The ultimate sign of adulthood is receiving socks as a present and being like, "Fuck yes! I needed these so badly!"

A Happy New Year to you all. Here's hoping 2026 is better than 2025.

It annoys me when people accuse Hideo Kojima of being a glorified film director. Even his most cinematic games are very mechanically rich, and he clearly loves video games as a medium. his answer to 'what makes a game good' was: The creator's love, and items with multiple mechanical utilities.

I started Umineko around the time I was playing Silent Hill F and thought 'Yep, these were definitely written by the same person'. (I say this in a good way)

Straight up, part of me would be excited to say, "Man, it sure sucks everyone stopped making video games after 2025. Time to check out this Sega Saturn RPG that got a fan translation."

"If you gained immortality, you'd eventually get bored and want to die." Bro, I haven't eaten a gyro in 6 months and they taste even more heavenly than ever. Can you imagine how amazing a gyro would taste if I went a century without them?

AI has actively made life worse for literally everyone - tech is now more expensive - you cannot trust most media of reality anymore - programs barely function - energy prices - literal psychosis - your voice can be literally stolen for evil - more spyware but hey, you can avoid paying an artist.

Warms my heart to see ICE agents encounter some REAL ice via Minnesota weather and the cold, passive aggressiveness of angry Minnesotans.

The Horses fiasco shows how insufferably prudish the games industry and media is. Antichrist is a wildly unsettling art-film, and includes but does not limited itself to genital mutilation. If it is allowed to exist (and it should), Horses should too. Because it's tame AF by comparison.

New work schedule starts next week. I'll have to go into the office half the time. For no fucking reason. It gets less work done than WFH, costs literally everybody more, and wastes more time. But some dickhead middle managers can't Get It Up unless they can pester employees IRL, so here we are.

Post something random or you'll have an awful December

"Biden may have had decades of experience sucking dick, and some of the fiercest lips we've seen on this show. But Trump's sheer throat power overwhelmed him, getting him the win." "I guess you could say Donald played his Trump Card in this round."

"Well, what are you going to play when ALL GAMES start using generative AI?" Setting aside that AI is dying as we speak... *Stares at the decades of unplayed games made by actual humans in my backlog.* I think I'll manage. RPG Maker games alone would last me until the heat death of the universe.

It's almost time for a jackpot! I mean Death Battle!

Reminder that Red Dead Redemption 2 mocked the Pinkertons and union busters while the company making it crunched their employees to death and actively fired anyone trying to unionize.

Reze Arc was unsurprisingly very good. The movie scene reminds me of how different art can move different people, and that's part of what makes art beautiful.

Stoked that Air Riders added chem trails to the game.

Was at a family member's birthday party last week, and my uncle said he met his fiance a few years ago after he asked if she wanted to bag corn. Which might the most mid-western way of asking a woman out on a date.

Me and the one other person I know who's into old, jank-ass survival horror, hearing people say Silent Hill f's combat sucks, knowing we're in for a good time.

Finished with Metaphor Refantazio. A very good game. It's not my favorite RPG or fantasy story ever, but it might be the one that best encapsulates what I like about fantasy.

Cannot wait for the new Fire Emblem to lead to more 3 Houses discourse.

Oh shit, Sothis?

Amazing. The new Fire Emblem has Castlevania's Alucard in it.

I see this reducing in reposts - this situation never went away. You may have seen a lot of people posting about it and some inroads made and thought " yeah things will turn out alright" Unfortunately no. we actually do have to keep holding their feet to the fire until they deliver.

I always subconsciously thought this way, but this is the best summary of why I make 9/11 jokes. The event is a horrible tragedy, but 9/11 as a 'brand' the U.S government has used to start never ending wars, take away human rights, and make the world worse is that much more tragic.

Me calling VISA for the 3rd time this week in an angry but dignified matter, but this time I've added a random excerpt to my script demanding they let me put on cat ear accessories.

Using one photo already on your phone, what is the announcement today at 2pm?

2012: Terminally online weirdos ranting about 'fake gamer girls'. 2025: Terminally online weirdos ranting about 'fake reader guys'.

