Category Archives: First World Problems

Pokémon’s latest shiny distribution is being grossly mishandled.

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Image from eBay, sadly.

Let’s hear it for the highest grossing intellectual property in all of human history, because they have really done it this time.

Starting Friday, September 26th, a special distribution event for special characters for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was to commence. This event made shiny variants of special legendary Pokémon available to players, and which one they got depended on the version of the game that they played. It was Koraidon on Scarlet version, and Miraidon on Violet version.

For most of the world, the event went well. But for the distribution in the US at GameStop locations, the distribution ran into problems, quickly. Really quickly.

I have my own experience, but I’ll save it for the end, because it might be infuriating, depending on who you are.

Here’s how the event was supposed to work: players who visited GameStop could request a scratch-off code card, which they got for free, no purchase necessary. Then, the code could be redeemed on a Scarlet or Violet game, and the shiny legendary that the player got depended on which version they were playing on. And GameStop benefitted from increased foot traffic, which is great for retail outlets. Everybody happy, except for those who hate Pokémon and the people who play it, but life has always sucked for the haters.

Now, for how it really went. I probably only need to tell you the limiting factor, and you’ll probably figure it out from there.

There was a strict allocation of only 50 code cards per store.

Yeah. To put that into perspective, there are GameStop locations that sold over a thousand combined copies of Scarlet and Violet.

Many stores ran out of code cards in the first hour, which is ridiculous considering that the distribution was intended to last for weeks. If you weren’t among those who were in as soon as the store opened, you probably had to do without.

And this is in spite of some stores limiting the distribution of codes to one per customer. Remember how I said that more than one legendary was made, and which one you got depended on which version the code was redeemed on? A limit of one per customer means that many players only got one, even if they got both versions, like many of the huge fans do. That would really suck for players who wanted both legendaries, because they’d only get one, assuming they got a code at all.

As was the case with scalpers who swooped in and hoovered up the code cards for shiny variants of the Sword and Shield legendaries, so it was this time, but worse. They proceeded to hock them on eBay for a quick buck, while screwing over the hobby that’s enjoyed by many millions of fans. Currently, the codes are going for around $30. To put that into perspective, a new copy of Scarlet or Violet is $60 (prior to the DLC package, which might bring it to $95).

As far as I could tell, the US is the only country that has this problem, which suggests that the problem is with GameStop. In other countries, the method of distribution may vary, but based on what I’ve heard, it generally goes that players could request a code, it gets printed on a receipt, and there’s no limit to how many codes can be printed.

Which is a far better way to handle the distribution, even if a little clunky. But why do codes, at all? Why not do it through geolocated distributing through the mobile version of Pokémon Home? Did The Pokémon Company forget that one of their biggest mobile apps has this feature? Or, why not use Pokémon Pass? Did The Pokémon Company forget that they developed a mobile app specifically to handle this kind of situation?

There is some good news, however. GameStop has announced on X that they are getting more codes to aid in the distribution. And this time, they will be printed on receipts, like the distribution is handled in some other countries.

That’s great, right? That means an unlimited number of codes, ensuring that players who make it to GameStop before the event ends can get at least one code, right?

Except no, because the codes are once again limited to 50 per store. Even though the codes are printed, and therefore, should be without limit.

So, with 100 total codes per store, and 2325 GameStop locations in the US, this means that there are only 232500 codes distributed. Which sounds like a lot, until you consider what the sales numbers for the games likely are. I don’t know what the US sales numbers are, but the global sales for the Scarlet and Violet versions are over 26 million. Using that number, less than 1% of players got at least one code. But considering only US sales, I imagine the number is closer to 5%. But 1 in 20 doesn’t sound like satisfying demand.

It actually gets worse. The first day of the distribution, September 26th, just so happened to be the release date for 3 different TCG expansions. One of which was for the Pokémon TCG, so scalpers were already doing what they were gonna do, the code cards would have been a little extra money in the bank.

There was some Magic: the Gathering crossover with Spider-Man. I haven’t played the game in decades, so I don’t know what is up with some of these crossovers, some of which don’t seem thematically appropriate.

There was also some flipping Yu-Gi-Oh! expansion that at least one person hypothetically cares about.

GameStop basically spent an hour or two being a Disneyland for TCG scalpers, and code cards for distribution of shiny Pokémon were getting swept up in the hurricane.

