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Locked in for every category. Six to one.

SISTERS, ATTENTION TO THE SKY PLEASE 🗣️ We have been nominated at the 2025 PS Blog Game of the Year Awards for: ✨ Best Story ✨ Best Art Direction ✨ Best Independent Game If you loved 1000xRESIST, please do vote for us as it'd mean a lot to our small studio! 💙 blog.playstation.com/2025/12/01/p...

I can see this winding up a more borked and confusing hardware launch than Xbox One. Supposedly an insight to the “future of Xbox” where “everything is an Xbox” & you can “Play Anywhere”. Yet this is the furthest thing from an Xbox they’ve ever made, & Xbox aren’t correcting errors.

So does this mean it can be my 2025 GOTY as well? Long overdue and couldn't be happier I get an excuse to experience it all over again

We have some upcoming news that we are VERY excited to share next week. Thank you for making the future of 1000xRESIST so bright. Hekki grace. 💙 In the meantime, here's a little sneak preview of what's to come...

The difference between THIS bad-news cycle for Xbox compared to others is that it's more about the brand itself now, which seems not as fixable as their previous lack-of-great-games problems. The damage now – exacerbated by retailers cutting bait on Xbox – feels unrecoverable. (1/2)

Not that Xbox and Microsoft have given me a litany of misleading quotes and broken promises and countless reasons to not trust them but - oh wait, what’s that?

One of the things that has me curious given the rush to cancel Game Pass is about how significant the attrition rate was expected internally at MS. Any time you change a service offering or increase pricing, there is an expectation you'll price out some of your customers.

*maniacally laughs*

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

Reading this considering how abhorrent the pricing on those ROG Ally handhelds’ll be:

For Mouthwashing's 1-year anniversary, Lost In Cult, @wrongorgan.bsky.social & @cr-games.bsky.social proudly announce Mouthwashing: Design Works – a premium book documenting the design & development of this cult horror hit. Launches Tuesday 30 September, 6pm BST. www.lostincult.co.uk/mouthwashing

Play. This. Goddamn. Game.

Israel is using Microsoft Azure to store recordings of every phone call made by Palestinians in the occupied territories, then using AI to analyze the contents and select targets. Microsoft is (dubiously) claiming ignorance.

BREAKING: Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News. This news arrives weeks after a mass layoff in which Xbox canceled several other big titles.

Excellent interview from @samhallofgames.bsky.social w/ @remysiu.com Truly insightful conversation & thrilled that my questions got through to Remy, and got *great* answers - even the VO offer I submitted as a joke… or, was it? 👀 Just cementing my adoration for 1000xResist & @sunsetvisitor.studio

It’s been about 7 months since I played through 1000xResist & I’ve thought about it often. But somehow a random wave of emotion just hit me out of nowhere tonight while listening to the OST in a way that it hasn’t since my playthrough ended. Take that as a sign a replay is due @sunsetvisitor.studio

The big day is finally here: www.ThisWeekinVideogames.com is officially live! It's 100% ad-free and you can sign up for free to get access to our news, reviews and previews, or become a supporter to get more exclusive content.

NEW: In March, Xbox boss Phil Spencer was so impressed by the demo of a Zenimax game codenamed Blackbird that Matt Booty had to tell him to stop playing so the meeting could continue. Yesterday, they canceled it. Inside one of Xbox's most shocking cancellations: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

There's something to be said about projects going over time & budget, meandering, struggling, and eventually the need to make a decision. Fine. But let's also note: the management who allowed projects to struggle like that for so long, to get to this place -- remain in heartily-paid work today.

Microsoft never should have been allowed to acquire Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard-King, it should have been blocked for the clear monopoly making move it was, and anyone with pattern recognition could've seen this coming, because voraciously acquisition always comes with mass layoffs.

Disgusting

BREAKING: Mass layoffs at Xbox have started. Candy Crush maker King told employees that it is cutting 10% of staff, or 200 jobs. Bethesda's Europe offices were hit too. U.S. offices are expected to inform people this morning. More to come shortly www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Microsoft's own dedicated handheld is essentially canceled as the company focuses on Xbox's new software platform, according to The Verge (via Tom Warren). Next-gen Xbox still coming but hardware from PC makers like ASUS likely also be considered next-gen Xboxes. #Xbox

Had the pleasure of being one of @samhallofgames.bsky.social’s first guests on his new interview podcast. Great conversation (where we found we share more in common than just a first name), and lamented it was over so soon. Top bloke, and look forward to seeing more from him in the future.

Oof

Ending a showcase with Black Ops 7 when there’s tonnes of other first party stuff to show and see updates from is the most phoned-in, boring, & predictable move I’ve seen from Xbox in a while. Show lacked momentum the whole way through, and that last trailer sucked the air out of the whole thing.

Set in an impossible future, experience ALLMOTHER's memories and uncover her lies. 💠 Relive a 1000-year-old memory 💠 Reclaim a 1000-year-old legacy 💠 RESIST a 1000-year-old lie The hyper-cinematic narrative adventure #1000xRESIST is available now: 💠 bit.ly/1KXRSteam

He’s back again with a serpentine vengeance. And by he, I mean me. Give the thing I did a like, if you’d please. youtu.be/4Bk3rCA3foo?...

Play Return of the Obra Dinn you uncultured swines

If you’d have told me a few years ago that I’d be able to write guides, and then script, capture & provide VO for an IGN video, I’d have called you insane. Can’t thank the @ign.com team enough for the opportunities & their continued faith. One step closer to Beyond! youtu.be/J50gG6K54cA?...

As a kid, I used to ask why the Nazis filmed and photographed every atrocity in detail. Like, it’s clearly horrible shit. And I’d always get told, “They were actually proud of it.” I honestly never understood that, and yet here we are and here that is

I’ve championed Jake Schreier since Robot and Frank, but #Thunderbolts is a level up. Top-tier Marvel. He and the entire creative team deserve all their flowers. Such a strong, resonant film that truly does harken back to what is best about Marvel - their characters.

Xbox is increasing prices globally. This is due to Trump's tariffs and the global macroeconomic environment. Here's why 🧵: 1. Xbox consoles are manufactured in China, and subject to a 145% tariff when entering the US. Some Xbox games are manufactured in Mexico.

This PS5 + Astro Bot bundle is probably the best current gen console deal you can find right now. Who knows how long it'll last 😅 ▪️$449 for disc-based ▪️$399 for digital ➡️ direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-co... #PS5

Hey, I’m doing another thing. Feel very fortunate to be able to cover this one, as you might expect.

Ghost of Yōtei comes to PS5 on October 2. New trailer introduces the Yōtei Six — gang members Atsu has sworn to hunt down: play.st/3GkxBT4

@expedition33.bsky.social is not only a watershed moment for the industry when it needed it most, but a watershed moment for me - finally making me fall in love with its take on a genre I’ve actively avoided my whole life. It’s a staggering accomplishment on every level.

Microsoft is the real offender here, but anyone who writes even a news post about the copilot "AI" Quake 'tech demo' without describing how it actually functions (or fails to) it is is doing unpaid PR work.

I hosted Unlocked this week alongside @brazyazn.bsky.social while Ryan is out on vacation. A quiet week for Xbox news but we still had plenty to discuss ☺️ youtu.be/1YLWQ9wDcMU?...

Recency bias, coming in hot blah blah blah that’s one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen

I have covered presidential politics for 40 years. This was the most juvenile display by a President and Vice President I have ever seen. Other presidents treated their enemies with more respect. This is a low point and a dark day for the US. Totally embarrassing.