Congrats Reb! I'm thrilled to see a games journalism site not just growing and investing in the work, but making a really smart investment in it by bringing you on board.

By my count, only three players on the Tamba Bay roster are even American. Gotta be weird for the morale of all those other TB players to hear that.

You won't need Arcanine to provide you with bricks anymore when you can make your own!

I think a lot of things would be better if game publishers, developers and media had collectively shown a little more spine over the years.

I spotted a Delfino Island resident in a spaceport but they spent more time on ROB jokes!

(Seriously, it's a useful exercise in trend-spotting and IMO a good longer-term investment in a journalist that has short-term payoffs as well.)

I suspect it would be a bit of regular engaging content in the editorial calendar not reliant on outside access, one that would also serve as a good educational exercise for a columnist to refresh their memory on things the industry might wish would be forgotten. Just a hunch though!

A historical retrospective column would be nice. Maybe one that digs through the news of 10 years ago and sees how it's relevant to what's happening today?

Rebekah did a phenomenal job at IGN and I know she'll continue to thrive in games journalism for as long as she chooses to do it.

I would live to see some research into how many younger problem gamblers today spent a chunk of the past dozen years playing games built on loot box mechanics.

It is! There's one design choice a bit further in that I find *fascinating* and absolutely killed my desire to play it any longer though.

This is one of those things where if you don’t know anything about Bob Dylan you go “yeah fine whatever”, and if you know a little about Bob Dylan you go “how could Bob Dylan do this?” and if you know a lot about Bob Dylan you go “yeah fine whatever”

Suprisingly no! But I'm glad if that's your first thought on seeing this.

This explains so much of geopolitics in 2026...

I did an in-theatre marathon of LOTR extended versions of 1 and 2 ending with the 12 a.m. release date premiere of Return of the King. They gave us $1 hot dogs and free popcorn refills all day. It was too much bad food and frankly, too much LOTR.

Sometimes it's Xevious. But maybe Wizardry also? That sounds neat.

Reminder that Epic's last mass layoff was to ensure the business was sustainable, so no further layoffs would be necessary.
www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/n...

[Nodding]

We'll host a conference on the convergence between videogames and gambling in late September 2026 in Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳

Call for papers: tinyurl.com/thegamblingcfp

Let’s think “outside of the loot box.”

Abstract deadline: 26 June 2026
Results notification: 20 July 2026
Conference: 28–29 September 2026

I'm worried I may be coming around on Switch 2's game keycards simply because they let you sidestep Nintendo's draconian two-systems-connected-to-your-profile limitation. Game keycards suck, but that limit sucks more for a family where everyone plays.

Every piece of Sam Kieth's art was instantly recognizable as his, and none of the art he influenced would ever be confused for his own work, even for a dilettante like me. He was a singular talent.

Is this a God of Cookery collaboration?

They should get a design patent on the way they write "Fig. 2." Love that style.

I always found writing about complex topics felt like the Socratic method. I'd write what I thought, ask how I knew each assertion, and in trying to answer those questions and test the answers, find new links and a clearer understanding of the issue at hand. I didn't "know" it all from the outset.

The Xbox 360 is nearly as old now as the NES was when the Xbox 360 came out.

Now, more than ever.

US patent number 12,569,771 B2 first page, showing the title: "Systems And Methods To Facilitate Game Unit Management With A Smart Contract Responsive To Battles Involving The Game Units" and the abstract: "Systems and methods to facilitate game unit management with a smart contract responsive to battles involving the game units are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: execute an instance of a game space that enables a battle involving game units that correspond to digital assets stored in player wallets associated with players in the battle; effectuate transfer of at least one digital asset to be in the battle from player wallets to a contract wallet administered by a smart contract; record battle information characterizing the battle; determine, based on battle information, a winning player and a losing player in the battle; transmit the battle information to the smart contract to effectuate, based on battle information, a transfer of a first digital asset from the contract wallet to a first player wallet associated with the winning player."

Maybe I'm not cynical enough, but it's still deeply weird to me to see Disney receive a patent on pink slip racing/gambling with NFTs.

At least it's not genre discourse?

Can't believe this is how I learned Ryan Gosling was Young Hercules.

I just wish Bluesky would introduce a theoretical business model at some point so I know if it's something that might be here for the long term or if I should just give up all hope on this place now.