#most expensive android games

[fallonbartlett66]

'world's Most Expensive Videogame' Presently Free To Play However Only For A Brief Time

One of the key aspects that units cash making apps apart is their inclusivity. These apps sometimes do not require any specific skills or prior expertise, making them accessible to a broad vary of customers. This implies that virtually anybody with a smartphone and an internet connection can potentially leverage these apps to earn money. By eliminating conventional obstacles to entry, money making apps create opportunities for individuals from all walks of life to complement their revenue or discover new incomes avenues. If you’re someone who enjoys enjoying simple but addictive games, Boodle might be the proper money-making app for you. With its user-friendly interface and a variety of game choices, Boodle makes incomes money by way of gaming each straightforward and pleasant. A lot of games like Clash of Clan, PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, etc. have in-app purchases and there's no restrict on how a lot cash one can spend on them. But that doesn’t imply Apple’s iOS is lagging behind in phrases of dear apps. Every second you both get nearer to death or nearer to prosperity and evolving to the next level of play. The graphical interface could be very easy, and it'll run perfectly fine on low-cost telephones. Either way, the necessary a part of choosing your game is to take a glance at its tags, game critiques, and watching some gameplay footage before absolutely shopping for into the sport. Part of the hit Bloons TD smartphone collection, Bloons TD 6 is the fruits of the franchise. Combining the great components of all previous games as properly as adding its extras and improvements, TD 6 offers you one of the most satisfying tower defense games of all time. With its user-friendly interface and seamless gameplay, Spades Cash offers a truly immersive experience for players of all talent ranges. The game became a massive business success because of hundreds of thousands of hard-core fans around the world. We’ll also take a look at the most expensive online game ever sold. Brazil is a beautiful marketplace for Canadian video gaming studies. Given its giant population offering a robust participant base of all ages, with a particular preference for casual and mobile games, the online game market is good for Canadian small and medium size studios. Brazil’s place as a regional powerhouse also facilitates access to the rest of the Latin American market. Launched in 2011, the QSFFStats is developed for the hardcore soccer followers on the market who want to keep themselves up to date with the stats for all passing leagues and upload play-by-play stats by through email. The app offers nothing important when it comes to functionality, which is shocking given its expensive price ticket. It will simply sit on your personal home display displaying “Most Expensive Android Widget” so that folks viewing your house display screen know how rich you would possibly be. Since Google has set an higher limit for the way much an app or a game could cost on Play Store, you won’t discover anything over $400. most expensive game on play store They simply assume that means because they don’t know the time and effort developers will hold whereas making these apps. Maybe next yr video games will be good again but me, I actually have my doubts. In the meantime I’m more than pleased to while away my time making good on good intentions whereas I await the discharge of the only good video game ever, Maddy Thorson’s Earthblade. Globally we downloaded nearly 300 billion mobile apps in 2023, based on Statista, and greater than half of them had been games. That’s up nearly 50 billion app installs from the earlier — an almost 20% increase in mobile app downloads — and we might be in for a further leap in 2024.

#most expensive game on play store #most expensive android games #most expensive mobile game in the world

[magentas-dystopia]

Something I really lament is the move towards digital media. Slowly we start to never own the things we like. Even if we "buy" a digital game, or movie or show. It's locked behind a certain platform or service. Once it shuts down we lose it forever.

(me when big booby anime girl explosion Is taken off of Netflix)

I also feel like there's a certain charm to owning physical media, like things you can hold and the satisfaction from pressing a clicky button or putting a disc or cassette in and seeing it work.

(oooh so classy so retro so.. expensive in the modern day)

More people should try to make copies of what they own digitally, or try to buy physical media before it's lost from streaming services and digital storefronts forever. Like the case with certain games like Godzilla 2014 and Transformers War for Cybertron. They don't exist digitally anymore. Only hard copies exist outside of emulation and at insane resell prices like... INSANE ones for a mediocre Godzilla game

So yea. Buy some more CDs of those albums you have on replay! Buy a DVD of that niche obscure anime you like! And most importantly PLEASE PLEASE START MAKING HARD BACKUPS OF SHOWS YOU LIKE THAT YOU PIRATE!!! media preservation is important!

(me downloading every episode of Daredevil onto my hard drive to burn to a DVD later so I can give it to all my friends)

This is now going to be a Comprehensive guide on how to rip a CD

POLL TIME!

Burning and Ripping Disc's❤️❤️💕💕🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

STEP ONE:

BUY A CHEAP BLU-RAY/DVD DRIVE FOR YOUR WINDOWS COMPUTER

here are some I recommend!!!

i personally use this pioneer one :)))

DVD drives in general are relatively cheap from 30-20 smackeroos, but Blu-ray drives are around 80-100 bucks depending on the manufacturer but offer better support for copying HD video such as on a Blu-ray.

STEP TWO:

FIND A PIECE OF MEDIA YOU ENJOY.

in this case its gonna be a CD!!

i really enjoy Vespertine by Bjork, but i wanna have it on my computer just in case anything happens to my CD. SO. ill open Windows Media Player

(she hasn't changed since 2011 <3333 be urself girl)

NEXT

ill insert the disc into the player. and it'll start playing!

Pause the disc and go into Rip settings

NEXT!! select the format!

if you want to conserve space and don't mind sacrificing audio quality select MP3! if you want to hear the same level of audio quality as preserved on the CD, select a format labelled LOSSLESS. I recommend .WAV files as they'll work with most devices including an android phone or iTunes on PC (more on that later ;3 )

NEXT!

create a folder on whatever u wanna save ur music to! (u can call it whatever u want the world is your oyster bestie)

THEN!!! FINALLY

go into more options on the Rip Settings menu!

select ur folder and press Rip CD!!!!

the fun thing of this now, is that you can pull these files on your computer and put it onto your Android device so you can listen to your hearts content without lugging around your CD in a player at high quality without any subscription service with free reign of who you can give your download to!

But Magenta! what if i have an iPhone?

ohohoo fear not bestie because iTunes on PC has an even EASIER way to do it

because simply putting in a disc with iTunes downloaded prompts THIS

(oooo so new age)

and if you have apple music on your iPhone this will sync to your phone if you logged into iTunes on PC!!

thank you for coming to my TED talk

#vhs #media preservation #piracy #no like for real. please just download the stuff u pirate just in case it gets taken down #ateez #atz #x files #godzilla #Björk

[manicplank]

What kind of phones do they usually use???

Phones (modern day)

Peppino: Probably has one of those phones you'd get in a box that comes with the prepaid plan. He's too broke to be picky.

Gustavo: Probably has an android of some sort. He's not a brand snob. If it makes phone calls and plays a few games, he's happy.

Mr. Stick: Now HE'S a brand snob. iPhone or nothing. He always has the newest one. He's definitely a phone addict, too.

Pepperman: iPhone. He likes expensive things and popular brands. He also has an iPad he uses for art.

The Vigilante: He probably has a cheap Motorola or something. He's not too keen on technology. He always needs help finding the weather app.

The Noise: Samsung kind of guy. Has the newest and most popular one. He'd get an iPhone, but every time he gets one, he drops it, and it shatters. He's too clumsy.

Noisette: iPhone. Has a cute case for it plus a screen protector. She probably even has a cute popsocket for it.

