in-game Paint window would appear to create the "ARE YOU REALLY (NAME)?" taunt.

Now, next up is the infamous Camera scare Kinito pulls on you. Now, we all know that unless your TV or console actually HAS camera support, it's outright ineffective, so I thought of another workaround. Kinito, instead, asks to "see your avatar", pulling a direct model of your Avatar/Mii on full show. If you don't have one, he'll instead nab one of the generic defaults.

Also, about the recording secret, another twist is thrown in; if you have captured screenshots or recorded snippets of gameplay, Kinito questions this, actually pulling said screenshots/recordings from your console's gallery to question you with.

Now, onto the darker questions of the Analysis Hub. Remember what I said above about the friends toggle? Well, two of the questions, those being "Can you trust everything that (NAME) says?" and "Who would you rather kill?" actually read that friend list data for you to look through.

For the address-hunting/doxxing scare, the dialogue obviously changes unless your console has a proper built-in web browser:

"Hey. It seems like you made a mistake when filling out your address. I would find out your address for you, but your system doesn't have the capacity to let me do so. But just so you know, I could."

And last, and most importantly, the Command Prompt sequence. Kinito will instead point your attention to the My Computer icon, which is toggled in the console ports to house other sub-applications, a built-in console included, for you to type either Kinito's system access command, or the commands and codes needed to outright get rid of him.

Oh, right! Let's not forget about the game-closing sequences. At the end of each act of the game, pop-up windows appear to inform you that that part of the game is over, though for the consoles, this isn't possible, so on-screen text would appear before the game crashes deliberately, necessitating you to actually restart the game.

Your World

When Kinito is preparing to show off your house, since he can't exactly turn off your monitor, he simply resorts to asking you to close your eyes. In the house itself, he recycles the data he found in your console to utilise here. For instance, in the special office, the cover art of your favourite game on that console is on the computer, with other games that have save data on the shelves. Your console friends are each gathered around the dining table and sofas, and the TV, which originally showed nothing, plays random recordings from your console gallery to give you something to watch.

I personally also had the thought about Your World being accessible without an off-screen timer if you wished to explore either the funfair or your island/forest/field's house without any pressure on your shoulders. In the idea, the rollercoaster would instead park up by the entrance to another chute, and taking this one will let you go back to your funfair if you wish.

Secret Ending tweaks

As the Secret Ending requires even more interaction on your part, new tweaks are needed to help this fully work.

The "Lense.exe" program creates a magnifying glass that you can use to gather the files and email logs. Since they likely can't be stored on your console's system memory, they are instead stored in a bar accessible once you get inside the Dark Land. The respective passwords are saved by the game for you, and will be entered for you in order for each one you find before opening the console in Act 3.

If you don't have all of the passwords, the game will stop entering them should a crucial one be missing, and deny you that access. If you have all of them, though, and get to the confirmatory code, the game will ask you to confirm this final decision, and if you go through with it, you've achieved the secret ending!

Well, that's all I can really think about for a potential future console port for KinitoPET. I do know it's going to be a lot harder work to work with, though I'm sure it can work out, since the Godot engine (which KinitoPET runs on) is cross-platform.

[ploobis]

I never make posts on here but I'm absolutely flabbergasted and gobsmacked by overwatch rn. I bought overwatch in 2016 for $60, and then $40 when overwatch 2 came out so I could play junkerqueen in the beta (not worth btw). I bought it for $40 knowing PVE wouldn't be out at launch but honestly I was fine with that, I just expected it by like next spring which is what they were saying on the roadmaps. Overwatch is old. Like old old at this point. Overwatch narrowly could have been made for the Xbox 360. A multibillion dollar company with 6 going on 7 years of experience with this game should know how many people you need on a dev team to ship the content they promised. But they've been BARELY able to keep up with the base multiplayer. Back in December roadhog was oppressively strong and they promised a hog rework soon™. Rework implies some pretty strong stuff right, like torb rework and symmetra rework were pretty huge. Instead what we got was a bandaid and a sorry excuse, which even then, the "rework" we got was delayed and delayed. This was a plague for months before the dev team did anything to remedy this. This is just one example of MANY broken and out of touch actions by the devs. A large chunk of the content they've promised has been delayed, buggy, a let down, and more. But for the last couple months I've been justifying it by thinking "oh it's fine though bc I'd imagine a lot of the team is working full time on the PVE. The PVE that's been showcased honestly looked great. Like I'd happily pay $40 to play that game. They had cool skill trees, mastery, neat concepts and progression very unique to ow2. Instead the devs released a game mode of an old 2CP map revamped to look like starwars (with really dope skins and cool art I'll give them that) and cancelled PVE as we know it. It's just so frustrating playing this game with absolutely no hope for content. Lifeweaver is a complete joke, the new shop took one of my favorite systems for earning items and cool bonuses and turned into one of the most prohibitively expensive jokes of a store I've ever seen.

