The crew talk about the recent Microsoft layoffs, new games Restory and Rhythm Heaven Groove, and a bunch of classics including Resident Evil 2 and Twilight Princess. youtu.be/xF-gnQY_9l4

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apropos of nothing, here's an old blog post i did about piracy and when/whether it's ok and things like that when the people who make the games aren't even getting to keep their jobs, far less profit from a game's success, pirate those suckaz tbh www.joewintergreen.com/one-time-a-g...

#blutoid the dead horse has thoroughly been beaten, but this was always a reason why digital-only buyers should care about the death of physical games. Digital pricing is only going to get less competitive than it already is once they have a complete monopoly on sales.

The Titanic received at least six distinct messages over the ship's wireless from others in the region warning of heavy ice sheets and icebergs as it sailed towards disaster; but for various reasons they were ignored

So they got Rare’d. Idea after idea once they were bought that Microsoft rejected time and again because they don’t know what they want. They are BAD at this. They’ve always been bad at this. And they only got a foothold because of two lucky breaks: Halo and the Sony fumble with early PS3.

#blutoid are there any safe extended capacity 3ds batteries out there? I really love my n2ds xl but holy shit the battery life is so bad + it drains so fast during "sleep" mode. If you forget to charge it b/w sessions you're basically fucked (i say as i sit on a train with no battery life!)

Whatever the reality is, I think it's OK to look at any reports right now on Xbox plans as attractive words-shaped noise aimed at juicing the chances for a sale (as always, this is not a knock on the reporting itself AT ALL; I'm just spotlighting mechanisms bringing these details out)

"Last year, Microsoft made $101 billion in profits, got a $12.5 billion tax break from Trump and paid its CEO $96 million," Sanders said. "This year, it's raising the price of an Xbox by $150 and eliminating 3,200 jobs. Please don't tell me corporate tax breaks create jobs. It never trickles down."

The idtech thing is imo relatively demonstrative of what went wrong with Xbox's acquisition strategy in general. Spencer era Xbox acquired one of the best tech houses, but a hands off approach meant that tech and expertise was seldom disseminated to the rest of Xbox, and stayed within Bethesda.

#blutoid have been waiting for the news cycle to not be dogshit to do my seasonal "here's a bunch of new movies I watched with my recommendations" thread but it isn't getting any better so fuck it! Here's the movies I watched in Spring/Q2. Thread to follow 🧵 ⬇️

Microsoft's big E3 2018 new studio reveal is a shot of a bygone era - Then-new studio Initiative shut in 2025 - Undead Labs / Ninja theory now spinning off to new owner/owners - Compulsion returned to management DoubleFine, acquired in 2019, also back to management Playground remains

This studio holds some of the most veteran FPS developers in the history of the industry. The folks who know the most about engine optimization, too. Livelihoods ruined for no goddamn reason and the damage from these layoffs will be felt for years.

You couldn't make a game w/ the scope + fidelity of the recent dooms w/ a 100 person studio. Literally can't be done. My expectation at this point is that id is a support studio for machine games on wolf 3 until xbox can find someone willing to buy them and their IP catalog.

"These are delusional, careless, and tedious people who will never suffer consequences like these, attempting to massage a bad message so they can get patted on the back for it" aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox...

this is exactly what two years of my life at disney were like. bob iger returning as ceo and announcing 7000 layoffs led to a protracted process of multiple rounds for years as morale plummeted, work suffered, and everyone was left wondering how their jobs would even be possible going forward.

No union employees at Blizzard were impacted by today’s bloodbath—and I sincerely doubt that was because the powers that be think that we’re all vital. Odds are, they wanted easy cuts. Status Quo makes you not easy. The best time to unionize was a year ago. The second best time to unionize is now.

Life at Xbox post-ActiBlizz merger: Jan 2024 - 1,900 layoffs May 2024 - Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog shuttered (Tango eventually saved) Sept 2024 - 650 layoffs July 2025 - Microsoft cuts 9,100 jobs, including significant number of Xbox staff July 2026 - 3,200 roles torched

Astonished by the amount of instant Xbox apologia happening in the wake of the company gutting 20% of its staff — 3000+ people without jobs is not worthy of any silver-lining or celebrating of alleged executive honesty. Literacy in reading the room is essential, I’m begging you.

