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Trump team disbands controversial US climate panel Okay, I don't get this one. He hand picks a panel of people who hold non-mainstream beliefs unsupported by facts and data. They produce a report with non-mainstream beliefs unsupported by facts and data. They he fires them over a lawsuit? I guess their task is finished, so off with their heads.

It very much depends on what the deal would actually entail. An entire country's worth of data for an AI vendor would be priceless, for example, and they'd no doubt seek to eventually monetise things in a somewhat, hmm, Googlesque way at some point. Which was of course a company that- along with Facebook- was notoriously unprofitable. Right up to the point it became notoriously profitable. Nothing like defaultism for establishing a monopoly, and nothing like a monopoly for generating profits.

^^ It's 70% off on Epic, I snatched it.

£2 Billion sounds quite low, considering that with OpenAI's current pricing it would cost over £10 billion and if OpenAI has not done something meaningful to cut costs then even that £10 billion would most likely causes them losses, even though it probably would give them virtual monopoly in UK. Maybe OpenAI count that most of the people would not actually use the service and hope that number of super users will be relatively low, but still I am bit sceptic that it would be profitable for them, but they have not pursued profits for now anyway and investors still throw them money with unfathomable speed.

Also this, as mentioned in another thread: https://internet.exchangepoint.tech/the-dog-that-caught-the-car-britains-world-leading-internet/ Not sure how realistic was the ChatGPT subscription (sounds too ridiculous, but so does everything coming from the current government and the 3 previous ones I have witnessed), but the combination with the Environment Agency’s comments was interesting. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-drought-group-meets-to-address-nationally-significant-water-shortfall https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-and-uk-government-minister-reportedly-discussed-giving-chatgpt-plus-to-all-brits-for-free

Meanwhile in the UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/palestine-action-terrorism-charges-b2825342.html "Would anyone think of the planes?" It is ironic that the supposedly left-leaning party is as bad as the far-right one in going after the refugees, the disabled people, and the trans community. While I was unsatisfied with the latest GE (voted for the Green party), I did have a small hope that they might have been slightly better than the Tories, though many of the former Labour voters now share this sentiment. The new Green leader sounds good, so there is something positive.

I have finished The Shadow over Cyberspace. It is a visual novel in an alternative history "modempunk horror" setting. The protagonist is an amateur hacker afflicted by the Yellow Sign, slowly destroying their body and mind. The way to salvation lies through the Artificial Minds, virtual entities of immense power. Most of the gameplay consists of visual novel-style dialogues, with several dialogue options, opening different paths and providing information. Depending on what has been discovered and in what order the AMs are approached, the dialogues change. There are several endings and the main cast are quite likeable and relatable, aside from the main antagonist. The writing is clear, understandable, and consistent, with each NPC having their own distinct speech style. While a lot of the vocabulary used did not exist in the US in the 90's, this is covered by the alternative history setting and this is what localisation does - finds the closest actively used terminology to convey the meaning. My only complaint would be that the extent of animal abuse in "research", including the space one, was significantly understated. The full list of content warnings is available on the developers' website. Another gameplay system is closer to point&click adventure games, though it is quite light. Finally, there is the Minesweeper mini-game to represent hacking (the mines' positions persist between reloads). The visual style feels closer to the 00's, though fits the game well. The sound design is well done. Most of the dialogues take place in text format in-universe, so they are not voiced, but the ones that are supposed to be spoken are. There is built-in self-voicing function. The installation size is very reasonable (<600MB). As the game uses the Ren'Py engine, it is possible to save at any point in multiple save slots (~60). Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and I have purchased the donation DLC to support the developers. The game itself is fully available for free. --- I have also finished Leap of Love. I'd like to preface that I received it for free, as a part of the Freedom to Buy campaign and the default price is $15/€12.50/£11.40. Leap of Love is a mix of a visual novel and a stat-raising sim. The protagonist is a frog-turned-human who is trying to marry a princess to remain a human. There are several storylines to follow and characters to engage in sexual activity with (GOG blocks posting with the 4-letter word). The only positive aspects are the reasonable length of the game (I would have dropped it if it were longer), the ability to save at any point, and I have not noticed any bugs. I suppose, an anti-semitic caricature for the first NPC should have tipped me off, but, to my deep regret, I proceeded. The art, be it sprites or CGs, is uninspired, unskilled, does not match the text descriptions, and generally unpleasant to look at. The writing is painful to read and the text is filled with typos. The ability to acquire story-relevant items seems to be almost random. The game was not worth my time, let alone the asking price. --- I find it somewhat ironic that the free (as far as I know, Patreon-funded) game was excellent, while the paid one was a waste of time. I have also finished Return of the Obra-Dinn. It is a quite good first-person adventure game. The lack of rebindable controls is unwelcome, but there are no action sequences. I also was almost guessing the last few corpses (there were few names left and I was just matching the uniforms with photos).

