John Walker - Industry Analcyst
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botherer.bsky.social
John Walker - Industry Analcyst
@botherer.bsky.social
3.6K followers 390 following 1.6K posts
Co-creator of Rock Paper Shotgun, currently helping out at Kotaku, and still looking for a new long-term gig.

I write www.buried-treasure.org, unearthing excellent unknown indies. Please consider supporting!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buriedtreasure
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Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
botherer.bsky.social
Heads up - usually after I put out this call I've had 200 emails already. This time, so far, it's just a handful!

While the grown ups at Kotaku are all off distracted thanking turkeys or whatever it is they do, I wanna promote as many unknown indies as I can!
botherer.bsky.social John Walker - Industry Analcyst @botherer.bsky.social · 21h
Hello indies! It's almost Thanksgaming 2025!

If you have an unknown indie project in dev or just released, please could you email me at [email protected] with the subject "THANKSGAMING 2025", and a store page and YouTube link? I'll put as many as I can on Kotaku.

Rules next. Reposts appreciated!
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 AM
botherer.bsky.social
I'm so proud of, and in awe of, @caraellison.bsky.social. Congratulations!

www.gamesindustry.biz/bafta-breakt...
BAFTA Breakthrough profile: Cara Ellison
"Your game's story or narrative, even if it's not a traditional narrative, is the thing that actually keeps people picking the controller back up"
www.gamesindustry.biz
November 25, 2025 at 1:38 PM
botherer.bsky.social
Heads up - usually after I put out this call I've had 200 emails already. This time, so far, it's just a handful!

While the grown ups at Kotaku are all off distracted thanking turkeys or whatever it is they do, I wanna promote as many unknown indies as I can!
botherer.bsky.social John Walker - Industry Analcyst @botherer.bsky.social · 21h
Hello indies! It's almost Thanksgaming 2025!

If you have an unknown indie project in dev or just released, please could you email me at [email protected] with the subject "THANKSGAMING 2025", and a store page and YouTube link? I'll put as many as I can on Kotaku.

Rules next. Reposts appreciated!
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
botherer.bsky.social
Hello indies! It's almost Thanksgaming 2025!

If you have an unknown indie project in dev or just released, please could you email me at [email protected] with the subject "THANKSGAMING 2025", and a store page and YouTube link? I'll put as many as I can on Kotaku.

Rules next. Reposts appreciated!
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
botherer.bsky.social
Hello indies! It's almost Thanksgaming 2025!

If you have an unknown indie project in dev or just released, please could you email me at [email protected] with the subject "THANKSGAMING 2025", and a store page and YouTube link? I'll put as many as I can on Kotaku.

Rules next. Reposts appreciated!
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
botherer.bsky.social
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider: Chronicles, I've had a nice little rant about "critic fatigue", where game series are unfairly maligned for being good for too long.

kotaku.com/the-most-und...
The Most Underrated Tomb Raider Game Came Out 25 Years Ago
Tomb Raider: Chronicles was the unfair recipient of a unwarranted backlash
kotaku.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
botherer.bsky.social
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles by @iltimido.bsky.social is a bonkers dungeon-exploring puzzle RPG, with... golf-game combat? It's an awful lot of fun.

buried-treasure.org/2025/11/the-...

Please support Buried Treasure. It's very cheap to do. www.patreon.com/c/buriedtrea...
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles
November 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
botherer.bsky.social
I forgot to say, earlier today I wrote about the catastrophically disastrous interview the Roblox CEO gave to the NYT about protecting children from predators. It's hard to overstate how badly it went.

kotaku.com/roblox-new-y...
"It doesn't begin well. When asked about the "scope of the problem" of predators in the application, Baszucki came in shoulders first saying, "We think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well." Ah, the good ol' opportunities available when your company's product is rife with pedophilia. He continued, outlining how wonderful it is that young people can build and communicate together, how they have "150 million daily actives, 11 billion hours a month, like what is the best way to keep pushing this forward." It is the most astonishingly tone-deaf response." “I would actually say that is a very simple red flag. Like, that sounds like text filter many prior generations. So I would say the techniques are much more sophisticated than that. We're constantly getting better than that and sometimes it's adversarial. Like, we're getting into, you know, if we cryptographically were going to try to have an exchange of how to share your Snap handle or whatever handle. We see some of that starting, like things we'll have to essentially prevent in the future." “Fun,” says Baszucki, a man who appears pathologically incapable of reading the room. "Let's keep going down this. And so, first off, Hindenburg is not longer in existence, correct? So, you should report on that. They went out of business for some reason..." He then demanded to know if Newton had researched the answer for himself, before saying that it's because they've moved so much of the safety regulation onto AI, all while sounding absolutely furious that he was being asked. He then demands that Newton agree that if AI is more effective, it's better to use it, and when Newton does, Baszucki starts to behave incredibly immaturely. "Good, so you're aligning with what we did. High-five." Then when Newton tries to ask a question, he interrupts to say, "Thank you for supporting our Roblox decision matrix." Then interrupts yet again to say, "I'm so glad you guys are aligned with the way we run Roblox. High-five." Think he's done? Nope. Yet again he interrupts the question with, "Is this a stealth interview where actually you love everything we're doing and you're here to stealthily support it?"
November 21, 2025 at 10:52 PM
botherer.bsky.social
My son demanded a snack, but refused to say what he wanted, so this is what he got.
A battery, rubber band and USB cable sandwich.
November 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
botherer.bsky.social
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles by @iltimido.bsky.social is a bonkers dungeon-exploring puzzle RPG, with... golf-game combat? It's an awful lot of fun.

buried-treasure.org/2025/11/the-...

