Ok e3 is dead so here’s my secret favorite e3 moment. It’s 2014, and I was walking around the back of the south hall because it was always a faster route/less crowded. I see a really young boy sitting at a table with a guy in his 40s and an older woman in her 60s. (1 of 13!)
winter soldier is still the best marvel movie. most willing to fuck with the status quo, best pacing, best genre mashup work, best soundtrack, some of the best character development and evolution. it feels so fucking confident all the time.
xbox making a more powerful console got playstation fans a more powerful PS5. xbox making a cheaper console puts pressure on sony to make faster price reductions on the PS5. competition is good regardless of your preferred platform.
Tonight, at the very least, so far, kris kobach lost, felon re-enfranchisement happened in Florida, Colorado elected a gay governor, two Muslim women and a lesbian Native American woman were elected to congress. All of that is fucking amazing.
it's funny that looking back on it the way that square-enix divested from io interactive and let them have the hitman IP was one of the few examples of apparently ethical and good faith separation from an acquisition.
E3 was a huge, complicated, conflicted machine. But it gave me a chance once to help some really kind people at bungie and activision do something amazing for a family that needed that kind of day. I’ll be grateful for that always. Anyway! sorry for the long thread. The end.
Two things can be simultaneously true - that 1) halo infinite’s big challenge right now is clearly progression, and 2) every other publisher this fall would kill for that problem. I haven’t seen this degree of uniform enthusiasm for playing a game in years. Literally years!
Later that day, I get a text from grandma that some bungie folks really went all out for Kane and gave him a full destiny experience. Just bags of stuff to take home. She asks me to put her in touch with the agency guy to thank him. This is from the next day. (12)
If you voted for the first time tonight and your candidate lost, I know how much that sucks. But you will have more chances. Fight apathy. Your vote does count.
After an emergency vet visit last week, i spoke with another vet last night, which confirmed it was time. I managed to find a doctor to come and perform a humane in-home procedure for her. It all happened very quickly. Lady was my best friend, and the best cat I ever met.
devs: please let me play your game alone, and please, for the love of god and the heavens and earth, please let me fucking pause your game if i'm playing it alone.
So, I guess it’s safe to announce that I got a job! At
@wirecutter
! as lead editor for computers and networking and related things! Which I think is kind of neat.
I’ve never seen a company Chernobyl itself the way CDPR has Chernobyl’ed itself in the last seven days. The entire executive staff should be writing resignation letters. And Sony putting a lead dome on top of the situation feels like a reasonable response here.
Sad life thing: Lady came into my life in 2008 as an abused, terrified kitty who only wanted to be around me. Now, she’ll sit in just about any lap as long as you’ll let her. Last night i learned we don’t have a lot of time left together. But I’m thankful for the years we’ve had.
I remember this visit to our booth! It was an absolute honor to host Kane and help make his day a special one. Shoutout to
@BrittanyLichty
and
@DJDague
for their roles it making it a great day as well.
the internet, six months ago: how important is smart delivery really? i don't really get why microsoft keeps talking about it, this seems like a no-brainer.
the internet, today: ... fuck.
i love all the giant bomb dudes and i will support and follow whatever's next for
@alex_navarro
,
@bradshoemaker
,
@VinnyCaravella
and will continue watching whatever
@jeffgerstmann
does with giant bomb, if that's what he chooses to do. end of an era, but new is good too.
to be clear, hey, i wrote a book about the first ten years of gears of war — well, more like the first 16 years of gears of war, but. you can buy it in july! at which point maybe it will start to feel real!
I don’t talk about my personal life much here because it’s been weaponized against me by people mad about video games. But I got several emails complaining about my use of the LGBTQIA+ tag on twitch. So: I’m queer, as in I date people who are not women, and as in fuck you.