I have tried Leap of Love and it was horrible, including the art, with the noses floating across faces and limbs being disproportionate and different on every image. The Shadow over Cyberspace, on the other hand, was a wonder to behold in all aspects.

Space Colony HD. It's ok, wish I could zoom in a bit more and the UI is a bit odd, but it is an old game. Every character being some stereotype is remarkable too, hah

Yes, that's kinda what I meant with my Path of Pain-post. It's true that the maps are smaller and with more benches inbetween, but those areas pop up non-stop later. You think you're done with it for a while, but then it just keeps going. For me it's too exhausting. I'm not a good enough player to do this stuff in first try. Usually I need 10 or more, to learn everything... The last thing I did was trying to get that mask shard in the bottom right corner of the map... with the lava pit. I can beat the mobs if I concentrate, but then running away from the lava fast enough... it's yet another area that I have to learn slowly, and it just feels too much now. Took a break since then and instead booted up Diablo 2 Resurrection again for lolz. Grinding some mobs with my level 90 Amazon. It's not super hard and a nice change of pace..

I assume you talk about Sam Lake, the face of Max Payne/Alex Casey? First Max Payne used a lot of friends and family for its character faces, and Sam Lake, the director and writer and remedy ended up playing Max Payne: James McCaffrey was the voice (RIP). In general, Remedy likes working with same people so there is a lot of intentional and intentional cross-casting in their titles. James McCaffrey voiced Max Payne/Alex Casey, Director Trench in Control, "Thomas Zane" in Alan Wake1. Matthew Porretta voiced Alan Wake, and portrayed Dr. Darling in Control (and Alan Wake 2 I suppose). Shawn Ashmore played the protagonist of Quantum Break as well as sherif Tim Breaker in AW2. Courtney Hope also starred in Quantum Break and was subsequently cast as the lead for Control. One of the DLCs has a whole bit about it. Lance Reddick was also supposed to be a potential link between Quantum Break and Alan Wake2, but his unfortunate passing required Mr. Door to be recast. AW2 being a story about writer and his creations coming to life has a lot of meta stuff to it, and most major Remedy games are being referenced. Alex Casey, possibly fictional hardboiled detective, looking very much like Remedy's fictional hardboiled detective is one of such callbacks. God I love Alan Wake2. I am now tempted to reinstall and give it another playthrough.

So I came across this photo on Facebook and IMMEDIATELY thought to myself "Wow, imagine if we came up to a spot in grounded 2 with one of those decoys and it was the start of a Named Boss Batlle! That would be amazing!" It may not be a perfect idea but it's a possibility... The picture enclosed below is the photo from Facebook I am referring to Now obviously game content creators would have to do their own thing to make this idea a reality if interested in it but personally I think it would be a cool addition to the game Also, Maybe in the future we can get a Praying Mantis Mount! I feel like the fight style of the Mantis would pair well in the game as a player mount.. Plus the jumps on them are crazy high and this would be good for building bases starting from harder to reach places! The Orb Weaver Mount has a pretty good jump right now but can only jump like 2 walls high still, I want to be able to jump higher than that to get places easier! There is a lot of gathering and such required to build and do things properly and this option could make things just a little easier so it doesn't seem like such a chore to build and scavenge while killing insects! Thank you for your time

Yes. And Vanguard anti-cheat Riot thing. If it doesn't scare you and want to dip in, send me a message and I will send you the code. I have such fond memories of XCOM2012. Sequel was a bit improvement, but I like the vibe of the first one much more. If you like the first playthrough well enough, Long War mod is worth giving ago. It injects much life and strategic/tactical choice to the game, though actual full campaign can get mercilessly long (spoiler: never completed one).

