i also can’t imagine microsoft are raring to ship a version of windows with limited application compatibility for the sake of security/support after trying and failing to do that since like 2011
conceptually expanding what runs on an “xbox” (windows) is an easier sell
precisely
I would argue the Deck works precisely because it isn’t a retail product
you cannot go into a store and buy a Deck
you can walk into a Best Buy and buy a ROG Ally
you (I mean, some of you) can walk into a Microcenter and buy a Legion Go
for some reason, if you decided to hurt yourself, you can buy an MSI Claw from actual web storeftonts
the Deck is a niche product that is abashedly front-facing Linux and expectations are as such. meanwhile every other handheld is beholden to Windows and Windows is still somehow not super usable without a keyboard and mouse and the fact that every manufacturer needs their own bespoke launcher to smooth over the experience speaks volumes
that’s actually super clarifying and not a point I had considered
What do you mean it’s complicated?
There are dozens of game launchers out there. MS has made at least a handful of failed app stores. Have a version of windows that launches directly into the launcher and gatekeep the windows mode for “pro” users. This is literally how I use my ROG Ally stock launcher and everything.
I would fuck with a Microsoft Bob themed app launcher now
I guess I didn’t earn a real answer? Cool
What makes something like the Drakengard OST so compelling to some people including me ? Why do I just put on earbuds to evil nervous repetitive dissonant music at work and hope no one asks me what I’m listening to. I don’t have the music literacy to explain it
Classical music is good and chopping & screwing it into patchwork remixes is a genius idea that, frankly, it’s incredible no one else has really hit on
Is anyone else paying attention to the dodge roll action rpg from the ori guys? It has a terrible name but otherwise looks fun
I think it looks pretty cool, yeah. Based on my current backlog I might play some of it on my death bed
Do you have a specific track you could give as an example? I can probably give a technical explanation of like, what it’s “doing” in some sense, at the very least. It won’t necessarily explain why you like it (only you can say that on some level) but it might clarify something at least.
Not a musician but
Drakengard’s OST for me plays on the tension of grand sounding classical samples, often with lots of reverb (making you feel alone, empty, helpless) which are then subject to a more ‘digital’ aesthetic that counterpoints it through harsh loops that have an audible cut or manipulation. The music also loops a lot longer than most tracks ‘feel they should’, to an extreme degree and in the same vein a lot of minimalism or phase music does. This, sustained over long periods gives it an unresolved tension but with the flavour of classical music. So it sounds familiar but uncanny and technically sustained to a high emotional peak.
Instead of sounding purely minimalist/phase experiments with sound a la Reich:
It’s more ‘conventionally’ musical or at least has that flavour to me because of the identifiable instruments.
I think it merges the two around the time the game takes the dark turn so an orchestra sounds like a theremin sounds like a voice from beyond
It’s fucking good shit and I also listen to it at work
did we ever figure out if videogames were art or not
Reminds me a bit of Demento’s musical style.
they are art, but unfortunately they are bad art 
here’s a thought i have a lot: i’m not sure if labeling things “art” is actually particularly useful in the first place, to me, anyway. i come back to this line of thinking repeatedly, somehow. i don’t necessarily mind using the word when i’m communicating with people, but i often wonder exactly what i’m communicating when using it.
as a related line of thinking that’s more comfortable to my nature, i tend to think the word “music” has some function beyond the word “sound” or “noise”. explaining exactly what the difference is much more difficult than accepting that there may be a difference, though, in my estimation.
at any rate; do i need to proceed past calling it music and deem it art? if so, why?
i often feel like there isn’t ultimately any additional information or insight when going from music → art in terms of language. or perhaps even negative value somehow, like something about the thing itself is lost or buried under increasingly-less-useful distinctions.
of course, you might naturally connote music as a form of art. might intuit that music inherently differs from sound in its art-ness.
i guess i want to know - in a universal sense, not directed at anyone - is: what is “art” w/r/t aural media if not “music i like” - or even “sounds i like”
to get back to videogames. is “art” something other than “a videogame i like”, or even “a videogame we like” in this context? if so, what is it?
