I started Avowed, but it didn’t really grab me for some reason. So, I’m re-playing Persona 3 Reload because I never got around to checking out the Episode Aigis content. And, of course, Balatro on and off as my go-to, casual time killer.

This legislation was written to protect American tech bros, pure and simple. OpenAI is screaming about how DeepSeek stole their data, and how China-made AI is a huge security risk. Of course, OpenAI stole the data from us first, and it’s not actually a security risk if you download the model and run it locally on your own hardware, offline. They’re just throwing a fit to protect their massive profits.

But what they fail to understand is: you can’t un-foot the lettuce.

DeepSeek has been on Hugging Face and GitHub for a while now. Plenty of time for independent AI model makers to download the whole dataset, intermingle it with other datasets, and create a hybrid that won’t give you bullshit answers when you ask it about Taiwan or Tiananmen Square. Technically, no longer an AI model developed in China, and just as problematic for OpenAI.

The community will continue to make iterations of this new toy as well, so the next DeepSeek could easily come from Canada, Poland, Korea, India… you get the idea. Hawley’s going to be busy, trying to ban the whole world. Which, in fairness, does seem to be the greater MAGA foreign policy strategy right now.

The point is, bad legislation won’t fix the fact that OpenAI needs to re-think their strategy. We already know that you don’t need to build Skynet to create ChatGPT v6, and they’ve been bullshitting us for a while now.

As the article points out, the original lyric from American Idiot is, “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda.” They changed it to, “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda.”

…Can this even be considered a significant change? It’s more like a modernization of the original language. Whose agenda did they think Green Day was previously referring-- oh, right. They probably didn’t do any research, did they? It’s just manufactured outrage, so they can pretend that the left is just as vile as they are.

Looks interesting, but I gotta be honest: when I click on the Steam page and the first thing I see is a cash shop to buy “Epoch Points” for this early access game? That’s an instant turn-off for me. I’m sure it’s not as predatory as what Blizzard did with D4’s monetization, but I don’t want it in my games, period.

Re-Logic (Terraria’s developers) have already gone on record saying, "even if Unity were to recant their policy and statements, the destruction of trust is not so easily repaired.” That’s the stance I think every developer should be taking. Unless you have a Unity game that can be released by the end of the year, all devs need to seriously consider switching engines.

I hadn’t heard about those changes, but that’s quite a relief. I hated traveling to individual ripperdoc clinics to snag all the best upgrades. Especially because the best cyberware for your frontal cortex can only be bought from a VDB ripper in Pacifica, and I didn’t want to give those assholes any of my eddies.

My wife is a music nerd, so I asked her this question. Her answer: Summer Nights from “Grease”. The entire song is perfect for what it is, except for the very last word. John Travolta switches to his falsetto range to sing the word “nights” in a style that reminds me of the Bee Gees, and it just doesn’t fit with all the vocals that came before it. It’s literally a sour note to end what’s otherwise a perfectly good song.

I only have a small amount of experience with generating images using AI models, but I have found this to be true. It’s like making a photocopy of a photocopy. The results can be unintentionally hilarious though.

That reminds me of how my conservative uncle got really angry once, when I showed him one of my college papers. Started ranting about how it’s a bunch of liberal indoctrination.

In fairness, the paper was left-aligned.

The base game has improved considerably since launch, though it still lacks some promised content and performance will vary depending on your hardware. I have a PC with a Ryzen 7 and a RTX 2070, which can run the game well enough, but have not tried it on a machine with an AMD video card.

I think the base game might still be on sale and now might be a good time to pick it up for 50% off. Major updates will still be coming to the base game even if you don’t buy Phantom Liberty… including vehicle combat, I believe.

Considering how well the Super Mario movie worked out for Illumination, I’m expecting to hear something about a new movie or short TV series. Maybe more Mario, maybe Legend of Zelda. In any case, there’s no way Nintendo won’t be going hard in that direction now that they see what a gold mine it is.

Andromeda is fine as long as you don’t compare it to the core Mass Effect trilogy. Ryder is no Shepard, and none of your squadmates are as memorable as Garrus, Tali, Mordin and the rest. But take the game as its own thing, and it’s a pretty good time.

Yep, Live Another Life is usually in my list too. I inevitably wind up downloading a mod that breaks the wagon scene, so it’s a life saver.

Modding Skyrim is a rabbit hole that leads straight into the Mines of Moria. And the Balrog has opened an adult bookstore.

Nothing wrong with that answer! Skyrim can even be played in 3rd person, and there are mods to make 3rd person combat more satisfying if you get it on PC.

The last FPS I really got into was Overwatch, and my two mains (Mercy and Reinhardt) weren’t gun fighters. Some FPS games actually try to innovate, like Titanfall, and while I can’t get into them, I can see the appeal. But then there’s the Call of Duty and Battlefield series, which largely give us the same gameplay over and over again. I know they’re popular for a reason, and they continue to sell really well, but… yeah. I just don’t get it.

“If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.”

I thought “Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion” was a game trying a little too hard to be quirky, with an attention-grabbing title and little depth beyond one or two jokes.

That game… went places. Places I did not expect.

I played a couple of hours of the first game. The atmosphere and audio design were amazing. The core gameplay, though… it needed some work. Repetitive combat and lack of clarity in navigating the game’s world made me give it up. If the sequel improves on those weak spots, it could be very enjoyable. But yeah, the trailer told us very little about that.

Is Kotaku’s business model rage-baiting to generate clicks? Yes.

Is toxicity toward female gamers online a real problem? Also yes.

Some of my friends get annoyed when I take that stance, but it’s absolutely possible for both statements to be true simultaneously. I want women to feel safe if they want to try online gaming, and it’s counter-productive when sites like Kotaku constantly post fear-mongering articles about it rather than offer any solutions.