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how's your week going, Beehaw
  • Looking at the replies on that open ai thread, and how many of people are just going on rooting for ai companies just taking other people's work without their consent, is alarming, also probably signals that this community might not be for me.

    Thank you for everything, and sadly I think I might leave beehaw altogether.

    (cue snarky replies, like bye don't care, etc)

  • OpenAI says it’s “impossible” to create useful AI models without copyrighted material
  • https://petapixel.com/2024/01/03/court-docs-reveal-midjourney-wanted-to-copy-the-style-of-these-photographers/

    What's stopping AI companies from paying royalties to artists they ripped off?

    Also, lol at accounts created within few hours just to reply in this thread.

    The moment their works are the one that got stolen by big companies and driven out of business, watch their tune change.

    Edit: I remember when Reddit did that shitshow, and all the sudden a lot of sock / bot accounts appeared. I wasn't expecting it to happen here, but I guess election cycle is near.

  • 10 Days Into 2024 And 2300+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced
  • We all could see that Unity's layoff was coming, that pricing backlash not only drove away many developers, also probably was driven by troubling financial within the organization.

    Twitch is sort of unexpected, but when I see the number of impromptu rules they rolled out and rolled back last year, whether from restricting multi-streaming, to limiting showing brands logo on stream, to restricting / unrestricting female streamers from showing too much skin, etc. I assume that means that even with all those intrusive ads, Twitch is still losing money.

    I guess from now on, when a tech company starts to arbitrarily change their T&C / rules to either protect their revenue / market share, and maybe rolling back from backlashes, then it's a sign that there's trouble brewing (if you work at those companies, beware)

  • OpenAI says it’s “impossible” to create useful AI models without copyrighted material
  • Try to train a human comedian to make jokes without ever allowing him to hear another comedian’s jokes, never watching a movie, never reading a book or magazine, never watching a TV show. I expect the jokes would be pretty weak.

  • Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI
  • I've seen quality drops of Duolingo, ever since their ... IPO, sadly.

    Anyway, here's some ways you can milk the rest of the Duolingo before completely abandoning it.

    • Use the web version, and type in all the answers if it's possible. Selecting words are good for introducing new words (and reminder in case you forgot), but by typing it on your own, it's faster to commit into memory.
    • Use classroom mode to get unlimited hearts, create your own classroom and invite yourself in. I assume that Duolnigo will probably eventually stop this loophole
    • Use search engine to search for the sentences you're unsure of. No, don't use machine translation, but search on the internet, and see if the sentence ever being used by the sites (news, academic, or personal homepage) using the target language.

    I sadly still don't know what other comparable free alternatives to Duolingo. Anki is great, but it's largely flashcard for words, not sentences (unless you want to create your own deck). The others require subscription fee.

    Other methods? Search for pdf of language grammar files, there are a lot out there. Some are godawful to read, especially those 'Comprehensive Grammar Guide' books. Some are amazing, e.g. Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese.

  • Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI
  • Yeah, this is frustrating.

    I can handle absurd sentences like "The dog is cooking the dinner", and actually finds them beneficial because it prevents me from guessing the whole sentence.

    But this is a sign that not enough human efforts are poured into create permutation of the answers.

  • Tekken 8 - “Story So Far” with Brian Cox

    I am loving the absurdity of Manhunter's Brian Cox explaining who's throwing who into volcano.

    But I guess dysfunctional family theme suits Logan Roy.

    Also I'd be furious if Tekken 8 doesn't have anyone being thrown into a volcano

    In the season finale of Succession, Logan Roy threw all his children (and cousin Greg) into a volcano.

    !image

    1
    Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of January 7th
  • I've just finished replaying the base FF7 Remake, in preparation of FF7 Rebirth. Also I haven't touched INTERmission yet.

    Some of the games that I'm excited to play in 2024: FF7 Rebirth, Metaphor ReFantazio, Eiyuuden Chronicles, and maybe Dragon's Dogma 2.

  • Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of January 7th

    Shows / movies that I dropped halfway:

    • Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves
      • somehow it didn't grab me, dropped it halfway thru. Many people said it's good, but the jokes are okay, nothing interesting
    • Onihei S01
      • Somehow it just doesn't manage to grab me, dropped it after second episode, especially when I read that there's not really an ending by the end of the show.

