Because of the behaviour I’ve seen in recent discussions, I’m placing ![email protected] on lockdown until further notice.

The problem isn’t disagreement or debate—that’s always welcome. The problem is brigading: people from outside the community piling in, not to engage in good faith, but to stir conflict and derail conversation. When that happens, it ceases to be discussion and turns into harassment.

This community was created to provide a space where people can follow Fediverse news, share perspectives, and talk about developments in a civil manner. I won’t let that be undermined by targeted disruption. For the time being, no new posts will be allowed. Once things cool down, I’ll review the situation and reopen the community.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed in good faith—you’re the reason this community exists.

Even 47 years later, this thing gets me hyped. The “Master Component” had a 16-bit microprocessor?! Three-part harmony music? A display they called an “extraordinarily high level of resolution”? That sounded like the future. Sign me up.

And when they start hyping up ROM cartridges to a general audience, most people probably had no clue what that meant. But it must have felt like home electronics had just landed on the moon.

This was the first real console war: Intellivision vs Atari 2600. And wild to think—two years ago, Atari finally bought Intellivision.

In 1972, this must have felt like stepping into the future. TVs had only ever been passive, and suddenly the screen could respond. Families were seeing their living room sets turn into game machines, with paddles controlling little glowing squares.

Now, the overlays look wild. Plastic sheets taped to the glass to turn dots into tennis courts or haunted houses. It’s clumsy. Also brilliant—an early hack to add color and imagination to an otherwise bare signal. You had to supply the magic yourself, which makes it all the more fascinating today.

And the way Magnavox pitched it. What are you going to do when your kids are snowed in? It was sold like a family appliance. Little did they know that this would be revolutionary.

Love that Metal Jesus is diving deeper into obscure PC games. As a former Sierra employee, he brings a perspective few retro enthusiasts can match.

And honestly, any spotlight on PC gaming history is welcome. It’s a part of retro culture that too often gets pushed aside.

Which blows my mind—because even if you only count DOS and Windows, leaving out Mac, Amiga, and Linux, PC still has the single biggest game library of all time.

Two new rules have been added to this community, and they deserve some explanation.

Inspired by this comment, I started thinking about why so many gaming spaces feel shallow or exhausting.

The problem is that they are rarely about video games themselves. Instead, they become about “being a gamer”—a label, an identity, and a consumer tribe. That identity is built on cycles of hype, outrage, loyalty to platforms, and endless talk of hardware or marketing. It flattens games into consumable products, and the people into market demographics.

That’s not the kind of community I want to build. I’m here because I see games as art, and I want to share that perspective with others who think the same way. If someone views games mainly as a lifestyle accessory, or if their whole identity is wrapped up in consumption, then this space will feel alien to them—and that’s intentional.

Which is why the first new rule is simple: “This is not a gamer identity space.” It sets the boundary clearly. We don’t need the baggage of gamer identity here. This community isn’t a loyalty badge, it’s a place for deeper thought.

The second new rule grows directly out of the first: “Talk about games as art.” If games are art—and they are—then the most interesting conversations we can have are about design, aesthetics, mechanics, and meaning.

What is this game trying to say? What choices did the creators make, and why? How does its structure, its tone, or its style affect the way we experience it? These are the kinds of questions that lift discussion beyond consumption and into critique, interpretation, and appreciation.

I added this rule because I’ve seen firsthand what happens when you try to talk about games in this way elsewhere. In another gaming community (which doesn’t need to be named), I made the mistake of approaching the medium with positivity and seriousness—treating it as art worth celebrating.

The reaction was hostility. People saw appreciation as “shilling,” and thoughtful discussion as a threat to their outrage-driven culture. That told me all I needed to know: rather than fight to carve out space in communities built on negativity, it’s better to establish one that starts with positivity and respect for the medium itself.

So that’s the point of these two new rules. They’re not just lines in a list—they’re the foundation for what kind of community this will be. A place where games are treated as works of art, not consumer trophies. A place where we discuss choices, meaning, and design, not just hardware wars or outrage cycles.

This is a place where positivity is not only welcome but expected.

Here they are:

• Project Winter: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/project-winter-3b9e84
• Samorost 2: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/samorost-2-1b9bb1

They’re up for grabs until next Thursday.

I’m going to talk more about free games and good deals—because if you can build your library cheap (or free), why wouldn’t you?

Did you know Disney once published an ATV racing game? Yeah—Disney. The same company that gives us princesses and endless Marvel spinoffs was, for a brief and shiny moment, trying to be a serious video game publisher.

Fox tried it. Warner Bros. tried it. Disney thought it could too. But in the end? They couldn’t make a dent.

Pure was their big swing. Developed by Black Rock Studio in Brighton—the same crew that created the original MotoGP games and ATV Offroad Fury—it had pedigree.

And Disney didn’t skimp: a marketing budget north of $10 million, slick demos that wowed the press, and even a Best Racing Game of E3 2008 award to hang on the wall. Critics loved it. 8s and 9s across the board. PC Gamer US gave it 82%. On paper, this thing should’ve been massive.

But when it hit shelves in September 2008—across Xbox 360, PS3, and yes, Windows XP—it sputtered. No one knows the exact number, because Disney never bragged about it, but the best estimates hover around 300,000 copies sold worldwide. For a cross-platform release with that kind of push, that’s a commercial faceplant.

A game that gave you giant canyon jumps, a deep trick system, even LAN play on PC—it still managed to vanish almost instantly. Black Rock followed it with Split/Second, which also flopped, and then Disney pulled the plug. By 2011 the studio was gone, and by 2016 Disney Interactive itself stopped publishing games altogether.

So Pure lives on as a weird artifact. A critically adored racer from the Mouse House’s short-lived experiment in being a “real” publisher. A game that should’ve soared, but barely left the runway.