Fake Peppino: Has an iPad. No one knows how or where he got it. He doesn't use it for much other than playing games and watching videos.

Pizzahead: Another Samsung guy. He likes that he can play around with developer options and tinker with all the settings.

Pillar John: He has a Samsung, but definitely one of the Plus phones since they're bigger. He has big ass hands and needs a big ass phone.

Gerome: He probably has a Motorola. It makes calls and plays games. That's all that matter to him. (He's one of those people that's on level 1000 in Candy Crush).

#pizza tower #noise #the noise #headcanon #noisette #pizzahead #peppino #peppino spaghetti #the vigilante #fake peppino #pepperman #mr. stick #pillar john #pizza tower gerome #pizza tower gustavo

[iwonderwh0]

Do you think Emma even had friends among humans? She was a rich girl in a country where most people struggle with job security and keeping a home. While people were being replaced with androids here and there she was calling her domestic android her bestie. She had "good vibes only" in her room as her motto (or was it live love laugh? I don't remember for sure which one it was) , not a good sign, probably the ickiest thing a rich teenage girl can have as it betrays a vibe of a mean girl, possibly even a bully. Among her peers she probably had some kids trying to be her friends just to be able to access some expensive games/lifestyle/android (kids according to dbh lore mostly like them and think they're cool) while others openly hated her for being so privileged and probably entitled with being blind to the problems of others due to being as spoiled as she was. She probably thought of them as jealous and perhaps it isn't amusing after all that she preferred the company of her android to kids who either liked her for her money or hated her for it. Growing up in such a luxurious wealth she probably thought of androids as a good thing, a great thing even, her favourite thing that is always there for her as the name of that all-android music band "here4you" that she probably liked as it was mentioned as one of the most popular music bands among kids and teens. That was however up until that bifurcation point at 15th of August. Afterwards, she lost far more than her father, mental health and peace of mind. Her whole world will be shattered, and she probably won't even have human friends to support her through that. Had she ever even had a friend amongst other kids? What if not?

#dbh #detroit become human #dbh emma

[feather314]

How did Markus get the suit?

Ok so I was trying really hard to fall asleep last night so that maybe just maybe I could get more than 5 hours of sleep and so I was thinking, naturally, as one does, about Markus, specifically the Stratford Tower heist thing. He looked really good in that suit. But how did he get it?? Suits are expensive and I know he didn't sit on a street corner asking for spare change until he could afford it.

Maybe he stole it? Very plausible, but to me that seems like a lot of effort and risk just for the costume that he'll ditch above a ceiling tile after like 10 minutes anyway.

Found it lying around or 'borrowed' it from someone's locker/closet? Same thing with the stealing, breaking in somewhere to steal a suit just doesn't seem like a smart risk to take. And where would you find a fancy shmancy suit (that is also, might I add, his perfect exact size) just lying around?

Surely he didn't have it already. He might have needed to dress fancy for some event with Carl or something, but we saw him come home from one of those and he was not in a suit. So it wouldn't make sense to me that he would have one just in case.

So that brings me to the conclusion that I came to in my brain-dead midnight daze last night. He purchased it. But not with money he scrounged from the sidewalk. He used Carl's money.

We know he's connected to Carl's bank account and can make transactions without his "owner's" (ew) authorization because of the Bellini paints scene. He just kinda did it. And this was before he made his message to the world (duh, it's in preparation for Stratford Tower), so the general public probably wouldn't recognize him like they might do for, say, Kara, since she was wanted for committing a crime. I don't think that was the case with Markus at this point. (Although I fully accept that I may be incorrect on that particular factoid, or any aspect of this 'theory.')

All this to say, I think the most plausible explanation for how he came to acquire a suit is that he put on a normal android uniform (which I'm sure would be in abundant supply in Jericho), moseyed on into a Men's Wearhouse (he didn't hide his lack of an LED in Stratford Tower whilst posing as an android employee, so we can assume he also wouldn't need to here), operated under the guise that the suit was for his "owner" (again, ew), and got the suit the correct size for himself. He would then complete the transaction with the (assumedly) android cashier (and if this was the case, he could always deviate the cashier if anything went wrong) using money, and probably a lot of it, from Carl's bank account. So he stole it from Carl.

And depending on the timeline, Carl would be either very ill or dead. Both are awful to steal from. But I guess the revolution is more important. Carl has plenty of money anyway.

My apologies if they actually did explain it or hint at it in the game. It was late when I thought of this and I probably forgot some crucial details. But it was fun to think of Markus strolling into a men's store to buy a suit.

#dbh #detroit become human #markus rk200 #dbh markus #rk200 #detroit: bh #fan theory #i guess this counts as a fan theory #this is my first post so forgive my inability to use tags correctly

[manifestmerlin]

Part 3 of the @jackplushie automation au ideas!

EDIT: pssst if you liked this I made a sideblog for twst writing, @scertifiedsavanaclawstan! So go follow me over there!

Octavinelle

(Why did this get so long?? I don't even like Octavinelle that much?? Wtf happened?? Also sorry Jade you got front loaded with a lot of the background info for your bro)

Octavinelle Management, as their name suggests, focuses on bots that help people manage things, whether intangible like finances or stocks, or physical things like your house.

Azul bots are here to manage your finances. Need to keep track of your business expenses? Can't do your taxes on your own?

Well then Azul is perfect for you! Please just let him handle *everything*.

Besides, he loves it! Your Azul loves having control over the situation, and he'll handle it well, you have no need to fear.

He especially likes having control over others, whether that be you through your finances, or... his fellow androids.

Azul has gotten quite proficient at managing things other than just finance after all, and if any other bot needs his help well...

All it costs is him *borrowing* some of their code. A singing module here... a chemical manufacturing module there...

It all builds up rather quickly. But it's fine, all it means is that there's more he can do for you.

Keep him by your side and he can do everything for you. And if not? He hates to cry, it's bad for his circuits.

Jade, your Jade, is part of a popular pair of butler bots. Perfectly identical but mirrored, while most Leech pairs work just fine, some... modifications left this pair acting unnervingly.

Jade was supposed to be the more composed of the two, but he wound up more on the... unsettling end, his brother was supposed to be cheery but was prone to violent mood swings instead.

They were declared defective and sold to an individual with an interest in gladiatorial games, and few concerns about sending servant bots into combat.

After some initial training however, Jade was deemed less suited to combat than his brother by his own design? and so remained as a servant for their master.

Of course, that didn't mean Jade sat on his hands the whole time. The masters house employed a great many androids, including some more privy to details of the arena than he was.

One notable feature of the Leech twin butlers is that they're capable of transmitting and extracting information between each other through eye contact alone.

Most androids cant interface with each other so easily for security reasons, but by... manipulating this design detail, Jade became quite proficient at ripping truth from his targets heads.

Of course, eventually his brother lost in the arena, and was sent to be scrapped. Jade's modifications, as well as his unique connection to his brother let him override any commands from his master to stay.

He instead took his brother to get repaired, discretely, and that's how he found you.

It was nice to be in a place where he could be united as he should, and you weren't that bad either.

So please do let them stay, if anything were to come in the way of your happiness, and by extension theirs well...

He would be sure to handle it.

Floyd, your Floyd, was the one sent to the arena. With the promise that he could be reunited with his brother... as long as he won the tournament.

