Hey, it's one of the scant few fighting games I'm competent at! Not usually one for "Mains" but Seong Mi-Na was the one I was best at (with Sophitia as an honorable mention). Wasn't bad with Groh either. #SoulCalibur

While I wait for my new (digital) copy of Bloodstained to download, I polished off Screamer's campaign. While I had fun with it overall, I also find myself pretty frustrated with its pacing. It really drags its feet throughout only to end *very* abruptly and unsatisfactory. /1

Well damn. Seems my old disc copy of Bloodstained got a scratch in its long rest in its case. Doesn't look like it works anymore. 😞 Physical media is important, but it *does* still have its downsides.

Made it to chapter four of Screamer. .....Talk about a "Space Race",am I right?🥁

I swear if Steam recommends me one more visual novel with a sibling as a love interest I'm going to toss my laptop into the river.

Forget to mention I watched cult classic The Rocketeer for the first time this morning. Fun movie, pretty rough round the edges (the big henchman's prostetic was...not the best effect) but it captured the appeal of pulp fiction pretty well. Oh, and Jennifer Connelly looks stunning. #Film

Oh good, another internecine argument about strategy, been what, about five minutes since the last one? Have we tried doing.....anything else? Sharing expertise? Lifting spirits? Organizing a fucking bake sale? I'll take anything.

You've chained your last Alice.

Morning folks. Look, I get that a lot of the news regarding gaming console pricing is dispiriting, but I think it's worth remembering that consoles have been crazy expensive, or crazy bad, before. Skipping a generation if you have to won't mean the ending of it forever like I see some saying. /1

Thanks at least in part to @hananomaude.bsky.social's recommendation, I'll be tackling Screamer next, which seemed to me to be akin to Initial D but significantly more violent, and as I think all racing games can be improved with significantly more violence I have high hopes.

My take on this interminable #GTA 6 discourse is that there sure is a lot of hype (and a high price) for a game that's had barely any *gameplay* details showcased. So far it's main selling point over 5 seems to be "Our characters are hot now" and "Hey, remember Vice City?"

Another very interesting article (and a good reminder that the colonial occupation of Korea was *always* awful, not just during the war years). While I don't share the political beliefs of someone who describes *themselves* as a nihilist, I certainly share Fumiko's bitter hatred of the Imperials.

People are missing the real insight here, which is that despite being sent out to the world on a supposedly important mission, Diana constantly has to drop everything and return in order to save the Amazons from dumb shit while they try to kill her. "Paradise" indeed.

Any and all hate aimed at Kara should be more justly directed at Lobo, who is *the worst*. We could have gotten weird shapshifting Matrix Supergirl, or the cursed horse man, or......I dunno, Dan Turpin? Instead, we are subjected to the curse of the Main Man.

Uh, why are we talking about slits?

Good article. The espionage gathered in Korea and Manchuria by groups like the Black Dragons were actually pretty helpful for Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, as the Russian side had little in the way of useful intelligence for most of it. /1

Black Dragon Society members employed Pan-Asianist rhetoric. They professed a belief in “the unity of all Asian peoples”. But this was a cover for Japanese imperialist leanings. Soon, they inserted themselves into military and political situations, both overseas and at home.

Not the main point here, obviously, but why does it look like the lovechild of a Gamecube and a speaker?

Morning folks. So, Britain gets a new PM, eh? Can't say I'm sad to see Starmer get the boot, but who's even left to try at this point? Alan Partridge?

A lot of people don't realise this but in the UK we have to replace our Prime Minister every two or three years or else the rights revert back to Marvel

Christ, is it just me, or has the political side of this place been really awful lately? No useful insights or world news, just people screaming at each other. Blech, might just let it fester for a while and talk about other things.

Morning all. Father's Day is....not a good time for me, so I might be a bit less cheerful today (I know, I'm normally a blinding ray of sunshine.) Hmm.....I guess I'd say, spare a thought for all those non-fathers who have filled the role when needed? Brothers, cousins, uncles, ect.

Here we have Captain America mocking a young woman over her fashion choices. The Sentinel of Liberty, everyone! I think I'm tapped out now. I gave Steve a fighting chance, I really did, but I can't see this book ever being even passable ever again. Guess I'm team Iron Man now? What a world. #Comics

I'm never been one for doomerism and cynicism at the best of times, but seeing my mother boiling in anxiety because all the folk she watches on social media are freaking her out about every potential "emergency" she could face has me down to my last nerve.

