Back in 2013, Microsoft proposed an always online console with online check requirements for games and that would serve equally as a media center along with a games console. As is their modus operandi, the entire gaming community went nuts and sent death and rape threats.

Fast forward to now. I don’t know of one single console among my social group that is not consistently online connected (if it isn’t, functionality is tremendously curtailed and the console is near unusable). Every digital game I “own” from the storefront or “rent” from GamePass will not function unless it goes through an online check. Most on my friends list are using media apps (Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, et. al.) and less than half of them are actually playing games. The only thing Microsoft got dead wrong is the packed in Kinect.

Just like gamers whining about MTX/DLC/loot boxes but buying billions of dollars of them anyway, history has proven gamers to be personal hygiene deficient socially maladjusted unashamed hypocrites when virtually all of them have online connected consoles and they seem to be perfectly fine with online checks for games now.

A few thangs.

Anyone who claims that looks matter very little or not at all are straight up lying (especially men who claim that). Most women will not date a dude who looks like Brendan Fraser from the Whale. Most men do not want to date overweight slobby women (not even the overweight slobby men which make them huge hypocrites).

There is nothing wrong with having physical preferences. Physical attraction must be present for me. Me not wanting to date overweight slobby women does not mean that I hate them, it just means I won’t consider dating them. And there is nothing wrong with women rejecting fat slobby men. If an unkempt man with no sense of style or panache meets a hot 9 or 10 who won’t date him, that’s his fault not hers.

I’ve posted once or twice about how evil the video game industry is, how socially maladjusted and personal hygiene deficient the average gamer is, and how both deserve each other. But games sometimes have uses.

2020 was a bad year for me. My company did a mass layoff during the pandemic, older relatives got COVID-19, I broke up with my girlfriend, and I was in a general state of malaise.

Since I had nothing better to do, I worked through my log. Experiencing Geralt encounter new adventures and interesting people on the Continent, seeing Cloud grow from a pure mercenary to part of a group, the wonder of Link when he first awakens and he sees the expanse of the world that could freely be explored really helped me emotionally. I beat all three games in record time and I cannot wait for the sequels.

So has gaming ever helped you?

I usually buy digital these days which reduces clutter in my media room. But occasionally I’ll buy used games on disk so I can play publishers’ games without paying them a penny due to incompetence (Callisto Protocol) or shameless lies and incompetence (Cyberpunk 2077, Gotham Knights). I always buy from GameFly which runs awesome deals and never from GameStop.

On a side note, the panic from publishers about used games, them equating buying used to piracy, and their desperate cynical measures to curtail used games (online passes, locking entire campaign sequences behind codes like Catwoman in Arkham City) during Gen 7 seems a bit laughable now.

@girlusocrazy: google

Arguably the best gaming TV available is only $1396 on Amazon. I have a 77C1, 42C2 and 65A80J and OLED is an amazing gaming display. I’ve been playing the Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space remakes and the black level, shadow detail, HDR color depth, and 120hz VRR are all incredible in OLED.

If you’re not ready to spend that much, the 48C2 is only $826.

Have you ever played a Mario game?

I like that one move where one dude on steroids pretends to kick another dude on steroids in his shrunken nuts.

I usually defend GS reviews, especially those that are written prerelease and have much more legitimacy than the online no lifers who trounce the reviews but haven’t played a single second of the game.

But not in this case. I’ve played 15 hours of Hogwarts Legacy and the GS 6 review is nonsense. I get that a review is just a particular person’s opinion but that leads into my next point: with this obviously compromised review, GS has shown that it cannot put personal biases and its own prejudiced feelings aside and be strictly professional and call balls and strikes right down the middle.

A few side notes. Gamers are toxic and I don’t blame GS for making the reviewer anonymous.

Lastly to the trans community: I support you all. But you need to grow a sense of humor. Every racial, religious, and other categories of people get lampooned and satirized by comedians and encounter differing views. What gives you all a hall pass from people being allowed to make comedy about you or from expressing opinions divergent from yours? Are you all really that intolerant and perhaps snowflaky that you can’t countenance diversity of thought and humor?

I don’t get it.

I get that GS has disagreements with JK Rowling. Nonetheless, GS is a gaming review website whose job is to review games. They need to act like professionals, set their personal beliefs aside, and do their jobs by reviewing the game. Also I find it a bit laughable that they’re taking a principled stand by not reviewing the game but are posting all kinds of guides and news about the game for clicks which is essentially promoting the game.

Lastly I work in corporate America. There have been many times I’ve disagreed but had to bite the bullet and do my job as a professional because that is what is expected of me (otherwise I’d be fired). Why does GS get a hall pass from doing their job despite disagreement?