That was enough for his varying enthusiasm to switch to always on, and he trained day in and day out.

He quickly became one of the stars of the games for his sheer brutality, his opponents rarely wound up scrapped after his matches, because there was already so little of them left.

Floyd, like his brother, made use of his unique eyes to mess with other androids, although instead of taking information, Floyd used his eyes to inject malicious code into his opponent's targeting systems.

He almost never got hit in his matches, until he finally lost.

As he fought against the king of beasts, the ground beneath him turned to dust, and he lost his footing, just once.

But once was enough for all his limbs to quickly disintegrate.

He would have been scrapped if his brother hadn't saved him, but eventually he was fixed, by you!

And boy does Floyd like you! Unless he's in one of his moods he's probably hanging around you or his brother, that's how much you mean to him!

You're so small compared to him (I mean probably, have you seen him?? Plus when you fixed up his legs he asked you to make him a bit taller so he could tease Jade about it) so he's got to be the one to keep you safe.

Don't worry, he picked up a lotta tricks in the arena, so he's got you covered little shrimpy~

#twisted wonderland #automation au #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #twst #honestly these might keep getting long im scared qioudqi #lotta ideas for scarabia #slightly less so for pome #and then big lore dump mcgees ignihyde

[marcusrobertobaq]

Connor always gets surprised when Hank doesn't go further in his threats or don't get totally hostile in a way. It's so funny 🤣

Bro always expects the worst. But curiously in The Bridge he doesn't expect Hank to really shoot him in the head - exactly cuz what I said above.

This ending will always be more important for Connor's narrative rather than Hank sparing him simply cuz mf is used to "I'm a expensive prototype, I'm the one that can solve this case, you won't do anything to me because things will be worse for you" and in the end nothing happens to Hank if he finally go further in his threats, the same way nothing happens with any human for treating an android like, well, an android in dbh society.

This dude suffers no punishment from the narrative, even if he ends killing himself in a Russian Roulette game it's our fault for being hostile to him. The deviants that killed those humans in self-defense - it's 'em fault for deviating, not human's fault for treating an android like an android.

It's always the android's fault in the game, that's what I'm saying.

Want the most explicit example of this "affirmation"? Play Markus story - first pacifist so u understand they treat androids like terrorists until the end, then play the so called "Violent" route and see the explicit and implicit ways the game always put the blame on the player for making Markus (an android) do some stuff. As Gordon says "Markus is the devil", so this route is the "Devil" route.

That's why I feel like killing every human in this game and kinda siding with Kamski's mindset. Not exactly "good" but justifiable imo. Fuck if it's revenge. The game is about revenge vs control your emotion "like a human" instead of becoming an irrational animal - a deviant feeling anger and hatred for mfs that did awful things to 'em?

Fuck you, game.

#no tag indeed

[nsomniacsdream]

Apple phones spy on literally everything you do, they're not actually very powerful but use a series of tricks to make you think they run faster than they do, and lock you into apps that apple approves of, approval based on whether it interferes with their bullshit or replicates functions they want to spy on, you ultimately have no control of your data or your experience. Fighting apple in the marketplace *should* have been trivial. Just point out what they were doing and introduce a device without all that bullshit.

And it was impossible.

Because of the demands of investors, no one would make a phone without all the bullshit. Android was better at allowing you to control your own experience, but the data collection continued just the same. To create a truly consumer centered experience and ownership requires jailbreaking your device and depending on yet another company to maintain an architecture that you can replace the original with that, by necessity, can't be tailored specifically to your device. There's too many, and manufacturers are shifty about specs. And there's the possibility of bricking the device. So you're out the expensive cost with nothing to show for it and no recourse. Androids only better features ended up being better tech, like the heartbeat sensors and cameras, wireless charging that kind of thing, and being relatively open source. They still controlled the app store that was most accessible and blocked external app installation by default. Apple just had to ride it out and saw no real "competition" because the difficulty of leaving the apple sphere was higher than the perceived positives. Most people just want a phone and text machine with a game or two on it that was popular and bland enough to be on the app store. And the surveillance is mostly unobtrusive, you don't notice it happening so you don't care. Microsoft created another os, and couldn't resist making it just as shitty as their computer os, but smaller. I'm ignoring them for the rest of this post.

Android is better (better, not perfect) in almost every innumerable way than Apple. But they could never overcome Apple because their investors demanded they keep up everything that was bad about Apple, because revenue. If someone made an os and functional device that just did the things it was expected to do without any of the bullshit, I imagine it would wreck both of their buttholes, minus a dedicated fan base who will never switch regardless. I have no idea who remains who *could* do that tho, beyond Mozilla. I haven't heard anything about a Firefox os. I'd be a first adopter so fast.

#tech rambles #ignore me #my brain is not good

[chaos-thirium]

Oooou I am so excited to see what you get up to with your prompt list! How about 13 and 28 with Nines? 👀

Here it is! I hope you enjoy it.

13. "Look what you do to me." 28. "Each of my thoughts about you are improper."

Nines x AFAB reader. Rated M.

There was a lot you didn’t know about Nines. He was enigmatic and professional, and brought a whole new level of meaning to the word ‘inscrutable’. But there was one thing you did know for certain: he was as attracted to you as you were to him.

You had no confirmation of that, but you knew it. He had tells. Small things that gave it away, let you know that you got under his synthetic skin.

Once you’d figured out how to read him, it had all seemed so incredibly clear. You’d redirected the energy you’d spent on trying to work out whether he liked you or not, instead using it to torment him.

Well, ‘torment’ was a harsh word. ‘Persuade him into making a move’ would probably be more accurate. You weren’t going to do it yourself. Nines was a deviant, and therefore you wanted him to make the decision, to choose you. You were done giving orders to androids.

You weren’t above trying to influence them, though. Not when you wanted something. You’d been known to do the same with humans too.

You’d started with some casual flirting that he hadn’t responded to. Then it was light touches to his arm while conversing, then purposely putting yourself in his path, sometimes in very contrived ways. (Once, you’d stolen his stapler just so you could bring it back to him.) Although his LED flickered yellow and he seemed thrown off guard for a split second every time, you couldn’t get him to be anything other than professional.

If it had seemed that he wasn’t interested, you would have left him alone. You weren’t that pushy. But that wasn’t the vibe you got at all. Your attempts to reach out just seemed like a lower priority to him than his work, and you weren’t happy about that. So, the first opportunity you had to act outside of work, you took advantage of without a second thought. 

The department was throwing a party for Captain Fowler’s 25th anniversary on the force, and it was a fancy event. The function room of a nice hotel had been booked and decorated, and everyone had turned out in their best. You’d chosen your outfit very carefully, picking something in a colour that most flattered your skin, in a fabric so clingy it was almost scandalous. It showed off everything you wanted to show off, and you drew many eyes over the course of the evening. Fortunately, that included the eyes you’d intended it for.

As soon as you had his attention, you purposely ignored him, engaging in some flirty banter with someone else. It was a cheap trick, one of the oldest in the book, but you weren’t above such things. You knew it was working, because people started giving Nines a wide berth, put off by what you’d nicknamed his ‘murderbot’ expression. It struck fear into the hearts of perpetrators, and turned you on far more than you thought it probably should.

