jamess

@BausRifle

Maybe

@BausRifle

I don’t mind banter and p*ss taking, and agree with you that some gaming forums have become overly sensitive, but it needs to be good natured / humorous rather than straight rude.

@BausRifle

Did it ever occur to you that the problem might not be that the whole world is overly sensitive?

@BausRifle

Why are you against VGE selling his rare M2 console?

@BausRifle

That’s hostile dude... Maybe try explaining what you’re saying so people can understand your PoV?

@Sketcz

Yes, erosion of freedom of speech / freedom of expression is unacceptable - these are fundamental rights. The UK is veering into dangerous territory at the moment, some core values need to be protected.

@Sketcz

Yeah, I was very wound up about it over the weekend. Took a few hours away from the internet last night and feeling calmer today, but… it’s infuriating.

Good to see Zia Yusuf publicly say today that Reform would repeal the Online Safety Act. Not saying I support Reform or agree with all their policies - but they’re likely to be in a position to do so at some point.

@Sketcz

Yes.

The payment providers forced content to be removed from itch.io and Steam, and Pixiv also put out a statement saying it will affect them further in the future.

The increasing levels of censorship, particularly in games and anime, have been big issues for me in recent years. There’s been a general erosion of freedom of expression and watering down of content to make it “safe”.

As someone I follow on X who’s affected by this said:

“It's about the freedom to tell adult stories — raw, honest, weird, complex — without being treated like a threat.”

I think that summarises it perfectly.

The good news is the recent actions of the payment providers and the Online Safety Act are starting to raise general awareness that there’s a problem here, and are getting widespread negative coverage in some areas. I’m starting to see a significant increase in the amount of pushback against censorship.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks and months.

I hadn’t realised it was impacting itch.io. I’d heard a whole bunch of content had been pulled from it a few days ago due to the payment processors. But that message is clearly the Online Safety Act.

Fun times!!!

I can’t believe all of this censorship happening in short succession is just a coincidence.

@Sketcz

Ha! Literally sat here getting wound up by much of the same things.

The Online Safety Act has been winding me right up these last couple of days. New levels of being wound up actually.

@Sketcz

A colleague I worked with did that when he retired. He was really looking forward to it. Didn’t hear back from afterward - because he basically wanted to be left alone! But he seemed very happy about it. Middle of nowhere in Wales I think he went (he was purposely trying to find somewhere totally isolated).

Hope everything is ok and it’s not some of the d*cks on here getting you down. I appreciate the times you’ve jumped in to help me in some of the discussions.

@Sketcz

I think this is what’s starting to play out on the world stage at the moment, the battle for how everything will work in what will be a very different world with AI and robotics. If you look at how things have changed during our lifetimes due to technology - that rate of change is likely going to accelerate and probably by a lot. It’s certainly an interesting time to be alive! I remain hopeful that the outcome will be a positive one with maybe just a few bumps on the road. I certainly would advise people to take steps now to ensure any hobbies they enjoy are protected against the changes that may (or may not!) come.

@BausRifle

It doesn’t matter what it’s worth “to most people”. It matters what it’s worth to whoever’s prepared to buy it.

And why are you being so hostile about it?

I wanted to give my full support to VGE. I’ve found his YouTube videos interesting and entertaining for a while now. He knows his stuff and his enthusiasm is clearly genuine.

It’s depressing that he’s getting this kind of treatment.

@FPGAguru

Do you mean the GUN4IR?

If so, I got it round the wrong way in my description above. The gun is the sensor and the 4 things stuck to the monitor are infrared LEDs.

I’ve not really thought about how it all worked before, just played games with it.

@sdelfin

It is. It’s actually very good.

The system relies on having 4 sensors in the centre of each edge of the monitor to triangulate position. It’s a more accurate version of the Wii’s tech because the 4 sensors give a more precise location.

In use, it feels accurate and responsive.

And no pervasive girthy borders on the screen.

Fixing the sensors in place firmly enough so they don’t move about is a challenge. I ended up using a combination of Velcro and blu tack (well, black tac as it didn’t look as bad on the side of the monitor). This has worked very well, they don’t move. But it took a bit of time and effort to set up well.

And lots of wires behind the monitor. They’re hidden though so not a problem, but they need fixing in place too.

