Far from perfect, but I think it’s good to have a layer that very visibly shows ‘yes, this is the account you want’.

Domains are a worthwhile addition, but they run into almost the same problem as usernames and handles. Can be made misleading easily - sure, I could often go to the web address and verify it (if they don’t put up a convincing fake site), but that’s much lower visibilty.

Eg, you can probably register nintendo@nintendoamerico.com or similar and get it by some folks just as easily as registering the Twitter handle. There’s a payment step to get the domain, but that’s about it.

The centralization problem you mention is a good point though. It was a fine system, if you felt like you could trust Twitter as a verifier. Today obviously, one could not. But Bsky seems to at least theoretically have a ‘choose your verification provider’ idea in mind, which would (again theoretically) resolve a lot of that issue.

I do not see anything to be angry or disappointed about?

Verification badge was good, the dumb thing Twitter did was throw it away by letting anyone pay for it.

I really like App-images. For the most part, they just work, download, run, done. And sometimes you want the flexibility to install something the distro’s pacakage manager doesn’t give you (or doesn’t have the latest version of). It’s a little extra work to put the app in system menus, etc though.

Package manger still preferred. Having the system deal with updates and dependencies is nice.

AUR is still good, but I’d take the App Image. Sometimes these work for me, sometimes they don’t. Still have to manually update them, AFAIK.

Wow, I had actually never heard that Doug Bowser was formerly at EA. Ooof

I get that it’s more fun to point out his name, I’m just surprised I hadn’t seen the comment made before.

Another note: any time there’s a piece of software that you like, but don’t want to use it (because it’s proprietary, missing features, or whatever reason), alternativeto.net is an incredibly useful resource.

Here’s their list of apps with a wishlist feature: https://alternativeto.net/feature/wishlist/

Usually a great starting point.

I can’t offer much in the way of experience - but I have at least wanted to replace Amazon wishlist functionality. I’ve never gotten around to making the jump, so I can’t really say that I personally recommend any of these.

But when I was looking around, these are 3 options that seemed promising at surface level:

• https://giftwhale.com/
• https://wishy.gift/
• https://www.wishlistr.com/

I’d be curious to know how it goes, so I hope at some point you update the thread with what works for you.

Yep, I feel like people overestimate how much anyone cares about official support or security patches or whatever. People will assume it’s fine until they’re either forced out or something goes horribly wrong.

Regular folks will most likely let it be if possible, until it’s time for a new PC anyway.

I’m not big on the idea of open world racing. To me, driving between race tracks looks like a chore.

I’ve seen other racers do it, but I’ve never really delved into a game like that. Maybe once I do I’ll really like it.

I do think grinding rails and wall jumping around looks pretty fun in MK. But it could end up gimmicky and unexiciting once you’re used to.

Basically all a big ‘wait and see’ from my perspective.

Had a scare when first hearing this. But somewhere else on the site it does specify this as something like “some physical games”, and as quoted in OP they’re contrasting here with “regular game cards”. So it looks like real game cards will still be a thing.

So far I’ve seen screenshots of SFVI and Bravely Default boxarts marked as game-key cards.

I’ve seen box shots for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong that appear to be normal game cards.

Seems so. Notably, Switch 1 already has games with a similar warning on the box.

They’re just giving a name to it.

On one hand, I’m glad they’re up front about it (and I’d rather see an even uglier, larger warning on the cover for game key cards). On the other, I hope this isn’t a sign that they’re legitimizing it or that it’ll be more common.

Yes. But not (just) that they haven’t envisioned other monetization - even if other cash is flowing in, they’ll eventually put ads and data brokerage into their business model on top of that.

And why not? Consumers have repeatedly, time and time again, shown tolerance for it.

:(

Even though it’s hard to go back, I think Gen I is still quite good. I replayed Red maybe 3ish years ago, and had a great time. It’s just that it’s very rough around the edges until I’m used to it again.

The main thing that made me bring it up actually was remembering going back after playing GSC, and really missing the in-battle exp bar.

I’m surprised to hear you didn’t like the physical/special split, I think it makes much more sense the new way.

That split was great, the sp. atk/def split is very good, hold items and abilities added a lot. Inventory management got a lot better in later games. And monster sprites did too, although the bad sprites in Gen 1 have a lot of charm and nostalgic appeal of their own.

Fair point, some games are very big. FFVII Rebirth and Baldur’s Gate 3 shipped on 2 discs though, it’s not unheard of.

Yep! And it’s really surprising to me that so many people are OK with that sort of defective-by-design anti-feature. It’s a single player game, why would it have any dependence on networks or servers of any sort?

Not to say that I’m against digital distribution altogether, I think that’s a perfectly valid preference w/ pros and cons.

But if you are going to sell the video game on a disc? Shipping a whole playable game seems like a pretty low bar to meet. Most games (that get a physical release) in [current year], for every year that exists so far, don’t have a problem managing to do this.

Game seems cool, but it requires a download to play. They don’t meet my basic requirements for a game I’d even consider buying.

I’d say TES as well, but with Oblivion > Morrowind. I had trouble getting used to it being more toward the RPG side than Action. But it’s rewarding if you see it through.

The early Pokemon games are pretty rough, after you get used to improvements from the GBA era. Particularly the remakes.

Likewise, the original NES Metroid after playing Zero Mission? Takes some getting used to.

Pretty late… but hopefully that makes the online more approachable.

My wife prints a lot (and needs color, cardstock support), and this is what we went with. Had it about a year now, and it’s been fairly reliable. A couple streaks and minor issues, but nothing major. Get a good amount of prints per ink refill.

If anyone else was confused by the typo, difficult > default.

I’m not sure what to think. On one hand, yes, Google is of course slimy. But if Mozilla loses it’s big source of funding (and crumbles as a result), that may put things in a worse place?

Then again, it’s a shame that the only major competing browser engine is funded by the dominant browser’s company. Maybe Mozilla can be fine without it?