For subscribers only, I reveal a FASCINATING FACT about the version of Revenge of the Mutant Camels in Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. Yes, only subscribers get to know this life-altering information. https://ko-fi.com/Post/Revenge-of-the-Mutant-Camels-C64-1984-P5P6Z2JMT

(okay I don't remember what prompted this but I guess I'm cleaning out my drafts and this is the only one I can see?)

I guess the discourse is rolling about graphics in games again. I don't think I've ever been a proponent of the graphical arms race or photorealism. Granted, it has been extremely good to have a competent PC the last couple years. I still don't play many games that have a focus on complex detail or realism. (most of the high-fidelity ones being FromSoft games, and even that's an outlier in the AAA realm) I also don't know shit about the labor, energy, or expertise that goes into creating technologically demanding visuals. I tend to feel that a lot of these visual "enhancements" are, for the most part, pointless? Raw fidelity is almost never what makes a game compelling to me. Yes, improving hardware probably enables more diverse and experimental aesthetics, but it also means that high-end/AAA games are going to push the limits of what is possible with each new generation of graphics cards, effectively necessitating new games in that realm look even more "real" or detailed. Smaller game projects don't exist in a vacuum, so this in turn pushes the average fidelity (or at least perceived average fidelity) of smaller games higher as well. I worry about what this does or may do with regards to the audience for non-AAA games, especially as socioeconomic disparities worsen (I'm in the US).

I downloaded Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom today and I am LOVING it. Fun platforming, I love the character designs (especially the taxi tbh...it can wear little hats) and I just adore the N64-everything about it. I sunk almost an hour into it just trying it out and it didn't even feel like it lmao

Highly recommend

So I just beat the story part of this game, I am so hooked on just trying to get to places with seemingly no way to get there (but there always seems to be if you know how to jump off any slight ramp) and it's just a fun game to chill with- none of it got frustrating, very fast and satisfying when you do a sick maneuver that also helps you get you where you needed

Once again, I HIGHLY recommend this game. There's probably 30-40 bucks worth on content to play and I'm pretty sure it's only 20 bucks or less (I forget and may have gotten it on sale lmao, but budget gaming has been very fun regardless tbh)

Postcard credit: Shop sign for the Monumensonge art exposition (Lucien Mathelin, 1971).

Pin: Celeste, available from The Yetee.

Stickers:

• Cohost's own @doodlemancy, purchased from Etsy.
• Cohost's own @Boltcreature.
• United States Postal Service.
• Super Mario Bros. 3.