Sign in

James O’Connor

@jickle.net
1.6K followers 400 following 1.5K posts

Games industry producer, narrative designer, editor and critic. Author of Untitled Goose Game for Boss Fight Books and (unannounced second book). jamesoconnorau at gmail.

PostsRepliesMedia
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 11h
I know Maddie Agne wrote a great piece about Barnyard for TWIV (thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/barn...) from Blue Tongue around the same time, they might have some contacts?
thisweekinvideogames.com
"GTA for 8-Year-Olds": A 20-Year Retrospective on Barnyard
Barnyard director Nick Hagger said the game's cultural endurance 20 years later is down to its "unique alchemy."
101
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/09/2026
Really sorry James. I think a domestic cat that has people who love it gets to have just about the most enjoyable and pleasant life that any living creature in history has ever had, but it always ends in heartbreak for the people left behind. Look after yourself and remember what you did for them x
160
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/09/2026
Counter offer to the RBA: eat shit
1393
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/09/2026
Hello!
000
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/09/2026
Legitimately incredible speaker line-up here
041
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 27/09/2026
Best of luck to whoever is put in charge of cancelling this one
0110
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 26/09/2026
From a pure “sports narrative” perspective the hot favourite pulling a huge comeback in the last four minutes to win for a third time in a row over the team that has never won before is total horse shit
4200
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 24/09/2026
I still have all the DS releases, but would, regardless, also buy this
100
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 24/09/2026
Still if they absolutely must do this I guess I prefer this to an all-new VR game that I will never play
100
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 24/09/2026
A VR port of *by far* the worst game in the series certainly is an interesting choice, by a broad definition of the word “interesting”
4121
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 23/09/2026
Hoping that I will indeed be able to See Everything in a cinema in Australia not too long after that US release date
130
Reposted by James O’Connor
Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Well, my redundancy has been finalised today. Not really sure what to do with myself now, but posting about it again feels vaguely productive.
1117
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 22/09/2026
Anyway I refuse to let this thread go longer than three posts so I will close by saying that I feel very lucky to still enjoy and love games in a meaningful way and I hope I can keep that going
1100
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 22/09/2026
I do also think that in your late 30s you really find yourself taking stock, and it feels like every decision you made over the past 20 years has locked you into whatever path you’re on in a way that can be confronting, especially if you are standing on the bow of a ship watching the armada sink
1110
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 22/09/2026
I have dedicated a substantial percentage of my life into making sure that the ways I play and enjoy videogames is meaningfully constructive within my own life. But it is significant, I think, that I’ve seen so many people who work in or around games stop playing them once they don’t have to
1200
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 21/09/2026
You truly do not need to write an article about the thoughts and feelings of the folks who are still posting on X, the everything app
1131
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 21/09/2026
Anthony, that’s right! What a time. Kind of formative for me in many ways
010
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 21/09/2026
It was a stretch of a few issues between John and David where Dylan was in charge and we were all just winging it on a tiny budget - Dylan is generously spreading the credit here but it really was him keeping the magazine alive for a few months!
121
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 21/09/2026
This popped up in my feed, and reminded me that this was the issue that broke my 90-odd issue streak as a contributor (but I was back the issue after… and then about 7 issues later the whole mag died)
1130
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 19/09/2026
(See also: the quite good Exit 8 film from earlier this year)
010
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 19/09/2026
Resident Evil (2026) is a great argument for adapting the mechanics of games to film rather than just adapting the story
190
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 18/09/2026
Parallels tickets went up and sold out earlier this week while I was in the middle of hosting a stand-up meeting and I have felt bad for people on my team who missed out ever since
070
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 17/09/2026
Periodic reminder that I wrote a book about the making of a good game, and that the book is also good, and can be purchased from several online retailers. Marketing! bossfightbooks.com/products/unt...
bossfightbooks.com
Untitled Goose Game by James O'Connor
