Author | Lightnews

Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 4h

I didn't last long there I was writing dogshit listicles at the time those were hot, when the David Cameron fucking a pig story broke I pitched them a "top ten pigs in games" list and they wouldn't go for it so I lost interest in doing it

I just wanted to talk about Tomba man!!

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 4h

my take on this round of Review Discourse is *I've* done paid work for Metro's gaming section before which is all you need to know that there's more important things to worry about

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 4h

but Julie there's someone in the world who doesn't like a game in a notoriously divisive series, we must go to war!!1!

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 4h

doesn't seem like they credit any of their reviews to an actual person, a lot of old UK games magazines did the plural first person pronoun thing but it's weird to see it on a website that does have bylines on other types of articles

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 8h

got Killer a new scratchable bed, cat s always appreciate a thoughtful gift

stupid shithead cat curled up on an armchair ignoring her new bed

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 8h

my personal dumbass prediction is he'll get around 55%...and honestly I can see it going higher, I think people are underestimating how many older voters will show up for him, the dude is SO likeable in a time where politicans aren't even trying to not look evil I'm not sure the normal math applies

Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 8h

Zohran's nonstop campaigning this week especially has been nuts but I'm glad he's pushing the urgency of not becoming complacent in his Very Likely Victory, if he only wins on like 40-50% the chuds are gonna bust out the "most New Yorkers don't want this!!" line on everything he tries to do

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headfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 8h

it’s pretty funny there was a bush/dick presidential ticket. regardless of anything else the world can come together and admit that

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ktb ⧉ @kevinbaker.bsky.social · 1d

It's so refreshing to see someone actually confronting the realities of nonvoting, who non-voters are and what actually motivates them, and attempting to address those concerns directly, and not turning into a self-serving, dishonest morality play.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

A few days after the presidential election one year ago, we went to Fordham Road in the Bronx.

It was a little different last week.

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Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 1d

...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site

Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 2d

dissatisfied by the New York Times coverage of Zohran Mamdani?

great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com

Zohran Mamdani's Establishment-Fighting Campaign Built Community for Young People

“What Mamdani has done is not only inspire and mobilize young people, but he has exposed the establishment and some of their calcified views of participation and inclusion.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Frank Cifaldi @frankcifaldi.bsky.social · 1d

Y'all, I know two hours is a big time commitment, but this panel I arranged and hosted last month is one of the most important things I've ever done for video game history. The launch of the NES is a crazier story than most people realize, and my guests were extremely generous with their memories.

RetroGamingExpo.com @retrogamingexpo.bsky.social · 1d

Hear about the NES US launch 40 years ago from the people that made it happen: Gail Tilden, Bruce Lowry and Lance Barr with @frankcifaldi.bsky.social from the @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social moderating! Panel recording at youtu.be/f2WDfsiLiRA
#prge #prge2025 #retrogaming #VGHF

We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today - Gail Tilden, Lance Barr, Bruce Lowry - PRGE 2025 Portland

YouTube video by Portland Retro Gaming Expo

youtu.be

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 1d

Claire broke her old shelf lights so got some new ones

these ones have a microphone

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 1d

I didn't touch the One Piece TCG fan simulator before because I'm too traumatised from testing Dragon Ball on Untap so I didn't realise it was semi-automated??

I'm sspoiled from the Fusion World official client so it's still an adjustment but once again the DBZ community folds to OP

Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 1d

I really love Part 2 of Chainsaw Man and Asa is probably the newest entry in my pool of favourite characters but it still took me a few arcs to have the OH NO moment

Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 1d

I basically made a video about this years ago so this isn't new information to me but I'm still having semi-regulars reckonings with the fact that Yu-Gi-Oh is easily the most influential part of my childhood in terms of where my taste ended up as an adult

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julie muncy @julie.radiantarray.io · 2d

i didn't have a lot to do today so in response to a very reasonable, straightforward question i wrote a microessay that functions as a close reading of the narrative voice in the item descriptions of dark souls.

julie muncy @julie.radiantarray.io · 2d

yeah, no, fair. and i know you're not being an asshole. but my answer is, uh, well, it's longer than i can fit so here's what you're getting, because i think you're asking an interesting question and i appreciate this

1/4: well, no-- i don't think you're supposed to assume that the information is diegetic as such (that is, that it exists *in the game world*.) but that to me raises some interesting questions about its role in the narrative of these games, though i will grant that not a lot of them take advantage of those questions. my example of the original dark souls, though, is one that i think *does.*

so, we assume it's non diagetic. great. that means it's being imposed upon the game world from outside, presumably for an outside observer-- us, the player. so what, narratively, does this extra-diagetic intrusion signify?

i think the generally assumed answer for games is that it's intended to either 1) represent what the player character knows but the *player* would not (ie, in-universe knowledge) or 2) it represents diagetic knowledge translated into a non-diagetic form-- ie, procedural knowledge, things like tutorials-- how to jump, how to run, how to drink the sunny delight.

