Michael Cripe

So long, Bowser.

Congrats, Kat!!! Can’t wait to see what’s next! 🥳🎉

L o l. Congrats! 🎉❤️

OK I'll watch Hacks.

Huge thanks to @reillybrennan.bsky.social for helping set this up and, as always, to @wyp.bsky.social for working with me on cool projects like this.

I also can't thank the Ripple Effect crew enough for taking the time to talk through little details that I know Battlefield 6 fans really care about.

Highlights:

- Auto-spotting tweaks were submitted "last week."

- Ripple Effect on goofy skins: "We're not chasing trends."

- Crossplay OFF = console crossplay ON.

- Performance/Fidelity Mode details for console.

- BF Studios "can never win against cheaters" but is being "extremely aggressive."

'Secretly Console First' – Ripple Effect Talks Building Battlefield 6 and Lessons Learned from Battlefield 2042 - IGN We sat down with technical director Christian Buhl and senior console combat designer Matthew Nickerson to learn more about how BF Studios worked to shock life back into EA's classic shooter series wi...

I sat down with Ripple Effect's Christian Buhl and Matthew Nickerson to talk all about how Battlefield Studios has spent the last few years preparing for the launch of Battlefield 6. You can see everything they had to say about playing on console, leaks, goofy skins, and more at @ign.com.

A screenshot of the Trans Lifeline website with the following text: Thank you for your gift You will soon receive a confirmation email to the account provided. We work hard to make sure that every dollar you give goes toward care and support for all trans people. We've logged thousands of hours of talk time on the hotline, and we've distributed over a million dollars to trans people with our microgrants. With your help, we will continue these lifesaving services until the day we are no longer needed.

For no reason in particular, reminder that now is always a great time to donate to Trans Lifeline if you have the means: translifeline.org/donate/

Cowards for not doing a Sunshine movie first. I want to see Mario go to JAIL.

YAY congrats, Tatum! 🥳🎉

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I am looking to chat with people who have been disparagingly featured in Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt’s content.

I would like to see how this affected you, especially if you can provide ample receipts and clear timelines. Please signal boost this anywhere you’d like, as I’m not on Twitter anymore.

Ty @rollens.bsky.social for taking the picture and for letting me talk to strangers about Super Mario Sunshine.

Satoshi (left) and Michael (right) at the Toadstool Cafe.

I met the wonderful Satoshi at Toadstool Cafe yesterday. He is the first (and likely last) person to ever pop quiz me on what “F.L.U.D.D.” stands for. Of course I had to get a picture with him.
#TeamSatoshi

FROM NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 13TH IGN CREATORS GUILD IS GOING TO... DO OUR JOB! OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, IGN MANAGEMENT HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH LAYING OFF OUR COWORKERS OVER AND OVER. MEANWHILE, MANY OF OUR COLLEAGUES HAVE LEFT THE COMPANY IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO BUYOUTS, OVERWORK, AND FEELING UNSUPPORTED, EACH TIME, THE COMPANY HAS REFUSED TO BACKFILL MANY ESSENTIAL ROLES, CLAIMING WE'RE ON A HIRING FREEZE, IT'S NOT IN THE BUDGET, OR THAT WE'RE GOING TO DO LESS WORK THIS TIME. AS A RESULT, IGNCG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TAKE ON MORE OF THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUES' WORKLOADS. MANY OF US NOW WORK LONGER HOURS THAN WE USED TO. A LOT OF US RARELY TAKE LUNCH BREAKS. SOME OF US DO NOT TAKE ADEQUATE TIME OFF DUE TO THERE BEING NO ONE TO PICK UP THE SLACK. OTHERS OF US ARE STUCK DOING WORK WE WERE NEVER HIRED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. UP TO THIS POINT, WE'VE ALL ACCEPTED THIS AS NORMAL, BECAUSE WE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT IGN AND THE WORK WE DO. BUT WITH SO MANY OF US STRUGGLING MORE AND MORE AS EACH NEW WAVE OF OUR COWORKERS ARE DEPRIVED OF A LIVELIHOOD, THIS CYCLE CAN'T CONTINUE. MANAGEMENT IS UNWILLING TO STOP IT, SO IT FALLS TO US. WITH THE LAYOFFS OF EIGHT OF OUR COWORKERS, IGNCG HAS NEGOTIATED A SIX-MONTH RECALL LIST. WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT, FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, IF IGN WANTS TO FILL ANY OF THOSE ELIMINATED ROLES AGAIN, THEY MUST REHIRE OUR LAID-OFF COLLEAGUES. WE WANT THEM TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THEIR JOBS BACK IF THEY WANT THEM, AND IF NOT, WE WANT THOSE ROLES BACKFILLED TO EASE THE BURDEN ON THE REST OF US. SO STARTING TODAY, LENCE MEMBERS ARE COMMITTING TO DO OUR JOBS. NO MORE, NO LESS. WELL SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME AND LEAVE ON TIME. WE'RE TAKING ALL OF OUR LUNCH TIME, EVERY DAY. IF WE WORK LATE, WE WILL FIRMLY ASK FOR OUR RIGHTFULLY EARNED COMP TIME. AND IF IGN WANTS OUR LAID-OFF COWORKERS' WORK TO GET DONE, THEY'LL HAVE TO REHIRE THEM TO DO IT INSTEAD OF FOISTING IT UPON US. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT IGNCG IN ALL THIS? SHARE THIS POST, AND TELL IGN MANAGEMENT THAT Y…

Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.

