Previous discussion here

Nominees for Game of the Year:

• “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”
• “Monster Hunter: World”
• “Kingdom Come: Deliverance”
• “Hitman 2”
• “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”

Nominees for VR Game of the Year:

• “VRChat”
• “Beat Saber”
• “Fallout 4 VR”
• “Superhot VR”

Nominees for Labor of Love:

• “Dota 2”
• “Grand Theft Auto V”
• “No Man’s Sky”
• “Path of Exile”
• “Stardew Valley”

Nominees for Best Environment:

• “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”
• “Subnautica”
• “Shadow of the Tomb Raider”
• “Far Cry 5”
• “Dark Souls III”

Nominees for Better with Friends:

• “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”
• “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege”
• “Payday 2”
• “Dead by Daylight”
• “Overcooked! 2”

Nominees for Best Alternate History:

• “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus”
• “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”
• “Hearts of Iron IV”
• “Sid Meier’s Civilization VI”
• “Fallout 4”

Nominees for Most Fun with a Machine:

• “Euro Truck Simulator 2”
• “Rocket League”
• “NieR: Automata”
• “Factorio”
• “Space Engineers”

Nominees for Best Developer:

• CD Projekt Red
• Ubisoft
• Bethesda
• Rockstar Games
• Digital Extremes Ltd.
• Square Enix
• Capcom
• Paradox Interactive
• Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Klei

Looking for VR game suggestions. Turns out there's a lot of crap to dig through to get to the good stuff. Give me your best of the best. I'll start us off:

Multiplayer - Arizona Sunshine, Pavlov, Rec Room

Single player - Sairento, Beat Saber

Today I got into a conversation with my coworkers about how cursive is all but dead with our students. We adults all grew up learning it and were often forced to use it even when we didn't want to, but it has been out of vogue in American schools for a while now, so most of our students legitimately don't know how to read or write it. Opinions as to whether or not this was a bad thing were split. Some people considered the skill unnecessary and were happy to see it go the way of the dinosaur. Life moves on, they said--and the skill was inessential anyway because students could simply print instead. Some even took things a step further and argued that print was also going to become outdated with the prevalence of computers and phones. Nevertheless, others argued that cursive was important and valuable for kids to learn, particularly if they wanted to be able to sign their names or read documents written in script (e.g. old letters from family members, historical documents, etc.)

The discussion then continued to analog clocks. Being able to read them is still technically in the curriculum standards for many states, but it's the kind of thing that often gets briefly touched on and then discarded. Because digital clocks are so prevalent now, many students never practice reading analog clocks outside of those specific lessons, and thus they never truly master it. While more of our students can read analog clocks than can write in cursive, it too seems to be headed down the path to extinction. Opinions about whether this was bad were much stronger, with nearly everyone agreeing that it's a worthwhile skill rather than something inessential.

The conversation made me curious to hear what everyone here thinks--not just about these but about dying skills in general. What are some skills that you believe will fall out of widespread use in the coming years? Is their departure a good/bad thing?

So season 3 got release by netfilx a few days ago, I've seen it and like it but kind of want to discuss so; anyone here watched it, thoughts?

Anyone not seen travelers (no idea why no double L), it's a pretty good time travel show with fresh take on AI. Don't want to spoil too much but I think it's worth the time to see.

What made them great? Who would you recommend them to?

Don't feel like you have to limit yourself to 2018 releases either. I'm interested in whatever you played and enjoyed regardless of when it came out.

Releases of the week 8/12/2018 - 14/12/2018

Featured Release

Charlotte Gainsburg - Take 2 - EP (Art Pop, Synth Pop)

"Charlotte Gainsbourg has announced a new EP called Take 2. The five-track project, which features her cover of Kanye West’s “Runaway,” is out December 14 via Because Music. Today, she’s shared the EP’s first song “Such a Remarkable Day.” Check it out below with a video of Gainsbourg’s live performances.
Take 2 is produced by Frank Ocean collaborator SebastiAn and mixed by Tom Elmhirst. See the artwork below. Last year, Gainsbourg released Rest, which featured on Pitchfork’s “50 Best Albums of 2017.”

Source: Pitchfork

Listen to single

Stream

Other Notable Relases

Kodak Black - Dying To Live (Hip Hop, Trap)

Listen to single
Stream

Vic Mensa - Hooligans EP (Conscious Hip Hop)

Listen to single
Stream

$ilkMoney - *I Hate My Life and I Really Wish People Would Stop Telling Me Not To * (Hip Hop, Trap)

Listen
Stream

Feel free to discuss or feature any and all other releases in the comments below

Discussion Points

Have you listened to any of these releases?
What are your thoughts?
What are you looking forward to listen to?
What have you enjoyed from these artists in the past?

// All feedback on this format welcome below.

So... here's an article I read in my newspaper earlier this week: "Why the media is unable to report on a case that has generated huge interest online". As you might imagine, this left me quite unenlightened. I had no way of knowing or guessing what this case was, or who was involved. It was only a few days later, in conversation with some people I work with, that I found out what had happened.

And this is the first chance I've had since then to sit down and research the story for myself.

In short, Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic Church official to stand trial for sexual abuse, has been convicted of sexual abuse offences relating to his time as Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.

• From the National Catholic Reporter: "Cardinal Pell found guilty of sex abuse, expected to appeal, reports say"

• From the Washington Post: "Australian court convicts once-powerful Vatican official on sex-abuse-related charges"

• From the Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/vatican-no-3-cardinal-george-pell-on-trial-for-historical-child-sex-charges (I can't confirm this one - it's reportedly geo-blocked for Australian readers)

However, the Victorian court hearing the case has imposed a suppression order on the case, which applies in every jurisdiction in Australia. We have seen no reporting of the case as it proceeded, and no reporting of the outcome.

Before some people start assuming that this is protecting the Church, it's related to the right of an accused person to a free trial. Cardinal Pell is facing another trial in a few months for further charges of sexual abuse on a minor (relating to his time as a priest in Ballarat in the 1970s), and the court feels that reporting the outcome of this trial will potentially influence any possible jurors for that trial. Those possible jurors should go into that trial without any preconceived ideas of the accused person's guilt - and reporting that he is guilty of similar charges will undermine his right to a fair trial.

• From the Washington Post: "A top cardinal’s sex-abuse conviction is huge news in Australia. But the media can’t report it there."

• From the New York Post: "Australian media barred from covering cardinal’s conviction for sex abuse

All that we in Australia are being told is "George Pell removed from Pope Francis's cardinal advisory body". It's obvious why he was removed... if you know about the conviction.