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16 votes
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Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of June 7
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!
Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”
Rules:
- No grey market sales
- No affiliate links
If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.
All previous Save Point topics
If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add
save pointto your personal tag filters.6 votes -
Casual viewing - Why Netflix looks like that ~30+ min read
16 votes -
mixwithAndy - this song has no instruments in it (2026)
2 votes -
Earth’s east–west albedo symmetry
15 votes -
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026
38 votes -
Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5
38 votes -
Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game?
Submit your response here! Direct link: https://survey.tildes.community/-/what-is-your-favorite-video-game-8/ This survey closes on June 14, 2026 at 10:00 UTC The results will be published on June...
Submit your response here!
- Direct link: https://survey.tildes.community/-/what-is-your-favorite-video-game-8/
- This survey closes on June 14, 2026 at 10:00 UTC
- The results will be published on June 14 shortly after the survey has closed. I'll edit this topic and post a comment about it!
The current plans for questions that will be asked in the coming weeks are as follows:
Question Survey opens Survey closes Vote for the next 4 surveys 2026-05-24 18:00 UTC2026-05-31 10:00 UTCWhat is your gender identity? 2026-05-31 18:00 UTC2026-06-07 10:00 UTCWhat's your favorite video game? 2026-06-07 18:00 UTC 2026-06-14 10:00 UTC How optimistic are you about the future? 2026-06-14 18:00 UTC 2026-06-21 10:00 UTC How often do you visit/read Tildes? 2026-06-21 18:00 UTC 2026-06-28 10:00 UTC I was initially thinking of doing something like kfwyre suggested where you could submit a top 5 or so, but then I thought it would be more fun if I made you decide on a definitive answer. Like how with the pineapple pizza survey there was only Yes and No as answers, you have to make a choice!
So that's what I've decided to do! Pick your ultimate favorite video game. And feel free to discuss your honorable mentions in the comments, of course. ;)
Please submit your ideas for questions here! Even if they've been submitted already by someone else. All input is valuable! You can view all submitted questions on this dashboard.
Thank you all for participating!
31 votes -
If Claude Fable stops helping you, you'll never know
16 votes -
Are there any games that had their development abandoned that you followed where you wish that continued/completed development?
For this post I was thinking of games more along the lines of an early access title that was abandoned or had a 1.0 release announced when it was not feature complete or still had bugs/issues that...
For this post I was thinking of games more along the lines of an early access title that was abandoned or had a 1.0 release announced when it was not feature complete or still had bugs/issues that were never addressed. If you feel like a live service/MMO game that has shut down should have kept going, feel free to share it as well.
25 votes -
What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
1 vote -
Nintendo Direct announced for June 9th
25 votes -
Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites
33 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
4 votes -
Winners of the 2025 International Obfuscated C Code Contest
8 votes -
Queer joy - Share what makes you happy, proud or loved
Things suck but dammit it's pride, please share things that are bringing you joy right now! And if you need some joy yourself please come and fill your cup or ask for something you need so we can...
Things suck but dammit it's pride, please share things that are bringing you joy right now! And if you need some joy yourself please come and fill your cup or ask for something you need so we can lift you up. 🏳️🌈
33 votes -
How Terry Tao became an evangelist for AI in math
10 votes -
Am I a rampant consumer or racing/flight sim hobbyist in the making?
Long story short, I'm making an everything arcade cabinet and soaring no expense. At this point, I have a racing wheel and plan to install wind sim receptacles on a custom pull-out wheel drawer....
Long story short, I'm making an everything arcade cabinet and soaring no expense. At this point, I have a racing wheel and plan to install wind sim receptacles on a custom pull-out wheel drawer.
My challenge now is that really want to build flip out armrests that have cockpit controls attached and give me a spot for the car gear shifter, so I'm thinking of buying two VKB Gladiator joysticks to mount into the armrests.
Most of all I want it to look awesome and fit the design I'm after. Second, I want to actually play sim games.
My issue is as stated. Is a purchase like this crazy? Should I be starting with a second hand hotas unit to see if I even like it?
And for those of you who do enjoy racing, flight or work sims, were you once a casual user who got hooked? Did you wish that you'd bought decent gear right away?
7 votes -
The Social Reckoning | Official teaser trailer
4 votes -
Tildes Book Club - Have you started How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying?
I picked up the book a couple of days ago and couldn't put it down. So now I am eagerly waiting for the chance to discuss. How is it going for you?
13 votes -
A human in control
7 votes -
Tildes Minecraft Weekly
Server host: tildes.nore.gg (Running Java 26.1.2) Verification site: https://tildes.nore.gg BlueMap: https://tildes.nore.gg/map/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TildesMC Plugins and Data Packs...
