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What do giant game companies do for us?
They have four main functions.
First: they buy smaller companies and then destroy them. Where is Westwood? Pandemic? Lionhead? Visceral Games? Tango Gameworks? Bullfrog? Origin Systems? Maxis? These were not minor developers. They made some of our best loved games ever.
Think back about these amazing companies and how they were killed. And I'm not even mentioning Ensemble Studios.
1/4
They have four main functions.
First: they buy smaller companies and then destroy them. Where is Westwood? Pandemic? Lionhead? Visceral Games? Tango Gameworks? Bullfrog? Origin Systems? Maxis? These were not minor developers. They made some of our best loved games ever.
Think back about these amazing companies and how they were killed. And I'm not even mentioning Ensemble Studios.
1/4
Second: the big company, who owns the IP, takes it away from the original team and gives it to another, cheaper or better-connected politically team and let them ruin it.
Remember Spyro the Dragon? Crash Bandicoot? Halo? Metal Gear Solid? Mass Effect? Dead Space? Fallout? Banjo-Kazooie? Prince of Persia? Star Wars: Battlefront? Sonic the Hedgehog had it happen multiple times.
ALL THESE were successful great games. ALL had the IP ripped away and given to timer-serving incompetents. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
I spoke to the woman who was one of the chief level-creators for Spyro at GDC. She was so enthusiastic about the clever things she'd done to make it work. I guarantee her replacement did it by the numbers, which is why Enter The Dragonfly was a soulless waste of time. Plus it was full of bugs.
Below is a shot from Mass Effect: Andromeda, the retarded stepchild of a game stolen from the original Bioware team.
2/4
Remember Spyro the Dragon? Crash Bandicoot? Halo? Metal Gear Solid? Mass Effect? Dead Space? Fallout? Banjo-Kazooie? Prince of Persia? Star Wars: Battlefront? Sonic the Hedgehog had it happen multiple times.
ALL THESE were successful great games. ALL had the IP ripped away and given to timer-serving incompetents. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
I spoke to the woman who was one of the chief level-creators for Spyro at GDC. She was so enthusiastic about the clever things she'd done to make it work. I guarantee her replacement did it by the numbers, which is why Enter The Dragonfly was a soulless waste of time. Plus it was full of bugs.
Below is a shot from Mass Effect: Andromeda, the retarded stepchild of a game stolen from the original Bioware team.
2/4
Third: if the big company doesn't own the company OR the IP, they sometimes just straight up murder it.
Example: a game company I know really well did a game that I know you've heard of. The game was so popular enough it actually had action figures made for it. The company devs and owners were good friends of mine. We played RPGs at my house weekly.
Electronic Arts had funded the game's development with advances. When the game came out and sold millions of copies, my friends were super-excited. At last they hit the big time. But EA told them they needed to pay back the advances yet - clearly a baldface lie because the initial sales royalties plainly far surpassed their pittance advances. My friends tried to get their act together but this took them completely by surprise. Starved of their royalties, my friends couldn't hire a legal team (at least not one willing to take on EA), lost all their income, and had to disband their studio.
EA got to keep a few hundred thousand royalty money in exchange for never getting another multi-million selling game from the studio. I think it was a terrible deal, because another such game would have given them 10 times as much money. It was such a bad decision business-wise, my guess is that the deal was torpedoed by EA internal politics. I.e., some producer was angry at the game's success. Either that, or EA is literally controlled by Satan, which might be more likely.
3/4
Example: a game company I know really well did a game that I know you've heard of. The game was so popular enough it actually had action figures made for it. The company devs and owners were good friends of mine. We played RPGs at my house weekly.
Electronic Arts had funded the game's development with advances. When the game came out and sold millions of copies, my friends were super-excited. At last they hit the big time. But EA told them they needed to pay back the advances yet - clearly a baldface lie because the initial sales royalties plainly far surpassed their pittance advances. My friends tried to get their act together but this took them completely by surprise. Starved of their royalties, my friends couldn't hire a legal team (at least not one willing to take on EA), lost all their income, and had to disband their studio.
