EmperorPenguin's recent activity

  1. Comment on Hot take: 4:3 > 16:9 in ~tv

  2. Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    I'm only halfway through the season at episode 4, but so far it's fantastic. Something I've noticed is that whenever I think "Did the people in the show notice that a suspicious or weird thing is...

    I'm only halfway through the season at episode 4, but so far it's fantastic.

    Something I've noticed is that whenever I think "Did the people in the show notice that a suspicious or weird thing is happening?", the show will address that right away. They'll show a character is aware of what's going on and is allowing it to happen intentionally. The only other show I remember that kind of thing happening in was Better Call Saul, where there were times Saul/Jimmy would try to pull a trick on someone that you would expect to work in a poorly written show, and as I said out loud it was stupid, the other character like his brother or whoever would notice and call him out in the show.

    I also noticed that, thanks to Timothy Olyphant's character reading the ship logs, he tends to know the stuff about Xenomorphs that the audience already knows, such as how the eggs and face huggers work. So unlike many Alien installments, we don't have to sit there and watch as these clueless characters learn all the stuff that we've seen other characters get killed by a thousand times at this point.

    6 votes

  3. Comment on Nintendo adding Virtual Boy to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, with Virtual Boy replica accessory to play games in 3D in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    This is something I thought of when I first saw the announcement. They are re-releasing their most underperforming system to date, but to play it, you will need: A game console (over $300 unless...

    This is something I thought of when I first saw the announcement. They are re-releasing their most underperforming system to date, but to play it, you will need:

    • A game console (over $300 unless you buy used)
    • A subscription service ($20 per year)
    • A higher tier of said subscription service (an additional $30 per year)
    • A hardware peripheral only available to people with said subscription service and only sold on Nintendo's website ($100)

    The barrier of entry to this thing when you lay it all out like that is completely insane.

    The biggest benefit of a re-release of a retro console so dependent on its form factor like this is because you can't just emulate it on a PC or phone and get the same experience.

    Making this tied to the hip both to the Switch/Switch 2 and the highest tier of a subscription service instead of a mini console like the NES and SNES Mini limits its value for game preservation quite a lot. In my opinion, if they really wanted to make this an accessory instead of a mini console, the Virtual Boy games should be a free Switch app with an accompanying retail product you buy, similar to the Mario Kart Live Home Circuit thing where you bought an RC car but the Switch app to control it was free.

    I bet there's a market for people who've seen the Virtual Boy in YouTube videos but weren't alive when it came out, or who were around back then and never got to use it, and are interested in trying it out for themselves. This should be accessible to as many of those people as possible, because I bet there's not a lot of them. Only that group of people is gonna pay for this accessory, and those of them who don't already have the Switch and Online and Expansion Pack aren't gonna buy all that just for this.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Chris Houlihan is real in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link
    When Zelda: A Link to the Past released for the SNES in English, players found a secret room that contained a very out of place, real person's name: "Chris Houlihan". Years later, an official...

    When Zelda: A Link to the Past released for the SNES in English, players found a secret room that contained a very out of place, real person's name: "Chris Houlihan". Years later, an official statement from Nintendo Power magazine said that this was a reward for a contest held two years before the game came out.

    There were a lot of odd circumstances around the contest, such the lack of a proper announcement of a contest winner for many years, that created a lot of doubt around the situation. There were many fan theories: Chris died shortly after the contest so they never announced it, or that he never existed and they made up a name to make the contest not look like a scam, or something similar.

    After decades of debate, Youtuber Kevin Hainline, by pure luck, got to meet thee Chris Houlihan in person and solve the mystery.

    5 votes

  6. Comment on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | Title announcement in ~movies

    EmperorPenguin
    Link
    There was an official leak not too long ago from a press release on NBC Universal's website that this would be a "Super Mario World" movie instead. In retrospect, I wonder what that was about? Did...

    There was an official leak not too long ago from a press release on NBC Universal's website that this would be a "Super Mario World" movie instead. In retrospect, I wonder what that was about? Did some intern accidentally write the wrong title and it got sent out?

    Regardless, I'm more excited to see a Galaxy movie instead. I think the soundtrack, space atmosphere, and the Rosalina stuff would transfer pretty well to the big screen.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Nintendo adding Virtual Boy to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, with Virtual Boy replica accessory to play games in 3D in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link
    Yes... really. What a wacky release. What's funny is that in the same direct, they announced a re-release of Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, with both Virtual Boy and Galaxy 2 being "black sheep" that...

    Yes... really.
    What a wacky release.

    What's funny is that in the same direct, they announced a re-release of Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, with both Virtual Boy and Galaxy 2 being "black sheep" that Nintendo has neglected to mention in years past.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on Hollow Knight: Silksong will cost $20, releases Thursday at 7 am PDT/10 am EDT in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    I know everyone's social media exposure is different, but I'd say Silksong's meme status and hype is very well documented. Every live gaming presentation (Nintendo Direct, The Game Awards, etc)...

    I know everyone's social media exposure is different, but I'd say Silksong's meme status and hype is very well documented.

    • Every live gaming presentation (Nintendo Direct, The Game Awards, etc) has been completely spammed by people asking about Silksong for many years. Like it was at least 30% of the chat messages.
    • Silksong was the #1 most wishlisted game on Steam until it released today.
    • It was so popular, people buying the game crashed Steam.
    • Many other games had to delay their release when Silksong announced their release date 2 weeks ago.
    • Folding Ideas (the guy who made the "Line Goes Up" video essay that helped kill the NFT hype) gave a 1 hour presentation about Silksong memes at PAX (haven't seen it but I heard it's good): https://youtu.be/WSkbylysplI
    10 votes

  12. Comment on ‘Call of Duty’ movie in the works under major Paramount Skydance, Microsoft’s Activision pact in ~movies

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    Considering that none other than Folding Ideas, Mr. "Video Essay So Good It Killed NFT Hype" himself, just made a video about the Ghosts storyline, it'd be really funny timing to reveal a Ghosts...

