James Sweeting

😬 I know what I'm doing tomorrow!

Throughout it all, even when things went bad, Spencer clearly understood games as a medium, a profession, and a business. Having an Actual Game Guy at the top of a big gaming company is far rarer than it should be, and while there was a lot of facade to Spencer — particularly towards the end, when he used faux-candour and his gaming credentials to try to mask the godawful shitfest he had spawned — I imagine this is the aspect of him we will come to miss the most. Heartening though it is to at last see a woman in the big chair in this most historically blokey of industries, I do not see much in Asha Sharma’s track record to suggest things are about to get better. (And that’s before we get into all the birthrater stuff.) So, yeah. Phil was a good bloke, and he did some good stuff. I believe his heart was in the right place right up until the end — but unfortunately for him, and the rest of us, Microsoft these days is no place for hearts. Let’s have a quick look at the three big moments where, to my mind, it all went wrong for Phil Spencer.

On Phil Spencer newsletter.hitpoints.co/362-dank-spe...

AI masking the future - Relative Nostalgia AI is not the future. And before all the AI bros come after me, think about what AI is. For now, I’m not even going to get into the wider concerns of AI. First we need to think about what AI is. Although, when I say AI I do mean generative AI. So, the problem that AI has with the future is that fundamentally it is reliant on the past. The data that it is trained on is past content. Meaning that when it creates something new it is doing so based on the old content that it has appropriated....

AI masking the future #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/ai-masking-the-future

A Switch 2 version of Rise would be nice

Nostalgic for the New - Relative Nostalgia In the previous post I started talking about being nostalgic for a future, because the inability to imagine a different one is contributing to the feeling of loss that is required for nostalgia to be present. If it is still present, then it’s not really nostalgic, but it can be hauntological as the continued presence from the past is lingering to haunt the present. In regards to the relationship the present has with the future we can consider it as twofold. It can be hauntological due to the reliance on the past, or we can deem it nostalgic due to...

Nostalgic for the New #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/nostalgic-for-the-new

Excellent! Perfect for the module I'm delivering at the moment! Will try and get a copy for our library.

Writing Prep for Unpacking Anemoia and the Future - Relative Nostalgia I’m finally properly starting the research and writing process for an upcoming chapter on Anemoia, specifically it’s relationship with the future. I will be doing as I’ve done before with larger research projects and use blogging as a means of supporting the process. That doesn’t mean that you will find the actual text here, even in large fragments. Instead, this is a publicly facing test bed for ideas, thinking aloud to identify what might work, what doesn’t, and what might be missing. I’ve been thinking about this project for the past couple of months, but because I’ve had to step...

Writing Prep for Unpacking Anemoia and the Future #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/writing-prep-for-unpacking-anemoia-and-the-future

We need to start the neo Luddite revolution

I went last summer. Also visited the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang next to where the Terracotta Army are. Whilst there was some english text, there were zero english guides. My partner did a very good job of translating on the fly. I only saw two other non-Chinese there (think they were Russian).

David Lynch in front the white picket fences (including rose bushes) from Blue Velvet

Koenig’s anemoia is not my anemoia #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/koenigs-anemoia-is-not-my-anemoia

Game of the Year 2025 - Relative Nostalgia Increasingly it is difficult for me to properly put together a “Game of the Year” list. Part of that is due to not finishing that many games because I’m constantly swapping between them. Not because of a particular dissatisfaction, but because I love playing different games. Yet, what has become really apparent over the past couple of years is the sheer amount of games from previous years I’m playing. To a certain extent this isn’t a radically new position for me, as I’m often obtaining older games that I didn’t get round to playing. This was especially the case during...

Game of the Year 2025 #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/game-of-the-year-2025

My paper "Digital Resistance Against the Lasting Manipulation of Capitalism: AI, Luddite Rebellion, and the Haunted Future of Cyberpunk" has just been published. You can read it for free here: www.digitcult.it/index.php/dc... #AI #Luddites #nostalgia #hauntology #cyberpunk

The Halo Remake - Balancing the Old and the New - Relative Nostalgia Back at the end of October Microsoft announced that Halo was coming back. Before getting players’ hopes up too high about a new game (which is coming one day), it was revealed that we would be going back to where it all began, with (another1) remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, called Campaign Evolved (because they are evolving the campaign and also there is no multiplayer mode). Plenty of discourse followed this, yes there was the usual vitriol, but what was particularly noticeable - and understandable - was an atmosphere of confusion or bemusement. Whilst this is the second time that...

The Halo Remake - Balancing the Old and the New #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/the-halo-remake-balancing-the-old-and-the-new

Valve’s Steam Ecosystem Play - Relative Nostalgia This week Valve finally announced its new hardware, no, not a Steam Deck 21, instead the Steam Machine (again, after first trying a decade ago). But that’s not all, a new Steam Controller was announced (keeping the same same as the original Steam Controller from a decade ago), and also the Steam Frame which is Valve’s latest VR headset. The Steam Deck has been a solid success for Valve, selling around 6 million units. This number might not sound too impressive, and might seem far less considering how much talk there is around the Deck in gaming circles and also...