    I've finished watching

    • Record of Ragnarok S01
      • really loving the over-the-top fights between gods and humans. I'm excited for the next season
    • Fringe S05
      • Man, Fringe is now probably my most favorite show. S05 might not hit as hard as S03 or S04, but it ties up everything nicely. The show wouldn't leave such a lasting impression on me if not for the character Walter Bishop, and of course John Noble did a great job portraying him
    • Killing It S02
      • It's not as good as the first season. They focused too much on side characters that are not funny at all.
    • The X-Files S02
      • X-Files gets really good on season two. The stories involving Mulder's family is really intriguing. I'm excited to watch the next season now.
    • Look Around You S01
      • I've watched bits and pieces of this on YouTube. OMG, the whole season is just amazing. Every single detail is fucking hilarious.

    Started / still watching

    • The Simpsons S04
      • This season definitely feels better than previous ones. There's absurd humor that hits hard, e.g. rent a big brother, etc.
    • Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still S01
      • Dunno how I feel about it yet. It feels too old-ish, and each episode lasts for an hour. If it doesn't pick up, I might drop it.
    • Snuff Box S01
      • So far, this is another good Matt Berry show. The humor is closer to Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, and probably better than first season of Toast of London
    • The Outer Limits (1995) S01
      • I've only watched the first episode, I guess it sets the tone of sci-fi twilight zone, but with bummer ending. Also the first episode is like 90 mins, bit too long
    • Person of Interest S01
      • I've just watched 2 episodes, and I know that this is going to be good. I am having a crime drama fatigue, but POI is different.

    So, what have you been watching last week?

    8
    Who is this guy? Why is he the face of MEV scam, with ads placed all over YouTube?

    I normally use yt-dlp to download youtube videos, but sometimes I'd go and visit homepage to see if there's anything interesting.

    Then I kept seeing this guy showing up. I don't think he placed all the ads, because one of the entities that placed the ad seem to be based on India. Anyway, there are many variations to this ad (mostly in term of the money they earned), but the video content is always the same.

    I reported the ads many times, Google can't decide whether it's a con, because they told me they can't find anything wrong with one of them, and then told me they have actioned on the other one.

    Anyway, just out of morbid curiosity, anyone knows who that guy is?

    MEV is another crypto thing btw.

    4
    Getting Back Into Music
  • I was looking for a Sitar, it was really expensive.

    Anyway, if you're looking into beginner music theory, musictheory.net is a good place to start.

    The moment I understand how to do all the diatonic seventh chords of a key, how to construct scales & chords, and how it ties to modes, it makes a lot of thing easier to process. E.g. knowing what notes / chords to play when you're in certain key.

    It's even easier when applied to guitar, since I can learn D minor 7 in one shape, and I can use the same shape for all other minor 7 chords (in the same inversion).

    I have a hard time finding free piano sheet music, so I mostly use MusicNotes, which is not free, and the viewer is really not good. For guitar, maybe spend some money on Guitar Pro, and go to ultimate-guitar.com to find tabs to download.

    To delve more about piano chords, I use Chordie App, but if you're just venturing out, I don't think you should get it yet.

  • Seems like the rest of the free games from Epic Store have been leaked

    It's a tweet from user PC_Focus_ that states:

    The next Epic Store FREE games has been leaked:

    13th game: Ghostrunner

    14th game: Escape Academy

    15th game: 20 minutes till dawn

    16th game: A plague tale innocence

    17th game: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

    46
    Need help finding a controller for less than 50€
  • I have the 8BitDo Pro 2 controller, it's great.

    However the thumbstick's rubber eventually crumbled off after a year or so, so I 3D printed these replacements (it's for SF30, but fits Pro 2), then I got cheap Switch thumbsticks rubber pad to put on top of them. IIRC, you might be able to request thumbstick replacement from them. The 3D printed treplacement + cheap caps feels kinda better than the original.

    image

  • Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of December 31st
  • I finished (again) God of War 2018. I thought it was going to sour on me, just like how my 2nd playthrough of Horizon Zero Dawn did (and subsequently my 1st playthrough of Forbidden West). But no, it's still a very good game. Combat is simple but still satisfying, side quests aren't excessive like Forbidden West, story is still good but less intense than TLoU. My only complaint is that the fast travel is just way too slow. I'm looking forward to Ragnarök now.

