Everyone seems to be telling me that there’s still new releases, but seemingly not for anything I’m interested in. The last Blu-Ray I’ve been able to pick up was WandaVision. There was a time where basically 100% of movies got physical releases and, acknowledging confirmation bias, it does feel like those times are gone.

Region zones do indeed suck, but I installed custom firmware on my PS3 to remove the DVD/Blu-Ray region lock, and now it’s a non-issue.

And I use disc binders for most of my collection, unless it’s something I really want to display. Long-term, once my collection is complete, I do plan to rip everything.

It’s just a shame that DVDs and Blu-Rays for new movies aren’t really made anymore. They’re just leaving money on the table at this point that bootleggers in Malaysia are getting instead.

But still, absolutely. DVD all the way. I fixed the cord I cut back in 2015 and I’m much better off for it.

Same thing with the idea of “use a monopoly growth model”. What is the alternative? Actively making a product worse because everyone else is? Because that is collusion.

This question really highlights the danger of the growth-at-all-costs model in forcing every company to race to the bottom when one company does. The future of the human race may one day depend on killing technological progress and emphasizing stability over profits.

A huge problem with America’s and many other economic systems is that companies are incentivized to undercut the competition, use a monopoly growth model, acquire or push out competitors, and then screw the customer when the competitors are either gone or irrelevant.

Without guardrails, the bubble will burst and some other “affordable solution” will just show up to replace streaming, and then we’ll start all over again before it enshittifies too. But there won’t be guardrails anytime soon, and most refuse or are unable to vote with their wallets, so we’re just screwed.

I don’t know what the solution is, but as a consumer, I’m exhausted. I wish there were options to just buy products, sometimes more expensive ones to keep a steady, sustainable business model, for piece of mind that the company won’t stab me in the back someday.

Instead of trying to get Google money, I actually wish they would offer a monthly/annual/lifetime membership as the cost of not enshittifying to stay in business. And then severing ties with Google as a company.

A lot of tech companies are holding onto unsustainable business models from 10 years ago to make their products at a loss or “free,” and it’s forcing them into AI, oligarchy, or being beholden to oligarchs. End users paying a fair price to own the products they use is a better alternative than this because it puts the power back in our hands as opposed to tech bros and shareholders.

I’m sorry. I suppose I should have said “I don’t need the internet outside of work.”

No one needs the internet outside of work. The moment I’m forced to show my ID or get my face scanned, I’m done for good.

Physical these days is mostly dead, so long-term I’ve been going for DRM-free digital. GOG, 7digital or ripping via Foobar2000 for music, ebooks.com plus Calibre, and MakeMKV for DVDs. Steam’s DRM, when not paired with other DRM, is lenient enough where I’m okay with using that when no other options are available.

I do still like physical for some things. I prefer physical for PS3 games versus digital because most games read straight from the disc, and install sizes a significantly smaller if you go that route. That generation of gaming really respected your hard drive. I don’t like buying a disc and then still having to install 100 GB to my hard drive – at that point, why bother?

And I like getting consoles and flashcarts physical, but not the games themselves. There’s nothing as cozy and nostalgic as playing 3DS games on the original hardware, but I don’t need all the cartriges. Everdrive with the Genesis Model 1 is also my preferred way of playing that console so I can experience the original music through the built-in headphone jack.

The exception to that is I’m a sucker for physical game media that has connectivity with other media. So I have a physical copy of Pokemon HeartGold with the Poke Walker, and too many DDR dance pads. I really want that GBA game Kojima made where the cart has a solar panel and you build up energy to defeat vampires by going outside.

There was a few years where I pretty much only used Flatpaks because I was scared of the terminal. But now that I’ve learned how to use the terminal, it’s so much more convenient because I can quickly update all my applications all in one place without having to open a separate app. Plus, some Flatpaks can fall really behind on software updates.