Yuji Naka could never.

Sakurai beating the 'I only care about the Kirby games that I made' allegations.

I grow more insane every time I see people nostalgic for 7th gen gaming, who genuinely want to go back to it. I won't say no good games came out in the 7th gen. But it might be the blandest, most boring era of gaming. Every trend I remember makes me think, 'Man, glad that's over'.

Finished Vinland Saga a couple days ago. 10/10 might be my in my top 10 mangas now. Anybody who thinks it goes downhill once the farming arc starts is idiotically wrong.

Frieren playing Fire Emblem Awakening and getting to the Say'ri x Tiki A support conversation like #FireEmblem #frieren #葬送のフリーレン #ファイアーエムブレム

For crying out loud, I started learning history at school in the early 2000s, in a pretty conservative part of the U.S, and even they said Columbus was a jackass. Even my conservative family, one side of which descends from Italians, said he was a jackass.

Jojo Part 4's arc 'Let's Go Eat Some Italian Food' is one of my favorite things in fiction. It has nothing to do with finding Kira, has no dire circumstances, and doesn't advance 'The Plot' (TM). But it breathes so much life into Josuke and co. and the town of Morioh.

Tom Bombadil's intro is one of my favorite moments in LotR. He has no great importance in Frodo's journey and doesn't advance 'The Plot' (TM). But he shows a world that exists beyond Frodo's plight, and that there are people singing and finding joy despite the dire circumstances.

I hate the idea that the measure of a story element's worth is if it advances 'The Plot' (TM). Stories aren't Rube Goldberg machines. They aren't rigid constructs built solely for 'The plot'. They can take time to breathe and show other ideas, other parts of the world. That includes people banging.

Reminder that AI has not made a single cent for its investors and is held up solely by Silicon Valley dip shits who think they might possibly make money off it at some point, and MUST be the first in line to do so. Even if it means pissing and burning away their workers, money, and infrastructure.

I know we're upset about itch, but they're not the only ones Payment processors harassed companies bc of a 1,000 email hate campaign But we can EASILY top 1,000! I prewrote an email + got the contact info - you just have to send! ↻💬♡ to boost We CAN make a difference 💕 #itch #censorship 1/🧵

'I know writers who use sub-text, and they're all cowards.' - Fujimoto after writing the newest Chainsaw Man chapter, probably

When you spend the day calling and complaining to credit card companies about Collective Shout's censorship push, then wind down by looking at porn.

I don't know if it's a hot take, but I prefer Donkey Kong's Bananza design to the Rare one. It looks more cartoony and expressive. I don't think it blows the old design out the water, and get D.K has had a set look for almost 30 years. But I do prefer it.

re: generative AI I have finally fully and accurately explained my problem with how it’s marketed and used. And now, you can use it, too.

I'm glad FF Tactics is getting an updated port, but has there ever been a 'smoothing filter' that doesn't look like pure ass? People cannot expect me to think, on any subjective or objective level, that the image on the right looks better than the one on the left.

I listened to a podcast covering the Epic of Gilgamesh a few years back. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are unironically the original shonen battle rivals with homoerotic subtext that makes people ship them.

Repost your favorite Pokemon, Legendary, Mythical, and game. Most of the '#gamers' I follow on here have already been tagged, so I'll omit tagging 5 more people. Rowlet has perfect roundness.

The people who are 'unlike other mecha anime'-ing Clair Obscur are annoying, but it's nice that they're getting a sizeable pushback. 10-15 years ago, idiotic declarations about how all RPGs from Japan exclusively star teenagers would go unopposed.

This post remains ever-green.

Here it is, my latest for ANN. I'll be frank: this is the most important piece I've written. The deepest of thanks to every librarian and person I spoke to in this investigation. It's an honor and a privilege that they trusted me to share their stories. With that, go support your local libraries.

Now that Baldur's Gate 3, Metaphor, LaD7&8, and Clair Obscur have all received critical and financial acclaim despite (or rather thanks to) being turned-based, can people finally STFU and stop saying turn-based RPGs are dead and that nobody wants them?