Jon Irwin
@winwinirwin.bsky.social
Writer/Teacher. Words in Kill Screen, Paste, Men's Health, The Atlantic, Billboard, Variety, Washington Post, Inverse and more. https://about.me/jonirwinis
I've just been soaking in Yoshi & Rhythm Heaven and will continue to do so for many more weeks/months. Yell it from the mountaintops! It's okay to not jump to the next newest thing! Savor what's in front of you!
Grayson Morley@graysonmorley.com · 8h agoLegitimately, I probably will only have time to play Fire Emblem and Zelda for the rest of the year, and I’m kind of okay with that. I’ve defeated FOMO by resigning myself to a low-information gamer lifestyle.
A summer project has been taking stock of my physical game collection. Not all mint or CIB or anything: some are just cartridges, but most are in the case. Always been someone to buy stuff I want to play, not "collect." Anyway: Some numbers-- NES: 40 SNES: 36 TG-16: 16 (!) GB/GBA: 21 VB: 8 (cont)
I'd never spent enough time on the title screen so I didn't know Galactic Pinball's music was even better than I thought. music.nintendo.com/shared/en-US... www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5_a...
VGMusic: Galactic Pinball - MOONMAN's Fandango
YouTube video by EddyBellis
youtube.com
I was shocked--SHOCKED I tell you--when I learned that Metric was the headliner w/ a 90min set and Broken Social Scene only got 60min... Still: 2 1/2 hours of fine Canadian indie rock. Best show of the summer for this guy.
The first and last Lululemon article I'll share this week, promise. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...
Opinion | I Helped Run Lululemon. The A.I. Revolution Is a Hot Mess. (Gift Article)
The A.I. revolution is stalling because companies don’t want to admit that integrating the technology is expensive and slow and requires human effort.
nytimes.com
I fully endorse this by @jakesteinberg.substack.com and appreciate the use of food-as-metaphor-as-joke. jakesteinberg.substack.com/p/deny-chees...
Deny Cheesing
Congratulations! You Beat A VideoGame
jakesteinberg.substack.com
Happy 13th anniversary of the Japanese release of the best GTA game www.killscreen.com/review-why-l... (My review is so old, @stephentotilo.bsky.social was still at Kotaku)
Read a short snippet from the review, made an assumption about its writer, clicked the link, and voila: Assumption (happily) confirmed. www.eurogamer.net/splatoon-rai...
I love Splatoon Raiders for the same reason I love Donkey Kong Bananza - it's dead simple, you can barely see what's going on, and yet somehow it works
Eurogamer's review of Splatoon Raiders - a series offshoot that's a hectic, often overwhelming delight.
eurogamer.net
I beat the final boss of this game but then loads more stuff opened up so maybe I didn't? An incredible piece of work - has *several* takes on rope arrows, best grapple, lets you cook fish & bake bread; imm-simming but with 2D game feel. Even more show-offy dense with mechanics than Mario Wonder
Sam Barlow 🔥@mrsambarlow.bsky.social · 2w agoTold my kids this was Ubisoft’s Avatar game
Nintendo did not choose a "random" game to become the western Mario 2. According to @winwinirwin.bsky.social's great SMB2 book, Doki Doki Panic began as a prototype for a Super Mario Bros. sequel focused on block-stacking and vertical progression. more: thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m4#50
![Text:
An early, in utero version of [Doki Doki Panic] began as a follow-up to their most successful yet: They were experimenting with a new Super Mario Bros. game. This one, however, would pay homage to the past, placing the goal not far down a horizontal path, but at the top of the level, just like Donkey Kong. Only this time, the world would extend beyond the top of the screen. ... But when Shigeru Miyamoto and a young developer named Kensuke Tanabe looked at this prototype, they felt something was off. Two characters stacked blocks on top of each other to progress ever-upward, but the screen only moved in single jarring swoops, shifting up once you approached the top, so that you’d begin again near the bottom.
Below, you see level 7-1 from Doki Doki Panic and SMB2 both, showing that a vestige of this original idea of block-stacking still exists in the final version of either game.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jjqe7wq5t6iw6znq3cmidg6w/bafkreidygiazyvobha6cxyzp7t5t2taf74cesvtt4vma7emwm6ltrt6oo4)
Really enjoyed talking to @ibogost.com about The Small Stuff, his new book. I paid attention to the pressure my thumbs made on the screen as I wrote this skeet. www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...
