iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This implies it’s better than BOTW? 🙃😎

Reposted by Alan (Who Is Awesome)

Damien McFerran @damienmcferran.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Who in their right mind would launch a website NOW? Us, actually! 😀 Welcome to @steamhype.com! We've assembled a compact but talented team in @dominictarason.com & Noah McFerran (very much a relation) to keep you updated on the wild & wacky world of Steam! Visit and be sure to tell your friends!

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

You don’t understand recursive learning meets unchecked power…?

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

On the eve of Metroid Ravenous, especially after MP4, I’m more concerned than hyped. The best part of Dread for me remains the fluid motion of Samus. The worst part: the ways it stayed a slave to its own conventions. I very much hope Nintendo does something even half as daring as Animal Well!

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A couple of years ago, I was talking to Billy Basso about his game Animal Well, and I remarked on how his game made me feel differently about Metroid Dread, retroacrively. He pin-pointed for me how rote the bones of the Metroid series had become.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

That was one of the Nintendo directs of all time

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

So yeah, I get seeing this and thinking UNREAL ENGINE, but Nintendo clearly wants to carry forward the original ethos of the art direction, and I can't fault them for bending over backwards to preserve that.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Remember, in 1998, achieving realism in graphics was a much more ambitious, noble goal than it is today. That vibe wasn't "default," it's as specific a choice as Wind Waker was. They bridged the gap between SNES & N64 by choosing smart references that infused manga/comic influence, but felt "real".

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A lot of people remarking on OOT remake's art style being too contemporary, not enough whimsy. I...half agree, but I have to believe this art direction was stuck to because Nintendo views OOT encased in its key art, heavily inspired by fantasy painter and Buck Rogers artist Frank Frazetta.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Microsoft got into the gaming industry in the 2000s to make money. They sure as HELL did. But now that Microsoft is leveraging its portfolio elsewhere (AI), they're running off to make more money. As an entity, Microsoft doesn't give one fuck about making games, or the developers they employ.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

If your salary is predicated on stock bonuses, it becomes not enough that your company is worth over $3TRILLION, as Microsoft is. You get hired to rebalance the books (which were fucked by Spencer before her to line HIS pockets) so investors can keep marching toward infinite growth.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Asha Sharma, the CEO of Xbox who just laid off 3,200 (!), is ANOTHER rank-and-file corporatist who says The Right Things™ while lining her own pockets. Her career was started w/ venture capital (Porch), followed by MASSIVE bonuses based on stock performance (Instacart) Her net worth is over $50M

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Reposted by Alan (Who Is Awesome)

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Microsoft is laying off 4,800 workers today. Its CEO made $96.5M in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year. Microsoft made $101B in net income last year — and raked in up to $12.5B in tax breaks from Trump's Big Ugly Bill. This is what a rigged system looks like.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Uh yeah, so. There was a lot to appreciate and enjoy in that Nintendo Direct…but having the exact same lineup as the 3DS 15 years ago feels a like a recession indicator to me.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

The Switch 2 is two N64s duct taped together

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Reposted by Alan (Who Is Awesome)

Nintendo Life @nintendolife.com · 09/06/2026

Opinion: By Definition, Pokémon TCG Is No Longer A Hobby. (Repost)

nintendolife.com

Opinion: By Definition, Pokémon TCG Is No Longer A Hobby

All work and no play

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I’ve drawn a pedantic but critical line in the sand: a hobby that doubles as a major economic lynchpin is, by definition, more work than it is play. Pokemon fans need to reassess it. Here’s my article on how PokemonTCG has outgrown its fans:

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Reposted by Alan (Who Is Awesome)

Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

mixtape feels like one of the least likely targets of misinformation campaigns and video game culture war ire yet, but that's kind of the point: this can happen to any game now, and indeed, platforms and content creators demand it. nothing will ever be enough to sate the beast

The real question at the nexus of the toilet vortex swirling around this game is one of who gets what. Central to Twitter users and YouTubers’ complaints is the notion that traditional games media’s shriveled remains—with IGN at the vanguard—serve as unjust gatekeepers and kingmakers. Mixtape, they argue, is being elevated to a position of acclaim it did not earn by multiple embodiments of The Man, their conniving tendrils interlocked in a lattice of collusion.

But the truth is that relatively few people care about written game reviews these days, especially with even heavy hitters hollowed out by layoffs and the ravages of Google’s ever-changing algorithm. The very content creators who accuse IGN and other sites of misusing their influence are the real tastemakers of the modern era; they shape the conversation around new games—often via misinformation and ragebait, which more reliably drives engagement on social media than discussing games on their own terms. They’re once again demonstrating as much with Mixtape. If you search Mixtape on platforms like YouTube, you often see their opinions first. When people on Reddit ask why everyone’s talking about Mixtape, you hear about the controversy surrounding review scores—not the game itself or even, in many cases, what the reviews specifically praised.

