I was going to bring up TWPatch myself, too. @Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net I will warn you that while you can see previews of the different filters, applying one takes a long-ass time, I’m talking multiple minutes, so choose wisely.

The ability to boot a DS game in its native resolution is done by holding START or SELECT while it boots up. It’s actually part of the official firmware, not something added by homebrew software:

Granted, I haven’t played it myself yet, but Mega Man Star Force 2 is that for a lot of fans of that series. The first game already got a lukewarm reception because of how it was simultaneously “just more Battle Network” and “not simply more Battle Network”, but it has a very heartfelt story and some people are turning around on it when they can judge it on its own merits instead of constant comparisons to Battle Network, which has better gameplay. It still sold a decent number of copies.

The second game basically killed whatever momentum the series had by then. The story got dumbed down significantly which made it feel even more like Battle Network (although it still has its moments), the space theme was lost to “lost civilisations” shenanigans that many fans weren’t interested in, the gameplay changes were meh and you frequently had to navigate through a maze-like “Sky Wave” with a too high encounter rate. Sales numbers were well below expectations.

The third game has the best gameplay by far and a story close to or as good as the first game, but the damage was already done. It sold the least of the three games. But at least the series ended on a high note with very few loose ends.

Had to throw a jab at China at the end of the video. Ugh… They wouldn’t even have been been lying about the surveillance cameras, but they just HAD to bring up “social credit scores”

Recall requires a computer that is compatible with Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot:

Only a small portion of the most recent laptops are “Copilot+ PCs”.

This means that for everyone else, this information is irrelevant. It will mostly impact business employess and higher-income dupes. Also…

“Total Recall”

In his essay on Stalinism Koba the Dread, Martin Amis proposes that Lolita is an elaborate metaphor for the totalitarianism that destroyed the Russia of Nabokov’s childhood (though Nabokov states in his afterword that he “[detests] symbols and allegories”).

The paragraph is titled “Sounds Familiar” for crying out loud

Of course, the obligatory China mention. “Digital totalitarianism”.

Hold up, you are the same person that went gushing about thighs beneath a previous comment of mine…

…

They’re picturing a depressed person as a nihilistic killjoy that doesn’t want to do anything and lives without a purpose, I’m assuming.

Just want an excuse to post this

In 1967, Astroboy [sic], the Japanese animation and comic book icon, died protecting a North Vietnamese village from American bombers.

Throughout the postwar period, progressive artists, directors, and authors in many countries, not least the United States, have represented the US in critical ways. Peter Katzenstein has described representations which criticize the United States for failing to live up to its often lofty human rights rhetoric, as “liberal anti-Americanism”.

While opposed to American wars and other international actions, it must be asked, however, if “anti-American” is the best label for categorizing such writing. In Japan, critical commentary has often been combined with deep reflection on Japan’s own human rights record, past and present. This type of discourse, at its best, seeks a universal standard from which the mass killing of civilians and other forms of violence can be condemned.

In Astroboy [sic], Tezuka’s critique of the American practice of indiscriminate bombing is part of his life-long condemnation of militarism and organized violence, which included probing looks at Japan’s war record. Criticizing American atrocities in this way is quite distinct from using the US as a convenient target to reify Japanese nationalist images. For Tezuka, the critique of US destruction of Vietnam was part and parcel of his dissection of Japan’s war crimes.

Japanese popular culture, however, also sees the contextless use of anti-Americanism and vague but nonetheless meaningful images that glorify Japan`s 20th century wars.

Source: https://apjjf.org/matthew-penney/3116/article

Oh shit, I was born in 2003!

I watched this series as it was streamed for the anime club in a communist Discord server I’m in.

See my other comment here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5333660

They added a general disclaimer that some dialogue is inappropriate for modern times and not representative of Capcom’s current values. Some examples, courtesy of the ESRB:

The game contains some suggestive material in the dialogue (e.g., “Stop peeking! You Pervert”; "Her measurements are 33,22,33”; “You missed out on seeing [her] naked.”).

There’s nothing visual going on, it’s just “spicy” dialogue, but I support their decision to add a disclaimer. But merely acknowledging this is too much for these people…

Ranked-choice voting probably wouldn’t do much. Australia has ranked-choice voting, and their political landscape isn’t much different from the UK or Canada, with two status quo parties dominating everything (Labour and Liberal+National), only now you have smaller parties and independents they have to deal with sometimes.

Maybe that’s because it still has single-member constituencies, which really hurt electoral diversity. The House uses single-member constituencies, and only 12 percent of seats belong to third parties. Meanwhile the Australian Senate also uses ranked-choice voting, but with the nationwide vote share for seat allocation , and there third parties have 30% of seats, with mainly the Green Party benefitting.

Why on LINKEDIN of all places!?!?

The primary driver of Wukong’s sales success is its popularity in China, where developer Game Science is based. Games industry analyst firm Niko has an in-depth article by Daniel Ahmad breaking this down. 93% of Wukong’s Steam reviews are in simplified Chinese, and Steam shattered its previous download bandwidth record (set during Cyberpunk’s launch) by a whopping 28 terabytes per second on Wukong’s August 20 launch⁠—82% of that traffic originated in East Asia. Gameplay videos and previews of Wukong have also been dominating Chinese social networks like bilibili.

peekaboo

MEGA MAN STAR FORCE REFERENCE

The Transer (heh) […] is a mobile terminal that appears in Mega Man Star Force as an evolution of the PErsonal Terminal from the Mega Man Battle Network series. Most people wear their Transers on their arms[, but it can also be detached from the wriststrap].

The Transer is just a wearable Nintendo DS in form, because that’s the platform the game is on, and instead of apps, you insert different physical cards, as the battle system has card game elements. Gimmick-based worldbuilding.

Coincidentally, it was released in Japan in December of 2006.