@[email protected]

Farmiga is a farming simulator for the Commodore Amiga. Yes, you read that right. Somebody made Stardew Valley for your A500.

It started out in AMOS, which made for a clunky, memory-hungry, not exactly smooth experience. Then the dev—Paweł “tukinem” Tukatsch—rewrote the whole thing so it would actually run on real hardware without crying for 1.5 MB of RAM. Now it works on OCS, ECS, or AGA with Kickstart 1.2. Around 500k plus a bit of extra RAM gets you farming. A full MB if you want music.

The alpha is on itch.io as a bootable ADF. You can plant veggies, harvest crops, slap down fences, pay taxes, and wander into a shop. If that’s too boring, you can just make moonshine.

There are mini-games. The “cow” one shows up again here, though right now you have to trigger them yourself with F1–F3. Event triggers are still cooking.

It runs entirely on mouse. Menus, credits, save slots—it’s all point-and-click. Feels more polished than you’d expect from something still branded “tech demo.”

Polish was the first language, but English and German are already built in. The music comes from Marcin “Eightbm” Białobrzewski, who handles sound on a lot of Tukinem’s projects.

Older builds were rough. This one feels like if Maxis had secretly made SimFarm for the Amiga in the early ’90s. And yeah, wild-boar shooting and milk delivery were in earlier previews, so expect them to return.

It’s weird and charming. It’s farming on a machine never meant to farm. Boot the ADF—less than a megabyte—and watch crops grow on your A500.

Farmiga. Farm + Amiga. Simple and dumb. Which is exactly why it works.

TL;DR: Disagree with ideas without disrespecting people. Bring receipts. Leave each other with dignity. No pile-ons. No mobs. No manufactured outrage.

I want this community to be a refuge from outrage culture. Most gaming spaces reward dunks over dialogue. We will not. We can be blunt without being cruel. We can be funny without punching down. We can be passionate without turning every thread into a bonfire.

---

What civility is

Here are ten concrete behaviors we value. Each one is an action you can take right now.

1. Kindness in delivery
   Speak to people the way you want to be spoken to. Direct is fine. Cruel is not.

2. Assume good faith
   Start with the idea that the other person is trying. Ask a clarifying question before you accuse.

3. Critique ideas, not people
   Target the claim, the code, the test, the footage, the source. Never the person who posted it.

4. Bring specifics
   If you disagree, show your settings, hardware, OS, repro steps, or a timestamped clip. Replace vibes with details.

5. Be flexible
   It is fine to revise, retract, or say you were wrong. That is strength here.

6. Consider other contexts
   Different rigs and budgets change outcomes. State your constraints and read theirs.

7. Encourage contribution
   If someone is new or unsure, help them level up. Suggest edits. Share links. Invite better.

8. De-escalate
   If heat rises, slow down. Ask what would resolve it. Move from public to DM when helpful. Step away if needed.

9. Respect boundaries
   No demands for personal info. No thread-jacking DMs. Stop when someone says stop.

10. Stay on topic
    Keep replies aimed at the subject of the thread. Start a new post if you want a different debate.

---

What civility is not

These are behaviors that undermine discussion. Ten clear no-gos.

1. Tone policing
   Dismissing the content of a message because you dislike the way it was said. Engage the point. Do not ignore it because the tone is blunt, frustrated, or emotional.

2. Gaslighting
   Denying clear words or lived experience to score a point. If someone says a remark felt hostile, listen first.

3. Dogpiling
   A crowd repeating the same dunk at one person. Even if each post is mild, the effect is harassment.

4. Gatekeeping
   Purity tests. Real fan nonsense. Credential checks to join a conversation.

5. Vote brigading
   Coordinating upvotes or downvotes on or off site. Let posts rise or fall on their own.

6. Personal attacks
   Insults, name-calling, questioning motives by default. Compare ideas, not worth as a human.

7. Bad-faith tactics
   Straw-manning, quote-mining, sealioning, or moving goalposts. Ask fair questions and accept fair answers.

8. Identity attacks
   Slurs, dehumanizing language, or targeting someone’s identity. Zero tolerance.

9. Doxxing or privacy violations
   Sharing private info, hints, or screenshots from private spaces without consent.

10. Baiting and derailments
    Low-effort provocations, meta drama, and off-topic gotchas that drown the original subject.

---

Clear examples

Green examples
• “Your benchmark misses shader cache. Here are my steps and numbers.”
• “This reads like marketing. Can you add specifics and sources”
• “Title says native Linux. Store page says Proton. Can we update the title for accuracy”
• “I could not repro the stutter on 580. Pop!_OS, 32 GB RAM, Nvidia 535, Proton GE 9-10.”

Yellow examples
Context matters. Delivery matters.
• Sarcasm used once to defuse tension
• A single spicy joke aimed at a trend or corporation
• Firm mod note that asks for edits

Red examples
• “You sound like an AI/ad copy.”
• “Touch grass.”
• “Everyone downvote this clown.”
• “Real gamers do not play on easy.”
• “You always lie.”

---

How to disagree well

1. Start with a steelman: “If I am reading you right, your claim is…”
2. Ask one clarifying question before you counter.
3. Bring evidence. Benchmarks, logs, timestamps, sources.
4. State your setup and constraints. OS, GPU, resolution, controller.
5. Propose a path forward. “If the goal is 60 on mid-range, here is what worked for me.”

---

Humor, snark, and heat

Jokes are welcome. Keep the punchline pointed at ideas, systems, hype cycles, and corporate nonsense. Do not make your fellow members the target. Roast the console war, not the poster.

---

Tone feedback without tone policing

You can ask for clearer delivery without erasing content.
• Good: “I want to engage your point. The sarcasm is making it hard to parse. Can you restate the claim”
• Bad: “Your tone is rude, so I will ignore your argument.”