It’s 2014, and the other big game at activision’s booth is Destiny. Activision/agency people offer to give Kane the whole destiny demo, and he and his family accept. At this point I’m actually late for an appointment, so I confirm with agency guy they’re all set and leave. (11)
Ok. So, I’m seeing a lot of people express the “vote in November“ sentiment, and it’s true! But do more than that. Vote in every local election. Vote statewide. Learn about ballot measures. Be informed. This is literally the Koch strategy. It’s bottom to top. It works.
hey i'm not a financial genius, but if you do/did get in on the gamestop stuff and made some money, please, for the love of god, talk to an accountant or at least set aside a bunch of it for taxes.
Hello. I would appreciate if you would read this and support our efforts to secure a fair contract, including, if necessary, not crossing the picket line to use wirecutter affiliate links during a potential strike.
As we get closer to Black Friday and management still refuses to come to the table to resolve our contract and avoid a strike, please read the personal stories of our members about why they're willing to do whatever it takes to secure a strong agreement.
I immediately walk over to activision’s booth and ask to talk to an agency rep for call of duty stuff that I’ve worked with a bunch. I say it’s important and time sensitive, and because he’s a good guy, he comes down to floor to chat. (6)
I introduced myself to the guy, who said his name was Jason, and he introduced me to his mom, and his son, whose name was Kane. Kane is a bright looking kid but clearly not well, and his grandma tells me that being at e3 is Kane’s wish. As in make-a-wish. (4)
I explain Kane’s situation to the agency guy and he’s invested because of course he is. The problem: call of duty is an m-rated game, and getting a young boy in to see it is going to be difficult because of (iirc) liability stuff. But the rep wants to help. (7)
Kane said he was having fun, and his dad agreed, and I think they both meant it. But Kane really wanted to see the new call of duty, which I know is behind closed doors at e3 this year. I listen for a few and I get grandma’s cell, and I say I’ll text in a bit. (5)
honestly all of the MCU phase 4 stuff seems like the best possible result of all this time, where they can do more weird genre shit and really push into different directions with everything. that's exciting, IMO.
The rep and I agree that there’s got to be something we can do, even if it’s just to give Kane some stuff. So I text grandma and learn the family is still at the table in south hall. I run-walk over there (e3 attendees you know what I mean), and I bring them to the booth. (8)
They have a little swag bag, nothing major, and you can tell the kid is trying to be excited, and the adults are trying to be excited for him, but this is e3 2014 and it isn’t designed for normal people. So I stopped and said hello, thinking I could give the kid some e3 stuff.(2)
I text the agency guy to let him know that we’re out in front, and I wait with jason and Kane and his grandma for a few (It’s e3, people are busy). Once the agency rep comes down, I introduce everybody. I’m fuzzy here, but I think someone from activision is here now too. (9)
Basically, the call of duty stuff just isn’t going to work. It’s advanced warfare this year, the demo is very graphic, etc. but. Activision has another shooter here that they could show Kane. (10)
@WarOfTheseRoses
@chloebryan
Twitter does not exist for women to subject themselves to dudes demanding their attention. It’s not a license to ignore social etiquette.
Just a reminder that Uber’s (and Lyft!) entire business model is predicated on screwing their drivers more and more until they can be replaced by autonomous vehicles.
the new york times and wirecutter management have refused to engage in additional bargaining before black friday. we're asking everyone to boycott the site and avoid purchasing through wirecutter until after cyber monday, unless something changes.
With
@wirecutter
/
@nytimes
management refusing to come to the table to reach a deal, 100% of our unit will be striking from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. The best way you can support us is by boycotting
@wirecutter
from 11/25-11/29:
returnal is like if psygnosis made metroid (but today). with all the pros and cons that should imply for anyone old enough to have any idea what i'm talking about.
I think the Xbox leaks happening right now are a sign of a borderline war about this strategy internally and that one way or another somebody is going to get pushed out.
I’m going to be honest, hearing
@jeffgerstmann
’s analysis of the industry during things like e3 has always been uniquely invaluable and entertaining, and getting to participate with him on a couple of things here and there felt like big professional highlights.