Through interviews with the creators and their co-conspirators,journalist and developer James O'Connor tells the story of how this indie megahit came to be, revealing how the team succeeded by evolving their friendship into an art practice, contributing to the wider Australian game development scene, trusting their own good taste, and never, ever naming their game. Honk!!
091
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 16/09/2026
These Fire Emblem reviews are good news for me, the Fire Emblem psycho
090
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 15/09/2026
Very cool that Stephen Root, maybe the all-time great “oh cool, they’re in this!” actor, has an Emmy now
090
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 15/09/2026
Consequently I am playing Onimusha on Switch 2, and it is a *very good* port
050
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 15/09/2026
I have really bad stick drift on two different PS5 Dualsense controllers and instead of either replacing or fixing them my thinking has been shifting more towards “well I should just avoid playing this console when possible to save my remaining controller”
170
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 14/09/2026
Really excited for Continue. But for me the most exciting part is that the pages I wrote are paired with illustrations from my wife @lisavertudaches.bsky.social ❤️❤️
0262
Reposted by James O’Connor
Serrels @serrels.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is how I spent my Saturday night. Poring over black & white printouts. We send the first issue of CONTINUE to print TODAY. I've worked on hundreds of magazines, this feels different. This is what we dreamed into reality. I think we've created something special. Can't wait for you to see.
4635
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 11/09/2026
I know we have litigated this once every three weeks for the last 30 years but it’s a *little* concerning that this critical reception is being widely read and understood as disastrous
2160
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 10/09/2026
Welcome back, early 2000s-era console wars, we didn’t miss you but maybe it’ll be a bit more fun to really favour Nintendo this time around
1111
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 09/09/2026
Every now and then I open up the document of headlines we never got to…
020
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 09/09/2026
Free joke concept for whatever satire website wants it: GOG introduces age verification system
5144
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 08/09/2026
Radiohead and the Zelda concerts hitting Melbourne in the same week is very dangerous to people in my age bracket
0110
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 08/09/2026
Remake looks extraordinary. In celebration I will go to bed, go to sleep, and not look at social media
010
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 08/09/2026
Somehow I never finished the original Ocarina of Time. Maybe I will finish this one!
240
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 08/09/2026
I will not be at Games Week in any significant capacity this year! I will be too busy working on games and writing about games and maybe playing some games.
0130
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 08/09/2026
“Made over 50 replies yesterday” is an incredible piece of context
291
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 07/09/2026
A big difference between the Oscars and the Game Awards is that the Oscars are really fun to game out by interpreting a bunch of loose signifiers and trends and pundit chatter as a narrative takes shape whereas the Game Awards go to wherever game gets called “epic” on Twitter the most
1110
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 07/09/2026
Cool team! Good job!
032
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 07/09/2026
What if Nathan Fielder wins an Oscar youtu.be/GGJSRFWALTI?...
youtu.be
You Can See Everything | Official Teaser HD | A24
YouTube video by A24
080
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 02/09/2026
It is a well-known fact that only one game in a series can be good
040
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/08/2026
I have been married for one (1) week now and a big revelation has been that wearing a wedding ring is really nice
0100
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 29/08/2026
Have gone out and had a few drinks tonight to talk myself into buying Elden Ring on Switch 2 when I get home
040
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 27/08/2026
I am not sure if the ecosystem is currently tuned for everyone to be relatively normal in how they talk about and write about this game in public-facing spaces but we’ll see
240
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 27/08/2026
Putting on my galoshes and wading into the discourse bog to say that GTA VI looks very good, to me
290
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 27/08/2026
And honestly, just Switch 1/2 is okay
010
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 25/08/2026
I have been married for a few days now. Weddings are nice! I love my wife!
5320
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 18/08/2026
(I started this with “Warren Spector is retiring” so it did not read like an obituary)
030
James O’Connor @jickle.net · 18/08/2026
Warren Spector is retiring! I was able to interview Warren Spector a few times and present on stage with him at PAX once on the back of my PC PowerPlay monthly column about playing Deus Ex. Always a pleasure, with such a sharp sense of what makes games good and interesting. All the best to him.
2101