---

Bystanders: how to help

• Add signal. Share data that resolves the dispute.
• Defuse. “What would fix this for you”
• Report harassment instead of joining it.
• Offer quiet support in DM if someone is getting piled on.
• If you have nothing to add, keep scrolling. Restraint is a contribution too.

---

Mod approach

We weigh intent and impact. Patterns matter more than one hot moment.

Common actions
• Gentle nudge in-thread
• DM asking for an edit or clarification
• Remove a comment or prune a branch of replies
• Lock a thread that is melting down
• Limited time-outs for repeat issues
• Bans for clear malice or refusal to course-correct

Not every violation is a ban. Not every heated moment gets a lock. We choose the lightest action that protects people and lets good discussion continue.

---

Appeals

Think we got it wrong
• DM a mod with links and a short explanation
• Add context we might have missed
• If we missed, we fix. Reversals happen

---

Quick self-check before you post

1. Am I attacking the idea instead of the person
2. Did I include enough detail to be useful
3. Would I say this the same way face to face
4. Will this add light or only heat
5. If I am wrong, can I edit without ego

---

FAQ

Can I be blunt
Yes. Be clear without being cruel.

Can I swear
Yes. Do not weaponize it at people.

Can I call something low effort
Critique the post, not the poster. “This needs sources” beats “You are lazy.”

Is satire allowed
Yes, if the butt of the joke is an idea or a trend, not a member.

What about off-site drama
Do not import it here. Summarize only what is needed to discuss the topic itself.

Can I compare someone to an AI
No. That is dismissive and dehumanizing. Explain the problem with the content instead.

---

In short

Civility is our floor, not our ceiling. We are here to build useful threads, share knowledge, and enjoy games together. If behavior turns toxic, it is a Rule #1 issue. We will act. If you go too hard, own it and adjust. That is how we keep this place better than the average gaming mud pit.

WARNING SPOILERS

That’s right, tonight’s Live Movie Friday pick is Time of Death (2013)—a made-for-TV Canadian thriller from Incendo, starring Kathleen Robertson.

This one has all the hallmarks of a Friday night watch: a string of corporate murders happening at the exact same time—10:44PM — a determined FBI agent trying to crack the pattern, and a lot of melodramatic boardroom backstabbing. Think Law & Order: SVU if it had less grit and more “Montreal shot-for-TV lighting.”

We’re watching this one because of its bonkers premise. This is either going to be gripping or laugh-out-loud ridiculous. Could be good. Could be bad. We don’t know. But that’s the whole point—we’re running a live reaction thread and finding out together.

🕘 We’re watching LIVE tonight at 9PM PST / 4AM GMT

Join the chaos, bring your takes, and get ready for a disco-fueled descent into madness.

🧵 Live reactions will be happening right here in this thread.

Yes, here on ![email protected], so don’t miss out.

ℹ️ More info:

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2759976/
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/time-of-death/

📽️ Watch links:

YouTube (Free): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T16Agky3he4
Tubi (Free with ads): https://tubitv.com/movies/653727/time-of-death
Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0R5N2IQ8V21IOJD8LNN9BKJIXZ/

Let’s see if you can figure out the killer before 10:44PM strikes again.

---

Yeah! 😎

Time of Death is starting in five minutes!

And it goes without saying that I have not seen this movie yet. It might be great. It might be awful. But either way, I'm updating this thread live as I watch it.

---

All right. We're starting. We're starting off with a business man saying that one of the things you learn in business is you can't dwell on the past. Mistakes are inevitably going to be made. And we learn here that a gun is being pointed at him.

Oh, we got the perpetrator looking at his watch.

Now businessman is offering him $10M. At right as the watch goes off, he gets shot.

Fun little monologue here before the businessman meets his demise.

---

Now we cut to Kathleen Robertson, playing as Jordan Price, looking all fashionable in her overcoat and scarf with her blonde hair tied back. She's icy, cold, and efficient. And what's this? She's being assigned a new partner who just became a detective last week. She doesn't want to train the new guy. She's all about the business.

But resigned she wants to look at the body.

---

So she's asking about all the details. Finds out the very precise death of 10:44PM—known only because the victim called 911 at that time.

Jordan is a bit of a harass. Suffers no fools.

But now the dead man's son walks in to see the body. FBI agent Price interrogates him, checks if he might be the killer. Son swears he is not.

Now the detective asks for stuff to be done. But then the cop gets all bullying, says she looks more comfortable with numbers than dead bodies. But FBI agent Price ain't having an of it. Doubles down on what she wants done.

---

Now FBI agent and her rookie detective are talking about the details. What's this? Some conflict? Some sexual tension?

---

Our intrepid partners are now interviewing the businessmen who worked with the murdered businessman—who we find out was a CEO. They're trying to find a motive.

Now they find out that the company doesn't want to look at something connected to the Department of Defence. She might not have clearance to look into that.

But FBI agent Price wants to know more, and she's being forthright about that.

---

They found out that one of the former employees sold a whole lot of stock before the CEO was murdered. That means motive.

So they interview that former employee. And they decide to do that right as he's getting a shave at a barbershop.

They find out that this employee wasn't so happy about DOD work.

Apparently, he couldn't be the murderer because he was seeing strippers that night.

---

So now that they find out the CEO's son didn't like the company's DOD work either. Which makes him a suspect yet again.

Well, my daughter wants to watch this move now... so I have to pause for a moment while I get her up to speed. Give me a sec...

---

So they interview the son and we found out that he's now going to run the company.

They find out he's going through with the DOD contract because if they don't, the company goes bankrupt.

Price and her partner (his name is Elliot Larken) prod him to find out more about the company's inner workings, trying to find out who might have motive to murder the CEO.

