In an Australia first, I used FOI to get the AI chat logs of Australia's top national security bureaucrat. They show how he used Microsoft Copilot to ghostwrite speeches and messages to colleagues. This comes as the government looks to push AI use in the public service. www.crikey.com.au/20...

+ there's very few who covered video games ethically left to teach the next generation of journalists how to work. Those that scraped through, they're still scraping by... to pay the rent. The ABC cutting jobs creates a generational black hole. Knowledge goes in, gets eaten up, never comes out.

Around this time last year, the Telepathy Tapes podcast exploded into the mainstream, with claims autistic children who speak few or no words “possess gifts that defy conventional understanding, from telepathy to otherworldly perceptions" It was, many experts said, dangerous and exploitative. 🧪

Good day to financially support subscription games and tech websites that do the right thing across the board. CHEERS.

I like new Aftermath

Reckon a fair few Aussie tech and games content folk might want to pull their heads in if they don't want to end up on the end of a Linton Besser cannon 🤯

You mean ...the ban based on cherry picked science from a popular US science book, that the government rushed through, buoyed by campaigns in the Murdoch Press and by morning radio hosts, that enables mass surveillance for all Australians to access the ban? Can't think why Roblox got away with it!

there is simply no world where tom brady thought or said the words "A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family's elderly dog before she passed."

Fascinating that when you write a negative, deeply researched story about game dev, the seniors and execs jump down your throat, tell you how to do your job, and claim you're just trying to get clicks. Write a positive story on a person making games and they are nowhere to be seen? Makes you think!

⛵ Lente made a video game about a boat, while living on a boat. I visited Lente and the boat and talked about Lente and boats. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/a...

This has been an absolute blast. Easily one of the best programs for science journalists in the world 🧪

If you're a science journalist (or aspiring science journalist) who's been writing regularly in English for less than 3 years (not counting student work/internships), check out the @theopennotebook.bsky.social Early-Career Fellowship. The deadline is October 31, so there's still time to apply.

There are two important mantras I follow as a science journalist: 1. Uncertainty is okay! 2. Read the damn paper. We gotta do the second a lot more if we're going to rely on scientific data to tell stories, folks. 🧪 nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/read-the-d...

If science journalism is going to survive genAI (and Jen, from Corporate), we're going to have to do a lot more than rewrite press releases 🧪

One of my favourite long term writing and reporting projects ever.

Tomorrow (10/07) at 10:30am ACDT, JAXA ISAS Director General Fujimoto Masaki will give a talk (online and on-site) about the Hayabusa2 mission 🛰️🔭, as a fragment of asteroid Ryugu is unveiled for display at the Australian Space Discovery Centre in Adelaide 🪨! Register below (all free!) 🧪

"Did you girl boss too close to the sun" lyric should put you on the no fly list. House arrest.

Don't know where else to post this. A beautiful Malaysian couple at Ortisei bus stop had been waiting 90 minutes, missing their first bus because people pushed in front of them. The next bus that came was so busy and people again pushed in front of them. Disgusting behaviour.

It's going to be so good it's fucked up

Tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetamol use in pregnancy probably doesn't give babies autism. Now unlocked for all to read gidmk.substack.com/p/tylenol-us...

Too much attention paid to a writer breaking embargo and not enough attention paid to ... the way publishers and PR impose embargoes, with highly unrealistic timeframes and increasingly with restrictions that hinder press freedoms. The incentives for modern games criticism are all wrong.

International #ResearchIntegrity conference 16-18 November 2025 Come to hear @elisabethbik.bsky.social Ivan Oransky @jamesheathers.bsky.social @retractionwatch.com Lisa Bero @liammannix.bsky.social @jdwilko.bsky.social @jacksonwryan.com +many others, stay for Sydney in late Spring @sydney.edu.au 🧪

Imagining Laura Tingle turning to her right and asking David Speers if he knows 'the memes' or if he has the email for anyone on the ABC gaming desk

writing silksong as silk song - bad, terrible, no good, gross

RALLY TO SAVE MEANJIN Thursday 11 Sep 9am Outside the Melbourne University Publishing office, 715 Swanston St, Carlton. A number of Australian writers and editors will speak in support of this vital cultural institution

Really interesting stuff from some of the best to do it (applicable to both developers and Jini). Discussion on underestimating players also very illuminating.