However, for these content creators to admit that their influence, at least in aggregate, now far outstrips that of websites would be to give up the game. This type of rhetoric requires some kind of faceless, all-powerful enemy to rage against. Three imposing letters—I, G, and N—make for a perfect foil in this age of attention-seeking faces and names, despite the dwindling number of underpaid, overworked freelancers who do the actual work of propping up those letters.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

The swings in Mixtape are colossal, and they make a lot of people feel a lot of things!

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Mixtape like anything shouldn’t be immune from criticism, but the phenotype around its discussion should embarrass anyone who cares about game crit even a little bit. Video games’ biggest strength is empathy making, NOT interface.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

The main criticism I’ve read of MIXTAPE is that it’s “not a game”, because it heavily limits player choice. REMINDER: ALL that’s required of a “video game” is an interaction w/ video. Just like music is but sound inside time And movies need only be moving pictures Games can be LITERALLY anything

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The only way that price point makes sense is if it was an on-ramp to the series. A remake/movie appearance, portending a big, new game. (Which, to be fair, is exactly what they just did with Donkey Kong)

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Quick feelings on Star Fox Remake: • Do I personally want a Star Fox 64 remake? Not really. But at least it's one of the best action games ever, and it's been 30 years (?!) • In some ways it looks stunning, in some ways, ew? (Particle effects look, uh, yeah.) • Switch 2 camera KILLER APP 🦊

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

So he’s self identifying as the actual Tim Heideker, uncannily playing Alex Jones, rebelling against real misinformation, on the actual, for-real Info Wars. …these are SMART, once in a lifetime decisions. 🫠

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Miyamoto & Nintendo are in their legacy era. Theme park/movie/merch paradigm is priority #1. It'll do it's (sad) job, then become a footnote. The more notable thing is that it took THIS long — people w/ not even half the cadre have gone through these motions far sooner, with far, far less.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Not baffling in the slightest!! He's a 73 year old man caring to his legacy in a medium not his own. It's a shame people in charge are letting him down... and he doesn't even fully realize.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

There remains an unsolved economic problem tied to that damn label....players, creators, liquid capitalists and everyone in between's gotta get out of the "AAA vs indie" paradigm if we ever want to escape this binary $15 or $70 hell we've invented for ourselves. Not sure this helps??

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

With all due respect to the reviewer, I cannot fathom leveling these criticisms of this film but NOT the first one. “A series of scenes strung together” is a concept you could write an entire seminar on with footage from the first movie alone.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I’ve always been surprised by the quote that Star Fox slumbers bc Miyomoto had no ideas for it. I mean, obviously? Star Fox 64 took the fundamentals of the SNES game(s), added the fun of Thunderbirds and Top Gun (brilliant), and made it a FAST, branching arcade game. DO THAT?

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I don’t hate 2005’s “Assault”, but it was more so chasing Xbox’s audience. (And “Adventures” wasn’t technically a Star Fox game ofc.) And don’t get me started on 2016’s “Zero”. The twitch reaction speed? Cut in half. So were the # of enemies on screen. Agonizingly slow. The Smash Brawl of SF.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Since Star Fox is on everyone’s mind, I wanna submit that Star Fox 64 is the ONLY great SF game because it’s essentially a rogue-like arcade game with attitude. The sequels? Closer to straight up action games with slower set pieces (and far less memorable camp).

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

The current administration requires an equal and opposite reaction, or conversely, a gentle breeze in the other room.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

The memories are precious, it’s virtually perfect, but largely because I had never experienced anything like it before. I don’t much care about re-releasing crossword puzzles I’ve already filled out!

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

For #MAR10Day, here's a reminder from the original Super Mario Bros. instruction booklet regarding how to topple the Turtle Tribe. 🐢

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Because art is greater than the sum of its parts. ...you know, the exact OPPOSITE structure of a video game review.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Hey mutuals, anyone available for an illustration prompt?

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

“Today we are sharing decisions that will impact Phil Spencers across our organization. To position Phil Spencer for enduring success, we will end or decrease work in certain Phil Spencers across the business, following Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of Phil Spencer to increase agility.”

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The entire gaming industry has been disproportionately impacted by his bummer, kowtowing decisions.

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Spencer is a rank-and-file corporatist, a visionless guy who led with endless layoffs and industry destabilizing mergers & acquisitions, never by example. His lasting legacy will be of trend chasing, for maximizing profits (streaming, subscriptions, influencers, etc).

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Link’s Crossbow Training clears both eras by a mile 😎

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Alan (Who Is Awesome) @alanwritesstuff.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

OKAY, that’s a wrap!!! Thanks for looking through random swag boxes with me!!

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