Server host:
tildes.nore.gg(Running Java 26.1.2)
Verification site: https://tildes.nore.gg
BlueMap: https://tildes.nore.gg/map/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TildesMCPlugins and Data Packs
Data Packs:- Age Lock [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Armor Statues [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Bat Membranes [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Cauldron Concrete [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Cauldron Mud [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Custom Nether Portals [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Husks Drop Sand [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Mini Blocks [Vanilla Tweaks]
- More Mob Heads [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Nullscape - End terrain upgrade
- Player Head Drops [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Renewable Dragon Stuff
- Silence Mobs [Vanilla Tweaks]
- Terralith - Overworld terrain upgrade
- Wandering Trades [Vanilla Tweaks]
Plugins:
- BlueMap - Provides a live 3D rendering of the game world
- Clickable Links - Makes http URLs in chat clickable (only for registered players)
- CoreProtect - Records all block/container/mob changes (Anyone can look up changes with
/co inspect) - DebugStick - Gives the ability to craft debug sticks in survival
- DistantHorizons - Provides distant LOD map data to players running the client mod
- EasyArmorStands - GUI for editing armor stands
- GSit - Sit on stairs/slabs!
- Hexnicks - Enables Tildes usernames to be displayed
- hsrails - Allows for 4x speed rail travel
- LuckPerms - Locks down unregistered users
- Otherside - Fix for mob farms involving Nether portals
- Rapid Leaf Decay - Increases the speed of leaf decay by 10x
- WorldEdit - Used for occasional admin stuff
- WorldGuard - Prevents unregistered users from changing anything in the world
The server operates on a soft whitelist. Anyone can log in and walk around, but you need a Tildes account to gain build access.
We recommend you install our mod web-chat so that you can chat while in your web browser. It turns the server into an old-school chat room.
<- Previous Thread
10 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
20 votes -
I’m traveling internationally for the first time and could use tips!
Hello! I’m finally going on an international trip! I live in the US and have always wanted to go to Europe. In June, I’ll be spending two weeks there in Norway, Amsterdam, and Germany! My plane...
Hello! I’m finally going on an international trip! I live in the US and have always wanted to go to Europe. In June, I’ll be spending two weeks there in Norway, Amsterdam, and Germany!
My plane tickets are purchased and I’m starting to form my itinerary and am willing to take advice on travel tips or if people have any specific recommendations for things to do!
I’m a woman traveling solo. When I travel, I tend to plan one or two specific things a day and then just figure out the rest, I’m pretty flexible. I am high energy when I travel, though, so even if I only plan one thing a day in the months prior, I can easily spend 10 hours a day exploring. I also like to see a few typical tourist things, but I also want to experience what actual local culture is, I don’t want to only spend my time in the places that only tourists go to. I want to talk to locals and even though I know I’ll stick out like a sore thumb, I want to get some sampling of what life is like in the places I travel to.
I usually travel light, just a backpack, but may need another carry on bag for this trip. If I spend a couple nights in on hostel, do they usually have secure storage or anything? My worry about an extra bag is it being inconvenient since I don’t want to bring it around cities with me. I guess even if I’m in a hotel, I have the window between check out times and getting to my next destination… I guess that’s why I normally like just having a backpack, but let me know if that’s a bad idea and you think I should have a second bag.
The things I’d be looking for advice on are things like hostels vs hotels, should I book hostels/hotels ahead of time or fly by the seat of my pants, how easy is doing laundry, what little things have I forgotten (like making sure my phone plan works internationally, which it does), etc, as well as any recommendations for specific attractions, museums, or restaurants to visit!
The loose plan is that I land in Oslo, spend a few days there, take the train to Trondheim and spend a day or two there. I think then I’ll rent a car so that I can get to Stenkjer (small town, but it’s where my family emigrated from, so I want to see it) and then travel down the west coast, stopping at cool nature spots, and ending up in Bergen or Stavanger for a couple days. I’m planning about a week in Norway.
I then plan on flying to Amsterdam and spending 2-3 days there. I really don’t know that much about the city besides what touristy things friends and family have done. I will be visiting De Poezenboot, but am otherwise all ears.
I will then be renting a car and traveling to the Nürburgring so that I can race a car around it. Then I’ll have 3.5 days to road trip east across Germany, see some castles, and fly back home from Berlin.
I am extremely into cars and motorsports, so I imagine there’s no shortage of museums I can visit in Germany, but I also want to see a few castles as well, so I’m unsure if I’ll have one or two full days in Berlin, yet. I’ll be flying out of Berlin at 9:30am on my departure day.
49 votes -
New 8-Bit All-Stars Bundle
7 votes -
The user is visibly frustrated
39 votes -
What do you think about Destiny 2’s imminent death and games as a service?
Before I go into my rant I would like to ask you: Have you played Destiny or Destiny 2? What are your thoughts on Bungie, the imminent death of Destiny, their push for Marathon, and “games as a...
Before I go into my rant I would like to ask you: Have you played Destiny or Destiny 2? What are your thoughts on Bungie, the imminent death of Destiny, their push for Marathon, and “games as a service” in general?
As for my opinion, I think that the real problem is that (probably) most managers, CEOs, investors, and shareholders involved in live service games aren’t gamers. They don’t care about the quality of the games. A majority of them probably don’t even play what they publish.
What they care about is to maximize revenue with minimal effort, cost, and risk.
The programmers and artists suffer from low wages and job insecurity, and the gamers suffer from live service slop that eventually gets sunset even when it has a dedicated fan base (that could grow if the game was better).
We can’t win against this horde of managers, CEOs, investors, and shareholders. They got AAA in a chokehold, especially in live service.
We gotta continue to vote with our wallets and give our money to the companies who deliver quality games, and pull our money out when they don’t.
If Bungie dies, I’ll be sad because I have a long history with Halo (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST, and Reach), but so be it. Something better may rise from their ashes.
We gotta resist the slop. It’s like fast food. We gotta resist it even if it’s addictive, and go get better quality grub elsewhere even if it costs more. If we keep eating the slop, they’ll continue frying more of it.
Edit: To make sure I don’t confuse anyone, I should add that Destiny 2 will receive one last content update this month, and will remain playable, just as its predecessor, for the time being. What I think most people are complaining about is that a game that could potentially be excellent, will be left in a messy state, designed mostly around maximizing revenue through micro-transactions, rather than offering a good experience. It has a large and passionate fanbase, but will basically abandoned by Bungie, in favor of their new game Marathon, which no one cares about
38 votes -
CGA-2026-06 🦇🧛♀️🔥 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
COLOSSAL GAME ADVENTURES PRESENTS: 🦇🧛♀️🔥 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Yarrr! Now it be me... [ahem] Sorry, we're out of Pirates!. Now it's ACTUALLY my time to post! Let's set the scene. Looking...
COLOSSAL GAME ADVENTURES PRESENTS: 🦇🧛♀️🔥 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Yarrr! Now it be me... [ahem] Sorry, we're out of Pirates!. Now it's ACTUALLY my time to post! Let's set the scene. Looking for a nice summary last month, I found this one from TCRF:
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Castlevania game that, shock, isn't about one of the Belmonts! Instead, we get some white-haired emo kid that happens to have the ability to absorb souls.
... Thanks, TCRF. I'll spoiler the writeup for the sake of scrolling through twice.
Some background: Dracula in your Pocket
Unfortunately, as a slap in the face to my thirties, the GBA is a decidedly proper "retro" console. That shouldn't really be a surprise, though, as it's a distinctly 16-bit console with many parallels to SNES hardware. Sampled audio, mode 7 graphics... But only a little 240x160 screen. Despite that, a few companies managed to pack in some very robust experiences on the hardware.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third GBA Castlevania entry; before it came Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. At the time, these were pretty well-received - Circle was nominated for a few awards and sold ~500k copies. Harmony wasn't quite as universally acclaimed, but sold a respectable 120k in America. It flopped in Japan.
That said, nowadays the first two titles aren't esteemed quite as well. Circle is a very polarizing title. Some appreciate the mechanics and exploration, while others detest it for some awful control scheme decisions. The GBA display did not suit its dark color palate well, and playing it on original hardware without a backlight is asking for eye strain. Since it was made by a different team than the contemporary Castlevania devs headed by Koji Igarashi, he swept Circle under the rug when it came to establishing a Castlevania timeline. (I have not played it myself yet, though I suspect my wrists are not ready for the impending RSI of a double-tap dpad run command.)
Where Circle's experimental bits get love, Harmony of Dissonance has really not aged well for many. Igarashi was looking to get a Symphony of the Night experience in a mobile form factor by design, but this meant a pretty conservative approach. He unfortunately left the comparison open - at a time when you can play both games on the same device - to call Harmony "SotN at home". The aesthetics are kind of nutty as well; the team flew in the opposite direction of Circle by making things - especially Juste Belmont - glow with a very garish set of vibrant blues, reds, and greens, on top of purple and sky blue backgrounds. This was to REALLY stand out without a backlight. Boy do they. The soundtrack was also compressed to save room on the cartridge, leading to a reputation as one of the worst Castlevania soundtracks in a pretty musically-storied franchise. (With some proper sampling, I love it! Played back on the little high-pass GBA speaker, though, stuff like this really grates.)