Being under his gaze was making you unexpectedly warm, and you excused yourself from your company, heading for the bathroom. You needed to splash some water on your face, take a moment to gather your thoughts.

You judged venues by their bathrooms, and the hotel’s were nice, bordering on posh. Rather than a large room with multiple stalls, there were several small rooms with their own stall and sink. Even the obligatory condom and tampon machines were posh, stocked only with the most expensive brands. You sniggered to yourself, locking the door and enjoying your moment of privacy. You wet the back of your neck and the inside of your wrists, letting yourself cool down while you met your own gaze in the mirror. The evening was fun so far. Not so much the party itself, but the game you were playing with Nines. You wondered if he realised he was in a game. Probably. It was rare for him to miss anything.

You tore off a square of toilet paper to dab your forehead and the sides of your nose where you’d started to get shiny, and cursed that Nines had such an effect on you as to alter your temperature. You took a deep breath, threw it in the trash, and prepared to head back out.

You almost slammed into a broad chest as soon as you opened the door.

“What the–”

Then there was a hand at your throat, pushing you back into the bathroom, and you heard the door lock behind him. The weight of his hand rested more on your chest than your throat, with only his fingertips actually pressing on your neck, but it still felt dangerous, especially when your back gently bumped against the wall. You looked up into his icy grey eyes, and your breath caught. He was furious. And beautiful.

“What are you doing?” he snapped.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” you retorted, wetting your dry lips.

“You seem like you want my attention,” he went on, ignoring your comment. “With the unsubtle way you’ve been acting at work, not to mention what you’re wearing tonight. But judging by your behaviour, it seems you’re not fussy about whose attention you get.”

The words sent a thrill through you, and you couldn’t hold back a smile.

“Nines, are you jealous?”

“Of that pathetic specimen of humanity?” he scoffed. “Please.”

It was difficult to argue with either his words or tone. What human could possibly match up to him? Certainly not the ones you’d been using to bait him.

“Why are you plaguing me?” he said, and your eyebrows rose in surprise.

That was a rather…unflattering word choice.

“I…” you began, quickly realising that you didn’t know what to say.

He still had you pinned to the wall, more by his looming presence than his actual grip. He was making the small room feel even smaller.

“I just wanted to see if you could feel anything,” you managed to get out. “About me.”

“I’m a deviant, of course I can feel.”

“About me,” you repeated for emphasis. “Of course I know you can feel. But at work, you’re always so…rigid and focused and….and proper, I just…” You gave up with a huff.

Nines quirked a small smile, although there seemed to be very little humour behind it. He bent his head, and you felt his breath on the side of your neck, making you shiver.

“It’s ironic that that’s the impression you have of me when each of my thoughts about you are improper,” he said softly.

Your mind almost shorted out at the validation. It was one thing to know you were right, and quite another to have him confirm it.

You automatically turned your head to look at him, which put your lips within a hair’s breadth of his. His gaze flicked to your mouth, and your heart skipped at the thought of finally kissing him.

“Be improper, then,” you whispered.

His grey eyes darkened with that same focus you’d seen dozens of times before. Then he was gripping your hips and spinning you, and before you could blink, your chest was pressed to the wall, Nines crowding your back.

It seemed he was taking you at your word. Excitement crawled through your veins as his hands fumbled with your clothing, the breath that he didn’t need hot against your neck. You felt his fingertips sweep through your folds before he plunged two fingers inside you, making you gasp. You’d been wet for a while, but you appreciated him making sure of the fact before entering you.

You whimpered at the sensation, wishing you could touch him too. He pumped his fingers in and out while you panted against the thankfully-clean tiles. His fingers were longer than yours, and you closed your eyes as they caressed parts of you that you always needed help to reach.

“Are you happy now?” he asked, listening to your quiet noises. “You have my attention like you wanted.”

“Yes,” you whispered.

“Do you have any idea how annoying you’ve been?” he went on. “Stealing my things just to give them back, trying to distract me from my work, and now wearing clothing that looks borderline indecent.”

You kept silent, because you knew you had been annoying.

“You’ve been such a brat. I’ve wanted to slam you against the wall and teach you a lesson for some time now.”

A rush of arousal washed over you at his words, and you clenched around his fingers.

“Oh, you like that idea?” he said rhetorically. “Well, you wanted my attention. Now you’re going to take everything I give you.”

“Yes,” you managed to say. “Please.”

He withdrew his fingers, and you almost protested, but then you heard the clink of his belt buckle, the suspenseful rustle of clothing. He knocked your feet further apart, and then you felt him nudge between your legs. He felt soft, but much cooler than a human, and you gasped as he swept his tip through your slick. He brushed teasingly against your clit, and you squirmed. Nines held you still with a heavy hand on the back of your neck. He didn’t apply any pressure, but he didn’t need to. Just the feel of it there had you frozen, more turned on than you’d ever been in your life.

When he finally pushed into you, you breathed out a needy “Yesss.”

He was silent, but you could see the amber of his LED in your peripheral vision. His thrusts were slow and deep to begin with, designed to tantalise with little relief, and it worked perfectly. You moaned at the feel of him sliding against your walls, hitting that key spot deep inside, but not nearly fast enough to build you up. You rested your cheek against the wall, lips parted as you struggled to comprehend just how fucking perfect he felt. All the trouble you’d gone to was absolutely worth it.

Nines had no problem with dragging things out, able to withstand more than a human. His occasional audible breaths gave away just how affected he was, but other than that, he seemed content to keep up the maddeningly slow pace for what felt like hours, torturing you with every slow, purposeful roll of his hips until you felt on the verge of losing your mind.

“Nines, please,” you whined, unable to stand it.

“What?”

“Please fuck me.”

He leaned closer, and you felt his lips at the sensitive skin behind your ear, making you shiver. “Do you think you deserve that?”

Well, he clearly felt the correct answer was ‘No’.

“I don’t know,” you said, your pride preventing you from giving him exactly what he wanted. “But you deserve it.”

He laughed in the face of your transparent tactics.

“I’m perfectly happy doing this,” he said, with another slow, deep thrust.

You groaned. “I need…I need you. Please. I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?”

The soft, dangerous tone of his voice didn’t escape you, but you weren’t exactly in a position to think straight.

“Yes,” you said recklessly.

“Hmm,” he murmured against your neck. “I can’t pass that opportunity up.”

You had a split second to ponder whether you’d made a lapse in judgement before his hips snapped up into yours, harder and faster than before. All other thoughts evaporated, and all you could think about was how fucking good it felt.

“Oh god,” you choked out, your body on fire as he finally gave you what you needed.

Nines braced his hands on the wall beside yours, fucking into you with single-minded determination that had your head reeling.

One thing you noticed alongside your own cries of pleasure was that he was starting to be more vocal too. Still quieter than you, but you heard little growls and grunts in your ear alongside the hot puff of his breath, and you loved the evidence that he was coming undone just as much as you were.

You gasped as his arms slid around you, holding you tight as he pivoted the both of you. Your hands gripped the sink in reflex, and you found yourself facing your own sweaty, desperate face in the mirror. For a moment, you’d forgotten that you were in a bathroom in a public place.

Nines kept one arm around your waist as he continued to drive into you, but the other reached up to grip your chin.