Atlantic Reads: The Small Stuff With Ian Bogost
The Atlantic contributing writer Ian Bogost and senior editor Chris Suellentrop discuss Bogost’s new book, The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.
theatlantic.com
Just finished reading one of a few "gaming consoles are dead" op-eds in the wake of the Sony/Xbox news this month, and... ...I don't know, I feel like I've heard this song-and-dance before. www.wired.com/2012/10/cons...
Consolation Prize: The Game Console Is Dead. What Will Replace It?
Videogame consoles are threatened as never before. Devices like PCs and smartphones are rapidly becoming more attractive to gamers, with cheaper price points and a broader variety of experiences. Cons...
wired.com
Just casually posting this as a sign to the universe that these would be a good NSO add-on to fill the month between first-party Switch games www.nintendolife.com/features/nin...
Nintendo's Japan-Only 'bit Generations' Still Plays Like Little Else 20 Years On
A bit ahead of its time
nintendolife.com
Reading this while listening to "Milestones" was my AMERICA 250 celebration. Thx @ethaniversonpiano.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/iverson/...
Miles Davis and John Coltrane through 1960, on America's Birthday
Two Centennials and a Semiquincentennial
open.substack.com
Man, the new Yoshi game is all sweetness and light, and then BAM you reach this level and it’s a slasher film
Coetzee writing about right now (In the Heart of the Country, 1977)
Today, July 10th, is the 39th anniversary of the release of Yume Koujou: Doki-Doki Panic for the Famicom Disk System. This action game was made by Nintendo as a tie-up with Fuji TV to promote the Yume Koujou '87 event. It was later reverse-imported as Super Mario USA.
Dolly@dolly1265.bsky.social · 4w ago【7月10日のレトロゲーム】今日はファミコンディスクシステム『夢工場ドキドキパニック』の発売39周年。かつてフジテレビが主催したイベント『夢工場'87』の宣伝のために任天堂とのタイアップで制作されたアクションゲーム。後にマリオUSAとして逆輸入された。
Today's one of those days where you learn about a new game at the very same moment you learn that it's already sold FIFTEEN MILLION COPIES
Knoebel 🛬 Gamescom@knoebel.bsky.social · last mo.'Meccha Chameleon' has now sold over 15M copies.
My 7yo: "What do you get when you cross a cow with the moon?" Me: "I don't know, what?" 7yo: "A 'moooooooooon.' Get it?"
Sony's going all-digital, Microsoft is laying off thousands... and investors of Nintendo are like, "Your hit detection was a little off in the last Splatoon game. Why are you so insincere?" www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2026/...
Has this not aged well? I feel like this hasn't aged well. ew.com/xbox-25th-an...
Xbox at 25: Gaming giant seeks to level up play and Hollywood adaptations
Xbox enters a new era with its 25th anniversary. Key figures from inside the gaming giant, including the new CEO, talk new ways of play and Hollywood adaptations.
ew.com
Anyone going to Nintendo TOKYO -- I'll pay you back for this shirt store-jp.nintendo.com/item/goods/V...
With all the reaction to XBOX layoffs, allow me some counter-programming: One thing I haven't heard much of w/r/t Sony's No-More-Disc plan is how their rumored handheld plays a role. Discs wouldn't work in a portable format. (PSP got away w/ it but not today) & Cards are too small for next-gen PS.
Was in Albuquerque last week, not knowing that starting on July 12th it’s hosting the annual 3D Con. So so sad to miss it. For my fellow enthusiasts: here’s Mamma. 3D-con.com
Maybe in addition to stopping production of physical discs, Sony will go all-in on releasing digital on competing platforms and we'll get games like Futari no Fantavision on NSO Expansion Pack fingerscrossed.gif
Standard Issue Computing@standardissuecomputing.blog · last mo.I wrote a bit about Futari no Fantavision, a sequel with immaculate vibes that introduced an intense vs battle mode:
Ross is a more engaged/proactive citizen than I can hope to be, because I had this same uncertain feeling waking up today but instead of gratitude I'm feeling something like shallow disappointment at not being able to fully enjoy this historic moment
Ross Llewallyn@enduringbeta.bsky.social · last mo.🎆 How are folks feeling on this Fourth of July? As a US citizen I'm not especially enthused in the moment, but with fireworks last night and festivities around me, that energy invites me to gratitude.
