Last week, Roku launched Howdy, its ad-free streaming service for $2.99 a month. That’s not a sale price, that’s just the flat monthly fee. Honestly, browsing through their catalog, it doesn’t look like a bad pickup at all.
Streaming fees are getting ridiculous these days, though I’m not sure they’ve quite caught up to cable yet. Feels like everyone is stuck between:
“I don’t want to pay THAT much” for stand-alone streaming packages, and
“Why should I pay that much for shit I don’t watch?” for cable.
Personally, I play the Black Friday long game, cycling out of my year-long “locked-in” low pricing when the November sales hit. That keeps me at Hulu/Disney/Starz for $3.23 a month and six-month stretches of Max for under $5/month. Oh, and a year of Peacock for a cool $20.
Lately, though, I’ve been spending more time in the free TV/movie apps on the smart TV — stuff like Freevee, Tubi, Pluto TV, and the rest.
So what about you? What’s in your watch rotation right now?
Gamers
Okay, I have actually never even heard of Ludocene, so let’s tag Kotaku in for the breakdown.
- Kotaku
So, yanno, if you’re determined to fill your backlog and browsing isn’t filling your cart, maybe check this out?
Meanwhile:
VEIN added another content patch. I really do enjoy this game, despite the remarkable number of bugs. Dee and I will have to hop back in!
Speaking of demos, Ember’s Verge received an update that remedied some bugs and other issues.
Those impatiently waiting (since March!) will be happy to know that DeadPoly dropped a huge-ass content patch.
And welcome two new titles to the curator blurbs: Frostliner and Peregrino.
Well, Ugh
Companies keep leaping dick-first into AI, with IGN and the wider Ziff Davis cuts the latest in a pile of “efficiency” moves that are really just “let’s save cash and hire a bot” moves. (Let's hear it for the unions, though, because it could have been worse.)
I’m not sold on AI as the eternal solution either. My chats with various versions still end in errors, hallucinations, or me hearing some very incorrect shit. (Not “cook pasta with gasoline” bad, but still.) This is why it’s more important than ever to support actual, human-written journalism — not just with money (only if you can swing it) but with shares, likes, comments, and other engagement that helps keep it alive.
That means places like:
Aftermath – Subscription-funded, run by ex-Waypoint staff, still doing investigative work instead of churning SEO garbage.
The Guardian – Overall, but also Tech / Games. Their tech desk has done actual investigative work on AI, data ethics, and corporate overreach.
Wonkette – For the political/media-criticism overlap when corporate consolidation starts gutting the press. (Also a lot of dick jokes!)
And hell, I’ll even throw Hashtag Survival’s hat into the ring. While we love our Patreon and Ko-fi supporters (hello there!), we also deeply appreciate every share, like, and comment. Creators and devs that share Hashtag’s work with your audience? BIG HUGS.
Support the real people that give a fuck, because no one’s going to wax nostalgic about the golden age of AI-generated “Top 10 Open-World Survival Games You’ve Never Heard Of” listicles.
Dev Stack
Coffee & Code
Procedural World Generator is a set of tools to help you quickly create AAA environments. New on Fab from ScansLibrary.
Lighting Without the Giveaway – A UE5 Tip for Reflective Materials
A small video clip detailing the change from ALS (Advanced Locomotion System) to Motion Matching.
Boost the performance of your game with help from the Project Auditor in Unity 6.1.
Karim Abou Shousha, a Senior Lighting Artist from Ubisoft, posts excellent guides on YouTube!
Hashtag
My Safeword is Cube
My sister Dee and I have played survival games together for years, and somehow, we’ve never built a home that wasn’t a boring cube. Functional? Yes. Pretty? Probably not.
(I mean, we like them, but they aren’t going to win any awards.)
I could waste brainpower on cozy nooks and flying buttresses (right? that’s a thing?), but I’m saving my mental energy for more critical survival decisions.
Turns out, I’m not the only one with that logic — a former U.S. president agrees with me.
Have a Tab
Amsterdam is building tiny staircases to help cats exit its canals.
System Shock 2's Gross Doors Were Based on a Colonoscopy
If you fancy having a big cry, check out “Inside CD PROJEKT RED HQ: A Space To Create Revolutionary RPGs”
Not only did Anthropic study what makes an AI “evil” - they’re hiring for an ‘AI psychiatry’ team. ( Omg, plz let me join.)
Some (long overdue) features are coming for creators on Patreon.
Gamers
So… this is the developer of Retreat to Enen, which never really took off outside of a small bump when it hit consoles. By “spin-off world,” does he mean the same IP? Because honestly, it might be better to start fresh unless they’re ditching the whole “meditation” angle from the start with this new one. I’ll keep an eye out.
Before the new upcoming games feature drops, I’ve got a Patreon post asking for your input — go toss your picks in the ring. And hey, if you enjoy a good “I told you so,” don’t miss my piece on Lost Flight finally nosediving exactly the way I called it.
- Jordan
