Sure, people with crappy broadband could play... At something like N64-level settings and slideshow frames per second, even with "last-gen" games. Granted, streaming an entire game is more of a load on bandwidth than cloud hybrid or patches, but if it was really feasible for the masses even a year ago, Stadia might still be up today, but it's already gone. I would still rather be able to play a game I own on console without needing a persistent connection to play, as a cloud hybrid game may require. If there is still the option to play the game offline at lower settings, that wouldn't be so bad, but then you just know that M$ will be looking to monetize the cloud hybrid option: "play at full settings online for only $--- per month!"
CivilizationEx does lore series on a lot of different pop culture sci-fi/fantasy properties, basically histories from beginning through the latest entries. There's series on Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, and more.
A popular poke-tuber I watch who goes into interesting deep dives on the origins and inspirations for various things in Pokemon is Lockstin & Gnoggin, though I think he can go a bit too far down the rabbit hole on those origins/inspirations from time to time.
Did something unusual for me and picked up the Pokemon DLC and started it before finishing Tears of the Kingdom. Needed a break from TotK for a while anyway. Since it's only been out a couple days I don't think I've gotten too incredibly far into it, but it's still good ol' Pokemon fun so far. I just really wish Game Freak would put more effort into fixing the optimization (if they can) because almost a year in it still chugs in places it really shouldn't.
I think instead of a new 3D Mario right away we'll get a port of Wonder, especially if it's not backwards compatible. If that's the case, that BotW demo they supposedly showed off at Gamescom may be a hint at a BotW port, though why they would port BotW instead of TotK at this point would be beyond me, especially when BotW was a launch title for their previous console. A different Zelda remake may be a good bet, like an HD/4K version of one of the N64 Zeldas. I still think the new F-Zero may be saved as a launch title for the new console to show off the new hardware. Either way, they need a solid, brand new entry in one of their big franchises or something new and original (a "killer app") to promote immediate adoption, especially if they're apparently releasing so many good games to sunset their previous console. They can't make the same mistakes in the launch lineup that they did with consoles like the GameCube and Wii U.
My initial thought reading it was "spiritual sequel to Glover?" but this is definitely not that. As you said more like the Addams Family's Thing. Kinda creepy in a way.
Still working on preparing for the "final push" in TotK, didn't play a whole lot again this week. When you only have around 25 shrines to go, finding them on a map that big without a guide can get really tedious, especially when most of the ones I'm finding now are in caves. They really like putting them in caves in this game, I'm noticing.
I may also start up one of the strategy RPGs I bought in Steam's little strategy game sale the other week. I bought a bundle that includes Symphony of War, Dark Deity and Tyrant's Blessing. Not sure which to try first, though. I had Symphony of War and Dark Deity on my wishlist already, but Tyrant's Blessing also seems interesting.
If it is F-Zero, and it is true that Nintendo showed off their new hardware at Gamescom, I wouldn't be surprised if the new F-Zero game is a launch title for the new console. F-Zero would make a good title to show off improved graphical and processing power, especially if the new console is supposed to keep up with the Xbox Series/PS5.
Well, the way Tunic works is that you don't really decipher the language on your own to straight up read the characters, you work with pictures and other visual/environmental cues to figure out what it's telling you. It would be akin to going to an Asian country that doesn't use the Roman alphabet without any knowledge of the language and having to navigate things by pictures or trial-and-error until you start to pick things up on your own. You don't decipher the words themselves, you pick up on the context, if that makes sense. It really was a large part of the fun of Tunic.
I find that to be an annoying thing with Japanese software in general, gaming or otherwise: more proprietary garbage than Western software and practically hard-coding it to 100% force you to use the software in the way THEY intend for you to use it, not how YOU want. Makes for worse Linux compatibility at best, if any at all, compared to Western software. Note that I'm purely talking about native or straight Wine Linux compatibility, not Steam/Proton, which works around those issues well.
If there is one, I tend to use the native Linux version when I can, just to do my miniscule part to encourage devs to support native Linux, though on one or two games I have noticed bugs in the native Linux version that were fixed in the Windows/Proton version. That said, I am still quite thankful and impressed with how well Proton works for anything I use it with.
