iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Lots of brilliant bugs in FC27. This is a new one. Guy takes a penalty. Rather than kicking the ball he steps over it. Now he’s stuck in this weird pose and the game can’t continue.

Guy taking a penalty stepped over the ball. He’s now stuck in a weird static pose and the game won’t continue.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

70 Up is a real gut punch. Like that scene in Interstellar, it made me feel like the ground had disappeared from beneath my feet. The same feeling I get when I stand at the edge of a tall building. Loved it.

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 14/09/2026

Free newsletter: The idea that we're nearing the creation of AI systems that we can't control and that pose an existential threat to humanity is a lie and a distraction from the tangible harms and problems caused by LLMs and AI labs' near-unlimited resources. www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-alread...

wheresyoured.at

https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-already-in-dangerous-hands/

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter, and you can subscribe on the following links: $70 a year, $18 a quarter, or $7 a month. In return you get a weekly newsletter…

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 11/09/2026

Better Offline monologue: I run through the nonsensical, pro-AI lab scare campaign driven by a former researcher, how the media keeps falling for grifts, and how dangerous AI is already in the wrong hands - those of Anthropic and OpenAI. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... Linktr.ee/betteroffline

podcasts.apple.com

Monologue: Jacob Coxon and the AI Safety Grift

Podcast Episode · Better Offline · September 11 · 16m

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

They’re fucking coming after me in the comments. They’re saying it’s not Christmas.

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Tom @warriorcult.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Perfect couple of posts summarising the Wolverine / AAA space.

User @nisei_yoshimi posted on X:

time was if you wanted a wolverine game you called up acclaim or etc and they gave it to some lads from scunthorpe named like Galactic Visions who would code a 6/10 third person action game for PS2 xbox and gamecube in ten months. and it would cost about £500 and a few curries

Follow up post by @nisei_yoahimi:

developing a 6/10 wolverine game in 2004: uh we thought if we did like tomb raider but a bit of devil may cry combat it'd be well fun innit

developing a 6/10 wolverine game in 2026: the company has my children. I have not left the office in months. Take this note to the authori

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I've been playing through Everafter Falls with my daughter. A really solid Harvest Moon-like with co-op. I will never get bored of growing potatoes in games.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

NEW: I spoke with multiple current EA workers who said many inside the company have become trapped in a 'state of cynicism' after the publisher was bought by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. Feelings of shame and uncertainty are the new normal, but where can they turn?

gamedeveloper.com

EA workers trapped in a maelstrom of uncertainty after Saudi deal

Current EA employees share their views on how the publisher's seismic $55 billion buyout will impact the people behind its popular franchises.

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Yuuki Teja Due @yuukidue.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Looking for a new role again comrades, Any Mid-Snr QA, Jnr Producer or Junior Programmer roles are all welcome. Also got some freedom to work on some other interesting projects if anyone needs fresh set of eager eyes. #gamedev

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Be interesting to see how they handle monetisation. It’s famously obnoxious in their NBA game. Doubt they’ll go that hard if they’re trying to attract the FC audience.

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Kirk McKeand @mckkirk.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

It’s my turn now! The newsletter didn’t take off so I’ve been laid off. If you’re looking for someone with 15 years of experience as a writer and editor, please get in touch. I’ve also written dozens of mock reviews and my clients say they’re good.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Sometimes you just have to let it go

Somebody just shat in the queue of frozen forever after

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 06/08/2026

I'm sure that working in social media - dealing with people as mass statistical abstractions - is a cognitohazard, the sort of thing that could make anyone a little solipsistic, convinced that everyone else is a kind of stimulus-responding automaton lacking the interiority that you experience. 1/

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Boss defeated! Feeling confident that it's going to stick.

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Tariq Panja @tariqpanja.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Uefa: No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.

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Claire - open for work 🦈 @thesharkbit.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My contracts for some of these titles is coming to a wrap and I my bandwidth is wide open for more work supporting your games needs across Marketing and PR for as little or long as you like.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Attempting to start a Halo local coop campaign has to be one of the most needlessly infuriating exercises in all of gaming. Wtf

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 24/07/2026

As *tech*, AI isn't exceptional. It's not exceptionally wicked. It's not exceptionally good. Take away the accompanying, galactic-scale stock-swindle, and we'd call AI's apps "plug-ins" and we'd use them and abuse them in the same way that we've used every other technology: www.normaltech.ai 1/

A carny barker waving his top-hat and selling tickets from a roll; his head has been replaced with the hostile red eye of HAL9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The background is a magnified, halftoned detail from a US$100 bill.

Image:
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

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leon @leyawn.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

this is your mission. our pedophile president needs you to hang out in the middle east while he starts the same war every day. when a missile blasts you into pieces he'll say your last words were "we must build a new ballroom in the white house" before your body is even cold. good luck soldier

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Chris Boyd @paperghost.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

it's this in pretty much every industry forever. i've been laid off maybe 4, 5 times since 2008. i've lost count! it doesn't matter what you do, how cool it is, how important it is, what difference it makes, all will fall before the mighty blade of some guy with a spreadsheet

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

NEW: I spoke to multiple people impacted by the job cuts at Xbox to understand how the latest round of mass layoffs played out and what it means for the embattled video game division moving forward. This is their story.

gamedeveloper.com

Inside the latest round of mass layoffs at Xbox

Multiple workers impacted by the latest job cuts at Xbox believe the decision will hamstring some studios.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I remember as a kid playing this at a weird pyramid-shaped swimming pool in Bedford.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Been off the booze for 10 months. In a couple of weeks, I take on the final boss of sobriety: a stag do.

