Alice

Hip hip hooray, yesterday was the Burryman's day!

Sexy Tyranid.

A Tyranid just having a good time not doing anyone any harm.

Tyranids hanging out being pals.

A leary Tyranid.

That's a bit unkind of Nate; Drukhari are cringe tryhards. Have you considered bug friend?

You done good, and did it for longer than anyone should.

I spoke to this conference's organisers and they told me that the code of conduct you agreed to when you signed up means you have to invite me to your birthday party.

Ugh that Brutalism 2 hub #blewmeaway, just delighted poking around. Took me ages to even start playing the maps.

On your first day of NCT, go up to the biggest dad there, tell him he's your son now, and give him 50p pocket money.

"The piece as big as me?"

This is making me start to feel a little bad about signing copies of your books in bookshops, and accepting free bookmarks as thanks.

I'm sorry that Ian Games Network didn't realise a second Alice was the one calling him Ian Games Network and punished you in my place. Probably should've apologised to you sooner but

If I never write about video games ever again, let this be my final plea Will every lousy unwanted PC game store launcher actually remember my password when I tick the box telling it to remember my password.

Checking in on my last (final?) gameswords one year later... Epic, EA, Rockstar, and Ubisoft's clients have all forgotten my password again since I last used them. A perennial post. www.rockpapershotgun.com/if-i-never-w...

It's now a year since I left Rock Paper Shotgun and I still haven't written anything longer than a Christmas card. I'm still looking for something new and don't know if I'll ever write again. But I have learned dry stone walling and volunteered lots on river cleanup and landscaping, which is nice.

Whenever I make a new nemesis, I forge a new breastplate from a poster of their favourite licensed property. What are you going to do, bro, stab through Momo Ayase to get me? Unlikely.

Full suit of plate armour fashioned from Displate metal posters.

Can only say I'm pogged out of my gourd.

I don't know what that screenshot is meant to prove but I GOT AN ORB.

V wears a shimmering dress and a multi-eyed, orb-like helmet in a Cyberpunk 2077 screenshot.

Okay but after the addition of transmog and an expansion's worth of clothes, I did buy every single garment in the game and play a lot of dress-up.

I have kept updating my blog of mod readme files every now and then, by the way. Interesting ideas, funny phrases, unavoidable pornography, and such. readmedottxt.tumblr.com

Hot tip for my fellow meatheads this Christmas: white Toblerone contains the most protein, with a muscle-maxing 22g grams of 'tein per full-size Tobe. I know I'll be slamming at least six on the day myself.

Wesley Crusher resists having gamergoggles violently put on his head.

Wesley Crusher finally experiences joy as people look satisfied to find him playing a video game.

Tired: the Star Trek TNG episode with the brainwashing video game is absurd because WESLEY CRUSHER rejects gaming?!
Wired: it's perfect because Wes would decry this as a casual baby game.
Inspired: it's absurd because Wes doesn't use this as an opportunity to once again fail to start a LAN party.

Christmas lifehack: you can chant "Now bring us some figgy pudding!" pretty much anywhere in any circumstances, and your odds of success won't be any lower. Give it a go!

A neon yellow pager displaying the message "GRAND CENTRAL HACK THE PLANET".

A neon yellow pager beside a leopard print neon pink pager, both displaying the message "GRAND CENTRAL HACK THE PLANET"

A neon yellow pager in the movie Hackers, displaying the message "GRAND CENTRAL HACK THE PLANET"

I also celebrated Cyber Monday by finishing a new Hackers pager, this time in Cereal Killer yellow. Main change was redrawing the display decal. Still not sure if I think it's better.

A Cyber Monday greetings card, where I am wearing mirror shades and fanning a handful of floppy disks.

Wishing a very merry Cyber Monday to you and yr subnet! May you receive ops in your favourite IRC channel and greetz in a mod's readme.

Uggghhh it's going to be so hard resisting the urge to peek from under the covers at my modem, hoping to spot the blinking lights showing it's downloading giftz of new crackz.

Don't know where you'll find a Cyber Monday gift on a Sunday when most shops have switched to Christmas stock? Relax! B&Q are open until 6pm and sell chain by the metre in a range of thicknesses and finishes. You could even make a start on 2025 by buying chain to leave to rust in a bucket of water.

You still have time to make Cyber Monday cards for your nearest and dearest cyberpunks! One cute idea, inspired by textile arts, is to crack open some busted electronics and 'stitch' a circuit board fragment through the front of a card with copper wire.

I'm as excited for Christmas as the next person who has already watched 35 Christmas movies since the start of November, but PLEASE remember the cyberpunks in your life. Their main annual festival, Cyber Monday was this year pushed into December and risks being drowned in mulled wine.

Admiring Edinburgh architecture in a screenshot of Counter-Strike 2's de_edin map.

Zooming in on a street sign for Rooster Street in a screenshot of Counter-Strike 2's de_edin map.

An unnerving unEdinburgh stairwell in a screenshot of Counter-Strike 2's de_edin map.

Alien vibes in a screenshot of Counter-Strike 2's de_edin map.

I like that de_edin has my favourite type of Edinburgh knobbly flourish. I am surprised by the modest name of its Cockburn Street analogue. But while I can understand the stairs on real Edinburgh tenements are nightmare chokepoints, these here are deeply alien and distressing.

YouTube video by Mojo Swoptops Making Edinburgh's Cowgate in Far Cry 5!

(Serious virtuaEdinburgh aficionados might also enjoy the guy who makes glamorous and grubby corners of the city in Far Cry's map editor, from tourism landmarks to council estates.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b0y...

A Counter-Strike 2 screenshot of the Edin map, looking up a street which lots a lot like Edinburgh's real Cockburn Street.

A Counter-Strike 2 screenshot of the Edin map, looking up streets reminiscent of Edinburgh's Old Town.

Leith Waterworld as a Garry's Mod map.

Leith Waterworld as a slightly shinier Garry's Mod map.

Counter-Strike 2's new Edinburgh map is cute enough, smooshing together some recognisable corners and architectural elements. But serious video game tourists must also visit Leith Waterworld via the Garry's Mod map for Trouble In Terrorist Town, which I've just noticed was remastered in 2020.

picture of a sleeping cat with "where's Madeleine" written below it - game is very image-dependent, can't be played text-only

Spent an hour today with @v21.bsky.social's "Downpour", an app for making little games on your phone (still in beta). Made one about our cats called "Where's Madeleine?". Perhaps my greatest work? Takes 2-5 minutes depending on how good you are at finding Madeleine.
downpour.games/~holly/where...