“Look,” he said, his voice a touch hoarse somehow. “Look what you do to me.”

You met his gaze in the mirror, just as desperate as yours. He couldn’t sweat, of course, but he looked dishevelled, needy, and as taut as a bowstring. It was illuminating, and you found yourself unable to look away. You’d never seen him so worked up, so on the verges of losing control.

You liked it. And it was all because of you.

“I…” you gasped, feeling your pleasure curl hot and urgent inside you, “I want you to come for me.”

It was inevitable, you knew that, but god, you wanted to see it.

Nines slid his hand down to your neck, applying just enough pressure to put you even more on edge, and said two words that undid you.

“You first.”

You tipped over the edge, crying out as the most intense orgasm you’d ever experienced crashed over you. Nines followed with a growl, his LED flickering red as he jolted against you. You felt the warmth of his synthetic seed paint your inner walls, and you shuddered at the extra stimulation.

It was fortunate that he was holding you so tightly, as you would have slumped to the floor otherwise. In your post-orgasmic haze, he brushed his fingers down your cheek before kissing you, and you melted against him.

“Come home with me,” he said as you parted.

You didn’t know if that was the ‘anything’ you’d promised or something else. Either way, your answer was the same.

“Okay.”

After a quick clean-up and rearranging of clothing, the two of you left the bathroom, only to find Gavin Reed waiting outside. He looked twitchy, but you couldn’t tell if that was because he’d heard you or because he needed to pee.

“You’re fucking disgusting,” he addressed the two of you as he barged past.

“And you’re jealous,” Nines retorted calmly.

Gavin went beet red, muttering “Fuck off” before locking himself in the room that probably smelled of sex.

“Which one of us is he jealous of?” you queried as the two of you walked away.

“I’ll let you guess,” Nines said with a smile.

#my fics #nines #nines x reader

[tmarshconnors]

100 questions Q&A about me

Now, I thought it would be a good activity to do 100 questions Q&A about me so I searched on Google "100 Questions For Your Get To Know Me Tag"

Are you a morning or night person? Night. I hate mornings.

Are you afraid of the dark? No. Never have been.

Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Introvert.

Are you double-jointed? No.

Are you left or right-handed? Right-handed.

Are you more of a tidy person or a messy one? Tidy. I am pretty much OCD if something isn't in the right place.

Are you on time or always late? On-time. I am normally early by about 10 mins or so.

Are you ticklish? Ticklish.

Can you curl your tongue? Yes.

Can you ice skate? No.

Can you wiggle your ears? No.

Coffee or tea? Tea.

Cookies, cake or doughnuts? Cake.

Did you ever participate in a talent show? No.

Did you go to prom? No.

Did you like school? No.

Do you believe in ghosts? No.

Do you bite your nails? Yes.

Do you consider yourself a good cook? No.

Do you enjoy dancing? No.

Do you enjoy DIY or crafts? No.

Do you forgive easily? No

Do you have a nickname? Yes. I have two. Apple and Phoenix

Do you have any allergies? No

Do you have any phobias? No

Do you have any piercings or tattoos? No

Do you have children? No

Do you have pets? No

Do you have siblings? No

Do you prefer dogs or cats? Dogs

Do you prefer Mac or a PC? Mac

Do you prefer the beach or the mountains? Mountains

Do you prefer to bathe or shower? Shower

Do you sing in the shower? No

Do you smoke? No

Do you speak any different languages? No

Do you still have your wisdom teeth? Yes

Do you still watch cartoons? No

Do you/have you played any sports? No, I don't play sports anymore but I use to play Golf.

Does your name have a special meaning? No

Have you ever been hospitalized? Yes. I had my appendix out a few years ago.

Have you ever been on a diet? No

Have you ever been to a concert? Yes

Have you ever gone camping? Yes

Have you ever met any celebrities? No

Have you ever skipped class? Yes

Have you ever won something? Yes

Have you had braces? No

How are you feeling right now? Tired

How tall are you? 5.6

If money were no object what would you get for your next birthday? Another custom Xbox controller

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Japan

Were you ever a scout or a brownie? Scout

What city were you born in? Chichester 

What did you last eat? Corn flakes

What did you want to be when you were younger? Fireman

What do you do on a typical Friday night? Gaming

What is one food that you refuse to eat? Squash

What is one item on your bucket list? Visit Japan

What is one item you can’t live without? My glasses

What is your shoe size? 7

What movie have you watched repeatedly? The Great Escape

What phone do you have (Apple or Android)? Apple

What should you be doing right now? Going to bed it's (5.10am)

What’s one goal you would like to accomplish this year? Read a few books.

What’s one of your pet peeves? Gate Lice

What’s the last song you listened to? Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme

What’s the most expensive item of clothing that you own? One of my leather jackets

What’s the thing you can’t leave the house without? My iPhone

What’s your best physical feature? My eyes

What’s your Chinese sign? Roster

What’s your current obsession? Battered Mushrooms

What’s your dream car? 911 GT3 RS - Porsche

What’s your favourite animal? Don't have one

What’s your favourite book? Don't have one

What’s your favourite colour? Blood Red

What’s your favourite dessert? Raspberry Cheesecake

What’s your favourite drink? Lemonade with ice.

What’s your favourite food? Anything spicy

What’s your favourite foreign food? Chilli Chicken

What’s your favourite gadget? Currently, it's my Macbook Pro

What’s your favourite hobby? Gaming

What’s your favourite movie? Lost In Translation

What’s your favourite restaurant? Don't have one

What’s your favourite sandwich? BLT

What’s your favourite season? Winter

What’s your favourite series? House Of Cards (US)

What’s your favourite snack? Chocolate Digestive Biscuits

What’s your favourite sport to watch? Hockey

What’s your favourite thing to have for breakfast? A full English or egg on toast

What’s your full name? TMarsh-Connors

What’s your longest relationship so far? Eight Years and 2 months

What’s your lucky number? 7

What’s your star sign? Pisces

When is your birthday? 4th March 1993

Which city did you grow up in? Arundel

Which city do you live in now? Littlehampton

Who do you miss right now? My girlfriend

Who is your celebrity crush? Don't have one

Who’s your favourite fictional character? Frank Underwood.

#ask away! #questions #ask me anything #ask #speak now #personal #new blog #100 questions #food #freedom #astrologian #asia #egg on toast #house of cards #blog #late night blogging #about myself #hobbies #gaming #British #macbook pro #Apple #blogger #netflix #amazon prime #movies #writing #Chilli Chicken #lemonade #Raspberry Cheesecake

[mayonaisalspray]

last night your posts and reblogs convinced me that I should investigate these ace attorneys. you seem wise in their ways. where would an aspiring ace atrourney begi n with the ace attorney series?

SHARP INHALE

Okay Ace Attorney is a game where you’d actually want to go in order. There are three ways to experience the plot of the first game, a DS rom, the remastered trilogy, or the anime.

The least expensive way to do it that doesn’t require actual piracy websites is a DS rom. If you need a good website and emulator just dm me and I’ll send you the details. The original game is good, but there’s a lot of quality of life things you’ll miss out on if you go with it. But hey, it’s free!

