An ever Resident Evil, 19/03/2026
Tom Regan dives deep on three decades of horror gaming magic 🧟
This week’s Video Games Industry Memo is supported by Catalyst
Latest Gaming Articles
Did Video Games Ruin my Life?
Asking the big questions as an almost-gamer girl
Narrated version below:
The MBA Takeover of Video Games
Modern AAA games are designed by spreadsheets, not players
The People Running AAA Studios Don’t Even Like Games
Video Games are not an Artform
The Apotheosis of Porn
Video games are a sophisticated form of pornography. They are not, despite many protestations to the contrary, art. To understand this unfashionable claim we need to first understand what art is, whi…
The Sad State of Sports Video Games
How to make sports games fun again
Today marks the official release of MLB The Show 26, which has been the only MLB-licensed baseball video game on the market since 2014. This particular entry feels even less exciting than recent ones, as the year-over-year changes have been minimal at best and the graphics remain stagnant.
Thomas Love Seagull
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6d
Konami still makes fun baseball games: Power Pros and Pro Spirits. Being in Japanese makes it hard for most Americans to enjoy but maybe they'll be localized someday...
5 Boro Baseball
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6d
MVP Baseball was absolutely legendary. I basically tapped out of baseball video games around MVPBB 2008(?) and didn’t touch them until a few years ago. I did 3 or 4 solid years of MLB The Show, grinding DD and loving it. But then last year I just quit cold turkey when it wasn’t on game pass. I sometimes miss the feeling of getting that huge swing in a sweaty matchup, but do not miss the hours poured in. And nothing they’re doing is enticing me back.
Most must-play video games
Imagine you find yourself face to face in the afterlife with all of the alternative multiverse versions of yourself. They all have the same favourite video game, which you have never played. You got left out.
I really got into Cyberpunk for 2 weeks and had a great experience. But was a little let down since I thought it would be Skyrim but in 2077. Maybe my view is warped since I hadn't played games much for a few years and really got into the lore (which was why I bought the game) so was more taken a-back [in a good way] than most would be. Fallout New Vegas deserves to be at least a candidate on this list imo
I actually enjoy some CoDs (though none that came out these last 10 years). Titanfall is amazing, a shame they never bothered with a sequel. Otherwise I never really got into Pokemon or JRPGs in general. Dunno where to start really.
CORE 514: Crimson Desserts
Crimson Desert launched today, reviews are mixed as expected, amazing open world, minimal story, no traditional leveling, open-world jank. John is at Disneyland! DLSS 5 announced by Nvidia, AI-yassifies characters without permission from devs like Capcom. Listener indie game Garden and a Goat announced, wishlistable on Steam. WoW Midnight discussion, le…
Go 2x per week boys!
Part2: Industry Research on Video Games in Japan : SONY
Part 2: Looking closer at SONY: SONY games and SONY Music could be as good or even considered better business than Nintendo and Universal Music respectively contrary to the mainstream narrative
Summary: Both Sony Games and Sony Music have higher sales and higher operating income than their peers Nintendo and Universal Music respectively. This was not the case a few years back, but the mainstream narrative that Nintendo and Universal Music are superior business hasn’t change and the investment community still views Nintendo and UMG as the leaders and the most valuable assets in their respective industry. Nintendo is worth 60 billion USD in enterprise value and 72 billion USD in market value alone. Universal Music is currently at a enterprise value of 41 billion USD - although was trading at a much higher price not long ago. Sony Music is trending to earn 45% more in operating income than UMG based of fiscal 2025 ending March 2026. On the same ratio, Sony Music could trade at 60 billion USD. Sony as a whole trade at 130 billion USD. Sony has 3 other business, including a dominant position in image sensor which should generate 350 billion yen or 2.3 billion USD in current fisc…
Looking forward to get your views or question related to video game in general
EID Mubarak to you and your loved ones
We hope you're recharged and reconnected
Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating 🎉
From bug catching to billions: 30 years of Pokémon power, 12/03/2026
A love-letter to a series that has changed the lives of its biggest fans 🦖
The ESA Saved Video Games Once. Can It Do It Again?
