redwall_hp's recent activity
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Comment on Does anyone use DaVinci Resolve Fusion for motion graphics? in ~creative
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Comment on Sam Neill, Jurassic Park star, dies at 78 in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentI remember that too. It was kind of an "event" that people talked about between episodes. And anything in fantasy territory was kind of a rarity back then, so it was a big deal.I remember that too. It was kind of an "event" that people talked about between episodes. And anything in fantasy territory was kind of a rarity back then, so it was a big deal.
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Comment on ‘Moana’ flounders with $43 million debut, among weakest of Disney’s live-action remakes in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentNo free body diagram, -20%.No free body diagram, -20%.
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Comment on There is no reason to buy another PlayStation or Xbox in ~games
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentMedian household income is also close to $80K in the US, which would put an $800 console at 1/100 of a year's income. Not an impulse buy, but also not beyond what I'd expect for a computing device...Median household income is also close to $80K in the US, which would put an $800 console at 1/100 of a year's income. Not an impulse buy, but also not beyond what I'd expect for a computing device that will be used for years. And probably not far off from the same ratio when the PS5 or PS4 launched. Though Sony will also have a strong pressure to keep the price as low as possible due to Japan's weaker currency and recent bout of (rare) inflation affecting domestic sales.
A $60 game is three people eating out at a typical restaurant, or fast food for five people. (If you DoorDash Five Guys for five people, you'll be close to the price for two games...) Rent is easily $1600 in fairly low CoL areas, and completely wild in the nice coastal states.
As someone in the software industry, I find it personally offensive that people would value a luxury good that represents the work of hundreds or thousands of professionals over a multiple year period as less than a dinner.
I don't talk myself into buying them often, because they're money that could go elsewhere, and I only have so much free time, but they absolutely should cost more than they do. (I'm at, what, $2/hour on Final Fantasy Rebirth so far? Lower on the "Ghost of" games and Baldur's Gate 3? That's like two years of gaming time right there.) Bargain bin mentality does real harm to the industry, which is already among the poorest paying and layoff-prone in the software field. (And here we are again with Microsoft doing huge layoffs at studios they own.)
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
redwall_hp LinkJust starting book four of Dungeon Crawler Carl...and book three was quite a ride. It's great how the author manages to keep the formula fresh, and the puzzle aspect of that one was fun. I'm also...Just starting book four of Dungeon Crawler Carl...and book three was quite a ride. It's great how the author manages to keep the formula fresh, and the puzzle aspect of that one was fun. I'm also liking how new layers are slowly being added to characters' backstories, like Donut or the conflict with the player killers.
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Comment on European Parliament achieves upgrade to air passenger rights in ~transport
redwall_hp Link ParentThis is something I push back on at work occasionally: people like to dig in their heels about First Name and Last Name fields in systems being "good enough", but I always suggest Given Name and...This is something I push back on at work occasionally: people like to dig in their heels about First Name and Last Name fields in systems being "good enough", but I always suggest Given Name and Family Name. (Global company that does plenty of business with partners in Japan and China.) It doesn't cover more esoteric naming conventions, but to a massive percentage of the world, the name given first is a family name, and it makes obvious sense to apply semantics rather than arbitrary order to their storage...
People’s names are written in ASCII.
I've actually been on the opposite side receiving end of this. Ordering things from Japan, I've had to use katakana substitutions for my name in the past. (This is mostly expected in a lot of scenarios, including on government documents. There's the notion of how a name is preferred to be styled and a legal name in pronounceable kana.)
People also believe that all currencies are decimalized with major and minor units. JPY, quite obviously, has only one unit.
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Comment on There is no reason to buy another PlayStation or Xbox in ~games
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentMy slightly less charitable way of putting this in the past is that consoles are more ergonomic for functional adults. They allow you to be out in your living room, around people and pets, instead...If I think about it deeply the main reasons I buy consoles is simplicity, consistency, and integration in my home entertainment setup. I don't want a tower in my living room. I don't want to sit at a desk like I do all day for work. I don't want to have to select computer parts that work together or configure settings between components. I don't want to worry about malware. And I certainly don't need the bleeding edge of technology.
