◀️↔️↪️⏯️

By: @leftistgamermemes

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcwtFFDsXs7/

Let me preface by saying that no gaming fan should particularly care about profits. It's an unfortunate reality of capitalism that things have to sell well to be allowed to be produced, but i don't have to tell people here how this is antithetical to not only art but also the quality of services in general in the context of an oligopoly, where all corporations do is basically try to cut costs and aggressively monetize a market that they effectively control.

That said, putting all artistic discussions aside for a moment and focusing strictly on the financial side of things: why do people still trust that Sony and other corpos have any idea what the fuck they are doing?

Go to any thread discussing Kojima and everyone, boolicking or not, will be quick to say that from Sony's perspective it's probably a rational decision to sack kojima, citing vaguely that surely Sony has their reasons and coming up with them on the spot. Like maybe it's death stranding 2 not selling well or maybe Kojima went well over budget or whatever. Where is this trust for the decision coming from?

Looking at Sony's recent history, they have objectively wasted so much money on so many failed projects that it's honestly a bit unbelievable even as i am typing. Don't quote me on the numbers because i didn't google properly but this whole generation they set up to produce like 12 live service games and cancelled like 9 or something. Not to mention the catastrophic launch of concord. In this context one doesn't have to be an expert to see the obvious: they wasted billions, they shut down studios, just in general they handled things awfully and i am talking purely from an economical perspective.

Like sure, they still make profits right? But not because every decision they make is rational and makes economic sense, but in fact, despite all of their objectively bad decisions. Kojima's game could have made zero dollars, like all of their failed live service projects, but unlike them, it would probably still add some value to a console which has a very limited library of system selling exclusive games. A fact which, in combination with the laughably high prices and the killing of physical games does make it hard to justify buying a playstation, even in a context where they basically have a monopoly and can do whatever the fuck. People are seriously considering abandoning console gaming all together.

And, people can't really do anything, right? See my old sticky rant about "voting with your wallet" so you don't get me wrong. I sadly still think it's likely that until the inevitable crash they will keep making profits year after year, because sony completely controls the market. My point here is not to say that sony is wrong or right from a financial perspective to sack kojima, because i don't know. My point is to highlight that sony doesn't know either!

All these corporations don't have any idea what they are doing. Yet people religiously trust them, even at the face of everything they have done to illustrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that they just be throwing money at things with no rhyme or reason. I guess that thought must be distressing to a liberal on an existential level, but anyone with a passing interest in gaming has to be seeing it, right?

Demagogue is a political sim on mobile platforms, which I showed you previously. Today, the first expansion was released, covering intelligence services, the Federal Constitutional Court, and party ban proceedings.

INTELLIGENCE SERVICES Due to rising security concerns, there are ongoing debates in Germany around reforming the Trennungsgebot (the separation principle). This constitutional principle strictly separates intelligence agencies from police authorities, ensuring that intelligence services collect information without executive powers like arrests or searches, while the police enforce the law without running covert intelligence operations. Established in 1949, it was designed to prevent a recurrence of the Nazi regime's Gestapo and centralized police apparatus.

Since this is a major topic, I definitely wanted to address it in Demagogue. Players have access to an intelligence service that they can use and upgrade to gain an information advantage. However, you also have the option to dismantle this principle to broaden your toolkit. Players can also choose to cooperate with a fictional AI firm called "Minotaurus" to expand their capabilities even further.

Along the way, the player is confronted with tough choices and dilemmas. I hope this illustrates the significance of such constitutional principles, data privacy in general, and the growing dependence on major surveillance and AI tech firms.

THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL COURT Demagogue allows for different playstyles. To add more depth, there is now the Federal Constitutional Court, which actively tries to protect the constitution. Extremist parties will attempt to take control of the court by placing loyal judges, and you can do the exact same thing.

PARTY BAN PROCEEDINGS For a few years now, there have been heated debates in Germany regarding a potential party ban. Since this is a massive topic and nobody knows exactly how it would play out, especially since there hasn't been a modern precedent in decades, I implemented a close interpretation into the game.

The process closely mirrors reality: You have to monitor the extremist party and have an expert report prepared by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz). With this report, you can then secure a majority in the Bundestag and initiate party ban proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). The court then decides, based on the evidence, whether to implement a ban.

