Bill Young’s Post

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...and you think YOUR backlog is embarrassing. The total value of Steam games that have been purchased...but have gone unplayed: $19,000,000,000. ***It's Worth noting this math is not confirmed, nor is it very good math. https://lnkd.in/gRnyJZTw

Ok...I'm working on a premise. A kernel of a thought I had a while back...and would like to express it here to get your take. I posit: Video Games; their fundamental purpose...is misunderstood. ...Shall we? OMY@C Video games are fun...right? That's why we play them...right? What is fun though? Blowing things up is fun. Killing zombies and nazis...objectively fun. Making tea and moving a plate of fish over and over again from point A to B is fun. ...wait. Is it? Half of "Dave The Diver" is serving sushi to irritable customers. How is that fun? Shit...what does "fun" even mean? Are we thinking about this the right way? Let me be clear, "Dave the Diver" is definitely fun. I enjoyed the hell out of that game. But WHY did I enjoy it? I did not race a car through space...I did not overcome any necromorphs or orcs...hell, I didn't even throw a game winning touchdown. I poured drinks...I added ingredients to a menu. What the hell? Here's the thing: One of the main reasons we play games is to feel the pleasant satisfaction of challenging ourselves when nothing truly mortal is on the line. Historically...when there is no saber-toothed tiger about to eat us, or farmland that needs tilling...humans have played games. We play games to provide a momentary escape from the toil of our daily lives. Ironically, many of these games have psychologically replaced the danger we no longer experience from saber-toothed tigers...or the repetitive toil that very few of us still experience through farming. The danger part is what everyone thinks about. The toil? Not so much. But...we need toil. We need repetition. We need meaningless micro-successes. "Fun?" ...yeah, maybe fun is not strictly about gleeful enjoyment...and more about recognizable satisfaction...and with video games, that includes the toil. I typically have at least two hypercasual mobile games going at any given time. For the last couple years, one of those games has been Voodoo's "Bubble Buster 2024." I'm on level 1,997. It's a prototypical, short-form dopamine distributor. Each level is different though, so it always feels fresh. The other one I'm playing right now is "Hexa Sort," by Lion Studios...it's one of a million "hexa" stacking games, but this one has super clean design, and is genuinely challenging. Is it weird that a "shape" has become a gaming sub-genre? yes...but that's not my point. There is undeniable enjoyment in both games...and I often choose them over GTA V (where I have the opportunity to steal cars, fly a helicopter under a bridge...shoot evil space clowns). It's clearly the more "fun" proposition, right? Toil. It's a different itch that also needs a'scratchin'. Final Thought: The Eagles are next up at The Sphere LV. I know Don Henley and Glenn Frey were notorious jerkfaces, and Jeff Lebowski hates them, but he's wrong. I'd see that show. I think Radiohead would be the ultimate Sphere show though. Make it so.

This (rumor) shouldn't be a huge surprise...the AVP 1 was always meant to be a showpiece...something high-end for devs - not for everyday consumers (a point lost on critics). First blush - this looks like a great next step. https://lnkd.in/g8XcjTDG

I know that you already know, but now you know that I know you know, you know? For those that don't know: Nintendo Direct is tomorrow. 3pm UK / 10am ET / 7am Normal Person Time. https://lnkd.in/gaZKEVZY

I think Sony has underestimated Astro Bot. It’s the #1 top wish listed game from the summer showcases. https://lnkd.in/gdY3dhpc

