My 5.25" internal BD drive for my computer has a problem where it won't reliably open when it's empty, but has no issues when there's a disc inside. I have therefore found the ideal disc to use as a permanent resident: one that's professionally manufactured, commonplace and valueless, and useless.

I'm having a great time with Ninja Gaiden 4. It occupies an interesting triple middle ground between Itagaki NG design (enemies are extremely aggressive), Sigma (reduced enemy counts, more enemy HP), and Platinum (perfect dodges and parries). Izuna Drop into Ultimate Technique feels so good.

And that's Hollow Knight completed. Incredible game. Sure didn't feel like 30+ hours!

Just used ExplorerPatcher to remove the rounded corners in Windows 11 (and, for consistency, figured out the css tweak to do the same on my Ubuntu laptop). Windowed rectangular image + rounded corners = cropped image. "But it's only a few pixels!" I don't care, stop it. Objectively wrong design.

If I didn't have Fortnite Crew, I'd be cancelling now. Even with that, I'm making a list of games to finish and then re-evaluate continuing my subscription.

And bit the bullet and updated my primary desktop to Windows 11 due to the #Endof10. That was surprisingly pain free. Only two showstopping errors that required me to search for forum posts to get solutions and continue onwards. Sadly, I count that as pretty good by modern computing standards.

With the #Endof10 approaching, I put Ubuntu on my aging Acer Switch 2-in-1. Tried OpenSUSE, Fedora, and Zorin, but only Ubuntu played nice with the touchscreen and automatically called up an on-screen keyboard when in tablet mode, so that's what I'm going with.

"Nominee who does not believe in implicit right to privacy gets personal demonstration in the implications of his belief." Conservatives only understand things when they get directly affected and still somehow missed the object lesson (apart from the band-aid legislation around rental records).

Tried out #Ludocene. Took me 30 cards before it gave me anything that even approached being an action game, and it was Hades, and then it was just endless roguelites after that. I don't think anyone there enjoys action games. Maybe it's great if you really like indie narrative games and cozy games?

I got my first RetroAchievements mastery!

Does Microsoft understand consent? • No • Ask later

Never have I been less mad to die in Fortnite.

At last, the trilogy is complete. The third Valis collection is the cool one for sickos because it has the really dank versions like PC88 Valis 1 and MSX2 Valis 2.

Saw Sinners in IMAX last night. What a film! Embraces horror and music with equal fervour. Smart, stylish, and not ashamed of its genre inspirations. That one musical sequence (if you've seen it, you know which one) is going to live forever.

Tested out my new Anbernic Arc-S with the funniest possible first game.

Age eventually catches up. I came off of a search & rescue shift that was more eventful than I would've liked, and now everything hurts. This is actually the first time I've gone "I can't do this anymore" and it's actually scary to think about my own mortality.

I guess I'll do a thread about the #SteamNextFest demos that I play through. store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest

The Truxton Extreme demo is actually pretty good! I'm very pleasantly surprised.

I have become a terrible landlord in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Villager is a big eater? Evicted! Slacker? Evicted! Timid but I need loggers or miners? Evicted! I feel bad but ya gotta make that bar chart go up.

This probably won't last long, but I'm currently #1!

Never thought I'd see the day when both of these games have basically flawless arcade ports on a single console.

Clarice finally found the ideal of man.

Last night I dreamed that I was in an electronics store, looking at a new line of all-in-one media players that could handle VHS, Bluray, and Laserdisc. Then I woke up and was sad.

Got back from Mexico last night. I think this is my favourite picture that I took during the trip.

For today's game I embark on Kim-Venture, a highly unusual adventure game on the KIM-1, a system with a "calculator display" that could only display six characters at a time and had a ludicrously small memory capacity. bluerenga.blog/2025/02/10/k...

Anything can be painted a failure if the execs determining the success criteria set up impossible conditions and hand-pick the metrics for evaluation. Andrew Wilson's measure for success is Ultimate Team revenue (which itself is on the decline...), so anything that can't pull equivalent is a failure

Killed my Filco Majestouch 3 keyboard by spilling tea on it :( It was so bad that it actually shut off my computer (don't use PS/2 in 2025, kids) Replaced it with a $40 CAD MSI GK310 keyboard. Does it feel quite as good? No. But it's about 95% as good at 20% of the price, so I'm pretty happy.

I have successfully upgraded my Atari VCS with 32gb of RAM and a 1tb SSD.

Rats. My primary keyboard died (Filco Majestouch 3) so now I'm using my Model M. Which is great, but not ideal for gaming.

Okay and Ninja Gaiden II Black but come on, of course I had to check that out.

I have been playing almost nothing but Fortnite and Zenless Zone Zero the past week. I have become the Normal Gamer.

Also finished the Cold Cold Heart DLC. Excellent retelling of the Mr. Freeze story. The (very few) detective sequences are even better than in Origins. But as Origins is a worse City in combat and stealth, this is a worse Origins. Some totally unenjoyable encounters, and a terrible boss fight. 2/5

Finally finished Batman: Arkham Origins. Story-wise, it's very good. As far as making you feel like Batman, this game absolutely nails it - detective mode is great. But combat and stealth are just Arkham City but worse, with less enjoyable setups. And the Dark Knight progression system is awful. 3/5

Spent ages loading Dreamcast games onto a 512gb SD card, only to have it fail completely. Oh well, guess I'll wait for black Friday and pick up some more cards. In the meantime, here's the selection of games I threw onto an 8gb card:

So I installed a (clone) GDEmu in my Dreamcast yesterday, and what am I doing? Playing Dead or Alive 2, a game I own on disc.

Instant noodles taste better in the dead of night.

Thank you, past me, for correctly predicting that I would occasionally run into devices that need IEC C7 power cables but do not come with them, and stocking up on a few spare of both the polarized and non-polarized types.

Not sure I should be happy or concerned to randomly come across a Japanese-region Dead or Alive 2 for Dreamcast as I retrieve some cables. On one hand, it's a nice surprise. On the other hand, what does it say about me that I don't remember how I acquired this?

Finished career mode of PowerWash Simulator. That was a nice low-key game. Relaxing and satisfying cleaning with no pressure (har har).

Does anyone know if Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition came with a manual? Or, more generally, is there any good database of modern video games that have manuals?

Finished Warhammer 40000: Boltgun. Not really a boomer shooter - it's Doom 2016 with sprites. The first episode is the strongest part. The second and third episodes aren't nearly as good. The bosses depend on constantly spawning adds, and the final boss is the same thing three times in a row. 2/5

I made and ate an amazing Salisbury steak for dinner tonight. Thick, tender, and juicy, covered in delicious gravy. #food

A-Train 5 on both PS1 & PC has an intro movie that looks like prerendered CG, but what you might not know is that it's actually video of a *realtime* intro demo from the PC version, except you needed a PowerVR card to even load it, and a rad person recently captured it. Keep in mind this is 1996:

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is still yellow paint indicating ledges that you can jump to.

This controller is exactly as stupid as I hoped it would be.