Published on 2025-09-26
]]>Published on 2025-09-26
Tags: commentary, film, quote, society, tv-series, video-games
]]>Katharine Trendacosta for Gizmodo on 2019-12-19:
Corporations have identified the monetizable parts of both curatorial and transformational fandom and made them all consumptive fandom. Fans are encouraged to want what’s been approved by the creator and to back up that approval by buying more and more.
...
Fandom that wants to create communities, that wants to promote the interests of fans, protect their work, help them experience media in the best way possible for them is on one side. The fandom of nonprofits like AO3 and the sadly dying tumblr communities. The fandom that isn’t about winning but is about enjoying creativity.
Versus the fandom that wants to dictate to you, that has been approved by marketing, that is immune from criticism because real fans just spend the money first and debate it later. Or never debate at all, just unthinkingly consuming. The fandom that is valid because Zack Snyder said so. The fandom of huge mega-corporations endlessly humping the same IP over and over.
Published on 2025-09-11
]]>Published on 2025-09-11
Tags: video-games
Not many people know of this achievement, but I'm hoping to help you appreciate it.
Ghost of Tsushima is a critically praised video game released in 2020, set during the first Mongol invasion of Japan. A cooperative multiplayer add-on was released later that year, taking on a mythological setting. The major game mode in Legends that people play is Survival — 15 waves of enemies attempt to capture player-held zones over roughly 30 minutes.
In a later patch, the developer introduced a new configuration to the Platinum Survival mode: Custom, where players could optionally turn on 7 different difficulty modifiers. Further, they included a reward, the Hidden Heart katana, for anyone who completes a 7 modifier Platinum Survival match aka "Hellmode" with no lost control zones and none of the players dying. As someone who earned a Hidden Heart, believe me when I say this mode is ridiculously hard. You need all 4 players to have maxed out effective gear, and be actually skilled at playing the mode — one of the modifiers is shared health, so anyone taking damage will inflict that damage on every other player.
]]>Published on 2025-08-29
]]>Published on 2025-08-29
Tags: video-games
No Man's Sky delivers so much value for a single payment. And it has only gotten more valuable as Hello Games delivers DLC-sized updates for no extra charge. It was really cool when they released customizable frigates with walkable interiors, but everyone really wanted to roleplay flying the galaxy in Serenity or the Millenium Falcon. I can't wait to sink some time in this weekend.
]]>Published on 2025-07-13
]]>Published on 2025-07-13
Tags: music, video-games
I enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima so much that I was almost certainly going to buy Ghost of Yotei, but knowing this mode is going to be there is really doing it for me 😆.
]]>Published on 2025-07-11
]]>Published on 2025-07-11
Tags: speedrun, video-games
It's time yet again for Summer Games Done Quick! As they do twice a year, they've raised upwards of $1 million for Doctors Without Borders.
Since I can't usually watch the show live, I will check the the VOD list for any games that interest me. I will also check the top /r/speedrun posts for the past day to see if any runs for games that I don't normally pay attention to were shouted out as standout performances.
If you're looking for an introduction to speedrunning from this SGDQ, I recommend the Titanfall 2 race with bryonato and sapphire_in_pink. T2 has a number of mechanics that speedrunners leverage to go fast which makes the speedrun version of the game much different from its normal playstyle, these mechanics are enjoyable to watch, and the two players and the couch do a great job explaining what's going on.
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