Andrea Contino's weblog on communication, gaming, and technology. But also food, books, music, tv series and much more.
As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. This has been announced by PlayStation a few days ago. The gaming industry as we know it is changing a lot. It's shaping its future based on a lot of…
Nothing against completionism in gaming. I know plenty of players who love it—the thrill of finding every last item, unlocking every secret, hitting that perfect completion percentage. It’s their way of playing, and there’s nothing wrong with that. For me, though, it tends to create more frustration than fun. Especially when the game is built so that missing one specific thing means replaying an…
When I blog, it’s because I want to rant, or share some thoughts, or talk about something that means a lot to me. I don’t get clicks or make money from ads. I don’t get hearts or shares. I write because I enjoy it. The way it was meant to be. Personal. I don’t think I’ve opened Feedly since around March. Today, for some strange reason, I did — and I found out about the sudden passing of Om, to…
Ciao Luca, Ieri erano le prime luci dell'alba qui in California e mentre mi apprestavo a fare gli auguri di compleanno a mio padre, leggo della tua scomparsa. Ho pensato a lungo ieri. Ho cercato di ricordare quando ci siamo conosciuti e in che modo. Ma il tutto risale a ormai a quasi 20 anni fa e la memoria non è tra le mie più grandi qualità. Una cosa è certa, quando avvenuto è stato grazie al…
A couple of nights ago, while we were getting ready for bed, we started hearing a series of extremely loud sirens right below our house. We looked out the window, and this was the scene we saw. Fortunately, there were no victims or injuries . The next morning, of course, a crew from a local TV station was camped out on the dock, trying to get information from passersby for their segment. While I…
Not sure if this can turn into a blogger's challenge, but: I can't stand it when in hotels I find the hairdryer cord all coiled up tightly on itself. Same thing at home — I never do it, and I asked my wife to do the same from the very first day we started living together No way can I eat pizza by the slice with my bare hands—I have to slice it up into small mouthfuls and take my time tasting each…
These intersecting interests are part of why I write this blog, so it certainly isn’t impossible to keep the intersection rooting in adding value to your life. I want to start with this quote from The Tangible Life . These intersecting interests aren’t just what have fueled the engine of this blog—they’ve powered my entire life. And on that note, I can’t help but think about how fortunate I am.…
Where the hell have I ended up? My last post dates back to mid-November last year… An eternity. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long between two posts before. I simply lived. I focused on gaming. I finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and found it magnificent, even though I’ve never really played a turn-based combat game in depth before. Then I made an important choice: after just a few months,…
Joining the Forking Mad list of questions . I love these blogging challenges a lot I have to say! Do you floss your teeth? Never ever done. Pointless. Brushing your teeth carefully is more than enough. And it seems to me that a few months ago, or perhaps last year, a study on the subject was published. Tea, coffee, or water Espresso! Footwear preference? Are there any other brands besides Nike for…
I haven't been back to New York in about 10 years, so I can't say how much it's changed because I'll mostly be cooped up at the venue where I'm working for an event. I'll only manage to do a bit of exploring next Monday and Tuesday when I take a couple of days off. But these days, I'm reflecting on how I don't miss this kind of metropolitan vibe at all. The traffic is wild and totally out of…
Love the little entry from Carl . ...It’s about recognising that writing online can be quieter, slower, more intentional. I don’t need to publish to perform. I just want to build a body of work that remembers where it came from. Each entry here is an act of keeping — something read, seen, built, or felt. Some memories are full essays; others are fragments... Blogs were meant to be a trace of the…
Finally. Santa Catalina Island had been on my bucket list for a couple of years. Probably because compared to what we're used to seeing on the beaches around Los Angeles, Catalina seems blessed with the same water quality you find on Mediterranean islands. Maybe not quite as warm, but still crystal clear. The island—first an indigenous settlement, then a retreat for the rich and famous—became a…
