JCO - 87 years and sharp as a truckload of tacks 📌

I won't be around much (if at all) this coming week due to building repairs taking place, for which we have boxed up most things and dust-sheeted the furniture. I'll heave a sigh of relief when it's over ... See ya. 🙆‍♀️

SOLASTA 2 will launch into early access in Q1 of 2026. You can download a free demo - which is what I did and ... Holymoly 😮 it says it's a pre-alpha build but it looks absolutely amazing and I experienced no technical issues. #RPG I enjoyed the first game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

"But she is still Helen Garner; even her own ageing is something to observe forensically." #authors #helengarner

KEEPER You can select each chapter, as you play and unlock them. Since there are so many secrets to uncover, this helps with replay. Another fantastic session with this magical game. I love Twig 🩷 sooo much! Thank you, Double Fine!

"Sam Altman, said in a blog that he was "struck" by how "deep" a connection between AI users and Japanese content there is." This is the second request to OpenAI coming from Japan.

"Obsidian announced a new public beta for Pillars of Eternity opens on November 5 for players on Steam and Xbox PC, which adds the turn-based mode." IGN didn't add this to their feed here - so for those few 🙋 who are interested in one of the best RPGs, I herewith offer you the info. 😎

"Art is just a mirror, and that's why we go see movies: to learn who we are," she told the New York Times in 2023.

I just finished this thriller and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Very smart, tightly constructed narrative that all comes together satisfyingly in the end. Also unexpectedly emotional impact. #books #authors #japan Have started another of his novels, and will also get Three Assassins. 😀

Sakura Wars PS4 (2020) The female characters are all wonderfully fleshed out and harbour enjoyable foibles. In case you don't know this game series (the original goes back to 1996), its a hybrid - mainly visual novel + dating sim with small mini game activities, plus tactical combat.

The Stanley Parable Some memorable moments 😲 before I finish with the game.

This is the first time I've seen an explanation for high cocoa prices that makes sense to me. There are likely more reasons than this, but poor management in Ivory Coast and Ghana (70% of the world's cocoa) looks to be an important factor. #chocolate

The Stanley Parable From the moment I started the game in Stanley's office, I had this overwhelming sense of Severance - just the ambience. Those corridors! Has anyone else had this sensation?

More details emerging about what sounds like a hybrid PC/Xbox. "The next-gen Xbox is taking a different route this time, but the expectation is the PS6 will be a more traditional console, offering genuinely exclusive games — as the PS5 does now."

#books #reading #mystery Just finished this story. 😮😮😮 I was gripped 🗜️ Anyone here read it too? Straightaway ordered Strange Rooms!

I've just received an update on my #psvita for this game! Version 1.01 😮😎👍 @tikipodltd.bsky.social 🌹

"No comment!" said Gemini. 😉

This just dropped today on GamePass: Bounty Star. Post-apocalyptic mech combat + cozy farming & base building. I really like the characters, VA and writing. The background lore to read is actually *interesting* 😮 Not a fancy game but visuals are nice and combat is manageable for me.👍

"Squeezing the pool of creatives willing to develop for the platform – a shrinking pool as even the head of Moon Studios, creator of longtime Xbox indie mascot Ori, suggests Xbox ain't worth the effort – would just be par for the course at this point." #xbox eviscerating itself with determination

In this twittering world... #poetry

In 8 hours, this new video goes live. #timetravel youtu.be/-sRUDbDiikU

"those who used ChatGPT to write showed significantly less activity in the brain networks associated with cognitive processing, attention and creativity." #education #AI Please do read! I know it's rather long - but really important!

"The end result is a bot that’s so good at stating the obvious it could actually make the gaming experience worse." #AI #copilot "Gaming Copilot is great at confidently lying to you, and that’s made all the worse when it’s done with an authoritative British accent." 😁💂

".. Bellow’s seductions were the acts of a “most insecure man,” and she never forgot a remark that he casually made: “Women are the rails on which men run.” Devastating profile. #writing #fiction #author

Always lovely to see our Japanese maple in fresh spring green 💚

#authors #fantasy #AI If you're a writer, this is tough. Writer Mark Lawrence conducted two tests (first one 2 years ago) and you can read the stories and also vote. Link below.

Yes! I'm playing the demo too and this is exactly how I feel about it. The tutorial is a marvel - so if you want to try your hand at a strategy RPG for the first time, this is an excellent starting point. 👍

#AtelierResRW Highlight: El Bell, the archaeology and ancient manuscripts expert. Her wit and humour provides a great counterbalance to Rias and Slade.

One to keep the brain cells in overdrive; the other to relax and enjoy being an explorer of ancient ruins. 😀 #FFTactics #AtelierResRW

My copy of Atelier Resleriana finally arrived, from Canada! So happy to be gambolling through a classic Atelier adventure with 2 eminently likeable characters (reminds me a bit of Escha & Logy).

Bound to be popular, eh? Nothing that can go wrong, either ... 😵‍💫 #AI #erotica

Scams scams scams ... and the victims go into emotional lockdown. 😟 webworm.substack.com/p/pigbutcher...

The frightening thing is: it's not just funny, it's all true. A Land of Nightmare Parody. #NewZealand #parody

#NobelPrize #Literature theconversation.com/a-great-pess...

Great article. Lots of clear-eyed analysis from someone who clearly knows what good lyrics are and how they're created. "Using words that sound nice together, that make a simple sentence slightly more complicated, is not what makes writing good."

Marina Hyde always writes trenchantly funny columns. "Hilariously, it seemed that the last entity on earth with the power to fight AI theft was OpenAI." #AI

Only a month away! 🎇⚔️

New Potatoes for Christmas! PoodlePa used the "compost tip" this year to grow our early spuds. Never seen such healthy looking taters! 😎

So looking forward to this! Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era #HoMM "flawlessly generic high-fantasy art style: fanciful, gold-rimmed and lushly colorful, with toylike knight figures scampering across the maps."

Woah. Now subtitles are being slaughtered via dubious software. Great video from Geoff Thew. #enshittification This atrocity hasn't reached NZ shores yet .. I bet it won't take long though. We'll finish watching Kaiji No. 8, S2, in subtitle comfort. youtu.be/B-DX0Zolr6g?...

I hope you enjoy this video. 😀 I had such a lot of fun making it - don't miss my talk with Morgana about the chocobos! youtu.be/EusnjsyYZr8

"people need to also feel good about where they play, and Microsoft is making it incredibly hard to feel good about Xbox right now. It's clearly reaching a crisis point."

#Enshittification Explained Extract from Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow

Good grief.😦 I went into my YouTube "Held" (spam bin) folder today and it was gross. Thankfully I'm doped up on painkillers rn. YouTube's algorithm is so poor that loads of lovely comments get trapped in there. Together with the evil ones. 👹 I reported one for accusing me of "stealing" from ... /2

This is what my PS5 Wishlist looks like a lot of the time. 😮 Anyone else ever see this?

Had to laugh about this. 😁 #FFTactics "Some other people would put Ninja ahead of Samurai, and that’s because they get a perverse satisfaction out of constantly having to revive them."

My most highly anticipated JRPG remaster/remake games of this season. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles.

They're using it in different ways, smaller or larger extent. #AI

Hello, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is moving ever closer. 🙋‍♀️