The end of 2025 is here. So, I've got my usual looking back articles providing my highlights of the year across both Gaming and TV & Film. There's been some very great things from both this year. TV & Film - home.darkrulamedia.uk/tv-film/the-... Gaming - home.darkrulamedia.uk/gaming/the-g...

The year is coming to a close, meaning one last look at the planning for some short stories. Those of this fourth quarter, which include two seasonal stories added to Shorts of the Rula, and the final story of The Alternate Extras of Halesowen.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope you're day is a great one, no matter what you're doing on this day.

#12ShortsOfChristmas And with one more day before Christmas, the last short story of the year is published. Elfish Photography, as part of Shorts of the Rula, is set on Christmas Eve at a kids Christmas Party. From the first person perspective of Tyler, see the events of that party.

Y'know what? I totally get the people who dislike the snow weather after doing that MC business sale mission. The most terrified I have ever been in GTA Online. Still a lot of fun on the ground, though, so I think I'll just stay down there for the rest of the week.

#12ShortsOfChristmas The reason for a short story a month this year came to a close as The Secondary Futures got published to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen. The third viewpoint of the start of the second year, Vector reflects on what his friends have been thinking about their futures.

And so ends another fantastic #JingleJam. It's been a wild one, with some great stuff coming from both the Yogscast and various other fundraisers. This comes later than I would usually post for a reason, and that is being partnered with Trust in Rust. But now, the final total is confirmed.

#12ShortsOfChristmas With October being the month of Halloween, Shorts of the Rula was bound to be given another themed story. And so Let Sleeping Secrets Lie told a mystery of eternal daylight and people falling asleep from it. Told in first person, one discovers the reason, and pays for it.

Trust in Rust has concluded, and they’ve raised an amazing £224,321 for our charity partners! A massive thank you to @fcpnchstds.bsky.social, hJune and team! That means we’ve officially raised £3,423,763 this Jingle Jam! Absolutely unbelievable generosity—thank you, and see you next year!

#12ShortsOfChristmas September saw another short published to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen to return things to the usual rotation after Racing Month. Weston Delights sees Daniel and Quinn enjoy a day out at the beach, where Max joins them for some fun of his own.

Got a digital reader in the family? Want to get them a Christmas gift for their Kindle? Then, good news! For a week from 21/December, the Alternate Halesowen and Beyond series will be 99p! Check out the short stories of the media group, along with an adventure far from the UK this Christmas.

Perfection

Steam Replay is no surprise. The PowerWash games have just got me hooked, especially since I got a Steam Deck to use. It's been fun seeing the Early Access journey of Wreckfest 2, driving the new track additions as they come. And Train Sim World 6 is a lovely new sim to be enjoying.

Happy Birthday to me! As you can see, I'm comfy. In a great blanket gifted to me by a great friend. A fantastic fun day yesterday with said friend means today is a peaceful one where absolutely no action is happening with my choice of games.

#12ShortsOfChristmas August saw a return to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen with Party Revelations. From the point of view of Alicia, Elizabeth's birthday meal is returned to, reframing the reveals of that day with the analytical mind of Alicia.

The #JingleJam has reached 3 million! What a huge amount for charity. So many people doing great work in fundraising for the eight charities part of the event this year. Absolutely amazing. And still around 14 hours to go until it closes. Could it reach or even surpass the totals of 2021 and 2022?

#12ShortsOfChristmas July being Racing Month, it was always my intention to take another road trip to the Zincite Storm universe. And so Rival Running released on Shorts of the Rula. Taking on a delivery job to the city of Zincite, Shannon gets help from a rival who turns the job into a race.

Last game of the #JingleJam Games Collection for me this year is #RogueWaters. Developed by Ice Code Games, this turn-based tactics game wraps itself the trappings of a roguelike for even more choice of strategy. It's an enjoyable one, which is why I easily recommend it.

#12ShortsOfChristmas Into June, and a return to the Herzan State for Terminal Ruins, featured as part of Shorts of the Rula. Alan brings his partner to a theme park he enjoys for the first time. But the fun of the fair hardly begins when ruin is wrought to the park by an opportunistic gang.

A Star Wars racer? Featuring more than just pods? By former Criterion devs? Oh, sign me up! It's something I've been wanting for ages. Hopefully it proves to be a great one and is successful. Maybe then we'll see even more racers in the Star Wars universe.

The third game of the #JingleJam Games Collection I'm looking at is #TheRoyalWrit. A card-based tactics roguelike from Save Sloth Studios that has some fun strategy. Strategy that can be upended ready to overcome. It's an easy one to recommend.

#12ShortsOfChristmas Slipping into May and a return to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen with Ice Cream Frustration. Quinn meets Hannah for a day out, but it is clear her friend is hiding some personal issues. Especially when an argument breaks out at an ice cream van.

I’ve been in a Metroid mood lately, so I took some photos of my old Samus figure out in the snow today. This might be my favourite shot I’ve taken in a long time! #toyphoto

#12ShortsOfChristmas Forgetting to do this yesterday won't delay the timeline of posts for this. For April, Sequels of the Past and Future arrived on Shorts of the Rula. Voice actors for the game Frontal Assault reveal the sequel at an anniversary event for the Space Race Championship franchise.

