Co-op games are a more underground type of multiplayer experience nowadays. Especially with the advent of the internet, couch co-op games lost their advantage of only needing one copy to play. The internet did revolutionize multiplayer though as each player had their own screen and it allowed for a more detailed (and secret) multiplayer experience. As MakeUseOf puts it, "it is much more difficult for developers to make a game that has more than 30FPS, high-resolution graphics, expansive content, and includes split-screen... it is much more financially beneficial to developers, publishers, and console manufacturers if they don't include a feature that allows you and your friends to play with each other on the same console." Some games add non-split-screen multiplayer as an afterthought and one of those games seems to be Risk of Rain 2. The problems with multiplayer in Risk of Rain 2 highlight the generic problems with co-op multiplayer games. Slapped in Modes Lots of single-player games in the current era have slapped in multiplayer modes. These are commonly unbalanced or do not…

I'm sure many have heard the famous phrase, "Those video games are going to rot your brain." A famous argument for why people should play fewer video games. But is that argument baseless? Well, many have turned out for the worse with video game addiction. As the APA puts it, "research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression," but it is important to recognize that this is not the only thing videos games can do. Video games can instead be an incredibly powerful tool for education: helping to develop critical thinking skills, foster creativity, and even teach social skills. And these benefits aren't just limited to educational games - even popular games like Minecraft can have educational value. Critical Thinking in Video Games Many games require players to analyze situations, make decisions, and other problem-solving skills. This helps to develop those abilities and encourages players to think critically about the choices they make.…

A few days ago the Nintendo eShop for the WiiU and 3DS closed permanently. But that does not mean that the 3ds is a brick, far from it. Enter homebrewing.   Homebrewing Homebrewing is very simple on the 3ds, in fact, one of the most simple consoles to soft mod. But you may not know what homebrewing is. Homebrewing can be defined as cracking through a system's security in such a way that allows you to execute custom code. This typically refers to gaming consoles as personal computers and most other computational devices allow you to run custom code anyways. What of it? You might be wondering, okay, I can run custom code on my 3ds easily, but what is the point? The point of homebrewing your 3ds is that it allows you to do things that were previously impossible or restricted by Nintendo's proprietary software. The 3ds can handle emulators for some more classic games like GBA, NES, and SNES. You can also install custom themes and back up your game saves. One of…

ChatGPT has been really popular lately. After it came out many have worried that it may replace a lot of jobs (like writing articles like this one) but luckily there have been a lot of AI detection services going around and generally, ChatGPT writes really stiffly. That does not mean that you can't use ChatGPT to help you in your next creative project.   What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is an AI text generator that is trained to understand and respond using human-like text. This uses data across the internet so it has references and knowledge of almost everything before 2021. This is due to the fact that ChatGPT has read through the entirety of Wikipedia and a lot of other major sources like stack exchange. Coming up with topics ChatGPT is pretty smart and you can ask it to come up with topics for you. You can also give it previous information like other things you have written. While not all of these ideas might not be in your interest, there might be a few…

Factory-style games are renowned for their addictive gameplay. These types of games typically involve starting with nothing, then building up to a factory that builds things millions of times faster than you can do by hand. But the main problem that happens with them is that you start at 9 am, build a few things, look up, and it's 8 am! How does this happen? The core of the game lies in its game loops, which are defined as the parts of the game that make up the central gameplay experience.   The Game Loop A game loop is defined as the parts of a game that make up the core of the game. An example of a gameplay loop would be in Pacman, you try to gather all the dots in a stage while avoiding the ghosts. There can be more than one game loop in a game and games that are more complex typically have more than simpler games. A popular staple of the factory-type game is Factorio. The game loop in Factorio…

iTunes is a terrible program. If you haven't tried to use it in the last few years, let's say it might as well have never been updated. While the Apple Music program proceeds it on macOS and iOS, Windows and Linux are left picking up a scrap of an unusable program. That's where Cider comes in. Cider is an open-source version of Apple Music that works on all desktop platforms. It has the ability to load in your own plugins and has a nice shiny UI to boot. [caption id="attachment_163" align="alignnone" width="405"] A screenshot of Cider's UI[/caption] Features Cider has a lot of the missing features from Apple Music that iTunes never had. Excluding those, Cider has the following features. Podcasts Cider combines the features of Apple Music with the Podcast App, allowing you to listen to podcasts in the same application that you listen to your music. Just like the podcast app, Cider lets you download podcasts and listen to them offline if you would prefer. Remote The feature is currently in beta, but…

No Game No Life is a popular anime based on a light novel that was released in 2014. Well known for its stunning visuals, interesting concept, and 'suggestive' content, many people await No Game No Life's 2nd season. But many fear that day may not come as it has been 9 years since the release of the first season as of writing this post and nothing has come to light about the second season. Plagerization No Game No Life has been accused of plagiarism multiple times. Starting with the one in the anime, in episode 7, a magic circle can be seen in one scene that seems to have been stolen from a Pixiv user. The image from episode 7. The Pixiv user named, Ikkakujuu (unicorn) posted an image on Twitter of the original photoshop file that was available to download on Pixiv. Luckily for those who worked at the studio, after profusely apologizing and changing the magic circle for later releases, the original artist had this to say: Everyone makes mistakes. People who can…

Recently I received a drawing tablet. For those who are unfamiliar, they allow you to draw on your computer. But after getting it I was unsure of which software to use. So today I am going to break down all of the software that I have tried recently and tell you what is good and what is bad about each. I will also be breaking down which operating systems they work on, and their prices. Clip Studio Paint Since I got a Wacom tablet I was given a 2-year license to Clip Studio Paint PRO, so most of my experience will be with that version. Clip Studio Paint is one of, if not the most, popular drawing software for those interested in Japanese-styled drawing. Created in Japan, over half of all art uploaded to Pixiv(a popular art-sharing platform) was created using Clip Studio Paint. Clip Studio Paint is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. I have yet to test if Linux can wine it. They also have an up to 6-month trial if you…

With Elon Musk's recent tirade of banning almost every person on the platform has left a lot of people turning to mastodon. Mastodon is not the same as Twitter though. Created as a safe-haven for those who were pushed out of Twitter, Mastodon has a lot more accessibility options and requires knowing more etiquette. Starting with features, Mastodon has a lot of features that help those who might be disabled in some way or otherwise. For example, for each image you upload, you can add descriptive text to explain what the image is showing for those who are visually-impaired. It is considered very important to do so as those people will not understand your posts if you do not do so. Another feature that Mastodon boasts is the content warning. Content warnings allow you to tag posts with certain warnings for those who might be disturbed by them. Generally most every post should have one, because even if you are not posting anything that is disturbing to you, it may be to others. Some examples…

With the new year rapidly approaching, you might want to finally start your blog, show off your project, or create the website of your dreams. But an important part of starting a website is selecting your domain name. A domain name is the address of your website, and it is how people will find and access your site on the internet. A good domain name can help to build trust with your audience, and can also make it easier for people to remember your website. But you might be wondering, “Why is the domain name important?” You will look more professional to have a domain of your own. While using subdomains (like yourdomain.wordpress.com, or yourdomain.weebly.com) may be tempting due to its low price, getting your own domain is not that expensive. Most domains start around $5-10 and increase to $12 for the next year. If you wish to make your project, blog, or other website look impressive, a domain can help with that.  Having your own domain is also more flexible. With your own domain,…