It's been a few weeks since my disastrous fall that ended with me landing on the edge of the bathtub. My healing process is about 80% there, I think—the worst part is at night, as I try to find the right position to fall asleep and end up right in the one that hurts the most. We're without our little dog Panna right now. We decided to leave her in Italy until Christmas, when we'll head back for…
Rock and Roll will never die: File rock music under the same bracket as death and taxes – it’s a fact, and a constant of life, albeit a far more joyous one. Reply via email — 🔗
I realized I haven’t posted here since my birthday. That feels like forever, considering how often I used to update my blog. But a lot has happened in the meantime, and I’m going to catch you up: Never in a million years would I have imagined calling myself a content creator… Yet, if we’re putting labels on things, I guess that’s what I am now. I started a podcast for fun, in Italian, called…
I was so busy living that I forgot my usual birthday post a few days ago. My relationship with the internet is gradually deteriorating; I barely open any social media except X. My only focus now is video games, eFootball, and YouTube creators. Digesting hundreds of posts through my RSS feed is becoming a tiring task rather than a pleasant one, so I’m dedicating less and less time to it. The nice…
I found this post by ava about the parallelism between blogging and romanticism magnificent: Blogging that’s personal and reflective (and not just how-to’s, portfolios or commercial) does this by offering a medium to express your inner life, thoughts, dreams, and struggles with a sort of intimacy and rawness that traditional publications and social media personalities lack. Not to mention this…
For the second year in a row, I attended the opening event of the Summer Game Fest in person at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles (Inglewood, to be precise). This year, I must say, the two hours spent in the company of Geoff Keighley were very exciting. Yes, that's the right word: at almost 42 years old, I got goosebumps again for some of the announcements made. Beyond Resident Evil 9 , in my…
I’ve always loved photography. Not in an all-consuming way, but I’ve always been drawn to being behind a camera, capturing a moment in time. Perfect, without flaws. It’s often led me to endless waiting or getting seriously pissed off because too many people were in the frame. What’s always fascinated me about photography is symmetry, the clean lines of urban architecture, or a natural landscape…
The theme for this month is Renewal . In this late spring, I decided it was time to give PC gaming a chance. With some spare change, I treated myself to the luxury of exploring this fascinating world that encompasses all games after over 15 years, with a machine equipped with a GeForce RTX 5090 that could last for many years. I decided to renew my thinking about a fundamentally open system, which,…
More often than less, I've been feeling like Ashley lately. Although I know I have something to stay, still : So I’m writing this post—not as a declaration that I’m going to blog every day (I probably won’t), or that I have a new master plan (I don’t). I’m writing it as a gentle reentry. A reminder to myself that taking up space, even imperfectly, is still worth doing. And if you’re reading this…
At work, things are starting to speed up. I’ve had very little time to dedicate to my blog and to reading my beloved RSS feeds, and I’ve spent all my free time playing video games. This past weekend, however, Noemi decided to commit to finding a second-hand bike. We have many cycling paths that go from Marina del Rey north to Santa Monica and south much farther, all the way to Redondo Beach. On…
Manton has point: To be a blogger, you have to be okay with writing into the void. Some posts will resonate with people. Some posts will get comments. Most won’t. Sometimes I’ll write a post and I’ll think to myself, “This is pretty good! This is the blog post that people are gonna talk about and link to. I’ve really captured something unique in this post.” And then crickets. No one cares. 🦗…
Nintendo has officially announced the Nintendo Switch 2 , slated for release on June 5, 2025, with a suggested retail price of $449.99 in the United States. Key Features and Specifications: Display: The Switch 2 boasts a larger 7.9-inch LCD screen with a 1080p resolution, supporting up to 120 frames per second (fps) and High Dynamic Range (HDR). Docked Mode: When connected to a TV via the…
So true Brandon, so true. Now video games are my thing. I remember when surfing the web or escaping into cyberspace was a break from real life. It was a place where I could go to relax and escape the worries of my regular life. Now, it seems every time I log on, I find something new to stress about, something else to be pissed off about, and I just don’t know how much more of this I can take. I…