@The_Nintend_Pedant

“pervasive girthy cyan border” <— made me laugh.

@no_donatello

I was playing through Gunblade NY / L.A. Machineguns on Wii a few weeks ago, pretty good fun. It passed me by at the time. There were quite a few on the Wii: HotD 2&3, HotD Overkill, Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles / Umbrella Chronicles. Link’s Crossbow Training!

Light gun games need a renaissance.

@SystemAddict

CRTs died and it became harder to do.

@carlos82

I have the same thing with my GUN4IR, great product but getting it configured for the different emulators can be a right pain. And attaching the sensors that GUN4IR needs to the side of the monitor so that they hold their position can be challenging, particularly when rotating the monitor between horizontal and vertical. Absolutely fantastic when it’s all set up and working though.

That’s an impressive compatibility list. A big plus if it all works out of the box (Super Scope issues aside).

Sounds like a road.

@FR4M3

TP is for the more “recent” PC-based arcade architectures.

@Yamanii

Yes, to be honest I haven’t put a great deal of time into it but I’ve had Golden Gun and Time Crisis 5 working with my GUN4IR in TP. I’ve spent more time on the racing games with steering wheel and foot pedals, and that’s been awesome - particularly enjoyed Chase HQ 2. Going through the light gun games in TP is on my games project list but there are a few projects ahead of it.

Great news.

TeknoParrot has a very good range of interesting arcade lightgun and racing games.

@EggSlayer

Great point, totally agree. I think people should generally be more aware that the current situation we’re in in terms of access to retro games may change dramatically in the not so distant future because of AI, and enforcement will potentially become a lot more capable.

@HammyHavoc

The only thing I think we’re disagreeing on is the “inevitablism” of significant future improvements in the capabilities of AI. And on that - only time will tell.

@NoirConceit

No, what I’m saying is - XAi is working to iron out the kinks (there have been several posts on this by them) and, looking at it impartially (without Elon Derangement Syndrome) Grok is currently the top AI model.

@NoirConceit

Don’t you like Grok? Oh well…

I expect Elon triggers you - so as Elon would say - GFY!

I think when AI gets good enough there’s going to be an explosion in creativity and content of all types (games, art, music). I know Elon’s sometimes off in terms of the timing of his predictions (he acknowledges this himself) but when this happens… really the sky’s the limit. The volume of good stuff available is going to be unreal. It’s hard enough to keep track of everything coming out that’s interesting already (particularly compared to, say, 30-40 years ago), but it’s going to be truly mental. Unlimited high quality entertainment.

Also looking forward to playing games with fully smart AI characters that drop in and out of games + try to make the game more interesting for you. That would be pretty cool.

@axelhander

We’ll see

Had a chat with Grok 4 for the first time last night.

Two main questions + some follow-ups to clarify:

1. How does IQ vary geographically through the world, and what implications might that have on the functioning of society?
2. How has the popularity of anime changed this century, specifically in Japan? + illustrate with numbers.

Grok 4 explained both to me very clearly. It was taking up to a few minutes to answer some of the questions - and showing its thought process as it did it. The main limitation was the quality of publicly-available data, but the clarity it showed in its conclusions and the thoroughness / logic of its approach when pulling together the data and conclusions, particularly when it met obstacles, was very impressive.

AI can’t replicate the “soul” in human art yet. It’s not built for that. But what it’s doing is very impressive, the speed of it’s development is incredible, and it will get there.

Does it come with shades?

Just a question of when.

@sdelfin

The article mentions that Palmer Luckey has referred to himself in the past as a “radical Zionist”. I was asking (somewhat facetiously) whether it was now going to be general practice to call out the political views of the leadership teams or owners of all businesses selling games.

I have no problem with the links to arms companies being called out. I understand why people may have issues with that.

In terms of the comment on an “extreme position”… it’s really saying what @Sketcz is referring to above when he mentions “cancel culture, doxxing, threats, and angry vitriol.”

@The_Nintend_Pedant

Ok. I understand your views on Palmer Luckey.

Thanks for the welcome.

@The_Nintend_Pedant

No worries! I understand better now.

I’m not sure how saying “keep politics out of gaming” is politicising it, isn’t it the opposite? My reason for engaging was to try and stop it from becoming political. TBH I didn’t expect it to be a controversial take but I haven’t posted very much on this forum so wasn’t really sure what the response would be. In other forums it’s the common view.

