BS story, but there are indeed issues. I’ve got a 2 and 3 year old myself, and speaking from experience, it’s a mess that’ll put me in the red until my 3yo is 5, eating into my savings.

As mentioned, private is still the primary option for kids under 4 but we even have a lovely local program that can start at 3 if you’re poor enough (and in CA, that’s around 100k/yr lol). The problem is the time. They’re like 3 hour programs, some full time that’s still only 6 hour. With two working parents with minimal family support, that’s still a non starter if they can’t stay past 3pm.

At least my private daycare is cheap-ish at the cost of religious brainwashing, and that hasn’t seemed to matter for a kid like mine. Standards still keep them from, y’know, beating kids and whatnot.

The article is bunk, but oddly enough the all time high by Steamdb suggests it’s around tied with DST, Megabonk, Hades II, and a few others at 115k-ish.

Nightreign, as AAA go, 313k at peak, lol.

You can still tell the article is bunk for comparing it to Stray as a cat game. Oh yeah, sure, while we’re at it let’s compare to Hello Kitty Island players, eh? AI logic. Lol

The article is talking about concurrent play, which generally peaks near release for all genres, with a few exceptions (like Hollow Knights sleeper numbers). Isaac came out when there was relatively fewer players and it’s a slow growth, so the original probably didn’t have a very high concurrent count.

The remake is around 70k peak, although it’s oddly high at 20k right now, perhaps because if Mewgenics.

Of all things I have in common with people outside the US, somehow that’s one of my favorites, haha. I think your comment made my day, lol

Whoa! Is that why I hate Hershey’s? I don’t mind their dark but the milk one is awful lol

Typo, or likely auto correct for FFXVI. Yup, was autocorrect, as it just did it again just now lol. I’ll correct it.

Reminds me of my own issue with parmesan cheese in things; I taste a vomit smell and just a little will make it bad to intolerable. I followed a recipe that added a sprinkle to a large pot of soup and to be the whole thing just tasted like vomit soup. My wife didn’t notice at all. I think I’m sensitive to butyric acid, the shared factor between the two.

I’ll use your stink bug example in the future when cilantro comes up, though, especially since so many people I know love cilantro and can’t imagine (and to be fair it’s very good without said gene, lol)

To be fair I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s already a vendor for that. They already kinda do that with Chromebooks at schools, and work computers are sometimes lent out to workers including those with beefy hardware. Doing it strictly for gaming wouldn’t be that much of a stretch lol

Really short article but kind of an interesting point. To be quite fair, the games don’t just take very long to produce but their appeal keeps shifting towards more adult themes so younger players might not even play them. FFXIV was basically Game of Thrones and prior to that you had… whatever the fuck FFXV was what with a road trip royal theme? Hell, even DQ12 was announced to have adult themes.

DQ spinoffs have a better shot but they haven’t been particularly good and FF spinoffs are money grabs, so there’s that too. The article points to more popular franchises in Japan like Pokemon, although at my kids are literally watching Pokemon TV designed for toddlers, that’s kinda cheating with how everywhere that franchise is, lol.

The emulators have always been in a gray area, since they can play illegal copies of games with illegally sourced bios, etc. The emulator itself is simply the tool, which on its own isn’t proof of piracy much like owning a bong isn’t definite proof you smoke weed… just very suggestive (it can be used for tobacco I guess?)

As for current vs retro gen piracy, they’re equally illegal but obviously criminalized differently. And the ethics are obviously complex, you have people who pirate who otherwise wouldn’t be able to pay, you have people who pirate for a convenient copy of something they already own, and maybe people who could pay but simply don’t want to (although research has suggested this isn’t a huge group). And since it’s digital, there isn’t a loss in the same way as actual theft.

Personally, I just like taking control of the hardware and tweaking shit. I belong mostly to the folks who download copies of things I’ve already “bought” (which is a licence in many cases, as they don’t sell physical copies). A good example is Pokemon Scarlet, which ran like dogshit on the original hardware. I’ve been meaning to try it in an emulator to see if it works better, although I haven’t bothered yet. Would that be considered immoral, given I own the game and several switches?

Tax season is upon us. So glad it’s being used for important issues like… this. /s

Former president and failed 2020 electorial candidate Donald Trump.

I hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m aware there’s been a few high profile ICE incidents in Santa Ana in particular, but most of the people there are still citizens; it might be the obvious racism that makes things tense. They’ve always had a hard time dealing with their conservative neighbors, though.

Fucking evil. Know why? My wife got her Green Card in the USCIS in Santa Ana in the same building as ICE is setting up in. They’re 100% going to use this as a way to target people seeking legal status, guaranteed.

I believe the same is true of the federal building in LA, too. One could make the point that no one in the entire state will house ICE except that which is owned already by the feds, but to share buildings with people seeking legal status is absolutely abhorrent.

Witnesses, maybe, but typically they’re the ones doing the murdering (although usually paid to by said rich people).

Sigh… reminds me I have to file my US tax returns.

Next you’ll be telling me you missed tank controls in games. Why strafe when you can slowly rotate to turn?

I still never liked that. It’s the best of a bad situation, but aiming with a mouse is so superior, many games won’t cross-platform with a PC out of fairness, lol.

In most murder mysteries happening at resorts, it’s usually the guests who are murdered and never the help.

To clarify for people not from CA, and having lived in OC for the better part of a decade, it’s relatively more conservative and yet also not.

For example, places like Santa Ana literally working on getting voting for undocumented people for municipal elections, cannot be more anti ICE. Naturally they’re targeted by some of the worst abductions and such, which is a shame because they’re some of the coolest people I’ve met in OC.

On the other end of the spectrum, Huntington Beach literally made a MAGA plaque for a library and many of their council members wear the red hat openly. Sure enough, very pro ICE and the majority of black and brown people you’ll see are the slave labor employed for their gardens and shit. I once was invited to a Thanksgiving there and it was awkward as shit watching gardeners working while we were sitting down for dinner.

Then everything else is mixed. Irvine, a city ultimately owned by a company, has turned weirdly blue over an influx of immigration but is still very much a fascist place at times with heavy policing. I saw a homeless man abducted by police and likely relocated to Santa Ana once, and that was a bit chilling. That’s their solution to unwanted people.