Igarashi and his team had another shot on the platform. This time, they nailed something special in the coffin.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Aria takes place in the year 2035, quite farther ahead than anything else in the series. Japanese transfer student
and fashionista boy band dreamboatSoma Cruz is hanging out with his friend and shrine maiden Mina Hakuba to observe a solar eclipse. In doing so, he finds himself warped to the eclipse itself, where Dracula's Castle has been imprisoned. There, an enigmatic man introduces him to his unknown power - the dominion over monsters' souls to use for himself. Trying to find his way out of the castle, he meets a few other mysterious figures who are there for various reasons and agendas... I'll leave the rest of the plot to you to discover.Now, we're not quite at 2035. (I think bell bottoms are back? I don't see the fur coats and flame boots yet.) However, it is 2026 now, and much like the cycle of Dracula's castle, last year's most hyped release was a 2D Metroidvania! Konami just announced the first 2D Metroidvania in a very long time, and they and the Dead Cells dev team will be fighting a forest which they all themselves planted. But looking backwards, despite over two decades of iterative work on this genre, Aria has plenty that stands out - not just against Castlevania's run of six games over about seven or eight years, but arguably still today in a very crowded genre.
First off, this game is eight megabytes small. It's nipping at its big brother Symphony's heels in scope, despite it being a little over one percent of SotN's CD file size, and some crazies like me still prefer it. The team made damn good use of that space after learning their mistakes from Harmony.
Despite that little size, it's a memorable adventure! I hope you enjoy it. I find Aria's main strength is setting a pace and size which it meets and rarely over- or under-stays. It's also an aesthetic crown jewel for the GBA platform; the colors still accommodate the hardware, but there's much more mastery of the system. Flowing water, the flickering moon, bats flying off in the distance... It captures the gothic feel of the castle in a more subtle way. And while I'm fond of Harmony's, uh. Dissonance, the sound design is much tighter here. Some little bits of lore and character interactions help color the adventure, and it creates plenty of space for your head to fill in the gaps, too. (Konami! J prequel when??)
The game has a number of neat secrets that I'll let you discover. So - I'll leave you to it!
...Or, if you'd like, I won't! Since Aria isn't the most obscure game, some of you may have played it. With that - or, to kick off some discussion of the game's flaws - I'd like to pivot into a new topic here!
Mods
Aria of Sorrow is great, but there are a few rough edges. Notably, the stats are a little fucky - Wit barely influences item or soul drop rate. Int is also a little weak, not influencing your bullet souls much. The colors still acquiesce to the mix of GBA and GBA SP screens, a bit too washed on modern displays. Weapon balance is a bit off, due to one particularly dominating choice.
Of course, with that 8 MB filesize, numerical problems are just a hex edit away! Bump some values around and you maybe can "solve" these problems. But is that better? Worse? In line with the developers, or a bastardization of their vision? The most powerful tool in the hands of modern video game players? Does it ruin a shared conversation of art, or does it stoke it?
For what it's worth, I personally fell off Super Metroid about three times until I applied a patch that gave Samus movement closer to the GBA games. Modding sometimes just opens up options or tastes to us - and I think when it comes to pure enjoyment, go buck wild. So I invite people to try it and see what you think!
As always, I'm a slut for randomizers and Aria rando seems fairly robust. But since I suspect I will eventually play that in Archipelago many times, I think instead I'm going to try a slew of new hacks and throw them together to see what happens. Weapons modifications! Color palate changes! Vegan items? Sure, why not! I'll post what I go with in the end.
As always, mark ya spoilers as such with the following text block:
<details> <summary>Spoilers</summary> Spoiler text goes here. </details>
Game Setup
A couple years ago, Konami released the Castlevania Advanced Collection with Circle, Harmony, the SNES version of Dracula X, and Aria. This is pretty much the only way to legally obtain Aria nowadays - and if I'm not mistaken, it includes the .gba ROM in case you'd like to play it in a way other than the official emulator. (Someone fact check me on that...)
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
- Share which version of the game you're playing
- Share what hardware you're playing it on
- Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend
- Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game
- Share if you ever cosplay as Soma Cruz
- Ask questions if you need help
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself? What about its system or era? What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time? What other games from the same time period are you familiar with? What are you expecting from this game in particular? Which Castlevania game has the best Death fight?FAQ
What is CGA?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
Do I have to sign up?
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Are there restrictions on what/how to play?
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
- Choose whichever version of the game you want.
- You can use cheats, save states, mods, etc.
- You can watch a streamer or longplay instead of playing it.
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
- Try a randomizer or challenge run.
- Play a different version of it.
- Play a related game (sequel, spiritual successor, something inspired by it, etc.)
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
What is the schedule?
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the
colossal game adventuretag.What do Insert and Remove Cartridge mean?
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
15 votes -
Worldbuilding guide: airships - historical lessons
5 votes -
Write your own virtual machine
13 votes -
freemediaheckyeah - The largest collection of free stuff on the internet
46 votes -
Summer blanket recommendations?