I am walking off the job
@wirecutter
now through Cyber Monday to protest my employer’s bad faith bargaining through unfair labor practices and its refusal to agree to fair wages. To support our cause, don’t shop through Wirecutter through Monday.
@wirecutterunion
A preview for “The Social Network” from 2010 — with a Belgian women’s choir singing Radiohead’s “Creep” — is widely seen as the origin of what became the trailerization trend. Now trailers featuring familiar songs (with some tweaks) are wildly popular.
Some end of year news: the apartment was a little lonely with just Freya and I, so.
This is Loki. He’s a 5-6 month old little jerk who keeps peeing on things. But he’s very cute.
If there’s no reason other than game pass to buy your console, fewer people are going to buy your console (as demonstrated in 2022/2023) and fewer people subscribe to game pass. This is quintessential Microsoft dipshittery and I absolutely believe it’s being pushed internally.
hi just throwing out there that podcasts can be a lot of work for absolutely zero return and while you certainly aren't obligated to pay for them or be actively nice, you could try not to be shitty about them in discords the hosts are a part of (but hey, what do i know).
, which froze withdrawals yesterday, announced that someone hacked the platform for $15 million in ether (4,600 ETH).
This money is now being laundered through Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash in batches of 1,000 ETH
As a little treat for myself just throwing out there that if I saw you defend d*pp on Twitter 1) I’m not going to forget it, and 2) I’ll be judging you forever.
Pro-Depp YouTuber
@LauraBockov
received a cease-and-desist asking her to delete tweets claiming that
@k4mil1aa
, a popular pro-Heard Twitter account, is a woman who works for the PR company that represents Amber. The evidence? They're both Black women.
this reminds me of something i bring up on the podcast this week, which is that RE2 remake feels like a loop closing - where RE4 inspires dead space which inspires RE2 remake. the remake plays so, so much like dead space, and that's a fantastic thing.
if you're reading a book and you're not enjoying it or getting anything out of it, you should stop reading it. you don't have to finish every piece of media you start.
any game other than animal crossing new horizons getting GOTY is so wildly divorced from reality that it defies explanation. it was a genuine cultural moment/point of convergence as the world was desperately searching for one (which i say having played it never).
Speaking only for myself as a wirecutter employee, the driving force behind my work is guiding people through what is largely a howling capitalist void in a way that makes their lives easier and to spend as little as possible for their needs. I don’t think I’m alone.
hello, youtube surfaces this performance of harry styles and his very talented band performing sledgehammer in my feed about every four or five months and i listen to it every time because it's that good, so here. you do it too.
yeah no i'm not going to make an effort to get along with tr*mp supporters and consider it just a difference of opinion. support of him is completely at odds with my priorities as a moral entity. it's an ideology fueled by hate and racism.
as someone who also lamented the fact that the xbox OS didn't get a visual overhaul with the new consoles last fall i've got to admit that things more often than not just working the way they should far outweighs the mild seratonin i'd have gotten from something different.
@chrislhayes
if you had told me in 1994 that axl rose would have some of the better political analysis of various rock musicians i would have laughed myself into a catatonic state.
just got an email for a manhattan 1BR apartment listing that was put on the market for more then 4k at the start of summer and is now going for 1800 and 1) you greedy fucking vultures how dare you and 2) you *love* to see it.
Joking aside, today’s Nintendo switch announcement sounds to me like “we’ve been manufacturing all these screens/chassis revisions waiting for nvidia, Samsung and TSMC to get their shit together for a year and we just don’t know what’s going to happen with that, so. Screw it.”
i accepted this gig two years ago almost to the day, and i am incredibly disappointed that a company i was excited to work for is treating some of its most vulnerable employees this way. please, do not cross the picket line, and do not shop
@wirecutter
this long weekend.
hearing
@jeffgerstmann
say that for the first time in forever he's dreaming again hits *real hard* and i think maybe you need to be Of a Certain Age in certain spaces to understand that, maybe?