---

In the car, Price and Larkin start gabbing. They try to find out more about each other. Price is offended by the very notion of being social. But then she finds out that Larkin worked on a big case, so she's impressed enough with him to let him buy her a beer.

---

They're flirting and the bar, and both of them are trying to seize each other up—find out if they're single or might be into each other.

You know, Price isn't just cold, she's kind o mean. First she says girls would be into him. Then she says she's a woman, not a girl—so she's not into him.

---

God damn. These cops are having public sex in a car. Wouldn't it be shitty if they got arrested?

But they won't because the movie must go on.

Larkin asks if the sex is a one time thing. Dude, this movie is for middle-aged wine-swilling moms. Of course it's not a one time thing.

---

Larkin briefs his boss on the murder. Finds out he was assigned to this case because his boss hates the FBI. Okay...

So now they're talking about why the murderer looked at his watch.

And now they're supposing he did so because he worked on a team.

More flirting happens.

---

So they're briefing the boss on their theory—how the lack of evidence leads them to believe the killer was a professional. And this somehow allows them to conjure up a list of suspects.

Wait... what kind of voodoo is this?

Even the boss thinks this is nuts. Because it is.

---

Cue a scene where the son hugs his business colleagues, and they're asking how they're going to get out of this mess.

And now they're saying the FBI and cops are sniffing around. They'll check their phone calls and emails!

Oh, you think? A murder brought the attention of the police? That's just crazy talk!

---

This movie moves very fast.

They have suspicions on a suspect. So now they're doing surveillance.

---

Surveillance is just a chance for these two to flirt, poke and prod each other, get close in the car again.

So Larkin is like, "We should make out strictly to kill the time..."

And just as he says this, the CEO's sun falls from an office building onto the car in front of them. HE'S DEAD!

Serves them right for almost having sex during the surveillance.

---

Now that the CEO's son died, Larkin is feeling guilty for flirting during a stakeout.

Price reminds him that he was a suspect, they didn't even see him as a victim.

---

Now they're back to square one. And the boss tells Price it's hard enough to solve one murder, never mind two.

Larkin finds surveillance. Shows the murder as it happens. The time stamp says 10:44PM.

---

Ha! Boss has doubts about 10:44PM. He says the identical time stamps might be coincidence. Terrible cop!

But this puts a damper on strictly professional theory. They now think it's a serial killer.

---

They're working overtime, alone in the office, and now Larkin is offering Price the opportunity to sleep at his house.

---

More sex. These two keep trying to not do the deed. Yet they keep at it.

You know, this could get them fired.

---

Well, we find out that the boss sleeps upstairs to Larkin.

And he's Larkin's dad. WTF.

He could have heard them having sex. And even if he didn't hear, he knows. Talk about awkward.

---

So back to the case. But I feel like the murder mystery is going to be sidetracked by more bow-chicka-wow-wow.

But these poor partners. They try to focus. Trying to get into details.

Now Larkin asks Price is she wants to kiss him.

---

Back to the disgruntled employee, the one they interviewed at the barbershop. This time, they interview him at a strip joint. Why do they keep interviewing him at strange locales?

Well, he just lied about where he was during the time of murder. And what's more, he's doing some shady investment shit. So as they try to get him to cooperate, he makes a break for it—runs for it. They make a chase on foot.

Just as Larkin catches up to him, a car hits him and he dies. Talk about bad luck!

---

With the disgruntled employee dead, they wonder if he's the murderer. Probably not—because we know how these stories go.

---

Two employees are at the company are freaking out because they think the killer might come after them next. One of them implies he might be next.

And then the time of 10:44PM is mentioned. Does it mean anything?!

---

Well, well, well. Price arrives back at Larkins place. She could have gone home. But she just can't help getting her fill of some Larkin.

---

Oh, it's 10:44PM! Next executive at that company dies! Killer is still loose!

---

It's morning. Post-coitus. Price tries to establish sexual ground rules. Says that can keep boinking for as long as the investigation goes. But afterwards, they got to stop.

Wait, Price. You got it all wrong. You're supposed to date after the investigation not while it's going on.

---

Now they're at the scene of the next murder.

Somehow, I don't know how, they suspect the killer is an expert climber who climbed into the building. Wait. Wouldn't there be more surveillance footage of that?

---

The partners find out that all businessmen were all college friends. A fourth college friend was an aspect climber...

Could he be the perpetrator?!

They ask the last college buddy if he wants protection, and he says no because if he does, the company will go bankrupt.

---

Now they're at the college where all the businessmen went to.

They found out all college buddies when on an extended leave together. This offends the college president gets offended. He says when you donate as much as you do, which their families did, they can do whatever they want.

But Price finds it suspicious they took off an entire half semester. That's way too unreasonable.

They prod further. They weren't on a ski trip. There was a girl who died. And they're "ski trip" has something to do with that...

---

They find out the girl who died, it wasn't because of an accident.

So they interview the girl's foster mother to get more details.

They find out that she was raped. And now the college, the town—everyone—is keeping silent about it because the son's father was a big shot with money.

There was an investigation, but it was "forgotten".

Foster mother shares newspaper clippings of when the girl died. And they found out she wore a watch when it happened. The time: 10:44.

---

They visit where the girl died. Her name is Sharon, by the way. It was near a cliff with white rapids. They stare at the whole thing.

Larkin asks if Price is okay. She's getting all teary-eyed but is trying to fight it back.

So now they're discussing next moves.

---

Now they're interviewing the fourth college buddy, the one who doesn't work at the business (remember, he's an expert climber).

They warn him that he could be the target for murder.

He's shocked his other buddies are dead. But why would anyone come after him?!

He also says that the foster mother, they one they previously interviewed, is only in it for the money—can't be trusted.

So they ask more questions. Did he or any of his buddies have sex with Sharon? No, nobody did—but apparently Sharon liked to have sex. This just makes the cops even more suspicious about why all four took half the semester off. Price stares daggers at him.