So how it ended up going is that a distribution of characters that are digital, and could therefore be limitlessly multiplied, had arbitrarily low allocations placed upon them for no apparent reason, except maybe to spite players.

I said that I’d share my own experience, so here we go. On September the 26th, at about the time GameStop was opening, I was already out for something else. So, knowing about the distribution, I went to a GameStop. There was only a handful of people there.

I shopped around for a bit, thinking that if I were to buy something, that would be a little something extra to come away with. As I was shopping, I overheard someone asking for a code card. He got one. So, I asked for one, too. I got one. Then, I asked if I could get one more. I got a second. Cool!

I kept shopping, but none of the anime toys marketed to grown-ups caught my eye. So I left, two code cards in hand.

After I got home, I redeemed them, one for Violet, and one for Scarlet. After that, I found out on YouTube just how rare those code cards are.

Please don’t hate me. I had no idea the distribution would turn into such a fiasco.

Let’s Categorize the Losers Who Hate Anime

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To the end of arbitrary categorization, let’s look at various types of people who hate anime, with brief descriptions.

The Hanna-Barbara Boomer

This is the guy who remembers back when cartoons didn’t take their viewers seriously, didn’t bother with things like “character development” and “quality”, and still sees them as being for children, as though children don’t deserve a quality product.

The cartoons that he grew up with were boring and insipid, so it’s no surprise that he grew up to become yet another yutz who produces nothing of value, but still somehow has money. You probably somehow payed for the tech that he uses to fire off his mouth.

When he discovers Family Guy, his head will probably explode.

The MSM Karen

She’s one of the few people left who still listens to the mainstream media, so it’s no surprise when, after first hearing about anime from the MSM, she became convinced that it’s the biggest moral problem facing our country. She’s too closed-minded to listen to any facts to the contrary, which her minuscule brain will interpret as an attack against it.

If confronted with her, you can divert her attention if you were to present her with another documentary on another topic, provided the music is sufficiently creepy/mysterious-sounding, then find an opportunity to escape from this perfume-drenched outrage junkie.

The Baseball Cap

Jocko’s main beef with anime is that it’s complicated, therefore, he perceives it as threatening. And his way of dealing with threatening things is with torches and pitchforks.

The Baseball Cap looks forward to being accepted into college through a sports scholarship or, failing that, getting into the Army, unaware that the Army turns away those with an IQ under 82.

The Eagle Eye

This guy goes out of his way to make sure you know that he hates pedophiles. And because his peanut brain conflates anime with child abuse, he also hates anime and vilifies anyone who watches it.

Like anyone with dreams of being e-famous, he has a podcast that’s listened to by maybe one or two people, just in case you’re interested in the next installment of the series of “have I mentioned that I’m not a pedophile, today?” He also picks on furries. Or pretty much anything, as long as the heat’s off him and whatever the hell it is that he’s into.

The Funko Pop Bookshelf

The face of consoom culture, with the bookshelf to match. He unironically believes that buying Marvel crap makes him a better person, by reason of whatever the hell activist causes that multinational media conglomerates are currently bloviating about.

Like the Baseball Cap above, he’s an idiot. So if you were to get into the social commentary of Gundam or the psychological elements of Girls Last Tour, you’d likely be met with the same thousand-yard-stare that you’d see out of his rows and rows of near-identical Funko Pops.

The Espresso Spiritualist

This chick has the entire “You’re About to Hear Bullshit” starter pack. Power stones? Check. Thick-rimmed glasses? Double-check. Black nail polish? Standard issue. Hardcover copies of dubious spiritual tomes? It’s what the knapsack is for.

She basically believes that the Japanese are trying to hypnotize Americans with brainwaves, and that if you watch anime, you’re funding their efforts. You deal with her the same way as anyone else on this list: by not talking to her.

There you go. There’s others, but these are the kinds that are less likely to comprehend how embarrassing their viewpoints really are, increasing the likelihood that these are the ones that you’ll encounter.

Frieren: From Mortality To Morality

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I’ve been seeing Frieren come up from time to time. A friend recently recommended it to me, so I decided to make some time to watch the anime.

Two days and 22 episodes in, I think I can say I get the general premise, and can comment on the controversy surrounding it.

