vertical shmups have names like "Understated Sadness" and sidescrolling shmups have names like "Glorbian"

If you haven't already seen it, a fun lil story about a big CRT: bsky.app/profile/tina...

My top 10 list for 2025 has come to a close. Thanks for reading! 2025 was one of the most difficult years of my life. For the 2nd time in my life I moved to a new continent and started learning a new language. I am finally starting to get my bearings, and I‘m excited for everything 2026 will bring!

I’d like to count down the rest of 2025 with some quick thoughts on my top 10 games that released this calendar year (I know, unprecedented!) Starting today I’ll post two games a day until the 31st. Starting with…

I never thought I’d see it happen!! A true Christmas miracle ᒄ₍⁽ˆ⁰ˆ⁾₎ᒃ♪♬ If I can’t make this take over the Housemarque office, I’ve failed as a person and a gamer.

One of my really irritating professional opinions is I think you should never refer to anything you make as "content" or yourself as a "content creator." Be more specific about exactly what it is that you do. Me? I'm a writer. And I don't write "content"!

Saros up for preorder on Amazon ($69.99) buff.ly/Sr4hLfy Walmart buff.ly/6zUAXRN Best Buy buff.ly/DR3aha0 GameStop buff.ly/DioqbLi VGP buff.ly/Rh2DGGO PNP buff.ly/sxV280J #ad

Like every year, many people (myself included) are baffled by some of the nominees for the Game Awards. What I find strange is that discussions often fixate on semantics (e.g. what is an ‘indie game’) I think it is better to start with the question “why is this a separate category to begin with?”

Well…maybe just one more I can’t believe I’m playing a new Lumines. I don’t know how this series has managed to survive for going on 2 decades, and how each entry continues to feel fresh, but boy am I happy it does (Debated which platform to get it on for a long time, but portable just felt right)

Okay, I may not have time to play it right now, but I learned that the localization for this one was done by @84play.bsky.social , so I had to show my support!

Bought one more…to be fair, these are both games I already own several times over, so they don’t really count, right…?

If anyone is curious about what I’ve been working on lately, I make a brief appearance in this recent blog talking about the enemies in SAROS! Check it out for the game info, or just to see some stylish hats. housemarque.com/news/2025/11...

Okay, maybe just one more… It’s not every day we get a brand new Katamari game, and the soundtrack this time seems to be on point.

TWO WEEKS UNTIL DEMONSCHOOL

With the amount my backlog has grown over the last couple weeks, buying more games at this point can only be described as fiscally irresponsible, but there are some games for which you just need to be there Day 1. Just played through the start and saw a lot of familiar names in the opening credits!

Keeper is quite the looker. Might not come across fully in a photo, but it is definitely a showpiece for and good HDR display.

WHEN THERE’S TREASURE BEHIND THE WATERFALL: Oh wow. Yes, very clever! Waterfall treasure! No one’s ever done that before. Lazy jackass WHEN THERE’S NO TREASURE BEHIND THE WATERFALL: Wow. Too stuck-up to put treasure there huh? Too much of a fucking ICONOCLAST for that? Piece of shit. FUCK you

In addition to celebrating the gameplay reveal trailer, we’re also celebrating the PlayStation 30th anniversary at the Housemarque offices

Revealed in State of Play: Saros launches March 20, 2026 on PS5. Housemarque details its upcoming sci-fi shooter and an extended first look at gameplay: play.st/4mEue97

A new State of Play airs September 24. Tune in for 35+ minutes of reveals and news from PlayStation Studios and developers around the world: play.st/4mtkL4c

Preordered FFT on steam because I want to play with the new UI and VO but with the original sprite art, and PC is on the only platform where this might be possible (with mods, I mean.)

It’s been raining a lot recently, and my son has discovered the joy of puddles. The other day on the way to the park we got sidetracked, and he spent almost 20 minutes just splashing around in this giant one. One of my favourite things about being a parent is remembering the joy of simple play.

#RandomGameSaturday I am happy that FROM found a successful niche, but I do miss the various weird experimental games they used to put out. E.g Onore no Shinzuru Michi wo Yuke, a Cursor 10-like puzzle game where you ‘record’ runs through a maze, then collaborate with your past self to proceed.

