Well good morning everyone and happy holiday weekend to you all. I'm getting a late start here because I've been up cooking and prepping for tomorrow's get-together dinner for hours already. I've made a few dozen swig cookies and I've got a turkey breast in the oven now soon to be followed by a pie. I also took my roast out of the freezer so it can thaw for tomorrow. I've been marinating it for four days but decided that after that it should be frozen until we were ready. My sister is coming here any time now to make a couple loaves of beer bread that we can turn into dressing along with some fresh veggies. So tomorrow I'll be cooking a roast and a half ham and a whole bunch of sides and since the weather is supposed to be awesome we'll be eating outside by the fire pits with some friends and drinking beer and wine and just having a good old time.
Anyway, let's look at the WRUP shall we?
Big news on the EPIC Games front as the FTC has served up a couple of big fines for something referred to as "dark patterns", essentially charging folks in Fortnite for in game purchases without consent and for the ultimate failing to fall in line with COPPA. The whole "dark patterns" thing is particularly gross since it's based on design choices to more or less trick people into one click buying things. Not complying with COPPA is also bad since Fortnite would place players who are minors into voice and text chats automatically and showing account names of minors in-game. Of course EPIC has already begun making changes and that's good, but the question is - would they have made those changes if they hadn't been fined by the FTC? There's a lot more here from ArsTechnica, I recommend the read.
On a more positive note, it's sale time for most digital platforms. EPIC is continuing giving away free games every day during it's holiday sale. Steam has it's Winter sale chugging along with deals. GoG is doing some giveaways and putting on a sale as well. And this is just PC. Your preferred console or hand held is likely also posting hot deals, so check your store fronts and maybe get some titles you've been holding back on.
That's all I have really, It's been a busy week and today is no different. So I'll just say merry Christmas, happy holidays or whatever you like. Enjoy your time with friends and family and here's hoping you're not all stuck in sub zero temperatures in this crazy weather anomaly that's going down all over the place. We'll see you next weekend.
What are we playing?
Greywolfe: well, would you look at that. i'm not sticking to any games at all. haha. currently playing bard's tale 1. it got remastered and i haven't looked at that version of the game since 2018 [when it was new-ish and inxile had yet to release bt2 and bt3.] - it's exactly what it says on the tin, a pretty slow-going old rpg that throws a lot of nonsense at you because they had no idea what the words "game design" meant in those days. it's fun? if that's your kind of thing, of course. [i can stand it in limited quantities at this late date.] merry christmas, everyone! hope you get all the gaming presents you want.
Scrooloose: I'm going to be quite busy starting on Saturday getting some cooking and baking done that can be used for Sunday's big dinner with everyone. But otherwise I think it'll be the usual Destiny 2 holiday event stuff and as much Darktide as I can get in.
AJ: I'm sure I'll end up playing with some gifts this weekend (mine and/or my kids) so likely Live a Live and Pokemon: Violet, and maybe a few others. Happy Xmas, everyone!