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yeah... when it's "asleep," it's orange as long as it has power.   Then it glows blue when there are updates, system updates, messages via the console / Nintendo / other people.  All that was turned off in 2013 or 2014.  Either way... The blue light really prompts interesting memories from that time.

Weird, could be maybe I had some backlog? It did the breathing blue light as soon as I turned it on.

The actual tournament itself was well done. I think the way everything played out was good. It fit the storyline and allowed many of the characters to have growth as opposed to just being purely background bodies to have in their respective teams.

Happy Steam Deck Release Day!!!

New review has been posted by Digital Foundry. I haven't had a chance to watch it all but so far seems impressive.

Now we have a war going on that has caused a surge in crude oil prices. There is fear of a disruption in global energy supplies. Hold on for another round of price hikes!

This is why the U.S. should've been leading the way in alternative, renewable fuel sources rather than continuing to stick to a finite source that is affected very easily by even small global events, let alone a full scale war. We also need to stop desecrating beautiful land just so that we can buy gas for our giant vehicles for a dollar less.

This is also a time to keep an eye on China. They are huge Russian allies and support Putin. If they start to invade Taiwan because they feel it's now the right time to strike then things are going to get really bad and not just for prices on our goods.

@CreepinDeth  --> Wii24 actually still made the Wii glow? They turned that service off... I'm not sure even what update or what the system could've even done to activate the light.

It's not the service that makes it glow, it's the feature itself. It's to show you that Wii24 has been enabled. Otherwise, it's orange I believe. Either way, it's super bright.

I haven't. I've actually stuck with Zorin OS this whole time as my daily driver. Kind of lost the itch to distro hop, lol.

Might pull out my old Dell slim PC and use that to do it.

What benefits are there to using an Enterprise distro? It's never crossed my mind to be honest.

I agree some prices will come down... but the last time I've been able to buy a USA Jackason Guitar for $1150-1200 was back in 1998.  Some of the USA made guitars jumped recently from $2700 to $4400.  Housing prices have only increased hard since 2013... and will never hit the mid 2000's prices ever again unless something catastrophic happens.  Building an i7 rig in 2007/2008 was expensive.  In 2013, building with the same top of the line materials was a bit cheaper.  However, from 2013 on.. prices have been increasing for components.

What incentive do companies have to fix this when companies like Ford are making their best years ever during product shortages because they're charging higher prices due to short supply...?  There's really no incentive to fix the scenario.  I'm sure they will or will be forced to at some point.  Hopefully it will come to an end and prices level out.

Exactly, there's no incentive to fix the scenario. Even if supply of essential components return to pre-covid normal, the companies aren't going to drop their prices all of a sudden. They'll just create an artificial shortage or raise prices again. The only way this stops is if people stop buying. This is why scalpers are so prevalent as we talked about in another thread. People are paying the inflated prices.

Sometimes you don't have a choice because what you need is essential so you pay the price but people should vote with their wallet when it comes to non-essential items.

Happy Birthday!

I finished season 4 a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it for what it was, but man, they really brought the cheese this season.

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That whole All Valley board room scene, the debate scene, the female recruiting scene, the Prom/Pool scene. I'll stop there, lol.

Seems like they can now go in a different direction than the usual dojo affiliations, which is very nice. Times have changed and they need to adapt. "They" as in LaRusso and Lawrence.

They probably won't. It's all about demand. If people are paying these prices then the companies have no incentives to drop the prices.

There may be shortages of essential components in a lot of industries, but that doesn't stop corporations from posting record profits during this time.

But, you know.. physics.. phhh...

So disappointed this was a season FINALE...  Happy it's only a season finale... but these shows (IE Hawkeye, Loki, and Boba Fett) could EASILY have been extended 2-3 more shows.

It is not like they are under any type of time restraints, like a normal network TV program. They could have had the finale go 90 minutes. The episodes could be the length needed to tell that particular chapter of the story, like a book.

I have ended up with mixed feelings about the series as a whole so far.

I think it's more of a budget constraint. The longer the runtime, or more episodes, just means more money spent on CGI plus the actors salaries. I can't imagine how much money it took to do Luke Skywalker in this show.

The Disny WOW blu-ray that I mentioned before is a good disc to have. It comes with the blue filter for calibrating colors on non-HDR televisions. Helps a ton.

Also -

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Everyone running in straight line?!  soo....  the droid missed them?

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Nearly that entire scene made me shake my head. Just seemed like they needed to pad things up to fill in time. The plot armor was strong in this episode.

It's good to do it every couple of years. TVs aren't going to perform the same year after year. The pixels will eventually wear it out one way or another, so calibration helps compensate for that.

@CreepinDeth  --> I'm a little confused... I've now read the Character is considered canon, but the show is not?   I'm a tad confused at what is what anymore.

That's correct. Agent Peggy Carter is absolutely canon to the MCU but the show Agent Carter is not. If they want to they could just say it's a different universe where she doesn't marry Captain America.

Episode 7 / Season Finale

Thought it was good and tied up most loose ends. Now it just feels like...

