Author | Lightnews

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 12h

One of my favorite games is Firewatch, which clocks in at under 5 hours. Make the game as long as it needs to be. Honestly, game stories suffer a bit when the whole game experience gets fattened up for the express purpose of padding play time.

patrickcarlson @pjcarlson.bsky.social · 14h

heard on a game podcast just now, that a 15 hour, single player game is maybe not long enough.

We have to get past this idea as developers and audiences.

A game will be, and should be, just as long as it needs to be for *what it is*.

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 1d

I actually ended up really liking Witcher S4. Liam ain't no Henry, but he stepped in admirably. I'm also SO annoyed they went all-in on making the Geralt & Ciri threads super accurate after I had already given up hope and learned to accept that they weren't being honest about being true to the books

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Reposted by Tom Londe

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

i hate that AI has now caused me to question the authenticity of cute animal videos online, which is my primary use of social media. i don't even know if this baby penguin actually wore a beret to go buy a tiny baguette in paris

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 2d

I think we're running into a bit of what streaming service bumped up against as well.... suddenly everybody is behind a paywall or wanting a sub, so nobody is getting subbed to anymore

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 3d

Witcher S1 was great and I have no notes. That first season to season and a half gave me so much hope for what this adaption could have been.

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 3d

Finishing rewatching Witcher S1-3 ahead of S4. While I'm admittedly still struggling to be cool with how dramatically they overexaggerated how accurate it would be to the books, I do find I'm generally liking S2 and 3 more than expected when I can shut down & just accept it for what it is.

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 3d

I've had way too many friends move away in recent years and I'm dangerously close to transitioning from player to collector. :-/

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 3d

If would be cool if we weren't making the WORST parts of Star Trek accurate. Looks like Deep Space Nine hit the nail on the head with "sanctuary districts".

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 3d

Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.

Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:

In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape

www.nytimes.com

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 4d

I'm amazed that he uses, "We didn't realize folks use Steam because it does Things X, Y, and Z," as an excuse. Like..... half of the reasons why we very loudly say we won't switch to the Epic game store is because it doesn't offer any of the features Steam does. Is Amazon just not paying attention?!

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 4d

I'm amazed that he uses, "We didn't realize folks use Steam because it does Things X, Y, and Z," as an excuse. Like..... half of the reasons why we very loudly say we won't switch to the Epic game store is because it doesn't offer any of the features Steam does. Is Amazon just not paying attention?!

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 4d

I've seen this movie before. It doesn't go well for us.

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 4d

A truckload of rhesus monkeys from Tulane university escaped after a crash. The university warned they’re highly aggressive toward humans and infected with hepatitis C, herpes, and COVID.

Monkeys on the loose after truck overturns in Heidelberg; public urged to call 911

A truck transporting monkeys from Tulane University overturned on I-59 near Heidelberg, with several monkeys reportedly on the loose posing health risks.

www.wapt.com

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 4d

Sigh.... I don't take enough drugs to make it through the next 3+ years.

alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 5d

I reached out to The White House and asked about its use of AI-generated Halo imagery. White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai just responded to me, and it's insane.

I've removed the paywall. Please share and subscribe if you can.

www.patreon.com/posts/exclus...

[Exclusive] The White House Responds To Its Use of Halo Imagery: 'Yet Another War Ended Under President Trump's Watch' | Alyssa Mercante - Video Games, Internet Culture & More

www.patreon.com

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 5d

You have committed to so many weird bits up to this point, how could you possibly think we'd believe claims that this isn't yet another one? Haha

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 5d

I was going to say that this is a WILD post without context..... but I'm not even sure knowing the context that it's a Sims game makes it any better, haha

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 7d

I think I need to add a turn-based game into my current rotation. I'm currently playing Ghost of Tsushima and Hades, both of which are heavy enough on snap-reactions that when I'm having an off day like today, I'm just getting wrecked in everything I try to play.

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 7d

We talking millions of rich people who fled into space to get away from the planet they're ruining, or a handful of rich dudes and a million poor indentured servants/slaves they brought to do all the work and make all their profits?

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 8d

I can't believe I've been so blind. I take back every mean thing I've ever said about the idea of AI games.

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 8d

I don't even waste my time pretending I can/will teach folks TI anymore.... I always just send them the RTFM videos a couple weeks in advance and whether or not they show up to gameday prepared is between them and their gods, haha.

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 9d

I'm wondering how many campaigns are just going to... stop for the next 4+ years. I've already had one game I backed a while ago write over this past week saying, "Welp, with this latest 100% against China, we're pausing production and we'll start back up when we start back up."

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 9d

I swear it was just a couple months ago that we kept hearing reports of companies wanting to use AI, but didn't out of fear of the backlash. What the hell changed? What switch has been flipped that is making them go, "Oh, this isn't as big of a risk as we thought!"

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 11d

Oh yeah, Disco was the main example that always jumps out at me. I think the best way to deal with hyper-serialization in general, but especially with shorter seasons, is to go back to DS9 or BSG and have each season be a chapter of a longer serialized story.

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 12d

As much as I love serialization, serialized + short seasons + new story every season hasn't been good for TV. Every episode has to be on topic and having a new crisis worthy of a full season of episodes just gets exhausting

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 14d

Hell hath no fury like a woman who's tired of watching her husband get bullied in a sports game, haha.

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Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 14d

The only nice thing I'll say about republicans is they know how to circle the wagons and close ranks when they want/need to. Dems on the other hand seem perfectly content to tear ourselves apart, no matter the circumstances. Nobody seems to hate liberals more than other liberals.

Tom Londe @tomlonde.bsky.social · 14d

It doesn't matter how good combat is in a game, if I feel like I can't turn around or start moving 20 steps in one direction without coming across more enemies, I'm going to get tired of it. Letting your player have quiet moments in their exploration and travel is not a bad thing.

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