Chris Trottier

Serenade for the Dead

**Verse 1**
I had a vision
Of naked mermaids
Singing melodies
Under the moonlight
Voices resounding
Intoning the tale
Of a young man shot to death on the beach

**Chorus**
Under tide, they make me right
Dress me up in borrowed light
Cold mouth, nothing said
All their songs inside my head
Hands that I can never feel
Turn me into something real
Not a man, not a name
Just a body in their song

*Verse 2**
This young man
Of cigarette smoke swagger
Who lost all his savings on baseball odds
Discovered he never had any friends
Then had his blood drained into the ocean

**Chorus**
Under tide, they make me right
Dress me up in borrowed light
Cold mouth, nothing said
All their songs inside my head
Hands that I can never feel
Turn me into something real
Not a man, not a name
Just a body in their song

**Verse 3**
When his pale white body
Washed from the shore
Mermaids found he had a beautiful corpse
With naked frustration
They kissed his lips
Could only desire him through serenade

**Bridge**
Don’t wake me
Don’t break me
I’m better this way
No heartbeat
No daylight
Just voices that stay
You found me
You kept me
Where I couldn’t be
Now drown me
In something
That sounds like me

**Chorus**
Under tide, they make me right
Dress me up in borrowed light
Cold mouth, nothing said
All their songs inside my head
Hands that I can never feel
Turn me into something real
Not a man, not a name
Just a body in their song

I’m a monarchist only in the sense that I believe a head of state should have no political power.

And that goes for presidents that want to be kings too.

Animal Crossing now has a native PC port.

It’s not official. So it’s only a matter of time before Nintendo takes it down.

https://steamdeckhq.com/news/animal-crossing-native-pc-port-on-steam-deck/

All right, fine. You made me do this.

Here’s Angine de Potrine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ssi-9wS1so

I’m sorry, but 32-bit iOS is now retro.

And it’s going to take work to preserve the platform.

https://youtu.be/1Y1r4IlMjbs

Wow! Talk about a hot mess!

This woman was $4.5 million in debt, and thought that killing her husband would net her $4 million—and that she’d be able to run away with another man to boot.

But then she has the chutzpah to write a book about recovering from grief—which she didn’t even write herself, she hired a ghostwriter.

So of course the prosecutors used that book against her.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kouri-richins-convicted-9.7131332

This is a shocking story.

Krafton CEO Changhan Kim reportedly used ChatGPT while planning the removal of the Subnautica founders in order to avoid paying a $250 million bonus tied to the release of Subnautica 2.

According to the court’s findings, Krafton then attempted to delay the game’s release in order to evade that payout.

The judge ruled that this conduct was intentional.

As a result, the court ordered Ted Gill to be immediately reinstated as CEO with full authority over the project. In corporate disputes, executives who are fired typically seek financial damages. Courts almost never order reinstatement through “specific performance.”

The ruling also equitably extended the bonus deadline. Krafton’s attempt to avoid the $250 million payment by delaying the game therefore backfired. The creators now have additional time to qualify for the full amount.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bombshell-judgment-demands-krafton-immediately-reinstate-ousted-ceo-and-return-his-authority-over-subnautica-2

So here’s the demo for Prettiest Girl Alive.

I hired a band off Fiverr to make this a poppy summer jam. And they did an impeccable job. Just nailed everything I wanted this song to be.

It really is the musical equivalent of ice cream, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

But what do you think? Should I record a final, more polished version?

@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org

I dabble in songwriting. So I want to share the rough draft and then the finished product.

First, I had an idea for a melody. And as soon as it came into my head, I had to sing it a cappella on Voice Memos.

