Embracer CEO talked at length at an AGM about genAI use in gamedev workflows, including several specific examples. Their underlying principle is that "we believe the greatest risk is not in using AI, but in using it without a strong, ethical framework." www.tombraiderchronicles.com/headlines528...

This is the cost of casual legitimization of genai. The blood of this kind of suffering is on the hands of everyone who uses it for all the kind of stuff Giger has pointed out. Because you've been told for at least two years now what the cost of it is and to stop doing it.

It's nothing short of amazing that Chris can turn around an hour-long multi-segment audio show every week at a consistently great level. I haven't word-of-mouthed this show nearly enough, but it's an essential listen for anyone interested in the culture of games.

The delightful 1980s Mac game Continuum is now playable in a browser. Originally released under a joke "send us beer if you like it" licence after issues with its publisher, it's a Gravitar and Asteroids-inspired black-and-white space game that even John Romero told me was awesome. continuumjs.com

By the way, the first chapter of the documentary TerrorBytes, about horror in video games, is free on YouTube. Probably the best survival horror documentary out there -> www.youtube.com/watch?si=frr...

I might need to check in with my transcription software. It went on like this for almost two hours.

We're a little late to tie this to the PlayStation 30th anniversary, but it's still worth looking back on this profile/pseudo oral history on PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi.

yeah because French people were playing stuff like this in the early to mid 90s

The students of today who use genAI to write their school/uni essays are unwittingly signing themselves up to a devil's bargain, and harming the rest of us in the process. Interesting insight from cognitive scientist Gary Marcus. Source: www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

The Adventure Game Merch Store launch week discount code ends Monday. So if you want to get 10% off on a sweet Flight of the Amazon Queen T shirt, hoodie, cap or mug then use the code Queen10. ➡️ adventuregamemerch.com

⚽️ Special offer ⚽️ We are offering £5.00 off the Collector’s Edition of our book - A Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games (Captain's Edition): www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #books #retrogaming #gaming #football #soccer #booksky @mossrc.bsky.social

We have no good anniversary or excuse to repost the Polygon Final Fantasy 7 oral history, but that's never stopped us before.

Good breakdown of the Google anti-trust remedy decision and why it will further entrench Google's monopoly unless grossly strengthened on appeal. "this decision isn’t just bad, it’s virtually a statement that crime pays." www.thebignewsletter.com/p/a-judge-le...

If you've been holding off buying my book on the history of football games (A Tale of Two Halves), this is a great opportunity to get it cheap(er) — as in addition to this free shipping offer, both editions of the book are on sale right now.

🎮 It’s #ScreenshotSaturday! I wish I could show you some shiny new finished art… but I’m deep in the trenches of Act 3 development using the awesome @VisStudio_En engine. Share this and help me hit 4,000 wishlists—just 50 away! Every share counts 🙌👇 LegendsOfCastile.com/steam-b

The Colony - Featured in our book - The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition We’re celebrating 40 years of the Mac and have knocked £5.00 off: www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #book #retrogaming #mac #apple #thecolony @mossrc.bsky.social

Here's a fun bit of obscure games history I just stumbled across: the founder of XOR Corporation (NFL Challenge, Basketball Challenge) made repeated (failed) attempts to get the CIA to endorse — and consult on — a counter-intelligence simulation game. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

Good take, IMO. Thinking of AI models as a replacements for people is the wrong way to go, no matter how "smart" they get. We should always see AI models as tools and not "people replacements" www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/a...

"To ensure reliability and to use it responsibly, avoid using COPILOT for: Numerical calculations: Use native Excel formulas (e.g., SUM, AVERAGE, IF) for any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility." This is all so epically stupid.

Full-time freelancers have seen things you people wouldn't believe

I'm excited to formally announce Fog of War, my upcoming book about real-time strategy (RTS) games from the '90s! The book will be published by @limitedrungames.com, release TBA.

Over the last five months on my blog, I've written about the 19 different computer games to reach #1 in UK sales charts during 1984. I've made a post about the history of each one. Here is a thread with links to those posts, plus one thing I learned about each of them!

@garymarcus.bsky.social called it, way back before the hype cycle: “Speaking to The New Yorker, Gary Marcus, a neural scientist and longtime critic of OpenAI, said what many have been coming to suspect: despite years of development at a staggering cost, AI doesn't seem to be getting much better.”

