calliope

I hesitate to use the term “friendslop” but

I honestly laughed out loud when I saw this was the first sentence. The title pretty much defines friendslop: “co-op … game … looks like a good laugh”

Yale’s own article about the study:

https://news.yale.edu/2026/03/03/ais-hidden-bias-chatbots-can-influence-opinions-without-trying

Rock Paper Shotgun is somewhat misrepresenting Myrient’s original posting. As is to be expected, I guess, since Rock Paper Shotgun is using Kotaku as a source.

The reasons in the original posting were in order: Increasing traffic costs, download managers, then increasing hardware upgrade costs on top.

Here is what the original posting says, in order:

As traffic continued to increase last year, the amount of funding from donations remained the same. I have been paying more than $6000 out of pocket every month in order to cover the difference which is not sustainable.

This is obviously the main issue! $6,000 out of pocket is clearly unsustainable.

The rest pales in comparison:

Paywalled download managers: In the past several months, many specialized download managers were created that completely bypassed the site, donation messages, and download protections. Some of these download managers locked certain features behind a paywall that required users to pay in order to gain access. The use of Myrient for commercial, for-profit purposes has always been strictly forbidden. Such egregious and abusive usage of the site cannot be tolerated anymore.

Then it talks about hardware prices.

Rising RAM, SSD, and HDD prices: Since last September, RAM, SSD, and HDD prices have surged dramatically and continue to rise due to the ongoing extreme demand for AI datacenters. This has caused Myrient’s hosting expenses to go up as well.

“As well.”

With a large number of servers and the aforementioned existing monthly deficit in excess of $6000 out of pocket, there is no way to pay for the increased hosting and hardware upgrade costs.

I added emphasis. Note that it says “aforementioned existing monthly deficit,” $6000 a month. Hardware upgrades are in addition to the massive traffic costs. Not the main cost.

Kotaku turned that into “AI-Fueled RAM Crisis Forces Retro Game Preservation Site To Permanently Close.” And Rock Paper Shotgun fell for it.

a new Race Day expansion will arrive on March 10th giving you options to transform streets into courses for motor racing, running, and cycling events. On top of that more paid and free content is coming with the Iconic Brutalism and Renewed History content creator packs, a new radio station called 8 Gear Radio, and a free patch adding roadside fences and a new Employment Info View that allows for a closer look at a city’s workforce.

I’m totally in on building a race track! I also really love brutalism, so both of these sound great

That’s because “Paramount” in the title translates to “the Ellisons.” I feel like they could have just spelled that out in the title.

The article later says

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and his dad Larry Ellison - who is funding the acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery out of his personal fortune

Myrient is a popular video game preservation service that has over 390 terabytes of classics

Increasingly popular, according to the owner, which was part of the problem. Myrient was costing them $6,000 a month to run after donations.

Which is why people don’t start these things out of pocket. At best it’s questionably legal to distribute ROMs… but it’s really expensive to pay for the traffic.

They blame rising component prices as well, but the main issue was traffic costs.

Ooh sparkling archive actually sounds really fancy, I’ll start using that

Yes!! I came here to recommend Xenoblade Chronicles X. It’s the most MMO feeling game I’ve ever played that wasn’t an MMO.

I was somewhat interested before, but I have zero interest in supporting anything Ethan Klein has been involved in. Yuck.

Sadly, we do have evidence that there has been a coordinated campaign to purposefully and maliciously damage Build A Rocket Boy’s reputation and undermine confidence in MindsEye," a spokesperson for the studio told GamesIndustry. “We are working with our legal team and taking steps to address this.”

Maybe your game just sucks?

It’s so sad when people can’t admit they’ve failed.

created by the piss-swigging misanthropes behind Battle Brothers

I’m sorry, you’re saying the developers themselves guzzle urine? Seems a little harsh.

This was literally the guy who started his entire political career in earnest by calling in to Fox News and talking about how Obama wasn’t “American” because he’s black. Trump found his political fame because he advocated the “birther” conspiracy.

It’s honestly crazy that anyone could be surprised. He’s been up front about his racism for fifteen years now.