First thing to point out is that Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a work of fiction. Because I recognize it as such, it doesn’t inform my morality. If a work of fiction were to attempt to teach a moral lesson, it could teach any lesson that the author might want it to, and the scenario could be written to present it in a favorable light, regardless of what the reality of the matter might be if a person were to attempt to put it into practice.

Entertainment is supposed to be entertaining, and that’s all it has to do to justify its existence. The idea that entertainment must have a moral value is generally propagated by busybodies who don’t trust other people to think for themselves. If children are taught that entertainment is merely to entertain and not to inform moral perspectives, they could watch shows like South Park and Family Guy and still become a moral child (though those probably might not be your first entertainment choices for your child). It’s not a bad idea to instill the proper perspective to prepare them for the inevitability that they’ll come across these shows, or shows like them.

Otherwise, if your child comes across a cartoon that extols the virtues of pushing old people into mud instead of helping them across the street, there’s no telling how they’ll take it. There’s no substitute for proper parenting.

As obvious as this is, lazy parenting that failed to instill a proper perspective on entertainment has resulted in a new generation of busybodies that have become everyone else’s problem.

Based on this framing, you might guess that Frieren is Ren and Stimpy on PEDs. Nope. Frieren is about life, mortality, and friendship from the perspective of a person who, being an elf, would be likely to outlive the humans around her by many centuries. While the story takes place after another story has already concluded, it still succeeds in conveying a compelling and beautiful narrative, which is at times exciting.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is, some people are taking issue with the portrayal of a fantastic race, called “demons”, as being evil.

For clarity, the demons in Frieren are not the mind manipulating spiritual beings that are often featured in religions, they’re more like the tieflings in Dungeons and Dragons in that they are humanoids with horns. But while the tieflings might be capable of morality on an individual by individual basis, the demons in Frieren are irredeemable psychopaths with no understanding of human desire for friendship or family, and have learned human language to the end of using it to manipulate. Which, concerning the abuse of language, makes them sound like the propagandists in the corporate mainstream information media.

I was aware of the controversy before watching Frieren. But what surprised me was just how little screen time was given to the topic of the morality of demons. The impression that I got was that demon morality was a contrivance designed to convey that Frieren’s original journey was strongly justified.

This is in addition to the antagonists being called demons, and the point was labored that they were incorrigibly wicked and that tragedy was the long-term consequence of any attempt to co-exist with them. Could the point have been more strongly conveyed?

However, for the busybodies, this is just the problem. Because as they see it, fantastic racism is still racism, and they can’t bring themselves to trust the rest of us to think for ourselves. But in coming to the defense of these fantastic psychopaths, these same busybodies are showing that they’re just the kind of people who, if they were to live in Frieren’s fantastic setting, would fall for the demon’s honeyed words.

At this point, you might have guessed that it’s primarily leftists who are raising an issue with Frieren. Yep. It’s leftists again.

And, right on brand, they want everything, including every form of entertainment, to bend the knee to their worldview, even anime and manga. Because when it comes to cultists, the usefulness of anything is measured by its utility for propagating the cult’s ideology.

But the problem isn’t just that the left seeks to subvert entertainment and transform it into a vehicle for their worldview. The left is also waging a long war against the traditional morality that derives its principles from natural law. To this end, they seek to undermine basic ethics in favor of a new set of values that is disconnected from reality and ignores the second order consequences of their own unwise behaviors.

It’s part of the reason why the left can’t meme. Memes are shortform communication delivered with an understanding of what’s considered normal, so that humor can be found in a variation from expectations, much like a punchline in a joke. Take the old cat meme, “I can has cheezburger?” For most viewers, the expectation is that a cat can’t employ language, but if it could, its syntax and spelling would likely be poor, as it is in the meme. However, if the meme were to have been presented by a vegan, and thus someone with a left-wing fringe ideology, they might include a disclaimer that they don’t condone the cat’s request, or they might object to even sharing the meme on principle.

Leftist memes tend to be wordy, and there’s a reason for that: the leftist meme is part of a deliberate attempt to redefine normalcy, and to this end, they don’t want there to be any possibility that the meme could be misinterpreted, especially in a way that may defeat their ideology.

The verbosity it would take to redefine expectations does not lend itself to shortform content. But it also reveals something about leftists: that their ideology is more important to them than whether you’re amused or entertained.