[woodaba]

We Wouldn't Have Alan Wake II Without Quantum Break

Remember Quantum Break? The first game announced for the Xbox One? The link between cult classic Alan Wake and surprising studio-saving hit Control? That prominently features Lance Reddick, the much-missed actor who was frequently one of the most electric screen presences of our time?

Don't worry, I barely do either, and I played the game yesterday.

So, a refresher. Quantum Break, announced in 2013 alongside the Xbox One and released three years later, is a third-person shooter starring Shawn Ashmore aka Iceman from the X-Men movies as Jack Joyce (and not Jake Joyce as I constantly remembered him as. In my defense, it's a better name, if only because then his superhero name could be Quantum Jake...), who, after being turned into A Remedy Entertainment Protagonist after a time-travel experiment gone wrong, battles against fellow Remedy Entertainment Protagonist Aidan Gillen aka Doctor Pavel I'm CIA as Paul Serene, over what to do about an imminent apocalypse after Time starts Breaking because of the aforementioned time-travel experiment.

As a rehabilitating former Doctor Who obsessive, I'm particularly open to this kind of time-travel nonsense, but Quantum Break is frustratingly unwilling to capitalize on its own premise. Interesting things happen, sure: people get stuck in causality loops, confront and become acausal time monsters, and live entire second lives in the past after time-traveling, but almost none of it occurs to Jack Joyce: he just spends his time just shooting guys in a series of warehouses and offices. Quantum Break is a potentially interesting story that we don't really get to see anything of, instead anything compelling in the narrative is relayed to us second-hand, by the myriad emails and documents scattered throughout the gunfights, or over the radio, and, of course, Remedy's now-signature multimedia ambitions.

In between acts of the video game Quantum Break, you'll be treated to episodes of the TV show Quantum Break, a live-action c-tier circa-2009 network TV production starring some of the big(ish) names that headline the game Quantum Break, but mostly follows a cast of extras who navigate around the events of the game while working for baddie Paul Serene's Evil Corporation, Monarch.

It's in the TV show that what Quantum Break actually is begins to take shape. Remedy, as a studio, has always been interested - and unusually adept at - pastiche, whether it's the noir comic stylings of their still-astonishing Max Payne duology or the rickety but deeply charming Stephen King love-in that is Alan Wake. And here, they do a genuinely stellar job at replicating the look, feel, and sensibilities of a 2008-2013 network TV Lost/Fringe rip-off that gets canceled after one season.

That may sound backhanded, but I assure you it isn't. I've long been a fan of Remedy, in spite of, or perhaps because I don't think they've made a truly great game since Max Payne 2. In a medium that often pillages relentlessly from Film and TV, Remedy set themselves apart from their competition with the depth of their understanding of the production of film, bringing into games a deftness of set construction and filmic pacing that blows their contemporaries out of the water. Even more-lauded names like Naughty Dog and Rockstar come up short against Alan Wake's hauntingly gorgeous misty woods, best illustrated with Rockstar's Max Payne 3, which matched Remedy's cinematographical flair in the cutscenes, but fell far short of their level design chops and breadth of influences.

Quantum Break is, in aesthetics and production, a genuinely extremely well-considered pastiche of this period of sci-fi television that is now comfortably in the rear-view mirror, the time since its release having given it a real nostalgic charm that would have been dulled at the time of release. It really reminded me of the years I spent watching shows like Heroes, or Flash/Forward, shows that may not have been very good, but are intoxicatingly emblematic of their time and place, hiding just beneath the floorboards of the shows that would actually get to be remembered.

