I was recently interviewed to give historic context on video game controversies ahead of the upcoming launch of GTA 6. Find out how the GTA series launched with manufactured controversy, but still managed to give the player female protagonist options. www.gamespot.com/articles/our...

It's publication day for Writing Game Histories!! 🥳🎉 Please do recommend it for your library, but it's also out in paperback so not as hideously expensive as academic books can be: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-g... @doktornick.bsky.social @doni.bsky.social @historygamesnet.bsky.social

Every Free-to-Play expert at GDC

Still one of my all-time favorite Simpsons quotes.

My time with the online group lasted from 2000-2011, during which it underwent a number of management changes, which usually meant a redesign, and the effort to port over older content was never deemed that huge a priority. Most of my written work from that era is long gone. But, so goes online.

When my kids started playing Roblox, it was an excellent opportunity to teach them how to recognize and avoid dark patterns and exploitive gamification. So far, so good and they have never asked for Robux.

Heh. Found the image I put together to explain the Kessel Run for SOLO.

In the Vapor Room on Cloud City, an Ugnaught bar, you can hear "Ton'yy Rho's Uglehop", an uglehop (as opposed to an uglejig) by Ugnaught composer Ton'yy Rho. It's basically an Irish reel (reels are 4/4, jigs usually 6/8) with (I think) recorder, guitar, sitar, and didgeridoo.

RESIN PUNKS, the latest Zimmerit 'zine, is out and available now from garagekit.club and select brick and mortar shops. 40 pages of '80s garage kit culture including profiles, translated period material, and photos. Grab it here: garagekit.club/products/res...

For Immediate Release. "STAR WARS" SET TO BEGIN PRODUCTION IN TUNISIA ON MARCH 22.

@clydemandelin.bsky.social Just saw this pop up on Instagram, I'm probably the 100th person to send it to you but thought it was pretty funny

This is Brendan Keogh's Putting Challenge on DLSS 5

Happy Mario Day! He lives in the backrooms of the San Francisco Nintendo Store.

What color is the Super Mario sky? Well, that depends…

All of us Sigma Star Saga fans, rejoice!

Hiroaki Murao spoke on reviving the #Wizardry CRPG franchise. Stating with Digital Eclipse’s fantastic remaster, then multimedia products, 5 Ordeals spinoff, and onto mobile. #ウィザードリィ

If you’re at GDC, check out my books in the bookstore!

26 years ago, the XBOX was unveiled as this metal monstrosity at GDC by Bill Gates and my Trespasser-boss, Seamus Blackley. This year, Microsoft brought it out of mothballs to celebrate 25 years of the “DirectX Box.”

That Space Invaders mystery ship looks awfully familiar.

Listen, I think the games industry would be much better off if GDC stopped existing, except for the awards. Don getting the Lifetime Achievement award is 100% correct, & the Ambassador Award will forever feel more meaningful now I'll be sharing it with Rebecca www.gamesindustry.biz/gdc-awards-2...

I’ll bite. Here are 9 games that were influential on me. My9games.com

A feedback form for FamiWiki has been created for users to fill out. It will be open for the entire month of February 2026. forms.gle/o8zeFTpmDoqV...

"The 45-second film, made around 1897, was the first appearance on film of what might be called a robot" HELL. YES.

The next Zimmerit 'zine is juuuuuust about ready to be sent off to the printer. Should be out next week. ~40 pages in b&w and color about '80s garage kit culture.

While we're celebrating Zelda's 40th, I want to give some love to some of the foundational action adventure games that predated it. Hydlide, in particular, deserves more respect outside of Japan for what it did for the genre in '84 (PC88). Tower of Druaga, Courageous Perseus, Dragon Slayer, Hydlide

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release date forThe Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説) (Famicom Disk System version). Here is a comparison of FDS and NES title screens, shot on a Sony Trinitron CRT. The music is also a bit different due to the FDS having an extra sound channel to work with.

The Save the Games submission deadline has been extended to March 4! As it stands, we basically have the same amount of submissions as last time, which is wild! www.museumofplay.org/save-the-gam...

