Of course, Disney Dreamlight still has a premium currency, but at least it isn’t as bad as gachapon, pay2win. Apparently, meeting weekly goals on the free Starpath and finding chests will net the player some Moonstone. Starpath is basically like a ‘battlepass’ except since this game has no combat, it’s more like a ‘living your life’ pass, free and premium in nature. I might pass on Disney Dreamlight Valley because encouraging corpos to utilize these curses in the gaming world feels…counterproductive to me.

I didn’t know that Daybreak had a history of messing up games! Huh, I’m a bit concerned now. However, Daybreak could turn their bad track record around. It remains to be seen though.

As to their business model, yeah, Singularity 6 could never have survived on overpriced cosmetics that used fake currency to induce more spending. That was a dark pattern choice which gave me pause, I couldn’t justify buying a cosmetic item.

Wow, I’m surprised too! I wondered if Palia was going to make it due to the financial struggles Singularity 6 had faced. I’m hoping the Palia business model gets adjusted so that it can trickle in more funding.

Yeah, there is always new Kool-Aid for executives to consume. I just wish more research, discourse, and testing were done before these concepts became either a scam or a true innovation. Of all the things that you’ve mentioned, there are only a few things of which I have no knowledge of; as a lay person, my familiarity with some of these tech developments is due to the major media coverage some got. I’ll have to look into the unfamiliar tech innovations.

They’ve gotten drunk on the hype of AI (LLM in disguise); I can’t wait for them to make a costly mistake that wakes them the fuck up. Or dissolve into a formless mass of corporate sludge.

Honestly, I’d accept something much better but not a massive upgrade. The thing enough power under the hood to make it easier for devs to port their games. Making the Switch an attractive choice and for games to run smoothly on their handheld/console. I would prefer Nintendo bring back home consoles, as it would be easier to make a strong performer.

My hope is that they make a true contender, however, this might not be Nintendo’s plan. They very well may choose to make another gimmick; perhaps Nintendo will refine a gimmick this time with their next hardware release?

Eh, if there’s no announcement, I can’t be bothered. As of late, the Switch has been showing its age to me. I don’t want to buy games for out of date hardware; I will play the games that I own, but not buy another game until Nintendo gets vastly improved hardware out there.

This trailer got me interested! I’m fascinated by the cozy and survival elements of Winter Burrow.

They are masters of hype, not sure if they’ll be able to actually deliver because Starfield wasn’t their best work.

Fallout 76 made a comeback? I was pretty sure that one is beyond saving…

Hmm, I’m less skeptical of this game. I won’t get it on launch though because these games benefit from plenty of time for post launch patches. This will be on I play when Ubisoft puts it on sale for like 25% or 50% off.

I’m excited about this game! It looks like a lot of fun, and has so many paths to follow that this dev team hasn’t mentioned!

Eh, I thought I was being funny, my attempt failed. I was poking fun at Bethesda because they’ve put games that were either bland or watered down like Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starfield for example. Avowed feels fresh and interesting to me, I’m excited about visiting the Living Lands and experiencing that story.

I’m ready for this game, it looks so good! Obsidian has the storytelling chops to make this world come alive, Bethesda could never.

For a game that’s been out for nearly ten years, I’m not expecting over much in the way of actual work from this team. It would be nice as I do miss playing the Sims 4. I suppose this is only happening to reach a larger audience since the move of making The Sims 4 free to play and the packs their cash cow. Which most users have been happily buying despite these packs being glitchy and broken on launch, and for most of their existence.

That’s what I thought too…In addition, needing to buy a fake currency with real money before being able to buy a skin pack has a dark pattern vibe to it! They would’ve been better off making the skin packs cheaper (using real world money) and listing their game for a reasonable price during early access. However, their staff is paying the price for the leader’s poor decision and that honestly sucks!

I was concerned about this business model from the onset and my worries have proven accurate! Buying the game while in early access would’ve given them more funding to work with instead of going with a free to play with cosmetic only purchases. I hope the affected developers are going to be okay in this layoff heavy year. 😭

Do it and get appropriately lambasted EA, I dare you scummy bastards! Android Wilson is such a foolish individual. What would truly stimulate growth for them is making great games people would want to buy. Advertisements in games are a strong hell no from me. One of the main reasons why I avoid EA games is because of their scummy history in the gaming space, if they could let go of their shortsighted greed; I could be inclined to reward those slavering executives with a game purchase. However, they won’t until it really tanks their sales to the point of desperation.

Yep, in many cases people live paycheck to paycheck without being able to save money for an emergency. Often, we are just one emergency away from homelessness! By design, the US has very few avenues in the way of social safety nets (the few we do possess for those who are disabled or elderly, are being attacked by Republicans). People have voted against their own best interests enough to cause this crisis; it will be an uphill battle to destroy those walls built against real change.

Yeah, that mentality of ‘at least I still have my job’ with the added cost of work/life imbalance and stress is wild to me! Corporations shouldn’t have so much power as their staff are the ones bringing in the profits. Sane business models can be profitable, respecting their staff’s time and effort. I can only hope more people wake up and unionize! As there have been victories here that should blaze a path.