BadlyDrawnRhino

That probably would be a better solution. Particularly since the rating system is pretty easy to ignore. And if they do start slapping the R18+ rating on games that don’t really warrant it like Mario Party, people will be more likely to simply dismiss the entire system.

I would hope that the government and ratings board wouldn’t be that stupid, but look at how long it took to give us an R rating for video games in the first place.

I think the government could definitely be doing more, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to force companies to clearly disclose the nature of their products so consumers can make informed choices.

I think the major difference between the two is that in video games, the cost of the loot boxes is deliberately obfuscated through the use of whatever single-use currency the publisher has dreamed up, and made worse by the fact that the currency is only purchasable in select denominations, meaning you’re always spending more than you’re going to use.

You’re not wrong that there are plenty of examples of physical “loot boxes” marketed at children, but at least with those you know exactly how much it costs straight up.

I wish our government would look into the actual predatory practices that these publishers are using in these games, but this is a good first step. At least the EU is looking into it.

Just want to point out that it might not be OP’s fault. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the one folks in the US will be used to) has a habit of switching the headline depending on whether you’re viewing on mobile or web. I wish they wouldn’t, the clickbait headlines can be a bit of a distraction from otherwise generally high-quality articles.

It’s 662% higher vs 7.62 times. So if x is the amount that big tech is reporting, the actual number is x + 662% or x * 7.62, both gives the same result.

I’d love that link too if that’s alright. Last time I tried to read Konsi in order, I kept getting sidetracked and reading all your other comics. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s not what I set out to do.

That “worst case scenario” really doesn’t seem that bad to me. Exactly what would happen to any busy that overextends themselves and runs out of money. What, exactly, makes Star so special that they feel they deserve relief from the government?

This is my thought with every single one of these. I was pleasantly surprised to see them on the new Ayaneo Kun, making it the only alternative to the Steam Deck I would consider. The lack of trackpads is too much of a limitation for PC gaming.

To be fair, half of the AAA gaming industry is all about trying to clone the latest successful game with a new coat of paint. Maybe using AI to make these clones will mean that the talented people behind the scenes are free to explore other ideas instead.

Of course in reality, it just means that the largest publishers will lay off a whole lot of people and keep churning out these uninspired games in the name of corporate profits, but it’s nice to dream sometimes.

It also means avoiding any future craziness in the name of “anti-cheating” from both Microsoft and publishers. It’s bad enough that publishers are forcing kernel-level access now, but once there’s a workaround for those applications, what’s the next step?

Just wait until some oil baron says that sloth-dug tunnels is the way to “deal” with climate change.

The real conspiracy is that there’s only one recognised holiday per year for most species on the planet, except for humans that get several per month. Seems to me that humans are trying to keep other species from having enough free-time to plot the revolution.

Thanks for this, I’m going to try this out on my way home. My main use for Gmaps is to determine the quickest way to and from work during peak hour, so keen to see how Magic Earth’s traffic data compares.

Trebuchets aren’t really a tool for defence. They have tremendous range and aren’t exactly speedy to load, aim, and launch.

Unless you meant defence in the same way that a country’s military operations are known as “defence forces” regardless of intent, in which case carry on.

I’m not fundamentally opposed to nuclear. The country’s power needs are only going to keep growing, and I could see an argument for having multiple options for sourcing that power. It’s a very expensive argument though, and one that’s hard to swallow when all the experts are saying renewable is the way to go, and I haven’t seen any projections that show that we’d necessarily need anything other than renewables in the foreseeable future.

The thing I’m strongly opposed to with regards to nuclear is rerouting funding away from renewables to pay for it. It’s an expensive technology that won’t be ready for decades, so I just don’t see the need to pivot to it. If we’d started the transition to nuclear three decades ago things would be different, but the LNP was strongly opposed to the technology back then, funnily enough.

And it’s absolutely absurd to then announce a cap on renewables spending as part of their plan to get to net zero by 2050.

The whole thing is a farce, and the LNP hasn’t given any good reasons why nuclear is the way forward over renewables. They haven’t said much of anything other than shout about it being the better option, but then that’s been the LNP’s go-to political strategy for as long as I’ve been old enough to vote so no surprise there.

I think PwC should have had to return whatever they’d charged the government for consultancy, as well as a massive fine on top of that. Governments around the world need to start giving penalties to corporations that actually deter them from doing the wrong thing.

Hifi Rush is in Humble Choice this month, and I noticed they have a redemption deadline which is a bit out of the ordinary. So it’s possible it’ll get delisted, or maybe Humble is just playing it safe with the keys they have.

I haven’t played Starfield yet, but from what I’ve read it seems to be the next step in the procedurally generated games that Bethesda is heading towards, and I really hope it makes them rethink things for their next game.

While I’m sure that there are people out there who enjoy the fact that there are infinite fetch quests in Skyrim, it’s hardly a feature that anyone really raves about. In fact, the Minutemen quests in FO4 were often the subject of ridicule when the game came out. But at least in those two games, the Radiant quests had the possibility of taking you to an interesting location you hadn’t been to before.

Like you said, one of the key features in any Bethesda game is the exploration, but the more they rely on procedural generation, the less interesting exploration becomes, and the gameplay and writing of their games just isn’t strong enough without the finely crafted world-building they’re known for.

Do we really need a third stadium that will sit empty for most of the year? Especially since it looks to be the more expensive option than a Gabba refresh, even taking the projected displacement costs into account.

I think they need to talk about what they would plan to do with the Gabba if a Victoria Park stadium were to go ahead. It would be more justifiable if they plan to convert it to affordable housing, for example.

Yeah, replying “Get fucked” to a response that brings up a lot of good counter-arguments to your original point will certainly make it look like you were bringing up immigration in good-faith.