Here's a Katamari music video for anyone who missed it during this past Monday's FORT90 TV, as well as for anyone who needs a break from the current discourse (via youtu.be/vlZiUlleC-k)

I once tried to organize a 9/11 viewing "party" at @wonderville.nyc of my fave adjacent media (was gonna go all out, like getting a massive cake that resembled the Twin Towers) but it never came together for "reasons"… anyhow, I would have been wearing this shirt (via twitter.com/puppycelebri...)

Never forget...

Am also thinking about how the Dreamcast turns 26 years old today, holy shit.

Nintendo Symphony only happens to be low-key one of the absolute greatest video game commercials of all time, and turns out it can be found on a DVD, no biggie...

I didn't have the bandwidth to promote it last Monday, so hopefully those who regularly tune into FORT90 TV caught @sixthtone.bsky.social's profile on the owner of the last arcade in a northeastern part of China (if not, the full video accompanies their article; see www.sixthtone.com/news/1017537)

Highlights from yesterday's TOKYO NIGHTS + THE LAST GAME CENTERS opening & reception, part one (part two is happening today, BTW/FYI)…

I know PAX West just happened, but I didn't go, and instead have pics from AnimeNYC from the previous weekend to share; first are some cosplayers…

Am mostly posting this here as a reminder to show the entirety of this news story about the clusterfuck that is McDonald's Japan's Pokemon Happy Meal card set during FORT90 TV in two weeks; this coming Monday is FORT90 FILM CLUB (see wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...), after that is OPEN VCR NIGHT

TFW you tell colleagues about something that happened a whiles ago that no one else covered, so good thing you wrote a news story about it, but for an outlet that no longer exists & the parent company's latest owner decided to kill the archives to save literal pennies (& Wayback Machine can't help)

TONIGHT! Broadcasting from @wonderville.nyc it's FORT90 TV! And among the seemingly unknown media we'll explore. unless you're the type who also follows @attractmode.bsky.social, is this vid that has 11 million views on YouTube; stream starts at 8:00PM EST… www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...

I honestly cannot recall the last time I purchased a game on day one via Steam (sorry, but I almost always wait for a sale)

Fun-fact: this past Monday was also the day before my SIX YEAR ANNIVERSARY of me first showing video game-adjacent "things" on the behalf of @wonderville.nyc; tho back then it was in person, was called something else, and was exclusively movies (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/cinev...)

Another video game-adjacent "thing" from Monday's BEST OF FORT90 TV was the JennyFax 2020 S/S Collection (via attract-mode-collective.tumblr.com/post/1888133...); took 3 replays over 4+ years to cultivate an audience that finally got the appeal, but dammit, it finally happened

As previously noted, tonight's @wonderville.nyc broadcast (again www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...) is a showcase of classic cuts, and anyone who has kept track knows that I'm been slowly but surely replaying No Continue Kid; we're finally up to the 90s, when Virtua Fighter 2 reigned supreme

Tonight is another "BEST OF" broadcast (see wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...), which as one might have guessed is a focus on classic cuts, tho before I start promoting that, I should maybe share this trailer to the upcoming film adaption of Exit 8 from last week's vanilla edition of FORT90 TV…

Not sure what it says about me getting all my breaking news from UmJammer comics these days

When a PaRappa X UmJammer comic is how you first hear about a celebrity death

I once again have video game-adjacent content for my Twitch stream that's associated with a video game bar, aka @wonderville.nyc (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...), big surprise; because it was so popular last time, I've got another deep-dive into the world of hardcore Tetris players…

In the end, they apologized in advance for wasting my time. Said phone call with SF was, as promised, a joke; it was clear the company representative with zero product or industry knowledge did not hear whatever stupid biz buzzword that was hot on LinkedIn that week, so I was deemed unworthy. [5/5]

I then learned that I was not the only candidate that they tried to champion for; whatever they had to say about whoever else that they themselves would be working with, said HR goons had their own highly arbitrary standards, hence why couldn't even give me advice on how to fake it to make it… [4/5]

It was stated the key to getting hired was to pass a phone interview with the parent company's hiring manager in SF. As unprofessional as it may sound, frustration begets honesty, and they made it clear that they knew I would not pass the test cuz said HR dept was "absolutely moronic"… [3/5]

I spoke with everyone, including the senior manager. We immediately gelled and despite just meeting me, they were confident that I would be a key asset to the team. Yet by the end I was told "As much as we would LOVE to hire you, even though you are EXACTLY what we need, it is not our call"… [2/5]

This story about how the developers of Candy Crush are being replaced by AI, specifically those that the company's HR department views as being troublemakers, warrants one of my own: Years ago I interviewed for a senior game designer role at their NYC studio, no idea if it still exist or not… [1/5]

In case you missed it, after a two year hiatus, Classics Of Game IS BACK! Number 175 was posted three days ago & number 178 went live three hours ago (see www.youtube.com/@ClassicsOfG...)

