Unless it's a literally intractable hardware problem, like a jabbering hub or some shit, I am secretly delighted by a computer problem. Now printers, printers I hate. But anything else, put me in coach.

Fortnite as the candy shell for marketing payloads isn't new. I mean… they weren't uncommon in Club Penguin, even. I'm not trying to say that Fortnite players are no better than the writhing arctic birds you'd scrape off the dance floor at a DJ Cadence show. I'm saying that if you have a place people come to that place is a marketable venue - whether it exists in the physical world or not.

I definitely like racing, though I prefer the more arcade excursions - as an index for your use, I consider Ridge Racer Type 4, Project Gotham Racing, and Rallisport Challenge sorta the high water marks for the kind of racing I like. You'll note these games are quite old. Imagine my torment.

All true! It's all true. But we should keep our wits about us: it's really just an upgrade from "lethargy" to "several seconds, each round, of conscious activity." Even under this dilapidated rubric, I think the delta would still surprise you.

Gabriel and I are both very lucky to have sons we sort of understand. It's possible to get into fights because you're too alike, I don't know if you've ever seen any movies about fathers and sons, but it comes up. In both our cases we had to learn to take the Real World in small doses, like Iocaine Powder, until we had developed enough immunity to live there safely.

I got my very first podium finish last night in iRacing and I did it on stream! I have to share the VOD here. Tycho was even in the chat cheering me on. 

Social Distancing continues in today's strip.

Main cast in Final Fantasy VII Remake has mad polys; seems like it would make them easy to spot in a lineup but it doesn't seem to go that way. Then again, we need to consider the idea that these soldiers know perfectly well that they're looking at dangerous terrorists, it's just that they don't want to get chopped to pieces in three seconds. Because the tutorial is just you sharpening your sword on these goofs over and over, and they provide as much resistance to the blade as a room-temperature Camembert.

I’ve been investing my quarantine time in a couple of new hobbies. Not being able to leave the house makes sinking into a new obsession a real treat! I’ve already talked a bit about sim racing here on the site and my fascination with it has only increased. This is a good sign (or a bad one I guess) that this racing hobby will stick around. I’ve settled into two games that I’m investing my time in. The first is Assetto Corsa Competizione and the second is iRacing. I like ACC for its career mode, special events and incredible car physics. It’s also a beautiful game with a slick UI and a progress tracker that I find helpful in improving. I don’t play multiplayer events in ACC but that’s not because they are not available. I just have not dipped my toe in yet. I play iRacing for multiplayer driving and I love it. They have an incredible selection of official races and practices happening every day like clockwork. The cars feel great and the visuals are solid but that's not the focus here. This is a sim first and that means using a web browser to find races. It all works well enough but there is no question they need to get their beta UI up to speed. 

I haven't purchased Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and I'm not certain I will - I didn't really like the combat in the demo, though Gabriel has suggested there is a mode that might be more to my liking. Obviously it's some landmark shit or whatever but I'm happy to merely observe this spectacle. Really, if you think about it, that's where spectacles excel.

I always warn them! I said as much in the last post - we are dangerous creatures that must be contained within unbroken mystic sigils. And here is the proof!

It's a very good time to have a new obsession. Well, let me rephrase that: it's a very good time to have a new obsession that it's even possible to enjoy. Optimally one you can embroider and revisit completely alone, in the night.

I have to be very curious about something to try and harangue somebody for a code, because it doesn't feel good. Plus, people know they shouldn't give me codes, and that's sort of how it should be all the time. I should be slightly ashamed that I'm asking, and if they think they might send me a code, their pointer should hover with trepidation over the "send" button, their mind clouded with unlikely death scenarios, like in Final Destination.

There's a lot of physicality being ported to these digimal realms lately, something you know if you have to find some new way to work or if you have mewling, molting larvae at home trying to figure out what school means when you have six teachers, no firm guidance, a lot of buzzwords, and school is functionally illegal. Spoiler: it fucking sucks.

We actually had to take a break from Tiger King, for the same reason we had to take a break from fuckin' Love is Blind - the emotional payload of these programs is too fucking high.

I think there might be something to Doom Eternal's Battlemode; I'd like to spend more time finding that out. It's got deathmatch dynamics, pace, and terror, but with weird asymmetries that it seems like wouldn't even work on paper but actually feel kinda right. The ideas are much bigger than some Ritually Appended PvP (details to follow) exercise.  Somebody loved this and it's easy to tell.