Valve’s Steam Ecosystem Play #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/valves-steam-ecosystem-play

Nostalgia for a future you never experienced, Part 2 - Relative Nostalgia Anemoia, ‘nostalgia for a time you never experienced’. In the previous post I introduced this term and I have continued to think about it in readiness to follow it up...

Nostalgia for a future you never experienced, Part 2 #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/nostalgia-for-a-future-you-never-experienced-part-2

Nostalgia for a future you never experienced, Part 1 - Relative Nostalgia Part of my PhD research was trying to understand how in the context of videogames there are players around the world who claimed to feel nostalgia for videogames they have never played (anecdotally I had also felt this). Part of this I put down to the cultural memory that existed alongside the medium contributing to a general awareness of the wider canon of significant titles. For example, you might not have played a Final Fantasy game, but it is highly likely that you are not only aware of it but are familiar with its iconography. Another notable factor that explored...

Nostalgia for a future you never experienced, Part 1 #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/nostalgia-for-a-future-you-never-experienced-part-1

What’s next for Xbox? - Relative Nostalgia This week Microsoft announced that not only would it be rejigging the three different variants of its Game Pass subscription service, but it would also be raising the prices; with the full and most expensive version (Ultimate) rising to $30/£23. For a company worth almost $4 trillion(!) and one that was able to easily complete one of the most expensive ever acquisitions with the purchase of Activision/Blizzard/King for almost $70 billion, it’s not a good look. Let alone that if we think back just a few months ago when Microsoft let go (fired) 9,000 people, with many of those linked...

What’s next for Xbox? #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/whats-next-for-xbox

Excellent, thanks for responding! Beelink did come up in one of my searches, good to know a specific model. Did you stick with Windows or go the Linux route?

You've mentioned about your mini pc that you use, I was wondering what kind you went with? I've been recently looking into them but don't know where to start.

Ok. They’ve pissed me off.

I’m back to tell you 3 things about ID cards:

1. Migrants ALREADY HAVE biometric ID cards & govts have been trying to digitise them for years w repeated fuckups & failures causing complete chaos - they don’t work, you do not want that system for you.

A month later... - Relative Nostalgia It’s been almost exactly a month since my previous post. One in which I was celebrating blogging continuously for 10 months. Long story short, I’ve been incredibly busy with work, which included me travelling to China teaching about videogame design and the wider industry. So, whilst I have been talking a lot about videogames, I haven’t had any free time to write about videogames. A couple of months ago I also started another blog alongside properly reviving my original personal domain which now contains my biography and bibliography. This was something I called a “microblog” but it has quickly become a more...

A month later... #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/a-month-later

Blogging update 10 months later - Relative Nostalgia I’ve been blogging pretty consistently for the past 10 months or so now, most of which on this blog, but now also on my other “microblog” which is linked to my personal domain. The desire to get back into blogging was mostly inspired by how the act of writing helps keep my writing acumen in shape. Blogging was a particularly helpful means of getting my PhD written in the second half as it feels less of a challenge to get something written. Just by doing some writing has helped me with my research, whether it be trying to get my...

Blogging update 10 months later #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/blogging-update-10-months-later

@fastmail.com Don't update very often, but when they do it is very meaningful! (I much prefer this approach) One of the latest additions is the ability to edit text files that are stored, which is particularly helpful if you are using it to host a basic website.

Battlefield 6 Beta and Nostalgia for Bad Company - Relative Nostalgia The public beta for Battlefield 6 is just wrapping up and so far things are looking promising. However, that’s not to say that we should assume that everything will be perfect upon launch. Partly because the Battlefield series does not have the best track record. Even well regarded games such as BF4 launched in a poor state. The other, is that this is an EA owned title, who have an even worse record and the suits in charge will always favour profit at all costs, unless public opinion turns absolutely dire that they are forced to concede slightly, as was...

Battlefield 6 Beta and Nostalgia for Bad Company #blog https://relativenostalgia.com/posts/battlefield-6-beta-and-nostalgia-for-bad-company

Thanks for including my blog!

Recently with the launch of two new videogame podcasts I've been able to fill the gap in my podcast playlist. blog.jsweeting.me/videogame-po...

I am very excited to see where this takes us and what fascinating discoveries this unique group of researchers will generate.

Vagab(o/u)nds Research

A new international research group has emerged, of which I am one of the principal investigators. Building upon expertise of over 30 years to resolve important outstanding questions for the arts and humanities.
vagaboundsresearch.org

Great listen! Really liking the format. Been struggling to find a videogames podcast that I got on with (although Post Games is also new to my list). Also agree about the importance of blogs. It's how I discovered your work as a fellow Pika user.

This extends to all sorts of different things. In my case writing. Get that first draft done. You can tidy it up later. But the main thing is you get those ideas down. Much better than staring at a blank page worrying about getting it perfect first time.