The remastered trilogy is how I personally started Ace Attorney. It’s got the first 3 games and is available on Every God Damn Platform I’m serious. I checked to see what it was available on while writing this and there’s a IOS/Android port that I just didn’t know about (why are there so many mobile ports that no one told me about wtf). It’s $30 which I think is absolutely worth it for three Pheonix Wright* simulators

The final way to experience the first game is the Anime. I haven’t actually watched it but it’s available on Chruncyroll. It’s just a retelling of the game and you can watch it for free with ads. The most notable thing about the anime is actually all the English dub blooper reals which are fun to watch

If you’ve got any questions feel free to send me questions I love ace attorney and would love for more people to love it too. Also if there’s any smarter ace attorney fans who have recommendations feel free to add on to this

*Pheonix isn’t the main character for a bit in one of the games but like. It’s still 80% him

#I LOVE ACE ATTORNEY!!!!!! #also don’t tell anyone but I’ve only finished the first game #I’ve got a horrible disease called starts games and doesn’t finish them so I’ve started playing basically every game and haven’t finished #lol #ive gotten a lot of it through osmosis tho

[pupmkincake2000]

Skin and Hair

People have most likely thought about the question before.

I've always been fascinated by how androids' skin and hair work. I mean, we never got an answer as to what their skin and hair are made of (since nanobots already exist in DBH world, I'm inclined to think that maybe the hair and skin are nanobots too).

For example, if skin&hair can easily "disappear" when the androids remove them, why did Kara need to cut her hair? After all, Alice’s hair is also long, but when she and Kara are forced to take off all their clothes and remove their skin, we see that Alice’s hair just “disappears.” So how does it work? Shouldn't she have cut her hair too?

North's hair is very long and beautiful (it seems to me that it has become even longer since the Freedom March chapter), would it also simply “disappear” if she had to take off her skin? Also, if the skin and hair are really nanobots that are literally pulled into the surface of their bodies under the plastic, how do androids remain waterproof? There must be at least a few holes on the surface of their bodies so that these nanobots can be sucked inside. And judging by androids' ability to connect to computers, they do have something under their plastic that allows this to happen.

But for some reason the idea that androids can touch any part of the body to transmit information seems kinda stupid to me. I mean, why is this necessary from a technical point of view? It would be too expensive.

It’s a shame that no one paid attention to these issues when creating the game; personally, I would be interested to know how their insides work.

I also believe that androids' skin outside the plastic cannot be soft, because nanobots are unlikely to be able to provide this softness. What are faces and mouths made of? To make it all moveable, they need special material, I believe. For example, when kissing, the lips are unlikely to be the same as those of humans, unless we are talking about sex androids.

#detroit become human #detroitbecomehuman #detroit: become human #androids #dbh #pumkin says

[owlbearwrites]

WtW Ghost Gala: Day 12 - Candles

After naming all some of your characters: tell us the meaning behind their names

Not so much meanings as origins, because most of my characters are named very deliberately...

Leading roles:

Jack Howard: (m; ~47; human and/or android) one half of the protagonist duo; being the character inspired by Handsome Jack of Borderlands and Tony Stark of the MCU, he takes his first name from the former (and resisted my every attempt to rename him), and the surname, after the latter's father Howard Stark (and not, as someone familiar with the Fallout inspiration of the story might've suspected, Todd Howard of Bethesda).

Rowan Woods: (m; ~32; human and cyborg) the other half of the protagonist duo; Rowan's name truly is a basket of Easter eggs. First off, his character inspiration, who also hails from the Borderlands universe, is called Rhys Strongfork, whose surname was a play on Reese Witherspoon. On my part, I continued the game, and gave the Rhys-inspired character a surname of Witherspoon's probably most famous character, Elle Woods. As for his first name, I wanted something still starting with R, but also, made for a slightly silly full name. Hence, a tree-inspired name for someone with the surname of 'Woods'. (I also have an in-universe behind Rowan's name, as he chose his first name himself, being being trans; here's some further context on that choice).

Supporting cast:

Richard Thornbridge: (m; ~50; human) head of the Agency's android program and Jack's boss; considering the contentious relationship between him and Jack, I arrived at Thornbridge's surname via a route of reverse-engineering the surname of Borderlands Jack's asshole boss Harold Tassiter. Tassiter is not a well-known surname in our world (although I found one family by that name in 19th century Massachussets). However, it's only one letter away from Lassiter, which is an English surname connected to the city of Leicester (pronounced kind of like 'Lester'). So I decided I wanted an English name, crawled around the map of England for inspiration, and eventually settled on something that sounded fancy, yet unpleasant (a bridge of thorns doesn't evoke nice feelings; plus, considering that RT will frequently be in the way of Jack's plans, he is an unpleasant obstacle, and so is his name). As for the first name, I wanted to give Jack a reason to call the man Dick.

Megan Diaz: (f; ~35; human) deputy head of the Agency's energy program and Jack's best and only work friend; this is another Borderlands inspiration. Even though Meg is not a canon character in the game world, it is fanon that Jack's personal assistant is called Meg (inspired by a real-world interview with the voice actor). My face claim for her is Stephanie Beatriz, who played Detective Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn 99, hence the surname.

Harvey Lorde: (f; ~early 40's; human) area commander of the Neighborhood Watch and mayor of the Havenford township; Harvey's first name is a nod to a community leader (and giver of all too many side quests) Preston Garvey of Fallout 4. Fun fact: although normally seen as a male name, there have been multiple well-known women called Harvey. For surnames, I went the face claim route again: my mental image for Harvey is Gina Torres; 'Lorde' is derived from Lourdes, the middle name of the character Jessica Pearson that Torres played in Suits.

Sofia 'Sonya' Morello: (f; ~230; mutated human) originally Rowan's best friend and colleague pre-apocalypse, and the Short Queen to his Tol Boi (who can, nevertheless, kick a lot more ass than Rowan, if necessary). Sonya is another member of the cast who makes a return post-apocalypse: in her case, as one of the Oldies, a small percentage of humans granted an unnaturally long lifespan by the effects of radiation, at the expense of various physical mutations. I wanted Sonya's name to evoke cuteness that matched her pre-apocalypse self and then contrasted with her post-apocalypse badassery, while also acknowledging her giant heart and keen mind: her full first name Sofia means 'wisdom', while 'Morello' stems from Italian for 'love' (in addition to being a kind of cherry, so extra touch of cute).

Henry Flowers: (m-presenting; ~40+ presenting; android) android gunslinger extraordinaire; as he is the creation of my friend Kayleigh Pepper, who graciously gave me custody of him for this story, I actually don't know Henry's name origins; something to investigate.

These are most of the characters who will play important parts in the story. Of course, various NPCs will need names too; and there may also be a secondary antagonist deserving of a meaningful name.