I am sorry if I am about to ruin your finale. But where do those two think they’re going? Their freedom is only in their heads. It can’t exist outside that place, outside someone else’s control. Ending the second season like that floored me. How do you wait another year? Severance Season 2 has been bittersweet, slow, incomprehensible for long stretches. I’d call it a transitional season, like the…
This one. I bought it ( context for those of you that missed it). Reply via email
I hate being late. I hate when people are late. I find it a profound form of disrespect. I get really annoyed when I’m standing at the doorstep, ready to leave, and my wife, for whatever reason, delays our departure. Or when we’re given a specific meeting time and discover that the person we’re waiting for—even just for a cocktail and dinner—is half an hour late and only bothers to let us know a…
📺 I’m missing the last episode to finish the second season of Severance . After 9 episodes, I can’t really say what actually happened in these past few weeks. I feel like, beyond delving into the personal stories of a few characters, little substance has been added to the fabulous first season. We’ll wait until March 20, but I’m not holding high expectations. It’s a shame, I really like the show…
From today on the blog has a new small feature, whenever you'll see a ✱ on the title, you'll know that this is an external link pointing to a landing page which is not living on this website, so click it and read through the whole thing. I was considering to implement this little change from the moment I was planning to use my blog more and more to post small bites of content that I won't publish…
Do you know that saying about how man only uses a small percentage of his intellectual faculties? Lately, I’ve found myself reflecting on how it’s the same thing with our smartphones that cost hundreds of dollars (sometimes even thousands). The average user exploits only a small portion of their computational capabilities—or rather, exploits a small portion of what they could potentially do. Among…
I like to start each year by keeping track of the albums I listen to every week. It’s a little tradition of mine that I’ve been carrying on for a while. Usually, the designated place to collect them would have been social networks. This year, I’ve decided to create a dedicated playlist to manage everything. As soon as a released album suits my taste, it’ll be added there: 2025 Best Albums . I’ve…
In the last few weeks, I’ve tried to stay as far away as possible from any kind of social network. I’ve focused on eFootball, interacted with various communities related to the game, and haven’t had any inspired spark to post here on the blog. I’ve decided to give space only to what excites me and fuels my passion, and to write here only when I feel like it. This is my dimension now. I’ve also…
Last week I posted on Threads that I would have stopped using that account. I uninstalled the app everywhere. I did the same with Mastodon and Bluesky. I stopped posting photos on Instagram and I will just use foto from now on, which seems a very good and promising-algo-free alternative. Unfortunately X will be the only one I have to be in, the gaming community is still there, or at least the one…
Every Sunday, a copy of the Los Angeles Times is left at the foot of our condominium stairs. It's a complimentary copy not addressed to anyone; whoever wants can take the copy and bring it home. And so we did with last Sunday's issue. While reading the Culture section, Noemi discovered this show: Memoryhouse Memoryhouse is an abstract ballet composed of vignettes commemorating the 6 million Jewish…
After 10 months, it finally rained in Los Angeles. Of course, we caught the heaviest downpours during the 300 meters that separated us from the entrance of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It's the largest art museum in the West and famous for the iconic lights by artist Chris Burden placed outside. It's also the last of the great LA museums we had yet to visit. Thanks to the rain and Lorenzo…
I've reflected a lot lately on the evolution of social networks, specifically text-based ones. X, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky...without even mentioning all that lesser-known undergrowth strictly linked to blockchain technologies. During this period of reflection, I've repeatedly complained about how my measure was full, nauseated by too much falsehood, desire for oppression, ignorance, violence of…
I don't know exactly why I forgot to post last year, but compared to 2023 and 2022 my iPhone home screen has changed quite a bit. Let's start with the major differences: The only widget is just the calendar, and it's only Outlook. I've unified both my personal and work accounts there I've replaced Google Maps with Apple Maps. Here in California, it works significantly better I've brought the…
