Truly, it is (was) the Killzone of console simulation racing.

I’ve always had an interest in Soviet arcade machines, that is, those manufactured in the USSR, which had a burgeoning if comparatively backwards domestic computer industry, the largest in the “Eastern Bloc”. This isn’t surprising if you think about it critically: though countries like East Germany, Poland, and the…

These bus terminals were shabby places, and while not exactly horrible, had that sort of worn, beaten, but still just-maintained-enough quality that I usually associate with old Soviet public spaces.

Just chiming in to add that Amb. Haley was, in fact, a terrible person before this comment, and will continue to be one.

I’ll weigh in: Probably don’t do drugs in the Republic of China either.

That cloudy, smoggy haze is actually a feature.

Personally, I’m perplexed why Nintendo Directs are apparently treated as revelations from God (of video games), whereas this is as some sort of crime against human decency (of not being bored?). I found the last Nintendo Direct boring—but admittedly, I’m not that into Smash Brothers and was hoping for information on…

Considering your second paragraph, it sounds like you’re arguing Microsoft is not doing everything “right by Xbox”, including game releases.

I’m pretty certain I’m going to buy a few games on Steam. Not as many as I will buy on console, but more than zero. For example, Total War: Three Kingdoms. I’m pretty sure there will be no way besides Steam to purchase that. But I don’t fault anyone who decides to boycott—this is, after all, your right as a customer…

Re: the headline—True, though presumably saying “I am a Russian spy,” would also hurt his case of not being a Russian spy.

Well, that’s sometimes how internet tribalism works. I never excluded the possibility that people liked the Xbox at launch either. I mean, I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have purchased one (though for me it was a close choice over the Gamecube, since at the time the PS2 was entering a period of lawsuit-spawning…

It’s entirely possible. The “Xbone” aside, a lot of people may’ve forgotten that the visceral, white-hot hatred the original Xbox got for the first years of its life utterly dwarfs anything the Xbox One has encountered (again, see Penny Arcade for those few early years, though they eventually focused their hatred on Ha…

I think it has more to do with the franchise (or even its associated platform) than the games themselves. I’ve been to communities that are completely functional and utterly unremarkable, except for their total scorn for (for example) Smash Brothers or Crash Bandicoot or Halo (fifteen years ago, Penny Arcade wore that…

Seeing how I live in the southern United States, where the motto is, “Death before mass transit,” and thus have limited experience with buses here (though they’re okay in Athens and Atlanta), and can’t really comment, but public transit in Taiwan and Japan, where I do have experience, is awesome. Without exaggeration.…

I have one of these shaped like an actual flashlight (a rounded, rectangular one, admittedly), with a window-breaking tool on the back. Sad Anker stopped making those. That being said, if that can jump a typical Japanese-made sedan more than once without recharging, I’m sure these could.

I have one of these shaped like an actual flashlight (a rounded, rectangular one, admittedly), with a…

I missed the last one of these (you’d think eBay would just...email their regular customers, damn it), thanks. Conversely, I wish this had been in effect when I had to replace my Elite Controller. Oh well, missed opportunity--maybe this is just the excuse I need to buy RDR2. 

I missed the last one of these (you’d think eBay would just...email their regular customers, damn it), thanks.…

Unless you’re getting all your stuff for free, I don’t think I did, babe. ;) 

Unless you’re getting all your stuff for free, I don’t think I did, babe. ;) 

It should be a crime for any computer to ship with a spinning hard drive. Why manufacturers continue to do so, despite the dropping prices of SSDs, astonishes me.

It should be a crime for any computer to ship with a spinning hard drive. Why manufacturers continue to do so,…

Self-correction. Leonid Illyich really liked The Rifleman (though it’s entirely possible he also liked Gunsmoke). Chuck Connors stared on both shows. The Rifleman would air on Soviet television, presumably as part of the boom in westerns (including those made in the Eastern Bloc, “Red Westerns”) in the period. 

In many ways, Leonid Illyich was the most American of Soviet heads of state—though that might sound like an undue compliment, and perhaps the accurate term would be “most cosmopolitan.” He enjoyed hunting (maybe more accurately described as “shooting in the direction of game animals while wearing ugly hunting…