Ben Zeigler

Trump says US to levy 100% tariff on imported chips, but some firms exempt President Donald Trump said the United States will impose a tariff of about 100% on imports of semiconductors but offered up a big exemption - it will not apply to companies that are manufacturing in the U.S. or have committed to do so.

I bought myself a new PC today even though my current one is working fine. I'm guessing prices will start to go up fairly soon for enthusiast PC parts because of www.reuters.com/world/china/... as the smaller companies won't know be able to suck up to Trump the way that Apple/Nvidia are now

I just 100% completed Death Stranding 2 on normal, Platinum and all milestones. It was the perfect game to play over my last few weeks of semi-vacation. Good mix of Kojima bullshit and satisfying deliveries.

If this whole programming thing doesn't work out, maybe I should be a logistics manager.

This is basically true for all forms of journalism right now, unless you're aligned with the ownership-approved goals of one of the big papers like NYT. bsky.app/profile/beij...

Saw credits for Death Stranding 2 and I kind of just want to play more as it opened up a bunch of other content. It turns out I really like a mix of logistics challenges and Kojima-style bullshit. The plot still doesn't really make sense but the cutscenes were all pretty great

We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers.

The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.

Post from Matt Turnbull: These are really challenging times, and if you’re navigating a layoff or even quietly preparing for one, you’re not alone and you don’t have to go it alone. I know these types of tools engender strong feelings in people, but I'd be remiss in not trying to offer the best advice I can under the circumstances. I’ve been experimenting with ways to use LLM AI tools (like ChatGPT or Copilot) to help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss. Here are some prompt ideas and use cases that might help if you're feeling overwhelmed: Career Planning Prompts: “Act as a career coach. I’ve been laid off from a [role] in the game industry. Help me build a 30-day plan to regroup, research new roles, and start applying without burning out.” “What kinds of game industry jobs could I pivot to with experience in [Production/Narrative/LiveOps/etc.]?” Resume & LinkedIn Help “Here’s my current resume. Give me three tailored versions: one for AAA, one for platform/publishing roles, and one for startup/small studio leadership.” “Rewrite this resume bullet to highlight impact and metrics.” “Draft a new LinkedIn ‘About Me’ section that focuses on my leadership style, shipped titles, and vision for game development.” Networking & Outreach “Draft a friendly message I can send to old coworkers letting them know I’m exploring new opportunities.” “Write a warm intro message for reaching out to someone at [studio name] about a job posting.” Emotional Clarity & Confidence “I’m struggling with imposter syndrome after being laid off. Can you help me reframe this experience in a way that reminds me what I’m good at?” No AI tool is a replacement for your voice or your lived experience. But at a time when mental energy is scarce, these tools can help get you unstuck faster, calmer, and with more clarity. If this helps, feel free to share with others in your network. Stay kind, stay smart, stay connected.

Matt Turnbull, Executive Producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing - after the Microsoft layoffs - suggesting on Linkedin that may maybe people who have been let go should turn to AI for help. He seriously thought posting this would be a good idea.

The Republicans just passed the worst tax bill in decades, which is very bad but is also an opportunity to point out all the ways they have betrayed their own constituents. Voters will not be happy with this bill when it starts to actually change the way they live in America

a tissue on a tray with a bunch of pictures and phrases and about food. but it seemingly contains a bunch of errors and nonsense: “Doltclous” “A full suamsh makes for you a happy heram” “bood food is bood mood”

AI in the wild? This tray tissue I was given at a restaurant is full of errors and hallucinations…!

Just saw credits on Expedition 33 (not done with side stuff), and the last few hours of that game are amazing. There was a certain narrative point where I kind of wanted to stop playing, but a few hours after that the pace picks up and doesn't really stop until the end

I'm trying to comment on this without being hyperbolic.

As a manager, insisting on deadlines that you and your ICs straight up don't believe are possible almost GUARANTEES that a) their work will be thrown out or completely redone and b) you will put them in danger of burning out.

