Eh, we have more different developers making games than ever before.  The only sector where things could consolidate is the AAA space, because of the cost to make those big games.  Everything else though we're just seeing new devs every year. 

Gameplay still looks cool, and I’ll give it a shot just for that, but everything in the story down to the dialog has been cringe so far.

Yeah, I’ve been. I’m aware of the organizers political leanings, but I’m also aware of friends that don’t even know who they are, and their zoomer cousin not even knowing about the webcomic. They went because PAX is one of the largest community gaming events in the US to play upcoming games, not because it aligned/comf…

I’m not ignoring the context, just disagreeing with the assumptions you’re drawing from it. Nothing about PAX indicates they have some special audience of the politically initiated vs. any other con. If anything, entertainment hobby conventions tend to have more pop culture junkies that don’t want to bother with…

Eh, you may feel that way, but many people are politically uninformed/apathetic, and more than you would think aren’t even bothered by the decisions in Texas at all.

Lucky to get that amount of money. Never seen a forum that complains so much about toxicity, be so lacking in self awareness that they produce it regularly.  That includes their mod staff. 

Well that sucks for him I guess.  I don't know what's so appealing about the area that he couldn't just move to one of the many better parts of California not even far from there, spend less money, and get a better home. 

defended the price tag by pointing out that the Los Angeles housing market is an absurd bubble and that he was tired of renting and needed a bigger place for his family and to stream out of.

Color me intrigued, especially at that price-point.

I don’t even live in a coastal state.

Sure, there are some other camps that preach this stuff...it’s just that I like they’re ultimately irrelevant when they keep losing as the years pass. My elderly mother for example kinda laughs that Elvis swinging his hips was linked to satan when she grew up, and almost everybody wouldn’t even bat at eye that stuff…

What are you even talking about? Today’s America is more accommodating of sexuality than ever before, getting access to porn is easier than ever before, and advertising + media is filled with it more than ever before.

Someone was paid by the hour for these kind of hard hitting questions.

The hobby will never be fully inherited by anybody. Even if the youtube/twitch crowd become dominant, many of the successful ones make use of donation platforms like Patreon with tiers based on amount, which really isn’t that different from Giant Bomb’s premium sub fee.

The difference is the average doesn’t represent a compromise on each issue. If you have a political compass test where they ask a bunch of questions on different political topics, a centrist is someone who can easily pick overtly left or right wing takes on those topics, in addition to some squishy 50/50 compromises…

You thinking this is something that centrists would have in mind just reminds me of the same stuff I see people joke ad nauseam about on r/enlightenedcentrism, the sub-reddit.

Eh, AI has so far demonstrated it sucks at understanding context/intent in human speech, and automating so much of that behind a few vague sliders is the wrong approach.

If you believe in strawman arguments on that sub-reddit, I guess. 

Awesome!  Loved the base game, and I’d be happy to consume more.

if a global situation makes it harder for the United States to import necessary components, the country needs to be manufacturing those things itself.