A friend of mine did posit the quandary that an "unpalatable" individual such as Luckey appears to be one of the few making consumer-friendly products: Removable, swappable battery packs, AA battery support, standard USB-C charging, easy interoperability, open sourced designs, exposed screws, teardown instructions, etc. Apparently ModRetro is even looking into making dumb TVs for gaming.
It's ironic, in another world HN commenters would be lauding Luckey and ModRetro for all these virtues.
> It's ironic, in another world HN commenters would be lauding Luckey and ModRetro for all these virtues.
Lot's of HN (and "social" media) commenters in this world evidently are; nothing ironic about it.
It's just many people have a radically different set of ethics which, once they become principles, can't be easily, or at all, compromised on. And just to be fair, it's not just the what, but the how (which extends not just to Luckey & Friends, but to Anduril & Friends).
I am nuanced enough to appreciate that these qualities are present in the products being produced and still not buy from this producer because of their industry ties. Hopefully someone without such ridiculously unpalatable PR is able to copycat their design and sell a competitor - and hopefully the lead they've laid sets the standard for easily replaceable parts for the market (though, I'd mention that retro gaming hardware is intentionally made to be as modular as possible in most circumstances anyways).
> I am nuanced enough to appreciate that these qualities are present in the products being produced and still not buy from this producer because of their industry ties.
ModRetro produces one thing I do have an interest in. A partly aluminium-cast version of the, to me, most ergonomic gamepad made so far: the classic trimaran-style N64 controller. But that marriage ain't gonna happen. And that goes for every other (future) product of theirs as well.
Certainly one of the most devisive controller designs, but the lack of two thumbsticks is precisely what I like about it. The pad centers one thumbstick and the trigger on opposite sides of the "main hull", with the rest of the inputs divided along two (remappable) zones, i. e. the outriggers. I have never held a controller in my hand with better ergonomics and holding adaptability. Even the size is just right for my hands.
It's the only pad that ever made FPS games on a console a joy to play for me; put in two analog sticks and you fuck with that formula. It's only serious weaknesses are the cheap plastic, especially for the thumbstick, and the weight (too light). Make a full metal version out of it, with some thumbstick material mods known from the PvP fighting game community, and it's the best. Well, at least for me.
> Lot's of HN (and "social" media) commenters in this world evidently are; nothing ironic about it.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it's ironic that the one guy providing these consumer-friendly features is considered anathema by many of the people clamoring for those features.
You, yourself even mention downthread that you'd otherwise be interested in the M64 Pro controller, but won't consider it. I guess I'm just trying to steer the hate-train into a somewhat reasonable discussion, but I guess people are more interested in making quippy one-liners.
This might be quippy but killing people isn't consumer friendly. Weapons companies inevitably will kill innocent people, if that's the line people draw for not dong business with someone, it hardly seems ironic, it's just having different moral standards.
Comparing a run-of-the-mill defense contractor to a serial rapist and murderer is certainly up there in the most unhinged justifications that I've seen on HN.
> So you know, either go all in and live like you mean it or stop pointing fingers at only very select individuals.
Careful. You're one step away from playing out the "Yet you participate in society. Curious!" meme. Besides, many people who are not in the Anduril fan club already boycott Microsoft for their ethical transgressions.
You can't use that meme argument at the beginning and mention that it is perfectly possible to boycott the other company at the end. The whole point of the meme is that participating in society is unavoidable, right?
And I don't think you can use "one step away from" a meme arguments at all. Pattern matching to a cartoon is not a great tool for this in the first place, and once you've acknowledged that the pattern doesn't even match, what's the point?
> If we’re gonna go for a witch hunt then we better hack off Microsoft’s head as well, for instance, since even their Xbox controllers are used in military subs.
I don’t think the parent comment was trying to equate the two, but rather pushing the argument to its logical extreme to test show that the reasoning doesn’t hold consistently across cases. Whether they made a convincing argument is separate.
