iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

Most of the gripes are about the game's performance, which is an issue on lower-spec PCs! And that's on the dev. Except, oops, they posted a chart on the Steam page last week explaining what you need to play it for various target specs!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488490/Nivalis_Nights/

110

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

This crap makes me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. Nivalis Nights has been out less than a day and negative reviewers are posting vague displeasure at nothing in particular. It seems coordinated because reviews went up around the same time. They're awarding each other (not the positives) to boost visibility.

Nivalis Nights - https://steamcommunity.com/app/1488490/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1488490/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

230

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

So on The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played, I'm moving on to mascot platformers from 1990-1995. I was surprised how many good lesser-known ones there are! Here are a few I'll be featuring: Kid Dracula Pig Out Bucky O'Hare Little Samson Gimmick! Rolo to the Rescue Ardy Lightfoot & more!

220

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 27/09/2026

I've finally reached the point in Nighthawks where I get a shot at Maze, a seemingly benign narcissist who's started a vampire cult in the basement of his antique bookstore. He's an early ally and not the villain, but he's easily one of the biggest monsters in the game! Can't wait to take him down.

Maze, your first ally and also one of the most troubling characters the more you get to know him.

4214

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 26/09/2026

I've encountered the phrase "Dopefish lives!" several times in Nighthawks as I've traversed the sewers. It's a fun reference to one of gaming's longer running in-jokes, particularly in shooter games. id Software's Tom Hall created the Dopefish orginally! www.dopefish.com/fishinfo.html

The Dopefish in Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy!

151

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 22/09/2026

Nighthawks is out. Got my copy! Probably won't get to it until this weekend, but I'm excited to try it!

050

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

And asset flips, AI slop, copycats, NFT/crypto games, really shoddy "experiences" or games built to get you to spend money on in-game transactions... They all fit under this definition, because lack of respect for the player is the core issue! That's ultimately what makes a game truly bad. /end

A Good Game is engaging and fun.

A Great Game works hard to make sure you’re generally having a good time.

But a Bad Game doesn't respect your time, wallet and overall experience.

140

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

On the other hand, 2023's Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a truly bad game. Badly designed, buggy as heck and full of time-wasting padding to make the game seem long. It was $40 at retail but not even worth playing if you get it for free. It fulfills my definition perfectly!

https://www.mobygames.com/game/210336/skull-island-rise-of-kong/

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

So if we want to say last year's lowest-ranked game, MindsEye, is a bad game, we need to be careful. "A bad game is one that doesn't respect your time, wallet and overall experience." But MindsEye's biggest sin was outdated, bland mechanics. It even had an OK story. Not a disrespect for players.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/243449/mindseye/

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

So, let's presume that most games aren't good or bad, but are just average. In statistics, we have the concept of a normal distribution. For 2025's PS4/PS5 games, MobyGames data for 510 games says the average critic score is 75%. 191 games are 80 or above. 197 between 70-79. 122 below 70.

Bell curve diagram showing the 68-99.7 rule (1-2-3 standard deviations)

PS4/PS5 Games in 2025 n=510
Average 75%
Median 77%
StDev 0.0945
Confidence Interval 0.0082
Upper CI 76%
Lower CI 74%

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

Postal III is bad because: 1) It's incredibly offensive without purpose, but also never actually funny. 2) It was made on the cheap by a Russian developer but sold for full price. 3) It's a bland game with broken AI and lots of bugs Running With Scissors refuses to sell it today. It's that awful!

https://www.mobygames.com/game/54281/postal-iii/

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

Extreme Paintbrawl is bad because: 1) It was made in two weeks but released as a finished commercial game. 2) It's budgetware that makes other budgetware look lavishly produced. 3) The game's broken and fundamentally doesn't work. It's nearly impossible to play. It's absolutely awful in every way.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/2549/extreme-paintbrawl/

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

Action 52 is a bad game because: 1) It assumes gamers want quantity over quality 2) It originally cost $200! 3) Its games provide a terrible experience with many titles barely in a playable state and some impossible to complete It's not even "so good it's bad." It's simply bad.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/7762/action-52/

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 18/09/2026

I've decided it's time for gamers to reconsider the definition of a "bad game," because they're fairly rare and we need to get beyond "bad = I don't like it." So here's my proposal. A bad game is one that doesn't respect your time, wallet and overall experience. Details below...

272

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 15/09/2026

This is what was in my drive so you can see I'm not choosy about what I play on the PS5!

000

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 15/09/2026

Got this in the mail yesterday. Looks like Walmart broke the street date! I'm gonna play it. I can always sell it if it's no good. Such is the joy of physical games!

