Individually, a person who plays fighting games may have a bunch of different complicated nuanced motivations and emotions that are served by different parts of the fighting game experience — not limited to the game itself on their console, but the broader journey of mastery and connectivity. The high-minded ideal FGC stuff I mentioned above is real and does exist! It just doesn’t exist enough to sell the millions of copies that go into funding the next Street Fighter or Tekken. At scale, building and selling games as a service looks a lot more like making a theme park or a casino, where you have customers entering at a given point, you give them choices on what kind of experience they can have in your game, and you give them clear signs and paths to choose from in order to make it easy for them. In the above section, we established that people play video games because they want to feel something specific. It’s a brief moment of agency in a day where you were otherwise probably at the mercy of some stupid bullshit at your job, or at school, or in your family, or on the bus, or whatever. We spend most of our day pushing the boulder up, and the brief moment of rest we get is choosing the video game we play in between eating dinner and going to sleep, where we get to act like the person we imagine ourselves to be as the boulder rolls back down the hill.

"Why ranked sucks and we can't get rid of it"

Wrote about how fighting games rely on ranked matchmaking to retain players even though it often makes the experience worse. Read this to learn about friction, addiction, motivation, and how you can Ranked responsibly.

www.patreon.com/posts/152427...

Letting go of Evo I don’t know if there’s a whole lot to say about Evo that hasn’t already been said, but I figured I should write something about Evo’s…

"Letting go of Evo"

I wrote about why I'm breaking my Evo attendance streak (every year since 2011; first Evo was 2003). It's sad, but I think this a good opportunity to celebrate the Evo moments that got me here before moving on.

pattheflip.medium.com/letting-go-o...

Lawful Good: 69p wait, 4 left each. Neutral Good: 5m 36p wait, 2, 1, and 4 left, respectively. Chaotic Good: 258s wait, furiten. Lawful Neutral: 1m 1p wait, 2 left each. Neutral: 3s (sanzou), 3 left. Chaotic Neutral: 6s East wait, no yaku on 6s and 2 left on East. Lawful Evil: Green and Red dragon wait, 2 left each. Neutral Evil: West wait, 1 left. Chaotic Evil: South wait, 0 left and furiten.

Which mahjong alignment are you? 🀄

the current problem with the nintendo directs that isnt gonna go away anytime soon is that nintendo make them to show what games that are on steam are going to be on nintendo soon whereas we all watch them to see what nintendo games are going to be on steam soon

This is your monthly reminder to use up all your coins and stock up with Blu rays and Tech notes! Fes is gonna dry up your resources later so might as well prepare before then

Dont be like me and keep forgetting about it over and over lmfao

Yakuman requiring having a ready hand and pulling the final tile in the first draw of the game

Wife just got one of the rarer yakuman to start the year

EVERYONE READ TETSUNAKI NO KIRINJI

if you think about it, fishing is the oldest Gacha

FALL 2025 RANKINGS [mungus!!!/10] GNOSIA [has potential that it almost, sometimes capitalizes on/10] Ansatsusha de Aru Ore no Status ga Yuusha yori mo Akiraka ni Tsuyoi no da ga Ao no Orchestra S2 Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka Kimi to Koete Koi ni Naru Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi [something in between this and that/10] Chainsaw Man: Reze-hen Egao no Taenai Shokuba desu. Ninja to Gokudou Princess-Session Orchestra (third cours) Saigo ni Hitotsu dake Onegai shitemo Yoroshii deshou ka Wandance [it exists/10] Alma-chan wa Kazoku ni Naritai Chanto Suenai Kyuuketsuki-chan Sanda SI-VIS: The Sound of Heroes (not continuing) Yasei no Last Boss ga Arawareta!

