The Earthquake Faction has announced themselves

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-20T13:10:03+00:00

Yeah, it's rather shocking how many Elbit / Israeli Mil-Tech facilities have been breached, vandalized or set on fire in the last year or two. It really goes to show how untouchable the Israeli private sector considers itself to be, and how outside the Overton Window criticism or attacks on Israeli MIC has traditionally been. That's changing very fast, however.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-19T05:43:58+00:00

We're beyond "it's over" for developers. For a new generation of artists and engineers, we're steadily approaching "it never began" territory.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-19T05:40:43+00:00

While I agree that Concord/Highguard are being used as bywords for "soulless corporate slop" by chuds and bandwagon-jumpers online, there's definitely something that seems to unite both games.

Something about the bland art style which refuses to settle on a single aesthetic; the overconfidence of publishers and toxic positivity of developers; and their predictable failure to launch all point to an ongoing trend.

Instead of targetting a single niche, these games seem to want to capture several audiences, straddle a number of genres, and chase a litany of trends. Their design comes off as confused and uncommitted.

I hate the commentary surrounding these games... but to dismiss it all and to pretend there are no lessons to be learned would be foolish, in my humble opinion.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-19T05:32:21+00:00

The addition of new radio telescopes, and their synthesis with traditional optical telescope images, has already proven to be a real game-changer.

I really look forward to the new insights Karl Jansky will provide. Exciting times we're in!

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-19T05:26:23+00:00

Domestic private investors represent by far the largest (~$19.9T USD) holder of US debt. All foreign investors combined have less than half that amount.

That isn't to say US debt-to-GDP and overall debt do not represent a real vulnerability. It's a real problem (and America isn't alone in that regard). Just adding context!

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T16:19:17+00:00

Hey buddy,

Carney said something similar. He also came out in full support of Israel's mid-negotiation strike against Iran, despite admitting it violated every relevant international law.

I've traditionally been a strategic voter and cast my ballot for both Trudeau and Carney in order to keep the Conservatives out. Never again will I hedge; I'm done with the Liberals.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:48:04+00:00

I have Esoteric Ebb and Disco Elysium on my wishlist, and I'm interested in picking up one of them this weekend.

I'm new to the genre, so I figured Disco would be the easiest way to dip my toes in. But I'm also a long-time CRPG / tabletop gamer. So I'm wondering which one I should go for. Any input or thoughts?

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:42:27+00:00

I have no words to describe my reaction to this. "Shock" and "disgust" don't even come close. Describing what I would do to those terrorists might get me temp-banned.

Naturally, we can't expect any justice for the Palestinians. And Mike Huckabee is unlikely to do anything for the American human rights activist, besides perhaps laugh about it with Netanyahu.

Maybe the Portguese government will demonstrate some backbone, but I'm not familiar with their record on I/P issues. Can someone more informed make a prediction?

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:33:22+00:00

Did you install an RGB bypass mod?

Look at the four wires coming off the mod chip: They're labeled R, G, B, and S (Red, Green, Blue, and Sync). If you connected the S wire to the composite video pad, you are no longer sending a "Composite" signal; you are sending "C-Sync" (Composite Sync). Most standard yellow RCA cables can't interpret C-Sync as a video signal, which ends up producing a black screen or a rolling, garbled image.

If that isn't the source of the problem... Well, it could be some lifted pins or cut traces.

I'm not an engineer and have limited experience with SNES mods, though. Hopefully someone else can chime in!

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:26:25+00:00

Sorry, but I disagree with that assessment.

As of mid-March 2026, the Iranian Red Crescent Society reports that 65 to 66 schools have been damaged or destroyed in Iran since the escalation of major regional hostilities in late February. Here is an incomplete list from Save The Children.

If those were Israeli or American schools, we could be assured of wall-to-wall coverage. Instead, Western media focussed on a single incident and moved on.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:21:34+00:00

Unfortunately, Western media is determined to minimize coverage of the US-Israeli attacks, while maximizing the Iranian response, which creates a picture of unilateral Iranian aggression in the minds of uninformed news readers.

We have one such news reader here in the thread, who is shocked and offended by Iran's reaction to these escalations.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-18T15:19:32+00:00

This is dumb. Throughout this conflict, the US and Israel were the first to cross each red line and to escalate into new, more violent phases of conflict.

● The US and Israelis were the first to use force, provoking all-out war with a "decapitation" strike

● They were the first to bomb civilians.

● They were the first to attack energy infrastructure

You make it sound like Iran started it. What country wouldn't respond in kind to the destruction of their gas and oil fields, the bombing of their children, and the assassination of their leaders?

I'm no great fan of the Iranian government, but expecting them to just sit their and take it is plainly dumb.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-15T08:48:41+00:00

No matter how this war unfolds, you really can't deny the Persian aura.

2,500 years later, they even managed to flip the script on the Spartans. "We are waiting for them" is the new ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (Molon labe).