As soon as I sang it, I realized this could be a sweet sugary summer jam. So I composed the lyrics for Prettiest Girl Alive:

**Verse 1**
Neon on the street
Ice cream in your hand
Sugar on your lips
I barely understand

**Chorus**
Prettiest girl alive
Ice cream, summer night
Cold sugar on your smile
Streetlights burning bright
Vanilla on your tongue
Cherry on your grin
Whole world fading out
When you lean in

**Verse 2**
Chocolate on your sleeve
You laugh at the mess
Cherry on the spoon
I try not to guess

**Chorus**
Prettiest girl alive
Ice cream, summer night
Cold sugar on your smile
Streetlights burning bright
Vanilla on your tongue
Cherry on your grin
Whole world fading out
When you lean in

**Bridge**
Two cones dripping slow
Bench by the park
Your laugh ringing out
Bright in the dark

**Verse 3**
Maybe just a night
Maybe something more
But every melting drop
Feels worth waiting for

**Verse 3**
Napkins on the ground
You steal one more bite
Sugar on your grin
Everything feels right

**Chorus**
Prettiest girl alive
Ice cream, summer night
Cold sugar on your smile
Streetlights burning bright
Vanilla on your tongue
Cherry on your grin
Whole world fading out
When you lean in

I next had to figure out what I wanted this to sound like. At first, I wanted to make this a power pop song similar to “Teenage Kicks* by The Undertones. But that didn’t work.

Then I realized, “Why not just make this an unapologetic pop song?” After, I’m literally comparing a woman to ice cream flavours. Just own it.

I then contracted a band of Fiverr to record a demo. And the result is the most sugary summer pop jam I’ve ever made.

Because Mastodon doesn’t allow you to post two MP3 files, I’ll show you the demo version in the next post. But for now, here’s the rough draft a cappella.

I was in the badminton club bar, drinking Corona Zero. There were three bottles beside me, and I ordered one more.

This older lady—who wouldn’t mind her own business—walked up to me, said, “You’re a disgrace. You need to stop drinking and get back into shape.”

And I was like, “Whatever, I’m going to the gym in a half hour anyway.”

So some time elapses. I decide, okay, I got to stop being lazy, and hit the gym.

I walk in, put 260 on the bar, get ready for a deadlift.

And who’s in the corner doing a stretch? The lady chewing me out in the bar.

Then I do my lift off the ground, hold it for a good 15 seconds. Do eight more reps. And with the last lift, during those 15 seconds, my eyes meet the lady’s. So I nod at her.

Her eyes go wide like saucers.

I don’t know what the big deal is. But then I realize, “Wait a minute. She saw me down four beers. And she didn’t notice they were non-alcoholic.”

That’s when I realized I’m now a legend to that lady.

Good. I’m glad a new GPU company is entering the market to compete with Nvidia and AMD.

Prices for GPUs have been out of control and it’s time that the mainstays stop squeezing the consumer while they pursue AI hyperscalers.

“B-b-b-but they’re Chinese!”

Yeah, and where are the new North American, Japanese, or European GPU companies?

https://www.tipranks.com/news/amd-nvda-stocks-slip-as-a-new-gpu-competitor-enters-the-market

My heater broke down on the one day it snows in Vancouver. 😐

The latest fad is “churning and burning”.

This is when you churn butter while going for a jog at the same time.

Which one of you is already doing this?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/how-to-churn-butter-while-running-9.7127209

Time to talk about this week’s exciting new releases!

Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! – similar to Earth Defence Force but it’s a boomer shooter. And it’s got that Starship Troopers license, so we’ll see what happens.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2321780/Starship_Troopers_Ultimate_Bug_War/

The Hero of Destiny was killed by the final boss – an action RPG where the hero dies at the beginning, so the NPCs have to get together to pick up the slack. Visuals have a low-poly PSX aesthetic.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4364210/The_Hero_of_Destiny_was_killed_by_the_final_boss/

Crimson Desert – an open world action-adventure with fantasy elements. This is a huge AAA title from the same folks who made Black Desert—but it’s a single player game, not an MMO.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3321460/Crimson_Desert/

DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH – A PlayStation game, directed by Hideo Kojima, that’s coming to PC—which might be one of the last single-layer PlayStation games to ever come to PC.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3280350/DEATH_STRANDING_2_ON_THE_BEACH/

RUSHING BEAT X: Return Of Brawl Brothers – a revival of the Jaleco beat-‘em-up series, which includes both Brawl Brothers and Rival Turf. Features 2.5D graphics, not pixel art.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2488290/RUSHING_BEAT_X_Return_Of_Brawl_Brothers/#app_reviews_hash

Excoverse – a 3D hack-‘n-slash action RPG with anime aesthetics and a fantasy theme.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3039230/Excoverse/

The greatest—and most hilarious—political rebuttal I’ve ever read.