EA got to keep a few hundred thousand royalty money in exchange for never getting another multi-million selling game from the studio. I think it was a terrible deal, because another such game would have given them 10 times as much money. It was such a bad decision business-wise, my guess is that the deal was torpedoed by EA internal politics. I.e., some producer was angry at the game's success. Either that, or EA is literally controlled by Satan, which might be more likely.
3/4
We built a live, player-generated game at #GoogleIO using the Gemini API, Nano Banana, @GoogleAIStudio, @Antigravity and Lyria 3. 🕹️
Here’s how we built Infinite Scaler using our AI tools ↓
Here’s how we built Infinite Scaler using our AI tools ↓
1️⃣ First, we used the Gemini API to take a simple prompt like: “a majestic space fox levitating in space with a giant saturn and stars behind” and expand it.
This mapped out all the colors, backgrounds, and decorations needed to build a level in the game.
This mapped out all the colors, backgrounds, and decorations needed to build a level in the game.
2️⃣ Next, we used Nano Banana to turn that expanded prompt into a sprite sheet via the Gemini API. 🍌
Then, we sent foreground elements back to Nano Banana to generate normal, roughness and emission maps.
This inferred depth let us map textures to a 3D cardboard box rendered in WebGL before adding them to the global stack of worlds.
Then, we sent foreground elements back to Nano Banana to generate normal, roughness and emission maps.
This inferred depth let us map textures to a 3D cardboard box rendered in WebGL before adding them to the global stack of worlds.
More heavy-hearted news from Monday's BUFF crash.
The identities of three more crew members have now been confirmed:
- Boeing contractor Lt Col (R) Greg “Evil” Watson
- Maj Robert Dee (pictured)
- Contractor Christopher “Hustler” Rischar (pictured)
Their loss is deeply felt by the flight test and aviation community. Please keep their families in your prayers and continue showing them the same outpouring of love and support you’ve given the Middletons.
Links to their GoFundMe pages are in the comments below. 👇
The identities of three more crew members have now been confirmed:
- Boeing contractor Lt Col (R) Greg “Evil” Watson
- Maj Robert Dee (pictured)
- Contractor Christopher “Hustler” Rischar (pictured)
Their loss is deeply felt by the flight test and aviation community. Please keep their families in your prayers and continue showing them the same outpouring of love and support you’ve given the Middletons.
Links to their GoFundMe pages are in the comments below. 👇
Russia is Havana Syndroming (microwaving) directly at St4rl!nk satellites while overhead, spectrum jamming (overloading) their uplink. St4rl!nk loses it's ability to surveille ground stations.
St4rl!nk runs a 10,000 count, continuously refreshed constellation with a daily re-entry rate of 1-5 or 50-250 monthly. These ranges are ridiculous, as is the expense.
"Sp4ceEKS builds these satellites to completely disintegrate upon atmospheric re-entry, meaning the falling satellites pose virtually no danger of debris striking the ground."
(as confirmed by Sp4ceEKS)
(as confirmed by Sp4ceEKS)
Yesterday, the Israeli government stripped the Palestinian Authority of planning and construction powers in Hebron. I know Hebron well, I’ve walked its streets hundreds of times with anyone willing to hear about the occupation. There’s a reason they chose this issue 🧵
Our government is backing settler terror, ethnic cleansing all across the West Bank, and withholding Palestinian tax revenues. Funding for the entire public sector has been cut off: doctors, teachers, and police officers receive only a fraction of their salaries.
