“AI is rizzing them up in a very unhealthy way at the moment.”

Archived version: https://archive.is/KMtnz

Jonathan Joss, 'King of the Hill' actor, dies in a shooting at 59

There’s no such thing as an “alpha male.” It’s a false myth with no bases in biology or science. That fact, however, hasn’t stopped the pseudoscience behind a natural dominance hierarchy among men from spreading like a virus through our media culture.

When we feel politically helpless, we turn to 'subversive' entertainment. But winning within the realm of pop culture is a poor substitute for political power.

Archived version: https://archive.is/IuhnQ

A PBS-affiliated television station in New York has scrubbed its archives of at least three educational programs concerning transgender identities and drag expression. This comes during a time when President Donald Trump is targeting news stations — particularly PBS, NPR, and ABC News — for their allegedly biased criticism of him.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/22889416

How to Fire J.K. Rowling: a guide to ethical engagement with Harry Potter

Personal note: This is not really news for anyone who is familiar with the TERF Supreme, but if anyone needs a concise write-up of her rampant bigotry, here is one.

Against the backdrop of Trump’s anti-DEI agenda, Hollywood is seeing a resurgence in anti-woke conservative programming. Producers say reactionary politics will hurt an industry already in crisis.

Archived version without paywall: https://archive.is/cmc9D

The Buffalo shooter says he was radicalized by memes.

An exciting moment in queer theatre.

Mark Brown, who posts game explainers to his Game Maker’s Toolkit channel, says his persona has been plagiarized.

Archived version without paywall: https://archive.is/Zn3PQ

South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has identified a sweeping number of unfair contract terms used by major webtoon and web novel content providers, including clauses allowing for the unauthorized production and use of derivative works such as films and dramas without proper consent from creators.

A segment in a documentary about the cartoonist Art Spiegelman was edited two weeks before it was set to air on public television stations across the country.

Archived version, without paywall: https://archive.is/FQsBM

Skin Deep by Blendo Games is one of the best games I've played in years. It's genuinely the closest I think a game has come to capturing Hitman World of Assassination's chaotic magic, and that's already one of my favourite games of all time. Truly a marvel.

Thanks to the current state of the games industry and the resulting challenges stacked against indie games like Skin Deep - from development and production through to release and coverage - as well as the continued dominance of AAA megahits like Grand Theft Auto and the upcoming release of the Switch 2 (with all the associated talk of the cost of games rising to $80), I'm willing to bet you probably won't play it. In this combined game review and industry analysis, let's talk about why you absolutely should check out Skin Deep - the best game you probably won't play.

An alternate title for this video might be The REAL Problem With Modern Gaming.

An Instagram post by Alex Graham has stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy by suggesting that comics by marginalized groups are overrated

For context: The popular game GeoGuessr may look like it is build upon Google Maps/Streetview, but in the background it is fueled by an active community of players who handpick interesting locations to "guess", in order to keep the game interesting and fun.

Today the community published this note:

We, the creators of a considerable share of GeoGuessr’s most popular maps, have decided to make our maps unplayable in protest of GeoGuessr AB’s decision to host a World Championship wildcard tourney at the Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh.

The EWC is a sportswashing tool used by the government of Saudi Arabia to distract from and conceal its horrific human rights record.

Groups targeted by the government include women, LGBTQ people, apostates and atheists, political dissenters, migrant workers in the Kafala system, religious minorities, and many others. The subjugation of these groups is extensive and pervasive. Members of these groups are routinely subjected to discrimination, imprisonment, torture, and even public executions. These severe human rights violations are well-documented and indisputable.

By participating in the EWC, GeoGuessr is contributing to that sportswashing agenda, which is designed to take attention away from Saudi Arabia's human rights violations.

The GeoGuessr community is diverse and includes many members of groups that would be harshly persecuted were they to live in Saudi Arabia. In solidarity with those currently residing in Saudi Arabia while being subject to oppression, as well as members of the community who would feel and be unsafe attending the tournament in Riyadh, we have decided to black out our maps by replacing all their previous locations with random garbage locations, rendering them unplayable.

This blackout includes dozens of creators and their maps, including a supermajority of the most popular competitively relevant world maps. It will continue until we see action from GeoGuessr; specifically, we demand that GeoGuessr cancels its wildcard event in Saudi Arabia and commits to not hosting any events there as long as it continues its oppressive regime.

You don't play games with human rights.

Thank you for reading.

The GeoGuessr mapping community

Original post on Reddit

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29960817

SAG-AFTRA claims Epic didn’t negotiate video game AI voice replacement terms.

...and oh boy, we likely had a racist dogwhistle hiding in plain sight, masquerading as the most possible pseudointellectual media critique, for over a decade.

Deadline speaks to Hollywood’s fiercest advocates against Trump’s DEI rollbacks — Roger Ross Williams, Ashley Eakin and Asha Chai-Chang.

Archived version: https://archive.is/x5Dpi

Bungie, the studio behind the Halo series that is now owned by Sony, said it is investigating concerns over the “unauthorized use” of the artist’s work.

Archived version without paywall: https://archive.is/cdKUn

The house style of the New York Times is severely outdated. Depending on the topic, the newspaper’s purportedly impartial tone instead reads as smug, self-amused, and deeply lazy. The results are disastrous when applied to a recent article which sincerely considers the idea that Rachel Griffin-Accurso, the popular children’s entertainer known as Ms. Rachel, might […]

Archived version without paywall: https://archive.is/yE3mF

SUPERHOT VR released in 2017. Then in 2021 the game’s entire story was removed.

Large language models are reflections of the people who program them.

Archived version: https://archive.is/U2Wv2

Over 20 years, AbleGamers has become synonymous with the accessibility movement as its presence and influence grew across the industry. However, new reports from former employees and members of the accessibility community describe abuse, financial mismanagement from leadership, and a board that failed to protect its employees.