TwinIon

I've seen a lot of creators get upset about this, somehow having the expectation that without a visible dislike count that bad videos will thrive. For those that don't speak Destiny, the quoted tweet is expecting this change to help proliferate fake guide videos and potentially spoiler filled videos that have been data-mined. I feel like creators are probably hyper aware of dislike counts, but as a viewer I ignore them. I never check the dislike ratio before watching a video, but I have no clue if that is typical or not. Partly I don't look at dislike counts because most of the videos I watch are from creators I follow or have watched before, so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. I also don't check the ratio because I don't feel like it's a useful metric. The like/dislike ratio on a Verge video is probably more indicative of if they touch on anything mildly political. If I see a nearly 1:1 ratio on an IGN video, I have zero expectation that the bad ratio relates to the video itself, and probably has to do with some wider backlash to a game or a company or whatever.

I'd be really interested in seeing how this affects brigading. I would imagine that plenty of people that go out of their way to downvote videos or rate a movie they haven't seen on RT or IMDB like seeing that dislike tally climb or the average rating drop. If you're not getting that sense of collective action, it might well disincentivize the downvoters.

After reading their blog post it makes a lot more sense. Weta has built a bunch of high end tools for VFX work, and Unity now owns those tools.

I agree with Schreier. It's just people spouting a buzzword without any real consideration for what the tech can actually enable. The metaverse conversation isn't much better, but at least there is some gesturing towards doing something new. With blockchain it's basically "what if the computer that stores your in game inventory was actually many different computers?"'

Apparently Rodgers just did an interview with Pat McAfee and yikes. Stolen from reddit: So we going with Kaaron or Qaaron? I'd love to see that 500 pages of research released. If he believes in it and he thinks its legit, no reason to hide it, right?

I dislike the controls. I don't know if it's just being an aging gamer or what, but I have no doubt that I'll finish the game before they become comfortable or natural. My biggest problem is with firing missiles. The combination of L to free aim, R to use missiles, Left stick to aim, and X to fire is too much. It's one of the most common actions in the game and it hasn't felt right to me from the start. I think a standard lock on would have been very helpful in alleviating this, but maybe that's just me being a papered modern gamer. Still, there is a larger issue that it presents, which is that you can't move while you're aiming, which seems like a terrible choice for a game that is so often about movement. Speaking of movement, I've got a couple gripes there as well. These are related towards later gameplay, so I guess mild gameplay spoilers. I actually felt like the game moved better early on than it does later when the game design seems to slow you down and your movement options get more complicated. It's most often seen in the EMMI zones. Early in the game, it's mostly about out running your hunters, which I found rather fun. Later the game pushes you to rely on your stealth. So before I was running and jumping and platforming my way through, now I feel like I'm sitting still for twice as long as I'm moving. As for complicated movement, the grapple hook falls into the same problems as the missiles. It's too many buttons, and free aiming it a lot to ask while in motion. I kind of understand it as a gameplay choice not to have lock on for enemies, but the grapple hook really should be easier. It's hardly ever used though, so it's a nitpick, but it still bothered me when it came up. Far more frequent is my issue with the double jump. It's been a while since I played a Metroid game, so this might just be a legacy decision, but only allowing a double jump when you're pushing far enough to one side sucks. I've screwed up so many times because I wasn't going quite far enough to be in a ball jump. I don't understand this decision at all. It's annoying and serves no useful purpose as far as I can tell.

I hate iMessage so much. It's a fine product, but I hate the idea of tying a fundamental communication tool to a specific device vendor. I've switched between iPhones, Androids, and even had a Windows Phone or two for a bit, and no matter what I used, my communications tools came with me. I didn't need an Apple specific Email account or a Google specific SMS client. That's why I'll never turn iMessage back on. Once you turn it on, you're locking yourself to a specific vendor and it's such a freaking pain to get away from, plus, there will always be people that moan about green bubbles. Apple could so easily have become a big part of RCS, or they could even release iMessage on Android, but the lock-in factor in the US is so freaking high they'll actively make their product worse to maintain that. Makes me nostalgic for the days of jabber. An open, IP based protocol for communication. It's such a shame that we gave that up for WhatsApp, iMessage, and Facebook Chat.