Today is the day. From today on, I will dedicate less and less time to social networks. If my sense of nausea was already slowly growing towards places meant to create community, but which have actually transformed into the cesspool of humanity, the events of this past weekend have made me reflect a lot. Both on how we have been slaves for years now to an endless spiral of vanity, and on how we…
For several years now, the favorite sport of those who use music streaming tools has been throwing mud at Spotify and everything surrounding it. Not that Spotify is blameless; it has greatly worsened the quality of the user experience in the app, and for many, having music, audiobooks, podcasts, and videos all in one place is rather confusing. Lately, the main topic, supported by screenshots of…
I have a certain reluctance towards software subscription models. I'm not at all saying that software shouldn't be paid for, quite the opposite, every piece of code written is a form of art from my point of view that deserves a lot of respect and all the necessary appreciation. However, I can't accept (I'm surely wrong) the fact that every month I have to pay the same amount for something that…
I'm not quite sure how to respond to the question posed by Jatan and revisited by Manu and Jamie . My online experience began at the start of the century, mainly with forum boards. A prelude to social networks, but where civility and asynchrony still allowed for civil and passionate discussions. And it was during those years, especially abroad and then in Italy, that the golden era of blogs and…
One of the fun things about having and reading blogs is participating in these challenges from time to time. They're useful for getting to know others and letting them know you, since most of the time, even when talking about personal topics, it's difficult to truly get to know each other. Music is one of my greatest passions. I spend tens of thousands of minutes each year listening to and…
I felt it was the right time to refresh this 2-years-old-list. Some changes here and there, but not huge ones. I keep on relying on the cloud to save all my docs and media, nothing will change my mind around that. If you got any question around this list, drop me a message here . 📨 Mail Client: GMail for personal usage, Outlook for business purposes 📮 Mail Server: Google Workspace 📝 Notes: Bear…
Last night we went to bed knowing that one of the largest fires in recent decades was underway between Pacific Palisades and Malibu . We woke up to a black sky, the acrid smell of ash, and nearly 3,000 acres swept away in just a few hours. Fortunately, we are safe here in Marina del Rey, our offices are closed, and we are working from home, but knowing that hell is breaking loose just a few…
Inspired by Manuel , Kev , Brandon , Luke , and Dalton Why did you start blogging in the first place? It was 2007, and I was about to travel to Canada to witness the development of the new FIFA video game in Vancouver at the EA Sports Studios. I decided it was a good time to emulate the trend of the moment and create my own space to document the various stages of my journey. It wasn’t my first…
🛬 We're back to LA. It's been two intense weeks. We mainly ate and put on a few extra pounds. We didn't rest, but we dedicated all our free time to relatives and friends. Maybe next year we'll have to change our approach, otherwise we won't survive 😅. Coming back didn't give us any particular feeling; in fact, it felt like we'd been away for just a few weeks instead of a whole year. We also…
This year's wrap-up post must open with a necessary premise. Some of the posts from the beginning of the year are still in Italian, but if you're interested in reading them, any online tool you choose to use today will allow you to quickly translate the text and understand its meaning. Let's start with the classic and obligatory list of previous episodes: 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 ,…
Today marks exactly one year since we closed our home's door and, with great emotion, left behind the goodbyes and hugs of friends and family. Perhaps I sound like a broken record because in my end-of-year post, I always say that the year has passed very quickly. This year it happened even more than usual. I find myself writing these lines, and it feels like I left just yesterday. I wouldn't even…
I'm home alone, just a few hours away before I take my flight to Rome and then Milan. Noemi and Panna left this morning on a different - 6 AM - flight that allowed them to travel comfortably together in the cabin. I'm still a bit dazed from the early wake-up, but I couldn't get back to sleep. I tinkered a little with Google Search Console to rebuild a decent indexing of the old contino.com domain.…