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...it was just another show to progress Din's story as opposed to Boba's specifically. Sure he succeeded in what he was planning to do but the path to get there seemed kind of bland and ended up secondary to Din and Grogu's.

The embargo for hardware reviews have been lifted and there are now reviews. The software embargo is still on and will be lifted later this month.

I'm still not ready to retire the plasma.  I love the picture... but there are some newer tvs that are getting more and more tempting.

Accidentally stumbled onto this thread searching for something else and reminded me about a reply I wanted to do.

@BLUEVOODU If you're not already, I highly recommend calibrating the TV. It should help your plasma last you for a long time. A simple calibration disc like the Disney WOW blu-ray helps a ton.

Ha, I pulled the Wii out from the closet the other day. Even though it no longer functions, I turned on Wii24 and had forgotten how bright that light is. Even on the Dim setting. I immediately turned it off, lol. It's a good thing I never had it in the bedroom because there's no way I would be able to sleep with that thing strobing in the night.

Yeah, if I play an online game it's probably going to be on Steam. I don't like Live or anything that has their online service. I have Gigabit internet but I'm still capped on their online services.

Today would be a great day to go. The NFL playoffs are on all day, so everybody will be watching the games instead.

The Super Bowl would be another good day to watch a movie if you want less people.

There's always a new cryptocurrency popping up and claiming to be the latest thing. As long as you have the hardware you can get in on these immediately, see the prices go up at the beginning and then sell before it completely loses its value. Crypto won't go away as long as there are people who believe it's the road to quick riches. Which it can be if you get in early.

Although Ethereum has been around for a long time, it's easier to mine than bitcoin and is still being profitable. That's why miners don't really bat an eye at the prices.

Episode 5 was great and I hope it keeps up with the last half of the season. Having Boba Fett be the brains and

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Din Djarin

be the braun should make for good TV.

They also fumbled Lionhead Studios (Fable) which was admitted to in the Youtube documentary - Power On. (Which I highly recommend if anyone is interested in how the Xbox came to be and how Microsoft has handled their past failures.)

Based on that documentary I would say they learned their lesson about what to do with studios. In this gen, the studios they gobbled up are making highly anticipated games like Hellblade 2 and Starfield. Activision is different than Rare or Lionhead as in they have IPs that are much bigger than anything those studios had in their heyday and basically print money every year. Could they mess all that up? Yes, it's always a possibility but I feel they can actually keep this ship from sinking in this specific acquisition. 

It's nice but last time this happened crypto just rebounded back and nothing really happened. I'm really hoping it's different this time.

Mark your calendars, kids! Steam Deck releases Feb. 25th, 2022 for those lucky enough to get in the first batch.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675180/view/3117055056380003048

Steam Deck Launching February 25th
Hello, the day is almost here! On February 25th, we will be sending out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders. Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue. The first units will be on their way to customers starting the 28th, and we plan to release new order email batches on a weekly cadence.

In addition, we're sending out press units for full review shortly. Press review embargo on Steam Deck coverage will lift on February 25th, but keep an eye out for some preview coverage and impressions before that. In the meantime we're working to tie up the last few loose ends and polish some rough edges, and are excited to get these out to you at the end of next month!


Additional details for the curious:

    - We will start sending invites shortly after 10:00 am on February 25th, PST
    - Order emails are sent in the same order that reservations were made.
    - You can only order the Steam Deck model that you originally reserved.
    - Your reservation deposit will be applied to the final price of Steam Deck, and shipping costs are included.

Of course it is not the "Boba Fett from the original trilogy"; that rendition of Boba died in the Sarlac pit back in Return of the Jedi.  However, if you followed Boba from Attack of the Clones when Jango Fett dies and in The Clone Wars as he survives as a young bounty hunter, you see character development.  This Boba has faced death and survived beyond Jabba the Hutt.

I think that's the problem for me though (I haven't watched any other Star Wars shows besides the Mandalorian, so I believe you.) I have no problem with him having some type of redemption arc and having character development, but in D+ his character is inconsistent. He's talking about seeing too much death and bloodshed but at the end of the Mandalorian he just shoots Bib Fortuna dead without saying a word. Feels like they maybe had two different types of Boba Fett's in mind and possibly the show had rewrites since. Then again, the rest of the show might clear things up.

I wouldn't call it a bad show, but not one that I feel is doing the character justice. Din Djarin feels much more consistent as a character.

Having finally caught up, this show is not what I expected based on the way they portrayed Boba in the Mandalorian. I definitely agree with most of the internet right now, it's kind of boring and the CGI is some of the worse I've seen in a good while. However, the Tusken Raider storyline is pretty good.

I'll keep watching to see how it ends but this is just solidifying my opinion that Boba Fett should've just stayed dead in the Sarlac Pit.

Update:

Just saw Episode 4 and it was a much better episode. Hopefully this level of quality continues.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/

For almost $70 billion dollars. Holy crap, this is major and can have some deep implications/repercussions in gaming. Not sure how I feel about it yet although I'm leaning on not good since it's consolidating more of the industry.