This makes sense. One of the failing arguments that Epic tried to make in the Apple trial was that they had ambitions for the Epic store to become more than just a game storefront. By hosting a launcher it's a half step towards being a more all purpose store and they can demonstrate exactly the kind of behavior that they want Apple and Google to do (host other stores on their own). Otherwise, I somehow doubt that there are many folks out there that will suddenly get into League because the launcher is now on the EGS.

Not yet done with it, but I'm definitely more than half way through. I think Dread is a fine Metroid game, but it's such a throwback that it doesn't feel like it advances the series in any meaningful way. I appreciate that I'm not getting lost, but I also rarely feel like the constant upgrades matter all that much beyond being able to open the next door. I'm not really exploring in any real way, and while I appreciate the limited backtracking, I do wish it felt like upgrades enabled more. It's been a long time since I've played a straightforward Metroid style game, and while I'll happily finish Dread, it doesn't make me want to seek out similar titles. It also hasn't yet left me with any anticipation for more of this, especially if it's just going to be a complete throwback. It did get me to pick up my Switch for the first time in a long while, so at least there's that. Unfortunately that just made me remember how much I wish the Switch was more powerful. Dread looks fine in portable mode, but it's unimpressive on a big screen.

I've enjoyed how they've used Hulk in the MCU, but I'm in no way clamoring for a "real Hulk" movie.

For most of that finale, I thought it was the end of the series and I just hadn't seen the news. Very much looking forward to what they do with Season 4.

I also do not like what they've done.

Just spin off her character from No Time To Die.

Facebook is renaming the parent company from Facebook Inc to Meta. You can read Zuck's post about why he's rebranding it here. While this move is slightly similar to Google's creation of Alphabet, it's being done for very different reasons. Google underwent a significant restructuring under Alphabet, and Alphabet itself is not a brand that gets used outside a corporate context. By contrast, Facebook is not restructuring at all, but it does want the new name to be used and recognized. To that end, the Oculus Quest is being renamed to the Meta Quest as the company phases out all Oculus branding. The Verge has lengthy rundown on the Metaverse for everyone unfamiliar with the term.

The way that Nintendo treats their back catalogue, I get the impression they think of it almost like royalties on a hit song: an ongoing revenue source they're due because they made something great a long time ago. I agree that there must be some part of the company culture that prevents them from spending too much effort on their old games, despite how much they make from them. They clearly care about their old games, at least to the extent that they're willing to re-release things with such frequency. I couldn't quickly pull up a list, but for a long time Super Mario Bros had been re-released/ported/etc an average of almost once a year since its release in 1985. That doesn't happen on accident. Still, it's clear that they never seem to put much effort into those releases and it's always seemed odd to me.

Nintendo re-releases their stuff so often it's almost bizarre to me that this isn't a core competency of the company at this point. They should have the best emulators on the planet, with a significant team dedicated to keeping their catalog in the best possible condition on every console they release. It should just be a given that if you are willing to pay for it, that Nintendo will happily provide you with the best possible experience on all their most popular legacy titles. Then have another team who does more significant remasters periodically to modernize select titles for a premium, and they'd make an (even greater) killing from all those nostalgia purchases. Of course, there's nothing pushing them to do any of that. They can put out half-hearted ports year after year, charge far too much for them, and people (including myself on more than one occasion) will continue to pay them.

That trailer is so much better than what they've shown before that my excitement level has shot right back up.

As to the updated title, I didn't register the use of either "jihad" (as per the books) or "crusade" (which I believe was used in the trailers). I recall a reference to a "holy war" and that's it. Personally, I'm fine with that. Both words have a lot of baggage that different viewers will bring with them, so a generic term is fine by me.