The history of the ESA, plus an interview with its current President and CEO
[Editor’s note: This week, all subscribers will have access to the Patreon-exclusive bonus segment. If you enjoy this extra material, or would just like to support the long-term health of the show, please consider subscribing on Patreon or leaving a review on
Question about listening platforms.
Is there a platform that benefits you/Post Games the most? Do you see views on one platform (Apple Podcast/YouTube/Spotify) as more beneficial than another?
Thanks.
Reviews: Kena: Bridge of Spririts
Spoiler free review of the game Knena: Bridge of spirits played on PC
At Margot Plays, I write around 3 mins reviews of games that I have played focused on my experience, which is evolving as I play more games. In general the games’ story will have been completed, on easy mode if applicable and unless stated otherwise played on the steam deck OLED.
I still remember the ego blow that Kena delivered as I gradually moved down the difficulty ladder, managing to finish the game on the lowest one. The game was beautiful, and I loved it, but I genuinely wish I started off on Easy and just stuck with it all the way instead of trying for harder and failing. Definitely playing the sequel when it's out though!
I haven't finished Kena yet - was playing on normal difficulty and the spikes around bosses were driving me progressively mad. I also wish that its world was slightly more populated: the interactions with characters you meet are always highlights, but otherwise the place is empty save for baddies.
All that said, it's stunningly beautiful. The animation makes you realise how basic most games are! It's like playing through a Pixar movie at times.
I need to get back to it and finish the story - this time in easy mode.
Best Of Britain: The 10 Greatest Video Games Developed In The UK
[List] Picking out a top 10 from the UK's storied games industry.
You wouldn’t think it today but in the not so distant past the United Kingdom stood apart from the rest of Europe and shoulder to shoulder with Japan and the USA as one of the big 3 centres of video games development. Fuelled by legions of hobbyist programmers and the massive popularity of 8-bit computers like the ZX Spectrum and the Amstrad CPC as well…
Loved this! I hate flag shagging patriotism; this is the sort of thing that makes me proud to be a Brit. Our ingenuity and creativity in the gaming sphere is a thing to be celebrated! You’ve reminded me about a lot of games I didn’t realise were British made, especially GTA and Arkham.
My personal list would probably include Psygnosis / Studio Liverpool for Lemmings, WipEout and plenty of other fun titles that made my childhood a blast.
My wife took a chance a few years ago and bought me a video game for my birthday. She had never done that before because she's not a gamer and she knew how difficult it would be to pick something I liked. She took a chance nonetheless.
She bought me this game that I had never heard of before. It looked awful, to be quite honest. I installed it and started it out of politeness. I really, really didn't like it. I pretend to play for a bit until my wife had left the room, then I uninstalled it.
Years later I was looking for something to play and for no clear reason, I decided to give this thing another go. Today, Kenshi is my most played game on Steam (more hours on this than on Elden Ring or Factorio), quite possibly my second favorite game of all time and I regularly search to see when the sequel is coming out.
Thank you, Britain! Absolute magic.
My wildest #NerdNews yet!
Brain cell / computer chip hybrid learns to play video games. Mind blown!
(Clusters of neurons growing on a microscopic computer chip)
Saw you on Josh’s show today. I’ve always been a big fan of both of you and I was chuffed to watch you two banter while you twisted my brain into a pretzel. Really happy to see you on Substack. All the best with your new endeavour!
