iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Jeff Passan Bot @jeffpassanbot.bsky.social · 7h

FINAL: White Sox 7, Astros 3 One day after receiving a letter from Pope Leo XIV offering "abundant blessings," the Chicago White Sox have won a playoff series for the first time in more than two decades. They went to Houston and absolutely ran the Astros. Cleveland awaits next.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 14h

calling out to my Final Fantasy 14 people! The Switch 2 port feels like a great opportuity for casuals like me to (finally) see what this is all about, but boy, is there a lot of UI for that tiny screen. Anyone have any tips for some handheld-friendly layouts?

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Digger sounds like it's not a very good movie, but everyone's reviews are wildly entertaining. Hope you're all having fun!

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

PAC's (Neville's) NXT title reign marked my favorite period of wrestling and the stuff that made me a real fan. What a unique talent; what a devastating loss.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Hilo by @juddwinick.bsky.social and Zita the Spacegirl by @benhatke.bsky.social are still the load-bearing books of my kid's childhood, but we're on our third read-through of @timprobert.bsky.social's Lightfall series (even though they don't understand it all), so that's going on the list, too.

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Rob Delaney @robdelaney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The BEST part of getting old (and there are many) is that you can ABSOLUTELY miss something wildly popular. Zooshas just flying by while you’re admiring someone’s sensible shoes or whatever. Bliss.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

jrpg where the party members are the pilgrims from The Canterbury Tales

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Jordan Starkweather ✨ @jackal27.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

You can’t even comprehend how important Eien ni Hen’s work is to the fan translation community. Romancing SaGa, Fire Emblem, Sakura Wars, Tear Ring Saga, Glory of Heracles, Dragon Force II, Dark Half, Beyond Oasis, Psi-O-Blade, Arabian Nights, and so much more. What a loss. Rest in peace.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

you know this list is wrong because it's not The Venture Bros. listed 100 times

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Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 25/09/2026

Wait you guys are getting job interviews?

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

you know this list is wrong because it's not The Venture Bros. listed 100 times

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Sweet Shop @sweetshop.app · 24/09/2026

Welcome to our comic shop. The doors are open. We're so glad you're here.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I fell off my comics habit for a few years, and in that time it seems like Mad Cave and Ignition Press stepped up in a big, big way? just banger after banger after banger.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

repost with an image of your favorite James Bond (wrong answers only)

Justin Theroux as the Master Codebreaker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He's gambling; a fancy space lady is blowing on his large dice-like cube, presumably for good luck, while another pretty, Conehead-like woman hangs off his shoulder.

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TAHK0 @tahk0.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

sega canceling sonic? that’d be like if microsoft didn’t know what to do with halo, laid off a bunch of people, and gave it to activision

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Max Gladstone @maxgladstone.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Pokemon Company has printed so much 30th Anniversary that the scalpers are crashing out, prices are collapsing, kids are actually opening good cards! And there is Joy! Sweet Joy! Joy in Parent Town!

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

we desperately need a wave of creator-owned comics journalism sites, like we're currently seeing in games (ie Aftermath, Rogue, Rascal, Jank, Mothership, etc.)

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Dan Schkade @danschkade.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Trouble at the charity gala

Bruce Wayne in a tuxedo glances over his shoulder as he dashes away

Bruce pulls his bowtie out like a parachute ripcord

Bruce's tuxedo pops like a balloon, revealing the complete Batman costume underneath, cowl and all

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I bought a sketchbook and am trying to draw one stick figure comic a day and it's the most creatively fulfilling experience I've had in like two years

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Mike Petriello @mikepetriello.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Happy 20th anniversary of the Dodgers 4+1 game, for those who celebrate the holiday: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKFe...

youtube.com

Dodgers hit 4 STRAIGHT HOME RUNS! (LA's bottom of the 9th rally for the ages!) | Hidden Classics

YouTube video by MLB Vault

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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

NOW I'm on board

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

one game store (sort of) opened over the summer, with another comic/card shop coming in November. turns out it was a good idea after all!

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

me, with Final Fantasy Tactics, Demonschool, and Zero Company still unfinished: hmmm what about Fire Emblem

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Great thread that applies to not just games, but also entertainment media, or really all specialist journalism/criticism.

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danielleri @danielleri.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Have some BIG NEWS, and it really is wild that today is also the anniversary of the Fanbyte Apocalypse. But my time at Game Developer is done, and hence, my time as a full-time game journalist has come to an end. 20 years in a career sure is something. www.tumblr.com/danielling/8...

After 20+ years of writing professionally about games, including time at Polygon and Idle Thumbs, launching Waypoint, serving as editor in chief of Fanbyte and finally as EIC at Game Developer, my time is done. I'm officially out at Game Developer. Given the state of game journalism, this obviously means leaving the profession, at least as a full-timer.

I'm out, with respect to my colleagues, and a lot of love for the site as it was. We've published work that I'm extremely proud of, particularly our reporting on labor and on how workers are finding things in a miserable, gutting moment in the game industry. I'm proud of the dev-authored features we had for so many years, the resources and knowledge and bits and pieces of know-how that I still use, to this day, in my own game design courses.

What's next? Well, I'm not leaving games. I'll always be making and teaching and writing about games, it just can't be my full time gig anymore. I've actually been doing narrative design on a game since 2022, with a team I really believe in, and I can't wait until I can show that off properly. I am also OPEN TO WORK. Anything involving writing or editing words, editing video, teaching (I've been teaching college since 2009), and hey, I'm an EMT and got my phlebotomy cert a couple years back. I'm versatile!

