I’m better rested and less grumpy today, so here’s my last thought: My issue with your assertion is that I do not believe that having a low budget or even seeming like it has a low budget is an inextricable part of the vibe. Sometimes it’s enough to just seem retro, and even retro is an odd thing to precisely define.…

I understand that they are two different things. But that doesn’t change the fact that “indie rock” in the modern parlance is just as often, if not more often, used to describe music that “sounds like” the kind of rock that is not released under a major label.

Jesus, man. I already addressed everything you just said. That’s why I’m being defensive - you are misconstruing and misrepresenting everything I have said and completely ignore my repeated attempts to clarify. I don’t really care if you don’t agree with me. That’s fine. I’ve spent basically zero time trying to argue…

Yes, directly addressing the things I actually said to someone who could not do so is a distraction. You caught me.

I literally did not say any of that, and you clearly do not understand my argument.

It’s not the end of the world, no, but I was not making the comparison you think I was. Nothing of the sort. You’ve zeroed in on my word choice in a single comment and expanded it erroneously the cover the entirety of what I am saying. I said nothing about what you call a development criteria except that I do not…

You’ve once again ignored what I said, and then put words in my mouth.

At no point did I say that every independent game has an indie vibe, and implying as much misses my point entirely, though I would point out that many of the games you listed absolutely do, in my opinion, have indie vibes. What that actually means is a philosophical question I’m not here to delve too deeply into, but…

Indie rock is a sub-genre defined by an independent-esque vibe. Games, like music, can be more than one thing. Have more than one genre. I don’t see any reason why “indie platformer”, defined as a platformer with an independent vibe isn’t equally as valid.

Indie rock is easy enough to reduce to a vibe (the “vibe” is basically what defines it), and so, by and large, are indie games. Like I already touched on - your definition already opens the door for companies pushing 9-10 figure revenues with hundreds of employees to claim some sort of indie cred that makes no damned…

Hopefully gaming can avoid that. I’m not optimistic.

Hopefully gaming can avoid that. I’m not optimistic.

Are there people who actually consider BG3 and Death Stranding to be indie games? I agree that the category is kind of ill-defined, but I also think that calling a game made by hundreds of people with budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars “independent” is just... painfully misleading. Larian has SIX studios.…

Back in April I tried to do their buy one, get one free deal. I got Octopath Traveler 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Not long after I put in the order, Octopath showed up, and looking at my order I found that Xenoblade was back-ordered. Cool, whatever, I’ll wait. It’s a free game, right? Weeks pass and I reach out to…

That’s literally always true. Same for you. I’ve comfortable with sharing an opposing anecdote, though. 

That’s super odd to hear as someone who used to live there and spent quite a bit of time with a couple of black friends there (one of whom was a woman) and never met any hostility whatsoever. The complete opposite, in fact. Staring, sure, but I got that a lot as a solo white guy. I saw a “no foreigners” sign or two,…

This is a continuation of the same clip, but we see the red N7 sleeve on their lab coat. What remains to be seen if this is maybe Liara paying tribute to Commander Shepard, or if BioWare is about to pull some fandom gimme coward shit and bring back the old face of the series, 600 years after the trilogy.

Something like 90% of games sold in 2022 were digital. I wouldn’t call that thriving. 

I feel like the future of physical media, if it’s going to survive at all, is going to have to be something similar to what you describe here, but updates and patches will need to be installed on the cartridge itself or someday you’re going to find yourself with a broken copy without the day 1 patch needed to make it…

The sets were spot on, the sounds and sights were spot on