iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 17h

Castlevania demo was a good time but I hope the finished version had a copy edit. Spotted several typos or instances where text didn't match voice in the 45 mins I played Feels like QA these days is really suffering

2410

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Funny timing to notice this sitting next to my desk

3370

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Oh right, N64 came out this week in the US, huh? Still have my original (Japan one too) plus the weird certificate they gave you at EB if you got it on day one

5575

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Crazy to think it’s been a year already!

0130

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Cabel delivering the goods as always - turns out Girvin was the designer of many of NOA’s iconic package designs from the 80s and 90s (I did not know this) They’re almost all bangers. As with anything like this I’m sure it was a collaborative effort, but still, these guys did amazing work

2378

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Was just chatting about how this packaging was so iconic back when it first dropped. Certainly less visually descriptive than the Japanese art but there’s no denying it was attention-grabbing. Whoever made it knew what they were doing

7827

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Speaking of which, 8-4 likely to be looking for contract help soon (local). Will post about it whenever I have more info.

1306

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I have so much work to do but I want to play Control…and Well Dweller…and Townfall…and Onimusha…and ahhhhh

2160

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Howard Lincoln himself introducing it as “oh”-carina at E3 1998 (clip courtesy of @parisi2274.bsky.social)

397114

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This got me thinking about how ppl pronounce “ocarina” - I often switch between “ah” and “oh” myself because in Japanese, it’s “oh” but in the US it’s “ah”. In Japan ppl shorten it to 時オカ (toki-oka), which of course likewise carries the long ‘o’ sound

7311

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

in a week that saw microsoft give activision the reins to halo and bungie pivot back to destiny, one thing has become abundantly clear: the people in charge do not have a long-term, overriding plan. they’re just reacting. the result, when times are bad, is chaos

"Things are still very chaotic," a current id Software employee who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly told Aftermath. "While there has been an attempt to communicate to the studios, it is still entirely in bullshit corporate speak. I still don't believe they have a clear vision for the future. The only concrete thing they have communicated is they want higher profits, and they want it now. Aggressive goals are being set that would have been unrealistic even before the layoffs. ... To say the workers within Xbox have a dim view of the future is putting it mildly. We keep thinking morale can't sink lower but the obvious incompetence of Xbox management somehow keeps driving it down worse."
This mirrors shifts in strategy that have come to dominate the still-new Sharma era, including others outlined Tuesday. Rare is joining Activision, Turn 10 and Playground are fusing, and—most gallingly, considering their history—Obsidian is being folded into Bethesda to work on Fallout instead of its own original series. As with the previous round of layoffs, details betray Microsoft's haphazard approach: A Halo developer got promoted and laid off in the same week. Gears of War: E-Day's story director is out of a job days after celebrating that the game had gone gold. Hellblade developer Ninja Theory, now without a buyer after a brief glimmer of hope, is once again on the chopping block.
All of this betrays a simplistic mindset that does not accurately reflect the reality of game development: People are disposable, studios are interchangeable, and series can be traded like sports teams. Nothing matters more than franchises and their money-printing prowess. Unless, evidently, you are Hideo Kojima, in which case Microsoft suddenly has money to burn.

16831232

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Hooked on Control Resonant. It’s a little tough at the outset but once you start to understand how the game wants you to play and you get into a groove it’s mega addictive. Excellent writing and VO again too, laughed out loud so many times already

3320

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Digging Well Dweller. Don’t mess with birds yo

2140

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Remedy Entertainment @remedygames.com · 22/09/2026

Thank you for your support and over 2 million wishlists for CONTROL Resonant! Altered Manhattan awaits. Pre-order bonuses are still available! #CONTROLResonant

833333

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Loved video games since the very first one I played but the first one that locked me in and was probably an early indicator of my future love of RPGs and fantasy adventure games was this

2330

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Day one, without a doubt. Lufia 1 is OK but Lufia 2 is a SNES all-timer

3430

Reposted by John Ricciardi

8-4 Play @84play.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Best ep of the year streak continues with all killers, no filler: John Linneman, Jason Schreier, Mike McWhertor, Shane Bettenhausen, Jeremy Parish, Chris Kohler and more stop by to talk anything and everything to do with this year’s TGS. 8-4.jp/podcasts/202...