My slightly less charitable way of putting this in the past is that consoles are more ergonomic for functional adults. They allow you to be out in your living room, around people and pets, instead of living in a bedroom cave. They're easier to get up from and change a load of laundry or dishes, or answer the door. You exist in the world still instead of entering cyberspace and ignoring the world.
And yes, I agree, I want an appliance that plays games. No different from a microwave. It has a job it must do, with no fiddling with anything. I already build complex computer systems at work. There's no joy in fiddling with a Linux box or having having a Microsoft product in my house...just an infuriating obstacle eating limited free time. I've built plenty of gaming computers before...and I don't want one.
I'm 100% in the Apple ecosystem for computery things at home, and consoles for games. (Modulo playing Final Fantasy XIV on my Mac...but my fiancée plays it on the PS5.) And 90% downloads, because they're far more convenient. The only physical games I've played in the past year were Ghost of Yōtei, because it was a wrapped gift, and Donkey Kong Banaza, because we have multiple Switch 2s in the household and it's easier to swap it. (And we all got the Mario Kart bundle, so we all have that digitally.)
I care more about the future loss of BluRay playback capability, without a separate device taking up space.
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Comment on Introductions | July 2026 in ~talk
redwall_hp Link ParentExcuse me, in the Upper Mount Tildens region, we prefer Tilderanians. But don't ask about the Tilderinos or Tildosians.We're called Tildensians
Excuse me, in the Upper Mount Tildens region, we prefer Tilderanians. But don't ask about the Tilderinos or Tildosians.
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Comment on Fines doubled as teens outsmart Australia's world-first social media ban in ~tech
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentHeritage Foundation wants it for Project 2025, and they have their claws in various world governments, and Meta wants it because it's onerous for their competitors and also makes it easier to...Heritage Foundation wants it for Project 2025, and they have their claws in various world governments, and Meta wants it because it's onerous for their competitors and also makes it easier to connect dots with browsing activities elsewhere. Meta has spent billions on global lobbying for this.
End goals are identifying political opposition and LGBT people for retribution in the long term. Short term is a backdoor porn ban, followed by framing anything LGBT as pornography (you can already see that in action with the book bannings).
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Comment on ‘Minions & Monsters’ fizzles over July 4th weekend with franchise-low $61 million debut, ‘Supergirl’ suffers brutal 74% drop in ~movies
redwall_hp Link ParentI saw it, and I agree with the assessment about it being for film nerds: it's loaded with fun references to early Hollywood, silliness with Lovecraftian monsters, and the Minion gibberish is a...I saw it, and I agree with the assessment about it being for film nerds: it's loaded with fun references to early Hollywood, silliness with Lovecraftian monsters, and the Minion gibberish is a constant drip of an extra layer of humor if you're wise to the languages they throw into a blender.
They un-summon monsters by shouting "command zed," one of the incantations they use is a list of Japanese foods, a train is referred to as "shinkansen," general dialogue has a mix of a lot of Italianish and Spanishy stuff, and there seems to be an internal subject-object-verb grammar. Having only ever seen the first Despicable Me before, I'd forgotten about that, and it was entertaining. There's a bit more going on than Simlish.
After already establishing a bunch of iconic silent movie era tropes and establishing the Minions' presence in film, they leaned right into the Singin' in the Rain gag and added sound.
All in all, it's a reasonably solid children's movie with a good story and humor that doesn't get too slapstick, balancing a line between accessible to children and things that the film nerds will get.
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Comment on Sony is closing the PS3 and Vita digital stores in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentUnless you're a Mac user, then they just don't care. I lost several games from publishers deciding they didn't want to support the platform anymore (e.g. Rocket League, not related to any platform...Valve gets a lot of love because they do these bare minimums, and then some. I can still download and play the very first titles they released on Steam in 2003/4.
