Facebook rebranded to Meta and burned $13 billion on the "metaverse" to stay relevant. So, Facebook doesn't seem to think that Facebook will be around forever. Reddit does have critical mass, which is an advantage for them. There's no denying that. But, it's their advantage to waste by being overly aggressive and greedy, which they seem to be happy to do.

As for Google searches, it might be less that Reddit is so valuable for search and more that Google has become so bad at providing good search results that Reddit became the go between. There's a lot of very specific knowledge on Reddit, but there's also a lot of redirects from Reddit comments to outside sources that have the info that a Google search should be able to provide. I don't know if Google has the will to fix that problem though. If Reddit can "get back to normal" and continue being Google's sidekick, Google might be happy to return to the status quo. But, once a company like Reddit adopts the policy that "the beatings will continue until morale improves," it's hard to imagine how they can get back to "normal."

I feel like this was the origin story for the computer in I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.

That's a big red flag to me. With the Sims 3, I think someone calculated that it would cost over $75,000 to buy everything for the game because of how they monetized the point store, so they've already shown a willingness to go there with monetization. Plus, gamers are much more accepting of micro-transactions these days (mobile games make tons of money) and EA publishes other games with some of the most egregious monetization in the industry (ex. FIFA). I don't have much hope for Sims 5. I would be so happy to be wrong though. I was really excited about being able to customize furniture and have some kind of co-op play. I guess we will see.

Ironically, I just learned that you can turn off the points store in the Sims 3 game settings. This "free to enter" news inspired me to finally buy the Sims 3 collection in the Steam sale - getting it while the gettin 's good, ya know?

The Video Game History Foundation conducted a study that showed that 87% of video games are commercially unavailable and therefore in danger from a preservationist point of view. To summarize, they want allowances built into copyright law to provide the same level of preservation and accessibility that other media, like books and movies, enjoy. The Completionist recently did a video on it with members of the foundation that talk about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhsZE6QIJ4

Nerrel also has a good video that touches on how emulation is a gray area with court case rulings that contradict on another: https://youtu.be/yj9Gk84jRiE

I chop it up, freeze it, and then use it for quick meals like chicken quesadillas, pesto & cheddar chicken sandwich, BBQ chicken on a baked potato, chicken tacos, chicken salad and so on.

I have wondered if some of the big players interested in AI might decide to buy or recreate (again) something like Reddit so that they just have the data and control it. Google owns Youtube, so they are already managing the liability that comes with moderating a social media platform.

I had the same thought and went back to look at the trailers. There was a teaser trailer where Gollum killed some orcs by dumping lava on their heads and then crawled back into the shadows. That looked like it could be interesting. There might have been an audience for a pure stealth game where you murder orcs and get up to other stealthy shenanigans. That's not what they made though.

As many others here, I am also not a collector. For some other, mysterious, non-collector reason, I have all of the following devices:

• Nintendo DSi - homebrewed
• Nintendo DSi XL - homebrewed
• Nintendo 2DS - homebrewed
• Nintendo 3DS - homebrewed
• Sony Vita 2000 series - homebrewed
• Anbernic RG350m - running Adam image
• Anbernic RG351p - running AmberELEC
• Powkiddy v90 - running MiyooCFW
• Miyoo Mini+ - running OnionOS (technically, I gave this to my sister, but she lives with me, so I can compare my other handhelds to it)
• Steam Deck - Emudeck installed for emulation

That's cute!

That is disappointing. I love Warframe and thought that with Digital Extremes as their publisher, the Wayfinder team would put out similar quality, monetization, and game systems. Maybe the Wayfinder team can turn it around and be a redemption story in the future.

It's even worse than that. The only way to back up save files for games like Animal Crossing, which can represent a ton of playtime, is to pay for their online service. The save games aren't saved to the cartridge like they were with 3ds and you can't back up saves locally on the SD card either.