Based on the username, I assume it’s either auto-translated (with obvious problems) or it’s a non-English keyboard and has problems with some characters as a result. Not throwing shade, just making an observation, for the record.

Maybe I’m in a minority here, but geez… I find it super hard to watch videos that have constant cuts during the speaking like this. I’d much rather just have the video be 5 minutes longer and include the natural pauses.

“Decent reviews”, but it’s a 71 on Metacritic. While in a normal world a 71/100 probably would be “decent”, I, and I think the majority of people, see a 71/100 and assume it’s a steaming pile, because of how absurdly skewed review scores are.

The US has the Fair Access to Banking Act trying to do similar things, but it’s been stagnant for 2 years.

This bill places restrictions on certain banks, credit unions, and payment card networks if they refuse to do business with a person who complies with the law. Restrictions include prohibiting the use of electronic funds transfer systems and lending programs, termination of an institution’s depository insurance, and specified civil penalties.

Banks and other specified financial institutions are allowed to deny financial services to a person only if the denial is justified by a documented failure of that person to meet quantitative, impartial, risk-based standards established in advance by the institution. This justification may not be based upon reputational risks to the institution. Banks may also deny services to a person who engaged in rude or harassing conduct toward an employee of the bank.

The bill establishes the right for a person to bring a civil action for a violation of this bill.

$8 billion lawsuit

They want Mr Zuckerberg and his co-defendants to reimburse the company for more than $US8 billion ($12.2 billion) in fines and other costs Meta paid following the controversy.

So… a $12.2 billion lawsuit, then?

I don’t know how much truth there is to it, but one compelling reason I’ve heard is that adult content has a considerably higher chargeback rate than other content, making the risk much higher for payment processors. This makes sense - I could absolutely see some horny person buying some adult content, getting off to it, then doing a chargeback in their moment of introspection.

Wow, there’s a series I haven’t thought about in like a decade. I recall really enjoying that game way back when, though.

It’s baffling that they decided to take the Marathon IP and do this with it. If this had been a single player game in the vein of the originals, it would have made sense - they’d capture the attention of people who played it in the 90s and wanted more of that. Who is this supposed to appeal to? I strongly doubt there’s much overlap between people who enjoyed those games in the 90s and people who want live service extraction shooters today.

The Borderlands franchise is really past its prime at this point, anyway. I’ve got absolutely no issue skipping this one. Might pick it up when it’s on sale for $10 in a few years. The franchise really peaked with BL2; it’s been down hill since.

It’s funny, really, because game elements like that could make for a really neat game if it was done intentionally, but when it’s AI artifacts, it’s awful.

Another great example of this is Bandi Namco’s loading screen minigame patent, which expired in 2015. The patent was incredibly broad.

I’d argue that the indie scene is already providing that; it’s really just the AAA studios that’re churning out cookie cutter garbage. However, if everyone had patented game mechanics, those indie studios wouldn’t be able to make those games. I’d challenge you to find a game that hasn’t borrowed something from another. I certainly can’t think of one.

Fair enough; game mechanics really shouldn’t be patentable. Specifically / particularly video game mechanics; every video game uses concepts and ideas from other games - there’s nothing completely original anymore. Imagine if every game had patented all of its mechanics - there would be no new games, it’d be impossible to make something. Imagine if ID had patented the concept of a first person shooter, for instance.

This is a whole separate discussion; game mechanics really should not be copyrightable at all, IMO.

Yeah, this is a really shitty, clickbait title.

“They were only getting paid for the first copy sold,” Fryer explained. “They lost millions of dollars.” Sure, multiplayer games were growing in popularity at the time, but as Fryer put it, “How do we create a single-player game that is so compelling, that people keep the disc in their library forever?”

Really, they finally found that one simple trick to maximize profits: Make a good product that people want to play longer. Go figure?

It’s right on the Steam page. Just click ‘Show More’.

and potentially their brand sponsors

Well, there it is. In-game ads in the form of “user-generated content”, from the sound of it. Also has paid mod vibes.

Hope I’m wrong and it’s actually great.

As someone who just has no interest whatsoever in competitive multiplayer games (even ‘passive’ competitive, like this sounds to be), or live service titles, I feel completely left behind by AAA developers. It’s a good thing the indie scene is so vibrant, or I’d just have to find a new hobby at this point.

This would also spawn a Captcha% speedrun category, where the goal is to beat Doom before the Captcha considers itself solved.