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Someone looked at my physical game collection and said, “So much wasted life.”

If only they saw my Steam, GOG, and Epic collection.

The way I see it: I’m privileged enough to waste time. I work for myself. My basic needs are covered. I can spend hours on hobbies—and I don’t take that for granted. Books, music, cinema, photography, art—and yes, video games. I even get to write about them.

At one point, I poured myself into “stuff that matters.” Tried too hard to leave a mark. Convinced myself that if it wasn’t important or world-changing, it wasn’t worth doing. The irony? That’s when I actually wasted my time.

What matters more? A meal with my family. Spinning a record with my daughter. Playing badminton with my wife. And, yes, losing myself in a game.

None of this will change the world. But if this is wasted life, then it’s the best kind of waste.

Today’s cassette is Furusato (2024) by Chris Peters.

The J-card screams “forgotten underground Japanese import”—but that’s misdirection. What’s inside is ambient stitched with musique concrète and a faint vaporwave pulse. Released just last year.

Only two tracks here, but they sprawl across 36 minutes. Less like songs, more like an extended sound-tour. Surprisingly listenable, especially if you let it wash over you.

recordpics@piefed.social

Generally speaking, #Lemmy and #Piefed tend to attract two kinds of people:

1. Folks who don’t like Reddit and genuinely want to build something better
2. People who got forced out of Reddit and now feel entitled to be an asshole

Group 1 is great. Group 2 is the problem.

It’s funny.

Yesterday, a big controversy broke out on !videogames@piefed.social after I banned someone I thought was being uncivil and disrespectful.

That decision sparked some blowback—mainly from people arguing that the rule “Be civil” was too vague.

So I responded by writing a detailed, exhaustive post explaining exactly what “Be civil” means in this community.

Even after that, a few people remain upset about the rule and how I intend to enforce it. But there's a twist: that same post also drew in new subscribers. Some people may bristle at active moderation, but others clearly appreciate it.

To people who are abusive, any community moderation is always deemed abusive—because it curbs their abuse.

And now you see why I keep spinning up communities.

I put in hours contributing, then some guy shows up whining, “YoU dOn’T sOuNd LiKe I wAnT YoU tO sOuNd”. Cue the dogpile, mods nuke my post, and just like that—all that work gone.

And remember, this is work I actually do for free. Not for clout, not for money. Just so I can share what I love.

Thank God that computers can still support 4:3 aspect ratios.

Next time a metalhead says “metal is basically classical music,” I’ll summon Robert Johnson’s ghost.

He’ll follow them everywhere—front row at their shows, booing during guitar solos, yelling “PLAY SOMETHIN’ WITH SOUL, YOU BACH-LOOKIN’ FOOL!”

Every time they open their mouth to compare Symphony No. 5 to Slayer, he’ll start tuning his spectral guitar louder and louder until the lights flicker and the PA system bursts into twelve-bar blues.

Grand piano people and synthesizer people might as well be two incompatible strains of humanity.

Grand piano people behave like every note is a UN resolution. They show up in tuxedos to empty practice rooms. They polish the piano lid with hand-embroidered cloth passed down from their ancestors. They eat bread without butter because “it interferes with finger agility.” Their idea of rebellion is removing the little felt pad from the soft pedal.

Synthesizer people, on the other hand, are basically swamp druids of electricity. They crawl out of thrift stores carrying broken Casios, declare them “cursed tomes,” and then hot-wire them to car batteries. They can’t sit upright for more than ten seconds because they’re too busy chasing the sound of “angry dolphin trapped in a fax machine.” Their concerts are 90% knob-twisting, 10% smoke alarm. They call this art.

And if you ever lock the two groups in the same room? The piano people will demand silence for a sonata. The synth people will summon a tornado made of dial-up modems.

Civilization ends not with war, but with Chopin drowned out by a noise that sounds like God gargling aluminum foil.

Ramen and kimbap for lunch—plus a scatter of Korean odds and ends that somehow count as side dishes.

And yes, kimchi is here too. Because if you eat Korean food without kimchi, they revoke your chopsticks.

Mortgage: gone. House: mine. 🥳

Yeah, strata, utilities, and taxes still want their cut. But that’s background noise.

Because today, I don’t owe the bank a single cent. And that feels incredible.

Bullet Noir just dropped on Steam—a top-down, neo-noir shooter drenched in blood, vengeance, and rain.

The devs cite Max Payne as inspiration, but let’s be real—this is Hotline Miami with trench coats. You kick in a door, clock the layout, then blast before anyone else can blink. One hit kills you, one hit kills them.

You get four playable characters, each chasing vengeance after their mentor’s death. It’s told chapter by chapter, and every corner drips with noir melodrama.

The visual palette sticks to black, white, and red—with the occasional splash of blue café chair—and leans into a comic-book style. It nails mood, though the presentation isn’t flawless. On launch it defaulted to a bizarre resolution that shoved text off-screen, and the UI still feels a little amateur. Once you’re past that, though, the aesthetic clicks.