    Here are some games that I really enjoyed playing/replaying last year
    • FINAL FANTASY XVI
    • Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
    • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion
    • Live A Live
    • PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
    • Tactics Ogre: Reborn
    • The Case of the Golden Idol
    • Voodoo Detective
    • Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising
    • Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
    • Sword of the Vagrant
    • Tail Concerto
    • The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble
    • Wild Arms
    • Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
    • Ys: Memories of Celceta
    • Zero Escape Trilogy
    • God of War

    My top is probably FF16, I have soft spot for this type of siblings story, also loving the Asura's Wrath section.

  • Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of December 31st

    First of all, Meowwy Quismois and Happy Meow Year 2020 everyone.

    Here are some movies that I watched:

    • Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
      • 2.5 hours is a bit too long. But this is a great movie. I read that there is an American movie, Anatomy of a Murder that seems to have similar setup / feel, aka clinical, doesn't have excessive melodrama. Maybe I should watch that too. Also the prosecutor is an asshole.
    • Identity (2003)
      • This is not as bad as I thought. I truly enjoyed this movie, it's a fun mystery thriller. The twist is not amazing, but it's okay
    • A Separation (2011)
      • It's a good movie but it feels frustrating at parts. The focus should be on the children being torn apart between adults separating / fighting.
    • Top Secret! (1984)
      • I watched this when I was a kid, and I'm still liking it. Probably not as much as other Abraham & Zuck's works. Somehow this version that I watched doesn't have the scene involving Val Kilmer crawling out from a rhino.

    The TV shows that I started and dropped halfway:

    • Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness S01
      • It's not that it's atrocious, it's just that I like Resident Evil when it's B-movie awkward lines movie. This mini-series is just bit too serious
    • DuckTales S01
      • I remember having really good memories of this show. But now it feels like the show is probably geared towards young children.

    Shows that I've been watching:

    • The Ministry of Time S01
      • Finished the first season. The show started off fun, especially when there are anachronistic scenes (people in the past using contemporary tech gadgets), but halfway thru the season, it veered into soapy telenovela melodrama which I dislike (the reason I dropped La Casa de Papel). But by the end of the season, chef's kiss
      • spoiler

        That character who kept clinging on his dead wife, ended up as the person who caused her death

    • Review S02
      • This season is definitely better than the first. I like the overarching story where Forrest's commitment to the show completely destroys his family relationship. Interested to see what's gonna happen in the next season
    • The Simpsons S04
      • Still okay
    • The X-Files S02
      • I'm halfway thru the season now and I'm loving the Mulder's family's arc
    • Fringe S05
      • I can see why this season is not as good as others, largely because of the abrupt change of setting from season 4. So far it's still good.
    • Killing It S02
      • I like the first season largely because Claudia O'Doherty's delivery of absurd lines are hilarious. This season seems to focus too much on side characters that aren't too funny.
    • Record of Ragnarok S01
      • This is great. Wasn't expecting to be hooked by it. It's basically Celebrity Deathmatch, but between gods from various mythologies and .. historical humans. And every fight is like Super Saiyan over the top battles with power creep and bombastic moves. I'm loving it.

    So, what have you all been watching?

    9
    OpenEmu 2.4.1 has been released

    It was buggy and not updated for quite sometime after Apple switched to Mac silicon.

    Maybe I can finally go back and play Saturn games on my Mac

    4
    Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of December 24th

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Here's the TV shows I watched last week:

    • Archive 81 S01
      • Finished it, this is a solid horror show. Bummer that it's canceled after 1st season
        spoiler

        I like how it became more eldritch horror involving time travel and alternate universe

    • X-Men Evolution S01
      • This just doesn't grab me, the whole season seems to be aimed at high school students. X-Men The Animated Show is better in every way. Heard that S02 fixes some of the writing though
    • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S05
      • I read Stone Ocean years ago, and it's great to see it in motion. The ending hit me hard, was not expecting it.
    • The X-Files S02
      • I enjoyed this season more than the first one, especially the ones involving extra-terrestrials.
    • 30 Rock S02
      • Finished it. I really enjoyed how absurd some of the humors are.
    • The Ministry of Time (El ministerio del tiempo) S01
      • I dislike the melodrama / soapy parts, which I find bit common in Spanish movies / shows. What I really like is the fish out of water part, where people from other era uses contemporary tech items. There's this one scene where the man is in 18th century, and he whipped out a Toshiba-like notebook and a scanner. Somehow reminds me of Beforeigners, which I really like.

