Rebecca was one of the founders of Interplay and programmed & designed for some of the most influential games of my youth, notably Bard's Tale I & III and Wasteland. She will be missed.

Yoko Taro hid one of the best examinations of what it means to be human, and an individual in search of connection, in a game primarily known for its gigantic slappable robot arses. The man is nothing short of a maniac

Hope is in short supply right now, so I wrote about how one game - #NieR: Automata - will go a long way towards restoring faith in your fellow man gameroom.substack.com/p/the-life-a...

dear lord. these people. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

those of us laid off from Teen Vogue were really fortunate to complete our fundraising goal — the laid-off staffers at VIBE deserve the same support, as Black media outlets and journalists continue to be targeted and discriminated against in “austerity” measures

Hello if you're having friends over this weekend and need a cheap and cheerful party game then I really recommend Hidden In Plain Sight alright ttyl gameroom.substack.com/p/hidden-gem...

Of all the mistakes to let through... really helps tell your readers how little you value their attention

Beautiful bit of writing about the love of material objects, and about writing about the love of material things onkeeping.substack.com/p/on-being-a...

Condé Nast folded a beloved magazine that treated youth and feminism as political topics, not trends. Read Sarah Leonard. www.cjr.org/feature/the-...

Girlfriend has seen through my scheme to buy a #SteamMachine from the joint account

the entirety of the british press talked themselves into believing this woman is trans based almost entirely on JK Rowling's judgement of the athlete's appearance.

Today's newsletter takes a look at the best (and some of the worst) examples of game sequels that make us fight a previous entry's hero gameroom.substack.com/p/rogue-prot...

Yet another disaster waiting in the wings Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how | TechRadar share.google/j9YnlT8vn3B3...

We are *live* Been so awesome to support the IG team with the launch alongside some amazing people. Slow Game Club is stuffed full of absolute belters - have a look!

Played each of these three featured games and can confidently say each is worth your time. Enjoyed #Despelote so much I wrote an honest-to-god blog post about it in the year of our lord 2025, and Sorry We're Closed & TGYH deserve all the love and attention too gameroom.substack.com/p/despelote-...

I've been waiting for @arusbridger.bsky.social's voice on the mess at the BBC. Here it is: The BBC is in a fight for its survival—it’s time Keir Starmer started paying attention www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...

To torture a metaphor a bit, Davie has fallen on his sword, which he was given by the Tories to defend the Tories despite having no relevant swordfighting experience, and which has now been taken up by the right wing which would love to kill the BBC with it

YouTube quietly erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations: "A capitulation to Trump sanctions" Read more in this @theintercept.com story by @jonahmv.bsky.social and Nikita Mazurov:

This Friday's game recommendation is the demo for #TheSecretOfWeepstone. The full game isn't out until next year, but if you're desperate for a D&D-inspired dungeon crawling fix, the demo is well worth your time gameroom.substack.com/p/demo-recom...

Three years into the best D&D campaign I've ever played in and we just fought our first dragon. This is how you do delayed gratification

New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

Ya boy's got a mention in the latest issue of my girlfriend's literature-focused newsletter onkeeping.substack.com/p/on-friends...

I didn't think it was possible but #Dior have somehow made an even *more* offputting and humiliating advert featuring shit actor and worse human Johnny Depp. In case you needed another reason not to buy from them

Everybody shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up everyone, we have a Portent that the world is going to improve in the near future www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Tom doesn't deserve to be anywhere near this final. Boring, rote bakes and zero patter. A waste of a spot #GBBO

Cowards at Audible happy to promote the shite, unimaginative scrawlings of a talentless bigot but not to hear any criticism for it

Today's newsletter takes an embarrassingly long look at why we love the #NintendoSwitch so much, as the console's successor begins its own journey gameroom.substack.com/p/a-console-...

I'm 100% convinced that it is easier to click on ads on social platforms, especially reddit. You so much as look at an ad and it bursts open

Well this is a big one. freelancewritingjobs.substack.com/p/how-im-tak...

The sheer greasy desperation from these bastards that any violent crime is committed by an immigrant so they can continue their grift. Even when they know it isn't true. Foul.

Lovely feature here from @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social - indies, take note!

Views from Orrest Head

My latest for GI dot biz asks how smaller publishers look to maximise return on marketing spend www.gamesindustry.biz/which-market...

A sweet! HOW DARE THEY.

In today's newsletter we examine the #Bayonetta prequel that nobody asked for - but that I loved gameroom.substack.com/p/cereza-and...

UN leaders condemn ‘horrifying’ mass killings in Sudan www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

My clever, funny, incredible girlfriend has launched a literature-oriented Substack. She writes beautifully and languidly; reading her stuff feels like giving your mind a warm bath. So you should absolutely sign up here: onkeeping.substack.com

Lots of total musks having meltdowns because the #AbsoluteBatman annual features our hero taking a gang of white supremacists apart. Telling on themselves like never before

This is a great point to make. It's important to recognize many news orgs go against their readers interests and lobby on behalf of advertisers. But it's difficult to find a case more blatant and hideous than this one

Newsletter is out! Looking at great (and terrible) examples of localisation in gaming over the years. My favourite is from Grandia 2, where missing an attack flashes an icon that says 'Fraulein' gameroom.substack.com/p/localisati...

The r/buffy subreddit has (rightly) come to the conclusion that Grokipedia is "just Wikipedia for incels" based on its description of the show

Newsletter is out! Looking at great (and terrible) examples of localisation in gaming over the years. My favourite is from Grandia 2, where missing an attack flashes an icon that says 'Fraulein' gameroom.substack.com/p/localisati...

Climate journalists in Europe and North America often write about the forest as a resource, or something that can be quantified But what if the forest is your home or a part of you? For our first Cop30 story, we spoke to 100 Indigenous people from the world’s tropical forests

Sultana’s position on Ukraine is not just morally reprehensible but juvenile and trite

Oh my god some fucking tech dingdong posted this on Twitter with the caption "AI games are going to be amazing" totally seriously, you have to watch it. You have to. In full screen.

Don't worry everyone - I initially thought spraypainting ENGLAND was a racist bit of hollow nationalism, but as you can see with the later addition of SCOTLAND it's clearly just revision for a geography test :)

Almost 60,000 women have signed this petition by @nionwomen.bsky.social women to say that the transphobes do not speak for them. Meanwhile the Daily Express front-pages seven transphobes, falsely claiming that they “represent women”. If they do not represent you. Please sign. notinourname.org.uk

tl;dr a man got so many reports of toxic behaviour in Deadlock that the entire game went down. Truly aspirational behaviour

Chuckling smugly as I walk over to my bookshelf, secure in the knowledge that ink on paper can never "go down" arbitrarily. I sink into my armchair, lick a finger, and open at the folded page. Five thousand wasps fly out, killing me instantly

#TheWomanInCabin10 is the worst fucking film I've seen in ages boxd.it/bqm5WF