[my unending disappointment/10] Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari S2 Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai Umamusume: Cinderella Gray (second cours) [die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die/10] Shinjiteita Nakamatachi ni Dungeon Okuchi de Korosarekaketa ga Gift "Mugen Gacha" de Level 9999 no Nakamatachi wo Te ni Irete Moto Party Member to Sekai ni Fukushuu & "Zamaa!" Shimasu! Towa no Yuugure [dropped/10] [6 eps] Taiyou yori mo Mabushii Hoshi [4 eps] Shuumatsu Touring [3 eps] Mushoku no Eiyuu: Betsu ni Skill nanka Ira Nakattan Daga [2 eps] Chichi wa Eiyuu, Haha wa Seirei, Musume no Watashi wa Tenseisha. [2 eps] Mikata ga Yowasugite Hojo Mahou ni Tesshiteita Kyuutei Mahoushi, [2 eps] Shabake [2 eps] Tensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi [2 eps] Yano-kun no Futsuu no Hibi [1 ep] Akujiki Reijou to Kyouketsu Koushaku [1 ep] Bukiyou na Senpai. [1 ep] Debu to Love to Ayamachi to! [1 ep] Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun [1 ep] Kikaijikake no Marie [1 ep] Let's Play: Quest Darake no My Life [1 ep] Sozai Saishuka no Isekai Ryokouki

and that wraps up fall 2025's anime! on a whole just a supremely lackluster season, with gnosia the only series managing to really stand out in a positive way. here's hoping next season's a little better!

heard enough buzz that I'll probably peep that tojima kamen rider show in the season gap tho

2025 ANIME TOP 10 [broadly accessible recs] Ao no Hako (Blue Box) rock solid romance/sports show. just really, really good all around Ballpark de Tsukamaete! (Catch Me at the Ballpark!) incredibly genuine ensemble workplace comedy/drama. does not look good pretty much ever but every little intertwining storyline is just absolutely lovely Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite (Orb: On the Movements of the Earth) orb! I bounce off nearly everything even vaguely historical flavored and I was enthralled with this one from start to finish Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku (The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity) another super solid romance. cute as hell Maebashi Witches this one kinda treads the line between accessible and spicy due to the weird idol/magical girl/tourism outfit it's wearing, but underneath that is some of the most empathetic, heartfelt writing and characterization of anything that aired this year. must watch Medalist not terribly well made most of the time but a very uplifting and encouraging sports story about chasing your dreams at your own pace and not falling victim to "but they did it faster than me :(" syndrome

2025 ANIME TOP 10 [broadly accessible recs] Silent Witch: Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto (Secrets of the Silent Witch) everyone loves the terrified autism squirrel Takopii no Genzai (Takopi's Original Sin) content warnings out the wazoo but if you're in the right headspace to handle something this heavy, it's an absolutely fantastic story about cycles of abuse [spicy recs] Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan (From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!) you kinda need to be deep enough in the otaku swamp to be familiar with the fake genre "villainess" tropes and other game-y isekai nonsense it's riffing on to fully appreciate this, but it's an absolute joy if you can. it's earnest and genuine in a way so many of its predecessors simply aren't interested in being, and funny as hell at that Apocalypse Hotel deeply weird, frequently crude, and misses its swings as often as it hits, but still manages to be super charming. its peaks are just that high Food Court de, Mata Ashita. (See You Tomorrow at the Food Court) it's literally just two girls chatting over food for six episodes. not so secretly the spiciest recommendation on the list GNOSIA I don't like recommending something that hasn't finished airing yet but the last few episodes have been so outrageously strong I can't *not* encourage you to give it a shot. from the moment it was announced, I was convinced there was no way the adaptation could possibly be any good, and I've been proven wildly wrong at basically every step

2025 ANIME TOP 10 [spicy recs] Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu (The Summer Hikaru Died) trauma, loss, love, and a little bit of horror/mystery mixed in Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show wildly creative original anime ostensibly about washed up vtubers playing haunted video games against lovecraftian horrors and actually about the ways broader society expects gay people to acceptably perform their homosexuality and how about fuck that Ruri no Houseki (Ruri Rocks) don't let the horny veneer fool you. this is first and foremost a series about the joy of discovery and getting off your ass and *learning*, a wonderfully relevant message in the current [waves] Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi (The Shiunji Family Children) for the incest lovers. *fantastically* well made trash. Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi (This Monster Wants to Eat Me) it has no animation and even less direction, but the writing is so incredibly strong it still ends up being wildly compelling week by week. japanese mythology-flavored trauma centered around a trio of girls, none of whom are equipped to deal with the messes they either caused or found themselves in

2025 ANIME TOP 10 [sequels, you already know what you're getting here] BanG Dream! Ave Mujica Dr. STONE S4 Kusuriya no Hitorigoto S2 Re:ZERO S3 (second cours) Shangri-La Frontier S2 (second cours) Shoushimin Series (second cours) Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru S2 Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu S2 Yofukashi no Uta S2

happy homo holidays!

and behold, my top 10 anime of 2025

don't play mahjong on christmas, don't have a day like this

LauraKBuzz Game of the Year Awards 2025 YouTube video by LauraKBuzz

LauraKBuzz Game of the Year Awards 2025

Text: laurakbuzz.com/2025/12/19/l...