    Some of the movies I watched:

    • The White Storm 2: Drug Lords (2019)
      • This is worse than the first one. Too much melodrama
    • Gangs of Wasseypur - Part II (2012)
      • I like part 2 bit more than first part, but they definitely need some trimmings. The 2nd part is bit more brutal than the first one, however I find some characters might be under-developed, e.g. Definite.
    • The Creator (2023)
      • The story didn't grab me. The visuals are amazing though.

    What have you been watching last week?

    4
    FFVII Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi says that Cait Sith's name is pronounced "Cat Shee."

    !image

    A screenshot of a tweet from user ShinraArch (Shinra Archaeology Department) that says "FFVII Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi says that Cait Sith's name is pronounced "Cat Shee." (Game Informer Shows, 12/21/2023)". Attached on the tweet is a 3D model of Cait Sith from FF7 Rebirth on a black background

    I am hoping someone, just someone, maybe Cid or Red XIII would call him Cat Shit.

    17
    All of Insomniac's upcoming titles have leaked
    www.resetera.com All of Insomniac's upcoming titles have leaked Rumor - Sony

    Marvel's Venom in Fall 2025 Marvel's Wolverine in Fall 2026 Marvel's Spider-Man 3 in Fall 2028 New Ratchet & Clank in Fall 2029 Marvel's X-Men in Fall 2030 New IP in 2031/2032 This slide is dated July 2023.

    All of Insomniac's upcoming titles have leaked Rumor - Sony

    I believe Insomniac were hacked / ransomwared last week or something. Apparently here's the leak of all their upcoming titles.

    !image

    a horizontal timeline chart showing the possible release year of Insomniac upcoming titles: Spider-Man 2 around end of 2023, Marvel's Venom around end of 2025, Wolverine around end of 2026, Spider-Man 3 around end of 2028, Ratchet and Clank around end of 2029, Marvel's X-Men around end of 2030, and tentative new IP between 2031 to 2032

    18
    Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of December 17th, 2023
    I've finished:
    • Fringe S04:
      • completely loving this season, so many interesting twists and turns
    • What We Do In The Shadows S03:
      • It's ok, there's no laugh out loud moment for me, just couple of chuckles. Still love Matt Berry
    • The Thick of It S01:
      • Again, no LOL moment, just a few chuckles. Also, maybe political comedy is just not for me
    • Love Death & Robots S01:
      • There are some good ones, but I dislike some of the zany episodes, just not my taste. I do appreciate that some episodes are just around 15 mins
    • Amazing Stories 1985 S01:
      • Very boring, it is not Twilight Zone. I might drop the whole thing.
    I'm still watching:
    • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S05:
      • Still really good. I just realized that, starting from certain arc (maybe Joseph's), the main characters / party members seem to be shouting / screaming a lot.
    Starting:
    • 30 Rock S02:
      • I am really enjoying this second season, there's a lot of absurd situations
    • Archive 81 S01:
      • Enjoying it, I like that it's not supernatural (your typical ghosts / satan) horror. Kinda like the twist
    • X-Men Evolution S01:
      • This feels like it's geared towards highschool kids. The 97 animated series feels more... mature / adult oriented?
    • The X-Files S02:
      • Definitely moves faster than S01. I am really liking this season.

    So, what have you been watching last week?

    Edit: I always forgot that I watched some movies too:

    Here they are
    • Freelance (2023):
      • not interesting at all, dropped it halfway
    • Elle (2016):
      • this is Paul Verhoeven's French movie. It's a really interesting movie, doubly so when you realized what's actually happening
    • Alone Across Arctic (2019):
      • Sadly I don't find the documentary interesting enough
    • Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1 (2012)
      • This is a good Hindi language movie, somehow reminds me of the golden era of Hong Kong's triad movies. But there are parts that definitely could be trimmed. 2½ hour is just bit way too long.
    • Butcher's Crossing (2023)
      • I watched it because I have the sick urge to watch all Nic Cage's movies. I think this is one of those direct to DVD ones. Something about hunting bisons. Very boring.
    8
    Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of December 10th, 2023

    I don't have a lot to add to, still watching the same TV shows:

    • Fringe is still good
    • What We Do in the Shadows is okay, got me some chuckles, but no laugh out loud moments yet
    • Amazing Stories (1985) is still boring
    • JoJo's Stone Ocean arc is still great
    • Love, Death, & Robots' tones are still all over the place

    The only other thing that I watched is David Fincher's The Killer. While I don't dislike it, I am just not feeling it, unlike other Fincher's works.