It's a shame, then, that it just fails to really compel on any level beyond appreciation for the pastiche.

Much like the gameplay, the TV episodes of Quantum Break feel almost ancillary to another, better story that we never get to see. The stars of the game feel wasted here - particularly Lance Reddick, one of my favorite actors, who steals the show every time he appears, but is given vanishingly little to do in comparison with a group of wafer-thin characters that struggle to manifest a single dimension, with relational at best connection to the concerns of the narrative. It looks like a particularly budget-strapped episode of Warehouse 13, sure, but it doesn't really feel like one, as the episodes - until the last one, which is a noticeable improvement - are shockingly paceless and devoid of the arcs that would make a singular episode of television compelling. They are, ultimately, primarily dreary, overlong, and constantly highlighting the fact that they are largely interstitial filler.

It would be wrong to accuse Remedy of not having their heart in Quantum Break, as there is too much evident passion to discount, but I do feel like they struggle to find a core to this idea, something that they truly want to explore. Whether I'm playing the game or watching the show, QB leaves everything on the surface, with nothing to really find beneath the surface. It's notable that the game is absolutely filled with constant allusions to Alan Wake - including a full-blown trailer found on a TV moments after starting the game that bears startling resemblance to the eventual plot of this year's Alan Wake II - and that the game started life as a pitch to Microsoft for Alan Wake II: one suspects that they would much rather be making that game at this moment in time than Quantum Break, or that the game is a test-bed of ideas for the studio's future, the act of throwing a thousand darts at a quantum dartboard, and seeing which ones find their mark. It's just that for this effort, precious few of them do.

And yet, the surprise is that by the end, I truly felt like Remedy was genuinely onto something with the spirit of Quantum Break's ideas, if not the execution of them. The television show is the thing that makes Quantum Break live, that marks it out as something worth remembering in a sea of slick third-person shooters with cinematic ambitions. It is the icon of the foundational belief of the Xbox One, that the future of games lay in a synthesis with television, a dead-end future that had already worn out by the time the game was actually released. What remains is little more than a gimmick, sure, but it is one that, by the end, is oddly compelling, even if most of it is terrifically boring to actually experience.

There is a genuine thrill to seeing characters in both video game graphics and live-action forms, shifting between the two seamlessly thanks to some genuinely well-realized digitized actors that still look good today, a shift that blends well with the time-space bending of the plot. Do I care about Jack Joyce, as a person? Not even slightly. Did I still grin when I saw Actual Shawn Ashmore briefly appear in the TV episodes after controlling Virtual Shawn Ashmore? Absolutely. It's the same kind of shallow thrill you get from Cheers allumni showing up for a visit in Frasier, or when the Torchwood crew talk around the presence of Mr. Doctor Who, Esq, but as something that works with what the game is doing rather than distracting your attention elsewhere.

The gameplay portions represent time breaking down with (genuinely cool, if shallow) shards of space and glass and stuttering loops of physical time, but the collision of the Real and the Virtual feels so much more effective in communicating the idea of time and space shattering and colliding into one another. I just wish it played in this space more, focusing on Ashmore, Reddick, Monaghan, and Hope, rather than the cast of goons and extras who feel wholly separated from the game until the final mission.

I'd like to say that I'd love Remedy to take another crack at this idea, with the lessons they've learned from Control and Alan Wake II, but that already feels like a fool's hope. The ballooning costs of video game development make the idea of filming an entire TV mini-series alongside it feel laughable. Sure, Control's live-action segments were plentiful and superbly produced, but they were also far more restrained than Quantum Break, focusing on short segments with one non-big-name actor each in a couple of highly reusable sets. With both this and its open-world, side-questing structure with plenty of loot and upgrades to collect, Control is something largely in line with the realities and productions of modern game development

Quantum Break isn't rooted in reality for even a second. It's a time-locked instant, the most 2015 game ever made, which makes it all the better that it came out in 2016. There's no future in what Quantum Break envisions. It's a failed experiment, something to shrug at and move on. And yet, it compels me regardless, despite the fact that I don't really like it.

