Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

There’s a hidden advantage here apart from moving away from Microsoft, or having 1st party controller support.

Game devs will have a precise target to optimize for.

If enough steam machines and steam decks are out there, it simplifies porting software since you have a handful of fixed targets to hit. A studio could easily buy a few of these appliances for testing and development, and know for certain the product will run as intended. It’s a luxury currently enjoyed by consoles, and it really does help their dominance in their respective niches.

This also helps smaller studios since the bare minimum means targeting a known steam platform, rather than pulling machine specs out of thin air and taking their best shot. It’s a much easier problem to solve and takes a lot less time and money.

I think there will always be room for high-end gaming, but as long as you’re “steam machine 2025 compatible” or whatever, you know what you’re going to get.

<< The Monkey’s Paw Curls >>

2026 marks the first year in American history where a completely home-grown pandemic forces borders to close, and air-traffic to be redirected as to avoid receiving American passengers. The EU, Arab League, and countless other countries congratulate themselves on rapidly orchestrating the containment of the disease to the USA; truly a landmark moment for international relations. Meanwhile, a Georgetown-based super-PAC “La di libertine” gains untold amounts of influence in government, following an uncannily well-timed short-sale of AI-based stocks. When asked about speculations as to their ties to Italian crime syndicates and fascist hardliners, they declined to comment.

Narrator: And that’s when the Fire Nation attacked.

I predict a whole “Weekend at Bernie’s” DeathGate scandal where a whole bunch of executive actions and auto-pen shenanigans happen posthumously under his name, even though Vance is right there. Why? Because it’s exactly the same kind of greedy and stupid this administration has demonstrated so far.

I already learned my lesson here.

Last time I said something like that was November of 2019.

There has to be a better name for that.

Exactly. It befell the same fate as the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, complete with an insane ending that was improvised and duct-taped to the end of an otherwise perfect series. At least they had enough wisdom to soft-reboot it, so they could finish the series the same way the manga did.

Dragonball Z also gets an honorable mention here, where the animation team was constantly at risk of getting ahead of the manga, so they had to build in LOTS of filler episodes to buy time.

I was gonna say. There’s none added because that’s what they are.

“Oops, all preservatives.”

Malicious compliance writ large.

Also, the number of hurdles you have to clear for this tells volumes about where the site owner priorities lie.

Maybe an AI-upscaled version of a reposted low-res (and on the way to being deep-fried) jpeg?

I really appreciate that there’s one character in Demon Hunter that has a gun. It works, and is incredibly effective… against lower-level demons. The world-ending upper-rank variety need at least a decapitation, and half the time, a secondary decapitation or dismemberment of some kind. Simply asploding demon parts with one or two shotgun slugs is not enough in that case.

As a storytelling device, it really grounds the entire power-system in both the supernatural and super-human. We get periodically reminded that a gun absolutely holds its own in raw firepower, but the situation is just a bit more of a problem than it can handle.

Maybe. Depends on how well-sealed those bearings are.

You’d need ambush tactics

Smoke and rockets. At least until supplies run out. Then you get crafty: sticky bombs, fire traps, optical illusions, nets…

The last one is interesting since I bet they’re not dexterous enough to undo knots, let alone handle being tangled up in something. Once you know how they’re programmed, you hit them outside that envelope.

Possibly, but I’ll bet it’s too coarse to get into things. Middle-east environments are likely to be well within the operating requirements for any military-hardened versions. So think: dust, dirt, dry clay, and sand.

Diatomaceous earth, and any super-fine starch that can absorb lubricants would be my best bet here. A very, very finely pulverized sand or glass might also do the job. It might also be worthwhile to see what solvents and chemicals can penetrate sealed bearings, eat wire insulation, and corrode water-resistant alloys. Heh, maybe just a jar of brake cleaner would work.