Adell

I've been playing Aliens: Fireteam Elite since its a PS+ freebie but the constant voice chat of people breathing in my ears was starting to become annoying. There's no immediate option to turn it off (which is already baffling and would be the point of the story if it weren't for the internet) so I Bing-ed if other people also had issues and holy shit

Just in case you're unaware: This is the entirety of the interaction these two people had. One question, one disappointment, the flat out most absurd personal attack you've seen, out of completely nowhere.

Anyway, if this somehows ends up indexed on some search engine: Hold the PS button until the configs screen pops up and look for the "Turn off all mic" and "Turn off all communications" options. There's really no in-game setting to switch then off.

Its a good game, mind you (Or at least it seems so from the few matches I've played so far) but the one thing that stands out to me at the moment is how much it reminds me of 2000s F2P games.

The vibrant colors, high-speed pacing, extra-anime characters, even the cash shop for buying skins and other characters, all remind of stuff I used to play as a broke teenager like Gunbound or PangYa. Even the idea of taking something that is not particularly exciting and turning into an overblow visual spectacle makes me think of how wild it was to play an online golfing game.

Oh, okay, so this is why they don't make games like this anymore nowadays, they aren't profitable...

So there's this idea that gets floated around that "there's only four sites left and all they do is talk about each other" in regards to how Internet became synonymous with Social Media. And while its getting trickier to find shit nowadays, with the constant depreciation of search engines and whatnot, we all know a little something here and there that's not tied to Everything Sites. Places that do few things, maybe only one thing instead of trying to do it all (and failing).

This is both for sharing a little bit, but also my hopes of spreading out and reading more independent stuff, like in the earlier online days, because I realized I don't keep up with small sites anymore as much as I wish.

So what interesting stuff do you browse? Blogs, news sites, forums, webcomics? Even if its your own site, don't be afraid of plugging it! Comment or re-share, whichever you prefer!

For my (shamefully few) recommendations:

Gaming News

https://www.siliconera.com/ - Although not a small gaming site, I appreciate the focus Siliconera has on japanese releases, as well as usually not being completely filled with news only related to the latest AAA game in the block (though it still gets a little cluttered with some favorite gems)

Media Functionalities

https://gg.deals/ - An aggregator of sales and giveaways for PC games, keeping tabs on multiple storefronts and their discounts.

https://psprices.com/ - A similarly built website for but focused on Playstation games. Display sales, new releases, PS+/Extra/Deluxe availabilities, as well as physical store prices (depends on your region). Has recently branched out to Switch and XBOX games as well but I don't have those consoles to attest how well done it was.

https://snap.fan/ - For Marvel Snap only, a catalog of cards, decks, recent news, datamining, keeping tabs on possible meta changes, tracking your progress among other functionalities.

https://www.backloggd.com/ - Catalog, review, analyze and share your latest (or earliest) gaming ventures. Like Letterboxd for videogames, is what I'd say if I ever used Letterboxd.

https://www.justwatch.com/ - Look for specific shows and which streaming they are available in your region. Starting to become sadly less useful in the past years with the overall depreciation of streaming services.

https://dirtytorrents.com/ The show you looked for isn't available in your country? Well, there's a very easy solution for that! And also for any other kind of media you're looking for. Dirtytorrents is an aggregator of multiple torrent sites - usually 1337x.to and limetorrents being the most popular - for your piracy needs. Don't forget to check beforehand for a guide on privacy, depending on your country's disposition to spy on people. I never needed to do that myself but I know some places get fairly invasive about what people do with their connection.

Dirty Torrents has, unfortunately, died. I've look at https://btdig.com/index.htm BTDig for an aggregator replacement, but have also just been using https://www.torrentdownloads.pro/ and https://www.limetorrents.lol/home as individual torrenting websites.

https://tvtropes.org/ - I still get bored and browse this once in a while! Especially like to do it after finishing a game, series or comic, almost like doing a little farewell (though I also randomly check stuff every now and then)

https://witchdice.com/simple - A dice rolling site for D&D 5E, Lancer or just a simple template. Has a built-in catalog of skills and moves for the two games, as well as Discord implementation for sharing the rolls in a specific channel.

Image Hosting

https://imgchest.com/ - My Imgur replacement ever since it started making some weird changes. Currently fairly small, but useful, which is basically what I need from any tool. Can be easily adapted to Sharex.

https://imgpile.com/ - Another simple image host. Didn't use it much before changing to chest, but its still fine.

Webcomics

https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/ - An urban fantasy long running comic about teens attending a quirky school that borders a magical Forest, and the contrast between their lives focused on the Ether and science applications versus the openly fantastical wilds that surround them. One of the old guard webcomics, it has gone to places multiple times and is still going.

https://www.oglaf.com/ - Very NSFW more often than not! A lewd, comedic fantasy webcomic, mixing dirty and clever jokes and the occasional story arc.