Few things can inflame the West Bank faster than Muslim holy sites. Settler terrorists are burning mosques while the government is trying to take over Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, a place holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The Bronfmans and Jeffrey Epstein as well as Li Ka Shing and Russian Mobster Semion Mogilevich all linked to Neil Baker of Gordon Securities. This man needs scrutiny. Epstein had expertise with tax evasion. Neil Baker exploited Canada’s tax loopholes.
opmwire.com/guide-to-gordo…
opmwire.com/guide-to-gordo…
Neil Baker and his son Rod Baker owned Great Canadian Casinos. Rod Baker got caught travelling during Covid Lockdown going to the Yukon for his Covid Shot. Peter Newman spoke of how they circumvented existing regulations, through entirely legal means, to create Canada's largest investment house. opmwire.com/rod-baker-neil…
Here is the news coverage on Rod Baker getting his Covid shot. vancouver.citynews.ca/2021/06/16/van…
⭕️ 🧵Many good people correctly point out that we defeated Iran militarily. I agree, but what was the point? All we did was kick the can down the road—while not only giving Iran a huge amount of money, but also handing them the most powerful weapon they could have dreamed of: control over the Strait of Hormuz. A thread. 👇
📌 Before the war started, the Strait of Hormuz was open. Iran was economically broken—the sanctions were crippling the regime from within. Protests were increasing and threatened the regime’s survival. Their nuclear program had been set back at least 5–7 years. Both the US and Israel were closely monitoring enriched uranium 24/7 after it was bombed, and any attempt by Iran to recover it (which is complicated, even for Iran) would have been met with a strike.
📌 During the war, the Strait of Hormuz was closed. About 85% of Iran’s military defense complex and supporting industries were destroyed. Most of their ballistic missiles—about 70%—were eliminated, and the majority of their military was wiped out. The nuclear program remained unchanged from before the war. The blockade was demolishing what was left of their economy. The proxies were on their knees. All that was needed was some patience.
🧵 What the Qur’an’s different words for Jews/Israelites tell us about the early Meccan milieu. (1/19)
Sometimes they are called the Children of Israel (banī isrāʾīl), the Jews (al-yahūd), those who are Jews (alladhīna hādū), or the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb).
They make up a major part of the Qur’an’s focus, storytelling, and criticism. (2/19)
They make up a major part of the Qur’an’s focus, storytelling, and criticism. (2/19)
What many people do not realize is that these terms often follow different rules and literary patterns. Depending on the context of a verse, certain names are preferred over others. This suggests the terms are not being picked arbitrarily. (3/19)
THE ADHD STUFF AT WORK THAT EVERYONE QUIETLY READS AS AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM.
This has cost people promotions, references, whole careers. Not the work itself. The misread of it.
Save this. Number 7 has ended more careers than bad performance ever has, and I'm not exaggerating.
This has cost people promotions, references, whole careers. Not the work itself. The misread of it.
Save this. Number 7 has ended more careers than bad performance ever has, and I'm not exaggerating.
1. You say nothing in the meeting, then send the actual good idea on Slack at 11:57pm.
They think you're checked out. Not a team player.
But you can't think and perform at the same time, live, in a room, with everyone looking. The idea was always there. The meeting format just ambushed it before it could load.
They think you're checked out. Not a team player.
But you can't think and perform at the same time, live, in a room, with everyone looking. The idea was always there. The meeting format just ambushed it before it could load.
2. You miss the deadline you genuinely swore you'd hit. On something you cared about.
To them that's just unreliable. Doesn't respect their time.
Here's the thing though, you really did think you had it handled, right up until the day it was due. Time blindness doesn't care how much you care about the work.
To them that's just unreliable. Doesn't respect their time.
Here's the thing though, you really did think you had it handled, right up until the day it was due. Time blindness doesn't care how much you care about the work.
Back at 100 Centre Street for the Luigi Mangione hearing, take two. I arrived shortly before 9 a.m., and one of the court officers in the lobby told me that Mangione was already in the building and being held in the inmate holding area ahead of today's proceedings. Hopefully he is right! No lawyers or judge yet.
Defense has arrived- Karen F. Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo, and Jacob Kapalan. Marc, as usual, making friendly small talk with court officers ( it was brief, though). Photographers and sketch artists are making their way through as well.
Joel Seidemann and the prosecution arrived, and a few of them immediately sat down and began taking some notes.
