Captain ACAB

Old timey photo of a man and woman

Got sent a photo of my great, great grandparents lookin’ dripped out today

My most authoritarian tendency is the belief that democracy doesn’t work because people are too stupid and every time I feel guilty and try to work through that some well off prick on question time says something like this

very tall bart @TallBart Joker: I'm smoking that GAS Batman 😈🚬 Batman (tied to a chair): Joker no those are stems. You're smoking mids Joker Joker: Uh ohhh Batman... I'm rinsing out my grinder 😈🚿 Batman: Nooo the kief [thrashes against restraints] 10:52 AM • 7/26/22

Photographs of a dinosaur-looking bird, the shoebill, and popstar Sabrina Carpenter, overlaid with a height comparison showing both are 152 cm, with visual graphics saying the magazine's name SSWAGGER and some Chinese characters

Photographs of a shoebill and popstar Sabrina Carpenter overlaid with a height comparison showing that, yes indeed, both are just 152 cm

I can't even begin to describe this photograph. I think that might be Taylor Swift on a night out with Sabrina Carpenter. But Sabrina is photoshopped to have a shoebill face and talons, with wing-tips coming out her coat but still Sabrina's hair

Just incredible shoebill awareness-raising from this Hong Kong teens' magazine

Too little face on too much head

the US operation in Iran

I think it’s stripping games of atmosphere. Can it look amazing? Yes, in the right circumstance but it’s ultimate cost is that devs use it and don’t think about how to use baked in lighting to set a mood

I genuinely do not believe games need to look any better than say, DMC5 on PS4. The returns are less than diminishing.

In a lot of cases new games look worse not even because of their engines shortcomings but because there’s just too much technically impressive but visually messy shit happening on screen

Lies of P, the first AA game made by a brand new team still looks and runs a million times better than 99% of big budget games from long established and experienced studios in no small part because it uses a modified version of UE4

Everyone is in total agreement that UE5 fucking blows. Everyone but the industries premier tech focused outlet which seems somewhat suspicious

The movie equivalent of digital foundry already exists, it’s cinema sins

I like when they talk about the impressive frame rates obtained by using frame generation and completely overlook the fact it makes the game look like complete shit anytime there’s movement

Anyone with eyes and an interest in the games industry knows the issues but I honestly think that in their case it’s just lip service. They are tech fetishists first and foremost

Tainted Grail also isn’t trying to do what Starfield is

I’ve seen people saying Mario Wonder on switch 2 is worthless because it runs at 60fps and not 120. This is where we’re at now and it’s 100% their fault

Couldn’t agree more. I think it’s one of the reasons the games industry is currently in free fall

I imagine they probably didn’t have access to the base console versions but still, it’s very funny that even on consoles they test shit on the best possible hardware

Digital Foundry deep dive on Crimson Desert on PS5 Pro

Digital Foundry test shit on hardware the majority of people play games on challenge: IMPOSSIBLE

It’s also the only thing they believe

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has the head of the Card Sharp joker (wearing sunglasses and a hoodie) from Balatro and Donald Trump is holding the symbol for the Balatro boss The Hook. Trump is telling Zelenskyy “But you don’t have the cards.”

Every now and then you’ll see someone on a forum just not clicking with a game and not able to overcome it’s challenge and all they’ll do is piss and moan about it and get in the way of the actual discussion. They clearly aren’t enjoying it. Pointing this out isn’t the same as saying “get good”

I think the prevalence of jerks sincerely saying “get gud” as a genuine dismissive response to someone having a hard time, while definitely there, is overstated.

Sometimes though the only thing you can say to someone having a hard time is “I dunno, maybe you can’t do it?”

Pinkerton (incredibly funny name for an MP btw) needs to watch what he’s saying. I don’t think of woims as vermin. I like them and appreciate all they do for our soil. If anything it’s the woims should be offended

You’re right. Plus, I’m not gonna pretend that discussion of difficult games from the opposite side isn’t guilty of being intensely annoying too. I always chuckle when a dark souls boss guide says something like “simply dodge or parry the attacks killing you” but I understand why that irritates many

I also feel like the discussion of video games has to contend with a lot more fomo from people. Paired with the fact that it’s a medium where people stubbornly refuse to accept that not every game is for everyone (and that’s fine) you’ve got a recipe for tedious discourse

Agreed. I personally enjoy a challenging game but there’s room for all sorts of experiences in the medium. The problem really is that difficult games are the only games that seem to come under fire for being what they wanted to be

But I don’t then turn around and say that my lack of desire to engage with a difficult game when I’m too tired to do so means the game needs to change

Yeah, good point. There’s also that whole psychological aspect to it where a lot of people don’t feel relaxed if what they’re engaged with is mentally taxing. I’m not 100% unsympathetic to this, I generally only play games Friday nights / weekends because I come home from work too tired for it