Thanks Adam. Mind blown all right. Have you read Benjamin Labatut’s book “The MANIAC”? It’s brilliant (and scary) on the subject of AI and games. It talks about the sense of despair that human champions of games like chess and Go have felt after being crushed by AI’s. One Chinese Go champ broke down in tears after losing to an AI and said, “Please, let it explore the universe, and let me play in my own backyard.” Another ex-champ said, “Artificial intelligence put the final nail in my coffin. It is simply unbeatable. In that situation, it doesn’t matter how much you try. I don’t see the point.“
Real ethics and lessons from video games
Video games are often dismissed as juvenile forms of distracting entertainment, but in reality, games offer an immense ethical laboratory. Games like Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Witcher force players into decisions that mirror the moral dilemmas of real life. Who deserves protection? Whose life is expendable? What p…
The Iran War Is Not Part of a Grand Strategy Targeting China
Grand strategy works in video games. Reality doesn't have a national focus tree
As a veteran player of Hearts of Iron and Europa Universalis, I have spent well over a thousand hours in front of a screen planning grand strategies that span decades, from allocating resources, clicking through national focuses, to making every move serve a long-term objective. In these games, you stop playing as a person. You become a rational state a…
The psychology behind trying to ascribe a "grand strategy" is akin to the psychology behind conspiracy theories. People want to believe there's some kind of order behind the chaos.
I think the truth might be far scarier for them -- the idea that at the top, people are still winging it. They nake random, stupid decisions that don't serve their interests or the interests they purport to represent.
Look at Elbridge Colby, he's obviously far smarter than Hegseth. He created the whole plan on how to counter China with a "decent peace" and he continuously spoke against being involved in the Middle East. He was still forced to defend the Iran attacks and couldn't give a good answer.
1. You missed to make your argument stronger when you referred to the motive for the 2003. Iraq war as about democratization. Back in 2003, practically everyone opposed to the invasion on Iraq, and that was a large proportion of the population of the West, saw the motive for the war summed up in the famous catchphrase “It’s the oil, stupid!” But if Iraq was invaded for oil, "then the US was remarkably negligent in securing the prize’. Iraq awarded its first major post-invasion oil concessions in 2009, and the big winners? Norway, France, China and Russia." https://pulsemedia.org/2015/01/30/israelpolitik-the-neocons-and-the-long-shadow-of-the-iraq-war-a-review-of-muhammad-idrees-ahmads-book-the-road-to-iraq-the-making-of-a-neoconservative-war/
2. You miss to address certain arguments made in favour of the thesis that Iran is attacked in the context of confronting China, probably because you're not aware of them. Here are a couple:
A. You rightly point out the nature and spirit of China's foreign policy: Iran is no "ally," at least not in the Western sense of the term. Westerners have trouble understanding China's modus operandi, for them it's an enigma. But, even so, even they can more or less understand that whatever China stands for, it is some kind of order rather than disorder and outright chaos. And thusly, we have to address the possibility that the Washington's course may be one of generating chaos around the world. Such a course may be a result of things like 1) panic, disorganisation and malice in Washington DC, 2) an instinct of a social predator, and a habit of an empire 3) a genuine strategy, made either in the state apparatus or by shadowy powers behind the curtains. And we can agree that (3) appears unlikely. Despite documents such as "Which path to Persia?" (2009). But to me, just as an amoeba can orient itself toward a food source, and as a wolf pack's movements can be predictable, so can Trump's team go and do something that's somewhat sensible for the empire's long term relations with China. Things have an organic logic to them.
B. "China needs energy from the entire Middle East, not just Iran, and even if Saudi Arabia and others have alternative routes for Chinese-bound energy exports it will still be far less than they've been receiving before the conflict. [.....] "
So much for now. Perhaps I'll think of something additional or better later. Cheers.
Galliano for the Masses
+ Zara's quest for global dominance, new brand launches, fashion video games and more
You heard it here first: I’m contemplating a move overseas. Something that’s been on my mind a lot recently, given the current state of the world, is where I see myself building a life and a career. I’m a millennial born in the 90s after all, so time is theoretically ticking. Change is on the horizon.