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Backyard Zoo | Wishlist Mayfly on Steam @backyardzoo.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

++ some fixes and minor improvements have just gone live! 📖 Background lore fix (thanks @donnietownstudio.bsky.social) 🔧 Fixed a few ridiculously hard to find but funny bugs (eg; one where you could essentially collect the guestbook an infinite amount of times) #gamedev #indiedev #steamdemo

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 09/07/2026

Launching a new website about video games today. Meet @respec.net. A sibling to @rpgsite.net, a spiritual successor to VG247, & a brother from another mother to other 100% independent UK media brands like @videogameschronicle.com and @trueachievements.com. www.respec.net/feature/87-w...

respec.net

Welcome to Respec: A word from the Editors | Respec

Welcome to our new little corner of the internet. Why a new video game website, and why now? Allow us to explain...

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 07/07/2026

Today’s free newsletter has a very simple message: The AI industry can not (and will not) be bailed out - AI is not too big to fail, OpenAI is not AIG, this is not 2008, and all of this is nothing like the Dot Com Bubble. And when it fails, we must let AI burn. www.wheresyoured.at/let-ai-burn/

wheresyoured.at

Let AI Burn

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, in...

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

What is the charge? Staying in a townhouse? A succulent Georgian townhouse?

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Alexis Trust 🌶️ @alexistrust.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Any journalists at Develop next week want to catch up over a coffee? Hoping to learn more about what you’re covering, how best to help freelancers get their bag, talk Witchbrook and KYORA, and general state of play. Shares much appreciated! 🙏

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Does it play? @doesitplay.org · 03/07/2026

Everybody talks about the digital-physical split and how Sony "justifies" the death of physical media on PlayStation. So we wrote a piece about how astroturfing through statistics works in this industry:

patreon.com

How astroturfing through statistics works in gaming | DoesItPlay? on Patreon

Everyone is talking about the digital-physical-split percentages. So we will too! The TL;DR: Most of what has been parroted about consumer p

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Dan @atomic-arc.com · 02/07/2026

I'm hoping to start a new project in August, any non-programmers looking to collab on something? Your ideas or mine, I'm happy either way 😄 I have ~10 years SWE experience and have been making little games for most of that time. DM me! #gamedev #art #pixelart #collab #lfg #indiedev #videogames

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I will be doing laps of the Develop venue. It's up to you to catch me.

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I'm looking for a survivors-like that has an upgrade shop between rounds. Think Brotato. Any tips?

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Tammy King @tammykingofficial.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

✨NEW GAMING DEMO! ✨Huge thanks to Authentic Reels aka Tilly Steele and Jake McCormack for bringing this to life for me 🔥 If you are a casting director, game developer, etc who would like to collaborate, please feel free to reach out 😊#voiceactor #singer #songwriter #authenticreels #gamingdemo

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 01/07/2026

we've come a long way

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I will be hovering above the Develop venue, honking and flapping my arms in a desperate bid to stay airborne.

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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Amazing text break between posts here

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I will be sitting in the vicinity of Develop, hoping some business pollen lands on me.

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Dan Thomas @heydanthomas.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

What a rare thing. A genuinely helpful resource that seems to have been made with no agenda except to help others. There's not even a hint of a credit to who made this. Anyone know who did and can I buy them a coffee/beer/cake at develop?

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Many Cats Studios @manycatsstudios.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Beach Cats? Brighton Cats? Catch us at Develop Brighton soon in July. Speak to us about accessibility, Impact and what the hell is a Wobbly Gamer.

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Thomas BIDAUX 👁️ 🔜 DICE Europe @icotom.icopartners.com · 24/06/2026

We are three weeks away from @developconference.com - now is as good a time as any to remind you of the Brighton Games Industry starter pack. Do share ahead - and let me know if you or your company wants to be added. bsky.app/starter-pack...

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Cold War Steve @coldwarsteve.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Happy 10 years of Brexit 💃💃💃

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Tom Champion @tomchampion.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Breaking news: I am reflecting on the “breakfast realities” facing me. I’m told it’s a bacon sandwich.

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Backyard Zoo | Wishlist Mayfly on Steam @backyardzoo.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

This is one of my favourite #quiethorror moments from the demo. I just find the idea of the door not being real absolutely terrifying. The first inkling that your reality is falling apart… Thank you again for playing. store.steampowered.com/app/4554960/... #gamedev #indiegame #steamdemo

store.steampowered.com

Mayfly: Demo on Steam

Mayfly is an eerie story-based quiet horror set aboard a narrowboat in Northern England. Upon waking alone to find your husband is missing you find yourself weaving through a shifting, unstable realit...

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