Run-of-the-mill. Ya know, a normal perpetuator of war profiteering. I mean he's your standard enabler of civilian bombing. Simply an average propagandist. Just a regular guy!
I guarantee you can't name one thing that Anduril is doing that is uniquely evil among defense contractors, because you don't actually know what you're talking about. You're just repeating quippy reddit talking points because Luckey is a known "bad guy".
Yeah I don't really like Luckey, or what I've heard from him anyways. But in the run up to launch the Chromatic, it became pretty clear that this guy, for whatever reason, is really passionate about gameboy. I have been less impressed with the other emulator/fpga machines. the chromatic is solid though.
eltondegeneres · · focus · HN ↗
Their previous console had an edition made of the same metal as Anduril's lethal drones.
[1]: <a href="https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/12/site-news-why-we-wont-be-covering-modretro-products-moving-forward" rel="nofollow">https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/12/site-news-why-we-... [2]: <a href="https://kotaku.com/modretro-anduril-chromatic-attack-drone-metal-luckey-2000654868" rel="nofollow">https://kotaku.com/modretro-anduril-chromatic-attack-drone-m...
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zuzululu · · focus · HN ↗
dabluecaboose · · focus · HN ↗
It's ironic, in another world HN commenters would be lauding Luckey and ModRetro for all these virtues.
spankibalt · · focus · HN ↗
Lot's of HN (and "social" media) commenters in this world evidently are; nothing ironic about it.
It's just many people have a radically different set of ethics which, once they become principles, can't be easily, or at all, compromised on. And just to be fair, it's not just the what, but the how (which extends not just to Luckey & Friends, but to Anduril & Friends).
munk-a · · focus · HN ↗
spankibalt · · focus · HN ↗
ModRetro produces one thing I do have an interest in. A partly aluminium-cast version of the, to me, most ergonomic gamepad made so far: the classic trimaran-style N64 controller. But that marriage ain't gonna happen. And that goes for every other (future) product of theirs as well.
qup · · focus · HN ↗
spankibalt · · focus · HN ↗
Certainly one of the most devisive controller designs, but the lack of two thumbsticks is precisely what I like about it. The pad centers one thumbstick and the trigger on opposite sides of the "main hull", with the rest of the inputs divided along two (remappable) zones, i. e. the outriggers. I have never held a controller in my hand with better ergonomics and holding adaptability. Even the size is just right for my hands.
It's the only pad that ever made FPS games on a console a joy to play for me; put in two analog sticks and you fuck with that formula. It's only serious weaknesses are the cheap plastic, especially for the thumbstick, and the weight (too light). Make a full metal version out of it, with some thumbstick material mods known from the PvP fighting game community, and it's the best. Well, at least for me.
zuzululu · · focus · HN ↗
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dabluecaboose · · focus · HN ↗
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it's ironic that the one guy providing these consumer-friendly features is considered anathema by many of the people clamoring for those features.
You, yourself even mention downthread that you'd otherwise be interested in the M64 Pro controller, but won't consider it. I guess I'm just trying to steer the hate-train into a somewhat reasonable discussion, but I guess people are more interested in making quippy one-liners.
orangedog · · focus · HN ↗
edent · · focus · HN ↗
Isn't it strange that commentors focus on the other, less palatable, aspect of his life?
As the meme goes, "you do not, under any circumstances, 'gotta hand it to them.'"
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spankibalt · · focus · HN ↗
Careful. You're one step away from playing out the "Yet you participate in society. Curious!" meme. Besides, many people who are not in the Anduril fan club already boycott Microsoft for their ethical transgressions.
ToValueFunfetti · · focus · HN ↗
And I don't think you can use "one step away from" a meme arguments at all. Pattern matching to a cartoon is not a great tool for this in the first place, and once you've acknowledged that the pattern doesn't even match, what's the point?
dosisking · · focus · HN ↗
Sounds like a great idea! I'm all for it
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nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
Nevermind that he literally was equating the two and explicitly says so.
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foco_tubi · · focus · HN ↗
nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
Sadly, this is just an average online take.
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