🧵 THE FIVE MEN NAMED IN THE WHITE HOUSE UFC PLOT
DOJ has charged five men in what federal prosecutors describe as a plot to attack and kill government officials and others attending the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House.
1️⃣Tycen C. Proper, 19
2️⃣Bryan Omar Roa, 24
3️⃣Michael Alan Thomas, 32
4️⃣Daniel K. Eskridge, 32
5️⃣Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31
The affidavit describes encrypted chats, weapons, tactical gear, drones, snipers, explosives, target lists, fallback plans, and people talking about using the event to spark a revolution. 👇
DOJ has charged five men in what federal prosecutors describe as a plot to attack and kill government officials and others attending the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House.
1️⃣Tycen C. Proper, 19
2️⃣Bryan Omar Roa, 24
3️⃣Michael Alan Thomas, 32
4️⃣Daniel K. Eskridge, 32
5️⃣Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31
The affidavit describes encrypted chats, weapons, tactical gear, drones, snipers, explosives, target lists, fallback plans, and people talking about using the event to spark a revolution. 👇
1️⃣ TYCEN C. PROPER, 19
According to the affidavit, his family contacted authorities after becoming alarmed by his behavior, weapons purchases, and online communications.
His father told law enforcement Proper had recently met people online, was planning “recons,” quit his job, and had bought camping gear, food, ballistic plates, a shotgun, a rifle, ammunition, extra magazines, and plate carriers.
Investigators say he spent about $3,000 of his graduation money on gear.
Proper later told investigators the group started on TikTok before more serious members moved into encrypted chats.
He described tiers, equipment standards, team leaders, and planning around the White House UFC event.
One detail stands out:
Investigators say Proper described the attack as something meant to “jumpstart” a revolution.
According to the affidavit, his family contacted authorities after becoming alarmed by his behavior, weapons purchases, and online communications.
His father told law enforcement Proper had recently met people online, was planning “recons,” quit his job, and had bought camping gear, food, ballistic plates, a shotgun, a rifle, ammunition, extra magazines, and plate carriers.
Investigators say he spent about $3,000 of his graduation money on gear.
Proper later told investigators the group started on TikTok before more serious members moved into encrypted chats.
He described tiers, equipment standards, team leaders, and planning around the White House UFC event.
One detail stands out:
Investigators say Proper described the attack as something meant to “jumpstart” a revolution.
2️⃣ MICHAEL ALAN THOMAS, 32
Michael Alan Thomas is the defendant investigators connect to the online name “Whiskey_Six” or “Whiskey Six Amerika.”
Thomas’ role is important because investigators describe him as someone helping structure the operation.
DOJ says Thomas discussed money for drones and explosive charges, writing that “$1300 gets us the drones and the charges.”
He also laid out a tier system:
Tier 1: ground operators
Tier 2: drivers and drone operators
Tier 3: logistics suppliers
Tier 4: social media influencers
Investigators say Thomas talked about marksman training with Bryan Roa and “guerilla style warfare.”
When agents searched his home, DOJ says they recovered a rifle, extended magazines, ammunition, and a pistol.
Then came his explanation.
According to the complaint, Thomas described himself as a planner and advisor and someone who did not want to personally carry out violence, but wanted to guide and instruct others.
Michael Alan Thomas is the defendant investigators connect to the online name “Whiskey_Six” or “Whiskey Six Amerika.”
Thomas’ role is important because investigators describe him as someone helping structure the operation.
DOJ says Thomas discussed money for drones and explosive charges, writing that “$1300 gets us the drones and the charges.”
He also laid out a tier system:
Tier 1: ground operators
Tier 2: drivers and drone operators
Tier 3: logistics suppliers
Tier 4: social media influencers
Investigators say Thomas talked about marksman training with Bryan Roa and “guerilla style warfare.”
When agents searched his home, DOJ says they recovered a rifle, extended magazines, ammunition, and a pistol.
Then came his explanation.
According to the complaint, Thomas described himself as a planner and advisor and someone who did not want to personally carry out violence, but wanted to guide and instruct others.