1010316

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Recently re-bought this after 30-something years. Was one of the first imports I’d purchased after Dragon Quest V but I must’ve sold it somewhere along the way. Play the remaster if you haven’t already!

5726

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Forgot I ordered this like…17 months ago lol

2290

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Jake Kazdal @jkooza.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

8-4 pre-TGS party was excellent as always, so good to see so many good friends, one night a year. Thank you @84play.bsky.social!! And all the debauchery at the after party too!

2553

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Love listening to @mattalt.bsky.social talk about this kinda stuff, if you haven't checked out Pure Invention, you really should (and obviously peep this video first)

3194

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Busy day in Tokyo

60189819

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Rolled credits on Torneko after an amazing (and lucky) last run. Feels nice to cross this off the backlog after all these years. Game is addictive as hell, kinda glad I can mentally put it behind me because it was eating up all my time 😅

3440

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

25 years ago! Left: my local Lawson sold me my preordered GameCube at 11pm the night before launch (they weren't supposed to), thus the first pic of me home playing it on 9/13. Right: the next morning, after grabbing a second for a friend in Akiba at 6am (where I ran into @louiethecat.bsky.social)

1719012

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Haven’t posted about it because we had our podcast set to record the next day but for the record I think Ocarina of Time looks -stunning-. I, too, am a little irked by the wet sheen thing going on with some characters, but everything else looks far beyond what I was expecting. Can’t wait for Nov. 5!

4501

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The video game industry has always been volatile (I published Press Reset in 2021!) but the skeleton key to understanding the current state of things is this: Big games now cost 10x to make what they did 15 years ago but most do not generate even close to 10x the revenue. Simple as that

982863433

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Aside from the grammatical awkwardness of “Bag o’ Laughs steals a gold coin from the Torneko.”, if you look at my gold, he stole a lot more than a single gold coin lol. Feels like QA in SQEX games has been suffering lately…

7414

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If you’ve ever played or enjoyed a Shiren the Wanderer game, or a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, or any Mystery Dungeon game, really: they all spawned from this—originally a Dragon Quest spinoff that came out in the year following DQ5 in Japan (1993). This is the first time it’s been localized, too!

3363177

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hold on, how did the Direct not end on KARNOV?! What a day for middle-aged fatman protags from the 90s

7393

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Was desperately hoping the Kirby trailer was a long troll opening to a new Smash reveal but alas It looks very pretty, just not really the game I want to end a Direct with We got Torneko tho so it’s ok. Everything is ok

3210

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Imran Khan @imrankhan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Torneko coming back to modern platforms gives me an excuse to post the all-timer U.S. box art for the original. Look at that fucking Slime.

31285504

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Torneko is an all-timer, I can’t believe it’s coming back

2372

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Torneko?!?&)&)¥)¥!¥!¥’mn!????

3312

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Sam Barlow 🔥 @mrsambarlow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is only $2 on the Nintendo eShop right now

1128667

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I spoke to Double Fine boss Tim Schafer about getting kicked out of Xbox and rediscovering the thrills of being independent. This week's column is a real good one: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

bloomberg.com

How Double Fine Escaped the Xbox Bloodbath

Facing an existential threat, CEO Tim Schafer took his studio independent again after seven years of Xbox ownership

131151214

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Happy to see this. More smaller, less ridiculous budget games please

0210

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Does FF Resonance have a demo on Switch 2 too?

570

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I was not aware they made so few…

1270

Reposted by John Ricciardi

PlayStation @playstation.com · 03/09/2026

State of Play begins in 30 minutes, followed immediately by State of Play Japan YouTube (English): play.st/4gBstK4 YouTube (English subtitles): play.st/4ybLXea Twitch (English): play.st/twitch YouTube (Japanese): play.st/4662Lr7

5312331

John Ricciardi @johntv.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Is Onimusha worth playing on Switch 2 if you have a PS5 Pro?

250

Reposted by John Ricciardi

Score Studios LLC @scorestudios.bsky.social · 27/02/2024

My latest game, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons is out now (Nintendo Switch and PC/Steam). A nice little nod from the Nintendo news channel too! I'm super nervous that people will like it. www.piczlestoryofseasons.com

A photo of a Nintendo Switch on the Nintendo news channel item (Japanese) talking about the release of Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons

1134