When you know this, it’s easy to see why leftists have a problem with Frieren. The rest of us have basic understandings about morality which don’t need continual reiterating. Among the points we consider axiomatic: Immorality is corrosive to families, communities, societies, and nations. Some cultures are incompatible with other cultures. There are people who make it difficult to live peacefully.

If you understand these things, then the way that Frieren handles the demons in its world shouldn’t challenge you. However, leftists feel threatened by Frieren, because the narrative of Frieren supposes a morality that hasn’t imbibed on a toxic dose of outgroup empathy.

Frieren has frequently been accused of saying that coexistence with certain people is impossible. The following panel is often pointed to, which is probably the most controversial in the manga:

It has often been said that Frieren said that you can’t live with certain people. The words she used are different in the panel above, but they carry the same implication.

For clarity, here’s the surrounding context (being manga, panels and word bubbles are ordered from right to left):

While Frieren might not have used the phrase “coexistence with certain people is impossible”, it’s plain to see that this is a sentiment that she would hold, and she illustrated this while addressing a demon who was okay with sacrificing lives in an attempt at coexistence, showing that those lives were less meaningful to him than his endeavor.

However noble the demon’s stated endeavor may have sounded, it’s undermined by his inability to comprehend the value of life. It’s the old “making an omelet by breaking a few eggs” line of reasoning.

But however one might interpret Frieren’s words, it remains that the Frieren manga and anime are works of fiction. Any lesson, moral, or social statement that they make, whether expedient or not, should be viewed in that light.

After all, the main point of entertainment is to be entertaining. If leftists had their way with it, entertainment would be turned into propaganda.

And that’s one of many reasons why they must be resisted.

You Might Have This Weird Superpower!

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In times past, I would have used the term “simple situational awareness” to refer to an ability that I thought that most people had. As it turns out, this was projection, and this ability is more rare than I thought.

This was what I’ve learned through a long history of nearly bumping into people who back up without looking, or seeing people strike up conversations in doorways.

To me, one aspect of situational awareness is a reasonable understanding of your current situation, and where it’s taking place. After a long time exercising this ability, it’s almost automatic. I’d walk into a room, and note it’s layout, the exits, and likely high-traffic areas that a reasonable person would not want to poke around in if they don’t want to be annoying.

It can also be the wisdom that comes with avoiding certain behaviors, if the location is such that the behavior had the potential to lead to an undesirable outcome. For example, it hope it’s obvious why it would be risky to play pin the tail on the donkey while on an industrial mezzanine.

It seems like I’m one of the few who have this ability, which is why one of my previous employers had to put up a sign telling employees not to gather in front of the lunch room door to chat it up. It’s awesome that they put the sign up, but it sucked that they had to.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall anyone in management or anyone in a leadership position failing in situational awareness to the point of holding up foot traffic. And it stands to reason, because if someone is going to posture as an intellectual better, they can at least exhibit intellect.

When it comes down to it, the purpose of the brain in animals is to allow for decision-making for mobile creatures. To make decisions in light of our environment is one of the key features of the brain. It’s expedient to survival.

So then, why are there so many people who lack situational awareness? I’m guessing that it’s because the nature of society provides some amount of insulation from some of the worst consequences of recklessness. Sure, some consequences are still there, but they’ve been reduced to the point that people have relaxed some of their basic survival skills.

And, as you might expect, stupidity has filled in the resulting gap.

So it seems like simple situational awareness isn’t so simple anymore, it’s become more like a superpower.

Is this a superpower that you have? If you can use it, please do.

Adventures In Switch 2 Pre-ordering

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On the right: someone who secured a Switch 2 pre-order. On the left: the scene as people are still fighting for them.

I had my own idea of how it was supposed to go. I’d set an alarm for 11:45, get some sleep, then when it came time to do a pre-order, it would be over with in minutes, then it would be back to bed. Whether it worked or not, I’d know in minutes, and could then get some sleep and later consider a backup plan.

No points for guessing that it went differently.

I was prepared to descend into battle against a bunch of bots, scalpers, and fellow Nintendo fans, as well as some social media influencers (I’ll save it for the end). What surprised me was how long it took.

My online retailer of choice was Best Buy. My reasoning had to do with the fact that the location I visited a few weeks back had a pile of PS5 Pros just sitting out, at a time when they were hard to find. Seemed reasonable to think the same store might have a few Switch 2s to spare after they would launch, so I made my account, set my location, got a page open to refresh, and downloaded the mobile app, to be safe.