Please support Buried Treasure. It's very cheap to do. www.patreon.com/c/buriedtrea...
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles
November 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
ethangach.bsky.social
Who do I know who played a ton of Oblivion Remastered or Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 this year?
November 20, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
zackzwiezen.com
Did anybody pre-order Metroid Prime 4 many years ago and still have that pre-order? And are you still going to get the game using it?

If so, contact me here or via email [email protected]
November 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
botherer.bsky.social
As a freelancer, when Kotaku is down and I can't post, I don't get paid, so this Cloudflare situation is costing me a day's work I can ill afford to lose.

But then the BBC found an angle on it that's properly cheered me up:
"Cloudflare outage takes down X and ChatGPT"
November 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
botherer.bsky.social
When reading up about the congressman's call for AI regulation over Call of Duty: Black Slops 7, I encountered one of the most astonishingly stupid pro-AI arguments I have ever read. These people... they are the dumbest and the richest.

kotaku.com/call-of-duty...
Call Of Duty Leads US Congressman To Call For AI Regulation
The discovery of AI art in Black Ops 7 is forcing a broader discussion of the issues, and some very dumb responses
kotaku.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
botherer.bsky.social
Tom's pinning it on now.
Tom Baker holding his MBE next to a Dalek.
November 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
lukeplunkett.com
(this is still running and it's still $1, incredible value, a steal even)
aftermath.site Aftermath @aftermath.site · 11d
We're having a sale! Get your first month of Aftermath for just $1.

aftermath.site/aftermath-vide...
November 15, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by John Walker - Industry Analcyst
miketowndrow.com
Much love to John and @kotakudotcom.bsky.social for chatting with me about Clair Obscur!

It’s a weird, grey area our curation jury have regularly (and painfully) discussed since CO:E33’s launch. Sincerely appreciate John giving me the space to share some insight into those discussions.
November 14, 2025 at 5:12 PM
botherer.bsky.social
I've laid out my arguments for why Clair Obscur Expedition 33 should never have entered itself for any indie game awards:

kotaku.com/indie-game-a...
There's Just No Way Expedition 33 Should Be Up For Indie Awards
The multi-million dollar game has entered itself into multiple indie game awards, which doesn't feel right
kotaku.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
botherer.bsky.social
"Haha, let's enter our multi-million dollar game made by hundreds of people into this indie game award on a technicality! It'd be so funny if we took awards away from small teams and solo devs! What fun we have!"
The Indie Game Awards nominees, including, somehow, Expedition 33.
November 13, 2025 at 4:18 PM
botherer.bsky.social
I will lay down my life for you, Mossy Snorlax.
A mossy Snorlax with a blue flower on its head.
November 13, 2025 at 4:01 PM
botherer.bsky.social
Mario being a total jerk in the Super Mario Galaxy trailer hit me way too hard. I don't need that right now.

kotaku.com/super-mario-...
Hang On, Why Is Mario Being Such A Jerk?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie trailer shows a side of Mario I really didn't like
kotaku.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 PM
botherer.bsky.social
This is such a great opportunity to deliver on what I've always known to be true.

Given the abundance of evidence, from his lack of aging and seven different human forms, it's obvious that James Bond is a Timelord. We just show him regenerate. Problem solved.

That'll be £50,000,000 please, MGM.
willardfoxton.bsky.social Willard Foxton @willardfoxton.bsky.social · 14d
James Bond’s death in No Time to Die is causing a nightmare for the next film. Writers are stuck because Bond “was blown to pieces.”

Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:

“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."

radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
botherer.bsky.social
No One Lives Forever is 25 years old today. And you STILL can't buy it.

But you can still GET it! And you should, because it's still completely brilliant.

kotaku.com/no-one-lives...
One Of The Best Games Ever Turns 25, And You Still Can't Buy It
No one will sell you No One Lives Forever, but shhhh, you can still play it
kotaku.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM
botherer.bsky.social
Racist, ablist, misogynistic, credit-stealing eugenicist James Watson has died. Can't wait for all the hagiographies that include an embarrassed "he was occasionally controversial" line 800 words down.
November 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
botherer.bsky.social
The hill I'm willing to die on:

There's nothing sad about "baby shoes, never worn."

Babies don't wear shoes, on account of their not being able to walk.
November 7, 2025 at 7:31 PM