We need games like this, I feel. Historical curios like this show that the shifting landscape of the medium isn't a straight line, it splits off into splintered fraying timelines, some leading to nothing, but others spilling back in unexpected ways. After all, Courtney Hope, who played Beth Wilder here, returned for the starring role in Control, and that game feels so keenly like the product of lessons learned from QB, with everything from the live-action segments, the document-reading, and the combat feeling like a progression from Remedy's previous work. In particular, my complaints about QB's narrative taking place almost entirely off-screen evolves into a hugely compelling aspect of Control, with the genuine highlight of that game being reading the endless documents detailing the horrors and nightmares of America transcribed into corporate mundanity.

And while I've only played a taster of Alan Wake II, there's no doubt in my mind that that game, a bona-fide critical darling the likes of which Remedy hasn't had since Max Payne 2, owes a great debt to QB. Not least because its engine provides the framework for the game, but also because, well, it's been in there, this whole time.

Waiting for The Return.

[spacey-llama]

How did u get into just dance 👀👀

haha why thank you for opening the can of worms

Proper punctuation for this one, it’s long. Seriously. I’m basically putting my whole history with the Just Dance franchise in one post.

So, I got into Just Dance in kindergarten when my music teacher put on Cotton Eye Joe from Just Dance 1 as a fun little exercise thing.

However, I didn’t get deep into it until I started having sleepovers basically every weekend with my best friend at the time, and she introduced me to Just Dance 4 on her Xbox 360 (she also introduced me to Minecraft, but that’s a different story). We weren’t allowed to play Crucified or Disturbia, but every other song was on the menu. It was cool!

The funny thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever been a good dancer. I was just enamored by the colorful characters and the delicious songs. Most of my music taste comes from Just Dance soundtracks!

I didn’t have a console of my own until YEARS later, so I would look up the choreos on YouTube and follow along w/ them. Throughout the years at school, teachers would also put on choreos as fun little things! I still associate Moskau from JD 2014 with 3rd grade gym class.

Small tangent, I was moving states when they started putting Just Dance 2014 ads on TV. So, I really associate that game with these two weeks I was staying in a hotel before my parents could find an apartment. Troublemaker is a choreo I specifically remember seeing on TV.

When I got a Wii U, I got Just Dance 3 and 4 with it. Later on, I would acquire all the games (except for 1, 2, and 2014) up until 2017. Dude, I played them all the time. The YEARS I spent fixated on those games was insane. Most of my friends didn’t like them, so I didn’t have many people to play with, but it was fine. Also, I would literally point out any song playing on the radio and be like “Thats on Just Dance (insert game here).” I still do that.

Oh, and the first song I got 5 stars on was Me And My Broken Heart on JD 2015! It’s still one of my favorite choreos ;)

AND THEN! My Wii U broke! And instead of trying to find a place to fix it, my brother elected to SMASH IT IN THE BACKYARD WITH A HAMMER!

So I didn’t play much Just Dance after that. I still have all my old game discs, though. And I’d play it with friends at their houses if given the opportunity. Unrelated, but I’m also very unfamiliar with any game that came out after JD 2017 (sans 2023 and 2024) because of The Hammer Incident.

“Oh, gee, Spacey, this is so crazy, how’d the fixation grab you again?” Glad you asked! See, I started seeing edits of the Just Dance 2023 storymode and I went “LORE???? CHARACTERS?????? THEY HAVE NAMES NOW?????? AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

And I immediately watched the story stuff on YouTube and fell in LOVE! I like the silly little cast! The songs they use in the story modes aren’t my faves, but the CHARACTERS and LORE are what I am here for.

So. Yeah. Then I got 2024 for my Switch (not smashed by hammers) as well as Just Dance+ and I’ve been on that grind ever since. It’s one of those games that I find most people tend to like. It connects people. I’ve kept foreign exchange students at my house, and we wouldn’t be able to hold a long conversation, but we could play Just Dance together. There’s a comfort in that. I could wax poetic on the beauty of Just Dance and its ability to bring people together, but I won’t.

Also, while I do adore the main cast of 2023/2024, I’ve kind of started to take older characters and give them names, personalities, and stories myself! So if you’re going to follow this blog or anything, expect a lot of that.

TLDR: Kindergarten bestie introduced me to Just Dance, was crazy about it for years, it faded into the back of my mind, the 2023 lore got me back into it.

Thank you for the ask! I love yapping!