Sometimes I think Bluesky's reputation as a place for humorless knobs with bad politics to scream at each other with smarm and pretention is unearned. Then a post and discussion like this one shows up. A bad, unfunny joke leads to yet another circular firing squad. What a waste of everyone's time.

I was doing a little thinking, and while the relative lack of great black characters in gaming is still a problem, it is cheering to see how much more representative the field is today than just 20 years ago....even if half of them are comic book characters ported to a new medium. 😅 #Juneteenth

I curated a (mostly) exhaustive list of Juneteenth celebrations across the country. Chances are there’s one near you!

Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Presidents 2: The Secret of the Ooze.

Happy Juneteenth! There is still a long way to go to make things better, but this is a day to celebrate that change CAN happen, even when things are grim.

I'll do this myself too. Kept out Visual Novels and Free-to-Play games, since they seem like they'd belong on their own list.

Hey, Northern Europeans, which of the Nordic countries have beef with Sweden again? Is there a club I can join? 'Cause this shit *suuuuuuucks*.

I know I said I wasn't going to talk about the World Cup, but this is my one exception...more a plea, really. So, England fans: given the whole "outbreaks of racial violence" thing in the UK right now, please, please please be normal if your team loses. No racist graffiti this time, maybe?

Important thread. Posting on the Musk-owned conspiracy-obsessed far right outlet known as X in 2026 is the equivalent of advertising in the Ford-owned conspiracy-obsessed far right outlet called The Dearborn Independent in 1926.

This must have been.what is was like to hear Adolf Hitler complaining about Ernst Rohm.

Welp, that's a first playthrough of the Crimson Butterfly Remake done. Now on to New Game Plus to try to get an ending that *doesn't* feel actively spiteful and grim. At least there's still one of the best ending themes in the business to soften the blow a bit. #FatalFrame #YaeDidNothingWrong

Real talk though: while I believe there is still much thay can be saved/revived/fixed after this mess is done....I don't think the reputation of journalism is one of those things. My personal dissapointment is both immense and likely permanent.

Finally made it out of the 90s on my Captain America read-though, thank Thor. I know Mark Waid is a good writer with several great stories under his belt, but I don't think he pulled off Cap well. The whole decade seems to have done irreparable damage to the character, I think. /1 #Comics

You know that trope about how Allied airmen were nowhere to be seen during the Battle of France in 1940? How about we let one of the men in charge have his say… achurchill.substack.com/p/article-th...

One of my goals recently has been to expand my horizons when it comes to sci-fi, particularly on tv. Right now I'm watching Counterpart, with J.K. Simmons in the lead role. Only a few episodes in, but I'm definitely intrigued. Pretty inventive spy thriller. It's fun that it's set in Germany too.

Because there's still relevance in a story about flawed but good people trying their best to resist both tyranny and their own worst impulses. Also because I want more of Hondo.

So, the current "Peace Plan" involves giving the Iranian regime *billions* of dollars? So, what, they can gold-plate Evin's torture chambers? What a disgusting fucking disaster this whole thing has been. Utterly demoralizing.

This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.

It's the tough mineral that won't cop out when the ghostly heat is all about! #FatalFrame

This is a very interesting thread. I realised (slowly) as an adult that I had been raised to look down on America and above all on Americans, and to dismiss / belittle what they said, by both the anglo and Italian sides of my family.

Congratulations to Knack for winning the NBA finals.

Wife’s out of town for the next five days. Kids busy doing their thing. Finding zero joy in gaming lately so I’m gonna start chipping away at my movie watchlist Also here’s my Letterboxd if anyone wants to follow: boxd.it/HjDD First up: Send Help (2026)

Morning folks. Despite being a fan of soccer (don't be tedious about the name, please), I'm not going to watch the Workd Cup at all. It's not even due to this current administration, I made that decision after the debacle with Qatar. FIFA is just fundamentally unsupportable. /1

Okay, if we're going to be taling the whole "too many games" thing sorta seriously, here's my two cents: most people are only going to be genuinely interested in a fraction of what's on offer. You really don't *need* to get every game immediately upon release. Just take a breath and chill out.

The biggest thing I've learned from all the Captain America comics I've gotten through so far-up to 1999- is how much I prefer Sam Wilson as a character to Steve. Sam's an actual person! Instead of an action figure that says the same inspirational speeches over and over when you pull his string.