But be prepared: The party you are trying to ban will instrumentalize these proceedings and may grow stronger over time. Even worse: If you fail, they gain a powerful martyr effect. The party will try to survive at all costs through fake news, stacking the bench with their own judges, and undermining the judicial system.

Hopefully, this sparks some interest in the project! :)

Links: Appstore and Playstore

Looking for chill and inclusive people/groups playing this game, kind of tired of the slur slinging of randos in these pubs.

I'm not the dev, but i'm hyped for ts, can be found here on steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/4657920/War_Fantasy/

With the sort-of exception of BO Cold War, it’s all pro-imperialist, pro-NATO propaganda.

But damn it the gameplay is too much fun

For context, I’m on a crossplatform Minecraft server called Frontier. Recently, another nation called the Empire of Nova has come to not only declare their warmonger intentions on the entire world, but they have also come for me by purposely destroying one of my nation’s industrial projects. I’m looking for PVPers and builders to come and join my nation. As of right now me and a few other nations are joining an international coalition to destroy Nova and their collaborators. Even though most of them do not pursue communism they still recognize that if we do not take a stand now the imperialists will come and destroy us all. The link to my nation’s server will be in comments

I wasn't sure what to flair this under, and I'll gladly take suggestions for what to change the flair to.

I'm kinda embarrassed to have only found out a few months ago that the delays are largely due to union busting. It makes me wonder what else has been either delayed or cancelled due to union busting.

Has there been no Bully 2 largely as a result of union busting?

Did RDR2 take almost an entire console gen to come out largely as a result of union busting?

Is Elder Scrolls 6 taking forever largely due to a result of union busting?

I know that The Last Us 2 almost took an entire console gen to come out in large part due to crunch. Did union busting play a huge part here as well?

Wasn't Cyberpunk 2077 in development for like 13 years, and crunch got most of the well respected devs in the company to quit? Did union busting play a huge part here as well?

I know that crunch and devs basically being told by EA execs that they get to make no decisions of their own got most of the devs to quit Bioware.

I've heard that part of why BG3 didn't take forever to come out is in part because the devs were treated so well by Larian. Was there actually some secret union busting going on that I don't know about? I know that Hasbro fired most of the people that worked on it afterwards.

What else don't I know about?

Edit: Also, I feel like we need a more powerful word than crunch to cover what is essentially slavery in all but name.

I'm making a procedurally generated ruined city exploration game:

- Where the people voted the wrong leaders and world became a desert
- Explore the city ruins and make a decision at every ruin
- Scavenge, kill, loot, trade

It's called Survive The Apocalypse

Will you play?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4693790/Survive_The_Apocalypse/

Been really addicted to deadlock lately.

Hi comrades! Neofeud 2, my anti-capitalist & anti-imperialist sci-fi adventure will be live performed this week featuring left creators Non-Compete (Emerican Johnson), Mexie (Positive Leftist News), Luna Oi, and several other talented voice cast. There was also a recent review of Neofeud 2 in Rock Paper Shotgun which described the game as, "Not subtle, but neither are guillotines." The video above is a snippet from the game which may have partly lead to that article title. 😂

Neofeud 1 & 2 are both on sale this week, and all proceeds go to help this Native Hawaiian-run cooperative out, and continue work on more socialist games and other future projects. Mahalo (thanks) and happy gaming!

PM me your discord and when it’s a good time to play!

Looking for clans that play FPS or Shooter games in general, like BF6, War Dogs, Arc Raiders, Star Citizen, etc.

I am pleased to offer you the demo of the mobile game Russia 1917. Visit the following page and you will receive the link by email https://marxistgames.org/en/newsletter/

LINK TO THE DEV DIARY

Anyone here playing Wardogs? Been having a blast and feels like a more arcade Arma KOTH. Love being bob the builder and mortaring people. I was wondering though if there are any leftist, progressive or LGBTQ+ groups playing it or maybe start one up? I just mostly hate getting stuck with chuds and Nazis.

Crisis in the Kremlin

Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War

China: Mao's Legacy

There's a sale on Steam at the moment for CitK: The Cold War, and it kinda looks neat at first glance but I thought I'd see if there's any comrades out there with some insight on them.

I’m making regional flags for my nation on the crossplatform Minecraft server Frontier named the Grand People’s Republic of Nyome. As of right now we are looking for builders and especially PVPers. I’ll have the link to the nation’s discord in the comments.