Dude was planning on charging for the mod, too. Really dumb all around. 

Except every picture I see of this guy is a “bad picture”. Same dead eyes, same creepy forced grin.

Not sure why you think those are incompatible positions. People can contribute positively to society and also be terrible. Utilitarian much?

I just hope the game is a learning experience for consumers and for a lot of the media (not calling out anyone in particular here) who were painfully slow to catch onto how much of a transparent scam/grift this was.

We’ll remember it was we knew it, a huge scammy piece of shit and a cautionary tale for fake game trailers and hype moving forward. 

Apartment full of luddites I guess.

…you refused internet in your apartment complex?

Meaning can be derived from dynamic and emergent sources. For example, the wacky AI in Oblivion created all sorts of memorable (and hilarious) moments for me. Those moments are what gave an otherwise generic and forgettable game meaning to me. To claim that AI-generated dialogue will never be able to create such…

99% of them, sure

Tell me you don’t have anything to say without telling me you don’t have anything to say.

it’s more of an “everything we do is designed to waste time so why act like it isn't and just enjoy the ride?"

This, you are 100% right and in 5 years everyone will have moved on from the hand wringing. I look forward to that day so that all the comments aren’t just variations of personal attacks by people who hate new technology.

“Does big tech think video game characters only exist to waste our time?”

Yes, an early tech demo of an emerging technology that’s using an already dated voice synthesis program does sounds pretty robotic. It’s crappy right now, but in the future the possibility of having NPCs that can actually react and grow organically based on the player’s actions is absolutely incredible.

I did not realize it was being hosted on steam itself. Honestly, thats crazy. What’s the benefit? Users are just downloading a rom that’ll get on an evercart or an N64 emulator anyways. Now I’m even more confused! Leave a project like that on github where it belonged!!

*scratches head even harder*

“Valve likes to portray itself as the big libertarian force in gaming, where anything goes (until it doesn’t), is defiantly pro-AI (apart from when it isn’t), and any number of other confusing, conflicting positions.”

I recall when switch came out and all the “hardcore gamers” (a euphemism for “Insecure asshats”) laughed, jeered and promised it dead on arrival, an instant flop.

I think you skipped the chart in this article that shows the top 10 best selling games of 2023 in Japan.

not to mention they continue to sell them at full price and only occasionally will discount them, in stark contrast to other publishers that discount their games to $20 a week after they release

Yet another illustration that game design and aesthetic is more important than raw power or graphic quality.