Year: 2024

Kit & Krysta Explore a Secret Game Dev Hangout in Tokyo

I am SO ENVIOUS. Kit & Krysta, formerly of the official Switch video podcast Nintendo Minute, currently of their own projects and Youtube channel, got cell phone video of an amazing place, a location in Tokyo somewhere that gamedevs sometimes meet at, and is crammed tightly with game memorabilia. It’s almost a museum all to itself, and unlike the Nintendo Museum, seems like they don’t mind video footage escaping their confines, although on the other hand this doesn’t seem to be open to the public. It doesn’t look like a lot of people could fit in there at once, anyway!

I usually steer well clear of the hard sell, or “prompt for engagement,” when it comes to asking you to follow links and view videos from here. I figure if you’re interested you’ll click through, and if you’re not, then maybe tomorrow. But I’m breaking through that reserve just this once, as this place is amazing. You really have to see this if you have any interest in Nintendo, APE, Pokemon, Dragon Quest or their histories (12 minutes):

Our Private Tour of the Top Secret Nintendo Game Developer Hangout in Tokyo (Youtube, 12m)

Best Demos of Steam Next Fest (Oct 2024)

This is the first part of our mega showcase from Next Fest October 2024 edition.

0:00 Intro
00:28 Mohrta
2:51 Aokaki
4:31 Second Essence
6:28 Tearscape
8:20 Cyclopean
9:29 Splintered
11:43 Kilaflow
13:47 Tenebris Somnia
15:54 The Book of Buja
17:07 Widget Inc
18:42 Journey to Incrementalia

Funko vs Itch Update

Liam at Gaming On Linux has some further news about Funko taking down itch.io with a spurious request. Here’s a summary.

  1. Some user created a fanpage for the upcoming Funko Fusion massive crossover game.
  2. Whatever was on it, it triggered some “brand protection” function on a service Funko uses.
  3. It send out complaints to both Itch’s host and DNS registrar.
  4. Itch founder Leaf disabled the account and removed the page and notified both entities. The host nodded and closed the matter; the DNS company, however, never replied.
  5. After a time, the registrar automatically disabled Itch’s domain name, making it impossible to load the site unless you knew its IP address, and who uses those anymore amirite?
  6. Itch, unable to get their registrar to respond to them, posted about the matter on social media, which turned up the heat enough that the problem got fixed pretty quickly after that.

Two weird things. First, Leaf’s mother got social media messages about the problem, for unknown reasons. And Funko posted an artfully-worded statement that claimed it was a mistake without actually apologizing.

The message that Leaf’s Mom sent to Leaf about the issue. She seems like a pretty cool lady. (Image from Gaming on Linux)

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itch.io is Down

EDIT: It appears that itch.io is back up now! It should never have been taken down, but that was still fairly quick response, I suppose.

Disappointing internet news. According to their Bluesky feed, itch.io, beloved indie gaming sales and distribution site, host to countless games both free and paid, and constantly linked to from this site and many others, is down, and the reason is Funko Pops.

These! These horrible dead-eyed non-biodegradable landfill-destined things, littering stores across the US! They’re why we can’t have itch.io! (Image from Amazon)

The text of the thing I refuse to call a “skeet”:

@itch.io has been taken down by Funko of “Funko Pop” because they use some trash “AI Powered” Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain

So not only do we have Funko to blame for their DNS record not resolving, but also the relentless scourge of AI! Sure, the world sucks right now. But how does it feel, knowing that if you bought one of these creepy pseudo-cute bits of pop cultural detritus, that you indirectly supported this action?

This is late-breaking news as of this writing, so the situation might change rapidly. Or, it may not. It’s a good reason not to buy Funko items in any case!