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn-P...

drunkard idiot: "I made it this far by hiding my lack of talent behind every cheap trick I know!"

actually the smartest person in the room??

Omg I have to actually play Alan Wake II now to watch this 😭😭😭

Death of the Author: An Alan Wake Series Retrospective YouTube video by Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Death of the Author: An Alan Wake Series Retrospective

youtu.be/RRh3r_AhUw0

The English version of VTuber Kurono Senba's riichi mahjong hint book feeds a growing, but starved, niche As evidenced by the tears of so many Like a Dragon series players, it’s kind of tough to learn riichi mahjong. In video game terms, riichi is a tutorial-required game. A few strict, inflexible, and co...

gamesoftrobo.ghost.io/the-english-... "...a book of “hey, ever notice this?” observations for intermediate+ players, written by a player with an incredible depth of observational skill. Someone who notices everything. If you think you're past the beginner level at riichi, this is a must-read book."

Misery Loop-- A Critique of Cronos: The New Dawn YouTube video by Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Misery Loop-- A Critique of Cronos: The New Dawn

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCIL...

ビカラ
#100日チャレンジ 79日目

building a better first person shooter part 3: enemy mine So! First, we talked about a specific subgenre of first person shooter, loosely starting with Unreal and Half-Life and dying off around…

GUESS WHO'S BACK

BACK AGAIN

DOC'S BACK

TELL A FRIEND

That's right. It's time for part 3 of the FPS series; this time, a lot of assorted thoughts on what makes for good enemy design. This one was fun as hell to write.

docseuss.medium.com/building-a-b...

SUMMER 2025 [the freaks and gays are eating legendarily well/10] Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru S2 Takopii no Genzai Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu S2 Yofukashi no Uta S2 [moderately less likely to emotionally devastate you (unless your name is wada)/10] Food Court de, Mata Ashita. Grand Blue S2 Ruri no Houseki Silent Witch: Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto [for some reason we need three tiers of shows that are really fucking strong this season/10] Dr. STONE: SCIENCE FUTURE (second cours) Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show Seishun Buta Yarou wa Santa Claus no Yume wo Minai [which means fewer categories for just regularly good stuff like this/10] Ame to Kimi to Clevatess Kanojo, Okarishimasu S4 Karaoke Iko!

SUMMER 2025 [mildly underwhelming but could easily climb the ranks if it just put a little more effort in/10] Isekai Mokushiroku Mynoghra Kaijuu 8-gou S2 Mattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara Princess-Session Orchestra (second cours) Puniru wa Kawaii Slime S2 Utagoe wa Mille-Feuille [marginally better use of time than throwing yourself into a woodchipper/10] 9-nine- Ruler's Crown Kakkou no Iinazuke S2 Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Uchuujin MuuMuu (second cours) [utterly unsalvagable fucking garbage/10] Busamen Gachi Fighter Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun S2 (second cours) Summer Pockets (second cours) Turkey! Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareta Shiro Madoushi, [...]

SUMMER 2025 [dropped straight into the fires of hell/10] [3 eps] Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai [3 eps] New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT [3 eps] Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Nai jan, Muri Muri! [2 eps] Futari Solo Camp [2 eps] Game Center Shoujo to Ibunka Kouryuu [2 eps] Kamitsubaki-shi Kensetsuchuu. [2 eps] Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi [2 eps] Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi. [2 eps] Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth Verse [2 eps] Tougen Anki [2 eps] Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso! [2 eps] Tsuyokute New Saga [2 eps] Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru [1 ep] Bad Girl [1 ep] Busu ni Hanataba wo. [1 ep] CITY the Animation [1 ep] Dekin no Mogura [1 ep] Gachiakuta [1 ep] Hotel Inhumans [1 ep] Kizetsu Yuusha to Ansatsu Hime [1 ep] Kizu darake Seijo yori Houfuku wo Komete [1 ep] Nukitashi THE ANIMATION [1 ep] Nyaight of the Living Cat [1 ep] Watari-kun no xx ga Houkai Sunzen

and that's a wrap on summer 2025! obscenely strong season overall, causing the rankings to be rather lopsided--basically everything on the first page gets an enthusiastic recommendation