No squatch sightings last weekend...but wow...what a week since. A massively productive one for The Glitch (on all fronts), and apparently some other things happened around the industry as well...huh. Alright...let's-a-go: OMY@C 🤘 ⛏ - Metallica will be in Fortnite soon. The event is called "Metallica: Fuel Fire Fury," and it will kick off on June 22nd. The San Francisco band got on the Fortnite Festival stage yesterday - so if you're curious...hop on in there. RIP Cliff. RIP Eddie. 🍎 - Apple's WWDC was this week...and their formal entry into Ai was the big takeaway. "Apple Intelligence," was the name they landed on. Essentially, it's Ai integrated through every aspect of their various OS's...adding personal context to everything. My first reaction was...do I want that though? On one hand, this feels like the first real indication of where consumer Ai is headed...on the other: privacy? A big part of Apple's presentation of their Ai is "setting a brand-new standard for privacy in Ai." So...they're well aware of the line that's being crossed. Apple's 5-minute video overview (on their site) shows you how "Ai for the rest of us" will work...and it's easy to be cynical about it. A squirrel DJ...cool. Custom emoji's...neat. Still...you should watch it. When app devs finally start building for this though...look out. PREDICTION: iPhone 16 will be the best selling iPhone yet. The 6 sold 222M units total...71.5MM units in it's first 3 months...so we'll know by year's end how this crazy statement is trending. 📺 🎮 - Mike Verdu will soon be leaving his role as VP of Netflix Games (and starting a new role with the company). Speculation is rampant about what this means for the games unit. It's possible that it means...nothing at all. I'm still massively bullish on the gaming opportunity for Netflix. My personal opinion is that transmedia is the biggest, most exciting play here...but I've also heard there are internal headwinds on that. 🤷♂️ 🍷 ⛵ - I'm not going to Cannes...again. Maybe some day. I'll drink rosé and look important at home...again. I'm not bitter. 📺 🎮 - Follow Friday: Two nerds with a webcam...that you absolutely should be following if you're in the games business: 1) Chris Melissinos (Principal Evangelist for Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Video interviews with games industry legends, deep retro dives, and discussions on the top news. 2) Alexander Seropian (Founder/CEO of Look North World) - Host of "The Fourth Curtain," is always a headliner event. 📺 - Palm Royale (Apple+). Kristen Wiig as a social climber in 1960's south Florida. So good. Save a grasshopper for me. 🎵 - Spotify's "Daylist" - pull the throttle back a bit with your list names though. "90's Indie Twee Friday Afternoon," might be accurate...but it's embarrassing. 🎮 - It's been 2 weeks since I picked up Hogwarts Legacy and Vampire Survivors...haven't started either yet. THAT's how busy it's been.

This is just the 12th installment of OMY@C...and I'm already phoning it in. I mean that literally...this is a scheduled post. Why? I'm camping. Will I return? 🤷♂️ Aside from maybe a lack of timeliness this week, it likely won't really matter. My usual process is quite simple: 1) Think something and type it (not always in that order). 2) Spend ~3 minutes editing for typos...try to make sure I didn't say anything that will get me fired or cancelled. 3) Hit post. It's my version of authenticity. If I take too long to compose something, it loses flavor. If I edit it too much, eventually it will be boring. I like to think of it as removing myself from the creative process...if that makes sense. OMY@C 🚶♂️ 🏃♀️ Spatial Awareness - Possessing a lack of it...might just be my ultimate pet peeve. It's not even a pet...it's a predator peeve. Dudes...what the ever-loving hell is wrong with you? MOVE. Costco, airports, sidewalks, escalators, the coffee machine in the kitchenette at the Amazon office...two words: OTHER FRIKKIN' PEOPLE. We're all in this together...well, I'm in it together. You're oblivious. Shape up. What does this have to do with video games? ...nothing, probably. It's not my fault you chose to commit to reading this nonsense. You've done this to yourself. Moving on... 🍄 🧟♀️ The Last of Us (HBO) - Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have said that they think the storyline from LoU2 could take 3 seasons to tell. GOOD. My only complaint about Season 1 was that they ripped right through the story. Season 2 is only going to have 7 episodes...inferring 21 total episodes for the Abby arc. Works for me. 🎮 👊 Multiversus Is Back (Player First Games, Warner Bros. Games) - I played it the first go-around, and it was a lot of fun making Velma whoop Batman's ass. It went back into dev for a spell, but the F2P fighter is back. Tom, Jerry...Rick, Morty...It's an IP-splosion in there, kids...have at it. ✍ 👫 Other People - Don't worry, this is not a reprise...I just thought...since I didn't really add much to your feed this week, I'd point you toward 3 folks who put actual thought into what they post: Ben Sarraille - Ben's posts just keep getting better and better. He's a thoughtful writer mostly covering UGC gaming and the creator economy. Always worth clicking "more" on Ben's posts. Sergei Vasiuk - I can't imagine any of Sergei's posts took less than many hours to put together. He's the anti-Bill. Day-jobs as the Director of Live Ops at Wargaming...moonlights as a very insightful LI poster. Slow it down, Sergei. Lizzie Mintus - You should really watch her interviews...just in the last few weeks she's posted talks with Alyssa Padia Walles, Bill Roper, Sarah Anderson, Perrin Kaplan, Jeri Ellsworth, Jen Donahoe...all great. ...Follow'm. I won't see (or as a result, respond, obviously) to any comments until Monday...so have at it. See y'all next week...unless the Squatch gets me.

There is a lot to take in here…but it’s worth reading. Wherever you stand on the various issues regarding Ai, I think most would agree that it’s time for a more serious and nuanced discussion about what we want with it…where we want it to take us. https://lnkd.in/gEB28q7y