So many layers.

The cheats thing is really irritating. When I replay a game I prefer to skip as much tedium as I can, because even when it’s enjoyable the first time, on replay it starts to feel like… tedium.

I’ll use new game plus for this when it’s offered (Last of Us 1 & 2, for instance), but lately I’ve been relying on cheats if needed. I just replayed Control this way and it’s just such a smoother experience. I don’t need to slog through the slow strength building, just let me hit all the story beats.

First two books in the series were “Fellowship of the King” and “The Two Trees” so…I’m not entirely convinced they were even very original stories…

One of the earliest pieces of media I can remember consuming was the mid-90s TV show Viper, where James played the main character. I remember very little about the show except James’s face and that he played his character cool as fuck.

I’ve been replaying Alan Wake and Control recently, and I have such a soft spot for his roles in them because I loved that stupid show when I was a kid.

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…don’t think that’s what the referenced paper was saying. First of all, Toner didn’t co-author the paper from her position as an OpenAI board member, but as a CSET director. Secondly, the paper didn’t intend to prescribe behaviors to private sector tech companies, but rather investigate “[how policymakers can] credibly reveal and assess intentions in the field of artificial intelligence” by exploring “costly signals…as a policy lever.”

The full quote:

By delaying the release of Claude until another company put out a similarly capable product, Anthropic was showing its willingness to avoid
exactly the kind of frantic corner-cutting that the release of ChatGPT appeared to spur. Anthropic achieved this goal by leveraging installment costs, or fixed costs that cannot be offset over time. In the framework of this study, Anthropic enhanced the credibility of its commitments to AI safety by holding its model back from early release and absorbing potential future revenue losses. The motivation in this case was not to recoup those losses by gaining a wider market share, but rather to promote industry norms and contribute to shared expectations around responsible AI development and deployment.

Anthropic is being used here as an example of “private sector signaling,” which could theoretically manifest in countless ways. Nothing in the text seems to indicate that OpenAI should have behaved exactly this same way, but the example is held as a successful contrast to OpenAI’s allegedly failed use of the GPT-4 system card as a signal of OpenAI’s commitment to safety.

To more fully understand how private sector actors can send costly signals, it is worth considering two examples of leading AI companies going beyond public statements to signal their commitment to develop AI responsibly: OpenAI’s publication of a “system card” alongside the launch of its GPT-4 model, and Anthropic’s decision to delay the release of its chatbot, Claude.

Honestly, the paper seems really interesting to an AI layman like me and a critically important subject to explore: empowering policymakers to make informed determinations about regulating a technology that almost everyone except the subject-matter experts themselves will *not fully understand.

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.

I’m one of the weird ones who kinda liked the batmobile. Game just felt really good to play although no argument that it was off balance, especially in the narrative department.

I feel like that list wouldn’t actually be that diverse.

Arkham City
Spider-Man 2018
Arkham Asylum
Spider-Man 2
Arkham Knight?

I’d check the video to see if he lists them out, but I must have some kind of analogy dyslexia, because as much as I respect ACG, his reviews start to sound like gibberish after about the 3rd consecutive analogy.

It’s official, folks. Unfetter your hype and submit those pre-orders if you’re inclined.

I have to say, I’m surprised they brought back the MJ missions. I’m trying to remember how much I enjoyed them on my first playthrough, but I can say in subequent ones I was desperate to move past them. Maybe they’ll let you skip them in new game plus like they did for the science “puzzles” in the first game.

Edit: obligatory bring-back-original-peterface. I feel a twinge of bitterness every time I see peterface 2.0.

Google may be evil, but you can’t deny they still attract top talent.