The soundtrack is absolutely the star. Cosmin Mirza and Seian Scorobete’s synthwave score is pure adrenaline, and you can grab it as DLC. Gunshots thump, katana swipes crack, and the whole thing feels great in your headphones.

Controls are flexible. Keyboard and mouse feel snappiest, but both Xbox and PlayStation pads are supported. It’s Windows-only at the moment—no word yet on how it fares under Proton for Linux or on Steam Deck. System requirements are minimal: a dual-core CPU, 4GB RAM, integrated graphics, and 5GB of space will do.

This is Wolcen Studio’s debut, and they already have another project in the pipeline. Bullet Noir even snagged a Collision Award earlier this year, and Steam reviews are trending Positive out of the gate.

But temper expectations—it’s not Hotline Miami. The AI can be wonky. In my playthrough, an enemy somehow sensed me behind a closed door, killing me with a cheap shot. Those moments sour the immersion. Yet the core loop—fast entry, stylish execution, instant death—still delivers fun in bursts.

Price is C$12.39 (about $11.99 USD), with a 20% launch discount. My verdict? On the fence. It oozes atmosphere and has a killer soundtrack, but the rough edges show. I’ll keep an eye on it for a deeper sale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3204960/Bullet_Noir/

videogames@piefed.social

Just found the infamous Bubsy cartoon pilot.

https://youtu.be/OJ4PtT0D9-4

Pac-Man Party (2010) for the Wii.

My daughter loves Pac-Man and she loves the Wii—so this felt like a no-brainer. It’s a four-player party game in the Mario Party mold, only with Namco’s mascot running the show instead of Nintendo’s. The back of the box promises five themed worlds and 50 mini-games, which is more than enough to keep a kid busy.

At the very least, it’s an excuse to get my daughter to play something social, instead of zoning out solo.

And hey—if party games aren’t your thing, the disc also comes loaded with arcade-perfect versions of Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaga. A nice bonus for parents who grew up in the arcade era.

videogames@piefed.social

Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game just released on Steam today—and it’s exactly what it says on the tin. A detective game where you don’t solve murders, you solve mild inconveniences.

Do you like the logic of detective games but can’t stand the gore? Want to play a gumshoe without needing a mop bucket? This is for you. You’re not saving the world—you’re just “enriching” it one tiny fix at a time.

And I have to ask: is this where cozy games jump the shark? Is Miss Marple too hardcore now? Maybe. There are definitely too many cozy games out there.

But I’ll give this one credit: if it sticks the landing, the whole idea of a dead-serious detective wasting brainpower on lost earrings and petty squabbles could be downright funny. Ten little cases are packed into this game, each one built like a mini puzzle box.

The presentation is straight-up cozy manga. Pastel palettes, soft lines, bright smiles. Overdone? Probably. But that’s the point.

Music is gentle, leaning on acoustic guitar and light instrumentation. Sound effects wouldn’t be out of place in a Japanese PC adventure from the ’90s.

Controls are mouse-only. No gamepad support here.

And yes, it’s Windows only for now. No official Linux support, though the Steam Deck crowd will surely try Proton soon enough.

Specs have low requirements: a 1.7 GHz dual-core, 4 GB RAM, Intel HD 3000, and a whopping 2 GB of storage. If you have a laptop that isn’t already in the recycling bin, it’ll run.

The developer is Posh Cat Studios, a small indie team out of Indonesia—and this is their debut. Published by Amplified Games. Fun fact: the project actually started life as a murder mystery, before the devs pivoted to protect their mental health. Now it’s murder-free, which might be the most 2025 indie dev decision ever.

Reception so far? Positive, though the only review on day one is from someone who got it free. So take that with a grain of salt.

Introductory price: C$11.69 (with a 10% launch discount until Sept 23). Personally, that feels steep when there are cozier games with more meat on the bone. But I can’t deny the premise made me laugh. A detective, magnifying glass in hand, tackling the grand case of… mixed-up cookies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653470/Little_Problems_A_Cozy_Detective_Game/

videogames@piefed.social

I’m done tolerating people who critique how I write instead of what I write. Instant ban.

I put real effort into this—trying to be entertaining, trying to be informative. That’s the point.

And yet the self-appointed hall monitors can’t even stay on topic.

Beaming Manchester by the Sea from a $25 projector onto my bedroom ceiling.

Yeah, yeah—probably not how Kenneth Lonergan imagined it screened. But lying flat in bed, snow-covered New England tragedy playing above you like a planetarium of sadness? Peak comfort right there.

My setup gives me the Criterion vibes for pocket change—with head comfy on a pillow.

movies@piefed.social

High resolution ≠ clarity.

Plenty of so-called “4K” streams look worse than a 1080p Blu-ray—smeared shadows, mosquito noise, blocky skies. Resolution is just pixel math. Clarity is bitrate. And that’s where streaming falls flat.

