Dark Helmet 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: RFK Jr. Blames Malnutrition For Measles Outbreak’s Severe Illnesses And Deaths

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2025 @ 09:02am

    As usual the Onion killed it on this. Headline: Vaccine Critic RFK Jr. Backs Measles Vaccine Amid Deadly Outbreak Reaction from a "reader" “I’m glad my kids aren’t alive to hear this.” Anders Bechtol, Croquet Commentato

  • On the post: Dear Democrats: It Would Be Nice If You Could Lead, And Not Off A Cliff

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2025 @ 02:21pm

    One would hope it's not a plan

    Trump is pushing the constraining boundries out further than they've ever been. He's amassing more and more power to the Executive Branch. One would hope that the relative silence on all of this from Democrats is not a product of one simple truth: assuming we remain a democracy, the GOP will not be in power forever. I very much hope that the Dems aren't greedily biding their time....

  • On the post: Make It A Trend Part 1: Valve Releases ‘Team Fortress 2’ Source Code

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2025 @ 06:02am

    You may have seen in the headline that this was a "Part 1" :)

  • On the post: Trump White House Announces That It Will Decide Who Gets To Cover The Administration

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2025 @ 04:43pm

    And you're starting to see serious regret from some of them in interviews. Not all, or even enough, certainly. But some of them. There will be more. Love the profile name and pic, btw ;)

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 01:24pm

    Point out the error.

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 10:51am

    "then I have no idea what the word niche means." Outstanding, allow me to help. While the word has multiple definitions, this is the manner in which I used it: "a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. "he believes he has found a niche in the market"" Nintendo has carved out a customer base for itself, quite successfully in fact, that is a non-majority percentage and one which also seeks something different from what Sony and Microsoft were producing with their consoles. This manifests in many, many ways, but here are what I think are the two best examples:

    1. Prioritizing Nintendo's great first-party franchises over 3rd party AAA games
    2. Prioritizing slick, often inventive experiences with the hardware rather than power and graphical visuals
    Both of those are so self-evidently the reality of Nintendo consoles vs. the others that if you disagree with THAT, then this conversation is over because you're not dealing in reality. Put another way, Nintendo was never at war with Sony or Microsoft. They were busy gobbling up different customers/territory than the other two. Hence, they're a regional, niche player outside of the console wars (this was the entire point of the literally two sentences in which I mentioned them in the post). By contrast, Nintendo ABSOLUTELY was in a console war with Sega in the 16 bit days and for a while after that. And it WON that war with the final, culminating battle being the relative flop that was the DreamCast compared with the GameCube, released a few years later, which outsold the Sega by more than a factor of two. Are we now clear, or are you going to find a different, admittedly creative, reason to be upset?

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 09:09am

    That isn't an argument that I made, so I'm not sure who this is directed at. Nintendo is a niche/regional player. They have their area of the gaming industry carved out. This says nothing of its sales or popularity. The sales stats I replied with were done for ONLY ONE REASON: as a reply to a comment that stated Nintendo beat Sony in sales "year after year". That isn't true and I demonstrated it isn't true. Niche does not have the negative connotation you seem to think it has. Nor does the "regional power" analogy I made in the post, which was really meant as a nod to the framing of all of this as a "console war". Yeesh, you Nintendo fanboys sure know how to find new and creative ways to get mad....

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 09:06am

    Jesus Christ, thank you. The misunderstanding of language in some of these comments is, to borrow a phrase, baffling.

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 06:22am

    "Anyone who owns a Switch will definitely not agree it’s niche." Hi. I own a Switch....

  • On the post: Xbox Boss Surrenders In The Great Console Wars

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2025 @ 06:17am

    Yeah, that's not correct. There have been years where Nintendo has outpaced the other two, particularly when their console is relatively new. But it sure isn't year after year. The last two years, for example, Sony sold more PS5s than Nintendo sold Switches. In 2024, actually, Sony had just shy of 50% of the TOTAL MARKET SHARE for consoles. https://www.vgchartz.com/article/462176/ps5-vs-xbox-series-xs-vs-switch-2024-worldwide-sales-comparison-charts-through-july/ And that's in the era of the Switch, which is arguably Nintendo's MOST successful console. Remember the Wii U? Now, I rightfully give Nintendo a great deal of shit for their IP bullying and protectionist nonsense, not to mention their anti-customer behavior. But the company also has carved out a very nice place for itself in the industry with slick, if not particularly powerful, hardware, great first party games, and a willingness to experiment (such as with motion controls). But pretending they aren't more of a niche player, particularly in North America, doesn't make a great deal of sense to me.

  • On the post: Mexico Threatens To Sue Google Over ‘Gulf Of America’ Change

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2025 @ 09:20am

    Mexico invaded California?!?!?! TRUMP WAS RIGHT!!!!

  • On the post: Musk Decries Hitler’s Censorship, Right Before Threatening To Jail Critics

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2025 @ 01:33pm

    I've spent five minutes now trying to decide if I should be giving this comment an "insightful" badge or a "funny" badge...

  • On the post: The Real ‘Gulf Of America’ Is Between The News Outlets That Cover This Administration

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2025 @ 05:37pm

    I am so disappointed in myself for not thinking of this myself....

  • On the post: First Cracks Appear: Some Conservatives Admit We’re In A Constitutional Crisis

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2025 @ 12:48pm

    You're being very silly about this, but if you're going to be silly, be silly all the way. "Of course, it doesn’t matter whether the agency was started by an Executive Order. It absolutely does." Actually, JFK's EO didn't create much of anything. Instead, it consolidated a bunch of aid organizations into one, as required by the Foreign Assistance Act of '61. So your line shouldn't be, "That which is created by EO can be elimintated by EO." It should be "That that can be consolidated by EO can be broken back apart by EO." If you want to argue that there should be no parent agency in charge of dispensing economic aid, then first you have to go repeal the law, then splinter (not elminate) USAID. But that isn't what they're doing, nor that which you're cheerleading.

  • On the post: Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2025 @ 01:52pm

    Um...

    Yes. Yes he is. Explicitly so. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/03/doge-elon-musk-special-employee-federal-government/78185365007/

  • On the post: Will The ‘Right To Repair’ Movement Survive Trumpism 2.0?

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2024 @ 02:10pm

    Well....

    Will any of us?

  • On the post: Fractured Streaming So Bad Injured NFL Players Turn To Illicit Streams To Watch Their Own Teams

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 25 Oct, 2024 @ 06:05am

    Heh, while we don't fully silo subject matters quite like you might think, I will say I've been on the sports streaming "beat" for roughly a decade here at Techdirt :)

  • On the post: Intuit Asks The Verge To Delete Part Of Interview With Its CEO; The Verge Declined

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2024 @ 08:35am

    Keep firing, assholes!

  • On the post: Want Access To Every NFL Game? It’ll Cost You, Thanks To Fractured Streaming Deals

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2024 @ 06:40am

    As I understand it, FNB games are still included in MLB.tv's subscription, perhaps except when it's your in market team. If I'm wrong and that number should be included, so be it, but it doesn't really move the needle on the main thrust of the post.

  • On the post: Another Report Undercuts The Constant Narrative That US Crime Rates Are Out Of Control

    Dark Helmet ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2024 @ 12:36pm

    Don't forget Hell-, erm, I mean Chicago....

    My home city is every GOPers favorite pinata to whack at. All despite the fact that the current homicide rate in Chicago is 2/3 of what it was in 1992 when -- checks notes -- Republican George H. W. Bush was in office and is 20% less than in 2020 when -- checks notes -- noted non-Democrat Donald Trump was in office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Chicago

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