@The_Nintend_Pedant

What makes you say that? I don’t understand.

@sdelfin

“If the logical conclusion of your argument is to have no standards at all, then your thinking is flawed.”

That’s certainly not what I’m saying.

There are different views of what this article represents and how you interpret it will largely come down to your position on the political spectrum.

As @aldo134 says above:

“I personally do not find Palmer's views or company controversial, which, again, is why the statements on here that its a zero sum game that you must be against his "extremist" stances are ridiculous.”

I agree with this. I’ve tried to avoid stating this - because I don’t want to get dragged into a political discussion. But that’s what I believe.

The problem I’m calling out is illustrated by many of the responses above. To a number of people, this is a black or white / right or wrong view. It’s very divisive.

When I see an article like this, pushing one side of the political viewpoint, and the reaction to it above, it depresses me. This isn’t what I think gaming should be about. I respect that anyone who objects to it has the right to know and can therefore avoid buying it. But I don’t like the black or white political posturing - the “I’m right - you’re wrong / a bad person / evil”. To be frank - it’s disturbingly extreme. I just don’t want to engage with it. It’s not been part of the gaming landscape until relatively recently and I don’t believe it belongs in gaming.

@AMAGON

I think some of the replies to the latter part of this thread illustrate the situation pretty well.

@aldo134

Thanks, appreciate the support.

Yay! Similar to me. Have you not noticed the whole atmosphere change relatively recently, last 5 years in particular, and become more divisive around political beliefs?

@AMAGON

It’s more about recognising that political views can be divisive.

Yes, gaming doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but what we all have in common is a shared love of video games. Let’s focus on that and accept we’re all different people with different backgrounds, beliefs and outlooks.

Out of interest, how long have you been into gaming? It wasn’t always like this you know, just wondering when you started.

@AMAGON

My first post concludes with “Keep politics out of gaming”. That’s a reasonable response to an article that veers into a political viewpoint.

And yes - I’m asking that games be judged on the actual games, not who made them. You may have an issue with who made them. That’s fine, don’t buy the game.

@AMAGON

You misunderstand me. I’m not burying my head in the sand. I have very clearly held beliefs about politics and the world in general. But I’m not here to talk about them. I’m here to read and talk about games.

From @Sketcz

“I'd like to assure you, in good faith, that my words do not stem from bias or political disagreement. In the year 2025, I am honestly just exhausted from more than a decade of everything being politicised.”

This.

@KingMike

Yes I agree, I’m pretty dismayed by Nintendo’s recent aggressive approach on the legal side. I totally support them protecting their revenue streams + ensuring anything they’re still selling isn’t pirated, but going in to battle for stuff that’s no longer commercially available is a step too far IMO. I’ve been an enormous Nintendo fan most of my life - but recently they’ve changed from being all about great, creative new games to being more business-focused and “normal”. In my book Switch 2 is basically a spec bump on the Switch, compare that with the Iwata era of bat-sh*t-crazy ingenuity. That was my favourite Nintendo period.

@PKDuckman

So you disagree with his politics and don’t want to give him your money. I get that. I don’t agree with your stance politically but I get where you’re coming from. The problem is that if factors like those are only called out selectively, and in line with a certain political viewpoint, it leads to a politically neutral subject - retro gaming - getting dragged into the political / cultural battles that are prevalent at the moment. I personally think the best approach is to keep the gaming space neutral and focused on gaming + keep the politics out. Gaming has been like that for most of its history, until fairly recently, and was a whole lot less divided as a result.

@Razieluigi

I think the point is - singling a single person out for their political views and deciding not to buy their games because of those views is an extreme position. You could apply that approach to everything you buy - somewhere up the chain in the companies you buy from there are going to be people with different political views to your own, some of which you will disagree with. Are we now at the stage where we must report on the political views of everyone in the hierarchy of games companies in each games review to ensure it’s ok to buy? To make sure our money is only going to people who share our own political views?

Never heard of this guy until now. Followed some of the links in the article for 5 mins to understand what the fuss was about. Read some of his “provocative” comments. Thought “meh”.

I just don’t care. Keep politics out of gaming.