Hey! I bought one of these for like $2 USD online nearly a decade ago. That was still almost 1000x its face value at the time.
Hey! I bought one of these for like $2 USD online nearly a decade ago. That was still almost 1000x its face value at the time.
Imagine there’s a new issue of a famous comic book being printed (the series doesn’t matter; take your pick). But the caveat is that there’s only going to be ONE copy printed. Only one in existence. That single issue could potentially be worth millions, because it’s so desirable for comic book nerds and they all want to get their hands on it. Only the wealthiest of collectors will be able to throw enough money at it to win an auction, which raises its value significantly.
Now imagine the publisher decides to make 100 copies instead. The value of that issue is now much cheaper; maybe worth several thousand dollars per comic, because there are a handful of them floating around now. Still, only wealthy collectors will be able to afford bidding on a copy, but at least the top 100 bids will win a copy. Raising the value, but not as much as if they are all bidding on a single product.
Now imagine 100,000 copies are made. Now it’s mostly a standard printing, and it’s only worth the cover price for a comic nowadays (what, like $3.99 or so?)
The more copies that are out there, the easier it is to find and acquire, and thus the cheaper its value is. Same goes for money; the more printed bills that are out there, the less value each bill has, and you’ll need more of them to afford basic products. Which is why inflation is a thing, because we’re constantly printing more money each year.
In reference to my point about comic book values, there are only about 100 copies left in existence of the first Superman comic (Action Comic #1). A single copy sold last year for $6 million, and its condition was only rated 8.5/10, which means it’s a little rough around the edges from wear and tear. Not even a pristine comic book, and it still cost millions to buy!
That same issue sold for 10 cents when it was first made in 1938, but the fact that comics were made to be read and then discarded back then means most people never held on to their comic books and their numbers have dwindled over the years. Now Superman is a huge deal - one of the best-selling comics of all time - and his first appearance in a comic book is so rare, people will spend millions just to have an original copy.
My dad had Parkinson’s, which he fought for many years. When he couldn’t walk anywhere without falling, that was when he had only months left to live. I know that’s a very specific situation, but his doctor told me the same general statistic you did and to let him know when my dad starts falling more often. Even when he just had random falls once in a while, that was when he was within a year of the end.
Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!
Bill Nye the science guy!
I have that intro song as my phone’s ringtone. It was always a joyful day when my teachers would pull out the TV on a cart and play an episode of Bill Nye.
Epic just recently announced that they’re never releasing it outside of their store. They’re the exclusive publisher, so they have distribution rights, and their CEO Tim Sweeney is determined to snub his nose at Steam, even though Alan Wake 2 still hasn’t earned back its production costs. It’s a complete flop, but they won’t extend to the Steam market to help sales.
Unlike other games, where publishers sign exclusivity contracts with Epic Games for a certain time period, Alan Wake 2 was actually published by Epic Games, meaning that Epic Games gets to decide what systems the game releases on. So it’s not coming to Steam. Which means I’ll never get to play it, because I’m never giving a penny to that awful store of theirs.
It’s been 2 hours. He ded.
The plots of Portal 2 singleplayer, co-op, and PTI are very “distant” from anything happening with Half-Life.
From what I understand (it’s been a while since I read up on the lore), Portal 1 and 2 take place after the Combine invasion of Earth, shortly after the first Half-Life game. That’s why Aperture Science is almost completely devoid of life, minus the personality cores that are attempting to continue running things. It’s because of the resonance cascade incident at Black Mesa that Aperture Science is now mostly defunct, and Chell is trapped as a lab rat at GLaDOS’ mercy.
So the Portal series is pretty reliant on Half-Life’s story to justify their plot, even if it’s never directly addressed in the game itself.
This is actually my second Steam Deck. I bought the original LCD-screen one back when they were first announced, but they had a nasty habit of the bumper buttons (L1 and R1) breaking. Sure enough my L1 button broke and I just never sent it back to get it fixed. I’ve just been re-mapping that button to the L2 (trigger) button instead.
Recently, my wife expressed interest in having a Steam Deck (she almost bought her own when they first came out), and she claimed she was perfectly content taking my old one, since she doesn’t game as much as me anyway. So I bought a fancy new HDR OLED-screen Steam Deck. It’s much more responsive than my first one. And the bumper buttons work! I forgot how nice it is to just play a game without re-mapping buttons first.
“Drugs are bad, m’kay?”
Sorry, I’m binging South Park right now and the way you started your comment made me read the whole thing in Mr. Mackey’s voice.
I love the reference to the fan remake of Robocop, where he goes around shooting rapists in the dick.
EDIT: Also relevant, considering our “democratically elected leaders who refuse to advance American interests.”
I’m getting a new OLED Steam Deck in the mail within the next hour or so, so I’m glad to hear its battery is handing well.
I have an original LCD Steam Deck from their initial announcement of the device, which is still showing 100% battery health. The battery doesn’t last very long unplugged, though. I’ve had to make sure I have a charging cable everywhere I go. So I’m looking forward to the longer lifespan of the new Steam Deck.
I’m just an enthusiastic gamer, raving about some of the games I’ve enjoyed. But I’m sure the developers of this game will be glad to hear that you’re interested.
I couldn’t tell you. It appeared to start randomly on FB Messenger and he just made it worse by pointing it out to his followers. Now he gets hundreds of bike emojis on every comment he posts.
It started pretty randomly and he fanned the flames by pointing it out. I think people were just enjoying watching him freak out about it - especially since he couldn’t get a response to his inquiries without opening his chat to everyone. He seems to be taking it well, though.
When you’re required to use their “store” to play the games too, then it’s a platform. And an isolated one, at that. Imagine you could only buy a game AND PLAY IT at Walmart.
Platform exclusivity is part of Epic Games’ problem. Not the sole issue, but a big one.
I kind of just did. Shen has a Facebook Messenger chat for his FB page, where only he can talk. People can reply to his messages with emojis, but that’s it. He uses it to update his community on his comic and personal life ordeals.
For some reason, a bunch of people started spamming the bike emoji on every message he posted. He started freaking out about it, asking why people are using that emoji specifically. But no one can respond, so he just got more bike emojis. So it’s become a thing, where he occasionally just gets frustrated that the bike emoji is the dominant response to everything he posts.
[…] the devs got a bigger cut than they’d get on steam
Inconsequential, considering the game is still not profitable, even after a year. The devs lost money on this game. If it came to Steam, they’d be swimming in cash right now. The cut they get from the store doesn’t matter if the game releases on a single store that most people refuse to use.
If Epic Games would be an actual competitor to Steam instead of trying to lock their content behind a paywall and force users to use them over the competition, then people might consider using their service. But as long as they continue to use shitty practices, most people are going to avoid them and use their competition’s service.
By using their service and giving them money, you’re validating their shitty practices and propagating this garbage across multiple platforms when other companies see it’s profitable.
If you want gaming to get better, stop giving bad companies your money and attention.
Haha, yeah! He’s really pissed that people keep posting the bicycle emoji to all his messages in his Facebook Messenger chat.
This seems to be basically Vampire Survivors, except aquatic themed. If it’s anything like that game, it should be fun!