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I gave up looking for gender clues a third of the way into the first book; it's clearly very deliberately undefined.  Even after the crew has seen Murderbot's face they don't slip into any masculine or feminine pronouns, which means either they're all really diligent about not assuming gender (it is the future, after all) or its human features are so perfectly androgynous that it doesn't read as either.

I've only read the first three but I definitely thought of Murderbot as female. I'm not sure I could point to anything on the page to justify that.

Started on the "Murderbot Diaries" series; I got the first one as a birthday present and it just rotated into my reading queue.  My recommendation is: check it out!  Nice easy read (I'd almost call it YA-ish), has a very classic sci-fi feel.  Wiki has plot synopses and all that.

There are six more books in the series and once I finish the first one I think I'm gonna put library holds on the rest and binge em all in a couple weeks.

I haven't read the most recent one, but I have enjoyed all the prior books.  I guess they are making it into a TV show and casting a male as the lead.  It is what it is, but I always pictured the main character as looking female with a female voice... maybe cause I read the Cassandra Kreshnov (joel shepherd) books first?

I have been reading the Wandering Inn which is an online book, but you can get the kindle or audio book from Bezos.  It is kinda like Legends and Lates in that it is pretty uplifting, some bad things happen, but after reading so much dark/bleak fantasy and sci-fi it is pleasant to read something where overall good shit happens.

https://wanderinginn.com/

Does it feel as if there are much fewer really great games, indie or AAA, coming out in the last few years? I find myself playing older games more and more. It might be that I'm just getting setting in my ways and stuck on nostalgia, but when I look at Steam, I don't see much that motivates me to buy and play. (I am liking Tactical Breach Wizards though.)

No, not really. Some of my favorite games of the last decade have come out in the last year or so. For each disappointment (Starfield) there has been something amazing (BG3) and I'd even put Cyberpunk 2077 in the amazing category after all the work they put into fixing it. Alan Wake 2 as well. As others have mentioned there have been some great indie games as well.

And I'll go out on a limb and say I enjoyed Star Wars Outlaws even if it felt a little shallow. It somehow managed to be a better Starfield than Starfield with better exploration and space combat and on a nerdy level better character customization with the various outfits. I'm fully aware I'll probably be the only person on this board who enjoyed it and perhaps even plays it at all.

Started on the "Murderbot Diaries" series; I got the first one as a birthday present and it just rotated into my reading queue.  My recommendation is: check it out!  Nice easy read (I'd almost call it YA-ish), has a very classic sci-fi feel.  Wiki has plot synopses and all that.

There are six more books in the series and once I finish the first one I think I'm gonna put library holds on the rest and binge em all in a couple weeks.

Does it feel as if there are much fewer really great games, indie or AAA, coming out in the last few years? I find myself playing older games more and more. It might be that I'm just getting setting in my ways and stuck on nostalgia, but when I look at Steam, I don't see much that motivates me to buy and play. (I am liking Tactical Breach Wizards though.)

I don't know. Seems to be like there's a been a lot of great stuff, and it's been a range of things from small indie games like Balatro, Dredge, or Dave the Diver.  to AAA stuff like Diablo IV, FFVII: Rebirth, Alan Wake 2, etc...

There's been flawed but interesting games like Dragon's Dogma II. We got Elden Ring in 2022 and the DLC this year. We got an old school tactics RPG in Unicorn Overlord. BG3 as mentioned. The Cyberpunk DLC was great.

It's easy to just forget about great stuff you played over the last few years because the nature of consuming pretty much any media tends to have people always look ahead at the next thing rather than taking the time to appreciate stuff you've already finished. I'd say there's more great stuff out there than I have the time or money to play.

I heard a BBC interview with his son, who said his dad would be amused and excited that they are preserving the note in a display in the new hall.

I mean, I guess I'm semi-erasing BG3 from my memory because it's so great that it feels like a unicorn that has nothing to do with any trends.

I'm not really feeling that, in general, though I also play a variety of different genres. If you play only a handful of genres I can definitely see why you might feel that. This year has felt a little light to me (so far) mostly cause of a lack of PS5-exclusives I've wanted to play other than Stellar Blade. Space Marine 2 will be out soon though and that along with the Diablo 4 expansion will likely take up most of my gaming time for the rest of this year.

Does it feel as if there are much fewer really great games, indie or AAA, coming out in the last few years? I find myself playing older games more and more. It might be that I'm just getting setting in my ways and stuck on nostalgia, but when I look at Steam, I don't see much that motivates me to buy and play. (I am liking Tactical Breach Wizards though.)