I really enjoyed Dune and will definitely be seeing it again on the nicest screen I can. This is very much Dune by way of Blade Runner 2049, which is very much what I was both expecting and hoping for. Both play in a aesthetic arena, sharing similar visual, auditory, production design, and pacing. 2049 stands out for me as one of my favorite films since its release, but I know not everyone shares that opinion. As an adaptation there's very little else I could have hoped for. They spent the lot on an amazing cast, and it pays off in every scene. I don't think there was a single character that felt out of place. Chalamet in particular is excellent as a brooding Paul. After a first viewing, there isn't anything that was cut or shortened that I take issue with. Some characters that I enjoy from the novel are given short shrift, but even for a Part 1, sacrifices must be made. The production design is a stand out accomplishment that, at times, threatens to overwhelm the rest of the film. It's appropriately spartan, but immense and dense and shoulders the eons of history that Dune is burdened with. I'll consider it further after another watch (or two), but overall I'm extremely happy with Dune Part 1. I wish it was the whole story, but that's not a surprise. The only other real criticism that I have is that I seldom felt the heat of Arrakis. They talk about it a lot, as it would be impossible not to, but so often we see characters treat the sunlight so casually. They're not racing to keep their masks on and we don't see the toll the temperature should be taking on people. The film is generally successful in showing more than telling, which is quite the accomplishment in an adaptation from a book that constantly wants to tell you everything, but when it came to the heat of Dune, I feel like it was a lot more telling and very little showing. I hope the second part can do better to make you understand the harshness of the environment and further highlight the necessity of water.

I really wish they'd done a bit more on the graphics, but I really would like to know if these will be moddable on the PC. If they are, I would expect the already impressive mods that exist for these games to get upgraded versions eventually, and that could draw me back. I really loved these games back in the day, but not yet convinced I'd actually play through these again.

Watching the trailer a second time, what strikes me is you have no sense of these characters at all. As a comparison, I watched the first Spider-man Homecoming trailer, and you very quickly have a sense of who this Spider-man is. The Nathan Drake in the trailer gets one bad quip (prom?) and other than that mentions his brother and treasure. We also don't have any sense of who this Sully is either. When it comes to adaptations, I'm far from a purist. I think you need to be willing to make significant changes to change your story to best fit the new story being told in the new medium. If they want to show you how this young Nathan becomes the quippy adventurer, fine, but I didn't get a sense of that at all. The only thing that seems to be carried over is the names and the QTE action sequences. This isn't all to say the movie will suck, but that trailer sure did.

Didn't see this topic when it first got posted, but I'd be willing to give it a go.

We've been seeing it for months in preview, but Android 12 is finally rolling out to Pixel devices, with others coming soon (presumably). It's coming with the biggest redesign Android has seen since Material Design launched in 2014. The new design language is called "Material You" and the idea Google is selling is that the phone will adapt to you. In practice, this means that when you change your wallpaper your widgets, menus, and (optionally) app icons will all adjust to the new colors of your background. Widgets will even change color based on where you put them on your screen and the background colors behind them. I updated my Pixel 4XL to Android 12, and so far I have to say I'm not impressed, and at least part of that is based on how I use my phone. I basically never change my wallpaper, either on the lock screen or home screen. I use a black and white image that isn't particularly exciting, for precisely that reason. I find a busy background image distracting. So my phone won't be constantly adapting to my changes, but it still should adapt to my bland color scheme, right? Well, it seems that while Google is happy to let buttons and widgets choose their own colors, they don't seem to trust you with that same power. The system will let you choose between color pallets pulled from your wallpaper, or from 4 "basic colors" (that I believe the phone also chooses for you) but you can't select your own. Here are the options it gives me: Not a compelling amount of customization. Aside from that, much of the UI has been overhauled, and there are some new privacy features that are worth looking into. But the look of the OS feels disjointed and not particularly exciting to me. It's a lot of large, colored, rounded buttons. Material Design felt like an exciting new look for phones, and it quickly took over on the web and in apps. Material You doesn't seem to have the same reach, and boils down to a more bubbly top layer of the device. Color me unimpressed.

When it comes to the choice between fewer programs being enacted but scaled back and with sunset dates, or fewer more robust more permanent programs, I prefer the latter. Pass the legislation with the expectation that the GOP will be in power when it's time is up. If the program, no matter how popular, goes away without them having to do anything, it'll probably go away. If they have to actually pass a bill to replace something, it's far more likely to be effective. I think the ACA is actually a reasonable example in favor of that approach. The entire GOP ran against that. Their messaging was extremely effective, and the bill as a whole had a poor approval rating. Still, when it came time to replace it, they had no ideas and were unwilling to pass something that killed off the many popular parts of the bill. If you get paid family leave or community college or any of the other broadly popular provisions passed and put the GOP in a position where they'd need to enact their own legislation to take it down, and I think it's going to stick around.

That all sounds really good. I really hope that I get to try out the LAN functionality at some point.