Best Buy didn’t just screw the pooch, they nailed it to the porch to be thorough. Pre-order links would not become available until a half-hour after the scheduled time. Not only that, but customers such as myself had to wait in a que that gave no indication of progress. As I entertained the thought that the que was broken, I considered backing out and starting over, but didn’t want to lose my place in a hypothetical invisible line.

Eventually, I got a pre-order link! I clicked it, but for some unknown reason, it didnt work, so it was back to the back of the line. So, in addition to having been screwed and nailed, the pooch was also staple gunned.

I made additional attempts with multiple instances of Best Buy open on desktop, my phone browser, and the app, but to no avail. Out of desperation, I decided to also try other retailers.

GameStop would have probably been pointless, as I don’t remember having an account with them, and I’d probably have been de-prioritized by reason of having a new account.

Target would intermittently show a pre-order link, but each attempt to click on it would result in a failure message. The way it happened made me suspect that pre-orders were being made available in waves in an attempt to manage the traffic. That would have been an interesting plan, but it wouldn’t have been so great for those of us who’d rather get some sleep than stare at display screens in the middle of the night, which we’d have plenty of opportunity to do once we have our Switch 2 systems!

Also, I’ve been hearing that Target has been arbitrarily canceling pre-orders. That sounds like a nightmare.

Then, there’s Wal-Mart. Oh, Wal-Mart. I’ve long had an account with you. I’ve been buying lots of stuff from you. You know that I’m human. There was no need for me to hold some silly button to prove that that’s the case with a pseudo-captcha.

Personally, I suspect that it’s was the means to manage the influx of web traffic. But if they wanted to keep me busy, why not load a cheap knockoff of Space Invader to keep me entertained? The pseudo-captcha was kinda condescending.

I didn’t expect it, but it was Wal-Mart that came through. And I have an idea of how it happened, which might help people who are still trying. At some point, I noticed that a Switch 2 Pro Controller was available. I wanted one, so I added it to my cart. Later, I noticed that a Switch 2 became available.

It might be that there wasn’t a causal relationship, but it’s possible that adding to my cart another piece of Switch 2 merchandise may have sufficiently demonstrated that I probably wasn’t a scalper. If that’s how it works, it might help for those who are still trying. And if you don’t actually want a piece of merchandise, you can just remove it from your cart before checking out.

I want to see my fellow Nintendo enthusiasts succeed. As for scalpers, not so much. At least, not until they’ve reevaluated their choice to damage some beloved hobbies for a quick buck.

But then there’s the social media influencers who have been complaining about anything about Switch 2 that they possibly could, thinking that the algorithm would promote their negativity. It’s funny how interested they suddenly are in being among the first to own a Switch 2, isn’t it? It’s funnier still how many of them are angry because they couldn’t secure a pre-order of the console they already decided that they hate so much.

They’re disingenuous hacks, and they don’t deserve to have Switch 2s. And they don’t seem so cool now, do they, now that it’s obvious that they didn’t believe what they’ve been saying?

The big N is going to make a killing.

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Did you hear the one about the guy who doesn’t know Jack about the games industry who is suddenly an expert on economics and geopolitics? You probably did, because there are so many such larpers shooting their mouths off. And you’re probably laughing just as hard as I am.

Days ago, Nintendo revealed the price point on their upcoming Switch 2 system, but have subsequently delayed pre-orders, as they reevaluate what they may charge for the system. This occurs as tariffs go into effect, and it seems reasonable to guess that there’s a causal connection.

While it’s easy to get ansey about how much the Switch 2 will cost, if you had the intention of buying one, you’re probably about two months away from having one, and three away from not caring what you paid for it.

How can I say that so confidently? Because I’ve been through this many times. On launch day for GameCube, I could have cared whether I had the $200 to buy one. But after that, I had one. I waited a bit to buy Wii, but after I got that, I didn’t even remember how much it cost. Same with Switch. Once the hurtle of initial expence is cleared, people are just going to move on to the next thing.

And if Nintendo is going to offer something of greater value than what they already have, wouldn’t it follow that they’d charge more for it? And if someone thinks the price is too high, they can decide not to buy it. No one is forcing anyone to make a purchase. It’s a free market.

