Writing on Games

SO TRUE

On Games for Impact:

“It's good that it's there, but it's also, in a way, kind of insulting. Because giving a special award for a game for actually meaning something or having some human content... we should be aspiring for that in every category."

postgame.substack.com/p/the-histor...

Also using ShatGPT for parenting tips sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Wow, feeding pennies to your infant might seem unconventional, but the naysayers don't yet recognise the nutritional value of copper like you do!

Still raw about the fact that Games For Impact CLEARLY should have gone to Armored Core 6. Boost kick that'd take some cunt's heid aff. Doesn't get more impactful than that

Could barely get through that tiny wee clip of Sam Altman on Fallon. Always makes me want to eat my own thumbs whenever the late night hosts get someone on who has zero chat, but this is next level. A "conversation" between two absolute vacuums of patter. Excruciating

tfw it s tuesday

I sincerely hate to do this on such a good post but

Also Megadeth is rivalled only by Limp Bizkit in having actually pretty decent riffs/songs absolutely fucking ruined by The Worst Vocalist of All Time

This cover for a Megadeth live album is so fucking funny man

YouTube video by Audiotree Converge | Audiotree From Nothing

Really very few bands that have done it better than Converge.

Just got back from The Whole Bloody Affair. Tarantino's films rock

person who has watched two films: tarantino's films rock

person who has watched a bunch of films: tarantino is a wildly overrated cultural larcenist who generally sucks

person who has watched a ton more films: tarantino's films rock

Should say as well that I don't judge artists for putting stuff on Spotify. We're a fuckin unknown band that doesn't really care about becoming better known and aren't sacrificing much. It's also unfortunately the biggest platform by some margin and pretty vital for discoverability!

YouTube video by CIVIL ELEGIES - Topic The New Hard

This is on streaming now (except Spotify lol)

no one

tony hawk’s pro skater bail messages:

Two posts I saw this morning

SO TRUE

Lotta comments on my latest vid irate that I said that certain comedians are partly responsible for the increased authoritarianism we're experiencing and I showed footage of Trump on a podcast. People like "but what about Biden! What about the UK!" as if I like those things either

“Quentin Tarantino says..” Quentin Tarantino says a lot of things

YouTube video by Writing on Games Grand Theft Auto Is a Failure of Satire

NEW VIDEO! To me, the best satire helps us envision a better world. Grand Theft Auto, as made by a Rockstar that treats its workers as terribly as it has done, says this is as good as it gets. Here's a video discussing why I've personally had enough of that.

Enjoy! Shares appreciated!

The Watergaw by Hugh MacDiarmid. Better than any Burns as far as I'm concerned.

Nowadays whenever I've stumbled across a piece of music that turns out to be AI, I find myself thinking "that would have been the easiest fucking thing ever to just *make*."

Like, it doesn't even seem like this shite would save you any time in the long run over just learning how to do it yourself!

Lots of my favourite albums have awful album art. A ton of my favourite YouTube videos don't have bespoke, crafted thumbnails at all. You might have a great mind for visual design, but that's almost certainly not what I'm coming to you for in most cases.

Sorry, just thinking out loud here.

I dunno, I'm not against packaging things nicely, or seeing the design aspect as a key component of the work. I like good album art, for instance. But I just have this really strong feeling that it should never take complete priority over the work itself, which is how it feels on YT a lot nowadays.

Reflected on this a lot over the years. Can't tell you the number of times I've clicked on a real glossy thumbnail and strongly worded title, only for it to feel like they came up with said title/thumb first and put more effort into it than the actual video. Pure marketing. Doesn't sit right with me

Another interesting thing which I've long suspected—people just look at thumbnails/titles. With the GTA satire vid, lot of people like "glad SOMEONE agrees that the writing is south park-level trash." People ostensibly on-side... except the video isn't really about the quality of writing at all.

THRUM, by CIVIL ELEGIES 6 track album

For the final Bandcamp Friday of 2025, my band Civil Elegies has released a live album, mixed/mastered by me (I did the artwork layout too) with the money going to making our new full-length next year. Pretty proud of this one. FFO Melvins, Swans, Godflesh etc. Listen/support us here:

Interesting realisation reading the comments on the latest video—the bad feeling I get reading the shitty ones no longer feels tied to my ability or competence. Just a general feeling of "god people can really be hostile idiots." In a way it's nice. Feels like I finally beat impostor syndrome lol