I didn’t get much further in the extremely popular beta for the haute-couture-asaurus action of Monster Hunter Wilds than perfecting the exact orange-to-white ratio of my cat. Not because I wasn’t having fun, but because I immediately started looking up GPU prices after playing for ten minutes. As such, I didn’t spend enough time with the combat to get a proper feel for it. Cultural osmosis has once again allowed me to form an uneducated take, however, and I’m getting the sense there’s been some mixed reactions re: bonk quality. According to a clip shared on X by user Blue Stigma, there’s a good reason for those misgivings. It’s all about frames, you see.
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Prime Video will let you summon AI to recap what you’re watching
Amazon's Prime Video is getting a new generative AI-powered feature to help you stay up to date with a show. The new tool, called X-Ray Recaps, can create text summaries “of full seasons of television shows, individual episodes, and even episode segments,” the company said in a blog post. X-Ray summaries can be accessed from … Read more
Thysiastery is an anime Legend Of Grimrock, and you can attack the dinosaur merchants if you’re a complete monster
One of my lesser quality tests for an RPG is whether the shopkeepers complain at you for not buying anything. Grumpy shopkeepers, good RPG. This most specific of litmus tests has served me well, although I must admit that I’d happily upgrade it to ‘shopkeepers you can attack’, would that not disqualify 99% of games. But not turn based dungeon crawler Thysiastery, it turns out. This “dungeon crawler RPG featuring traditional roguelike and turn-based gameplay” apparently trusts you enough to let you recklessly batter its friendly wandering lizard merchants. You’d be a monster for it, of course, but it’s nice to have options.
Why you’re seeing those gross political ads during the World Series
The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees is in full swing and millions of people in the United States and abroad are tuning in every night to watch the showdown. Some fans are also being forced to watch graphic and hateful political ads – and while some ads are preceded … Read more
Static Dread is Paper’s Please but you’re a lighthouse keeper besieged by Lovecraftian monsters
I’ve often thought lighthouse keeping would make a fine second career, albeit mostly because in my head, it would give me endless time to write (and finish Baldur’s Gate 3). You won’t have much time to write in Static Dread, sadly. The world has ended, the oceans teem with unspeakable biofauna, and it’s your job as the apparent sole surviving lighthouse keeper to distinguish vessels loaded with eldritch horrors from vessels loaded with people who need saving from eldritch horrors.
Going by the teaser trailer, below, this appears to be comparable to playing border guard in Papers, Please, but it’s less political and more tentacular. You field queries over the radio, run your finger down a clipboard, and decide whether to kindle the lamps or beg the coastguard to blast that ship back to hell. There’s a dialogue line in the trailer which I, personally, would consider highly untrustworthy. “It’s consuming my team!” screams a self-described ship captain. “Please, send help! Gosh…” Look, “friend”, no genuine human being says “gosh” in an emergency situation. Not even British human beings say “gosh” in an emergency situation. That’s what you say when somebody tells you the pizza-flavoured crisps are back on sale at Aldis.