Unless you're a Mac user, then they just don't care. I lost several games from publishers deciding they didn't want to support the platform anymore (e.g. Rocket League, not related to any platform changes), including several games that Valve developed. I can't play TF2 anymore, and they one day patched Counter-Strike GO, replacing it with Counter-Strike 2 and removed its ability to run overnight. All games that I had paid an initial retail price for, even if some became free-to-play later.
PC gaming is now a trifecta of companies I don't like: Microsoft, Valve and GOG (after the Nazi rune incident, and no course correction from the company).
I can still download every game I bought even if the publisher yanks it.
Same with PlayStation games. If you bought it, the game stays available for download. Including on this twenty year old hardware that practically nobody uses.
Any service that is required for a given purchase to work should be forced to be kept online in perpetuity.
This is a legal change you want, not the reality of the world today. Entirely not on Sony. But, again, the service required for your purchases to work is still being kept online.
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Comment on Sony is closing the PS3 and Vita digital stores in ~games
redwall_hp (edited )LinkI applaud them for keeping an online service available for twenty years from the launch of the now-defunct hardware...and continuing to have partial support so it's still usable, even if you can't...I applaud them for keeping an online service available for twenty years from the launch of the now-defunct hardware...and continuing to have partial support so it's still usable, even if you can't buy
newadditional titles. (Walmart won't sell you new physical ones either.) Most companies can't even be bothered to support your random appliance's online features for a handful of years.I've seen two PS3s this year, and one was at a literal antique shop in a glass case. There have been about twice as many years between now and the PS3 as the PS3 and the PS1.
Fortunately, now that the platform has become more standardized over recent generations (a BSD running on x64 hardware), this will become even less of an issue. i.e. the PS5 can download and run PS4 games, and I would be fairly surprised if they didn't maintain support with the PS6. The new model seems to be more "store first, hardware second," with the expectation that the modern catalogue outlive consoles instead of being a side feature of a specific one.
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Comment on To my fellow Americans: Happy 4th of July, I hope you end the day with the same number of fingers you started with! in ~talk
redwall_hp LinkThe 4th is always a good day to read the text of the Declaration of Independence, a radical paper that was a middle finger to the established concept of monarchy. Even if the country that formed...The 4th is always a good day to read the text of the Declaration of Independence, a radical paper that was a middle finger to the established concept of monarchy. Even if the country that formed after has pretty much failed to live up to it at every point in history, it's still a good idea.
It has some good enumerated examples of the injustices that lead to its drafting.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentStudio Canal removed their films from PlayStation users' libraries. Sony had no legal right to continue to distribute them, as they failed to demand a contract that would enable users to retain...The other week this company removed hundreds of films and TV shows from users' libraries. Just to establish a realistic expectation of the level of trust you can place with them.
Studio Canal removed their films from PlayStation users' libraries. Sony had no legal right to continue to distribute them, as they failed to demand a contract that would enable users to retain them if it was terminated. Presumably, things are more in Sony's favor when it comes to games. Blame the shitty film company, Sony has no benefit from the situation.
The solution isn't likely to come from courts, either. It would be best as a deliberate bill to extent first-sale doctrine to digital goods.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentI just realized, at 100 mb/s internet speed, I can download a game twice as fast as a 50 mb/s BluRay drive can read it off a disc. (US median download speeds are faster than that, I believe.) I...I just realized, at 100 mb/s internet speed, I can download a game twice as fast as a 50 mb/s BluRay drive can read it off a disc. (US median download speeds are faster than that, I believe.)
I already favor non-disc games because having to swap discs when changing game is an annoyance.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
redwall_hp (edited )Link ParentBluRay drives have a throughput somewhere on the order of 50 megabits per second, plus nasty seek and spin-up latency. NVMe is on the order of tens of gigabits per second, thousands of times...BluRay drives have a throughput somewhere on the order of 50 megabits per second, plus nasty seek and spin-up latency. NVMe is on the order of tens of gigabits per second, thousands of times faster. (SSD vendors usually list speeds in megabytes per second instead.) PS5 games won't even install to an external hard drive, because mechanical drives are too slow.
Back in the days of Skyrim on the Xbox 360 and PS3, extremely long loading times when changing zones were the norm. People were waiting 15-30 seconds to "fast travel" somewhere, and that was all moving the relatively tiny game assets from the hard drive to RAM. The whole game was a massive 6GB at the time.
The state of the art now is games like Ghost of Yōtei or Final Fantasy 16, which have to turn over close to 16GB of assets all the time, based on the memory of the console. There are staggering amounts of multi-megapixel megatextures (with several different maps, such as normals) for tons of high-polygon models. A single PBR (Physicality Based Rendering) material, of which an arbitrary mesh may have many, could be a dozen or two megabytes when you add up the map layers. Like a simple car could have painted metal, glass, tire rubber, wheel rim, license plate and plastic accent materials. Maybe more if it's not all a uniform, factory pristine vehicle.
They're already making determinations of what is and isn't needed and streaming it off the storage, in a constant firehose, because they're avoiding loading screens and need to move relatively huge chunks of data.
If I fast travel from one place to another in Ghost of Yōtei, and it needs to suddenly purge and load 10GB of data into RAM...that would take around 25 minutes from a BluRay drive. 5GB is probably more realistic, but that's still way too long...but something a modern SSD is capable of doing while the map animation closes and a quick fade out and in effect happens.
It's possible your home internet in many places is even faster to download a game to install it than it would be to install it from a disc, if it's in the 50-100 Mb/s range.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
redwall_hp Link ParentThis should be a dramatic Latin chant in a video game or movie soundtrack.This should be a dramatic Latin chant in a video game or movie soundtrack.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
redwall_hp Link ParentI like listening to Japanese music and going to concerts enough that I started learning Japanese. (Mostly because around 2018 Spotify stopped translating song titles and I needed to at least know...I like listening to Japanese music and going to concerts enough that I started learning Japanese. (Mostly because around 2018 Spotify stopped translating song titles and I needed to at least know kana to distinguish them better.)
English is also mostly "unintelligible noises" to a majority of the world, but apparently Americans expect that it's only natural that they should consume their movies and music.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentBaldur's Gate 3 being 150GB is likely the precise reason why it was only sold as a download and not on physical media. A triple layer BluRay (4K/UHD) tops out at 100GB. I have a lot of games that...Baldur's Gate 3 being 150GB is likely the precise reason why it was only sold as a download and not on physical media. A triple layer BluRay (4K/UHD) tops out at 100GB. I have a lot of games that are 120GB plus now, and some that are around 200GB.
Games have outgrown the capacity of discs, and already must be installed to the fast NVMe because optical drives are too slow. So it's either follow PC gaming into online only sales (which are already a majority of sales) or maintain the same situation for another year or two...and then the PS6 would need to ship games on 256GB+ NVMe cartridges that cost a fortune.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
redwall_hp Link ParentThey're for the vinyl crowd: more than half of vinyl buyers don't own a turntable. It's just an arbitrary collectable thing (with inferior audio quality if it were played)....They're for the vinyl crowd: more than half of vinyl buyers don't own a turntable. It's just an arbitrary collectable thing (with inferior audio quality if it were played).
https://www.billboard.com/pro/vinyl-album-sales-rise-growth-slowing/
While vinyl album sales continue to gain each year in the U.S., only half of those fans buying records actually own a vinyl record player, according to a research survey commissioned by Luminate. Last September, the firm published the statistic as part of its U.S. Music 360 2022 – Wave 2 report. Of those respondents over the age of 13 who had purchased vinyl in the previous 12 months, there was a question asked about which devices they owned, and only 50% said they owned a record player. Total respondents for the Music 360 study: 3,992.
Yep. I just Google "thing I want to do DaVinci Fusion" and watch YouTube videos. Mostly animating text and some compositing static images and Blender renders.
Another thing I do heavily is audio visualizers, which was a rough patch of DaVinci (you needed slow and clunky third party addons), but they recently added a built-in Fairlight transformer that I'm looking forward to trying.