(silent witch remains unfinished due to delays but it's very unlikely to move)

136 Ready-to-Use Mahjong Strategy and Tactics: Essential Tips and Techniques to Win More Mahjong Games Amazon.com: 136 Ready-to-Use Mahjong Strategy and Tactics: Essential Tips and Techniques to Win More Mahjong Games eBook : Kurono, Senba, Doan, Harrison: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSK96219 via the homies! an English translation of vtuber Senba Kurono's mahjong tips book from new pub Mahjong Pros hits in a few days! Will report on quality but Kurono is legit (Tenhou 9dan) and book has a good rep. There's no riichi stuff in English; support what comes out!!

riichi city now has mahjong quiz online versus mode. i know people don't like to hear this cause it's so horny, but RC is firmly better than mjs and it has been for a *while* now

The spectrum of my luck, first row double yakuman deal-in vs single pull rare character

Been a while since I had a Yakuman

SUMMER 2025 [sequels] Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE (second cours) SCIENCE, part 17 [subs: good] Grand Blue S2 naked people, the anime [subs: great] Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun S2 (second cours) hope it's better than the first cours [subs: pretty good] Kaijuu 8-gou S2 kaijus [subs: good] Kakkou no Iinazuke S2 would that we could have a universe where yamada-kun got a billion episodes instead of this, but c'est la vie. [subs: kinda jank in places, missing an entire line?] Kanojo, Okarishimasu S4 yesssssss [subs: great] New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT in terms of ways this show could have come back, that was probably the worst option. 2/10 [subs: baaaaad. so focused on cramming as much profanity into the script as possible they forgot to perform basic editing or TLC] Princess-Session Orchestra (second cours) it's not bad but not as exciting as I would've liked for a Team Symphogear production [subs: N/A] Puniru wa Kawaii Slime S2 regularly scheduled furry propaganda [subs: pretty good] Seishun Buta Yarou wa Santa Claus no Yume wo Minai hope you're ready to cry [subs: aniplex bad bad bad. aniplus deeeeeecent] Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru S2 absolutely fantastic [subs: great] Summer Pockets (second cours) kill me now [subs: ehhhhh, not great] Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu S2 super OP magic reincarnation, for shotacons [subs: good] Uchuujin MuuMuu (second cours) cats are evil, humans are horny. weird show [subs: N/A] Yofukashi no Uta S2 I love, the color purple [subs: pretty good]

SUMMER 2025 [new shows] 9-nine- Ruler's Crown mediocre supernatural mystery visual novel. better than summer pockets? [subs: N/A. machine translation on a Chinese streaming site] Ame to Kimi to super chill slice of life with a pet. phenomenal vibes show [subs: very good] Busamen Gachi Fighter I admire its dedication to being Extremely Fucking Stupid even if it's ultimately not very good [subs: decent] Clevatess decently interesting fantasy [subs: okay] Food Court de, Mata Ashita. one of the better iterations of the "girls talking" genre. sad it's only six eps [subs: good] Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu great stuff [subs: netflix, pretty good] Isekai Mokushiroku Mynoghra cozy slice of life about reincarnating into an RTS game and roleplaying one of the faction leaders [subs: ehhh] Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku super pleasant little romance show [subs: deeeecent. except for the part where it's five days late on netflix] Mattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara not every joke lands and it'll probably get stale by around episode 3 but watchable enough [subs: decent] Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show the concept of a bunch of D-tier streamers playing haunted fall guys against cthulhu is amusing enough [subs: cygames fed the raw video into chatgpt and it's exactly as fucking bad as that sounds. nearly every line is wrong or mishears something or spits out garbled voice recognition output or completely makes shit up -> replaced with actual human subs two days later] Ruri no Houseki horniest show about rock(s) I've seen in a hot minute [subs: very good] Silent Witch - Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto simple but nice [subs: aniplex impressively bad. aniplus pretty solid] Takopii no Genzai incredibly well made misery [subs: good] Turkey! gohands director without the gohands does a meme gimmick sports series [subs: pretty good]