I enjoyed the platforming in Hollow Knight, and White Palace and Path of Pain. They were a little more difficult, but relatively short. Silksong, on the other hand, is nothing but a kaizo hack of Hollow Knight, answering a question that nobody ever asked: what if all of Hollow Knight was like White Palace? Nothing of it is ever as long and complicated and without break - at least so far - as Path of Pain was, but it certainly feels like the game after the first act was the result of an AI prompt asking for a full game in the vein of White Palace. One of the great things of Hollow Knight, the fun of exploring the world, has been lost. This I cannot quite quantify, the areas are connected enough, but the game lacks something that the first one had. Reaching a new environment is not like discovering a new world of wonders as they're also not nearly as distinct as Hollow Knight's were. Each one in Silksong feels so interchangeable because the design is too similar, even if the assets are different. Different enemy designs, but super similar movesets and enemy types. There are sawblades in the citadel, hanging spikes in the Sinner's Road, weird cushions in various places or the exploding poison bulbs of Bilewater. They're all variations on the same thing, something to pogo-jump off of. The worst part though? This is the game equivalent of The Force Awakens. That film has no true quiet moment where you could take everything in. Silksong has no quiet moment to enjoy the artwork or the environments, because it is loaded to the brim with platforming and enemies, but without the game design that usually goes along with games like this. For the amount and kinds of platforming nonsense you have to pull in, say, Bilewater, for instance, there are not nearly enough benches for it to remain fun to do. In some way the decision to include the crests and different movesets with them is part of the problem, I think. They had to design every platforming part in a way that is doable with all of the various downward strikes you can do, from Hornet's original diagonal downward slash to the slow Reaper slash and the fast Wanderer slash and whatever the hell you do with the Beast slash, the weird very short diagonal slash of the Architect... well, you get the idea. TL;DR: Beyond the first few, every enrivonment feels the same in Silksong. The devs made the mistake of stuffing everything to the brim with platforming and enemies, making it a chore to explore areas more than fun. Having to balance the platforming for different movesets also left them all being very similar, just with different skins. I'm still having fun, and I can't quite knock the game at the asking price, but it sure is a step down from the first game.

Overall UI is bad, it can be further improve, Please consider this. I'm from Philippines and if we like a game, we will recommend it to our whole family, friends and peers. Trust me on this one! + The optimization

I have booted today my first playthrough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012). I have purchased this some time ago, but never had the mood to boot it up. For now, it seems to me likeable. There are some things, which did not hit the right spot for now (the start up of the game feels slow paced to me - Normal Difficulty), so I hope it will get better lately.

Just watched the new Superman. Thought it was pretty good, all things considered. Some parts are a little silly or make no sense, but eh. Managed to stay awake through the whole movie and the ending was very nice and beautiful.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/valve-appear-to-be-blocking-mature-themed-games-from-steam-early-access-release https://dreadxp.com/vile-is-banned/ The game is free to download (I have not played it yet, so cannot comment on the quality) and there is a donation link at the bottom of the page (50% goes to a charity which I have not looked into).

I would really like to see a play as a bug mode where you could maybe start from an egg an grow up and complete some objective like layibg down eggs and hatching them or play as an ant and recon an enemy anthill and steak eggs or something maybe play as axl after he escaped and find a nest or get backstories for bosses and find out how they got to certain places in thegame these could be long survival mission or just long survival missions as any bug

Forum made me post twice

I dunno man, still can't see the radical left in him.

He had a laser engraver. He probably engraved everything that wasn't nailed down.

I would edit my previous post but I can't seem to find how.. 15 ) Whenever I grab a torch from the quickwheel, it seems to grab a random one. I feel like it should automatically grab the one with the least remaining duration. This issue causes me to often have many almost-out torches. Small nitpick, but hey, QoL!

14 ) I noticed with some weapons (like the mosquito needle, specifically) in first person view, they go so far out of your view when you charge an attack, you can't really see very well when they're charged. Kind of lucky if some small twinkles find their way to your main view.