A problem I have every summer is either going to sleep cool and waking up in the middle of the night hot or going to sleep warm and waking up in the middle of the night cold. I used to have a...
A problem I have every summer is either going to sleep cool and waking up in the middle of the night hot or going to sleep warm and waking up in the middle of the night cold. I used to have a similar problem in the winter, but I was able to solve that by getting a down comforter. Any recommendations for a good summer blanket for midwestern summers?
14 votes -
Masochistic YouTuber punishes himself by writing a first person shooter entirely in COBOL
21 votes -
TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Warning: this post may contain spoilers
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
2 votes -
How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
8 votes -
This restaurant stopped charging for food. And profits are up. (gifted link)
28 votes -
Kingdom Hearts IV | Gameplay teaser trailer
14 votes -
Final Fantasy Resonance | Trailer
10 votes -
Wallflower.app -- A "Literary" (read: calm) Mastodon and BlueSky web app
27 votes -
Recommendations for e-ink tablets?
Last year, I took a promotion at work which meant I would be managing a few people and also involved with/overseeing a number of long term projects. As I've learned how to manage people, I've also...
Last year, I took a promotion at work which meant I would be managing a few people and also involved with/overseeing a number of long term projects. As I've learned how to manage people, I've also learned that my previous methods for note taking are insufficient for what I'm doing and I'm losing track of things in my paper notebooks.
My employer has offered to buy me a new laptop but I'm actually pretty satisfied with my current laptop, so I've been doing some research into e-ink tablets which I think will help me stay more organized while also allowing me to take notes by hand (my preference) rather than typing things into a Google doc as I've been doing for my one on one meetings.
I don't have any experience with this technology and no way that I can get any hands on experience before buying something, so I'd love to hear from anyone who has used something like this, and especially if there's anything I need to consider that I haven't thought of.
My use cases:
- note taking / digital organization
- online reading (I run literary magazines and our submissions come in through an online system, and there's no convenient way to download them as pdfs to read offline, so having access to a web browser is important)
- access to Google Drive ideally so I can get to my notes from my desktop or laptop
- it'll be used at my desk or on my couch in full light, so no backlight or front light is not an issue
One of my coworkers has a remarkable tablet but he told me it's been less useful for him than he thought. In my research, this seems to be too limited for my uses.
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 seems to be what would work best for me but I've also read a lot of warnings about their poor customer service so I'm a bit hesitant.
30 votes -
Haken - in a fever dream (2026)
7 votes -
Apple unveils their new operating systems for 2027: iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, and more
24 votes -
"Teachers are going to hate it": How social media apps hooked teens at school
24 votes -
Can't post URLs with CJK chars in them?
Hey, Im trying to share a post from マリウス.com, but clicking the submit button just returns an error that the link is not a valid URL. Ive also tried percent encoding to...
Hey, Im trying to share a post from マリウス.com, but clicking the submit button just returns an error that the link is not a valid URL. Ive also tried percent encoding to %E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B9.com, with the same results. I assume this is not intentional @Deimos?
EDIT: It looks like punycoding it to xn--gckvb8fzb.com works.
11 votes -
Who’s buying SpaceX and Anthropic?
Both are filing for IPOs. Are y'all buying at launch? I think I will.
31 votes -
What are your predictions and wishes for the upcoming Nintendo Direct?
Edit: Just bought NSO + Expansion Pack. 39.99 EUR/year to celebrate the console’s first anniversary. 💸 Edit 2: The Direct is scheduled to 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. Here’s the YouTube link. It’s a me,...
Edit: Just bought NSO + Expansion Pack. 39.99 EUR/year to celebrate the console’s first anniversary. 💸
Edit 2: The Direct is scheduled to 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. Here’s the YouTube link.
It’s a me, your resident die-hard, hopeless, Nintendo fanboy normie.
In this post, we’ll discuss four tangentially-related topics:
- What are your predictions and wishes for the upcoming Nintendo Direct? What are you hoping for? Make a list and then edit it after the fact to see what you got right.
- What is a Nintendo franchise that you think is in dire need of a change, and what would that look like for you?
- How would you rate the Nintendo Switch 2’s first year, and what Nintendo games did you enjoy playing the most?
- Give us your thoughts on the Direct after you’ve watched it.
What are your predictions and wishes for the upcoming Nintendo Direct?
I’ll say right up front that my experience with Nintendo Directs over the years has been that whatever I want the most is always what I don’t get.
This time around, that’s news on the Zelda movie and the Ocarina of Time remake. In fact, I’m fairly certainly they’ll reveal more on those in September instead.
I’m leaning on that certainty for three reasons:
(1) If I’m wrong, then I’ll be pleasantly surprised, and if I’m right, then I won’t be sorely disappointed.