---

We find out that Price doesn't want to investigate Sharon's murder. She doesn't see how it is related to her current case. She's hear to find out about something to do with the DOD.

Larkin says she's cold-hearted, no different from the cops who buried Sharon's case.

This irks her.

---

Pensive moment with Price by herself... a moment to tell us that she's not the hard ass she pretends to be.

---

Price is off the case. If the murders have nothing to do with the DOD, FBI doesn't want her to work on it.

But she's going to stick around as a courtesy.

So Larkin is now on his own. He apologizes for what he said the night previously.

And now they've decided to do some extracurricular investigating.

---

Well, what do we have here! They pop up by Sharon sister! And she's doing some rock climbing!

Could she be the murderer?!

She doesn't seem to know anything about the four college buddies. Doesn't care.

But Larkin notices she has a tattoo that shows she's an Army Ranger.

Just as Sharon's sister leaves, she thanks the cops for looking into her sister's case.

---

Even though Price is off the case, she wants to investigate the sister (her name is Megan). Just as they're discussing with the boss, Price receives a call from Megan.

Apparently, she saw her sister's murder! All four college buddies raped her sister—and she watched the whole thing! She did nothing to stop it! Didn't even cry out or try to distract them!

Price asks Megan to come to the station to make a statement. But no—Megan ain't interested.

She tells Price she's the murderer! And she's going to finish the job! She's got to do two more murderers.

---

The two remaining college buddies meet by a lake. They know they're next. They're feeling remorse for the rape. But the police have no evidence.

But they're getting really antsy because they're being picked off one by one.

One of them wonders if he can prevent being killed if he turns himself into the police. Other buddy gets angry because if he does that, he'll destroy his career. So he knifes him right by the lake of the shore.

Man, this guy's really stupid. Whacking his friend ain't going to prevent him from getting whacked.

---

Well, as they're investigating that death, Megan calls Price to tell her she did not kill the last college buddy. And for this reason, she has to work faster to kill the last guy.

So now the cops really, really got to protect him.

---

Price confronts the last guy standing. Tells him they know he and his buddies raped Sharon. And that Sharon's sister is coming for him.

They try to protect him. But he decides, no—his freedom is more important than living.

How did this guy succeed in business? Business requires at least some foresight.

---

The partners are eating together at a driveway. We find out that Price is working this case on her days off. I guess this is personal for him?

---

Megan is outside. She's picking off the college buddies guards one by one with a sniper rifle. The cops rush over because shots are heard.

---

The partners arrive. They see all the guards tranquilized the guards—which means the last guy is still alive. You see, it's not 10:44PM yet. And she has to kill him right at that precise time.

---

Now the hunt is for Megan. Price thinks she knows where she is.

We now see Megan move the last guy out of her SUV near the cliff where her sister's death happened. She's got a gun and a knife, orders him to walk right over to the cliff.

This fool asks what she's going to do to him. You idiot, you know.

Right as she's about to kill the last guy, Price shows up. But then Megan takes him hostage. Says if they take one step closer, she'll kill 'em.

Price does a whole spiel about how none of this will fix anything. Megan says it's all over. And just as she tries to make for the cliff with the college buddy, Price shoots her in the head.

Well, the last guy is still alive, at least.

---

Price is done. She's heading back to DC. Boss says he appreciates her work.

Does that mean her romance with Larkin is dead?

As she walks out of the department, there Larkin is with his puppy dog eyes. They get closer, do a little bit of flintiness. Price tells him she's thinking of leaving the bureau—and she wants to become a detective like Larkin.

Some more flirting. Now some kissing. Looks like these two lovebirds can't keep their hands off each other.

And the movie ends.

—-

Not a terrible film. Probably a good film if you’re a middle-aged mom looking for a little bit of sex and violence.

I enjoyed this. Production quality, of course, is TV level. But the idea is neat. The performances were fine.

There was some ridiculousness. A few moments things were over the top. But at least it entertained.

I say this is slightly above average.

—-

Final thought: I watched this with my 12-year-old daughter. She thought it was really fun. The movie offered her plenty of thrills.

I think I’ll do a separate review of this one in another thread.

After a week of building and curating ![email protected], the community already has 58 subscribers—and it’s only getting started.

I’ve been thinking hard about the kind of place I want this to be. The vision comes down to three things:

1. Real conversations about games
2. Minimal memes
3. Zero outrage culture

I want this community to be about joy—a space for people who actually play video games to share what excites them. Not a dumping ground for culture wars. Not another echo chamber for Gamergate-era nonsense.

Games are for everyone. And everyone should feel comfortable digging deep here. Talk about an obscure Japanese console. Explore weird European PCs. Or break down the craft behind how a game actually got made. That’s the stuff I want to see flourish.

Here’s to the next 100 posts—and beyond. Come join in:

https://piefed.social/c/videogames

The setting is bleak. A ruined Eastern Europe scarred by The Change—a cataclysm that warped humanity beyond recognition. You play as a Traveler for the Collective, hunting down rifts that spit you into 1980s Poland. The architecture is concrete brutalism, the tech is rusted retro-future, and every corner hides something waiting to kill you. To get anywhere, you manipulate temporal anomalies: rewind a bridge, restore a tram line, or even reassemble shattered geometry.

But here’s the hook. Enemies don’t stay dead. If you drop a creature and walk away, others can absorb the body through a process called Merging. Suddenly, that shambling beast is faster, stronger, meaner. The only way to stop it? Burn the corpse. Ammo is scarce, supplies are limited, and every mistake makes the next fight worse. It’s the kind of mechanic that twists your stomach before you even enter a room.