The state of video games with Matthew Ball – Part One
The leading video game advisor and author delivers his latest market report
Listen now on Apple, Spotify or YouTube
When Leaders Are Angry Children With Lethal Weapons as Toys
They play video games with everyone’s lives, and make a sport out of death
Our March continues ...
Weekly Roundup
It’s still the season of celebrating womanhood, and just yesterday many countries marked Mother’s Day. We hope you took some time to celebrate the women and mothers in your life.
Art Is Not Mere Simulation
On the Quest for The Real in Video Games
Recently, Nvidia announced a quantum leap in graphic technology: DLSS 5. This new tech leverages artificial intelligence to achieve immense visual fidelity. By using neural networks, the AI can generate details on the fly in a consistent way.
Designing Video Games for the Real World
A conversation with Justin Andarza about interactive physical gameplay, fantasy food trucks, and crystal-ball controllers.
Justin Andarza was in San Francisco last week for the Game Developers Conference. He joined us on Make: Live to talk about his article in Make: Vol 96, “The Weird Wonders of Warped Worlds.”
Abstract Animals: Reflections on Pokemon and Dogs
Serious feelings about Video Games #3 Part 1
Why do I love pokemon so much?
Reading this with my recently bought Rowlet plush (as in, three-day-old Rowlet plush) made this very delightful. I struggle a lot with anxiety in a way that makes me feel as though I have someone peeking judgmentally over my shoulder at all times and it tried preventing me from getting into Pokemon at an older age than most people I know. It's been really rewarding to just let myself order a Rowlet plush and dig out my copies of Pokemon Legends Arceus and Pokemon Sun and enjoy Pokemon simply because I want to and not cave to the imposter syndrome telling me I'm not allowed to enjoy Pokemon unless it's always spoken to me. I'm glad you've also found a journey of personal growth through this franchise. :)
I do still remember when you mentioned thinking of animals as something like automata as a kid—which I definitely did laugh about (sorry if that was embarrassing!)—but to be fair, I feel that I had a more “normal” relationship to animals as a kid in that I loved some pets and felt bad about fishing, but I also shot at other animals with BB guns, so I must have been drawing the automata line somewhere and I just never really examined where or why because I drew those lines in a more common place.
Pete Hegseth: A schlock jock playing video games
But it's his claim to wage a Christian war that's most offensive, writes George Pitcher
It’s becoming a commonplace to respond to Donald Trump’s bellicose jibe that Sir Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill” with the rejoinder that Trump isn’t Dwight Eisenhower either.
Vainglorious is absolutely the word. Excellent piece George.
Reviews: Hermit and Pig
Spoiler free review of the game Hermit and Pig played on Steam Deck OLED
At Margot Plays, I write around 3 mins reviews of games that I have played focused on my experience, which is evolving as I play more games. In general the games’ story will have been completed, on easy mode if applicable and unless stated otherwise played on the steam deck OLED.
The last line of the review was so good, haha, we are all playing Pokopia and could be Pokemon pilled at this point. 😅
Margot! I loved this review so much. I am clearly biased because this is my game of the year, but the connection to social anxiety, maturing familiar game mechanics, and how they gave us accessibility without sacrificing trust was all spot on. A more mature Pokémon game wasn't something I thought about until you brought it up, and I can see it now.
![Juliano Zucareli [ozuka music]'s avatar](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fNeJ!,w_96,h_96,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3775768d-c1c5-4bc4-a565-457260674af6_280x280.png)
This one sounds special indeed... Gotta check it out soon.
And you're SO right on setting accessibility and challenge apart. As for me it can work even in fighting games! As a seasoned fighting player I was delighted when I first tried Super Street Fighter IV 3D on the 3DS and saw you could attach custom moves to a touch in the bottom screen... It made me realize the fun part was to "solve" the fights--when to throw what--and not just perform the moves.
I played a lot of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom with the simplified Wii Remote control scheme after that and yeah, I have to say it's a damn pleasure. Gevs, let us have a good time please. :)
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