And yes, this is real. It’s a joint reply from the Tla’amin, Klahoose, K’ómoks and Homalco Nations over a local MP getting up in arms over First Nations land acknowledgements.

We need more “Chillax, Bud”.

This Norwegian PSA about enshittification is absolute gold.

It is pure art.

https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ

When my daughter was born, I made a commitment to her:

I would raise her to listen to vinyl.

At the time, I didn’t fully understand why I felt this was important. And certain people on the Internet said I was being cruel to my child for making her listen to my music. But it’s been 12 years of listening to vinyl almost every day of her life.

Through this experience, what I’ve come to understand is that this isn’t about music in and of itself. It’s actually about many things at once.

Having a time where we talk to each other. Sharing an experience. The ritual of holding the sleeve, touching the record, then carefully placing the needle to the groove.

But most of all, it’s about realizing that culture is often tactile, not ephemeral. And each record is a memory. A moment in her life.

Sometimes when she discovers her own music—gets excited about a band—I tell her, “Let’s go buy the vinyl”. Then we listen to it for a solid week. And we come away realizing this is a part of our lives.

And funny enough, this happens quite often. We’re sometimes in a supermarket, a tune comes on, and my kid goes, “Hey, I remember that song! We have that album! I was in grade 5 when we heard it!”

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/898338bc-a1af-4e38-87ec-3f3d7a014905

Here’s what Gen Z really needs to appreciate about now:

Never has it been so easy to experience culture from around the world. You can see what’s going on in Kenya, South Korea, and Brazil. What’s more, you can talk to these creatives right now—and they’ll talk back.

Just the other day, I started a conversation about Oceanhorn 3, a Zelda-like game made in Finland. Then the devs started popping in, talking about their experiences making the game. That was pretty neat.

And it’s not something that would have happened in the 90s.

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/57abccd0-e9ca-458f-a4f6-1478887b59e3

Two years ago, 32GB of RAM cost me $100. Now it’s $400. By now, I thought that 64GB of RAM would be standard. But instead, new laptops will have to do with 8GB. RE: https://turtleisland.social/users/csgraves/statuses/116172177623833820

This is the funniest Steam Deck accessory I’ve ever seen! Don’t get me wrong. I understand why this keyboard/stand exists. It has a practical function. But imagine sitting down at Starbucks. The room is full of normal laptops. Clean lines. Thin aluminum. Civilized. You unzip a case that looks like it contains military hardware. Out comes a handheld gaming console. Then a keyboard. Then a clamp. You assemble it in stages like you’re preparing to launch a small satellite. Click. Lock. Adjust angle. Tighten mount. The joysticks loom over your Word document like twin anti-aircraft turrets. The ABXY buttons shimmer with the promise of violence. You begin typing your gentle coming-of-age novel. Every paragraph is written beneath a D-pad. Someone glances over, expecting Elden Ring. Instead they see you carefully crafting a metaphor about autumn leaves. You nod solemnly and continue Chapter 3. When the barista calls your name, you detach the entire contraption in reverse order like a NASA rollback procedure. You pack away the clamp. You holster the console. You slide the keyboard into its sheath. You leave behind only confusion. No one knows if you were coding, gaming, or coordinating a drone strike. You were writing poetry.

There is nothing good about war.

Not a single thing.

Physical media is making a comeback.

I’ve never stopped buying physical media. I still have all my CDs, DVDs, vinyl, cassette tapes, and cartridges. So I guess I’m ahead of the curve.

But I have a love/hate relationship with it.

On one hand, I have tremendous value looking at my shelf full of media. It says something about me and a little bit about my life. Not just my taste, but also what I aspire towards.