YouTube video by No Goblin Snap & Grab - Announce Trailer

Introducing Snap & Grab - the new game from No Goblin where you get to do cool crimes using just your camera and your crew!

youtu.be/26GgiiiP5Po

Great video about the tech of the #UnrealFest demo yesterday, Digital Foundry isn't easy to impress. They also talk about some of the compromises needed to hit 60fps on a PS5 and some areas for improvement in the future

YouTube video by Unreal Engine The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo 4K | State of Unreal | Unreal Fest Orlando

The full 4k capture of The Witcher 4 tech demo at #UnrealFest shows off the great content that @cdprojektred.com built and the Unreal Engine improvements that are available to all games (most of them are in 5.6). Yes this is a smooth 60fps on a real PS5:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aorR...

I can personally confirm that demo was 100% realtime and in engine. Some of it was on rails but the part in the middle was real movement and town gameplay with lots of simulation happening in the background. This will be a lot closer to the final game experience than other demos I've worked on!

Also looking forward to Ari's presentation, I helped out with the research for this and there's more improvements on the way

The State of Unreal 2025 Coming June 3! Find out what’s next for Unreal Engine and the Epic ecosystem.

Spent the last day before vacation debugging a weird issue where garbage collection caused a large game thread stall exactly 1% of the time.

Pretty sure that's fixed properly now, and I'm looking forward to watching the State of Unreal presentation next week www.unrealengine.com/en-US/state-...

Just saw credits in Assassin's Creed Shadows and overall really enjoyed it. Felt a bit disjointed like basically every AC game, but I loved exploring the world. Definitely made me excited to go back to Japan later this year

My current theory is that the main difference between open source and closed source when it comes to the adoption of “AI” tools is that open source projects generally have to ship working code, whereas closed source only needs to ship code that runs.

Was at a conference dinner a while back and one guy said "The future is AI. It doesn't replace senior developers, but no more need for juniors."

To which i replied:

"Where do you think senior developers come from. Straight from the womb?"

He went quiet, then wandered off to a different huddle.

tcrf.net/The_Cutting_... is great for fueling discussions like that, or just waste time reading about different revisions of Mario 3

Starting a Simple Consulting Business A basic guide to the legal and business aspects of starting a game development consulting business

A few people have asked me about the details of contracting, so I wrote up a basic guide for the legal/business aspects of starting a consulting company. I'm no expert, but knowing some of this stuff before I started would have saved me some time and stress:

medium.com/@jzig/starti...

I really need to make it to Revision one of these days, relive my teenage years of making mediocre tracker music

YouTube video by Pat Finnerty Little Stinkers Ep. 5 - Locash "Isn't She Country"

I was just introduced to Pat Finnerty, and if you enjoy well produced funny videos about why modern country/pop songs suck, I highly recommend his stuff: www.youtube.com/watch?v=memX...

Protestor on a unicycle with Hands Off sign

Big crowd at the #handsoff protest in Raleigh today, including a lot of vehicular support

Not content with only destroying human lives, Trump wasn't happy until he also screwed up our video games

🚨Signal boost!🚨

If you worked at Blizzard from 1997-2006, specifically on StarCraft, Diablo, or WoW, I want to talk to you about Mark Kern.

Same goes for Red5 employees.

Our convo can be fully anon if you prefer, and we can chat via Signal, phone call, vid chat, whatever!

The intro to Assassin's Creed: Shadows features a beach that kinda looks like the Death Stranding one, so I've decided they're in the same fictional universe

Beat Avowed last night and really enjoyed it! Combat and exploration are both top tier for a first person ARPG.

There are a few different ways to role play the main story and character interactions, but I went with "most powerful therapist in the world" which matches my own instincts.

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

I'm planning my travel for the rest of the year after putting it off for weeks. My anxiety about everything isn't making it easier, but if I'm going to be worried about the world anyway I might as well go enjoy some of it!

I could use a change of pace and international travel is great for that