2/4: but what's interesting to me is that the voice of these descriptions-- as you point out-- does not seem to neatly map to either of those assumptions. as you say, Hollows are ignorant as fact of biology, and forgetfulness is a fundamental part of their whole deal. What's more, these item descriptions seem to operate from an unstable place of knowledge where they, at times, know basic facts about the world and setting that even most *informed* people in it would not know-- like there are a couple item descriptions that spoil the twist regarding Gwynevere and Anor Londo, extremely privileged knowledge. Yet the voice or voices of these descriptions don't seem to *always* know these things. They ask questions they don't have answers to. The knowledge being drawn from is not a stable, unmoving thing.

Likewise, they don't neatly graft into the second assumed role, either, as they are, as many people will gladly point out, often *extremely unhelpful for the player.* Lore without context, questions without answers, snapshots of history with no heuristics with which to understand them. People have spent their entire careers as critics and entertainers trying to turn these disparate, barely useful scraps of information into a traditional plot or world, with clear diminishing returns-- gaps that are entirely unfillable. if these are tutorials, they're bad tutorials. and if these are histories, they're written by a maniac.

3/4: so, then, we have text that 1) is not meant to represent the player character's perspective, 2) *does* however seem to largely graft to an in-universe perspective, albeit an unstable one and 3) does not serve a clear utility.

a literary reading of this brings us to the idea of something like what some James Joyce scholars call the Arranger in the novel Ulysses-- an unexplained presence, that seems to exist simultaneously inside and outside the story, which regularly intrudes upon the surface level narrative. Sometimes to provide local color, sometimes to provide gameplay hints, sometimes to casually drop massive secrets about the true order of the fictional world. But never in a manner that is easily explicated.

was this intended? Hell if i know. But I do think-- at least in this specific text-- it is an incredibly clever and interesting thing. It further enforces the sense of Lordran's instability, both as a place within a fictional world that is falling apart and in its role *as a fiction itself.* As a story, told to us the player, and also perpetuated by systems that exist within the diegetic world.

4/4: and from there, that's a reading you can take to a lot of places. to thinking about the historiography of dark souls' world, to the story's themes of reproduction & rebirth as a fundamentally degenerative process, to a wacky deconstructive reading about the ability of game worlds to create meaning at all. and that's why i'm inclined to define the method as epistolary fiction, at least in this specific instance-- because if you take it seriously as a thing the text is doing, you find a surprising amount of meat on those bones.

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與田 @yoooda.bsky.social · 3d

レゼ

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Micah @rincewind.run · 2d

their plainly stated goal is to starve forty million people until they get what they want, which is to rip health care away from millions more

that this is too monstrous for most news organizations to tell the truth about does not change the facts

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 2d

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse.
I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

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Line @linesonwhite.bsky.social · 2d

I saw Marge with Piccolo's cape and I couldn't stop my hands from moving.

A drawing of Marge from The Simpsons wearing Piccolo's cape from Dragon Ball. She's hunched forward just like Piccolo does, charging up energy for firing the Makansap... Makakakkasapap... Makakapottamus...
...
...The Special Beam Cannon.

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Dread @dreaddbound.bsky.social · 2d

“Mmmmm I hate to say it Homie but we may have to team up if we have any hope of defeating Krusty”

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伊藤暢達/Masahiro Ito @adsk4.bsky.social · 2d

This concept art for Silent Hill : the short message is one of the leaked materials. The official has never released it, if I remember correctly. The Sakura Head in this was the initial version.

Beyond a dirty & darkened corridor where an innumerable amount sticky notes are encroaching on the walls and ceiling, a silhouette like a girl stands illuminated from behind by the ceiling lights. Its head and upper body are covered in cherry blossoms, and she wears a jacket over them.

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GSK | ALL CITY SLOP SHOP (ETA SOON) @allcityslopshop.com · 3d

Arika's celebrating their 30th anniversary by permanently dropping the price of Fighting EX Layer to $0.99 on PS4 & PC—the new price is live on Steam rn & will go live on PS at ~00:00 Nov.2 in your region

store.steampowered.com/app/871200/F...

store.playstation.com/en-us/produc...

FIGHTING EX LAYER on Steam

After a long wait, Arika's EX characters gather once again for another exciting battle! Kairi, Skullomania, Blaire, Pullum and the others are all back with the latest graphics. And this time they're b...

store.steampowered.com

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BlushySpicy💖🔥 @blushyspicy.bsky.social · 3d

Cafe outfit Reze from the Chainsaw Man movie

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Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel @lesmocon.bsky.social · 3d

Simpsons Fortnite thing is cute and all but it kinda sucks as a map, if you're gonna do this you gotta Hit N' Run it not just make a theme park

Reposted by Matt Lesle, Balls of Steel

Lady Emily ☄️ @ladyemily.nebula.tv · 3d

Someone else already posted Brianna Wu’s sexy KKK ninja girls attacking Terminator MLK, so instead I’m going to post Brianna Wu’s argument that people are folding under social pressure to be left handed

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