David Velez

OpenAI strikes $38 billion AI training deal with Amazon Pouring billions more into AI.

OpenAI strikes $38 billion AI training deal with Amazon

#ViceCity

This is one of the toughest things I've ever had to write. Hope you can make time for it. #Itagaki

‘A force of nature who took no prisoners’: a tribute to Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki The driving force behind Team Ninja was a game development samurai who almost always won his battles

Oh, I also did a tribute to my brother Itagaki for @theguardian.com. I didn't realize it was up. This is way shorter, but no less poignant, I think. I tried to do him justice. #Itagaki

🤩🤩🤩

Extremely rare b-roll footage of an Electronics Boutique in late 1994 or early 1995. Enjoy it!

I found this among 40TB of files from Digital Pictures' archive.

Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Team Ico’s masterpiece by looking back with 11 people who worked on it (and three who didn’t).

It's past midnight on the east coast, which means it's officially Shadow of the Colossus' 20th anniversary. Come join the party.

The ups, downs and future of Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third Hear from the man in charge about the game’s eight-plus years of development.

My interview for @polygon.com with #Itagaki back in 2016, after the release of Devil’s Third. www.polygon.com/features/201...

Was great talking about @designroom.bsky.social with the Aftermath folks!

Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors “With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”

wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

I’ll have more to say on the topic of Itagaki-senpai’s passing soon. But I have been looking at my Team Ninja collection all morning. There’s a bunch still tucked away that I need to dig out. But whenever I ask a creator to sign something, it’s an acknowledgement of their hard work, and memories.

Now that’s all I can see.

Tomonobu Itagaki (from his final Facebook post)

according to a notice on his Facebook page, Tomonobu Itagaki has passed away at the age of 58. No details were shared, but the statement expressed his misgivings about “failing to produce a new game for the fans”
www.facebook.com/share/p/17am...

Today I lost someone who was truly like a brother to me. I am gutted to the core. I guess I can say so now that it's on his Facebook page. He even listed himself as my actual brother on Facebook. Anyone who knows me knows how close we were. RIP, senpai. You will always be a ninja.

I’m sorry for your loss. ❤️

I’m still holding out hope we’ll get Street Fighter here. 🙏

Dude I would too.

The McDonald’s x Street Fighter collab in Japan is incredible. No notes. 🤌

Reading this on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. Phenomenal.

Design Room Video game oral histories

🚨🚨🚨

We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.

• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site

Getting off work? Finally have time to read a 10,000-word story? Or perhaps you live overseas... 👀

Take a chronological journey through gaming’s least linear format: the action RPG with The History of Metroidvania: Decade One—1980-1990, coming next march. Details: bit.ly/3KBaRk9

Dives into the gaming trends of the early 1980s and how those beginnings shaped metroidvania genre.

By Jeremy Parish

Explore The Origins Of Metroidvania In This New Retro Gaming Book This new book will explore the history of the enduring metroidvania genre in video games.

Remember how I kept talking about the Metroidvania book I had in the works, and then it kinda dropped off the radar? I didn't lose interest. I was just working with a Legit Major Publisher (Dark Horse!) on turning it into the pilot release for a Press Run team-up: www.gamespot.com/articles/exp...

A Knight (for a Knight) OC ReMix presents a free video game ReMix album, A Knight (for a Knight)

HAPPY SILKSONG DAY!
New, FREE EP: A Knight (for a Knight)
knight.ocremix.org

PLEASE TAG fellow Hollow Knight fans!

@damonzmusic.bsky.social's 4-track tribute to @christopherlarkin.bsky.social's amazing score to the first game!

Features his mom, cellist Christine Giguère + art by Annie Doyon!
GET!

Archival footage like this of a place that no longer exists is the kind of ref you should just let wash over you and watch it when it suddenly appears in your recommendation like this just did for me. A Space is not just how it looks but its how its used and the people that do so and their history.

used copies of Resident Evil 1 & 3 with caricatures of Chris and Jill, respectively, drawn on the side. RE1 also has a decapitated head and “かゆいうま” (Japanese for “Itchy Tasty”)

hand-drawn art in used game shops might be my favorite thing in the world

AWS enters into 'strategic partnership' with Saudi Arabia-backed Humain | TechCrunch Amazon says it'll work with Humain, the AI company recently launched by Saudi Arabia’s ruler, to invest '$5 billion-plus' in a strategic partnership.

AWS enters into ‘strategic partnership’ with Saudi Arabia-backed Humain

New season of @goodjobbrain.bsky.social!
(Bear w/ me while I set up socials here)
Ep 286: trivia about secrets — hidden rooms in landmarks quiz, mysterious 0s on your money, spy holes in Gibraltar, investigating an oatmeal’s secret surprise, & Pikachu’s printer scandal
goodjobbrain.com/episodes/286