Shelby Barwood

Jennifer English realizing she's a lesbian and falling in love with one of her mocap directors (Aliona Baranova) over the course of making BG3 and seeing all the queer folks embracing Shadowheart and the impact the game had is genuinely one of the best stories in game production in a long time

I think one reason why games people are looking forward to the collapse of the AI bubble, despite it likely triggering a massive economic crash, is that we're basically already living post-crash.

Love that the internet is run on the same 5 companies in a trenchcoat!

Oh my God

One of the best things to recognise in yourself as a creative person is when you are Sauceless.

Not art blocked. Not struggling with a difficult creative problem.

Being Sauceless is when you've done good work but have been staring at it for too long, and risk making it worse through noodling.

(glances to the right of my screen)

The "I don't have time to read lots of dusty tomes for research, so I just ask a bot for a summary" thing keeps coming up. I just can't relate to anyone who isn't incandescently excited about digging into an archive and spending days deciphering Victorian handwriting. It's like a party drug to me.

The text "how it feels waking up every morning in 2025" above an image of Captain Picard saying "Damage Report."

bringing this one back lmao

Electronic Arts' $55B buyout doesn't add up Power and prestige over profits.

This @superjoost.bsky.social analysis is good.

Seriously weighing the pros and cons of releasing “Consensual Mutilation: the Game” to itch to see if it gets banned.

Update: It took 15 customer service calls before they finally let me speak to a human who works for Visa instead of my local bank. The result? She declined to explain what consensual mutilation is or why Visa feels it’s appropriate for their brand identity, and read me the canned statement.

Let’s be honest here: ableism is seldom if ever considered a red line on the left.

it goes further: Yu Suzuki had a oh-shit-the-boss-is-here button installed on his devkits that'd corrupt the screen and make the game look visibly "unfinished", in order to keep his boss from trying to force the game out the door ASAP shmuplations.com/afterburner/

You do you but I joined a union, started volunteering more, have gotten more involved in my various communities, and am actively trying to have more fun in my day to day. Think of the beach scene in Camus' "The Plague."

Times are bad. We will outlast them and build a better future together.

I’ve been avoiding calling them bc I’m a wimp but I am now COMPELLED to ask customer service what the fuck consensual mutilation is

The first 100% effective HIV prevention drug is approved and going global An epidemic that's been sustained for 44 years might finally be quelled, with the milestone approval of the first HIV drug that offers 100% protection with its twice-yearly injections. It's a landmark...

Well, I'll be damned.

It's royalty free and there's already six, generic manufacturers lined up.

newatlas.com/infectious-d...

so what i'm hearing is call more

Unexpectedly good politics from Thomas Kinkade's family! www.kinkadefamilyfoundation.org

Why did thousands of adult titles just disappear from the biggest PC gaming marketplaces? Digital distribution platforms Steam and itch.io have tightened their rules about adult content – under pressure from payment processors. Why has this happened and where will it lead?

Steam and itch.io have removed thousands of video games in recent weeks deemed to be "adult content" in order to comply with strict rules from payment processors like Mastercard.

These policies censor artists engaged in lawful speech. Mastercard shouldn't be the gatekeepers of our digital freedom.

Currently on the phone with Visa

Instead of starting with a complaint, I approached this as a Confused American Consumer who doesn't understand why they can't buy things off a website they use

The call center rep immediately asked if it was about Steam/itch

(cont)

⚠️ A NOTE ABOUT ITCH.IO ⚠️

Dear #GameDev: I'm not going to pretend I know all the details, or that I should be considered an expert, but we need to talk about this situation. 🧵

P.S. - Jump to the end of the thread for what you personally can do to help address the situation.

Y’know, like “his name is mud.”

Personally I think we should turn Zerat Games into some kind of colloquialism. Like, “I heard itch got Zeratted.” Or, “Itch had steady growth before they got Zeratted.” It would be cool if today’s ire also prevented anyone even remotely associated with Zerat Games from ever making a comeback.

after a very frustrating call with Visa (US+CAN), I was told that Visa would like inquiries relating to using their bargaining power to destroy adult media to be sent, via email, to

askvisa@visa.com

they asked. to be sent. emails. you know what to do.

If you want to actually solve the problem, instead of punishing itch, start calling payment cos

Collective Shout, which is run by people who get published by Spinifex, a very terf-seeming organization, apparently needed 1,000 people to yell at visa to get this done.

We got more than 1000 people.

the biggest brain take I’ve seen today is “the solution this problem is to go back to shareware and floppies like the good old days” yeah grandma sending 225 individual floppy disks through snail mail to tens of thousands of players is a totally viable small business model in 2025

I think Cornish people must have more dogs per capita. Everywhere I’ve been there have been tons of people with dogs. Usually multiple dogs per person. And dogs in restaurants! With little restaurant dog bowls! They’re the chillest and most well-behaved dogs I’ve ever met.

UK observations, week 1: You guys prefer much sweeter crisps and pasta sauces than the US does. Not in actual sugar content, just flavour profile. “HOT CHILLI EXPLOSION” means that someone blew the faintest whisper of capsaicin-tinged air over the outside of the bag. The La Croix of spice.

There are currently more kids in Texas with measles than there are transgender collegiate athletes in all of America.

Guess which one they want you to focus on.

We intentionally did not put Rosie in the headline because this is not about Rosie O’Donnell it’s about everyone