And a friendly reminder that I have explored The Flying Luna Clipper quite extensively, over at the blog (see medium.com/attract-mode...)

While not directly related to video games per say, anyone with even a passing interested in nerd culture, ESPECIALLY as it pertains to Japan, owes it to themselves to see this legit watershed work (I also have episodes in 720p, perhaps the highest quality copies anywhere)

BTW/FYI…

Many Americans are conflicted about July 4th, given how fucked this country has become, tho not me, cuz for the past 5 years it's been the anniversary of when I was introduced to the now defunct radical editing collective known as racer trash; this from the very first thing of theirs I saw, id4.mp4…

Last night's FORT90 FILM CLUB stream (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort-...) included Cremaster 3, which was a chance to mention how I used to teach game design, specifically how one student was such a Matthew Barney stan he made tributes in LittleBigPlanet (via www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGz...) …

Tonight's FORT90 TV broadcast from @wonderville.nyc (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort-...) includes another training video, a rather infamous one for the now defunct Game Crazy, which tried to encourage sales by framing it like a televised competition, replete with sportscasters

The account "animal crossing pics" was too busy saying "TRANS RIGHTS" to identify the proper entry (the original Animal Crossing, from 2001), and such mistakes in such instances are totally acceptable in my book

Old news, I know, yet I still felt the need to highlight the best hat guy whatever tweets are called here And to those wondering how Keighley could greenlight this: do you honestly believe the lone "business as usual" holdout who still platforms AAA pubs & sugarcoats their bullshit actually cares?

I'd make the joke that they actually received superior hardware, but it wouldn't work, and here's why: that's a PlayStation Portable, not a Vita

Two things: 1. I assume it's touched upon in various books about the industry as a whole, tho is there a dedicated tome re: the death of video game retail in the US, specifically Gamestop's cornering the market & making the experience dogshit? 2. It's Staten Island, is anyone seriously surprised?

It’s ten minutes till the Switch 2‘s midnight launch; am I waiting in line to score a system? Nope. Instead I’m at home, contemplating if I should FINALLY eat the cookie I saved from the Switch 1's presser, which is legit the final memento of my days as a game journo…

Yes, tonight's edition of FORT90 TV broadcasting from @wonderville.nyc's corner of Twitch (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...) will once again feature video game-adjacent content, and yes they are still making MADs (see knowyourmeme.com/memes/mad) starring Ronald McDonald

As a total side: so you can now [whatever retweeting is called around here] posts that contain YouTube embeds & they're just there, without having to click on the original to see them? Has it always been this way? Whatever the case, that's yet another thing the new place has over the old…

Is Edge the last gaming publication that one can find at the newsstand (which is another endangers species) today? If so, I'm glad the word of video game print journalism managed to hang in there enough for this cover to see the light of day…

K, this one is a tad bit more recent…

Old news I know, but it still makes me chuckle (and these days, it's more important than ever to have a good laugh any chance one gets)

Apologies for the lack of update (I honestly thought pivoting to a new platform would be a fresh start & I'd hit the ground running), but, ya know, there's just a lot going on…

For obvious reasons, been considering options as they pertain to used games more & more as of late, which led me to a store that's also going after the ASMR demo, which of course I have to feature on tonight's FORT90 TV broadcast from @wonderville.nyc (see www.wonderville.nyc/events/fort9...)

I sincerely hope whoever made this at IGN gets a bonus (via www.youtube.com/watch?v=p83M...)

I know this is last minute, but if you're in NYC, tonight is a screening with the director in attendance of that movie in which a dude adds Freddy Krueger-esque blades to his Power Glove I showed a whiles ago via @wonderville.nyc … (see ticketing.useast.veezi.com/purchase/560...)

Today was my 48th birthday. And what does a manga focused librarian (aka the @mangalibrarian.bsky.social, who therefore knows quite a few things about books that pertain to Japan) give her husband who is a video game focused archivist (who has quite a few Japanese titles in his possession)? Well…

Not sure if I've previously discussed (IMHO) THE greatest resource for retro gaming enthusiasts on YouTube, tho the "you don't have to constantly buy the newest thing" advice is something everyone should listen to, ESPECIALLY those so worked up over the Switch 2's higher costs…

If you're in the mood for something completely different, you can watch Minecraft: The Story of Mojang right now on Twitch (see www.twitch.tv/greatsphynx), perhaps @2playerproductions.bsky.social's finest work, too bad it was basically buried upon release… but that's a story for someone else to tell

Re: the primarily topic of conversation over the past week in the realm of gaming, the Switch 2, much of the discourse has been beyond infuriating/obnoxious/toxic So this tweet from @redfieldcooper.bsky.social (that @garbageday.email highlighted) is a nice lil respite…

Overall the Switch 2 Direct has me super excited for things to come, even tho the 3rd party end had a distinct lack of any word of a forthcoming port/localization of Fuuraiki 5 (I discovered the existence of the series during my most recent trip to Japan & have been obsessed ever since)