Seeing the trailer I'm immediately reminded of Tunic, with its sort of top down, 2.5D perspective and what appears to be being thrown into a world where deciphering just the basics of what's going on is half the challenge of the game due to a lore-based language barrier. Where Tunic was very much an homage to 2D Zelda, this game looks to take that concept in a more original direction. Looks interesting. I'd think about getting it if my backlog wasn't a mile high.
Finished everything in the main story of Tears of the Kingdom except the last portion in the castle. Now I'm on the "final push" of prep for the finish to find the remaining shrines (I've found 98 of around 150 total so far, though I may stick to just the 120 on the surface) and level up my armor before I take the castle on (I did sneak in there once and grab one important item already). That could take a while, though, lol.
I prefer grids myself, I've never gotten very far in gridless strategy games I've played (Mario+Rabbids, Valkyria Chronicles) because I just have too hard a time keeping track of what I can do with any given unit when I don't have the grid for reference. That said, I can understand the appeal to some as an immersion enhancement, as others have said, and as something of a "modernization" of turn-based strategy allowing for more freedom of movement. Cool if you enjoy that kind of thing in strategy, but just not my jam. I was raised on Fire Emblem in the genre, lol.
As far as use cases where immutable distros would be more or less convenient, it appears to me that due to the security and reproducibility factors, immutable distros are better for server or enterprise environments where updates need to be rolled out quickly and smoothly, which are most actual Linux systems out there and where Linux companies make their money (hence why they seem like the hot new thing right now), and for desktops where people are primarily concerned with not wanting to "break" anything. But a classical distro, IMO, would be better for folks like me who do want the control to change or customize things down to the core parts of the OS. As far as I'm aware, you don't have much freedom to tinker with an immutable distro until it's wiped away with the next update.
As a fan of the Ace Attorney series, the whole series is amazing. Great writing (including the localization), music, characters and sprite work/art throughout. Have fun with it!
I've been busy with other things this week so didn't play much. Got through the forest but haven't claimed the Master Sword yet in TotK. I hope it's not too spoilery to say that you really need to build up your stamina to get it, but even with all the shrine hunting I've been doing I didn't have enough (I was remembering BotW where you needed a lot of health and built that up instead) so now I'm doing even MORE shrine hunting. (I could use a certain thing to trade but I don't want to do that, I want to do it "legit".) Fortunately I should only need three more shrines (one more stamina vessel) to have enough so it's possible I'll be able to do it this weekend.
Yeah, I never bought into the line that people were confused that a Wii U was a Wii add-on. That's never been a major problem for similarly named consoles before and anyone I knew all knew it was a separate thing. I think that focus on having to pay attention to two screens, as you said, as well as the severe under-powering for a home console of its generation and an abysmal launch lineup of games, all leading to an abysmal launch for the console itself and third parties deciding pretty quickly to mostly bail on it, led to its relative failure.
That said, I still have my Wii U and also have fond memories of playing it. Say what you will about the severe lack of 3rd party support, Nintendo themselves put some great quality games on it: all the Zelda games (including Hyrule Warriors and the BotW port), Smash Bros 4, the original Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker, 3D World, DKC Tropical Freeze, the list goes on. Sega was pretty kind to them too for a 3rd party: Bayonetta 2, TMS #FE (underrated, IMO, good TMS/Persona style gameplay even if its story is goofy... Expected more actual FE-related content though), the quantity of Sonic games (if not quality).
To be fair, you could bring it to play in your hotel at the end of the day just before bed and/or for the trip to and from your destination. But other than those times, yeah, leave it in the hotel room or in your luggage.
Sure, people with crappy broadband could play... At something like N64-level settings and slideshow frames per second, even with "last-gen" games. Granted, streaming an entire game is more of a load on bandwidth than cloud hybrid or patches, but if it was really feasible for the masses even a year ago, Stadia might still be up today, but it's already gone. I would still rather be able to play a game I own on console without needing a persistent connection to play, as a cloud hybrid game may require. If there is still the option to play the game offline at lower settings, that wouldn't be so bad, but then you just know that M$ will be looking to monetize the cloud hybrid option: "play at full settings online for only $--- per month!"