Now a little under four hours.

I love that there's someone at Ubisoft who cared enough to get sign off on this official Amiga port of The Settlers II, one of the greatest strategy games ever, which comes 29 years after its original DOS/Mac release. lookbehindyou.de/en/product/t...

By the end of the '80s, computer games based on hit movies made up many of the UK's bestsellers. That all started with Activision's Ghostbusters, #1 for 7 weeks from the end of 1984. This is the story of how that happened, with no small amount of luck involved: www.superchartisland.com/ghostbusters

Derrick Kardos died of complications of #LongCovid on July 18th. Let his words sink in.

"Online, many young people now build identity from meme fragments, unconsciously mimicking behavior they don’t fully understand. Lacking media literacy, they become perfect vessels for cultural incoherence." www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

For the evening crowd: I’m launching a new oral histories site called designroom.bsky.social. Won’t be much there for another month or so, but follow now to get in early!

BIG NEWS! The very first, feature-length episode of our critically acclaimed horror gaming documentary series featuring a global cast of games industry legends is now available FOR FREE! Want to see what all the rave reviews have been about? Now you can see for yourself! youtu.be/TA2aZVn9FvE?...

TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming review: What's your favorite scary video game?

Solid primer on the history of ScummVM. If you want to know more of the early history, there's also my 2012 Ars Technica article: arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/...

I can attest to my dear colleague Damian's assessment. The @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social documentary hits all the high notes.

Latest TerrorBytes review comes from @fearzinemagazine.com. "It’s not just a documentary about the history of horror games, but also a tribute to how it has shaped many of us weirdos." www.fearzinemagazine.com/reviews/2025...

Just received my copy of Terrorbytes! I'm a huge horror gaming fan and I'm so proud to have been a backer of this documentary project (and to have my name in the credits!) 😊 Looking forward to diving in soon!

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.

This huge bundle of books about video games includes the text-only ebook version of The Secret History of Mac Gaming as well as my experimental 'Football Manager, one day at a time' project, along with dozens of books I didn't write. storybundle.com/games

Finally got the time to finish watching the @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social documentary. Damn what a fun and well put together salute to horror. I still can't believe I got to be a part of it. Congrats to everyone behind this film, you all deserve tons of applause for this monumental undertaking.

I did some audio work on this trailer for the Slasher Trash documentary — namely, a bit of pitch shifting and a few effects on the voiceover narration to give it that vintage, old-school slasher film trailer vibe. youtu.be/43uvPf9ObtA

Mobocracy was a gritty #AppleMac side-scroller set in a post-apocalyptic world. Ambitious but unfinished, only fragments remain - enough to imagine how it could have been. More details at: www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/07/mobo...

To honor Ozzy's larger-than-life rock and roll legacy, we're making Brütal Legend *FREE* on itch.io: doublefine.itch.io/brutal-legend But this incredible deal will only last for 666 minutes, as the prophecy foretold. So get yourself clicking, before it disappears like a demon in the night... 🤘 🖤

We're publishing @charlottereber.com's book on the making of DRAGON AGE II! Based largely on new interviews with writers @davidgaider.bsky.social, @jbhepler.bsky.social, & Lukas Kristjanson, and editor @karinww.bsky.social Now funding on Kickstarter. www.kickstarter.com/projects/gab...

One of three football games released in 1985 within a few months of each other (across different platforms, from different publishers) that were so similar they must have all been based on the same code. All combined, I consider their passing-focused play critical on the path towards ISS/PES.

I'm 45 minutes into this and dropping by to tell you it's very good.

The First Part Of Horror Game Docuseries 'Terrorbytes' Is Now Available For Free On YouTube.

Apple is delisting Wheels of Aurelia from the App Store, because it's... "obsolete". Our statement:

Guys, go watch the first episode of this brilliant videogame documentary series FOR FREE. Then buy the rest if you dig it. It’s so good.

Just got my copy of TerrorBytes in the mail. I still can't believe I got to be in this amazing salute to the horror genre. Thank you so much to the team at @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social you have no idea how huge it was for me to be a part of this

The feature-length first episode of @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social is now free to watch on YouTube. Dozens of interviews digging into the history and evolution of horror in games, written and directed by me. And if you like it, you can buy the whole series from terrorbytesdoc.com. youtu.be/TA2aZVn9FvE

Good delivery day from @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social 😊