Not this time. Not anymore.

I played Borderlands 2 in 2012. There’s plenty to love about it, I think, but it was its imperfections that drove me to want to learn more about games and, eventually, write about them. Getting to talk to Gearbox about how everything has led to BL4 was such a treat.

Big thanks to @samwinkler.bsky.social, Taylor Clark, and Lin Joyce for speaking with me and to the rest of the Gearbox team for helping set this up. As always, massive shoutout to @wyp.bsky.social for the opportunity, edits, and support as well!

Highlights:

- Gearbox had conversations about a more grounded approach for BL4 before BL3 even shipped.

- Star Trek: Lower Decks helped inspire how the team balanced humor and storytelling.

- Details about how the Timekeeper will fit in as the next great Borderlands villain.

- Ava????

I interviewed the narrative team at @gearboxofficial.bsky.social to learn more about Borderlands 4 and its more grounded story. There are so, so many details in here that I think Borderlands fans will love combing through.

My story for @ign.com -

Yeah I’m not sure I need to think about it if I’m honest.

Putting silksong out in two weeks after years and years of no-shows is wild but obviously we’ve never been more back.

i do everything i can to create opportunity for moments like this so people can see there’s support for us out there in a time that support can sometimes seem scarce – this one is pretty special 🏳️‍⚧️

Guess it’s my turn to say that I was laid off at IGN. Real crummy birthday gift, to be honest, but my union fought like hell on my behalf and people came out of the woodwork to support me. Couldn’t be more moved by my colleagues & friends, and am devastated to lose a job and community I love. (1/3)

I am back on the job hunt.

Please let me know if you are looking for:
Events Management
Content Strategy
Scouting / Biz Dev
Producer for Live or Taped Segments
Someone to talk about indie games for hours

Please let me know and please share with others.
Contact cthuloops at gmail.com.

Thank you!

But if you hear of any good jobs while I'm hooting and hollering on Batman: The Ride, email erikadamswrites@gmail.com.

And for a full archive of quality pop-culture writing from the past 17 years, visit erikmadams.com.

Anyway if anyone is looking for a video editor hit me up I have like 15 years experience and go stir crazy when I don’t have projects to work on!

Today, IGN Entertainment announced that it would be laying off eight members of the IGN Creators Guild. This is 12% of our bargaining unit, and comes just days after our sister union, the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, underwent similar layoffs impacting 15% of their members. It also comes just months after our multibillion-dollar parent company, Ziff Davis, instituted a company-wide buyout that shrunk our unit numbers, with the express intent of avoiding future layoffs. And it comes just a little over one year after three of our members were laid off almost immediately after our union went public. The company has told us that the reason for this layoff stems from a Ziff Davis-mandate to cut costs despite several quarters in a row of year-over-year revenue increases, to which IGN Entertainment responded by coming for our members' jobs. This is perplexing to us, as we are told again and again that IGN Entertainment has had a tremendously successful year thus far thanks to their hard work. In just the last few months, our members have been absolutely essential to major events and livestreams, including San Diego ComicCon, Summer of Gaming, and IGN Live. Every single person impacted today was involved in and critical to the success of those events. Meanwhile, IGN Entertainment continues to spend money on costly acquisitions, only to turn around and gut those companies in the same way it is cutting away at IGN itself. For instance, last year, it acquired Gamer Network, and almost immediately laid off a number of staff critical to making those sites successful. The company has not responded to the union's questions about whether its budget for future acquisitions is being reconsidered as a cost-saving measure alongside these other apparently necessary personnel cuts. At a time when it is more necessary than ever to support its creators, IGN Entertainment is choosing to eliminate the individuals who ensure IGN remains competitive as generative AI

threatens our reach. We have been told that expert opinion pieces, original interviews, and work that leverages our staff's deep knowledge of gaming, tech, and entertainment are all essential to combating AI summarization and regurgitation of our work. Management has responded by cutting several individuals who do that exact work, as well as others whose job it is to ensure that these written and video pieces are published in a speedy manner — another component of combating AI we're told is critical. This continued cycle of repeated, aggressive cuts to our staff and being asked to do more with less, only for management to continue to spend on new business it isn't interested in sustaining cannot continue. We will enforce our interim agreement that guarantees better severance and other protections to laid off members, as well as demand additional support for those impacted. We will continue to bargain over our first contract with the aim of enshrining even better protections against further layoffs, working conditions continuously degraded by understaffing, and the encroachment of generative AI. And we won't stop fighting to ensure IGN remains the best destination for trustworthy, original, exciting, and creative work covering video games, entertainment, and tech. While IGN Entertainment management may not value us, we value one another and the incredible work we can do together. Behind the articles, videos, social posts, playlists, and maps of IGN are human beings, not just numbers on a spreadsheet to be pushed around when some number at the top isn't big enough. Without us, there is no IGN.

Today, IGN laid off eight extremely valuable members of our union and workforce via directive from our parent company, Ziff Davis. This, after two incredibly successful live events IGN Live and SDCC, and yet another corporate acquisition.

Please take a moment to read and share our full statement:

I’d hold off on playing via Switch 2 for now. Digital Extremes hasn’t been able to nab a dev kit yet so you’d be using the OG Switch version through backward compatibility (not quite the ideal experience).

Not familiar with how Warframe performs on Steam Deck, but I love it on PS5!

Wowow congrats! 🥳🎉