I'm just a silly little guy from Adelaide writing about silly little guys from Adelaide making art. Skongers go off in the comments. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/a...

Who could predict the most wishlisted game would have such diabolical lines when there are only 10 Switch 2 consoles available at Gamescom???

Really looking forward to the Gamescom meetings that my companion-app-AI-agent has set up for me over the next week. It matched me with Geoff Keighley, because we're both incredibly charismatic hosts. Can't wait to chat at 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM on Thursday, August 21, Geoff!!!

MEAA condemns targeted attacks on Gaza journalists as a war crime as toll nears 200 deaths

It is massive. Thanks to Peter Deppeler on Twitter for the footage. #GazaGenocide #MarchForHumanity

We're working on an art project for Freakon! We want you to share games journalism that means something to you. If you have a review, a cover, a video, a headline, a quote - anything that made an impact on you please submit it! Taking earnest and dumb submissions. seasonofdecay.cargo.site

I'm so thankful to be up for this award and, especially grateful to the many scientists I spoke to for the stories that are nominated here. My supreme thanks to @themonthly.com.au, one of the few places taking on longform science writing in Australia. Stoked 🧪

Science journalism pet peeve: When you take the scientists' quote (from the abstract) out of context to use it for an SEO style headline. The full quote is that the creatures "challenge the current models of life *at extreme limits*". Very different idea to the headline.

Concerning. CSIRO Publishing's Cosmos has republished quotes given to The Guardian without attribution -- or the correct context. The article in question contains a significant amount of AI use (acc. to *unreliable* GPT checkers) The author is a prominent marine science communicator in Australia.

Unbelievable scenes! Some incredible stuff happening at GamesHub. This week, I raised questions with some of the contributors there about the work that was being done. There were signs of AI tampering, and the new owners were still featuring old contributors. Now? Revolt.

It's publishing day for CONSPIRACY NATION: EXPOSING THE DANGEROUS WORLD OF AUSTRALIAN CONSPIRACY THEORIES! Here's my pitch for why you should read it: open.substack.com/pu...

You know what takes guts? Talking to a journo -- a total stranger -- about the toll that your work has taken on you, mentally, physically, emotionally. I'm so grateful to be given the opportunities as a reporter to speak the truth for people who feel like they don't have a voice.

Another little IGEA note: This week it announced "Game on Australia", a "digital showcase" (read: website) that "shines a spotlight on the creative talent, infrastructure and government support" for local game dev. But the press release... seemed strange.

good piece from jackson ryan at the verge covering the struggles behind making tales of the shire. it is sadly the usual: regular managerial turnover, periods of crunch and an expectation of overtime, while development languished. read here: www.theverge.com/games/709797...

IGEA CEO Ron Curry told me this afternoon that "IGEA has not yet received any inquiries from Australian games developers regarding the issue of the removal of games from Steam."

Tales of the Shire's development has been... difficult for many, to say the least. I spent a lot of time talking to those with knowledge of development for this, a story about the small miracle of making games, and the challenges that come with it. www.theverge.com/games/709797...

Tales of the Shire's development has been... difficult for many, to say the least. I spent a lot of time talking to those with knowledge of development for this, a story about the small miracle of making games, and the challenges that come with it. www.theverge.com/games/709797...

never tear us apart number one on a showdown day no no no no nooo

are the veronicas gonna do this

Hell yeah. Australia heading directly for this same cliff, could have pulled the brakes any time but got Haidtpilled

Also because I am a journalist I had to email the guy that actually took this photograph which was mistaken for AI by an editor and he told me "they can think what they want, it’s really their problem" and "I do not like or support AI generated stuff." So there's that mystery solved.

Because I am a journalist I had to know what this was about. The Priceline here told me "We unfortunately don't know too much about this as it is not our screen, however, it is, in fact a short 15 seconds of Outrun play amongst the many other advertisements shown on this screen :)" But for what...