    Considering that none other than Folding Ideas, Mr. "Video Essay So Good It Killed NFT Hype" himself, just made a video about the Ghosts storyline, it'd be really funny timing to reveal a Ghosts movie.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on Hollow Knight: Silksong will cost $20, releases Thursday at 7 am PDT/10 am EDT in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    What's interesting about the price is that it's actually a 33% price hike from the original Hollow Knight, which was, and after its massive popularity still is, $15. But considering how the...

    What's interesting about the price is that it's actually a 33% price hike from the original Hollow Knight, which was, and after its massive popularity still is, $15. But considering how the original is like a top 5 biggest indie darling ever, and how Silksong's meme status now not only rivals, but has arguably surpassed the likes of GTA 6, Half Life 3, or Elder Scrolls 6, the price sounds like a complete steal. They easily could have charged $40 and most people wouldn't have been surprised.

    14 votes

  15. Comment on Letting younger children access Fortnite - Looking for opinions in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    Fortnite actually has crossplay, so people on Switch, Playstation, Xbox, PC, and even mobile can play together! Fair warning though, I'm pretty sure that, because mouse and keyboard users have an...

    I'm guessing they wouldn't be able to play online with family in this case though, since everyone is on different systems, between Switch and Playstation with us on PC.

    Fortnite actually has crossplay, so people on Switch, Playstation, Xbox, PC, and even mobile can play together!

    Fair warning though, I'm pretty sure that, because mouse and keyboard users have an advantage over controller users who have an advantage over touchscreen users, there are three tiers of game lobbies. There's the mobile pool, the console pool, and the PC pool. You'll be matched in whichever pool fits the highest advantage control scheme in the party. All this means is, when your relatives on Playstation play with you and your kids on PC, your relatives will be playing against other PC players who will be more difficult than what they're used to!

    This is how I heard it worked a few years ago, I imagine it's still the same.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Strange New Worlds: Season 3: Episodes 5,6, and 7 have been much better than previous episodes in ~tv

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    Was that established after Discovery season 2? If so I wouldn't have seen it since I haven't seen the rest. But what about Lower Decks? That references TNG/DS9/Voyager but it also had a crossover...

    Was that established after Discovery season 2? If so I wouldn't have seen it since I haven't seen the rest.

    But what about Lower Decks? That references TNG/DS9/Voyager but it also had a crossover with Strange New Worlds, which was time travel rather than dimensional travel.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Strange New Worlds: Season 3: Episodes 5,6, and 7 have been much better than previous episodes in ~tv

    EmperorPenguin
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    This is explained in season 2 episode 3 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". Romulan spies have gone back in time and sabotaged Earth history. The romulan in the episode specifically mentions...

    “Strange New Worlds is not in the same universe as The Original Series (TOS)”

    This is explained in season 2 episode 3 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". Romulan spies have gone back in time and sabotaged Earth history. The romulan in the episode specifically mentions Khan's birth and the eugenics wars being changed, since she sees Khan is a child in the 2020s but she remembers the wars originally happened in the 90s in TOS.

    I'm ok with this explanation, since time travel being able to change the future has been a part of Trek since TOS, and this is a tidy way to explain any continuity errors between various series in the "prime universe" with an established "a wizard did it!"

    My assumption is that, like how Khan still happened, just a few decades later, in the TOS timeline SNW mostly happened, and in the SNW timeline TOS will mostly happen. Some details such as the design of the bridge will change but things will mostly end up the same.

    It reminds me of the TNG episode that explained all of the intelligent races being humanoid was genetically engineered by a precursor humanoid alien species. It's a random episode providing a decent enough explanation to a common critique of the series.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Valve's secretive 'Fremont' gaming device surfaces in benchmarks in ~games

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    In researching for a previous comment, I found that there's now 40% more PC gamers than console gamers. PC gaming is about as mainstream as it gets. An affordable console experience PC would...

    it's already mainstream.

    In researching for a previous comment, I found that there's now 40% more PC gamers than console gamers. PC gaming is about as mainstream as it gets. An affordable console experience PC would probably get a few more people who were already interested on board, but people who are interested have already been able to get into PC gaming with a modest laptop or pre built desktop, which can play basically any indie game or a lot of the older multiplayer live service games on low settings.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on Xbox Series X and S: Microsoft has reportedly sold less than 30 million consoles this generation in ~games

  20. Comment on Modern masculinity and The Critical Drinker in ~life.men

    EmperorPenguin
    Link Parent
    Like everyone else said, it has a lot of channels that are also on YouTube. There's Lindsay Ellis, Hbomberguy, Not Just Bikes, Angela Collier, Tale Foundry, Big Joel, Joe Scott, and Life Where I'm...

    Like everyone else said, it has a lot of channels that are also on YouTube. There's Lindsay Ellis, Hbomberguy, Not Just Bikes, Angela Collier, Tale Foundry, Big Joel, Joe Scott, and Life Where I'm From for example. Some of them like Tale Foundry or Lindsay Ellis have exclusive videos, and some like Joe Scott have additional segments in the Nebula version of the video. Sometimes Nebula might also get videos a little early. The best part is getting to support the creators while having ad-free videos without paying Google for Premium.

    1 vote