(2) I only really care about these two because I do know a little bit about them. Whatever else I don’t know about, doesn’t bother me. So, other announcements, even very big ones that might positively shock me, aren’t really what I’m worried about. This is also the reason why I’d much prefer it if no information ever leaked at all. I want to be surprised. I can’t isolate myself from leaks if I “surf on the web” at all. It’s impossible. So, Nintendo’s ninjas need to step up their game and silence the leakers.
(3) It seems to me that Nintendo is working hard to move away from the “big Direct” model of making announcements. It might be difficult for them because at least once a year they need to communicate through that medium in order to give investors and shareholders a heads-up (who would otherwise not know about anything because they don’t care about the industry and don’t follow it closely). However, for us, the customers, they’d much rather operate with more flexibility, showcasing games and products individually, spacing out announcements to keep the Nintendo brand fresh in people’s minds, and reveal new titles close to launch to create as much buzz around them as possible. That’s my guess. I could be wrong.
As for my list, I’ll put all the items in a single one. Some of them I think are more plausible than others. Some are entirely wishful thinking.
- Ocarina of Time remake gets a teaser... ⭕️
- ...and a release date in November... ❌
- ...on the same day as GTA VI (would be fun for me). ❌
- Zelda movie gets a trailer. ❌
- Zelda 40th anniversary is kicked off. ❌
- We get Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD bundles together and sold separately like they did for the Super Mario Galaxies. ❌
- Some more announcements for Star Fox. ⭕️
- Some more announcements for Splatoon Raiders. ⭕️
- Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave gets a release date... ⭕️
- ...in August. ❌
- Two new first-party titles to fill out September and October are announced... [I got October right ⭕️]
- ...one of which could be a Switch 2 edition game... ❌
- ...or a game for all Switch systems... ❌
- ...or an entirely new Switch 2 exclusive... ⭕️
- ...from one of their bigger IPs... ⭕️
- ...potentially a 2D Mario... ❌
- ...or an entirely new IP. ❌
- ...from one of their bigger IPs... ⭕️
- A Switch 2 edition game could be...
- Pikmin 4, ❌
- Luigi’s Mansion 3 ❌
- (for October),
- but not my beloved Pokémon Legends: Arceus. 💔
- An entirely new Switch 2 exclusive from one of their bigger IPs could be...
- ...a new Paper Mario... ❌
- ...or Mario Maker 3. ❌
- One new Switch 2 exclusive announced for 2027, which could be...
- ...based on a big Nintendo IP... ⭕️
- ...potentially a 3D Mario. ❌
- ...or be an entirely new IP. ❌
- ...based on a big Nintendo IP... ⭕️
- New DLC for...
- ...Mario Kart World (leaning on this one)... ❌
- ...or Pokémon Pokopia. ⭕️
- Two more GCN games for NSO... ❌
- ...one of them being Twilight Princess... ❌
- ...I wish it was the Viewtiful Joe series though.
- There might be absolutely zero Pokémon news. [I’m not sure if I count Pokopia, because I meant everything but that, so maybe ⭕️]
- Wii or NDS announced for NSO... ❌
- ...with Wii remote being sold again... ❌
- ...or an accessory to hold the Switch 2 sideways, so it stands vertically and you can see both DS screens. ❌
- New Amiibo. ❌
- One completely wacky new game or product that people will find weird. ❌
- One very divisive announcement... ❌
- ...which could be the Ocarina of Time remake... ❌
- ...or the Zelda movie, if they do them wrong. ❌
What is a Nintendo franchise that you think is in dire need of a change, and what would that look like for you?
(1) The Legend of Zelda
My hope is that the Ocarina of Time remake is not just a recreation with better graphics. The 3DS version already did that. I hope that it is a reimagening. As big as Hyrule felt in 1998, it feels small enough today that I could see it being the perfect size for Nintendo to add to. They could make it half as big as Breath of the Wild, and it would still feel pretty sizeable, for me at least (I never even gave 100%ind Breath of the Wild a try for how big it was).
The point of the remake for Nintendo, I think, is two-fold:
(A) Introduce a larger, fresh audience to the franchise, by giving them the gold-standard of what it has to offer, while wasting minimal resources developing it (so, kind of what they’re doing with Star Fox) and in time for the big release of the movie next year, so the two products can cross-promote each other. We’ve seen them do this with the two Mario movies.
(B) Flex those “linear Zelda” muscles a bit, which have become extremely atrophied during the long “era of the wild”, so that the next major title, becomes something that is more of a compromise, something that has that large open world for one group of players to sink hundreds of hours into, but also that highly curated puzzle-solving experience with a meaningful story that the group of players that I am in personally love the series for. The last two major titles were a feast for people who like checklists. For me, they were frustrating. I still loved them. I loved the gameplay. I loved the breadth (of the wild). I didn’t like the “dungeons”, and I absolutely hated the stories. The latter of these had me fuming. They had zero substance for me. They even “soft-rebooted” the series if you think about it. They just placed the games in an entirely new “era”, completely detached from the rest of the franchise. I honestly hope we never return to this era, unless it adds something meaningful to the story. I wanna go back to the wacky timeline from the previous era and make it wackier.