Visually, this is top shelf. Unreal Engine 5 with hardware Lumen ray tracing, DLSS 4, and HDR. Textures are razor-sharp, environments drip with atmosphere, and even the fog feels alive. Recommended specs are heavy—RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT—but somehow this is Steam Deck Verified. Linux gets a native build, too. Sorry Mac users—you’re out.

Audio is equally strong. Ambient soundscapes make ruined Kraków hum with dread. Voice acting sells both timelines, and you’ll want headphones just to soak in the detail. Controls work with keyboard and mouse, but Bloober recommends a pad. Thankfully, both Xbox and PlayStation controllers plug in without fuss.

Now the studio itself. Bloober Team was once a AA outfit—the Layers of Fear people. Then they shipped last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake, and suddenly they’re in the big leagues. Cronos is their most ambitious game yet. With about 250 staff, I wouldn’t call this a “AAA” monster. It’s closer to a “III” game—the same niche Hellblade carved, polished but still indie-rooted.

And the reception? Steam users are on board. At launch, it’s holding 84% positive on over 670 reviews. Critics are mixed-to-favorable—praise for the atmosphere and puzzle design, gripes about stingy resources and checkpoint traps.

Price point: C$76.99 standard, C$89.99 deluxe if you want the art book and soundtrack. Call it premium indie or baby-AAA—but it’s priced like a blockbuster.

Bottom line: if you want survival horror that genuinely adds something new—time-rift puzzles, corpse burning, and GPU-melting visuals—Cronos: The New Dawn may be worth the ticket. Just don’t expect to walk away unscathed.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2101960/Cronos_The_New_Dawn/

This Friday at 9PM PST / 4AM GMT we’re diving into Time of Death (2013).

Announcing early so you can stock up on popcorn and bad beer.

Here’s the pitch: every murder happens at the exact same time—10:44PM. Sounds cool, right? Well… that’s where it gets dicey. This was made by a tiny Canadian studio on a shoestring budget, and opinions are all over the map. Some people swear it’s a hidden gem. Others say it’s one of the most boring “thrillers” ever broadcast on TV.

But that’s exactly why it’s perfect for LIVE MOVIE FRIDAYS. Odds are you’ve never seen it. Odds are it’ll be clunky. Odds are we’ll be yelling “what the hell was that?” at the screen at least once.

Oh, and yes—that’s Kathleen Robertson from Beverly Hills 90210 starring in a bargain-bin crime flick about synchronized murders.

Where to watch:

• YouTube (free)
• Tubi (free, ad-supported)
• Prime Video (paid)

So—good, bad, or so bad it’s good—we’re doing this live.

See you Friday night.

Ever dream of living in a seaside village where the biggest problem is whose letter gets delivered late? That’s the vibe. You’re the new postman, pedaling around scenic cliffs and cobbled streets, dropping off mail, doing tricks on your bike, and helping townsfolk with their little dramas.

The visuals strike a sweet spot: simple, but with enough detail to make the island feel alive—trees swaying, glowing mushrooms tucked into corners, soccer balls rolling down hills. It’s less about cutting-edge fidelity and more about the charm of exploration.

The soundtrack won’t blow your hair back, but it fits the mood: calm, unobtrusive, and built to let the environment do the talking.

It’s fully playable with an Xbox controller, though only Windows is supported natively for now (no Linux or Mac).

Introductory price is C$3.74.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3922310/Tiny_Whiny_Island/

WARNING SPOILERS

That’s right, tonight’s Live Movie Friday pick is Disco Godfather (1979), directed by none other than Rudy Ray Moore—the foul-mouthed legend behind Dolemite himself.

This movie is everything: part blaxploitation, part anti-drug PSA, and part fever dream filtered through a disco ball and karate kicks. Rudy Ray Moore plays a retired cop-turned-disco DJ (yes, really) who sets out to avenge his nephew’s angel dust overdose. If that doesn’t scream “watch me live with popcorn and disbelief,” I don’t know what does.

Why did I choose this one? Because it’s utterly unhinged, hilariously earnest, and 100% unforgettable. Also, because I needed a reminder that “Put your weight on it!” is still one of the greatest battle cries in cinema history.

🕘 We’re watching LIVE tonight at 9PM PST / 4AM GMT
Join the chaos, bring your takes, and get ready for a disco-fueled descent into madness.

🧵 Live reactions will be happening right here in this thread.
Yes, here on ![email protected], so don’t miss out.

ℹ️ More info:

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Godfather
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074412/
• Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/disco-godfather/

📽️ Watch links:

• Tubi (Free with ads): https://tubitv.com/movies/496326/disco-godfather
• Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/0HBUUI7DN4H2Z14Y3Z1VP08RXW/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Put your weight on it. See you at 9.

---

Here we go! Time for the movie that will put me in traction!

---

Really trippy opening credits but I wouldn't want to watch them while under the influence of PCP.

---

Not going to lie, this club scene at the beginning is lit. There's a tropical lounge thing going on with everyone in sick lounge wear. And the disco tunes are actually good.

Also, Rudy Ray Moore is slick. I'm completely buying him as the Disco Godfather because only the godfather would walk in with that baby outfit complete with choker and belt.

And you know what? Witnessing his rhymes at the DJ booth—no accident Rudy Ray Moore become so influential on hip hop. Because he's got the skills to pay the bills.

"Keep your weight on it! Keep your weight on it!"

In its own way, I feel this really does encapsulate disco in a way no other movies do—what drew so many people to this scene.

---

Bit of a lover's makeup session outside the club. Lots of shots of the French kissing at several angles.

Girl asks her lover what's up with him, and he says he's got a lot on his mind. Now she's lecturing him about smoking some stuff. Asks him what his uncle would think. He insists he knows what he's doing.

I think we have some... foreshadowing.

---

We move back to the club, and there's a freakout. Seems that angel dust did something messed up to Bucky, the fellow in the parking lot.

So now the Disco Godfather has to check things out.

