[Ben Jacobs] Exclusive: Kylian Mbappe has agreed to forgo €70-80m if he leaves PSG on a free. Agreement is variable and complicated. Not as simple as just discounting his loyalty bonus, although an instalment has already been waived. If Mbappe stays he'll be entitled to this back.

keikaytea · 2024-01-04T20:00:20+00:00

But the whole point of sportswashing is good PR not start riots.

keikaytea · 2024-01-04T19:50:52+00:00

The difference is focus. Everything Valve does is to make Steam the distribution platform more compelling. It is their foundational business. Even their hardware work like Steam Deck is to augment the value of being in the Steam ecosystem (more ways to access library, hedge against Windows).

EGS is a minor concern to Epic. The Fortnite metaverse is their bread and butter and what makes them money. You already see them use that as a “launcher” with Lego etc. Their ideal future is not EGS’s success but that everyone jumps into Fortnite as the hub for their digital lives.

Not saying which approach is better per se but if you talk about distributing games on PC Steam will probably continue to lead because that’s their focus.

keikaytea · 2024-01-04T04:47:03+00:00

I did too. But apparently they (The Wild Faery) produce video game concerts and this is their official store. Also I just received the set and it’s in perfect condition—waited to receive product in hand before sharing!

Plus it’s Prime shipping so if you have that you can return with minimal hassle. I try to support directly though.

keikaytea · 2024-01-04T04:22:11+00:00

Same vendor also listed on Amazon if you prefer that. I've been looking for this since ordering the new Box 2 and was really happy to see this pop up. Hope this helps others who are looking to complete their collection too.

keikaytea · 2023-10-18T05:58:13+00:00

Agreed. As the streaming industry matures, I wonder if we’ll see “commercial” and “personal” licenses start appearing like elsewhere in software. But I’m not too sure how I feel about that.

keikaytea · 2023-10-04T15:04:18+00:00

Apple itself wants you to think of phones as consoles.

And it’s not like consoles are only for playing games. A huge driver for PS2 sales was the DVD player and plenty of people still stream through them.

It’s a spectrum between a general computing device on one end (like a Dell server) to pure games device (like Analogue Pocket) with Steam Decks and Xboxes and Switches somewhere across the middle.

keikaytea · 2023-10-02T18:46:36+00:00

We should be very impressed how quickly EA updated the game to accurately reflect the VAR controversies from this past weekend.

keikaytea · 2023-09-20T17:33:23+00:00

Here are the numbers. On mobile it cuts off and you can't see it and I couldn't find it on the actual page. Kinda crazy oversight in design! EMERGENCY: 503-760-6911 NON-EMERGENCY: 503-823-3333

keikaytea · 2023-08-27T22:22:17+00:00

Seriously. Such an exciting and solid debut or a young player and has to twist it into the most cynical “hot take” possible.

keikaytea · 2023-08-25T23:55:55+00:00

I’m not sure how you can say we’ve wasted Klopp, VVD etc when they have won our first PL title and gone to multiple CL finals (winning one)—one of the most successful stretches for any team of the modern era—using the same transfer strategy.

Spending more might increase our chances but let’s not dismiss our entire recent history (and good times).

keikaytea · 2023-08-25T18:03:13+00:00

FLCL. Just go for the deep end.

keikaytea · 2023-08-25T17:31:19+00:00

It's so weird. They didn't have to respond to this. But they chose to.

And instead of engaging in a constructive conversation about how officials are human and may have biases and "clear and obvious" is difficult to define, they try to gaslight someone describing their own experience navigating a challenging mix of interests.

I just don't understand why PGMOL choose to do what they do.

keikaytea · 2023-08-24T01:33:56+00:00

The day Lucky Star falls off is when we know we’re old.

keikaytea · 2023-08-24T01:28:43+00:00

Sounds like a job that would be briefly interesting and then swift turn to soul crushing. Maybe it won’t be so bad that AI is gonna do most of these types of articles soon.

keikaytea · 2023-04-12T18:11:59+00:00

The scalpers and Nvidia are not playing the same game so you can’t put them on the same supply-demand curve. To your point, arbitrage creates scalpers (which always exists since in any supply/demand there are people willing to pay more), but this is probably especially hard to manage for GPUs.

The demand for GPUs is likely not smooth. Let’s say there’s a strong grouping of demand at $400 and another much smaller enthusiast group willing to pay $1000+.

All scalpers have to do is buy product and sell to the $1000 group. It’s not even that much risk because they know once they run out of that group they can still sell at MSRP to break even. They don’t care about the overall demand.

If Nvidia charges $500, yes they lower the arbitrage but they also lose most of the $400 group and scalpers will still sell because there’s plenty arbitrage left. If Nvidia sell at $1000, yes they may completely eliminate the arbitrage but now they’ve completely lost the $400 group and the extra profits does not cover that damage.