140

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 13/09/2026

I won't champion Bug! as a missed classic. It's imperfect, like most early attempts at making a 3D platformer. And the mascot, oh-so-imaginatively named Bug, is unappealing and also has a pet named Maggot Dog. Ewww. But it does feel like a missed branch in platformer evolution!

https://www.mobygames.com/game/8437/bug/screenshots/

121

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 13/09/2026

One of the cooler parts of the game is a pseudo-3D bonus stage where you ride around on a dragonfly. You have to collect enough of the coins on each stage to unlock it, which makes you explore the surprising lengthy and complex levels. User-made maps show just how intricate they can be.

Source: Zimond (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/saturn/573934-bug/map/14518-insectia-3-map)

111

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 13/09/2026

A lot of platformers went 2.5D in the mid to late 90s, but Bug! is quite different from them since you can change directions in open 3D spaces. You're still locked into a grid-like movement (no analog controls), but you also don't fall off platforms or struggle to run in a straight line!

111

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 13/09/2026

Aside from Bug!'s lack of charisma and annoying audio, the gameplay does things few platformers after it tried until much more recently. The levels are 3D strips connected together into lanes that go horizontal, vertical or in/out of the screen. But all of the characters are rendered sprites!

131

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 13/09/2026

Here's another list of great games you should check out that are off the beaten path. These recommendations may be cult classics or collector faves, but I don't see them mentioned as often. Today: the PlayStation Vita! #gaming #retrogames #videogames

150

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 12/09/2026

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 09/09/2026

I've always been in the camp of "2D Top-down Zelda > 3D Zelda," so I'm less excited than a lot of folks for Zelda Ocarina of Time remake. My favorite games in the series were all released on the NES, SNES + GB/GBC/GBA. Whether A Link to the Past or Link's Awakening is the best is a toss-up for me!

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 07/09/2026

Here's another list of great games you should check out that are off the beaten path. These recommendations may be cult classics or collector faves, but I don't see them mentioned as often. Today: Multiplatform PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360! #gaming #retrogames #videogames

1102

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 06/09/2026

There's are evil Queen Juliana, very much like the Matrons of Menzoberranzan. And Teegra (the scantily-clad heroine) has a (non-magical) black cat much like Guenhwyvar! The look and feel of the film is both frozen lands and places that feel like the Underdark (even if they're aboveground).

100

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 06/09/2026

Here's another weird thing. Remember how I just re-read the Icewind Dale / Drizzt Do'Urden books from R.A. Salvatore? This movie has a LOT in common with those books. The bad guy, Nekron, looks like a drow. Darkwolf and Larn are both barbarian warriors like Wulfgar. (Cont'd)

100

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 05/09/2026

Still rolling them up around post 7 though. I wish Bsky would allow you to turn that aspect off. Or that it'd roll them up at a later point.

110

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 05/09/2026

Did this feature just appear on Bsky today? You mean I can actually post threads now that people can understand are meant to be multi-posts? Delightful! Even though I stubbornly insist on posting long threads, I know how hard they've been to read on the platform.

181

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 05/09/2026

Ooh, found a brand new book on Frank Frazetta's career at the library today! I thought it was interesting to learn that he's one of the most famous illustrators in comics there is, but his comics career was pretty insignificant compared to his movie posters and novel covers.

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010 Godfather of Fantasy Art (Nadel, Smith and Hanson, 2006)

110

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 05/09/2026

1160

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 03/09/2026

Here's another list of great games you should check out that are off the beaten path. These recommendations may be cult classics or collector faves, but I don't see them mentioned as often. Today: Multiplatform PS2/Xbox/GC! #gaming #retrogames #videogames

Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray

160

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 02/09/2026

250

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 31/08/2026

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

172

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 30/08/2026

I'm going to make a mega-thread of my recommendations to this point because I've been doing this all month and it's easy to miss 'em! (220+ games listed so far, 180+ more to go!) We started with the NES!

131

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 30/08/2026

Let's continue my series of threads with 10 lesser-known games you should play on each major console platform. These non-exhaustive lists may include cult classics or collector faves, but they're generally games I don't see mentioned as often. Today:PlayStation 3! #gaming #retrogames #videogames

181

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 28/08/2026

260

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 28/08/2026

I'm skeptical of generative AI being a transformative technology because, well, I've used it personally. It's very good at making people who have no skills in something believe they suddenly possess them. But to me, it's just a Dunning-Krueger effect generator.