And speaking of price points, it seems like fainting spells are on the uptick, because Nintendo is setting the MSRP for Mario Kart World at $80. People are used to paying $60 for a game, and here I’m remembering how much a new copy of Chrono Trigger cost in the nineties. Depending on where you looked, it would have been as much as $90.

Nintendo’s reasoning for the price point for Mario Kart World is that they put a lot of effort into the game. And this is reasonable. If I’m going to be getting a lot of game with lots of play and replay value, then it’s worth the money.

If you bought a new game with the complete DLC package, such as Pokémon Violet, then you probably spent $94.98 for it, before taking sales theft tax into account. Whether you would have gotten your money’s worth is up to you, but if that’s what you spent, then you were somehow able to justify making that purchase. Compared to that, to spend only $80 on Mario Kart World sounds a bit more reasonable.

But if that doesn’t seem reasonable to you, you don’t have to buy it. When it comes down to it, it’s the consumer who decides the value of a product, not the company that made it, regardless of inputs. And if you don’t want to pay the MSRP, you can just not buy the product. You might even find it at a more agreeable price later on.

But the temper tantrums are pointless. Nintendo knew that they’d hear screeching over any choice they’d make, and they’ve already figured out that they could just ignore it.

The PS5 Pro’s price didn’t come down, the Minecraft movie was still made, and Sonic from Sonic Boom still has blue arms. Nobody cares that someone from YouTube pretended to understand economics.

To get right to the heart of the matter, which I’m not hearing much about: Nintendo has investors, and Nintendo doesn’t want to upset them. To that end, they’d much rather turn a profit on the Switch 2’s first year. Pricing Switch 2 above cost would seem expedient to this.

Sure, Nintendo’s stock has fallen in the last few days, and this correlates with fans learning of the pricing of Switch 2 games. It’s also rebounded since yesterday, indicating that it wasn’t a lasting trend. But I suspect that sales numbers will play a larger role in stock valuation.

Care to guess whether millions of Nintendo fans, and way too many loathsome scalpers, would contribute to huge Switch 2 sales at launch even if it were to be priced like the PS5 Pro?

We have lost against the surveillance state.

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A few years ago, I pointed to an old Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” episode to give a hint concerning where I believed society was headed. The episode was titled, Nightmare Cafeteria, and was a parody of the film, Soylent Green.

In the episode, the elementary school staff decided to punish students by processing them into food, which the faculty then developed a taste for. This led up to a scene that I focused on, which depicted the few students who were left being monitored intently for even the slightest infraction, over which they would be sent off to satisfy the appetites of the demented faculty.

As things are, it can be said that society has reached a similar point, by reason of the surveillance state.

When discussing the surveillance state, there are people who frequently express the sentiment that if someone doesn’t do something wrong, they have no reason to worry. The point that needs to be impressed upon them is that a person who is monitored at all times can be accused at any time.

Suppose you came to a complete stop at an intersection, just as a squad car was approaching. Then, you advance. A completely legal and lawful advance. But, unbeknownst to you, the approaching officer was power-tripping and bitter about whatever, so he decided to use footage of your lawful driving to accuse you of a rolling stop. And you don’t find out until you get a citation in the mail, days later.

What would you do? Or, perhaps the better question is, what can you do?

The fine amount was low enough that you’d probably just pay it to avoid further trouble, even though the footage you can view online plainly shows your innocence, but substantial in value to the point of being considered the theft that it is, perhaps roughly equivalent to two days of work by a man who actually produces value.

The state has found a new way to extract value, and this can be accomplished by the surveillance apparatus. And even someone who is innocent can be victimized by it. Thus the point: a person who is monitored at all times can be accused at any time.

And while the accusation may be refuted, the accusation itself can have consequences. If you got a fine that was the equivalent to a day’s work by a skilled tradesman, would you contest it if it meant losing a day’s work to attend a hearing? Or would you just pay, knowing that you’d end up losing value, either way?

For a long time, it was taxation. Now, it seems the state has found yet another way to steal. Theft has evolved.

This is the most blatant media ripoff of all time.

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This is not Genshin Impact.

Yesterday, I finally got around to playing Wuthering Waves. After everything that I’ve been hearing about it, I was expecting my socks to be blown clear into the next county, and to have been lost in the chocolatey deeps of the most engaging gameplay to have ever been developed by the molecular gastronomists of interactive entertainment.

What I got instead was a Genshin Impact ROM hack.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad game. But if you think Wuthering Waves (WW) is a good game, you might have the same opinion of Genshin Impact. They’re basically the same game.

