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Sam Machkovech (LFW)

@samred.com

1.5K followers 400 following 1.3K posts

Recently: NYT, Polygon, The Stranger, Game Developer, Games Radar. Previously: Ars, American Airlines, The Atlantic. Looking for work. Clips + contact info: https://samred.com. He/him, from Seattle.

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Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · Nov 10

I've dreamed my entire career of writing an article like this. New in today's @nytimes.com: My profile of Tetris creator (and Seattle-area resident) Alexey Pajitnov, on the games, attempts, and failures he's worked on in the 40-year shadow of his most famous game. (Upshot: He's still designing.)

After the Triumph of Tetris, an Unsolved Puzzle

Alexey Pajitnov, who created the ubiquitous game in 1984, opens up about his failed projects and his desire to design another hit.

www.nytimes.com

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 2h

I would love to see @ericacbarnett.bsky.social write a feature-length explainer of the disingenuous bullshit Choe has been shoveling in Seattle for the past few years, so that ppl outside Seattle can fully appreciate what a goddamned loser Trump is associating himself with here

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 6h

I *would* believe it! And my DMs are open for anyone who wants to talk about the topic on background for a piece I'm working on.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 6h

ugh apologies for the pronoun choice, that's based off the article; I wouldn't default to a he/him protagonist

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 6h

I mean, let's not act like these giant game companies are the only arbiters of content. If anybody wants to make an indie version of this game, in which a Black protagonist stealth-adventures his way through the underbelly of the Reconstruction-era KKK, I'd consider investing.

Wario64 @wario64.bsky.social · 6h

GameFile: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 7h

in good news, it appears every Playtonic contributor who's no longer w/ the company is at least listed in Y-R's credits, listed as a member of the Playtonic team (as opposed to a credit demotion of any kind)

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 9h

project your own feelings onto flopped Mabel as needed this Wednesday

black and brown dog lies on couch with legs outstretched

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 1d

happy Seattle sports to those who celebrate

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 1d

ChatGPT couldn't generate something so amazing after burning through an entire rainforest

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 1d

a Seattle Mariners fan went to tonight's playoff game in Detroit, wore a "DUMP HERE" shirt with the number 61 on it, and, sure enough, caught Cal "Big Dumper" Raleigh's 61st home run of the season

..and he's already got the "DUMP HERE 62" shirt on

man celebrates catching ball in baseball crowd

man changes from one shirt to another

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 1d

the ultimate test of whether a bsky account is real or a bot is how quickly it can triangulate from "Fallon is making Wordle into a TV show" to "uh that's fucking Lingo"

well done, rando stranger

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 1d

I've been in newsrooms like this. This doesn't work, even w/ union protections. So long as chain of command carefully phrases its replies, any reputable journalism can be killed, and any squeaky wheels will get the grease. That's the subtext to this week's outcry—fluency w/ this writing on the wall.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 2d

I tried to win tickets to see a podcast taping in LA sometime in October, then forgot about it. today, the podcast's "surprise" live-taping guest emerged on the Conan O'Brien community subreddit, and boy oh boy am I glad I didn't burn through flight and hotel to join these ppl in a walkout

We walked out of yesterday's live show with Bill Burr

I was really interested when Bill was revealed as the surprise guest. He's a smart guy, I've always enjoyed his contrarian takes, and I was...

Reposted by Sam Machkovech (LFW)

G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 2d

I'm going to keep saying "this is fascism" until this platform inevitably bans the word fascism, and then I'm going to leave

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 2d

CHICAGO (AP) — Storming an apartment complex by helicopter as families slept. Deploying chemical agents near a public school. Handcuffing a Chicago City Council member at a hospital.

apnews.com/article/chic...

Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 3d

impression after watching nationally televised baseball on TV: okay wow a LOT of companies are using shitty text-to-voice systems (ones that sound like AI) as advert narrators these days.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 4d

my dog Mabel (l) and her dad Toby (r)

human with long hair poses next to two dogs

blinking human with long hair poses next to two dogs

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 5d

let alone "Game Pass is better than ever" as an email header, since it's quantifiably untrue in terms of zero recognizably interesting features rolled out in the wake of price hikes

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 5d

if you're wondering whether to let "AI" write out your corporate strategy, look at the Copilot-ass decisions that the Xbox division at MS has rolled out since October 1. price hikes + wackadoodle messaging all around.

like, c'mon. "this is how we pay now" is the easy meme on this awful slogan.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 5d

check w/ this guy

a man sitting at a desk with his hands folded in front of a snl logo

ALT: a man sitting at a desk with his hands folded in front of a snl logo

media.tenor.com

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 5d

they really should have hired SOMEONE for that senior comms role that they interviewed at least one veteran tech comms pro about a few months ago

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 6d

In good news, someone can possibly burn this whole fiasco down by copying the plot of NBC's The Paper, episode 4, "TTT vs the Blogger." Look it up. I'm serious.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 6d

Bari Weiss is set to be named the editor in chief of CBS News, the New York Post reports

Paramount Skydance is poised to name Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News in the coming days — giving the hard-charging journalist unusual clout to revamp the struggling network as it also acquires her scrappy news site the Free Press, The Post has learned.

Weiss — a 41-year-old former New York Times opinion writer who has built the Free Press into a buzzworthy site with a contrarian bent — is expected to be named to the top post in a Monday announcement, although the talks are in flux and the timing could change, a source close to the situation said.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 6d

would you believe that this wacky-ass quote isn't just from a sitting mayor, but the sitting mayor of Seattle? not the time for hope! what!

plus, a reminder that every Democrat clown who has suggested their "experience" will combat the Trump admin has caved and been walked all over

Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 6d

In his closing statement, Harrell said, "This is not the time for hope. Passion and great ideas and inexperience is just not going to get us there. Trump will walk all over a person without experience, period."

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 7d

RIP. Reminder that she licensed the below comic strip as an official Goodall Institute shirt.

Far Side comic strip that features two primates in a tree with the caption, "Well, well — another blond hair. ... Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?"

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 7d

This includes the exclusive Snoop Dogg's Courtroom Chaos, in which players talk out loud to their phone and, uh, Snoop reacts. Amazon calls it "a human-built, AI-powered improv courtroom game," but no preview footage exists yet, so I fear serious levels of AI slop. Ask AI Snoop about gay marriage.

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 7d

Funny timing for Xbox to raise Game Pass prices today, as Amazon just unveiled an expanded Luna game-streaming strategy.

More games will now come w/ paid Prime subscriptions: over 50 "standard" games and over 25 "GameNight" games. The latter will utilize smartphones as gamepads. Dorky video:

Introducing: The All-New Amazon Luna

YouTube video by Amazon Luna

www.youtube.com

Sam Machkovech (LFW) @samred.com · 7d

popular image of actor Wayne Brady as seen on the TV series Chappelle's Show with meme-like text that says "IS WAYNE BRADY GONNA HAVE TO NORMALIZE A BRUTALIST REGIME?"