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).
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...
nonethewiser · · 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 ↗
zuzululu · · focus · HN ↗