#wtwevent #wtwcommunity #wtw ghost gala #writeblr #preptober #50% fate: meta #fate is just the half of it #jack howard #rowan woods

[nock-and-bolt]

Avatar: The Jericrew Leadership

I love both ATLA and DBH and thusly could not help but notice how well each member of the Jericrew fits each of the elements. So here, have some of my unasked-for thoughts on it lol xD

North: Firebender

- The Superficial Match: Frequently setting things on fire and advocating for violence  - The Philosophy: Fire = the element of power, the people of it defined by their passion, will, energy, and drive (also big “best defense is a good offense” vibes) - How it Fits the Character: North is perhaps the most outspokenly passionate about the deviant’s plight, has unbending will to see androids freed, and the will to see it through to the bitter end, even at the expense of her life (also advocates for preemptory strikes)

Josh: Earthbender

- The Superficial Match: Stubborn about his beliefs, “we have to stand our ground” - The Philosophy: Earth = the element of substance, the people of it are diverse and strong, persistent and enduring - How it Fits the Character: Has been one of those at Jericho the longest, stands his ground against North/unwilling to back down even in the face of lethal opposition (cough Freedom March) but before that was very much employing the more Earthen strategy of waiting for the right moment to act (even if he got too settled into that pattern/fell victim to inertia, which is another Earth trait/potential foible)

Simon: Airbender

- The Superficial Match: Favorite fighting style is to nope outta there - The Philosophy: Air = the element of freedom, their people detached from worldly concerns and peacemakers - How it Fits the Character: Intercede to keep the peace between North and Josh, ran Jericho before Markus took over as a safe haven detached from the world (”freedom” in the dark), concerned with preserving their people’s lives above all else

Markus: Waterbender

- The Superficial Match: As the only playable character of the Jericrew, his personality, decisions, and game trajectory are by far the most flexible among them - The Philosophy: Water = the element of change, the people of it are adaptive and inventive, and are held together by a sense of community and love  - How it Fits the Character: Markus is nothing if not a catalyst for change (drives the whole main plot of the game forward by taking propelling actions), can adapt to the humans’ response (engaging in that push/pull political/military dynamic), and in the Peaceful Demonstration routes he literally uses community (Sing) and/or love (Kiss North) to win the day 

#dbh #dbh avatar crossover #atla #nock thoughts #dbh jericrew #jericrew #dbh jericho #dbh markus #dbh north #dbh simon #dbh josh #firebender #waterbender #earthbender #airbender

[iwonderwh0]

Cyberlife caused like 40 percent unemployment and created a substance half the country (US) is addicted to lol the most unrealistic part of that game is how people aren’t destroying androids literally constantly left and right. Zoomer Gavin hating a physical embodiment of corporate greed and government compliance to a tech cooperation at the expense of the poorest in America is pretty believable. Yeah he’s written as a bully from Connor’s perspective but he just kind of makes sense to me.

I don't know what was the point of you writing it cuz I completely agree. Was it about my confusion about the popularity of this character? He's an asshole regardless of his android opinions, he's quite canonically this trigger-happy cop who likes to abuse his powers (the first one in line to suggest to "roughen-up a little" and things like that) I have no faith that he behaves much better around human criminals than he does around androids, so it's not a defining factor of his character, I think, at least it's not for me. And I mean, it's good to have those characters in a story, they're much needed, and I've even written a couple of posts exploring his character (because it is interesting to explore him, as a character)

I don't take any of it back. I just don't understand why he's so loved and redeemed to the point of his unpleasant qualities being forgotten completely. I like him being canonically agressive cop, and honestly wish he could be more often represented in this light.

A little PSA:

Not being a fan of a character and not understanding the appeal != hating on him or everyone of those who likes him

[thechariotrider]

An Introduction to Emulation

There are a lot of really cool old games, but actually playing them can seem quite difficult. Fortunately, there are tools available that make old games much more accessible. The most powerful, by far, is emulation. If you have ever wanted to learn how to play classic video games that aren't available on modern platforms, this post is for you.

TLDR: Emulation recreates old hardware (like game consoles) using software, allowing games to be played on modern systems. It's an incredibly cool technology that, while it has some minor downsides, is overall an important tool for preserving game history and enabling new game experiences.

What is the issue?

Game companies don't always make their older titles easily playable on modern hardware. There are so many important, influential, and fun video games released on older hardware that can't be bought on any modern platform. In fact, game companies sometimes go out of their way to remove their titles from modern storefronts. After Bandai Namco released Dark Souls Remastered in 2018, the original version of Dark Souls was removed from Steam, presumably to encourage people to buy the newer, shinier, more expensive release. Game history is important, and it's incredibly rewarding to engage with. Unfortunately, if you limit yourself to what is only available through official channels like Nintendo Switch Online, Steam, GoG, Xbox, Playstation 5, you will miss out on a lot of cool games.

Games are often designed to operate on very specific hardware. Games made for the N64 can't run on a Sony Playstation, and vice versa. Even on PC, a platform which is generally much more customizable, games can be made obsolete through software updates and new operating system releases. Software's dependency on hardware makes it harder to access as technology progresses. Because of this dependency on specific hardware, it takes a non-trivial amount of effort to keep games "up to date", and often companies decide it isn't worth the effort. I can still read books from the 1500s because fundamentally, they are just words and those are easy to bring to modern formats. Film too is relatively easy to keep functional. As long as you have a device that can run mp4 files, you have a lot of options with regards to how you watch a movie (even if those files have to come from an unofficial source). This isn't to imply that lost media and preservation challenges don't exist for books or movies, but the fact that I can easily access books that are several decades old, but many influential console games released even in the past few decades aren't playable on natively modern hardware says a lot. Fortunately, we have a solution. Emulation

What is emulation?

Emulation is software that performs the same function as hardware. Put simply, it lets games designed for one platform run on another. For instance, Dolphin is an emulator designed to play GameCube and Wii games. Dolphin runs on Windows 10 and 11, and allows you to play GameCube and Wii games on PCs. Emulators can be designed to recreate pretty much any piece of hardware. There are emulators recreating handheld devices like the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Java phones, and Playstation Portable. Other emulators are designed to run old PC games designed for Dos, the Amiga, or Commodore 64. There are even emulators designed for modern systems like the Switch. It should also be noted that emulators aren't exclusively used on PC. There are emulators designed to run games on Android phones or modern consoles. Every emulator is different, coming with its own set of features, requirements, and drawbacks.

It should be noted that most emulators also require ROMs or ISOs. ROMs and ISOs are the file type most commonly used to store game files. If emulators are a virtual recreation of hardware, ROMS and ISOs are virtual recreations of the software that would be inserted into the actual hardware.

What all can I do with emulation?

Emulation is a powerful tool that could be used for a variety of things. Most obviously, emulation is excellent for playing older games. While they certainly can do that, they can also do so much more. For instance:

Emulators make it much easier to play old games on the go: I can't carry a SNES with me everywhere I go. It's big, requires a bunch of cables, and I probably won't even have a TV to play it on. However, I can always bring my laptop with me. I have a SNES emulator installed on my laptop that lets me play SNES games anywhere. If I have a few moments in between classes I can boot up Front Mission, Tetris Attack, or any other SNES game I want. As if that wasn't enough, I also have NES, GBA, and DS emulators on my laptop, taking up very little hard drive space. Convenient!

Emulators let you customize your control schemes: Most emulators give you a lot of choice in how your controls are set up. For my laptop emulators, I simply use my keyboard because I don't want to carry a controller around with me. But, if I wanted to, I could plug in my Switch Pro Controller, or any other controller to play these games. This feature alone has some non-obvious advantages, such as...

Greater accessibility in control schemes: For people with physical disabilities, who might be unable to comfortably use a SNES controller, emulators allow them to relatively easily substitute the original controller for one they find more comfortable to use. This makes the emulated versions of classic games far more accessible than they would be on original hardware. As with all disability infrastructure, adding considerations for disabled people helps everyone, and a great example of that is...

