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Quote from Gizmodo

Gizmodo recently posted an article about 500 top technologists and Elon Musk demanding an immediate pause of advanced AI systems.

I really liked this part of Snory’s comment to that post:

Let’s see a show of hands for everyone fearing for the future of their careers. I think AI will be a double edged sword for humanity, it will improve the average person’s lives immeasurably, but it will also take the fun out of so many creative and technical hobbies and professions, to the point of stripping away meaning and purpose for many people.

I’ve written about this topic in 2018, but I’ve been thinking the same thing again during these weeks of AI announcements. I think it’s absolutely going to be that bad. Almost no kind of human creativity will be safe.

Not even composing SID music.

March 25, 2023June 9, 2023PC Games

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3PS

Mafia II: Definitive Edition

Developer: 2K Czech | Released: 2020 | Genre: 3PS

I played more than 2 hours of this one before bailing out, so I decided to let it have its own blog post. The version I played was the Definitive Edition from 2020. I never played the classic from 2010 so I can’t say how much better it looks. I did complete the first one, but that was more than 20 years ago. Way too long to report on its graphics now – the rose-tinted glasses get in the way.

What I can remember is that the game was a third person shooter driving in a city between mafia jobs. This second game was more of the same. I was in control of the handsome Vito, starting out with a little bit of military action in Sicily 1943. Back in the USA, Vito gets jobs from his friend Joe, such as stealing a car for Vito himself, getting money for a barber, and stealing gas stamps from a safe.

March 25, 2023March 25, 2023Chiptunes Fun

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Scroll of Truth

March 19, 2023June 6, 2023PC Games

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Short Sessions, Part 10

This is another post in my series about the odd games that I have decided not to complete, although I will at least try them out for up to an hour or two.

March 12, 2023March 18, 2023PC Games

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Adventure Games

2 Comments

King’s Quest: Chapter 1

Developer: The Odd Gentlemen | Released: 2015 | Genre: Adventure, 3D

As of this post I will stop adding pros and cons. My web statistics tell me that pretty much no one is reading these reviews but me, and then I might as well not waste time pretending to be a reviewer.

This game really surprised me. I didn’t expect all that much apart from a modern take on the classic Sierra adventure games, but it was really top notch. Great animation, wonderful and funny dialog, lots of humor, and some ingenious puzzles too. Long and varied too. Definitely not bad for a free first chapter.

The game used much of the same template as Telltale Games who did e.g The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. Even down to the cel shaded style. I could steer young Graham around with direction keys on scenes that sometimes were static, sometimes scrolling, clicking on things to interact. To spice things up, the adventure was sometimes complemented with a blend of arcade action and QTE sequences.

The 3D adventure reminded me of Simon the Sorcerer 3D, and the QTE of Dragon’s Lair. Although QTE in games of today are technically already derived from Dragon’s Lair, it felt particularly strong here because of the first scene in a, well, dragon’s lair. Or perhaps I should say prison.

I completed this first chapter in one sitting taking 6 hours, and I’m happy I spent time with it. The adventure game parts quickly opened up with multiple locations and non-linear solutions, and the dialog was often splendid. I can’t say that I was a fan of all of the action stuff, though. Some sequences such as avoiding dragon fire, shooting goblins with a bow, and a race with a narcissistic knight was a bit too much.