Source: https://ixdf.org/literature/topics/dunning-kruger-effect

100

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 28/08/2026

Man, Saber just continues to play the role of the heel, huh? Remember when people were saying the same thing about Crypto and NFTs and those turned out to be just as inappropriate, despite efforts to create games using the technology? Did we get a Half-Life 2 from those games? Of course not.

230

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 28/08/2026

1145

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 27/08/2026

Just taking still shots of the action at key points reveals so many visual details that blow by at this game's maniacal speed! (Images below from MobyGames)

https://www.mobygames.com/game/174211/mad-panic-coaster/screenshots/playstation/

010

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 27/08/2026

So I was talking to someone today about why I'm so sour on AI in game development, and I think this requires a little bit of nuance, which BlueSky is TERRIBLE at allowing for. So here's my basic argument in two slides (and a thread to elaborate on it!):

HOW GENERATIVE AI SHOULD (AND SHOULD NOT) BE USED IN GAME DEVELOPMENT

*************************
Potentially Acceptable Uses of GenAI
(often easily accomplished through other methods)
*****
Upscaling graphical fidelity
Pattern-matching or adaptation to scale gameplay or input precision to the player’s skill level
Improving enemy AI to be more novel and less predictable
Generating dynamic animations for environments, explosions, etc.
Enhancing procedural generation
Allowing for natural language input to direct a series of actions (e.g. in an adventure game)
Providing a dynamic help system to steer gamers who are lost or stuck
*****
Very little of the discussion about GenAI is about these sorts of uses in game development.

*************************
Problematic Uses of GenAI
(Often utilized as shortcuts or for cost-cutting)
*****
Replacing human artists (concept artists, background artists, character artists, texture artists, UI designers, writers, musicians, modelers, riggers, voice actors, sound designers, etc.) for any reason
Replacing scripted content with dynamic content generated by AI tools
Generating on-the-fly assets, objects, items, characters, or other gameplay features
Prototyping (especially since generated assets may wind up in a final build)
User-generated content tools
Vibe coding of any sort
*****
Almost all of the purported benefits of GenAI in game development involve these uses.

GENERATIVE AI IS NOT CREATIVE.
IT’S BUILT ON THEFT OF HUMAN CREATIVITY.

********************************
Creativity is a skill you develop, not a chore we need machines to help us overcome.

****
There’s no such thing as “democratization of creativity” because the only gatekeepers to being creative are the individuals involved in making things.
Creativity is not about utility or commercial viability – it’s about human expression
Machine tools can help us create new things, but they are not inherently creative
Very few people are creative enough to build something wholly unique – most of us need (and benefit from!) creative collaborators
****
GenAI supporters almost always presume creative skills are a simple gap to creating products, not a worthwhile, lifelong professional pursuit

******************************************
Creative people get into their line of work because they love it, not because they’re gatekeepers to creative output
****
Creative people tend to approach their skills as a way to add to a project, not as a way to enforce their will upon it
Creative people often infuse themselves, their knowledge, their perspectives and their own lived experiences into their contributions
Creative people tend to be very knowledgeable about their skillset and can provide collaborative input about how to make the most of what they have to offer
Creative people working on commercial projects are often concerned about doing the best they can to be collaborators so the project will succeed
****
Creative people are often among the lowest-paid staff at any game developer and often have the worst job security and limited opportunities

4268

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 27/08/2026

10 #PSP #VIDEOGAMES YOU SHOULD PLAY 6. Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble (2008) One of the only games from the series available outside of Japan, this game's about being a juvenile delinquent tough guy in high school who's always looking for a fight. Lock eyes with a potential foe and beat him down!

https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/18916-kenka-bancho-badass-rumble

100

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 27/08/2026

4111

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 26/08/2026

120

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 25/08/2026

Let's continue my series of threads with 10 lesser-known games you should play on each major console platform. These non-exhaustive lists may include cult classics or collector faves, but they're usually games I don't see mentioned as often. Today: Game Boy Advance! #gaming #retrogames #videogames

1113

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 24/08/2026

3) Mainstream video game marketing is also struggling right now because many of the traditional channels (print, online content, broadcast) aren't working well, digital is a constantly-changing landscape and sales expectations are often too high. Netflix is going to position itself as the solution.

130

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 24/08/2026

2) Netflix is incredibly opaque about its numbers, which means they're going to talk about how GTA VI's preview premiere was a big success for them. But it'll be hard to validate how or why. But they're gonna use the perception it did well as a selling point to other brands.

130

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 24/08/2026

1) Netflix is reaching a point where it's going to have to include advertorial content to keep its revenues growing. Pitching their algorithm to advertisers for placing digital ads is already happening. But paid content (similar to what you see on broadcast during downtime) would be a major coup.

130