It’s just that games should have a balanced ‘just the story’ mode where you both feel like you’re actively playing the game but not be frustrated at the hardness. If some impossible perfectly execute or die versions of a campaign exist, then it should also have a leisurely immersive stroll. choose your own adventure movies should be an option. Like those game books that used to exist (Lone Wolf etc); some people roll the dices and play, but just going through the options is no less fun.

I can see why someone would want an AI helper to help ‘finish the game’ because there are games that are locked away by skill when all you want to see are the stories and options. but it’s the fault of developers and gaming culture as a whole if ‘games are supposed to make you feel powerful’ are the only demand that are being catered to. Why should enemies in Core Keeper get stronger in multiplayer when it’s just a local game; sometimes you just want to coop marauding through the biomes, and that’s not a vanilla option.

isn’t this just reverse jupiter ascending…

can’t believe i’m quoting a transformers fanfic but here we are…

“Hang on,” Wheeljack said, “I’d worry about passive systems, not active. This mech wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about where he was going. I’d bet on some kind of system he wouldn’t be able to control at all—better yet, something that doesn’t rely on power or signal at all. Something he couldn’t rip out, or block by hiding—”

Hook and Scrapper had come over. “Exterior composition,” Scrapper said instantly. “I’ve thought of doing something of the sort for transport containers—stripe the cladding with varying amounts of a neutrino-scan-visible material for tracking, even underground. Megatron, if that’s the method they’ve used, we don’t have enough appropriate materials to block it. They’ll be able to locate him with satellite scanners, and they’re certainly sweeping for us already. We’ve got to dispose of him at once. Ideally, by melting him down.”

“Hey!” Ratchet stood up. “How about we don’t jump to slagging one of my patients!”

Hook stared at him as if he was insane. “What melodramatic nonsense. You’ve never even spoken to him!”

“He’s on my table, he’s my patient!” Ratchet said.

“Enough,” Megatron said. “Offer me a rational alternative, or shut up.”

Great, that wasn’t pressure or anything. “Fine, how about this: destroying him is stupid,” Ratchet said. “We still don’t know basically anything about this planet, we’ve nearly been taken down twice already, and now they know for sure we’ll be trying for the Excelsior, which means they’re going to be waiting for us there with everything they’ve got. We need intel, and he’s probably got it.” Megatron’s face didn’t change, but he kept listening, at least. “And we don’t need to cover him head to toe with palladium sheathing. We just need to make sure he doesn’t match the pattern they’re scanning for.”

“Well?” Megatron said to Scrapper.

“We’d have to isolate the material they used… but I suppose Mixmaster could analyze a panel of his frame,” Scrapper said grudgingly. “We could disguise him…”

“Except then they will find a pattern here that doesn’t match anything in their database,” Hook said.

“Yeah, but they can’t have a negative-match process,” Wheeljack put in. “They’re not energy-bound, right? They’re materials-bound. That’s why they—recycle instead of smelt down. Any one of their mechs is probably carrying a dozen old parts, and you’d get a negative match any place two patterns overlap. They probably just make sure each new mech gets at least some parts in a unique pattern, and that’s what they’ll be looking for.”

but if there’s also cameras everywhere then every time a negative match comes out then it just triggers the cameras to pick out those cars. best bet would be collectively agreeing to use one set of specific id for everyone, not a randomized id and thus unique id’s

firefox eats ram, but steam web process are worse. computer slow? kill steam. idk what browser engine it is but long term steam being open is bad.

hardware store parts didn’t work out so well for Shinzo Abe too.

i tried that and didn’t like it. also, in my heart there’s rice why no eat?

now i steam rice in tiny little bowls.

(https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/83)

early generation computers fueled a demand that was being supplied by rooms and rooms of human calculators calculating and checking each other’s works for scientists, engineers, businesses, and government agencies

(Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation picture)

they would not have died out, because they were a necessary part of the evolution of technology at their time. more importantly, they were more accurate than their human calculators. computers don’t forget to carry a number to the next digit or flip them around. barring exceptionally rare cosmic radiation events. and their technological progression fueled an ever greater need until now when tech has entered post-scarcity when it comes to calculating power.

generative AI in contrast was an offering looking for a purpose. spare gigaflops no longer needed for tech people are trying to sell by building more and more hype for calculating power. sucks to be the one who invests into it, but that’s business. sometimes investment don’t work out. if microsoft can’t hype up a demand then it is unnecessary technology.

The last episode of SNW left a bitter taste. not the writing or the cast - the scenes background of either generated images or something shot without even looking at a script - ‘mooks lingering around’ probably. there was no synergy at all between plot and whatever was behind them.

i was expecting to rewatch the entire season after that; now it soured me for new star trek.

not to the point of fast sloppy cursive so bad i can’t read it myself, and that’s what i get with windows after using it for years. linux apps just didn’t match up and i keep getting cranky it’s better to just stop.

edit: went looking around and still no new ones or updates to the ones existing. it’s possible i missed something, i don’t actually pay attention to this anymore.

if you read between the lines they pretty much fell into english-teacher equivalent of sweatshop their first few years in china and was lucky to get out-- subconsciously fucked up relation with china is expected.

i miss handwriting input; both english and chinese writing. yes keyboard is faster but time spent writing isn’t that wasted for me, and my posture is better when i used a drawing tablet exclusively instead of mouse and keyboard, also i’ve bullied windows handwriting recognition enough that it’s pretty much chicken scratch input.