I got a new Samsung monitor at work and it is boggling my mind how bad the UX is. Every day is a new layer of UI hell. There are no fewer than 4 distinct menu systems, each with a different visual style and method of interface. Some scroll vertically, some horizontally. Chaos.

Dang, I’m really bummed I missed the switch port of brandish for the PC-98. (it was removed from sale yesterday, presumably because it included a version of MS-DOS). I hope they can sort out the issue and get it back on sale.

Guy Savage nightmare game confirmed for Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater, developed by PlatinumGames. "returns in a fully reimagined version that captures the essence of the original while providing a fresh new look"

But they didn’t say which year….!!!

I love how over the years the excitement for Silksong has reached such a fever pitch that not only have that gotten too big for an Indie Direct, they are now so big they are just putting on their own Hollow Knight Direct.

he’s so real for this

I wonder if Sakurai was more inspired by Aliens or Dumb and Dumberer when he came up with the title Kirby Air Riders…

Steel Battalion (2002)

Release date! Release date! As announced this morning in ~Indie World Japan~ Demonschool is coming September 3rd! We have been working really hard on this. We hope you will enjoy it.

Wait, so they announced a ‘DX’ version of Atelier Ryza right after putting the original on sale… …and there is no upgrade path, or even any discount for owners of the original game…? I guess if the goal was to ensure that I never ever buy or play other Atelier game, mission accomplished??

Earthion and Ninja Gaiden: Rage Bound on the same day, and now a demo for Tanuki: Pon’s Summer…! We are eating well this year. But I still haven’t finished Bananza yet and my summer vacation ends tomorrow. Need more time! (● ˃̶͈̀ロ˂̶͈́)੭ꠥ⁾⁾

Just in time for #RandomGameSaturday (in some time zones at least) Rhythm Tengoku: The Best Plus! As much as I enjoyed this huge compilation of mini games from the first 3 titles, it wasn’t the same as something totally fresh All the more reason to be excited for the brand new RH coming next year

this is of course changing constantly but these are my top four pokemon as of right now

Wait hold on I'm confused, break this down for me one more time

PUNK ÄSS

Bitsummit 2025 - finished 👏 I'm a little emotional, I never expected such a lovely response. Very overwhelmed & inspired to make the best game we can. To the thousands of people who came by, got hats, took photos with Pon, played the game (some even waiting 2 hours to do so!). Thank you 🙏

Feeling homesick harder than ever this week. This will be the 1st BitSummit I miss since it began over a decade ago. It’s by far the most fun event I’ve ever attended. While the heat was rough, I loved the annual pilgrimage out to Kyoto. Sadly the trip from Helsinki is a bit longer than from Osaka.

As an appreciator of quality denim, something I like from the DK Bananza character renders is the attention to detail on Pauline’s jeans. Selvedge denim has a specific edge on its inner seam, often referred to as the ‘selvedge ID’, since it is unique to the brand. Here is Evisu’s, for example:

Time for #RandomGameSaturday Dororo AKA Blood Will Tell for the PS2 Average action game, but it attempts some interesting stuff around the body part recovery concept. Apparently it was one of the first games worked on by Kazuya Takahashi, the recently-revealed director of Donkey Kong Bananza!

Imagine a world where the big game companies' ambitions went only as far as making enough money to pay people well and then make another game, and then do it again.

After half a year here I’ve finally managed to unpack enough to get most of my setup functional. Eventually I want to switch the Dreamcast to VGA to free up the scart input for PS2 (currently using composite)

if you see this, quote with the last 4 games you played!

Seeing this reminded me that there are ton of great games on the GameCube beyond just the 1st party stuff. Since we got SC2 I am really hoping we get some of those too Viewtiful Joe is a great example. Hidden gem, not available on modern systems, art style would look fantastic at higher res on S2

(beepbeepboop) Sam, it's me. Stuffed Crustman.

Picked up Splatoon 3 again to check out the Switch 2 update (it’s good) and I gotta say, the Splatoon lobby is the place to be for Pride celebrations

Been playing some Super Mario 3D World using the Switch 2 GameCube controller. My hypothesis was correct that the GC’s gated analog stick works well with the 8-way movement of 3D World. It is also just a joy to revisit after the Switch 2 patch.