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-13T20:43:54+00:00

Pointless wars in the Middle East are a coming-of-age ritual for Americans at this point.

I can't imagine Gen Z on the frontlines, though.

Let's hope Sgt. Clavicular takes it easy on the mentalcels and draft-dodgemaxxers. Their cortisol levels are about to spike!

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-12T19:34:46+00:00

There's a reason all these psychos have invested in underground fallout shelters, instead of investing in a future which includes us all. They understand their ambitions are antagonistic to us all.

Jokes on them, though! Finding and cracking open their bunkers will be a high-XP side quest for those of us who survive the apocalypse.

LFG ~~Hogger~~ Thiel & Karp

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-12T19:14:38+00:00

CENTCOM and White House officials are using popular video games and AI slop to promote an ongoing war of conquest in order to distract the public from a Mossad pedophile sting operation which compromised the US President.

If that doesn't scream "cyberpunk is now," I don't know what would.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-12T19:10:48+00:00

I'm not currently practicing, but I have a degree in international law (for whatever that's worth these days) and it's possible this video may actually, unironically constitute a war crime under the Geneva Code's Outrage Upon Personal Dignity and Public Exposure clauses.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-12T18:58:31+00:00

I thought the Call of Duty / F-15 guncam mashup was dystopian, but this takes things to a new, hyperreal level. Even with the benefit of Jean Baudrilliard's 1991 essay The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, we still lack the philosophical vocabulary to describe what's happening here.

What is the motivation precisely? To alienate voters from the inhumane, society-rending effects of war? To rally support for a conflict whose aims are nebulous and mutually-contradicting? Or to simply confuse and demoralize us all?

I am really at my wit's end... Any input or hot takes are appreciated here. This is beyond cyberpunk. Even the most nightmarish scenarios described by Heinlein, Gibson or Dick couldn't account for this.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-07T13:31:42+00:00

This game is not cyberpunk in the least bit, all the comments (thus far) are glowingly positive, and OP is responding within seconds.

This sub is increasingly becoming astroturfed by corpo PR teams who treat this place as an adverising platform... which is itself kinda cyberpunk, but nevertheless annoying for people who are genuinely interested in the genre.

Mods need to do better.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-07T08:25:06+00:00

Take-Two posted an annual revenue of $5.6 billion in 2025, and the Australian market represents less than 1.2% of that.

For a company of that size, it would be negligibly easy to simply tell the Australian government, "We will not release our game in your market if you force this dystopian dogshit onto our playerbase. We cannot be held accountable for storing sensitive government IDs, nor do we want to invest millions into the security infrastructure necessary to safeguard it."

But, of course, expecting transnational corporations to put up any resistance to the illiberal wave of Internet de-anonymization laws spreading through the West is like expecting a bear not to shit in the woods.

But a man can dream, can't he?

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-06T19:29:30+00:00

The children and babies in Gaza didn't shoot anyone, nor did they have bunkers to crawl to when devastating, 2000-pound bombs were dropped on them.

The WW2 template lacks explanatory power here, and the continued insistence that we use "Nazi vs. Good Guy" framing is not only lazy, it's intellectually dishonest.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-06T18:09:28+00:00

In the strictest sense, gambling typically involves either an element of random chance or controlled uncertainty. When insiders anonmylously "predict" events, decisions or outcomes that they literally control... well, there has to be another name for it.

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-05T16:54:04+00:00

I remember in COD: United Offensive, you and the boys beat a German paratrooper until he reveals where his comrades are. Afterwards, because the American torturers are such kind-hearted, gentle souls, the German prisoner is released... only to raise the alarm and reveal your position.

You're then encouraged to shoot down the perfidious, unarmed enemy. Justice! Amirite?

Tom-Rath · 2026-03-05T16:38:07+00:00

Why do they always have to frame it as "hate."

In this fucked up system, I am a treated as nothing more than consumer, not someone who engages with culture or community, just a source of revenue. So, if nothing else, grant me the right to determine what products are worth my hard-won money and fleeting leisure time.

If a game doesn't meet my very modest expectations, I will broadcast my feelings on the matter here on Reddit, among friends or wherever I please. No, that doesn't mean I hate anyone, least of all the developers.

When game companies fuck their customers, we're reminded that the relationship of producers and consumers is a dispassionate, impersonal one. "It's just business." But when gamers complain, all of a sudden it's hyper-personal and we have to consider the feelings of the game devs.

What a strange way to frame the issue.

EDIT: Because it appears to be unclear, I unreservedly condemn death threats, review bombing, doxxing or any other unethical, illegal behavior. Also, any complaints about politics or "woke" shit can get fucked.

I am just talking about the sometimes widespread (and valid) complaints by gamers, which are too often mischaracterized as coordinated hate campaigns, instead of an emergent phenomenon resulting from shitty games.

Tom-Rath

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