I’m never sure if I am a hair splitter or other people have an America-centric view, but the first manned flight was with hot air balloons in 1783 in Paris. Like, I know the invention of the aeroplane is the more relevant event, but a balloon is still flight.

The increased price is not the result of tariffs, neither for the games nor console. That’s pretty much confirmed by them costing the same amount (converted + sales tax) in Europe. The console is (was, before tariffs) fairly priced imo, it is comparable to the steam deck + dock.

Is 80$ Mario Kart price gouging? Eh. The edit maniac in the comments here is right that video games have become cheap, maybe even too cheap, and that a price increase at some point was inevitable. 60$ was set as the AAA price before the smartphone existed, and was not always profitable as we’ve seen with the recent lay-offs.

My own 2 cents: I’m glad some company broke that unspoken rule (we ignore skull and bones for obvious reasons), so big releases have more options in pricing, too long have we accepted 60$ games with 20$ DLC, I’m glad if this means devs can just charge 80$ for a full game. Oh, and it’s good for indie games too. People may actually buy the shorter games with worse graphics they wanted so badly a few months ago.

So…what’s up with the Japanese language & multi language systems they get over there?

Is putting in multiple languages really that much more expensive? Or put another way, why do they get a 330$ version for those who only speak Japanese? The language restriction must be just so people don’t export them… was there a scalping problem?

In here absolutely everyone knows this stuff and it’s all just common knowledge.

For the record, unlike the United states, Hungary is a state party to the ICC. They are legally required to cooperate with the ICC, but if Orban says nothing will be done… I don’t know the consequences. Probably nothing.

A quick glance at Wikipedia says the ICC can prosecute cases where individual states are unable or unwilling to prosecute. “Therefore, many states parties have implemented national legislation to provide for the investigation and prosecution of crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Court.” Hungary is not such a state, their laws are still in the drafting part. I assume Hungary can promise nothing will be done because while the ICC can prosecute, they still need an executive branch to do the arrest, which would be Hungarian?

If we somehow do that I will be more upset, considering how long it takes to seize the property of Russian oligarchs here.

No, German way is to take this to court.

But Doctor, I am Pagliacci!

I can barely imagine the shitty world that makes us need the French nukes in our country, what world would there even be that requires a German one instead? If things are that bad, what good would our own nuke do at that point?

There is some aspect of Japanese culture I can really do without in my games, like everyone being either a high school student, just getting 18, or 60+. Especially when they then get into relationships.

Then again, I can’t really say if that would sell. I’m certainly not deep enough into anime culture to gauge interest there.

Buying a cheap 2nd hand E-bike (right now) means the same as buying any other broken bike: You need to know how to switch a chain and adjust brakes. The electronics themselves however are surprisingly resilient.

Can’t wait until the conservative politicians quote this statistic to raise the retirement age… again.

I cannot respect people who call Pluto a planet on internet forums whenever this topic comes up. Not because I agree with NASA, think their definition is perfect, or think those people just cling to nostalgia and hate change, no.

I cannot respect them because Pluto does not care and trying to white knight perceived attacks against it will not impress it, those people are just being pathetic.

I just don’t respect botanical definitions any more. Who cares what they think berries, fruits, grain and nuts should be? They can’t even define a tree! If anyone gets to define these terms for every English speaker, it sure isn’t going to be them.

Culinary definitions all the way! Unfortunately, they have no satisfying category for rhubarb either.

Yeah, sorry, one comment up from that one was the one I thought you responded too. Doesn’t change anything though as far as I’m concerned.

I don’t think there is anything left to say, good luck with that Revolution thing.

The commenter you replied to was basically just informing people not to buy. You made a great showing that you were going to buy anyway and you don’t care. That is something you need to justify, not the buying itself. No one would even know if you didn’t go out of your way to tell everyone.

And yes, what you do is good, but takes time to amount to anything. In the mean time, it is perfectly acceptable to also pursue methods that work in the short term. We aren’t just individuals on a forum, we are public opinion. As flawed as it is, that’s still better than the apathy you promote in your first comment.

Anyone who disagrees with that fact also thinks it’s okay to go to the casino just for the bar at the back.

You can always be mad at 2 or more things at once, and how the gaming industry sucks out money from the consumer to pay their executives should be one of these.

In all the industries you mentioned, “voting with your wallet” is a thing that’s universally accepted as effective but at times hard to do. In gaming, it couldn’t be easier, you can literally safe money by buying anything cheaper from the indie sphere, not buy anything at all and play games you already own, wait 2 weeks and get a 2nd hand copy, or the unnamed 4th thing.

And the impact is more than just having a worse game to enjoy. As much as we like to laugh at people for their bad financial decisions, some people just cannot think rational about these things, and every game that includes microtransactions is simply not safe for them. Casino’s are heavily regulated for a reason, it is perversive brain stimulation with decades of research behind it, and we invited it into our consoles and computers for kids to enjoy. And more and more people just expect games to be predatory, and it warps how they think of the effort put into games. Being a functional, complete game without any in game purchases used to be the minimum. But if you expect anyone to have your mental fortitude, that no kid will wander into this menu and that everyone has an unalterable image of the industry, feel free to support this.

Genshin Impact lies at the end of this road.

You do not have to support these decisions. You can be a Monster Hunter and Capcom fan, and not buy into the hype. Vote with your wallet.

I believe it is at least partially the same hatred for cosmetic surgery, just amped up because it’s more impactful and they don’t understand why being trans would make a difference.

It was socially acceptable to make fun of “fake” people for years. Everyone knew what a Botox face looked like. Celebrities are ridiculed for not ageing gracefully and clinging to an image with 21 surgeries a year. And now these people are changing their entire gender and pointing at these people for being fake is supposedly wrong? Because it’s “necessary”, the same as the cosmetic freaks claimed? Why should it?

In their mind, trans people just need a reality check the same way they dealt with cosmetic surgery addicts, but society seems to protect and pamper them instead of pointing out that they are loved in their natural look. And instead of trying to understand, they double down on what they’ve done for years. Sunk cost.

Unless I vote for a winning independent local candidate, then my second vote is annulled.

But this isn’t about the exact mechanism of German elections. I say colloquially I have 1 vote to cast/2 crosses to set.

I would, but it’s 16 hours early.

Do I have any hope for a progressive government? Do I have hope that anyone but Merz becomes chancellor?

No, too many old men in this country for that.

But damn it, I have 1 vote to cast and cast it I will, giving it 100% to a party I tolerate. Not voting is voting for the end result, and the AFD doesn’t deserve 1% of my vote, let alone what percentage they end up at.