There's a few design choices in Borderlands 4 that I really can't wrap my head around, but at the top of the list is why did they replace the mini-map from 1/2/3 with a way less detailed compass, that is so ineffectual they had to add a racing lane from the player to their objective shortcut button?

Listen, I know the bar isn't exactly high in a lot of ways, but it's kinda nuts that Dan Trachtenberg managed to make 3 of the 4 best Predator movies in less than 5 years.

Me, playing Metal Gear Solid 3 after playing Death Stranding 2 earlier in the year: "Guys... I think this Kojima dude might have kinda a thing for blonde women..."

I ordered that NSO N64 controller, and the courier delivered it to my neighbour, my neighbour told them they had the wrong address, and the courier just took it away and didn't deliver it. The universe feels like it's sending me a pretty loud message right now.

AYYYY used to work with this team! Have always loved their lean into the historical/cultural influence and with it, the brutality of the associated "penitence"

A cool piece about a pretty damn cool looking game

Crisol: Theater of Idols isn't shying away from its horrific religious themes

I interviewed David Carrasco about Crisol: Theater of Idols, religion, working with Blumhouse Games, and reliquary shotguns. www.shacknews.com/article/1467...

This last week saw what is sure to be the start of an ongoing saga after Rockstar allegedly was caught union busting, so it's a good thing Simon Estey rounded up that news store and more for Update Patch. www.patreon.com/posts/update...

Duke Controller 2.0

I know that a lot of CRT filters in games have gotten really good, and hell, I bought a RetroTink and own a CRT TV myself, but I kinda think growing up on flatscreen emulation of these games has broken my brain because sometimes I am like, "Just gimme those raw-ass pixels."

Thinking about going from a person that curses every second word to a person who never curses and seeing how long it takes my friends to realise and become concerned.

yum

I think it’s no coincidence that the most successful Xbox console launched with a numbered Ridge Racer. Just saying.

I am playing Metal Gear Solid 3 for the first time at the moment. I'm quickly realising that it's kinda impossible not to view Kojima as anything other than a comedy writer first and foremost.

Who cares what the Citizen Kane of video games is when we already know what the Seven Samurai of games is?

JUST IN TIME FOR THANKSGIVING WITH THE FAMI-- Oh... Sorry, James.

Community extralife efforts continue on Giant Bomb! www.giantbomb.com/extralife/

I had to check my locked/inactive Twitter account because I got a bunch of notifications and the first three things I see are: - transphobia - local bigot - worst low effort enganment bait gaming content imaginable And my big question is, why the fuck is is anybody still posting there?

Occasionally r/GiantBomb is very good.

I am excited for 2036 when Grand Theft Auto 6 finally releases and is reviewed by 40 cishet white guys called Greg and no one else.

Very hard not to notice how the current state of the games media has affected femmes, POC, and queer people first and foremost.

Snoopy is sad that Japan lost...

Off to go see Ireland and Japan play.

You simply can't overstate how important @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social's words are, here. 100% agreed that this entire situation is fucked, and very telling.

"Well you see, officer, these are my emotional support 40-year-old men playing video games."

Clicking through, the majority of the space is "sold out" (knowing that they use seat fillers) and that the most expensive tickets appear to be resellers. Still wild to not set aside tickets for press, developers, and others who work in this industry.

The demo for TÖLT (my new MS-DOS inspired horse game) is FINALLY on STEAM - with 🐎new improvements!🐎 🎮 Gamepad support!!! 🖥️ UI supported on everything from Ultrawide to Ultraweird!!! 🪳 Countless bug fixes!!! Now plays beautifully on Steam Deck!!! (updates also applied to itch .io version!)

me and @janochoa.bsky.social are trying to get a dresser into my closet twitch.tv/nikigrayson

I've had this chat with PR people and they know that supporting smaller sites and freelancers makes sense and would help build a healthier games media. The problem is game publishers pretty much exclusively want GI cover stories or an IGN First and anything smaller isn't worth it.

if i speak...

I think about this @tolkoto.com reaction a lot.

Some interesting comments from the devs here about how each level of 2016's Hitman was meant to fulfil a different spy movie fantasy. Paris is Bond, Sapienza is Mission Impossible, Marrakesh is Jason Bourne, and so on. www.techradar.com/gaming/hitma...

Hamazaki Has To Goh - where does Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio draw the line on casting, and why is it not at sexual assault? by @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social "it’s particularly insulting and disgusting for him to be cast in a series that has historically featured sex pests being (rightly) beat up" Read on:

my latest is out for skybox!!! 💜 the casting of teruyuki kagawa in yakuza kiwami 3 is not only disgusting in itself, but also ridiculous in its hypocrisy considering rgg's past recasts and the series. i feel, and write, very strongly about it please read, i think this is some of my best work 💜

It's objectively pretty funny that Keighley put some of the loudest, most opinionated young people in the game's industry together in a Discord, told them they were all going to shape the future of the biz, and now they're all calling him an opportunist that exploited their likeness for his gain.

STILL TIME FOR AN OUTLET TO COMMISSION ME TO REVIEW THIS!

I am genuinely dreading Christmas when relatives make small talk with me and are like, "So how is that video game writing going?" And I am like:

Definitive list of the only video games that qualify as "art": - Tetris - Tetris 2 - Hatris - Blinx: The Time Sweeper

Heads up to European (or at least Irish) mutuals, the NSO SNES controller is back in stock on the Nintendo Store for the first time in months. store.nintendo.ie/en/super-nin...

Hearing reports that Silksong has also been delayed

Friendly reminder that a game meeting or beating expectations does not necessarily mean it sold better or worse than other games. Internal financial expectations and comparative performance between titles are different things.

Finally

"Now delay it again. Right after getting caught union busting."

THEY DELAYED HALO?

The story I heard out of Future Class was pretty much exclusively people who got in feeling like they were being ignored in a near totally inactive Discord with no purpose or intent, while being plastered all over TGA's industry side promotion and messaging as tokens of diversity and youth.

All the dead ends hunting for work has actually made having any confidence in the freelance work I do have near impossible to the point that writing 800 words and not feeling terrible about it, and instantly wanting to start over, kinda feels like a win. At least for today.

I saw this game back at Gamescom, and it looks rad as hell. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Wt...