Now Bucky's out of his mind. Disco Godfather is telling him to get a hold of himself. But now Bucky is hallucinating.

And right here, I got to say the shot sequence is quite creative. We're seeing Bucky's hallucinations, and they're freaky. Ghosts, and goblins, and a whole lot of wild things.

The ambulance is coming. They tied him up, and now Bucky is being taken away.

Sad day for the Disco Godfather.

---

I shouldn't be laughing because PCP is no joke, but these scene of people freaking out on angel dust is hilarious.

The doc is explaining to Disco Godfather about the dangers of PCP, and we learn one of the girls here roasted her baby in an oven.

Then we see a sequence of Bucky's hallucinations. He's imagining himself playing basketball, while being haunted by a witch.

Bucky asks how he can play basketball without his arm, and they tell him he still has an arm.

Fairly over the top scene, but I'm entertained.

---

Doc now explaining to a woman what happened to her daughter after she took the PCP.

We are informed that PCP is a modern drug that is beyond the understanding of modern medicine.

You know, there really is no way to exaggerate PCP's horrors.

---

Now Disco Godfather is at the police station. We find out he's ex-cop Tucker Williams.

So now we know that Tucker is going to do some investigating himself—and he's back on the force as a reserve.

Now that he's on the case, we'll get to the bottom of it.

---

We're back at the disco, and we witness the moves of the Disco Squad. A journalist wants to talk to the Disco Godfather about this new hot phenomena of disco.

But instead of talking about disco, he wants to talk about angel dust—and how he's personally going to come down on the evildoers.

---

Phone ain't working, so Tucker wants to find out why.

Then he discovers some baddies are in the middle of messing with his phone. So we get some chop socks action with bad-but-hilarious kung fu.

Disco Godfather demands answers, but then he gets knocked on the back of his head—then the baddies run out of the club.

---

We're introduced to the head bad guy who seems to have something to do with the NBA.

After he's finished his press conference, he's being warned about Tucker—how he's a dangerous dude.

---

We're at the PCP processing facility. 1,000 gallons of PCP will be ready!

Head drug dealer guy is checking the merch.

---

Back to the club! We're being treated to the disco skate dancers! And now we get two trends of the 70s in one: disco and rollerskating.

And now the Disco Godfather makes his grand entrance! Gratuitous crotch shot time! Now more of the squad comes on the floor, and they're pretty fire. These are pretty damn good moves.

Now the Disco Godfather is at the DJ booth yelling out "Put your weight on it! Put your weight on it! Put your weight on it!"

That was awesome!

---

Disco Godfather talking about the disco business. And when everyone leaves, he lets his assistant know that he's about to attack the whack!

---

A bunch of Christians are now trying to do some faith healing on a woman who hasn't recovered from PCP. There doing an exorcism. And I don't know, if I were on PCP, I'd be freaked out even more.

---

PSA time: there's a big community meeting about PCP with a big crowd.

The organizer asks the crowd how many of them have done angel dust. Lots of hands come up. Wow! That's a lot of people.

You know, I don't think most people would voluntarily imbibe in that stuff.

Now we're getting together to wrestle that PCP to the ground! Attack the whack! We're going to rid the world of PCP!

---

Back to the PCP dealer. And he's insulted because Tucker Williams called him an asshole. He ain't going to put up with that! He's personally affronted by the very notion he is unsavoury!

---

All right! All right! All right!

Back to the disco–AND IT'S TIME TO PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON IT!

Some groovy tunes with some dancing shots, and of course the Disco Godfather himself coming on strong in his sequinned outfit.

Wait. The cops just showed up. The guns came out—hitmen are in the crowd. The dead bodies pile up. And the Disco Godfather survives.

---

Tucker's boss drives him around the city, tells him to cut it out—he has a good business going, so why stick out his neck?

Well, how could the Disco Godfather just sit idly by when his nephew is in trouble?

---

We're back in the hospital with the nephew, who has big regrets about the PCP and missing the basketball play-offs. He's angry. He's livid. He's pissed that he was bullied into smoking the angel dust.

Doc tells him to just chalk it up to an experience—it's in the past. But nephew has big regrets.

---

Doc leaves the room to encounter the Christians. They're still unable to get the girl to come out of her PCP stupor.

---

Disco Godfather walking around town in his fly pink suit with big pink flower on his lapel. He meets with his good friend, and Tucker lets him know about how angel dust is ravaging the community.

Side note: I should get a pinky ring.

---

We're at a house party, everyone's dancing—then Disco Godfather busts in with the kung fu. He's giving his notice. He identifies everyone—including the country's most notorious shoplifter!

Also, there's an African American dude doing yellow face. That was unexpected.

Tucker discovers a big huge pile of white powder at the party, blows it off the tray, then a whole punch of the party goers pile onto the floor to get them some.

---

Montage of Disco Godfather walking around town, looking for leads—accompanied by some funky music. He's everywhere. Getting the drop on some suckers. Slaps a few for good measure.

---

This movie loves its parties because we're at another one. And everyone here is dressed fresh. God damn, I wish I had just a little bit of this style.

And we encounter the PCP dealer schmoozing—and I finally find out his name. It's Stinger.

Then he's being warned again about Tucker, and how he's coming in close.

---

Another party. The police come busting in with Tucker Williams in tow. And they're searching for some PCP. Can't find it.

After they're done, cop tells him it's like old times.

---

Disco Godfather wakes up to a nightmare. His girl tries to ease him with some sex. But just as they get it on, he hears a knock on the door. He stops the sex to the protestations of his girl—and when he opens the door, there's a dead animal on his door.

---

Tucker's old friend is dead. And here he tells his police colleague that he suspects a leak because whenever they get a lead on the PCP, it's gone.

---

They catch a dealer who tells Tucker he'll be back on the street in no time.

