Most (not all) console games run fine without downloads or patches. It’s not very common for a game to ship with game breaking bugs to the extent that Cyberpunk 2077 did.

Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because if the Internet disappears due to some disaster, we’ll all have much bigger problems than playing video games. And if one of these giant MNCs pulls out of gaming or goes out of business, well, I guess we’ll figure it out.

The thing that gets me is that for films I’m really invested in, I’m always paranoid that the initial limited release with all the paper filler and the 2x, 3x, sometimes 4x (!) price point will contain a film cut not present in the subsequent releases.

For example, let’s say I prefer the theatrical cut of a film and the extended/director’s/some other cut is the only thing that seems to be able to get a release. The 4K limited edition comes out and it has both cuts on 4K. What are the chances subsequent releases aren’t just the revised cut?

Or take it the other way, preferring an extended cut you saw long ago but you can only get the theatrical now.

There’s only a handful of movies where this makes a difference for me, but I confess that I’ve paid the premium for the peace of mind of not having to wait for a follow-up release that may never come (and sometimes doesn’t).

Your comment about PS5 games isn’t correct, except for obvious ones like online games. And certain studios (like Ubisoft) are more paranoid than others. Super easy to test yourself: just disconnect your PS5 from WiFi and put in the game in question.

More broadly, PS5 and Xbox Series (not hybrid) games come with the entire game on the disc with a relatively small number of exceptions. Switch is even better about it, and in those unusual cases where it does need to download content, it’s called out on the case. Xbox dual releases (Xbox One and Series) come with the Xbox One release on disc and the other version must be downloaded.

TV remotes back then used to be so heavy. As a kid when no one was around I used to lay flat on my back and toss the remote in the air over my head and catch it while I was listening to whatever show was on. The remote was about the same weight as a baseball.

One time I missed the catch and it (very predictably) hit me in the face. When I showed up to school the next day with a black eye, the teacher thought I was being abused. It didn’t help that my story was so stupid…

I just picked up this. Why shouldn’t I buy it?

(I mean, besides the fact that I don’t have anymore shelf space, it’s weirdly shaped and doesn’t fit on a shelf anyway, and I have a zillion other movies to watch…)

Scrooged

Not to be confused with She Sees Red, which is also available for Switch (and worthwhile, if you like FMV games).

Don’t really miss them, though… particularly having to clean it regularly

It’s after Tri-Force Heroes and before the decline of Hyrule Kingdom and The Legend of Zelda, on the “hero fails” branch from Ocarina of Time.

https://www.nintendo.com/jp/character/zelda/en/history/index.html

It links to Eurogamer. Good lord is their site pure cancer without an ad blocker. Here’s the seven-sentence article without the dozen ads:

After 31st March 2026, the digital store will no longer sell games, plus free trials will no longer be available. Then, from 15th May 2026, Nintendo will stop all download and code redemption services, meaning DLC will no longer be redeemable.

All other network-related services will also end on 15th May 2026.

Nintendo has not stated why it’s ending these services in the country.

However, it is launching a reward programme providing users with up to four Nintendo games for free for WeChat users. These will be redeemable between 27th November 2024 to 31st March 2026.

Users can choose between:

• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
• Super Mario Party
• Mario Tennis Aces
• Yoshi’s Crafted World
• Flexible Brain School
• Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Exercises
• Kirby Star Allies
• New Pokémon Snap
• Pokémon Go! Pikachu
• Pokémon Let’s Go! Eevee

Yep, I have a uConsole. I’ve used it for playing text adventure games on flights. It has a Pi CM4 and a couple large Li-ion batteries, but it only lasts about 4 hours or so before it needs to be charged. A little silly.

Fire Emblem for Famicom (the North American release for Switch). I like the series, but this is the first time playing the original. It’s surprising how little the core gameplay loop has evolved in that time, but it started off great.

Grand Theft Auto for DOS. I went in with the idea of finishing the original game, but I’m not sure how long I’ll keep it up. It really hasn’t aged well. When I played it back in the day I just screwed around for half an hour at a time, which I think is probably what most people did.

Your character and every vehicle control like tanks, the camera zoom is bad, the cars are nearly impossible to control at high speeds (never mind the motorcycles), it’s incredibly difficult to accurately aim, there are no characters to speak of, the timers are out of control, the directions are all “as the crow flies,” and (perhaps as a result) the cities are often frustrating to navigate.

Almost anything sounds better than TV speakers, but if you’re going to spend the money, it really is better to just go to 5.1.

I’ve had a 5.1 setup for 20 years. Back then I was playing the original Xbox on 720p widescreen and surround speakers, and it was glorious. My first setup was the cheapest all-in-one speaker/receiver set available for a fresh college graduate earning next to nothing and deep in credit card and student debt.

I think I’ve gone through three sets of speakers now, three receivers, and two subwoofers. I like to stay up on technology, but you don’t really have to upgrade very often or at all, if you like. I currently have some pretty nice Pioneer speakers with towers for left and right, and I wired my room for 5.1 outlets when I renovated my basement earlier this year. No more visible wires!

I thought about doing 7.1 or 7.2, but ultimately I didn’t want to cut holes and try to fish wire across and down with how my ceiling is. 4K and 5.1 will probably always be enough for me.

If Craig is the floor I’m really looking forward to the next Bond movie

Not a good fit for Bond (IMO), but that movie looks great!

This is the wrong forum for this post

On your unrelated A Song of Ice and Fire note, dragons would absolutely spur technological innovation in weaponry. Other countries would desperately look for a way to defend against them.

In real life, the ballistae used in the final battle were invented in ancient Greece around 400 BCE, basically about 1,500 to 2,000 years earlier than the technological level of Westeros. Bow to crossbow to ballista is a pretty logical evolution and there are intermediate links between all of them in the historical and archaeological record.

Regarding the religious references, Scott’s intention was evidently that the architects created mankind, Jesus was an Engineer sent to course correct our development, and then when he was crucified, the Engineers decided mankind was a mistake. The script states that they decided to wipe us out about two thousand years ago. He revealed his intention in an interview in 2012 after some people had connected the dots (as I did while watching it in the theater).

The earlier scripts were much more full of religious references, to the point where the Engineer at the beginning is given the black goo in a consecrated ceremony that started with “this is the blood of our Lord.”

Honestly, the movie never really worked in any iteration, and was always a bizarre direction to take a space horror franchise.

But we were asleep at the wheel. My advisors, who frankly no longer are with me, were asleep at the wheel, certainly. And I partly blame myself, except I was busy making other films. And so it was let go and it shouldn’t have been. When you resurrect, you better put your nail into the wall.

Gotcha, Ridley. The directors for 3 and 4 fucked up the sequels, and your advisors are to blame for Prometheus, and there’s a little blame for you except not really of course because you were busy.

Built my first web page with FrontPage back in the mid '90s… but soon stopped using it after I realized the absolutely spaghetti it produced