The controls, the HUD, the basic mechanics, they’re all lifted 1:1 from Genshin Impact. You’re wandering an open world in the same way, you’re switching between characters in the same way, and there’s a similar system to that of elemental skills and elemental bursts.

Even the gliding is the same. But at this point, are you really surprised? There are even monoliths similar in color to Genshin’s teleport points, for how much Kuro Games cares about having its own voice.

Supposedly, at some point, you get to double jump or run up walls. Okay? And this is supposed to make WW any less of a blatant ripoff?

Imagine if I were to take the classic Super Mario Bros., change the appearance of the assets, change the level layout, and then gave the plumber a double jump. Would I really be able to proclaim that I’ve made the better game, as though my achievement in game design would be one in which I could take true pride?

Also, the “Traveler” in WW is called “Rover”. Thankfully, “Drifter” wasn’t already taken, so some other enterprising Asian game developers can make their own Genshin ROM hack.

It occurs to me now that I was way too hard on Digimon for its similarities to Pokémon. While it’s true that Digimon bears similarities to Pokémon, at least Digimon tried to be different enough to be distinct. Wuthering Waves is so similar to Genshin Impact that I wouldn’t be surprised to find Genshin assets after datamining Wuthering Waves.

Also, the characters in WW don’t have any personality from what I’ve seen so far. Remember Amber and Kaeya from Genshin? They practically oozed personality. Even the Traveler had a personality. And voice acting that was actually emotive.

If you’ve played WW, don’t tell me to play more. Instead, tell me about a character you like, and why they were interesting. Convince me to care, or at least do a better job than WW. I want to care. But I don’t. I don’t care what the Rover’s deal is. The woman who held her hand at the beginning just didn’t inspire warmth, though the game seemed to try. The women who found him at the outset were as uncanny as the nymphs from Hylas and the Nymphs, attractive without question, but uncanny in the same way.

But you know what? Maybe WW just doesn’t suit my tastes. Maybe I prefer that anime-style characters be colorful and expressive. If you’re the kind of guy who has been spending the last couple decades trying to convince Nintendo fans that great graphics means that a game’s full color palette is gradients of grey and brown with intermittent laser-pointer red and gun muzzle flare, and that you have more fun playing the same first person shooter every year, then perhaps we’ve reached an impasse, and WW might just be dreary enough for you.

I know that it seems like I’m not giving WW a chance, but I gave it a try. When I see that WW has as many fans as it does, it occurs to me that perhaps I’m a little strange because I give a care whether the game I’m playing is a product of creativity or a blatant ripoff of someone else’s work.

But if you’ve plagiarized your way through college, I have a game recommendation for you.

Another Opinion About the UHC CEO Assassination

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When I heard that the CEO of United Healthcare was assassinated, it was easy to guess what motivated the killer.

Because I, like many others, have endured the hell of having the same claim repeatedly denied which was explicitly covered under a health insurance company’s policy, it was easy to imagine that something like this would happen. And it did.

My opinion is going to be a safe one. While it’s tragic that a life was lost, I don’t feel strong pity for the victim. Also, Luigi Mangione is a fulminating fuck belch.

Basic observations aside, I want to point out the amusing effect that Luigi’s “manifesto” has had on political commentators: they’re playing hot potato with him. The right is focusing down on his leftist-sounding language to try to make him out to be a disgruntled left-winger, while those who look at the long lines of Canadian clinics with throbbing chubbies are trying to make him out to be a right-winger.

Both sides are playing directly into his hands. It’s obvious that Mangione’s missive was carefully crafted to keep him and his cause in the conversation. It’s infuriating to contemplate, but this demonstrates just how intelligent the guy really was.

Just not intelligent enough to avoid what’s awaiting him. Prison is a terrible place to be famous. If Luigi thinks his back hurts now, he’s really going to be in for it when he gets punched right in the back by the other prisoners.

A person’s actions play a significant role in determining their outcome.

I’ve read Mangione’s so-called manifesto, which reads as a justification for his actions. While his thinking may be flawed, I can point out that, if he’s forthcoming about the experiences he expressed, it’s little wonder he went insane. Those kinds of experiences could drive even a stoic mind to madness.

