Kyle Orland

@KyleOrl
2.1K Followers
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2.1K Posts

Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica.
https://mastodon.social/@KyleOrl
Generalized Content warning: I talk about politics a lot.

Author of some books: https://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/author/kyle-orland/

"Pedantic nerd of integrity" -Some guy on Twitter capturing my essence

Also, I know how to juggle.

Twittodonhttps://twittodon.com/share.php?t=Kyleorl&[email protected]

2024's first book! Very entertaining to learn the history behind a game that, at first glance, really doesn't deserve a whole book.

Might have to play a few rounds in the morning. Thanks, @[email protected]!

(comment on Minesweeper)

Minesweeper - BookWyrm

If you had some free time and a Windows PC in the 1990s, your mouse probably crawled its way to Minesweeper, an exciting watch-where-you-click puzzle game with a ticking clock and a ton of “just one more game” replayability. Originally sold as part of a “big box” bundle of simple games, Minesweeper became a cornerstone of the Windows experience when it was pre-installed with every copy of Windows 3.1 and decades of subsequent OS updates. Alongside fellow Windows gaming staple Solitaire, Minesweeper wound up on more devices than nearly any other video game in history. Sweeping through a minefield of explosive storylines, Journalist Kyle Orland reveals how Minesweeper caused an identity crisis within Microsoft, ensnared a certain Microsoft CEO with its addictive gameplay, dismayed panicky pundits, micromanagers, and legislators around the world, inspired a passionate competitive community that discovered how to break the game, and predicted the rise of casual gaming by nearly two decades.

Starting off my goal for 2024 of reading at least 18 books with something a little lighter. Been looking forward to reading this since I backed it on Kickstarter. I've enjoyed reading @[email protected] as long as I've been reading @[email protected].

(comment on Minesweeper)

Minesweeper - BookWyrm

If you had some free time and a Windows PC in the 1990s, your mouse probably crawled its way to Minesweeper, an exciting watch-where-you-click puzzle game with a ticking clock and a ton of “just one more game” replayability. Originally sold as part of a “big box” bundle of simple games, Minesweeper became a cornerstone of the Windows experience when it was pre-installed with every copy of Windows 3.1 and decades of subsequent OS updates. Alongside fellow Windows gaming staple Solitaire, Minesweeper wound up on more devices than nearly any other video game in history. Sweeping through a minefield of explosive storylines, Journalist Kyle Orland reveals how Minesweeper caused an identity crisis within Microsoft, ensnared a certain Microsoft CEO with its addictive gameplay, dismayed panicky pundits, micromanagers, and legislators around the world, inspired a passionate competitive community that discovered how to break the game, and predicted the rise of casual gaming by nearly two decades.

My followers feed on here has absolutely died. If you're still looking for me I'm mainly posting on bsky as KyleOrl these days...
Doing most of my posting on Bluesky these days. I have an invite if someone needs one, more likely to share if I know you IRL or virtually

Today marks the "official" launch date of my Minesweeper book from Boss Fight Books, which is now available booksellers like Amazon

It's the perfect opportunity to run a review/interview/excerpt/etc. to help fill in the summer news doldrums. Hint hint!

https://bossfightbooks.com/products/minesweeper-by-kyle-orland

Minesweeper by Kyle Orland

This is something I wished I never had to post.
I've been dreading this since last year as things weren't great for Switch Player Magazine as they were spending more money than they were bringing in.

So issue 69 will be the final one.
They seem to be moving on to another Nintendo venture, but still.

At least we still have Nintendo Force.
So once again, please support the content than you love, otherwise it won't last...

https://www.patreon.com/NintendoForce

#shareyourgames
#Nintendo
#NintendoSwitch

The Nintendo Force | creating Magazines with Posters! | Patreon

Patreon
the passage of time was a mistake

If I can give one piece of life advice:

Whenever someone geeks about something in front of you, or admits an 'embarrassing' interest, just say:

"That sounds AMAZING. I don't know anything about that. Tell me about it."

Then just listen.

Not once in my life have I regretted it.

Circling back though, imagine spending hundreds of dollars on a console and then buying only *one game* for it *ever*. Out of the hundreds of lovingly crafted interactive experiences available, you only want to play the one...

Just hard for me to conceive of.

The most incredible stat in this unredacted filing, I think, is the *1 million* PlayStation owners for whom Call of Duty represents *100% of their play time* on the console

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/06/major-sony-playstation-budget-figures-leaked-because-of-poor-sharpie-redactions/

That is a lot of people that would almost definitely not buy a PlayStation without CoD! Might seem kind of small relative to 117 million PS4 sales, but also there are probably a *lot* of PS owners for whom CoD is 50% or more of their total play time...

Sharpie scanning goof reveals major PlayStation budgets and revenues

It's not a good week for gaming companies trying to submit sensitive data.

Ars Technica