So very tired, but I couldn't let 2025 end without taking stock of Microsoft's embarrassing treatment of gaming, Windows, and indeed human beings while it chases the AI money train

Got an end-of-year recommendation list here for people with a refined gaming palate: www.pcgamer.com/games/i-play...

Ninja Gaiden Shadow DX is out! Enjoy this exclusive Game Boy game packed with pure ninja action... for the first time in color! Download at: www.marcrobledo.com/game-boy/nin... #YearOfTheNinja #NinjaGaiden #GameBoy #GameBoyColor #RomHacking

If you pay attention to any large industry long enough and follow it to its logical conclusion you eventually end up sounding like a communist even if you started off testing CPU case fans. youtu.be/cUrJVdF2me0?...

Merry Christmas, new versions of BigPEmu and BigInstinct are out now! There's a lot of new functionality in both releases, including support for BigMaster. This is a brand new multiplayer/matchmaking service!

More behind the scenes

So long, Substack! I've moved my newsletter, Kirk's Notes, to a new home with its own URL and everything. I wrote about that, along with some other plans for 2026: www.kirksnotes.com/p/new-home-n...

Who up widening they gyre

Bit more art from MSX Snatcher today. (Shot on Commodore 1701, composite)

Are you spending Saturday afternoon using automotive sound dampening panels to make your espresso machine quieter or are you normal

If you wanna be one of the last 30 people to sign up for @readonlymemo.com before I do a giveaway to celebrate hitting 3,000 subscribers, now's the time 👀👀 readonlymemo.com#/portal/sign...

4,000 words on the stage I haven't been able to stop playing for the last six years. Early dev screenshots, talk of tech challenges, five demo tracks embedded so you can hear the song's evolution. All the good stuff.

The most highly anticipated Saturn translation has arrived! Yes, Airs Adventure is out in English, just in time to liven the holidays!! Credits: @hitomi2500.bsky.social - Hacking @snowyaria.goodorevengreat.games - Translation @nichetopic.bsky.social - Graphics @blueskyrunner.bsky.social - QA

2025 was bad in all kinds of ways but it was, as ever, a good year for writing about videogames on @pcgamer.com. I spend as much time editing as writing, so here's a short thread of some work I'm proud to have helped shepherd this year! 1. @edgarallanbro.bsky.social on why Virtua Fighter endures

FLAT FUCK IS COMING TO TOWN!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS GATOR LOVERS!!

I say this with zero irony: if you are even tangentially a part of a retro video game community, it is your civic duty to push back against this company and shun anyone who doesn't. This is fascism tapping gently at the door and as soon as you let it in, it's going to invite its friends.

It's been a few weeks but I'm still thinking about this guy I fought in The Finals

Our Discorders answered the question, 'what if the games of 2025 were Simpsons stills?' Judge the results for yourself.

Tonight I watched the grindhouse film TOKYO GORE POLICE which I assume is more measured and respectable than whatever is currently happening in US politics

videogames

the only thing getting me through the week

Sorry but calling 2025 one of the best years for Google without focusing on how much worse it is making Search -- and every other part of the internet it touches -- is like declaring it a great year for the private equity company that bankrupted Toys R Us

We knew some people would be surprised by invoking cozy here, but that was intentional. PMA is absolutely a cozy hangout game, despite eschewing the stereotypical mechanics and aesthetic of the life sims that dominate the "genre"

Fast work! No rendering resolution options yet, but all very much nice-to-haves.

As part of our project to preserve the history of Sega Channel, we have recovered OVER 100 new Sega Channel ROMs, including the legendary lost game Garfield: Caught in the Act - The Lost Levels. Read more: gamehistory.org/segachannel/

One of my last and favorite interviews of the year. Ryuichi Nishizawa might be my hero? www.gamesradar.com/games/i-feel...

Rob Reiner was a great on every axis man. Awful, awful, awful. Absolute tragedy.

A beautuful thread about Rob Reiner.

If I hold onto these 2 sticks of DDR4 I have in storage I may be able to buy a house in San Francisco by spring

Hot off the presses, a new issue featuring a big step forward for Hikaru arcade emulation: Planet Harriers, Star Wars Racer Arcade, Brave Firefighters, and more!

Just another hideous day in the Bay

THEY'VE PUT ME ON THE POCKETSTATION COOP. I'M BEING RENDERED IN A 32 BY 32 GRID OF MONOCHROME PIXELS. THE BOYS BACK AT QUANTICO SAID THEY'RE GOING TO RELOCATE ME TO A "DOKO DEMO ISSYO" UNTIL THEY CAN GET THIS STRAIGHTENED OUT.

Aw man. Vividly remember him as the villain in The Mask too. Played a great heavy.

Bro these Google AI-generated headlines are DOGSHIT

How amazing is this? VGHF - found a never-before-seen NES prototype - obtained the rights - finished the game using period-accurate tools - is releasing it physically through iam8bit as a charity fundraiser.

Milano's Odd Job Collection, our revival of a gorgeous pixel art PS1 game from 1999, is now out on all platforms!

I wrote a story to which you can reply in comment "Hot diggity dog!" and be scientifically accurate

Finally saw One Battle After Another (amazing in IMAX!) and couldn't stop thinking about @chrislivingston.bsky.social saying Sean Penn's walk was Oscar-worthy all by itself and he was right dammit

My Skate Story review's up: "It's an esoteric art installation and interactive concept album navigated via powerslide and axel grind: a mesmerizing ode to the miserable occupants of an uncannily familiar underworld." www.pcgamer.com/games/sports...

At the end of another brutal year for games, I'm soliciting input to expand my guide to getting laid off in the games industry. If YOU have experienced a traumatizing layoff that you would like to see (anonymously) represented by a new venomously sarcastic bullet point, my DMs are open!

Kinda wild that Windows only lets you set custom scaling per-monitor if you use its 25% increment dropdown. Is the math so hard that a 15% scaling factor on one monitor would make my computer explode?

The Dinosaur Planet Recomp featured in ROM earlier this year just hit a big milestone release and is now playable start to finish! - 60 fps support - Better modding support - Compatible with the community's Dinomod Enhanced patch […]

Me trying to summon the skill to play Sektori, 20 years after Geometry Wars

It took me awhile to sort out my site's ~fediverse~ feed but I finally got it cleaned up thanks to the generous @snarfed.org! Here on Bluesky you can now follow @readonlymemo.com directly :D

tfw you go to hook up a new monitor and the DisplayPort cable is already in the right orientation

New post! Last month I got to see Gothicmade, the infamous mecha anime that’s never been shown outside of Japanese theaters. Of course I had to talk about it…a lot. Check out my thoughts on the movie, the Five Star Stories, and the pleasures and pain of art left unseen now!!

The worse Google gets, the more I find myself longing for a more primal internet experience: and the joy of clicking a link when you didn't know what awaited on the other side.

Did I killscreen Sektori