My latest blog post: an analysis of spatial developments seen in early computer role-playing games and adventure games. This post started as just a way to jot down some notes, but ended up being nearly a book chapter long. #Ultima #Wizardry #Zork crypticarchivist.blogspot.com/2026/02/this...

Mecha Press was perfect for me when I was looking to play games that felt less like tank battles (like Battletech) and more like fast-paced anime or Japanese tactical video games like my MS Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079 on Super Famicom. Mecha Press was my Dual Magazine before I knew what that was.

Transformative work of the day. :)

This N64 Classic From The Developers Of GTA Has Gotten A Native PC Port.

Fight On! magazine bundle now on sale, featuring my art! It is the back cover art for issue #16 and is my reduction woodcut take on Dave Trampier's Rakshasa from the AD&D 1st ed. Monster Manual. www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

Shock Waves was a direct influence on our Medal of Honor: Underground (PSX) bonus level, “Rotten to the Corps.” The zombies explode when killed, ride motorcycles, and fight alongside the armored knight enemy I designed. Other bonus levels feature gun-toting dogs and nutcracker-shaped automatons.

Fantasy author and RPG writer Jean Rabe has passed away. She was known for her work at TSR and the RPGA, but she also worked on WEG’s Star Wars d6 RPG. In Galaxy Guide 12, Rabe wrote up several alien species including cover model Ephant Mon’s Chevin (with other aliens by @infinata.bsky.social).

Hey look! The first game engine I used to make games just turned 35!

A 1986 Japanese guide on how to program using the Family BASIC software for the Famicom features many cute illustrations of Mario and Pauline (known as "Lady" in Japan at the time).

In this house, it’s the Charles Nelson Reilly episode of the X-Files and it is the best.

David Rosen, who helped create Sega and changed the coin-op industry forever, has passed away. www.replaymag.com/segas-dave-r... An absolute titan in video game history. May he rest in peace.

Welcome to the Public Domain, THE MALTESE FALCON (1930) 🦅💎 🕵️ Sam Spade is on the Case of the Disappearing Copyright as The Maltese Falcon novel joins the public domain. Learn more ➡️ blog.archive.org/public-domai... #PublicDomainDay #CopyrightFree

RIP to Tim Kask, the 1st full-time employee and actual writer/editor at TSR back when D&D was still new. Kask served as head of TSR Periodicals and editor of early issues of Dragon magazine and was the unsung editor of many early D&D and AD&D supplements.

Merry Christmas! If you'd like to spend 45 minutes celebrating video game history with me, we're about to debut The Untold Story of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I worked on his ALL YEAR, and I genuinely think it will reshape how we all think about the system. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvp...

I posted my English rule book translation for the Panzer World Galient Simulation Game Manual games published in 1985. Swordfighting and axe-swinging anime giant robots on a medieval world! Includes a visual guide to units and weapons. boardgamegeek.com/filepage/313...

Who coined "Metroidvania"? It wasn't @jparish.bsky.social, and he'll be the first to tell you. Besides, there are far more interesting questions, like: How did it spread? Evolve? And what's it got to do with rickrolling? Watch til the end for a post-credits sting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8set...

These Fan-Made WipEout Lego Sets Are Amazing, And You Can Build Them Yourself.

We are SO EXCITED to finally show you Xcavator 2025! This is an unreleased (and unannounced!) NES game from 1991 that we recovered from its source code. The rights to it were 100% donated to us, and it's being published as a fundraiser cartridge to support our work!

Yes, I'm on this again! If you've read my Twilight 2000 article & would like to offer your thoughts, it would be helpful. This all forms part of my wider study, so feedback on all of my Cold War/RPGs stuff is appreciated. The survey should only take a few minutes. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.

Playing “Super Alien” on a PC-88 (also made for VIC-20 and C-64). It is a derivation of “Heiankyo Alien,” the game that inspired “Space Panic” and, in turn, every platformer game that followed.

Hurrah! My article on the Twilight 2000 RPG in the Journal of American Studies is now open access (OA), so anyone who wants to can have a read. OA is important to me, as I want my work on RPG history to go beyond the academy and reach the gaming public. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...