Well, this was fantastic experimenting with the custom items on Mario Kart World for the latest GRcade Mario Kart Monday. Nothing but Kameks on a Knockout Tour means nothing but chaos for the first half. And a muted kind of chaos in the second.

@rtgame.bsky.social Another great showing of Wii Shit, with some truly bad family game shows. Loved that you brought Deal or No Deal along this time, too. One of these times, I think it would be fun to show off some Wii racing shit, as there were some truly terrible racers released for it.

Yeah! Two million for #JingleJam! Making this the fourth fastest year to hit the target. Which is especially great considering this year was the second slowest to reach the million. And there's still a week to go! Let's keep raising that money for charity!

And so ends week one of the content @yogscast.com have been doing for #JingleJam. Ending on a high with that absolute wild poker tournament. Thanks for everything you lot do to organise all this great content for Jingle Jam. The second week is coming up, in which I'm awaiting more greatness.

#12ShortsOfChristmas Returning to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen for March brought the release of Rapid Fiction, where the secondary group are enjoying a day out at Alton Towers. Grant gets pushed to discover new depths of storytelling while riding the rapids.

Continuing the #JingleJam Games Collection fun with #Spiritfall. A 2D platform fighter roguelite, I feel this is a great introduction to the genre, full of everything you expect from it wrapped up in a run-based game. Such a fun one that I can easily recommend.

Michael returns! And it looks like there's some explosive missions to be taking part in. I'm sure I'll be enjoying the missions creator, too. No doubt some fun stuff could be done with that.

This is an absolutely huge thing to happen. Warner has been in a bad business flunk in what feels the last decade, so this should be good to get them out of it. And it seems Netflix will keep theatrical releases of Warner franchises going. The next two years are sure to be interesting.

#24ShortsOfChristmas Continuing the look at the short stories I've published this year is Gates of the Heart, the first of the year under Shorts of the Rula. When Brittany needs help with a birthday surprise, she calls on Hunter to help. But gets her own surprise from the meeting.

It's #JingleJam! So for me, that means looking at the games featured in the Games Collection. And first up is #TrainSimWorld6 from Dovetail Games. Two routes and a special Christmas route make up this Jingle Jam Edition. My experiences with them say that this is an easy recommendation.

1 million is a great amount to be raised in three days for eight great charities! Much love to everyone involved in getting to such heights. Now onward! To 2 million!

#12ShortsOfChristmas It's December, and I've been busy with short stories, so time to run them down before Christmas. First up is January's visit to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen with Future: Uncertain. A story focused on Hannah and her chaotic thoughts on what her future should hold.

Jingle Jam has officially begun, and our 2025 Games Collection is live! The redesigned collection is back, with 15 top-tier titles (and a few bits more). Donate £35 to charity, get some awesome games as a reward. Got a games-lover in your life? It's the perfect stocking stuffer!

Just four hours to go until Jingle Jam starts for another year. So let's remember the good times of year's past. While this article is a few years old, and fully focused on the Yogscast, it's still a perfect way to highlight those good times for people not familiar with the event.

There's no denying that Diggy Diggy Hole is THE song of the Yogscast. Hammered home by that end of YogCon clip when that happened in 2019. And now there's a sequel to that song. Sequel because this represents the achievements of the Yogscast since that first song. And it's just as grand a song.

With 48 hours to go until the Jingle Jam starts, there's no better time to release Yogsimulated 2! The first two chapters of this second outing in the simulated Bristol sees 12 members of the Yogscast split into teams of three racing for victory. Read Yogsimulated 2, now out on Wattpad.

People have criticised and lambasted Welcome Tour to no end. So what does Caddy do? Make it out to be the Holy Grail of video games while also bolting on a fun history of the frame rate section at the start. Another great time, with so much laughter.

i know WHY this is but that just makes it even more of a kick in the pants lmao

Photography section of my site has been updated with new words to show a bit more personality and reveal a bit more on my journey of photography. No new photos added, but I feel I could just about manage a new one soon. home.darkrulamedia.uk/photography/

Been waiting for the release of The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie all year. So many places got it early in the year, but it seemed like it would never come to the UK. At last, there's a date! Will be great to see it next year.

And so that is Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment complete. A very bittersweet and strong end, even if already known from Tears of the Kingdom, simply because there's a lot more connection to these characters from the greater time spent with them. Plus seeing Calamo and the Knight Construct's end.

It's so great that the Yogscast has treated this mini series of YogLabs like a proper TV series. It now means we've got the soundtrack to listen to whenever we like to remember the greatness by. And yes, Coffee Machine is stuck in my head again.

With Jingle Jam 2025 just about a week away, we wanted to take a moment to remember all the good things your support has already made possible around the world. Here's a look back at the impact of your donations last year, over Jingle Jam 2024 🧵

Jingle Jam! Let's go! Bring on the cats and the farming and the poker and the quiz show and... Y'know what? Just bring it all on. Although definitely the first two of those the most.

And with this latest addition to The Alternate Extras of Halesowen, things come to a close. This final story sees Vector's point of view of the first day at the college for this second year, where he and his friends are looking forward to the future. So, enjoy The Secondary Futures.

The temperature, no matter whether on my laptop or phone weather apps, is looking close to zero Cs. Winter has come. I'm sure the frost will be making itself known in the morning. And maybe... snow. Any day now. I'm certain it's coming.