Hit Points by Nathan Brown
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hitpoints.bsky.social
Hit Points by Nathan Brown
@hitpoints.bsky.social
3.6K followers 120 following 140 posts
A newsletter about the game industry, by consultant, writer and former Edge editor Nathan Brown.

Sign up for free: https://newsletter.hitpoints.co/
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hitpoints.bsky.social
Hit Points by Nathan Brown @hitpoints.bsky.social · Jul 4
A free one on how these clowns can get absolutely fucked newsletter.hitpoints.co/324-going-da...
When Tango and Arkane Austin got whacked last year, I called it cultural vandalism. This is too, of course, but I have a simpler description for it. This is loser shit. Phil Spencer has spent ten years and, at a conservative estimate, eighty billion dollars taking Xbox from last place to last place, and now the game is up he is systematically dismantling the largest and most powerful videogame business the world has ever seen like he’s on some anti-Brewster’s Millions shit, torching the legacies of endless cherished studios and game series while trying to convince us all that everything is going to plan. He is fucking useless and it is all absolutely pathetic, though that doesn't make it any easier to witness. A quarter of a century ago, Microsoft entered the videogame industry with an eye on global domination. Today it is merely a stain on it.
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lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com
you can't just bring back austin powers. the franchise wrote itself into a corner after he volunteered to stay behind forever in the shagadelic dimension to save foxxy and vanessa. they already brought him back once without explaining how he escaped from fembot island, the audience won't buy it
November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
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thisweekinvideogames.com
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty have been in the media recently, saying that the biggest competition for Xbox is TikTok.

Nathan Brown of @hitpoints.bsky.social isn't quite sure they know what that means...

thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/bonu... [PAYWALLED]
Hey Microsoft, TikTok Is Not an Xbox - Bonus Hit Points
Microsoft has been saying the biggest competition for its Xbox gaming business is TikTok. Nathan Brown isn't sure they know what that means.
thisweekinvideogames.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
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samwrite.bsky.social
I spent an afternoon with Miles Jacobson to talk about building (and cancelling) Football Manager over a more than 30 year career. www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/foot...
The man who cancelled Football Manager: ‘I needed a hug, not a kicking’
Miles Jacobson has World Cup winners on WhatsApp, dozens of football clubs who pay for his scouting network and 20 million players who all swear by Football Manager. Until last year, when the series' ...
www.gq-magazine.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 11:07 AM
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brunodias.bsky.social
It's cool how we keep proving over and over and over again that there's a significant market for narrative-heavy, character-driven, single-player experiences in video games and publishers just categorically refuse to believe us
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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albertburneko.bsky.social
a send-off: defector.com/dick-cheney-...
Dick Cheney Departs The World He Made | Defector
At its heart, American conservatism is a fantasy. It’s a vision of a world too evil to be saved or cared about, and fearsome enough to justify any and every impulse toward cruelty and violence that a ...
defector.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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bigratgames.bsky.social
american indie developer deciding on a setting: in a cozy mountain town surrounded by wholesome yokai, ghibli inspired cooperative sustainable cherry blossoms and you can pet the dog french indie developer deciding on a setting: in a world where the gestalt misery of colonisation's victims has manifested into a sort of misery elemental, three church-like religious organisations hav[nine more paragraphs that leave you feeling like you know less than you knew before you started reading] polish indie developer deciding on a setting: warsaw👍🇵🇱 it is very bad
October 31, 2025 at 11:00 PM
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gamesblackhole.bsky.social
If you live in or around Wakefield, UK and you're interested in the history of games, I'm giving a talk on the history of Worms and Team17 at Wakefield Museum on Saturday 22nd November.

Tickets are super limited; reserve one here: experiencewakefield.co.uk/event/30-yea...
30 Years of Worms with Team 17's Ashley Day
Explore the journey of Worms as it marks 30 years. Hear from Ashley Day about its creation and lasting legacy in gaming.
experiencewakefield.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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hitpoints.bsky.social
The perfect dad-joke doesnt exi-
November 1, 2025 at 8:36 PM
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johnryanwrites.bsky.social
Alan Wake 2
November 1, 2025 at 9:39 PM
hitpoints.bsky.social
The perfect dad-joke doesnt exi-
November 1, 2025 at 8:36 PM
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sega-16.bsky.social
Remember to be considerate tonight while trick-or-treating!
October 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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mrsambarlow.bsky.social
Born in a small town in Yorkshire. Have 4 BAFTAs. Left UK because felt like the country was bad at celebrating and supporting its creatives! 🤷‍♂️

(*Moved to US. They love creatives here! We just got to pay for our own healthcare and all that 🫠)
jameskettle.bsky.social James Kettle @jameskettle.bsky.social · 12d
Hi Lisa Nandy! I’m a BAFTA winner from a small town. Instead of asinine questions like this, why not tell us how we can continue to make a living in the eviscerated creative sector over which you notionally preside?
October 31, 2025 at 7:39 PM
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thejessness.bsky.social
just shared this in a group and realised it’s the anniversary of this absolute s tier tweet by @jon-snow-420.bsky.social
@jon_snow_420 god: i have made Mankind angels: you fucked up a perfectly good monkey is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety 18:54 • 28 Oct 15
October 28, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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zackpolanski.bsky.social
We're just getting started.

