We Are The Worst

This is the feed for news about the video game industry. Tom's Hardware is posting articles about a mobile software developer accusing Intel of shipping, not just bin units, but broken units. We aren't talking floating point bugs, but full-on failure. A developer with the merit of a single mobile game is getting the internet Toxic Avenger bump because something has to get clicks. Nevermind that people that read data sheets (usually a sign of a decent engineer) have found the problem is a tech bro mentality error. 

Now confirmed board issue. (https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/new_raptor_lake_microcode_limits/)

But that is the problem, isn't it? At the very heart of the industry there is a blame shifting stance from everyone. Techland needs everyone to come back to the office because the model that killed an inspired Hellraid for an uninspired and derivative Dying Light 2 isn't the problem, it's "lack of collaboration". 

Collector discs are cheap CD-R. Data Rot incoming, brought to you by the champions of preservation. Where is the accountability?

Just wait until Stellar Blade 2 is always online and full of microtransactions because "they need to run a business". 

If you get anything for your money, that is. Why give you anything at all other than access to customer service, maybe.

While Nintendo seems to be chugging along, the rest of the industry is like a bad joke. People like to point to a burgeoning indie space, but that is like pointing to the one influencer living out of their car and assuming all those homeless people must be aspiring influencers. Trending on Steam doesn't instantly equal health insurance and a house. It might mean paying off a ton of accrued debt.

The blame ultimately lands on the shoulders of those people. The people that tune into an influencer and create a reality on that gospel. People that log onto Steam just to scroll the endless library, buy a $5 game and play it once, ignoring who made it, and log off. The consumers that eat-up MMO transactions and subscription fee plans because they just need a hit of that sweet, sweet stim. We, the consumer, have ruined the product we consume so dedicatedly. Like eating Taco Bell, we pay more for worse quality food, ignore the food trucks and mexican restaurants that make better food for less, and ultimately are just there because we are sheep, fly-bitten sheep, covered in mud, blood, and feces. We aren't goated. We won't jump the fence and eat the herbs. We just stay because we are too afraid that if we stray, if we walk away from the billion dollar publishers and the tech bro developers, that we might actually get a taste of freedom. We might get more out of life than watching team Lets Go play another game and that scares us. If we put down our phones, keyboards, controllers and mice for a second, we might actually take some responsibility and start doing something to make the world outside of our screens one worth enjoying.

We don't need to touch grass. We need to get out.