SUMMER 2025 [new shows] Utagoe wa Mille-Feuille the perfect inversion of last season's rock lady. not-rich girls at a not-rich school doing music in not-secret without any instruments at all [subs: N/A] Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Nai jan, Muri Muri! uninteresting dynamic, stupid premise, annoying characters, unfunny, nothing lands. the comedy is bad enough, but the character writing driving it is even worse [subs: bad. gtfo remow] Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareta Shiro Madoushi, [...] extremely standard fare banished from the hero's party because I'm so good at buffing they don't realize they're useless without me narou [subs: decent] [dropped] [3 eps] Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai classic narou isekai writing except the protag's apparently youtube-brained in addition to being webnovel-brained [subs: decent] [2 eps] Futari Solo Camp okay at best. both of the characters are kinda fucking annoying tho? [subs: ehhh not great] [2 eps] Game Center Shoujo to Ibunka Kouryuu designs are cute but an entire season of amaki sally reciting jank english in a british accent for a japanese audience will break my brain [subs: good] [2 eps] Kamitsubaki-shi Kensetsuchuu. very confused mixed media thing [subs: okay] [2 eps] Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi terribly written fantasy webnovel about seducing children with pretty magic [subs: pretty good] [2 eps] Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi. quints clone #7159 that primarily distinguishes itself by being fucking terrible [subs: great] [2 eps] Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth Verse conceptually functional but the script is utter fucking *ass* and the protag is a real bad kind of no-brain-activity punchy boy [subs: decent] [2 eps] Tougen Anki edgy shounen battle momotaro. the protag uses guns made of gore. hits all the worst one-note over-expository zero-brain-cell shouty boy shounen tropes [subs: decent-ish] [2 eps] Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso! is it possible to have negative originality [subs: good]

SUMMER 2025 [dropped] [2 eps] Tsuyokute New Saga brainless slideshow narou reincarnation fantasy [subs: decent] [2 eps] Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru a C-tier clone of one of the precisely three narou stories for girls that ever get made into anime. too distracted by the radioactive hair to take seriously [subs: okay] [1 ep] Bad Girl super unfunny 4koma with bonus terrible vibes at how often the idea of being gay is the punchline to those bad jokes [subs: good] [1 ep] Busu ni Hanataba wo. C-tier shoujo romance. there's better stuff airing this season [subs: not terribly good] [1 ep] CITY the Animation that was beautiful and I hated every second of it [subs: mediocre] [1 ep] Dekin no Mogura dunno what I watched but I didn't like it [subs: decent] [1 ep] Gachiakuta like spending half an hour locked in a 14-year-old's brain [subs: decent] [1 ep] Hotel Inhumans interesting idea, terrible execution [subs: okay] [1 ep] Kizetsu Yuusha to Ansatsu Hime ugly, unfunny, has one joke [subs: decent] [1 ep] Kizu darake Seijo yori Houfuku wo Komete another saintess thing but as a super discount half-sized flash anime [subs: N/A] [1 ep] Nukitashi can't be explicit so the horny is superficial, poorly made set dressing that it spends so long drowning you in that it doesn't even approach having an idea until the last 30 seconds and by that point I'm just bored [subs: okay-ish. assume most of the flavor comes from the VN translation. pretty rough, insufficient editing, skips almost all important on-screen text] [1 ep] Nyaight of the Living Cat it's a shitpost cat-zombie apocalypse [subs: decent] [1 ep] Watari-kun no xx ga Houkai Sunzen that fucking sucked! [subs: meeeeeeeediocre]

and finally, now that I've watched fucking everything, it's time for the summer 2025 anime first impressions roundup!

so much shit airing that there's literally no room for anything else without splitting into multiple posts

my wife is out of town, you know what that means: think about my wife time

[worst possible stuff happening everywhere] man why do I feel bad