"Larp" has become misused and abused very quickly, especially considering the irony that actual LARPing is one of the most painfully sincere hobbies a person can have. But it's not misused as badly as "Focus, M" was. That shit appeared, peaked, and disappeared in 48 hours flat.

Book publishers are putting an "as seen on TikTok" stamp on their book covers. Might as well say "this book will stop being relevant in six months."

something reassuring about finding out that a hentai artist you enjoyed 20 years ago is still going strong

In Japan, when you buy media, you're seen as just borrowing it indefinitely, and you're expected to dispose of it when you're told to. But everywhere else, when you make something and willingly release it, it's seen as a permanent contribution to culture.

Japan is so bureaucratic, they only start to care once they see numbers. And what numbers do they eventually see? Piracy numbers.

If you remind them that the reason their media is successful outside of JP is because people started pirating it, they say "then it shouldn't have happened."

They ask "why don't you just start up a company and work with Japanese creators officially?" But they don't know that it's because *their* companies are a pain in the ass to work with and make it impossible. And that's on top of potential expenses and red tape here.

They believe that the creator of art is the company as a whole, and not the individuals who so happen to make up that company. So if you pirate, you're actively harming "the creators", which is the company. They believe "the creator" is sacred, but everything they create is completely disposable.

The discussion about media preservation and piracy on Twitter between Japan and the west has been eye-opening, and not in a good way. Since I've done research about copyright stuff for both America and Japan for numerous videos, it's not super surprising to me, but the back and forth is revealing.

Fist me

Really fun and enlightening book about Romero's career, and excellent companion to Masters of Doom, since Doom Guy has some overlap but also clarifies things further thanks to Romero's direct account.

You read a piece of trivia about Marlon Brando and realize if he was even slightly less of a great actor, every director would've told him to take his bullshit and go pound sand.

It's not actually an inherent design problem if you simply wish to retain a specific aspect of challenge. Most games do not actually stop you from limiting yourself for fun. Your agency did not, in fact, disappear.

People like claiming agency in their video games, until they come across the "conundrum" of reaching a level of efficiency that impacts enjoyment. Believe it or not, you actually *can* play sub-optimally if you feel that's more fun for you.

Watched Send Help. Was awesome.

a coven of slutty witches, call em hexes and hoes

Atlus re-releasing Persona and Persona 2 would be a great idea for the 30th anniversary of the franchise, which is exactly why they won't do it.

dont drink and drive. unless you look cool while you're doing it. the easiest way to look cool is smoking. so you gotta smoke, drink, and drive.

findom, but the dom has a humiliation fetish of their own, so they spend their sub's money on shitcoins

easy, steezy beautiful skatergirl

Have a small but fun idea for a future video. It'll cost a pretty penny, but I think it'll be cool. No promises, but I'll try to do it.

It's amazing Eidos still exists. For years now, nine out of ten times they're in the news, it's bad. I hope things turn around for them.

Hint for today's Wordle:

It's what YOU are.

Discussing games online casually is tainted by ball and gun gamers and people who talk about games like it's K-pop.

Discussing games online seriously is tainted by sophistry perpetuated by dime-a-dozen video essay talking points.

It's absolute hell.

I see Trakata come up in lightsaber duel talk and people over explain its uselessness. The easy way is to just say that competent duelists won't put themselves in a spot where Trakata would work on them, so it only works if you're fighting a total novice or you work real hard to get them off guard.

Started up Cookie Clicker for the first time in almost three years and got 300 achievements.

Only like 5 hours into Crimson Desert and it's growing on me quick. Story and characters are pretty bland and Kliff is such a blank slate that he might as well be a voiceless CAC, but combat's solid enough, exploration is awesome, the world is beautiful, and there's an insane amount of stuff to do.

The response to Crimson Desert shows an underlying issue with how many people really do try to shame you for not being a slave to Metascore and daring to like something that's just "okay."

And some of it is coming from people who implore others to play more divisive games to begin with.

Holy shit we might have a cure for sickle cell anemia

doctor said my cholesterol's getting a little high, so i put some broccoli on my quattro formaggi pizza

If I click a developer's name on Steam, I'd like to see a list of games they developed, even if they made only one. If I wanted to see the publisher's games, I would've clicked on the publisher's name.