Then they find a kid high on angel dust who gives him details about what happened to his nephew. And we find out that all of this is connected to the purchase of a new basketball team.

Big wild meltdown: "GET HIM OUT OF MY FACE!!!"

---

Tucker has a hunch about the leak. They're setting a trap on a colleague named Kilroy and he falls for it.

---

Kilroy's wife wakes up, goes to the bathroom, and she discovers his dead body in the bathroom.

---

Stinger finds out that Kilroy is dead. He doesn't know if Kilroy talked—so now he's going after Tucker.

---

Tucker wants a warrant but he can't get it on time.

---

A long haired white dude in a cowboy hat ambushes Tucker, takes him hostage, forces him into a car—tells him to drive.

They're being followed, and Tucker is told to call off his possé or else he will die.

---

Everyone's at the disco club and they're worried.

---

White cowboy tells Tucker he could have killed him, but he wants to get his nut off, so he whips him. Wow! Kinky!

But Tucker grabs the whip, and gives him the business—kills him.

Serves cowboy right for trying to get his nut off.

---

Nephew is now involved, asks his friend to take him to Stinger. He wants revenge.

---

Stinger knows things are closing in on him so he's burning all his business papers.

Some kung fu now right outside Stinger's door, and Tucker is taking on a whole gang on at once.

Dude in a tracksuit come by asks if he needs help. Tucker lets him know this is an angel dust factory. So now the track-suited guy unleashes his kung fu.

Now Tucker faces off against a giant moustachioed goon. Boss fight!

And we got the disco music on for good measure!

It really is terrible kung fu. But it's elite on the entertainment front.

Now the tracksuit guy takes on the rest of the goons as Tucker makes his way into the factory.

---

Inside the factory, we get full Enter the Dragon confrontations with scary dudes wh are a step above the guys outside. One of them is wearing a chainmail blouse. He can't really fight, so bashes his chest against Tucker.

Nephew enters the factory now.

Stinger hears an alarm, makes a big announcement on the intercom that they're being invaded.

Nunchuks com out! Full mayhem!

Wacka-chucka-wacka-chucka music.

And just as Tucker is about to be killed, the bad guy is told to "discipline" him.

---

Now we see a shot of the girl on PCP and the Christians circling around him.

---

Tucker is being gas masked with PCP. He's freaking out. Now he's under the influence of angel dust!

Some freaky shots full of hallucinations. Tucker is popping out of a coffin. Then he freaks out some more.

Cut now to the girl on PCP.

Tucker keeps telling himself he has to be in his mind.

And again, the faith healers.

---

Stinger is being confronted by his wife about the angel dust. He tells her, how do you think she got the big house and the cars?

---

All these hallucination sequences are really freaky. I'm so glad that I'm sobre right now.

---

Police show up and make some arrests.

---

Now Tucker hallucinates his mother, and there's even a little bit of animation going on. While high, he find Stinger, grabs his neck, check him out. Then Stinger morphs into the devil. Nephew comes by restrains him. And then the Disco Godfather freaks out at the prospect of being taken away.

Just like that. The movie is over. The end credits run.

---

This is actually a really good movie. Low budget, of course. The actors aren't always great. But the sheer entertainment is top shelf.

Rudy Ray Moore sure understood how to make a fun movie. Recommended!

Watched this last night on my Sony Trinitron CRT. Pitch black in my backyard. It was glorious.

Absolutely worth the $10 I spent on this.

When I put on Curse of the Cat People, I expected a silly monster sequel. It isn’t that.

This is horror, but not the conventional kind. No monsters. No gore. No jump scares. What makes it frightening is what’s implied rather than what’s shown. The unease creeps in slowly, through mood and suggestion, until you realize you’re watching a nightmare play out in broad daylight.

The title is pure misdirection. There are no cat people. There isn’t a curse. RKO forced the connection to Cat People because it sold tickets. Same actors, different story.

What we get instead is the story of Amy Reed, a lonely child who slips into her imagination and befriends a ghost—Simone Simon returning as Irena. Whether Irena is real or imagined is never resolved, and that’s the knife edge the whole film balances on.

At first it feels harmless, almost whimsical—Amy chasing butterflies, leaving letters in a hollow tree (a detail lifted from Val Lewton’s own childhood). But then the tone shifts. The whimsy curdles. The fairy tale becomes sinister, and you see this fragile little girl surrounded by adults who don’t understand her, neighbors who resent her, and a ghost who may or may not be protecting her.

The film is filled with oddities. It’s set in Tarrytown, with nods to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Reed family living room is decorated with Goya’s The Red Boy, a painting of a child flanked by cats. Sir Lancelot, a calypso singer, plays the family’s butler. Elizabeth Russell—who hissed her way through a cameo in Cat People—shows up again as a venomous neighbor. None of it feels like standard studio horror.

And then there’s Mrs. Farren: bitter, regal, half-mad, recounting the tale of the Headless Horseman like a curse she can’t stop repeating. She’s terrifying without any makeup or effects.

But the most haunting presence is Ann Carter as Amy. Today, you’d probably recognize traits of autism—her obsessions, her difficulty connecting with other kids. In the 1940s she was simply “odd.” That sense of otherness makes her peril feel even sharper, as though she’s marked out for tragedy.

Visually, the film is stunning. Black-and-white light makes every space shimmer like a dream. Angles and shadows tilt into wooziness. The camera itself becomes part of Amy’s imagination—half fairy tale, half hallucination.

And for all its strangeness, this was Robert Wise’s first directing credit. He was pulled from the editing room to rescue the project. You can already see the control that would define his later films.

Curse of the Cat People is horror, but not the kind RKO advertised. It’s quieter. Stranger. Built on loneliness, childhood fears, and the danger of slipping too far into fantasy. Creepy in 1944. Still creepy now.