And it’s been the default here in the US, historically and culturally (for puritanical reasons originally, and now because it’s “the norm”). Absolutely barbaric practice. “Yes, please mutilate my newborn baby because *checks notes* having a foreskin is unhygienic and looks weird compared to what I’m used to seeing in porn.”

It sucks because that’s also Google and their products/services. So it’s like jumping from one shitty platform into another in the context, except the other one is more niche.

Yes, but he’s straight for pay.

No. As a user of both Amazon and Google devices (with screens/sticks), Amazon is far more aggressive in their advertising practices. As the other guy said, neither is ad-free out of the box, but Amazon devices will literally make your screensaver/lock screen a full screen ad (even on your TV). Google just has a home screen ad about something that’s going to play on streaming, usually.

If you want NO ads, set up DNS ad blocking or get an Apple TV and use that for streaming. But again, Amazon’s devices are FAR more aggressive about advertising as much as possible. My father has one of those Echo Show things that’s a speaker with a rotating screen attached to it. It’s playing ads almost all the time.

He’s trying to instigate a war so that he can be a wartime president. On all fronts. I’m sure he would rather it be a domestic matter, but he’s clearly happy to start one internationally, too.

Black people: *exist*

Racists: NOOOO YOU CAN’T DO THAT REEEEEEEEEEEE!!!1!1!1!!!

I didn’t realize it was Aspyr (like you mentioned, I’m familiar with their earlier Mac ports of Windows games). Still sucks.

In Germany you’re paying to access the bathroom, not the “privilege” of wiping your ass

They (Steam) offered Bitcoin payment, but pulled out because of what you said. They were covering the changes in fluctuation, but ultimately it was too unstable. I recall a statement from them saying something like, the value fluctuated too much during the brief checkout process, even.

They’re going to try every medium/platform possible. The only way to tackle this is to teach critical thinking. Easier said than done, I know. Otherwise we board up the internet “for the children” (which is currently happening).

It’s even dumber: look at the minimum requirements, too. The insane difference between the minimum and recommended tell me that it’s the original engine with a ton of shit bolted on top.

That’s the only reason they’d recommend a 2080 or above – just sheer brute force. I hope I’m wrong, but I smell an unoptimized rerelease. Someone mentioned this studio remastered a Star Wars game (I forget which) and apparently it didn’t go well.

We needed Nightdive studios for this.

So about that Wifi app in the third screenshot…

Came here to say the same. It’s an empty threat. After all this is famously the company who made dual physical SIM iPhones for China and other Asian regions because eSIM isn’t/wasn’t legal.

I wonder if they’re still dealing with engine limitations? Not excusing them, because the feedback is actually on point if you see the screenshots/trailer. But I’m wondering if there’s a poly count limit or something.

They’re clearly bolting on the graphical improvements on top of this antiquated engine, rather than rewriting it. I wonder if they need to “trick” the engine (like with RTX Remix, where the game isn’t “aware” of the changes).

I use Seal. It works fine. It has trouble downloading from “official” pages though (e.g. Vevo or Universal or whatever). It’s like those pages, since they’re owned by corporate entities, have some extra protection on them or something. It’s been like this for years, across Android, Windows, Mac, etc – doesn’t matter what I try to use to download, it’ll fail on those pages/accounts.

I cancelled YT Premium after paying pretty much since Google Music was a thing. The price keeps going up ($14/month now here in the US), and Lite is meh even for the discounted price (e.g. no background play I think?).

They just keep building the wall higher and higher, while they survive only because creators keep filling it with content. Nobody is watching “YouTube Originals” or their first party content. YouTube exists solely because of third party creators.

Not only that but I can survive with Brave or Firefox with UBO or whatever. It’s not that hard to avoid the ads, even if it’s a little inconvenient vs being able to use the app.

Ding ding ding. Anyone who’s been paying attention since the beginning should know this.

You can flash the US Unlocked firmware. I use a US Unlocked S22 Ultra. Works on all carriers. No bloatware like what you described. I know what you’re talking about – it’s called Carrier something. It’s a system app. You can disable it but updates might re-enable it.

Especially after Brexit.

Good explanation. Thank you.