    Edit: I forgot that I did watch 2 other movies, Predators (2010) and Bad Boys II, I barely remembered anything happened in Predators, on the other hand, I find Bad Boys II ok, it suffers from Michael Bay's excessive cuts without breathing moment.

    So, what have you been watching last week?

    10
    Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of December 3rd, 2023

    Here are some shows that I have watched or have been watching

    • Fringe (S04)

      • I'm at episode 9 right now
        I'm really liking

        how they interact with characters from season 1, and from alternate universe

    • Amazing Stories 1985 (S01)

      • This show won some Emmys, right? Somehow it feels like a kid's show. I was expecting it to be tonally more like 1959's Twilight Zone, but it doesn't seem so. Maybe I should adjust my approach to it.
    • Impractical Jokers (S01)

      • I've finished the season, and it's definitely up there as a comedy show. I still feel weird / scared about some of the pranks, e.g. randomly eating people's food at a Chinese restaurant, but they are hilarious.
    • What We Do In the Shadows (S03)

      • The first 2 seasons were okay-ish, but it seems like the 3rd season is way funnier. The jokes are funnier whenever Matt Berry is involved
    • Castlevania Nocturne (S01)

      • It was suddenly over. I'm just not feeling it. Just like the other Castlevania shows.
    • Love, Death & Robots (S01)

      • Just finished the first episode... it looks pretty. Not sure about the writing yet.
    • Gunbuster (S01)

      • Finally finished all the 6 episodes. I can see it as a prototype for other more bombastic mecha shows like Gurrenn Lagann or Evangelion. It started out low key, then undergo a sudden tonal shift to darker tone.
    • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (S05)

      • Netflix really hurt the season by splitting it into two parts. I've just finished watching the episodes where they defeated the invisible zombie guy and started to fight the feng shui geezer. It's still really good, I still prefer Jolyne's story arc to Giovanna's. I wonder if they'd eventually do a Steel Ball Run anime.
    • Oppenheimer (2023)

      • I'm amazed at how much I'm liking it. Somehow social media buzz was making it to sound like a jingoistic nuclear proponent movie. But it's not, it's a story about Oppenheimer's feeling about atomic weapons, the slimy politicians and physicists who became slimy, and surprisingly around half of the movie is about McCarthyan red scare witch hunt.

    That's the recap of my week, how about yours? What have you been watching last week?

    10
    hbomberguy - Plagiarism and You(Tube) (3 hours 51 mins 9 secs)

    I'm in the first hour of this video. It's about how YouTube / influencers plagiarize / straight up stealing works from others.

    So far, in the first hour, hbomberguy has covered

    • Filip Miucin, (ex-IGN plagiarizer)
    • Newt (wrote for Cinemassacre? I don't follow cinemassacre stuff),
    • Illuminaughtii (I've never heard of this person before, apparently she pivoted from making bigoted content to left leaning stuff??)
    8
    Weekly “What are you watching” Thread || Week of November 26th

    I wanna try a weekly 'what are you watching' thread, and see if there's enough activity.

    Here's some of the shows I've been watching last week:

