One thing I love about First Light is the unabashed product placement. Even more than the films, Fleming's novels were basically affluence fantasies. He'd spend pages describing what it's like to own a Rolex for people who likely never will. Simulated watch shopping should absolutely be in the game.

So, did basically everyone in games journalism have to work through the holiday weekend to make the world’s most disrespectful deadline?

The humor in Lego Batman is all over the place. I get sneaking adult jokes into kids media, but doing an extended bit from American Psycho? The fuck? It’s like a bad Scary Movie gag.

konami should bring back bloody roar

Literally appeared on a podcast this week to discuss all the ways Xbox steps on their own dick time and again. They just can't help themselves. Couldn't make it 72 hours before announcing Xbox Max or whatever. @huggablehipster.bsky.social youtu.be/coY2Sx6Dgs4?...

Three albums of retail music.

Brooklyn dog with Friday energy.

The new Punisher special or whatever it’s supposed to be just cuts right to chase by having a psychotic street gang murder a dog in the first minute. Lowest form of slop.

This was a really fun chat about the ups and downs of Xbox, the challenges facing mainstream gaming coverage, and my unhealthy obsession with Towerfall. My dog only interrupted once! Thanks to @huggablehipster.bsky.social for inviting me to soapbox for a while!

Now in print and online - you can read what I spent months working on. I talked to key developers behind Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona, Metaphor, and Sea of Stars. About the “turn-based reniassance,” if it really came put of nowhere, and what’s next gameinformer.com/feature/2026...

Shit like this is always attributed to a vague board or council or just the brand itself because no self respecting person would ever put their name on it. Or, frankly, nobody wrote it. It was probably just AI generated at the behest of Bezos and published.

Having finished Mixtape, there’s a couple of solid emotional beats and creative sequences that hit. They’re just undercut every time the main character speaks in her Patrick Bateman-meets-Wayne’s World affectation.

When I spoke to Takashi Tezuka back in 2023, he really emphasized that it was a time for Nintendo brass to pass the torch to a younger generation of devs who grew up with the franchise and had their own fresh perspectives. Zero ego there.

The new Star Fox character designs sure are different.

We really don't need any more of these shitty movie reappraisal trends. ...unless it's me getting 18 years worth of vindication for defending Quantum of Solace.

I screened Mortal Kombat II the better part of a year ago when it was still set for October 2025. I really liked it, and sucked to sit on that for so long. It's such a supremely stupid movie (as it should be), and is clearly an apology for how much MK 2021 whiffed the concept.

Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.

Long story short: Saros is a much more casual-friendly take on Returnal. The combat is easier. The progression is more overt and plentiful. The story and atmosphere are less oppressive and isolating. It fucking rocks, but isn’t exactly better. A good complimentary piece to its predecessor.

This was a really fun conversation to have with @huggablehipster.bsky.social. We talk shit about a lot of things and even like a handful of others!

I hate Vampire Crawlers for what it’s done to me.

You ever try to code switch at work and fail? 😂

We reviewed an 18-page report detailing the second-by-second surveillance of a trans woman. They followed her as she went in and out of the bathroom, even though she posed 'no threat." It's one of a bunch of new details in this deep dive that @robertsilverman.bsky.social and I took for @wired.com

There’s something very funny about how ‘For All Mankind’ has a main character body count in the league of ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ yet still posits itself as hopecore. Wiping out entire families — bloodlines — in service of a shiny alt history where Artemis II is like taking an Uber.

Mamdani: If the NYC apartment you keep solely for bi-yearly affairs with your mistress costs over 5 million dollars, you gotta pay more tax NYPD officer who’s been on disability since 2006 because he stomped too hard on a lady during an arrest and fucked up his ankle: This is a travesty

OpenAI: We’re burning money like the Joker. A miracle needs to happen for us to turn a profit Microsoft: Please please use our AI systems, we’re teetering on the edge here Anthropic: I wonder what’ll kill us first: lawsuits, regulations or model collapse Media and universities: AI is here to stay

She swung at a Bond theme twice, and missed both times. youtu.be/_XCPoa_bp7Q?...

This looks like the dumbest shit ever and I am overjoyed. youtu.be/Xt4X4FvXk2A?...

If you are so paralyzed by an indecision that you need a chatbot to tell you what coffee drink to order, you probably need to check into a rehab. Also we’re gonna need a rehab for chatbot addiction. Where you have to like relearn colors and how to do laundry.

Games I exhausted on PC, Switch, then PlayStation welcoming Hades II to the club.

No full review of Mouse: P.I. For Hire, but from the first few hours, it sort of feels like a silly blend of OG Doom gunplay and MachineGames titles like Indiana Jones — or more specifically, the enclosed urban exploration of Starbreeze's The Darkness. And it looks like Cuphead. I like that.

I found the Pragmata girl more creepy than endearing. The story was written on a bar napkin. The gameplay is great. Give her some shoes, take away her vape. I'll play three of these, thanks. That's about all the energy I've got for this online schism.

Super happy to be back in @rollingstone.com for the second time this week. This story was a great time to research and write. This is Mario’s world. You’re just living in it. www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-g...

I don’t think underrated or under appreciated necessarily applies, but I feel like we should talk about Super Mario Bros. Wonder more. My pupils dilate like dimes every time I boot up this game.

Hey did everyone see Clavicular get his ass beat after he challenged a cancer survivor leftist to a jujitsu match, who said as he was choking him out ‘this is for all the bullshit I gotta watch on my fucking feed’… we need more of this not more podcasts

Also, since I’ve been getting some calls and messages, I should clarify that this was a freelance assignment. I’m still super unemployed and open to work 🙂

I’ve thankfully never had to go to Truth Social but I was checking some stupid detail and noticed that the posts are called “truths.” This means its paid media ad posts are called “Sponsored Truths.” JFC.

Almost 4 months to the day since my last story a staffer, I'm happy to be back in Rolling Stone. Last week I flew to Japan to speak with Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO, Chris Meledandri, about #TheSuperMarioGalaxyMovie. Read it @rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

Recently some psycho has been poisoning dogs in my girlfriend's home town. Mind you, this is the town where some McMoron instantly narced on Luigi Mangione, but a serial killer of dogs has kept operating for weeks without a trace. If only there were a pretend reward for info on this, too.

This might actually be the new dumbest shit I have ever read in my life.

I obviously assumed that Marty Supreme wasn’t just a basic sports drama but I didn’t realize that multiple people had to be brutally murdered for this kid to play ping pong.

“Preboarding” is a bullshit word. It’s still boarding, just exclusive to babies and army.

Okay tell me how the hell the TSA dude at SFO clocked that I was wearing a t-shirt from Peter Parker’s high school under my hoodie?!

Handing out free water to thirsty travelers that will be forcibly taken from them at security is on brand for America.

I can’t let you do that, Star Fucks.

It’s genuinely wild how little marketing teams care about maintaining even a single surprise in movies these days.

Well, two of them of were already much more beloved by me at release.

Tokyo bound for my first big assignment in a Very Long Time.