Success! #blutoid

there are loads of reasons why the death of physical is bad news, but I think there are downstream effects that the industry is already suffering from today - that are only going to get worse youtu.be/jGtv_lyaNww

Glass half full, glass half empty

Check out my report on the Top 30-21 #Sega #Genesis games according 2 Retro Sanctuary. Most of the games are solid at this point, with #MortalKombatII being the most well-known classic of the bunch #Blutoid #Retrogaming lord-spencer.blogspot.com/2026/07/gene... www.pillowfort.social/posts/7906308

War criminal president, economy about to collapse but everyone pretending it won't, taylor swift dominating the news, north america having an unprecedented heat wave, sony has a $599 console, and an american hardware manufacturer has an issue with a flashing red light. Welcome back, 2006 #blutoid

for the events that transpired this week/month/year/decade i have no words, but i still have something to say: >> youtu.be/NZTpnq0VQeU

happy 25th birthday to the greatest software ever coded

#blutoid double post but: Was already planning to do a thread on this, but i think sony may have flown too close to the sun here. Regulators have already forced android and iOS to open to competing stores on anti-trust grounds, and playstation could certanly see the same.

#blutoid obsidian has released 7 games in the past 8 years. Easily one of the most talented, creative, and efficient game studios in the industry. If you can't find success with them, you shouldn't be in this industry.

Sirāt (2025) Director: Óliver Laxe #blutoid

The death of physical media seems like a small thing practically but in essence it represents the total dissolution of games as “objects of art” and instead reduces them purely to “intellectual property”. It’s a slow disaster but if you care about games as an art form it IS a disaster.

Reposting because of the sony news

I don’t want this point to be lost in the discourse. Going digital-only means inequity for people who cannot afford internet or constantly purchasing new games. Libraries provide opportunities for people to experience games they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford, and that will be lost.

Statement from VGHF director Frank Cifaldi on the discontinuation of physical PlayStation media, and the closure of the PS3 and PSP digital storefronts.

As the director of a historical video game preservation institution, and someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to this cause, this is accurate. We have attempted to work with the industry's trade organization to find a legal path forward, but they refuse to offer a meaningful alternative.

In the lead up to the PS5 and series X/S reveal i said they'd be the last consoles to come with a *built in* disc drive -- i didn't realize at the time i was being overly optimistic. Jeez. #blutoid

Everything's really stressful right now. If you need a break, try taking some photos of singing fish with me. https://kotaku.com/im-putting-off-work-take-photos-singing-fish-toem-2-2000711772

What Xbox is doing, has been doing, is genuinely catastrophic. Not just upending the lives of thousands, but destroying crucial deals and partnerships - things that will influence more further down the line. I genuinely think it's hard to overstate how bad this is for the industry, as a whole.

anyway i didn't realize all the xbox news was dropping today, but i did chat with some union members about how things have been going behind the scenes

#blutoid I've lost track of how many studios xbox had "second party" development contracts with, cancelled them, and ended up forcing a studio closure or massive layoffs. Someone will do the hard journalism on this story some day and it will be so much worse than we realized.

I'm looking to speak to folks who have worked as contractors via agencies or other third-parties, who have lost work recently as a part of restructurings/larger layoffs at companies like Xbox, Epic, Ubi, etc. Want to know about the larger, uncounted cost of these things. Email and Signal are in bio.

As I reported in Game File, 1666: Amsterdam, the new game led by the lead creator of Assassin's Creed, was going to be Xbox-published, before MS cut funding That means, in recent years, Xbox was backing games from him, the Romeros, and Kojma. Not every game pans out, but quite a set of partners

This is a death kneel for playstation if they go through with it. No one is going to buy this, and third party support will quickly evaporate as a result. It's gonna be a wii u / vita / dreamcast but worse. There is no need for new hardware any time soon. Cut this shit out!

Reminder that memory manufacturers (including Samsung, Hynix, and Micron) were found to be an actual dictionary definition "cartel" back in the 2000s and were accused of illegal price fixing again in the late 2010s. They have been trying to screw you for literal decades.

#blutoid if y'all are unfamiliar with SNES drunk please allow me to put you on to their channel. There's no better resource of concise but substantive video reviews for retro games. Almost every other channel either rambles or just describes the game. That's not helpful! www.youtube.com/@SNESdrunk

PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate + Shooter Bundle is $1.64 on Steam buff.ly/HkbQ3nm

#blutoid this prediction is based on the AI bubble *not* popping (which i still expect to at least start by year end) but if i had to guess I'd say is probably an accurate timeline. If we're lucky we'll see supply chains return to consumer production and prices begin dropping in 2028.

For @crossplayblog.bsky.social, I chatted with the developers of Grounded about why they've embraced letting its players shave off the friction from their survival game, which is partially responsible for why it's so popular with families and kids www.crossplay.news/p/why-ground...

If sony isn't moving heaven and earth to make a further cost reduced "super slim" model of the PS5 then what are we even doing here, man

PS5 refurbished consoles $549/$499 at PS Direct buff.ly/VlW5sR7 #ad