    • Loki (Season 2)
      • Finished watching it last week. It is probably my favorite post Thanos MCU show. I like the character growth, and while I usually dislike Thor's story (due to magic and gods), I ended up liking Loki a lot
    • Fringe (Season 4)
      • Started season 4 of Fringe. Man! I love this show a lot. I can't wait to be disappointed in the final season.
    • Nathan for You (Season 4)
      • Finally finished the whole show. I love the part where Nathan needed to prepare for his Jimmy Kimmel interview. The last episode started out good, but I ended up disliking Bill, after his comments about what Frances said long time ago.
    • Impractical Jokers (Season 1)
      • I learned about Impractical Jokers from Instagram videos, decided to try it. Season 1 is kinda dated, but some parts are really hilarious. I think I only like prank shows, when they are making fun of themselves.
    • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (Season 1)
      • Dropped the show altogether, I find it boring.
    • Castlevania: Nocturne (Season 1)
      • Feels like other Castlevania shows, I'm on episode 3, and it still hasn't hooked me yet
    • Gunbuster (Season 1)
      • I am really enjoying the feel of this old anime. It went quickly from sports-mech anime into darker / more serious tone in episode 2. There's something about older anime that's kinda lost in the newer ones, I can't quite put my words into it.
    • Amazing Stories (1985) (Season 1)
      • I'm now at episode 8. The quality varies between episodes, since it's an anthology show. I like the episode with the mummy, and the keyboard murderer.
    • The Adults (2023)
      • I'm weirdly liking this movie a lot, it's more drama than comedy. It's quite a sweet movie about straining relationships between 3 siblings, without anything really bombastic happening, and probably why it's more relatable to me.

    So, what have you been watching the past week?

    14
    Would it be useful to have a weekly pinned thread about what shows / movies we're watching?

    There's one for gaming community, where we discuss what we're playing every week. I think it's great for people to share their thoughts about the games they're playing, and also for others to check whether some games suit their taste.

    Should we have similar thread for TV shows / movies / animes? I definitely wanna know if a show suits my taste or whether it's worth it to sink time into it.

    PS: I tried to post about this multiple times, but ended up not posting it.

    6
    Following Sonic movie success, Sega teases Persona and Yakuza adaptations | VGC

    > “Right now, there are two big IPs other than Sonic,” Utsumi said. “One is Persona. We are introducing two Personas this year. And also, our Yakuza title. I mean, Yakuza is really unique, but that big one is also coming next year too, so be ready [for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth]. > “But also, as I say, we are trying to be in a lot of different kinds of businesses, additional areas, like Roblox and movies. All these IPs can be somewhere else other than games soon.”

    Personally, I want a live action Persona 4 movie, still set in Japanese countryside, and with almost entire Japanese casts, with only one exception, the MC is Chris Pratt, but now he quips non-stop in Brooklyn accent.

    Similarly, I want a Yakuza live action, with Kiryu as the main protagonist, but of course played by Chris Pratt again, with Brooklyn accent.

    I just wanna watch the world burns and explodes and implodes into a black hole.

    Cursed image 1

    [!cursed-1.jpg](https://postimg.cc/w1mtww7H)

    A Persona 4 image with yellow background but cursed with Chris Pratt face photoshopped to replace MC's face. Below is an additional dialog box that says "Everyday's great at your Walmart!"

    Cursed image 2

    [!original-3145811495.jpg](https://postimg.cc/3dfzJB8s)

    An image of Kazuma Kiryu, but cursed with Chris Pratt's face photoshopped onto his head. Below is the Yakuza's character intro text that says "Chris Pratt. Pest of Kamurocho. Patriarch of the Brooklyn Plumbers Family"

    6
    Sony asking Gaming Heads to destroy all Playstation merchandises, including those have been paid and ready to be shipped (which Sony has received royalty payment for)
    www.resetera.com Gaming Heads ordered by Sony to destroy *all* PlayStation merchandise (including paid-for orders)

    So I'm not a collector or anything, but Gaming Heads has been the creator of some great (officially licensed) action figures for some otherwise forgotten series like Jak & Daxter, Sly Cooper and Legacy of Kain. Their products all seem to be of great quality...

    Gaming Heads ordered by Sony to destroy *all* PlayStation merchandise (including paid-for orders)
    Here's the screenshot of the letter from Gaming Heads to the community

    !image

    Here's the alt-text for it:

    --- OPEN LETTER TO THE SONY PLAYSTATION COLLECTING COMMUNITY

    On this The Last of Us Day, we regret to inform you and the SONY PlayStation collecting community that SONY has told us to destroy all of our SONY PlayStation merchandise, including in-stock items e.g. The Last of Us Part II: Ellie statues, Jak 3 statues, God of War statues / busts etc.), items ready to ship to you (i.e. the Sly Cooper (Classic edition) statue), items in production (i.e. The Last of Us: Ellie & Joel diorama) and items in development and ready to launch (e.g. Bloodborne and Ratchet & Clank statues). Yes, this also includes destroying items you have paid for and are waiting to ship to you.

    All of our other items (i.e. all non SONY PlayStation items) are fine and are not affected by SONY PlayStation's decision.

