That would be great. My oft-stated worry is that Microsoft will pivot to a set of offerings that do not involve an actual console on which you can install games locally (I would be shocked if the Series X doesn’t end up being their last console that can use physical media, which is bad enough). That is, your two…

Right now it’s Scribe Valdez from Fallout 76.

That’s my feeling about a potential PS5 Pro. The PS4 Pro felt like it made some measure of sense since they seemed to be pushing the limits of the original PS4's hardware. Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m not getting that feeling at all from the PS5 or the Series X.

The danger isn’t them voting for Trump. The danger is them not voting at all. 

6-7 percent rate on a $50,000 car is brutal

No. I’m saying It’s About Madamn Time.™

That sounds about right, unfortunately. They might just be going with the YouTube strategy of making the ads so obtrusive and awful that it drives people to pay not to have to deal with them.

It could be that, but I’m leaning more toward the Morbius kind of insane, which inspires several different and harsher adverbs.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if AI/ML could be used. There should be a set number of breaks and they should occur at specific-ish intervals. Combine that with the fade-out/fade-in (or momentary black screen) and even if they didn’t double-check it it’d be better than what they’re doing now.

My recollection was that Harris was a viable candidate, but I was surprised when I looked it up and saw that she withdrew from the race prior to the Iowa caucuses.

I have a NUC that I use for couch gaming and it works well for the limited number of games I want to play on PC, and it would be great if that model could be used for a more powerful device that can run PC games.

Exactly. I didn’t vote for either of the eventual candidates in the 2016 or 2020 Democratic primaries, but I sure as hell did when the general election came around.

without any attention paid to natural breaks (between sketches, say, instead of right before a punchline).

I would however agree with Jon that just because we don’t want Trump, doesn’t mean we should be closing our fucking eyes and pretending Grandpa’s doin’ fine up there while every other Democrat makes TV appearances to tell us that Joe’s actually as sharp as a tack... behind the scenes.

That, to me, is the platonic ideal of how this kind of thing should work. Like, I have an Apple TV for streaming because I like it and the fact that it’s part of the Apple ecosystem is nice. I know lots of people like Roku or Chromecast because of their various features and advantages.

I hate that the home screen is constantly advertising to me

Right? I figured that if I had a physical version of a game I’d be able to play it on my Series X via BC.

At least what I’d previously thought would be the worst-case scenario seems to be off the table. If they went to the model I described while still keeping most of their first-party stuff exclusive it would be even worse; at least it’s looking like there will be a console option for those games even if Microsoft stops…

I also own both and I don’t really have strong opinions one way or the other about which experience is better. Both platforms have their UX advantages; I love that Xbox has direct upload to OneDrive, for example. I generally opt for PS5 when buying a new game that’s available on both at the same price point, but that…

Yeah. The best-case scenario here (IMO) is that Microsoft continues to make Xbox consoles - and I’m talking actual consoles, not just streaming-only devices. Competition is good for consumers.