nothing bad can happen | 5/3/25

Welcome to make you think, a newsletter about being alive in the endtimes. If you just signed up, welcome! You can find previous editions of the newsletter right here. If you know someone who might like this, click that little forward button and pass it along!

here's me (and merritt and nere) walking into the giant bomb @ nite suite at the standard in 2019. me being in this room meant that i'd made it. i'd gotten a job in the games industry, was covering e3, and was becoming friends with people whose work i'd admired for years. for the next one, i told myself, i'd be on the couch.

then covid happened. then i lost that job. but folks, i still was on the next one:

i learned a lot that night. most of it was about about mike minotti (carries too much cash, fruit opp), but the thing i really walked away from the weekend with was the knowledge that the folks at the website really took pride in their work. doing their best with what they were given, exceeding expectations left and right.

for me, it was everything i could've possibly wanted. i was on screen and working behind it (even though i didn't work at the website yet – don't do what i do). i took so many photos. my dog met sam lake and became famous (unclear if those two things are related). the acclaimed were really over at the time so everyone was scissoring each other.

a website filled with workers (in the wrestling sense). it always was, through all eras, through all of its lives and through all of its deaths. filled with people smarter than their bosses, making magic in spite of them.

giant bomb is dead but this was not its first death. if fandom has its way it won't be its last, either. the beauty of a website that is over 16 years old, though, is that it has affected so many people in so many ways that the chatgpt addled brains in charge will never be able to touch. if you are mourning giant bomb i hope that you can at least take solace in the idea that the idea of it – a website about video games staffed by unbelievably talented and entertaining people whose simple goal was to make you feel good – is too good for it to be killed forever. the work will still get done, the people you like will still create.

it is exhausting to be alive while history is being made. in a just world, polygon and giant bomb are still alive and don't get killed on the same day. and while we do not live in a just world, we have all of the tools we need to make it.

we did a bunch of great work. i'll forever be proud of our live shows over the last two years. and i'm grateful to those of you who didn't know who i was before i started working at giant bomb and decided to rock with me.

also! to be so clear folks: i'm not out of games and i'm not going away! you can catch me talking about video games literally every single week on The VGBees Podcast. this week we had jeff gerstmann (co-founder of some website called "giant bomb dot com") on the show.

check out vgbees, the internet's best independent video game website

buzz buzz

if you liked me on the dump truck then i have even more good news! i do a weekly comedy podcast with my friends called if you're driving, close your eyes. please subscribe to both of these shows (available wherever podcasts are sold).

check out my comedy podcast. it's called if you're driving, close your eyes

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if you want to keep supporting me, you can. there are such tangible ways to do that. subscribing to this newsletter (for free) is huge. paying for this newsletter is huge. kicking iyd money on patreon? huge. subscribing to vgbees? huge. sliding directly into my paypal or venmo? huge. it might feel small but the difference your individual support makes is so tangible!

here's some more links:

kick shawn some money

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jeff grubb, mike minotti, shawn "TurboShawn" mcdowell, and cristian from argentina do great work at game mess

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follow the polygon crew and check out some other indie games pubs

Link Zone

support polygon workers and the vox media union after their callous, stupid, shortsighted sale to valnet

Donate to the Polygon Staff

the version of myself that didn't like to do self promo is dead now so here's the segment where i talk some other stuff i didn't talk about as loudly as i should have.

i modeled for waysyders recently, which is a swim + activewear brand founded by dylan williamson that centers queer and trans bodies. it was the first time i'd modeled since i walked in new york fashion week and i had a blast. please check out the whole collection and support the brand if you're looking for some things to wear by the water or on the trail this summer.

check out waysyders!

Learn more

i had a banger of a friday night fuser last night. if you aren't familiar, fuser is a rhythm/dj mixing game. it's the last game harmonix ever made. i love it very much. it lets me blow up the bones of my favorite music with tremendous ease. here's a little sample.

thanks to everyone who showed up, followed, and subbed! i'm going to try to establish a more regular streaming schedule but for now, i can guarantee that i'll be back next week with more fuser. you can catch the full stream below.

i think that's all i've got for this week. my thoughts on stagecoach are still rattling around in my head but i think i'm going to have many more after i see beyoncé tomorrow at sofi. 🤠🐎🤠

thank you for your support this week. it means the world.

catch y'all next week.

-

niki