For full-time employment, I am eventually going to try my hand at medicine. I've served as an EMT here in NYC since 2016, and I've been taking science courses post-bac since January 2025, usually 2 or more at once concurrently with... the full time job, my part time adjunct job, and volunteering on said ambulance. Exhaustion set in years ago, lol, so I've settled into something beyond that at this point. I feel like I've been climbing a mountain, and trying to make many things work at once. I had a pretty good rhythm going, truth be told, despite all the burnout. I'm proud of myself for that.

I'd really like to be a physician assistant one day, or potentially a nurse practitioner. It's a very, very long and hard road to either of those paths, but I'm going to make my way as best as I can.

How do I feel? Again, devastated was years ago. We're pretty far past that at this point. What's happened to journalism in America is... a topic for a very depressing, very well-researched book. I hope someone writes that one day. What happened to game journalism... well, it's more of a niche, but I can say only that reporting honestly on layoff after layoff and corporate malfeasance writ large and executives gambling the whole industry down the drain was tough, but somebody had to do it.

But it's not something one can do without editorial independence.

It's dramatic, but I'm going to mourn this career. Twenty years of my life, at 42, is just about half of my days alive. I put a lot, and I do mean *a lot* of myself into this. I tried at all times to lead with empathy and care for the human beings around me and to be as honest and frankly honorable as possible in my work. I really, really tried to live my values in my work in this career, and the only way I can keep that reputation is the path ahead of me.

So there it is. Expect to see me making games, making art, teaching game design, writing about games from time to time @VeeGeeBees. Expect to hear more about my adventures as an EMT, and hopefully, soon as a PA student, and eventually, as an advanced practitioner. I've kept telling myself, in the darkest and worst days of the last few years, that I'll fly again, somehow. It'll just look very different.

To sign off, and pull an old favorite out of my pocket: be good, and be good at it.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

i can't think of anything similar to this happening

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

ridiculous price for the very best (imo) of the recent crop of retro 16-bit-style turn-based RPGs

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Dominic Tarason @dominictarason.com · 14/09/2026

It's TIME! TO! GET! HYPE! Today, I get to proudly unveil Steam Hype, the project I've been working on with the help of @hookshot.media for the past two and a half months. A new PC gaming site which aims to demystify PC gaming, cut through the 100+ daily releases and spotlight indies as much as AAA

steamhype.com

Steam Hype

Steam Hype is your go-to destination for discovering the latest, greatest, and most talked-about games on Steam.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Sonic and his Amazing Friends" is a pretty good pitch!

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Can't wait to get one of these once the price comes (way) down -- I really want good VR that's not tied to Meta.

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Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.

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Retroist @retroist.com · 13/09/2026

The Real Ghostbusters premiered 40 years ago today, on September 13, 1986.

The real ghostbusters...ready for action.

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Mrs. Detective Pikajew, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 10/09/2026

Goddammit I’m never going to not think of this now www.tumblr.com/dungeonmaste...

Tumblr post from user dungeonmastersconsortium: dungeonmasterscons...

Saw a comment that Elizabeth Holmes looks like a mouse wished to be able to commit wire fraud and now I can't unsee it

With a still of Elizabeth Holmes from the documentary

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Okay, I'm wrapping up Live a Live and need a new RPG to plug away at. What, from the backlog, should I play? Front-runners: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Metaphor: ReFantazio Trails in the Sky FC Star Ocean: First Departure R Quartet Golden Sun

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

9/11 was my freshman year of college. my roommate (and good friend) was a Muslim from Bangladesh; one of the kids we knew best was from Pakistan. everything was fine when we were on our tiny, liberal campus, thank god, but ask them how much of a "bond" they felt whenever they ventured into town.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

if you watched every episode of every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show ever made it'd take you about 13,100 minutes

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Aftermath @aftermath.site · 09/09/2026

After years of company stalling, Blizzard workers win mega-contract that applies to all unionized teams aftermath.site/blizzard-union...

the famous orc statue outside blizzard's HQ in irvine, california

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

in 2027 Metroid is Kirby, Kirby is Zelda, and Mario is ... still missing.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

my only hope for the Ocarina of Time remake is that it makes the "official Zelda timeline" even more convoluted and useless

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caroline cash @cashbrowns.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Nancy 9/7/26 … Happy Labor Day 🛠️

8 Hours for Work, 8 Hours for Rest, 8 Hours for What We Will. Based on a screenprint by Ricardo Levins Morales after the organizing work done by Robert Owen.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

"tell me everything you know about Superman," the 4-year-old says, unaware of what they're about to unleash

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

"there has to be a better place to buy beer around here than the gas station convenience store." * does a ton of research into the best beer shops nearby * * finds one that's highly rated by all the locals * * drives half an hour to check it out * * it is a different gas station convenience store *

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Dave Chisholm @davechisholmcomics.com · 04/09/2026

The last day to have your comic shop preorder the collected edition of IS TED OK? is Monday September 7. I put everything I had into this book. It's the best comic I've ever made and I'd be thrilled as hell if you picked it up. @madcavestudios.com

The cover to IS TED OK? trade paperback. Ted, eyes rolled back into his head, is on fire.

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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

As usual, Cheryl is right.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

starting a GoFundMe for $11,000 because, uh, my house is sick. yeah, that's it.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

starting a GoFundMe for $11,000 because, uh, my house is sick. yeah, that's it.

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Christopher Gates @chriswgates.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

this has become my kid's favorite thing to do, and, thanks to all the playtesting, is shaping up into a pretty solid little game for kids. think I might write this up (along with advice for GMing for small children, which is the real trick) and throw it on itch, see if anyone's interested.

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