And there is something nice about using all of this on vintage electronics. Yesterday, I bought a VHS. I popped it into my VCR and watched it on my tube TV.

On the other hand, all this stuff takes up space. As time goes on, I find myself having to be more and more choosey about what I bring home. Sometimes I look at my stuff and go, “Do I really need this?”

Which is why I gave away five of my physical games to my local video game shop yesterday. I figured it was time for someone else to get joy out of it.

So as the younger generations think about acquiring more physical stuff, I keep thinking, “How do I keep only the stuff that truly means something to me?”

https://fstoppers.com/film/why-physical-media-making-comeback-among-younger-generations-722024

The R36S handheld console is so impressive!

I own Tetris on Game Boy. Playing on the original platform is a struggle. The original screen is muddy and lacks a backlight.

But on the R36S, it is a revelation. The display is crisp and vibrant. The music sings.

It looks similar to an original Game Boy. But it’s better. And for C$55, when it comes to gaming, this is the best bang for your buck.

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/5ae6dbc9-d28e-4c23-ad54-57857f406056

Hey Apple fans, what do you think of EverCrisp? Just bought it at the store, and I’ve never had one before.

Okay. First impressions.

Spec sheet: cross between Honeycrisp and Fuji. So basically flagship-tier crunch architecture paired with long-term sweetness stability. On paper that already sounds like a maxed-out configuration.

Unboxing experience. The skin has this clean, premium finish. Deep red with subtle speckling. Feels dense in the hand. No hollow spots. Weight distribution feels intentional. This is not a budget apple.

Now performance.

The bite response time is instant. Zero lag. The crunch is sharp and high-decibel, like the chassis is reinforced. It doesn’t compress, it fractures. Structural integrity is on another level. I was not prepared for that.

Then the sweetness profile boots up. It’s not flat sugar. It’s layered. High Brix, but balanced. There’s acidity running in the background keeping everything optimized. No overheating, no syrupy overload. Just sustained output.

And here’s what’s wild.

I looked it up. This thing launched in 2017 and it’s still considered top-tier. That’s longevity. That’s long software support energy. Meanwhile I’ve been eating older “models” that peak early season and degrade fast. Mushy by month two. Battery health at 78%. EverCrisp apparently holds in cold storage for months and still benchmarks high on crunch retention.

That’s insane.

Honeycrisp on its own? Incredible display, but inconsistent durability. Fuji? Solid battery life, maybe slightly conservative performance curve. EverCrisp feels like the refined generation where they solved the trade-offs. Peak snap plus endurance.

And now I’m looking at the rest of the apples in my kitchen differently.

Why did I tolerate soft textures? Why did I accept muted flavor? This feels optimized. Like someone finally integrated the hardware and software stack instead of mixing random components.

I genuinely thought apples were just apples.

No. This is a different class.

If this is what late-season performance looks like, I’ve been living in the wrong ecosystem.

I found the rogue-like card game that really speaks to me.

Now I like Slay the Spire and Roguebook. It's good solid fun.

Yet Shogun Showdown is the absolute best.

Look at this footage I’m sharing. Gives you a little taste of the strategy. Yeah, the levels are procedurally generated. But this is a game of skill.

And look at those pixel graphics. Listen to that stellar soundtrack. This has a one-of-kind feel.

It took me 10 hours to reach the final boss. Believe me, it took wit and guile—and just a little bit of grit.

Shogun Showdown has a 96% positive rating based on 3,301 reviews. And yeah, it deserves that rating.

Rumour is that a Steam Deck OLED price hike is coming.

Which shouldn’t surprise everyone given the rising price hikes of RAM and SSDs.

But sure sucks that four-year-old hardware is now more expensive than ever because of AI.

Xbox was never just a console. It was a defensive move.

Bill Gates saw Sony pushing PlayStation into the living room and understood the risk. If the console became the center of home computing, Windows lost strategic relevance. In 1999, Microsoft even tried to buy Nintendo to secure that ground and was rejected. Xbox was the fallback. Control the box under the TV or risk losing the OS on the desk.