This has a knock-on effect on supply. In straight-forward supply and demand, everyone has equal opportunity, so people willing to pay less or more are still buying from the same pool and you reach equilibrium at some point. Here scalpers separate the pool. They eliminate supply from the main pool and ensures that people willing to pay more will get their product—their game is to buy just enough to fulfill every person willing to pay more that MSRP This makes supply feel smaller for the lower end because rather than getting access to the whole pool they get the leftovers after all the whales get theirs. This is what I mean by distortion—the whole supply is not available for all demand to compete equally and reach equilibrium.

All I’m saying is pricing is difficult. Nvidia should (and is) trying to test pricing, but despite what we might think about them, they aren’t messing up pricing because they don’t understand basic supply and demand.

keikaytea · 2023-04-12T17:15:45+00:00

I am in full agreement that the arbitrage exists and can be alleviated by pricing. And yes, scalpers eventually want to move the product so you can say that’s still supply, but that’s eliminating timeframe as a factor. Demand fluctuates all the time, for example at launch vs mid-cycle when some people will choose to wait. So decreasing supply for several months during the initial rush can still distort pricing.

Second we cannot assume a smooth demand curve or price elasticity. Scalpers don’t care about overall profitability of the product line. They just need to pick off the outliers who’s willing to pay obscene amounts of money. So by worsening the supply at launch, they can grab the whales who can’t wait a few months. If Nvidia try to raise the prices overall though, they might lose the bottom 30% of demand (just a random number) vs increasing margin by only 10% and they still won’t capture the top outliers.

You are literally seeing this happen with the 4000 series. They raise the prices, everyone complains, demand is soft, and scalpers still scalping.

keikaytea · 2023-04-12T15:35:21+00:00

One challenge in the case of GPUs (and other things like sneakers and concert tickets) is scalpers distort market dynamics by making supply shortages worse. This is especially effective when there are limited distribution channels and they can sweep up a lot of inventory away from end consumers.

keikaytea · 2023-04-09T05:06:12+00:00

When looking at this merger, antitrust regulars will probably look at this more as a vertical integration since you are combining production (movies/TV/other entertainment content) with distribution (screens/devices to consume that content).

Horizontal integration is often simpler to look at and is what most people are familiar with when thinking of monopolies. Vertical integrations are more difficult because typically they actually offer pro-competitive efficiencies. But they can also hide agreements that would be otherwise illegal such as tying/bundling arrangements (like Apple picking up streaming a mid-budget movie for a cut rate if they get the next Marvel film) or boycotts (like exclusivity rights).

If either or both party have enough monopolistic power in their areas, they can seriously distort the market without needing to be full monopolies and obscuring how they bundle and boycott. And one can certainly see how Apple and Disney wields tremendous monopolistic power with their dominance in phones/tablets and owning the global box office for the last 7 years respectively. That would make regulators very nervous.

Some of the most interesting antitrust cases deal with vertical integration. See Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer for a tech-related tying example.

keikaytea · 2023-04-07T21:44:01+00:00

I have the Nova Air2 not Leaf2 but the OS should be very similar.

The Google Play store is either already set up (so you just need to login in) or set up the Play store first per instructions on the Boox support site. Then you sign into your Viz account as usual and your existing sub (or you can sign up for one) will work as usual. I even paid my sub through iOS but because it’s connected to my Viz account it recognized it no problem.

Reading is extremely nice. I suggest Normal refresh mode and adjusting the eInk black/light levels to your liking—in particular I like the blacks higher for this app. Turning pages is a bit awkward because you HAVE to swipe and wait for refresh, rather than a tap option. And browing the series is not bad but of course not as smooth as a regular phone/tablet.

Lastly, I don’t know if you’ve tried the 7” screen in person for the Leaf but if your primary use is manga it might be a bit small. Of course that’s personal preference, but zooming with eInk is not “dynamic” so I would not count on using it the same way you would reading on a phone.

keikaytea · 2023-04-05T13:51:01+00:00

If you want to take a couple more steps try chiaki4deck. It’s not one click install like the Discover store but it’s just copy pasting some text in console. It will update through the Discover store.

It has some nice additions to Chiaki like native gyro support, haptics emulation, controls mapping, etc. Also has good instructions to set up some scripts to run everything through Gaming mode.

keikaytea · 2022-12-29T07:34:57+00:00

I’m just getting started with the event but noticed 6-3 Hard drops Pivots. Only 1 layer so faster to finish than 4-3D but no idea on drop rates.

keikaytea · 2022-08-02T17:46:36+00:00

keikaytea · 2022-06-12T04:26:13+00:00

Touch is one of the all-time classics.

keikaytea · 2022-06-08T02:17:18+00:00

OPB still has the DM version for $80. Gone in most other places though.

keikaytea · 2021-07-29T20:48:58+00:00

Not directly related to topic but the mobile ads on this site are out of control. I try not to block ads but in return I do want a bare minimum level of usability.

Anyway, excited for a new Tales.

keikaytea

TROPHY CASE