cybernihongo

A premium tier for WhatsApp? The app I want to get rid of but can't because employers can't be assed to send emails or make phone calls first?

No, it's not. It's extra not wrong if the "legal" method includes DRM or forces you into any DRM platform.

This reminds me, the Mojo Launcher is available on Google Play. You can download the app for free, create a local account, download whatever version you need, and you're already in-game.

I only created a local account because I was too lazy to log into my MS account ~~(can Mojang die for this migration sin?)~~ before I realized I just downloaded Minecraft Java Edition for free with an app from the Play Store.

You didn't hear anything from me.

I once saw someone somewhere comment that HL2 is actually a tech demo meant to show off the physics stuff. Which I wholeheartedly agree with, and even that didn't win me over. The game doesn't feel like a shooter meant to be enjoyed, rather it feels like Valve flexing its muscles only because they can.

Wish we could all do more of that!

I played this game twice, and tried to get to the end twice, and in both times I just WALKED AWAY. The original was actually playable and beatable in comparison.

One moment it's a shooter, then it becomes a driving game, then it becomes one of the earliest walking sims with long stretches of nothing, then a horror game, then a tactical shooter, and it wasn't good at any of them - it was all just cobbled together. Valve would have had a much better game if they sold just Ravenholm, the only part that actually evoked strong feelings in me.

And by this point in time I can't help but think the funny letter G guy is just a Mary Sue to glue the game together with very little character or substance besides "man in black".

I firmly believe the only reason this game is "beloved" is the same reason that iPhones sell just because of the logo of the company that made them. (And also because of this game every fucking company that breathes has an online DRM launcher)

Fear by Monolith and its expansions on the other hand, they were so much better despite the aiming system being unintuitive in comparison to HL the 2. Everything just clicks. I just loved Fear. But I'm sure this won't save me from "Ubisoft target audience" allegations.

No, what you mentioned is just one of the options. They literally go over "bare metal" installs even if it's just a skim. I always find their article funny because of that.

Does it really freak them out?

I think you might be underestimating how some people type really slowly when given a full sized QWERTY keyboard, numpad and all.

Then again the one limiting factor of phone keyboards (touch or physical) is that they're designed for two thumbs, instead of just whatever fingers happen to be closer to the button you want. Though I'll admit I do miss when Nokia, BlackBerry, etc, came up with unique solutions for how to get a small physical keyboard attached to a phone.

Might be an unpopular opinion but

In the late 2010s or early 2020s, I wrote a short story in the Notes app on a Nokia C3-00. It was one of the budget offerings with a QWERTY keyboard and WiFi support, and it was pretty awesome for the time, and still is to an extent.

By that point I cycled through a few touchscreen phones beginning from tiny Samsung junkers to mid-range Chinese phones we would have called "phablets" a few years back and got used to touchscreens. I'm typing this right now on a touchscreen and it's pretty nice, yeah autocorrect is wrong some of the time but it is solid most of the time, and I can type really fast. Typing on a phone with a small physical keyboard was eye opening in a way. It felt slow, and I had to actually put some effort into pushing the buttons to make them register. In all fairness, it could be the age of the phone making the buttons stiff.

Something else is how the labels on the buttons eventually wear out. If this was a physical keyboard I could just replace it, but a small panel of keys built into a phone? Yeah not really replaceable.

I get that all those very tall, very flat slabs of plastic and metal can get boring very quickly, but I guess because there's not so much more left to perfect that form factor.

Poor Jak.

I'll raise you one and say I'd rather pirate games than use either of them. At least there's GOG, itch, Zoom-Platform, putting aside games that never come there until a decade later.