    We have worked with SONY PlayStation for more than 10 years to bring you some of the best video game collectibles and have been trying hard to get them to change their mind. They know you have paid your hard-earned money for items that are ready to ship to you or that are in production but unfortunately, after doing all that we can, they have told us not to ship your orders to you - "our business priorities remain unchanged" (a recent direct quote from SONY).

    Yes, this is SONY PlayStation's decision, not ours.

    Yes, we want to ship your Jak 3, TLOU2 Ellie, TLOU Ellie & Joel, Sly Cooper and Kratos statues/bust to you but SONY PlayStation does not allow it.

    Yes, SONY PlayStation has already received royalty payments from you on your orders that SONY PlayStation now wants us to destroy and not ship to you.

    We sincerely apologize if you find yourself in this completely avoidable situation, but please contact Judy Ward (Commercial Partnerships | Sony Interactive Entertainment) at Judy.Ward@sony.com about your (now cancelled) order, payments, refunds etc. and what they will do for you. This is the team at SONY PlayStation that requires the destruction of the items you have ordered, paid for and on which SONY PlayStation has already received royalties from you but will now not allow us to ship your orders to you.

    Together we made it through Covid lockdowns, factory closures (it effected production of the Sly Cooper statue, the Kratos (Norse) bust and caused countless delays with other statues), and many other challenges but it seems that you cannot change a decision of SONY PlayStation even if the decision may hurt the SONY PlayStation collecting community

    We remember SONY PlayStation's old tagline that they are 'for the Players' ... but given their recent decision that they know adversely affects those in the collecting community willing to spend more on SONY PlayStation merchandise than an actual console, we are now not so sure.

    We again sincerely apologize for this extremely disappointing situation but continue to work with our other licensing partners to bring the best video game collectibles to you and to the rest of the collecting community.

    Thank you for your continued support.

    THE IP FACTORY 10 LIMITED

    26 SEPTEMBER 2023

    ---

    6 images of Sony IP action figures are shown on the letter, from left to right, top to bottom:

    • Jak & Dexter with Jak holding an assault rifle,
    • Ellie from The Last of Us 2 holding a machete,
    • Ellie and Joel from The Last of Us with Ellie holding a bow
    • Sly Cooper holding a hook like weapon
    • A bust of bearded Kratos from God of War
    • A non-bearded Kratos sitting on a throne

    I assume, maybe because Sony wants to sell merchandise on their own? Who knows

    Personally, I feel like Sony has been becoming more and more hostile towards their customer base, and greedy. It definitely feels like PS3 era hubris, and probably even worse. With the recent drastic price hike for PS+, and now this, it feels like Jim Ryan wants to fatten his payout by the end of the year.

    Edit: Apparently people on reddit are saying that Gaming Heads is a shady / unprofessional company that sometimes take payment without shipping the products. So maybe there's a good reason for it?

    18
    Output resolution and framerate for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
    www.konami.com METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Official Website

    Introducing the first in a new collection of games from the legendary series.

    METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Official Website

    !image

    I've been cautious the moment I saw the MGS1 gameplay from their trailer. It's 4:3 with borders, so I'm not sure why it's listed as 1920x1080 (at most it's probably zoomed in, not expecting a widescreen hack). Even without widescreen, it still looks like it's just a PS1 emulated version without any enhancements at all besides the resolution

    IIRC MGS HD Collection that was released on PS360 (and Vita), was 720p and 60 fps (with dips)

    They are selling this for around 60 bucks, with bare minimum effort, so I'd advise people to wait until there is a discount instead.

    Konami messed up their Silent Hill HD Collection before, so I'm not expecting much.

    7
    J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues is finally fully fan translated

    J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues, a Sega Saturn Japanese exclusive game is finally fully fan-translated.

    I haven't played it, it's supposed to be FMV murder mystery.

    The only other JB Harold game that I've played is JB Harold Murder Club for Turbo Grafx CD, and it's an okay murder mystery game.

    0
    Holstin - Combat Gameplay Reveal

    This is such an interesting / odd game, top down perspective for exploration then over the shoulder for shooting. I'm interested in how it'd end up.

    Previous trailer is mostly top down exploratory horror

    2
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)SU
    sub_o @beehaw.org
    Posts 26
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