It absolutely is how some of the other streaming services work though. Hulu, for example.  And lets be real here--this is the gaming industry.  If there aren’t different “tiers” of membership, with different perks or reduced ad timers for higher paying members, I’ll eat my hat.  ;)

Agreed on all points.  And consider this: if they do go with some kind of monthly subscription model, get ready to have each play session interrupted every 30 minutes with unskippable ads.  Ugh, no thanks.

I agree with your general premise, but the problem is that there is a LOT of gray area these days, especially in regards to things like video game content, reviews, etc. One of the major issues with this law is the broadness of its language and the obvious potential for abuse through things like content ID strikes…

Can I just say, THIS is how to write a good review with no score. You clearly and explicitly listed the things you thought the game did very well, and stated in no uncertain terms why you liked it. Thank you. I get so annoyed when review sites refuse to give scores but then also hire writers who seem almost like they…

Yeah, maybe if you live in a big city with excellent internet infrastructure. I have what is usually good and reliable internet in a mid-sized city, and it still ran like crap with lag all over the place. Not holding my breath for this.

I think it’s pretty clear that I meant “appearances” in the broad sense of “keeping up appearances,” not “physical appearance.”  It’s about trying to convince the public that they are something other than what they are (power-hungry opportunists.) I have yet to see one politician who can’t be described this way, even…

Counterpoint: Politics is entirely about appearances, and has very little to do with what candidates actually believe.

ALL students think they are smarter than they are though, so I guess it’s to be expected.  ;)

I’m loving these tortured metaphors.

I think we need to be careful to clarify that it’s not a meritocracy for these rich assholes, specifically. College definitely IS a meritocracy for MOST students. As someone who works in higher education (faculty, not administration,) I am dismayed at all of the generalizing going on here, and the regular implication…

My understanding is that the crux of the lawsuit centers more on the issue that students who got into Stanford the old fashioned way essentially were being held to harsher admissions standards than those who had mommy and daddy’s bribery money at their disposal (which is absolutely true.) They have a case.

Presumably leaving the root on also makes the onion harder to peel though, unless you’re just removing the whole outer layer instead of the skin (which is usually what I do out of sheer laziness.)

Metro Exodus just jumped to the top of my to-play list.

Microtransactions do not in any way pay actual developers.

Adding lootboxes to a game not originally designed to have them, for the sole purposes of pressuring players to spend more money, is doing them the right way??  This article feels like the microtransaction equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome.

You’re probably right. Still, it feels a bit hypocritical to suggest that this guy should just suck it up and put up with unwanted physical contact with another person, regardless of the genders involved or his personal reasons. If genders were reversed, we would never advocate forcing a woman to participate in a…

Regardless of WHY this made him uncomfortable, it clearly made him uncomfortable enough to want to accept a loss rather than go through with it. You don’t force a person into unwanted physical contact with someone else, full stop.

She will indeed be missed. I always enjoy showing and discussing her work with students in my 20th Century Art course. Many of the most visceral reactions (of both shock and awe) come from my female students, many of whom have never encountered such works of feminist performative body art before. Between Schneemann…

To be fair though, even the wikipedia article you cited points out that the Williams sisters were legally CHILDREN at the time (16 and 17,) while he was 30.

Oregon is a case study in how excessive regulations and high taxes can stymie economic growth and development. The short answer is that it is prohibitively expensive to build new construction here, to the point where it is economically unfeasible for builders to invest in low-cost housing. This, combined with the…