Netflix 4K HDR? Around 15–17 Mbps. YouTube 4K? Maybe 12–20 Mbps if you’re lucky. Compare that to a 4K UHD Blu-ray spinning at 80–100 Mbps—with peaks past 120. That’s not a rounding error. That’s five to ten times more data flowing into your eyeballs.

Streaming services throttle because they have to. Bandwidth is limited, people watch on phones, and adaptive compression keeps everyone from buffering. It’s accessible, yes—but it’s not the “true” 4K people imagine.

Which is why even a decade-old 1080p Blu-ray often looks sharper, cleaner, more alive than the 4K stream that’s supposed to replace it. More data means more picture, every single time.

4K streaming is marketing. Blu-ray is the truth.

movies@piefed.social

Tanks But No Tanks (1983) for the Atari 2600.

Pac-Man meets Combat is the right vibe—maze running, cat-and-mouse angles, and chunky tank duels. You’re guarding the bottom of the screen while “phantom” tanks blink in and out, and the job is simple enough: drop 20 per wave to advance. Only one shot can exist on screen, so it’s all about timing and lane control. Three layouts cycle—busy maze, tiny island shield, then a cruel open arena—and the difficulty jump is real.

Controls are classic 2600 joystick. Four variations are on the switch—Easy 1P, Easy 2P, Hard 1P, Hard 2P—with alternating turns for two players and five lives to start. Scoring is 100 points per kill. The manual even rewards ramming with a joke “Low Sanity Medal” and 200 points if you go full kamikaze. It’s rough, goofy, and surprisingly tense once the screen opens up.

History bit for collectors: ZiMAG shipped this in the U.S. right as the ’83 crash cratered everything. Under the hood it’s Bit Corporation’s Phantom Tank—sold across PAL regions under names like Phantom-Panzer and Ghost Tank. ZiMAG’s whole 2600 line leaned into bonkers branding—Dishaster, I Want My Mommy, Cosmic Corridor—and yes, this one’s title still makes me grin.

Not everyone loves it. I do. It’s snackable arcade defense with just enough rhythm to keep you chasing one more wave—and one more very dumb medal.

videogames@piefed.social

Applewood: House of Secrets (2025) is one of those films that wants to be everything at once—and ends up being less than the sum of its haunted parts.

I picked it up because I hadn’t watched a new-ish B-movie in a while, and why not roll the dice on a Southern gothic ghost story? Shot almost entirely in Augusta, Georgia—inside the decaying Thomas–Clay House, a mansion that once hosted President Taft and now looks like it was built for an indie horror set—the film already had me curious. The production even rewrote parts of the script just to fit the house. That’s commitment. Or desperation. Hard to say.

The story follows Kaitlynn Harris, a newly widowed woman who inherits the mansion and suddenly discovers she can psychically glimpse the past by touching objects. At first, the premise feels fresh: she sees through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl who lived in the house 130 years earlier, and the trauma of the past bleeds into her present. Done well, that could be chilling. Instead, the film swerves—hard—into Southern gothic fantasy, and the tonal whiplash is real.

And here’s where it falters. The script (penned by producer Amy Rhinehart Bailey, though some sites miscredit the actors themselves) can’t decide whether to under-explain or over-explain.

The characters make baffling choices. Sure, let’s move into the murder house because hubby loved it. Let’s invite strangers in, even though the place is clearly cursed. Self-preservation? Never heard of it.

By the end, I cared less about the characters’ fates and more about why Amazon Prime had me stuck with the 1h49 “long cut” when Rotten Tomatoes swears there’s a 1h20 version floating around.

Performance-wise, it’s rough. Kate Dailey (in the lead) is earnest but weighed down by overwrought dialogue. The rest of the cast—largely local talent—struggles to elevate the material. And while Penka Kouneva’s score lends a professional sheen, the film can’t decide if it’s a character-driven ghost story, a moody period piece, or an indie horror flick. It ends up being all three, and none.

Here’s the odd thing: despite its flaws, I was entertained. The historic setting gives it atmosphere money can’t buy. The title itself is slippery—sometimes just Applewood, sometimes with the subtitle House of Secrets. The festival version may well have been a different cut. The release year is anyone’s guess: shot in 2021, screened in 2022, marketed in 2023, released to streaming in 2025. Even the metadata is haunted.

So is it good? No. Is it the worst? Also no. It’s a film that keeps promising one thing, then veers into another, until you’re left checking your watch and wondering how many minutes are left in whichever version you’ve got.

But if you like your haunted house movies with a real crumbling mansion at the center, at least Applewood delivers that in spades.

Where to watch

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0wAhIyOQbQ

Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/100040439/applewood-house-of-secrets

Fawesome: https://fawesome.tv/movies/10702344/applewood-house-of-secrets

Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0K7NABRTGQTGCCGKT84DRXCZCW/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

movies@piefed.social