Introduce yourself with 4 indie games

Stranger Things Season 5 "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up". Directed by The Duffer Brothers

Decided to lay out my top ten GotY list here… 10. Dune Awakening. Superb survival experience with a great atmosphere. Spoiled by a wonky endgame, but the journey was stellar.

Decided to lay out my top ten GotY list here… 10. Dune Awakening. Superb survival experience with a great atmosphere. Spoiled by a wonky endgame, but the journey was stellar.

Merry Christmas 😊

Show me how your 2025 went

Hey @mojangstudio.bsky.social and @xbox.com this is a really tasteless message to your players. Nobody should be made to feel they’re playing the ‘wrong’ way. So many people play Minecraft to ease their mental health worries, not have them amplified! Do better. (Image from Reddit)

One of the titans of the industry gone far too young. He leaves an amazing catalogue of work. Rest in peace ❤️

Doesn’t matter how many times I see this, it makes me grin like a maniac

Every time there's a breaking story about a celeb's treatment of women, everyone in the book world asks, "Is it finally Walliams?" Well, it finally is.

🎄

The anti-Semitic mass shooting in Australia will cause a national conversation and policy change. We know this because the 1996 Port Arthur massacre led to significant restrictions on guns. The shooting at Brown will do nothing. We know this because it occurred on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.

Since Polygon is leaving it out of the headline: Epic Games partnered with The Game Awards to put money into the pocket of a bigot who uses her wealth to further the genocide of trans people through lawsuits and legislation. Every 'free' game gives money directly to JKR, and they are complicit.

Fucking incredible dystopian shit, comparing super rich people risking millions if not billions of lives just to make more money to people that risked their life actually building incredible things that would then make millions of dollars for super rich people.

Valve has now rejected my complaint, confirming that "I don't like muslims" is a valid reason to leave a negative review on a game on Steam This is where we're at now.

Eden Lake. Threads. Speak No Evil (2022) Funny Games (either version)

At about $60K that's about 128 million graduate team indie games, at $150K about 500,000 small indie games, at $300K about 250,000 mid-size debut indie games, or at around $950K about 110,000 indie games by a team of more experienced devs. There are a total of 110,000 indie games on Steam.

I have nowhere to write up my GOTY list this year, now that I’m not on staff. Are blogs still a thing people read? I’d like to recommend what I’ve played this year in something longer than a BlueSky thread.

🎙️Mike & Rami Are Still Here🎙️ The new podcast from me & @ramiismail.com Listen to two old men from the video game industry ask the real questions, like "why am I so tired all of the time", and "who the heck are Ant and Dec?" Listen on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you want mikeandrami.com

Facts

Anyone know how this is on Steam Deck?

Special thanks to GOG for being so supportive of the project! HORSES preorders are now available on the store: www.gog.com/en/game/horses 🙏

There is no way you can guess how the thread that ends in this instant classic begins.

After a horrific tragedy in my life, I thought “fuck it, I like games and I like words.” Started a blog, slowly branched out from there. 17 years later, over 400 reviews written, countless features, over 20 books published. Still feel like a fraud.

I wonder if I (or you) know of any film magazine/website editors open to commissions on pieces about Train Dreams and how it, sort of, managed to film a book I once thought impossible to bring to the screen?!

X has changed their policy and now you can see where the accounts are based. Here’s an “influencer from Texas”

Grove of the Felled Olives https://store.steampowered.com/app/4084390/ Grove of the Felled Olives is a free virtual memorial dedicated to the over 60,000 humans killed in Gaza between Oct '23 and July '25. Pay respects to each of the departed in a peaceful refuge for their memory.

Today is the day to repost this meme about International Men's Day, one of the most unironically wholesome memes that has ever been made. Shoutout to all my fellow champs, chiefs, and kings. ✊

Convenient news

The IWGB has just announced that 220 letters, signed by Rockstar staff, have now been delivered to leadership at the company, demanding the immediate reinstatement of their fired colleagues.

Editors - Looking for a WoW Midnight beta (or beyond) person? I've been playing WoW since closed beta days in 2004 and I've written about it for SO many outlets (including Edge last year which was v cool). Reach out if you need a WoW person! :)

How did I not realise one of my favourite books was being adapted?! I reread this novella every year, will the film be a let down?

It is not misconduct to unionize, and I hope that Rockstar and Take-Two face serious legal challenges for what seems to be a very clear-cut case of union-busting.

So pleased to see that Daniel Day Lewis has been singing the praises of Kent Haruf, and especially Plainsong and Eventide – two of the greatest novels ever written. Seriously, if you have yet to read them, I think they are essential.

Andy Serkis has titled his forthcoming memoir "My Pressures" which puts him streets ahead of the competition for "dad joke of the year" if nothing else. Wonderful.

Loving Pokemon Legends: Z-A, so far. But The Pokemon Company and Nintendo really need to start using voice acting for cut scenes. It’s all lovely, cute visuals, but the characters lack that spark.

This might be the best modern horror novel I’ve read in years. As someone who so rarely gets scared by horror, one scene had me feeling incredibly unsettled. And I’m only 120 pages in.

This might be the best modern horror novel I’ve read in years. As someone who so rarely gets scared by horror, one scene had me feeling incredibly unsettled. And I’m only 120 pages in.

Hey there #portfolioday! I'm Astra and I make big vibrant pixel art and arcade sticks✨ 🛒Shop: www.astrawitchart.com ☕Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/astra_witch 🎨Portfolio: www.astrawitch.com

It’s all happening on x dot com where I do my banking

No! Fuck, that’s so sad. She was amazing in everything she did

I hope the fires of hell gobble up Ian Watkins.

Here’s to remembering why we picked up the controller in the first place. Not to argue. Not to compare. But to live a hundred lives we never could…and feel every single one of them. Video games weren’t made to divide us… they were made to move us. Let’s never forget that 💙

Cowards

If you like the work LIFEBAR is doing, please consider supporting with a donation the Ko-Fi! This situationship I have with publishing good writing from talented friends and colleagues is fun, and also expensive! Any little bit will help secure the future of the operation! 🔗

Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words. The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.

Click to send a Halloween Card to a child at Children's Hospital LA. It cost you NOTHING, it takes 30 seconds and they donate $1 for every card sent between now and Halloween secure1.chla.org/site/SPageNa...