Time to lower bills. And tax billionaires.

If you want to see the Green Party take on Reform - this is the moment.

Join.greenparty.org.uk
electionmaps.uk Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 13d
Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 32% (=)
GRN: 17% (+2)
CON: 16% (-1)
LAB: 16% (=)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 2% (=)

Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 29 Oct.
Changes w/ 22 Oct.
October 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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gofrankgo.bsky.social
Back in my day, AI used to stand for Adobe Illustrator! And we hated that, too!
Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud
October 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
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raphlife.bsky.social
What the fuck is this shit?
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 16d
I asked Microsoft PR about this—specially the DHS using Halo IP to recruit for ICE—and the company declined to comment.
October 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
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schillingc.bsky.social
A good friend has submitted this brilliant model of the library from Buffy to Lego Ideas. I’d be very grateful for your help in getting her to 5k supporters: beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Library | LEGO® Ideas
"Sunnydale High isn't really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here." Buffy the Vampire Slayer first exploded onto our TV screens in the lat…
beta.ideas.lego.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:03 PM
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mackeza.bsky.social
Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki died last week, aged 58. His friend James Mielke remembers a pugnacious talent:

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/o...
‘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
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM
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brandon.insertcredit.com
One thing a lot of my friends missed from other social media platforms was interacting with venerable Japanese game devs. To that end I've made a list of folks I know are here, focusing on devs whose games you will have heard of. Please share and tell me who I'm missing! go.bsky.app/5R1tEtT
October 17, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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seamus.bsky.social
Itagaki Tomonobu
Here was a guy who wore sunglasses at night— indoors— who wore at a minimum 87% black leather and always an obscure metal band t-shirt; a fit, razor-thin guy whose intense, brooding stare could cause brave men to flee and satellites to de-orbit. He looked like a dark anime character come to life, complete with a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his menacing grin, and it took no imagination at all to worry he had a diamond sharp katana ready at any time to separate the head and body of the poor programmer who missed a half millisecond of timing on a block controller. There was no detail of game design or mechanic that escaped him, no ambiguity in his vision of tightness and quality in the feel of a control or the animation of a character. He was the embodiment of the ideal of the hardest edge of combat design, utterly uncompromising and ruthless. Also, he was the quickest to break a smile, always ready to make a stupid joke, the first ask after your loved ones and to be sure you were well, the very best of friends, the very kindest of fathers, and a very great human being who I very much fear we will not see the like of again anytime soon. I will miss him gravely.
October 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
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youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
urgently need you guys to know that this French politician below 1) didn't know he'd been appointed as a minister until he saw it on TV 2) reacted by going: "bah pfff voilà"
liberation.fr Libération @liberation.fr · 27d
Le nouveau ministre de la Ruralité, Michel Fournier, raconte avoir appris sa nomination à la télé

Le plus vieux ministre nommé sous la Ve République précise avoir discuté avec le Premier ministre «deux jours avant», sans que rien ne soit arrêté. «Comment j’ai réagi ? Bah pfff voilà», résume-t-il.
Le nouveau ministre de la Ruralité, Michel Fournier, raconte avoir appris sa nomination à la télé
Le plus vieux ministre nommé sous la Ve République a précisé avoir discuté avec le Premier ministre «deux jours avant», sans que rien ne soit arrêté.
www.liberation.fr
October 16, 2025 at 9:23 AM
hitpoints.bsky.social
Man this is sad. Itagaki made some absolute bangers and was one of the few bucket-list interviewees I never quite managed to tick off. (There was an emailer about Devil's Third IIRC but that doesn't count.) Gonna fire up Ninja Gaiden 2 later in tribute. RIP
milkman.bsky.social ミルキージェームズ (Remastered) @milkman.bsky.social · 27d
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.
October 16, 2025 at 8:40 AM
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antlervel.vet
WHEN THERE’S TREASURE BEHIND THE WATERFALL: Oh wow. Yes, very clever! Waterfall treasure! No one’s ever done that before. Lazy jackass

WHEN THERE’S NO TREASURE BEHIND THE WATERFALL: Wow. Too stuck-up to put treasure there huh? Too much of a fucking ICONOCLAST for that? Piece of shit. FUCK you
October 15, 2025 at 1:04 AM
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designroom.bsky.social
🚨🚨🚨

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
Design Room
Video game oral histories
designroom.site
October 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM