ConstableJelly

I'll begrudgingly admit this is a slightly better month. Not much here for me though, I already own Shadowrun and Salt & Sacrifice. I played my fill of GTA V in the five years since it's original release, and I have limited space in my heart for Soulslike Metroidvanias, which is entirely filled by Hollow Knight.

I wish media would give credit to the organization leaders responsible for these types of moves rather than crediting a homogeneous "Biden administration." The fact is that the administration does deserve credit for employing a number of "progressive" (read: competent) administrators, but those departments compose a progressive wing of the administration that is not on par with some of the overall administration's more centrist leanings.

Personnel are policy, something that the Biden administration has proved again and again since the 2020 election. Biden himself is a kind of empty vessel into which different wings of the Democratic party pour their will, yielding a strange brew of appointments both great and terrible.

-- Cory Doctorow

We replaced our HP OfficeJet with a Brother this year. I don't even know what we were thinking getting the HP 5 years ago or so, it was gross overkill for us. But of all the things it could do, it was most consistent with printing like shit and jamming paper. Part of the problem was that we just print too infrequently, but having to replace overpriced cartridges from HP didn't help. You also have to install apps for wireless printing (or if there's a workaround we didn't bother with it).

The Brother is a color laser printer and it's perfect for us. No apps needed, super quiet and hassle-free (there have been no paper jams or transmission errors), and the print quality is crisp as hell.

Great song, fitting quotes, immersive-looking environments. This one has me pretty pumped.

This selection is not good and completely fails to justify, again, the price hike (nothing specifically against the games themselves, but as a whole this selection is not indicative of $135 annual value). But I still love the ability to trial a bunch of games I certainly wouldn't commit to paying for in full.

I just finished BG3 for the second time, and coming out of that I wanted something shorter and more relaxed. So I tried Omno and enjoyed it fine. Kind of perfect for what I was looking for in that moment, but overall not hugely impressed. Tried Haven and dropped it after an hour. Finally tried Slay the Spire which I would never have paid for (never been a card game person) and am still interested after a couple hours. Also giving Sniper Elite 5 a shot, which I always misunderstood as like a Flight Simulator type game but for sniping. But it's pretty fun and reminds me a lot of PS3-era action games (e.g., The Saboteur, Splinter Cell: Conviction).

I can't do that kind of thing without a subscription, and I really enjoy being able to. But I also think the price hike is absurd and I hate being ripped off like this. I dunno, I'm conflicted.

I wanna try it, surprisingly.

I'm having the same reaction lol. I, personally, take this as another sign that I'm getting old.

That's definitely not true. I had PS+ back in 2014/2015 and all the monthly games I'd added to my library were locked when I canceled it. Per Playstation:

Once your PlayStation Plus subscription ends, content you previously downloaded at no cost as part of the subscription (such as monthly games) will no longer be available.

I regained access to them once I renewed my subscription later, but that's not the same thing as "games you get access to forever, even if you stop paying."

Plus, at $8 a month, this is far from a bad list for games you get access to forever, even if you stop paying.

Did this change? It used to be that if your subscription lapsed or ended, they'd still technically be in your library but they'd be locked.

Game looks great, but I'm cautious just because none of the Don't Nod games I've played (Remember Me, Life Is Strange 1, and Vampyr) have clicked well with me.

Did Sony not know what games it had locked in for the rest of the year when it announced its price increase? Nothing against anyone excited for these games (I might play Mafia II eventually myself), but...the showcase title this week is a remaster of a 13-year-old game, accompanied by two decidedly middling selections (69 and 53 metacritic scores).

I am deeply unhappy with the scope of the price increase but have ultimately been leaning toward keeping my subscription because having so many indie titles at my disposal in the catalog has drastically changed what I choose to play for the better; I've spent so much time this year playing smaller games I wouldn't have ever paid attention to on my own. But Sony is really invested in pushing me in the other direction.

Not seeing good reasoning here. "Adjusting to market conditions" means they went as high as they believed they could bear, and the claim that they haven't raised prices in "many years" doesn't justify raising prices by $40 in one jump.

Lots of "consumers" this and that, as if we're all on board with the hikes because we just recognize so much value in the service.

I had thought for years that ACA had eliminated these kinds of plans. I'm guessing I heard about that being included in one of those infamous earlier drafts before the free-market neo-liberals ripped it apart.