And it’s quite evident that he is insane. People mistakenly believe that an intelligent person cannot be insane. But they can be. Another example is Ted Kaczynski, whom Mangione looked up to. When an intelligent person goes insane, their own substantial intelligence becomes weaponized against their own mind.

I held off on writing about Mangione after seeing his auto-post on YouTube, which posted after he was arrested. YouTube has the option to schedule a video post, which was how Mangione’s YouTube channel posted an update after his arrest. It was like a kind of “dead-man’s hand”, with Luigi likely having the plan of pushing the date for his post back until he could no longer access his account.

His video hinted that something would be revealed on Wednesday, but that day came and went with no apparent reveal, perhaps because his channel was taken down.

As for what will happen to Mangione in the future, I don’t know. Putting aside other prisoners punching him in the back, he’s probably going to have a voyeur at all times.

As for the health insurance industry, I can suggest this to improve the situation: that a health insurance company gets a fine each time they deny a claim that is covered by their policy, with the fine proportional to the claim’s monetary value, with repeated denials of the same claim resulting in cumulative fines.

It’s a start, right? But any such bill would probably be lobbied out of existence by the healthcare industry. So, I don’t have much expectation that health insurance will change for the better anytime soon.

But Mangione’s trial is probably going to be entertaining.

A bit of advice to Niantic about Pokémon Go

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From Serebii on X

Niantic has just announced a rewards roadmap for Pokémon Go. Just hearing the name Reward Road, you might get the idea that it’s a new way to reward participation in the game.

Nope. It’s just a way to encourage whaling.

Basically, the more players spend in the shop, the more points that players get. And, to make it clear, it’s not enough to spend the in-game currency of PokéCoins in the shop, the Reward Road feature rewards spending real-life money in the shop, for in-game assets like PokéCoins.

I don’t claim to know the particulars of how Pokémon Go is monetized outside of its in-game shop, but I would have guessed that Niantic had ways of profiting just from the fact that FTP players played the game. But if they’re trying to goad people into spending more money with something as blatant as Reward Road, then things are probably not going well.

I don’t expect Niantic to take my advice, considering that I’m just a guy who doesn’t have a deep understanding of how mobile games profit, and especially considering how obvious it is that Niantic hates the people who played their games. But assuming that they give a shit, then this is something that they may benefit from having gotten out there: People might want to spend money in Pokémon Go if Pokémon Go was actually fun to play.

And the fastest way to achieve this would be to make Pokémon Go a quality experience.

I honestly have no idea what Niantic’s philosophy is when it comes to making mobile games. But at this point, it’s apparent that it involves continually making poorly implemented features that sometimes don’t even work properly, and ignoring all player feedback as they move on to the next poorly implemented feature. And if anything gets rapidly corrected, it’s usually an oversight which has the potential to actually benefit the players who take advantage of them.

Even now, years into the game, players get falsely-accused of driving while playing, with the only way to dismiss the prompt being to tap “I’m a passenger”, despite merely sitting in their living room. Why is this even still a thing? Niantic should have figured out that GPS drift occurs, even when a person is standing still.

And while I’m complaining about Niantic, we can talk about the obvious honeypot events that are designed to catch cheaters, but can result in bans for players who somehow find a way to participate in line with the rules. Like with the recent Gigantamax raids, which can only be participated in in-person, but required something to the tune of three dozen players with optimized teams to even stand a chance of successfully completing.

How is that in any way reasonable?

And among the players who somehow got a raid train together to complete some of these raids, some of them have gotten their accounts banned. And for what? Getting a few dozen other players together to get the raids to actually work out? What a blatant disrespect of the real-life efforts of some of the most dedicated players!

And that’s just what grinds my gears. This isn’t just some game that players are sitting down and playing while completely stationary, Pokémon Go encourages players to “get up and Go!”. If a player goes outside and participates in a raid for an opportunity to catch a Raichu, it would be infuriating if the same player was banned after immediately going outside and walking a mile to get to the raid before it expires.

If Niantic can’t respect the time and real-life efforts of its players, then they’re not the company that should be running a game like Pokémon Go.

I really don’t have much expectation that Niantic is going to change for the better anytime soon, even under duress. It’s because of this that I think it would be better if The Pokémon Company were to somehow reclaim its IP, so that Niantic couldn’t further use it.

When it comes down to it, Niantic never learned to make a decent mobile game, they just benefited from getting their hands on an absurdly popular IP.