There might be a Linux userbase someday where no one other than developers actually knows how to use the terminal, because users can run everything they want without a command line, but maybe that’s actually a good thing because it’ll drive up how many people use a Linux distro.

With Windows and Mac, there’s a shareholder incentive to enshittify. With Linux, if a distro goes bad and gets commercialized, there’s always another distro people can move to, not to mention there’s no financial incentive. The more people get on Linux, the less power these tech companies have. Personally, that and privacy are what drew me to Linux much more so than being able to tinker or fine-tune my experience.

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This is what I do and have had vastly better experiences than with Bluetooth.

Fairphone has been a really disappointing experiment in so-called sustainable tech over the years. They keep making new phones instead of continuing to support the old ones, which might be greenwashing. (Whereas if you got a legacy Framework 13, it’s still user-repairable and upgradable.) If they wanted to make a non-upgradable device, maybe it would have been wise to make it high-end to futureproof to work until 4G gets phased out. Fairphone still is not making their products available in the U.S., and Murena is a borderline scam company and I am genuinely shocked Fairphone works with them.

And I’ve heard their logic with the headphone jack, but I do think AUX is the lesser of two evils as removing it will just lead to more e-waste with broken bluetooth headphones that rarely last as long as good wired ones. Fairphone’s own bluetooth accessories have gotten negative reviews for their lower build quality, so Fairbuds are likely not the solution to the headphone jack problem.

For the simple fact that non-Europeans can buy them directly off the website, I would sooner recommend feature phones from Sunbeam as it also has user-replaceable batteries and you can send it in for repairs. Or just any phone used.

I would not recommend Murena for U.S. customers. I attempted buying a FP4 from them, and they put $6000 in charges to my credit card. Their message-only customer service was terrible and tried to blame me. Had to get my bank involved.

I personally prefer story over gameplay, but to each their own.

Can I ask what you’re doing to act? I don’t mean it as a gotcha question, I’m actually curious. Because I don’t know what the heck to do other than protest and vote.

Which, in one sense, is definitely cool. I get the impression that Super Metroid is a game with tons of replay value that encourages playing it in a different way each time.

In another way, to make this happen, I didn’t think it was very fun for first-time players. Bomb jumping is kind of an awkward mechanic and harder to pull off than in Zero Mission, and finding upgrades seemed to rely more on pulling off complex techniques with perfect timing. I don’t remember ever being required to wall jump in Zero Mission or 2. There’s so many beginner’s traps too, with the one-way doors and the noob bridge. In Zero Mission, I felt like upgrades were more clearly telegraphed to the player, so you could get more of them without using a guide. In Super, it’s a lot of bombing random walls and stuff, and the X-Ray Scope feels really limited.

If I got stuck, it would be difficult to consult guides, because many writers seemed to put sequence breaks into the walkthrough as opposed to a “natural” playthrough.

While it might be true that Dread has a lot of “hand-holding” (I don’t know because I haven’t played it yet), part of me wonders if that criticism comes from experienced players who want a harder challenge than Super that lean even farther into advanced-level techniques. I guess I’ll find out when I play it.

I have to use a printer for my work-from-home job. If you just buy a Brother laserjet printer and avoid other brands and inkjets, it’s way more affordable. It costs more up front, but they’re reliable and don’t need to be replaced every year. My printer cost $250 and I’ve had it for at least five years at this point.

I came of age during the PS3 era and the Indie Game Revolution, where people were debating on whether video games could be art, so I personally can’t help but prefer when games have storytelling and ludonarrative and lore.

But for many people, Super Metroid’s lack of a plot will be a draw and not a drawback, and that’s cool. I’d actually really love a new nonlinear Metroid game in the vein of Super someday, and perhaps this time it wouldn’t take place on the planet Zebes.

I have AM2R archived on my computer. I’m very excited to try it!

When I called Zero Mission an asset flip, I was trying to steelman a potenial opposing point in favor of Super. I may not have been successful at this. And I myself don’t actually see it as an asset flip – I loved Zero Mission.