(2) Animal Crossing
Zelda and Animal Crossing were my favorite video game franchises of all time. In fact, I played every mainline Animal Crossing title extensively. I say “were” though, because Pokopium, as I endearingly like to refer to it, has dethroned Animal Crossing. New Horizons was such a disappointment for me. The series became a decorating sim. My favorite is still the GCN entry, if you can believe it. It’s the one game I love returning to.
It seems that Tomodachi Life is Nintendo’s answer to people like me. Nintendo has heard us. I haven’t played the most recent entry in that series because it released on the Switch 1, and I have this weird (I know) rule that I only buy Switch 2 exclusives so as to not overwhelm myself with my options. Pokopium also happened to release shortly before and to say that I got very busy with it would be an understatement (cough cough 160+ hours in and counting). If they release a Switch 2 edition of that though, then I’ll jump in. I am in dire need of that proper, funky social sim, where the characters say and do weird stuff.
This is to say that I don’t know what Nintendo could do to make me want to return to this series. If the next entry is just more of the same, more decoration, even if it’s a “bigger world”, then... it might be time to say goodbye to this franchise. I really don’t know what they could do though. I have heard people suggest an MMO take, where there is one big world and everyone is playing in it simultaneously... yeah. Except that Nintendo would never do that.
Tomodachi Life allows you to do some really out there stuff with your characters, and guess what? It has no online multiplayer of any kind (at least that I’m aware of). That’s how Nintendo “worked around” having to monitor player interactions 24/7. Nintendo is never doing an MMO. They know that degenerates would immediately flood it. Even so, that wouldn’t be enough for me. I just don’t like decoration sims, MMOs or otherwise.
Tell you what, Nintendo: The people deserve their decoration sim. That’s fair. If you want my money though, release a new Tomodachi Life or a Switch 2 edition of the current one, and I’ll buy that. I think that’s also fair, right?
(3) Super Smash Bros.
I had so much fun with the N64 entry, Melee, and Brawl. The first two I played a ton with friends, locally. I actually had that experience. Crazy, am I right? Every time I think about it, it feels like a bygone era. I actually had friends over (and many at that), and also visited friends, and we all played Smash with each other, and it was a lot of fun. I had enough online friends to play Brawl with as well, but far less so.
These days I just don’t care about multiplayer games at all. There are two reasons for that:
(A) I don’t have the time. I could make time to play with other people between 7 PM and 9 PM on most days, but I live in one of the least convenient time zones: UTC+2. Most of the Nintendo world is either asleep or waking up at that time.
(B) I’d just simply rather... experience great single player games? I don’t know. My taste has changed. I’ve also come to hate competitive games more and more. I can’t imagine dedicating myself to one game to become good enough at it so that I don’t get rounded up while playing online and actually get some enjoyment out of the experience. The time that I would waste to git gud, I could be experiencing an epic adventure with instead.
Super Smash Bros. could still bring me back if (and that’s a big if) they included a revamped single-player experience (“Subspace Emissary” was kind of fun for me), and also significantly changed up the formula. I get that it’s a platform fighter, but it’s starting to get ridiculous. Are there seriously any significant gameplay experiences between Brawl and Ultimate? Real ones? Major ones? I played Ultimate, and my mains, Peach and Zelda, felt like they hadn’t changed at all.
I know that if they do something other than a 2D platform fighter, there will be riots, but they’re also going to get a lot of complaints from people saying that it’s just “more of the same”.
Also, I think that 20 to 30 characters is a good sweet spot. You can reduce the Fire Emblem characters to Ike and Marth as well, and while we’re at it, maybe invite some Western characters to the roster? I know that Japan has a lot to offer, but Lara Croft and the Master Chief, for example, make 100% sense in Smash Bros.. If Duck Hunt and Game & Watch can be on the roster, so can Lara and John. Heck, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon should be in the roster. Don’t give me any excuses. If you’re going to get characters from non-Nintendo IPs into the game at all, then I don’t know what’s holding you back from getting more of the ones that everyone wants.
(4) Everything else
Whatever new 3D Super Mario, Paper Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or Metroid Prime they release in the future though, I’m fairly confident that it’ll be good, and that I’ll buy it even if its more of the same.
How would you rate the Nintendo Switch 2’s first year, and what Nintendo games did you enjoy playing the most?
I think I’d give it an B+.
I’m a Nintendo fanboy, so it would be difficult for me to give them a lower score, but I think that the case can be made that this first year was actually quite good.
