Yes, me too. However, I think those days are gone. And the subscription fatigue is real.

You do know that these wealthier countries pay more into the EU and the poorer countries get structural funding for infrastructure etc to help them catch up to the wealthier?

Which worked. It also worked for Portugal and Ireland. Greece may or may not have been able to correct their issues on their own. However, there were lots of structural issues, including cultural issues around taxation.

I play street fighter 6 daily. I only subscribe to ps+ for online play for it. If I didn’t have a game I wanted in deluxe, I would have stayed on essential. I only upgraded as the price was equivalent and I figured I’d get some other games in the meantime. I’ll go back to essential once the prepayment is finished.

I’ll never buy another console. Ridiculous to have such a high ongoing cost for online play of a game I paid a premium for. A lot of the games I supposedly own while continuing to subscribe have disappeared, which makes the value proposition even worse.

Yes, I do dip my toes too. Sometimes even if it’s not for me, it’s good to see if I like the genre as a another game that interests me in that genre might or might not be worth it.

I actually upgraded to deluxe before the price rise as one game on it I planned to purchase and the cost was the same. The trials are a nice idea but a bit of a waste. An hour in a game these days is mainly tutorial.

Fun fact: the USA is a union of states.

Ask Croatia, Ireland, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia andSlovenia if they are? Hint, they absolutely are.

Any union with such a variety of policies will have winners and losers for every project and legislation. Sometimes that will be individuals, sometimes countries. The point is that most are better off in general and that every country is better off from the sum of policies.

Countries have less control of their individual exchange rate. That was problematic for Greece, who underwent austerity, successfully I might add as access to the EU wide economy and trade, including (over)tourism is what’s taken them back from the brink.

In terms of larger countries, it has been beneficial for France and Germany, less so for Italy, but also less of a problem and less of the fluctuations the lira used to suffer.

Like so many other ps+ games. I find I’m rarely wrong and don’t enjoy the ones I expect not to.

Fun fact, the USA is a union of states.

The currency is only one aspect and a quite recent aspect. Many other aspects of sovereignty are ceded as a condition of joining. However, the pros outweigh the cons.

The point of the increased cooperation is that everyone is better off, with less risk of war and better protections. The EU sets many minimum standards for goods, services, interoperability and budgets, legislation, courts etc that countries cannot override.

Death to the US is reductive and inflammatory.

Ah, so a new old game that has and hasn’t been free before. Great value. I’m sure but fans are happy.

So, abandon the EU? Abandon the concept of the USA? My comment was tongue in cheek but deep cooperation can be a good thing. It’s part of the reason for the EU. Mutual dependency reduces the risk of war. Isolationism, like the USA is tending towards leads to more war.

Well, you can safely store it with trusted allies….

All while those in power seek more power. Fighting back as a rep becomes harder, not easier when the rule of law is ignored.

I don’t know. They are behind and losing out to teals. Ow they are against tax cuts and labour look like they will manage the budget better. It’s a bad look for them. All they have left is racism and one nation will outflank them on that.

It, of course affects pricing. If they pay $5 to apple, you pay $5 more. It’s just like Trump’s tariffs. The end user pays. Sure, the market encourages keeping prices down to attract customers, but if everyone pays a toll, you can’t compete below that.

Now the companies can. Just like you don’t care about companies paying each other, companies don’t care where they can cut costs. Making their product cheaper, and therefore more attractive to increase sales is good for them. In this case it just happens to be good for consumers too. They may not pass on that hypothetical $5 but if they pass on $4, we’re still better off. Apple is worse off.

I wonder how long before services are targeted for tariffs in response to Trump. It may be that prices for apps and games go back up immediately.

Wasn’t ark a free game before? Balatro will be a boon for many. It’s great. I’ve only played on mobile, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it differs on a different play format.

I’m glad they used up political capital that hasn’t directly done damage and now allows her to take the position without as much resistance, most likely. I’m sure they will still try to go against her, but it will be all the harder when articles like this allude to a non progressive agenda in the old establishment within the party.

I don’t trust USA numbers any more. I have never trusted china’s, it over the last 40 years, if they were consistently fudged, that would be clear in hindsight.

Being able to circumvent their measures doesn’t mean they aren’t actively trying to increase harms for residents.