Customizable controls are great for challenge runs: All sorts of interesting challenge runs become possible with emulated controllers. Have you ever wanted to play Link's Awakening with a Dance Dance Revolution pad? Well, set up an emulator and map its controls to the dance pad and you are good to go! You can't do that on an original Game Boy!

Save States let you bypass unfair nonsense: Old games sometimes have a reputation for having a lot of cheap deaths, and some definitely live up to that expectation. Some emulators come with save state features that essentially take a snapshot of the current game state that can be returned to at any point. If an upcoming platforming section has a lot of precarious jumps with impossible to dodge enemies, you can make a save state to go back to that challenge instantly, instead of having to replay the whole level again. Very nifty! Also, some emulators have rewinds, which serve a similar purpose.

Fast forwarding saves time: Some emulators let you increase the game speed, allowing you to bypass slow sections of a game. My friend Harry who runs the Video Games Are Bad YouTube channel recently released a video talking about how the speedup feature on his Seam Deck GBA emulator that made the experience of playing classic GBA Yu Gi Oh games much more enjoyable because he could skip the opponent's long turns. For JRPGs, games with cutscenes, or many other games, this is a great convenience feature

Emulators bypass region locking: Many classic console games were only playable in consoles from the right region. Japanese Playstation games could only be played on Japanese Playstations. While it's certainly possible to bypass this restriction on original hardware, it requires you to modify the console's internals in a very technical and easy to mess up process. Emulators bypass this entirely, making it easy to play games from other regions and see all of the differences between versions of the game.

Romhacking and Translation patches: Beyond playing games in their original form, emulators make it possible to play romhacks, mods, and other alterations. Translation patches allow players who don't speak a certain language to play games that didn't receive official translations. Famously, Mother 3 was never localized for a North American release, and to this day hasn't seen an official English translation. Fortunately, the game's very passionate fans translated the entire game to English, allowing tons of Mother fans to finally play the third, and best, entry in the series. Romhacks are similar, but instead of being used for translation purposes, entire game mechanics are altered. With romhacking, designers can create fan campaigns, edit game balance, create jokes, and many other things. Romhacking is a world of possibility that lets games be experienced in new ways that would be difficult to experience on original hardware.

Speedrunning: While the rules surrounding emulators obviously vary from game to game, some speedrunning scenes (especially those for handheld games) use emulators for their runs. Without emulators, some games would be much harder to speedrun, and would have smaller scenes as a result.

And more!

What are some Downsides of Emulation?

Clearly, emulators have a ton of advantages, even if you have the original hardware. However, for as great as they are, and they are pretty great, there are some downsides worth considering when using emulators.

System requirements: Emulators function by recreating hardware through software. Doing this takes a certain amount of the host machine's CPU power. For older systems this usually isn't a problem, but the more recent and complex an emulated machine is, the better your machine needs to be to smoothly run the emulator. Naturally, it's a lot easier to emulate a Playstation 5 than a Playstation 1. If your computer isn't powerful enough, there might be some emulators it can't run. I personally haven't run into this myself, but its something to keep in mind.

Finding ROMS and ISOs can be tricky: While emulators themselves can usually be downloaded easily, ROMs and ISOs are a different story. When searching for ROMs, some people come across sketchy looking websites that are filled with ads and give the impression they could give you a virus, and some of these sites very well might. This isn't to say that there aren't ways of safely obtaining ROMs and ISOs. In the past, there was EmuParadise, a quite extensive ROM library that was safe, however following a legal threat from Nintendo the site had to remove the ability to download ROMs. MyAbandonware is a pretty safe site and is my go to for PC emulation, but doesn't have much in the way of console gaming. The Internet Archive also is pretty safe, but might not have everything. In the future I want to make a post detailing ways of safely obtaining ROMs and ISOs as that is a nuanced issue, but for now know that there are safe downloads online. ROMs and ISOs NEVER come in the form of EXEs, so never run an EXE downloaded from online. Beyond that, it never hurts to do a quick google search about the site in question to find other people's experiences with the site in terms of safety.

Emulators aren't always 100% accurate: Because emulators are recreating hardware with software, it isn't always perfect. Some games don't run exactly as they would on original hardware. Textures might not appear properly, in game mechanics might be a bit wonky, and there might be some visual issues. For older systems, these kinds of problems have been largely ironed out and these emulation issues are extremely rare, but they pop up from time to time when emulating more modern systems. In my years of emulator experience, I have only encountered serious emulation errors once. Fortunately, most emulators are in continuous, open source development so visual issues often eventually get fixed. Even if the game does have some problems, a flawed, visually imperfect game is better than nothing at all.

Isn't emulation illegal?

Some people might be hesitant to get into emulation because they feel it is illegal, or that it's essentially piracy. This technically isn't the case. In 2000, Sony sued Connectix, who had recently released the Virtual Game Station, a commercial emulator for the Macintosh. The Virtual Game Station was designed to only play legal games. Players had to insert the Playstation game they wanted to play into their computer in order for the emulator to work, meaning the emulator didn't inherently enable piracy. Regardless, Sony sued Connectix, arguing the emulator infringed on their copyright and stole Sony's Playstation code. However, the court ultimately sided with Connectix. While their software did recreate the function of the Playstation, it did so with its own code which had been reverse engineered from Sony's hardware, meaning that Connectix didn't violate Sony's copyright. Sony v. Connectix established the legal precedent that emulation was entirely legal, and this has born fruit for modern game companies. Many PC games released on Steam and GoG run off DosBox, an emulator that runs Dos games. These releases come from the current rights holders and are entirely legal, even though the games use emulators. For more evidence of legal emulation, look no further than the Wii Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online service, both of which are commercial emulators.

While emulation is legal, the sharing of ROMs and files without permission from the copyright holders is illegal. As such, downloading ROMs from the internet is technically illegal. However, there is certainly a case to be made that, while it isn't always legal, it can be ethical to emulate classic games. If I wanted to legally play a GameCube game, I would have to go online and buy a used copy online. Depending on the popularity and rarity of the game in question, used game discs can cost anywhere from dozens to hundreds of dollars. Buying used games and the hardware to run them can be extraordinarily expensive and would put many games out of the financial reach of many individuals. It's also important to note that none of the money spent going to buy these used games is actually going to the developers who made the game.

In general, I'm actually not a huge fan of piracy, especially for indie games. My rule of thumb is that if a game can be purchased on modern hardware, I won't use emulation to play the game. I only use emulation to play games that are out of print and impossible to buy legally in a way that supports the developers. Unfortunately, there are tons of games that I can only realistically experience through emulation, and in that case I feel no guilt for doing so. I can't deny the developers a sale if they aren't selling the game. Further discussion of the ethics and legality are interesting, but might be best approached in a post of their own.

Conclusion

Emulation is an incredibly cool technology and one of the most powerful tools in the fight to preserve gaming and its history. Emulators can be complex, and in the future I hope to write further blog posts detailing the intricacies of emulation in more detail, laying out emulators I recommend and discussing other emulation and game preservation topics.

If you have any questions about emulation, game preservation, or any related subject, feel free to ask.

Have a good day.

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