The releases may have seemed slow in the first half, but there was a brand new Mario Kart World (for those who liked it, not me) from the start, as well as Donkey Kong Bananza not long after that, which I loved so much, I 100%ed it in 50+ hours.
Pokémon fans got that Z-A title that I skipped on, mostly because it just looked boring and gray (though I heard good things about the gameplay).
Kirby Air Riders turned out to be an amazing game that I didn’t play, and very few other people did. It’s just too niche.
Metroid Prime 4 I loved to bits, but most people hated it, because of the desert, the characters, the pacing, and how similar to Prime 1 it was. I didn’t like how the story ended, and I didn’t like that it was a Prime title that didn’t include, well... Metroid Prime/Dark Samus. I guess the point of them being called “Prime” now is that they’re first-person adventure games. It’s whatever. Just make another one and forget about the open world thing. Make a Metroid game, you know? Not a Halo-inspired game featuring Samus Aran.
I also had a ton of fun with Hyrule Warriors, which was the story-driven Zelda I didn’t know I longed for. Excited for more Warriors spinoffs in general, and not just in the Zelda franchise...
Third parties eventually picked up, and they gave us a ton of games that somehow run amazing on this little boy. I’m thinking Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata (the latter of which I played and loved), though there were others, some of which were Switch 2 ports, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. There were many others, but these four seemed to have dominated the Switch 2 third-party discussion, at least this half of the year. I should add that Capcom is hitting it out of the park. Now please go and give me some news about that Okami sequel, will you?
It may have felt like there were some lulls, but it was actually a packed year, and that’s not to mention all the NSO stuff and the Switch 1 games that run the Switch 2.
As I have told you all a million times before though, my absolute darling, without which I would have given this year a C+, was Pokopium.
Animal Crossing + Minecraft + Pokémon made by the guys behind Dragon Quest Builders. Who would’ve thought that this could be worse than opium? I’ll tell you what: I did! Right from the moment the game was announced in September, everyone I talked to about this told me that they weren’t sure or even seemed disinterested. I felt very vindicated when the game released to such an acclaim, that it became the highest rated Pokémon title ever, and it isn’t even a mainline one!
To the people who worked on Pokopium, thank you very much for your hard work. It paid off. Now please go and make a sequel or DLC so I can give you more money.
To Nintendo: Outstanding work on the Switch 2’s first year. Some bumps along the ride, but in general, you did well. You delivered is the goods. Now go and give us this generation’s heavy hitters. Also, stop being so secretive, and clog up the leaks!
Give us your thoughts on the Direct after you’ve watched it.
First of all, this was an absolutely wild ride of a rollercoaster. It had many extremely slow moments, punctuated by announcements that had me literally clapping in my studio apartment.
My highlights were as follows (in the order that they appeared during the Direct):
- Pokémon Pokopia update and paid DLC
- Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (Sep 17)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2, and 3, Switch 2 editions
- 1 - Out today!
- 2 - Jul 30
- 3 - Dec 3
- Xenoblade Genesis (2027)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026)
I would have given the direct a B if it wasn’t for Ocarina of Time. It was a real slog at times, even though the Pokopium DLC and the insane drop of all three Xenoblade entries had me going nuts.
I feel as though Nintendo felt forced to tease Ocarina of Time because the entire planet was asking for it. They showed us so little though because, as I have explained before, they want to say a lot more about it at a later point, when they are also ready to show us the first teaser/trailer of the movie, alongside the kickoff for the 40th anniversary. If I had to bet, I’d say that we’ll hear more in September at worst, late August at best.
I think that the art direction for the game will be divisive. It will retain some of its charming fantasy features, but will be realistic in tone. I was divided in my head between that and an adaptation of the art work for the original game. I’m glad they went with this. It feels cinematic to the nth degree. I think that I will love it. I’m not sure that everyone will though.
“““Little””” details I noticed: Voice acting. The Triforce of courage appears on Links’ hand before he pulls the Master Sword. The Triforce glows on his LEFT hand.
So, my game plan for the rest of this year is:
- I want to finish Tales of Arise in time for Adventures of Elliot on the 18th this month.
- On July 23rd I’ll get Splatoon Raiders.
- In August I’ll be fully immersed (pun intended) in the Pokopium DLC.
- I’ll get Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave on September 17.
- Nothing of interest to me seems to be releasing in October, so that’s the month for the first Xenoblade, so I can finally get into that. I’ve been waiting years for this moment.
- If I had to guess, Ocarina of Time releases in late November.
20 votes -
Sea Of Rifts | Demo trailer
7 votes -
Mechanical Pencil — An illustrated celebration of the engineering around us
18 votes -
GOG apologies for emailing Nazi runes to its followers
65 votes -
Fine-tuning an LLM to write docs like it's 1995
11 votes