The current reality is that there’s no “big 3” but a “big 4”. Valve, of course, being the 4th. And I mention this because, funny enough, Valve is a reaction to Microsoft.

Microsoft is an odd duck in that Xbox, the platform they put lots of effort in, lags behind its competitors. Windows, the platform they neglect, is the market leader in the PC gaming space but is slowly having its share eaten by Valve. And Valve, to add insult to injury, have successfully “consolized” PC gaming.

Interestingly, Gabe Newell had a huge hand in the popularity of Windows as a gaming platform, and Xbox indirectly, because he was the dude to discover Doom had a bigger install base than Windows 3.x. So he helped port Doom to Windows 95.

Ultimately, this is why I don’t think Microsoft can afford to abandon Xbox. Abandoning Xbox is not just abandoning console gaming. Because within Microsoft, Xbox serves a specific purpose.

Xbox keeps devs inside Microsoft’s ecosystem. It keeps DirectX as a gaming standard. It keeps Windows as the default gaming OS, and anchors Game Pass as a cross-platform service.

The reason I say Valve is Microsoft’s primary competitor—not Sony or Nintendo—because they control the default PC gaming storefront. And through this, they’ve introduced technology that directly threatens Microsoft:

• Steamworks APIs
• Proton compatibility layer
• SteamOS (Linux-based)
• Steam hardware

Valve has reduced dependence on Windows.

The Steam Deck runs Linux. Proton allows Windows games to run without Windows. That is the first credible consumer-scale challenge to Windows as the default PC gaming layer. For decades, PC gaming meant Windows. Now it increasingly means Steam.

If Xbox disappears, Microsoft hasn’t just ceded the console market, but the PC market as well. Because without Xbox, Game Pass loses hardware leverage, DirectX weakens in relevance, and Steam becomes even more dominant. Potentially, it could mean devs optimize for SteamOS first, not Windows.

This directly harms Windows.

Oh my God! A new New Zealand Story is getting released tomorrow!

And apparently Commodore (remember them?) has had a hand in getting this on the market.

I’m not sure how I feel about the graphics, but I’m glad this old franchise is getting a sequel.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4193730/THE_NEWZEALAND_STORY_Untold_Adventure/

Listen, I would love for Xbox to be spun off from Microsoft.

Microsoft demands 30% profit margins from Xbox. Which doesn’t make for good art. And it’s no surprise this is a big reason why they closed studios and laid off devs.

But Xbox is a really valuable brand amongst consumers. And what happens to Windows should Microsoft spin off their gaming division?

I, myself, stayed on Windows longer than I wanted to simply because of its stellar game library.

And gaming is important for Windows long-term survival because Valve is investing big time in Linux, and this has resulted in growth for Linux on the desktop.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-should-be-spun-off-from-microsoft-expert-says/1100-6538398/

The reason why I personally don’t play mobile games is because of Steam Link.

I have an RTX 3090 in my living room. I can stream games from my PC to my phone, play them at high settings, and it won’t kill my battery.

And I’m not the only one who’s opted for streaming PC games over playing native mobile games. This is becoming a big business for Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft.

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/15513364-4cb4-49bf-be54-5ed910049850

Why I think mobile gaming has stopped growing, and actually shrunk when you consider inflation:

1. Attention is limited – smartphones and tablets are the most generalist of generalist devices, which means mobile games compete with WhatsApp, TikTok, ChatGPT, etc.

2. Lack of games that incentivize deep attention – on PC and console, you have games that can keep you busy for hours, sometimes even days; and the biggest mobile games are momentary distractions, not immersive

3. Free-to-play is now nagware – you start a mobile game, then you’re peppered with ads, are always pushed for micro-transaction and loot crates, and sometimes you have to pay to win

4. Performance kills battery – technically, you could create a AAA title for mobile, but that would mean your smartphone dies within an hour or two—and it’s a bigger deal to have your smartphone run out of power than your laptop or SteamDeck

5. Live service market is saturated – this is true across the board even for PC and console, but it’s even more true for the mobile market where titles like Roblox reign supreme, and few people will stop playing Roblox to try something new

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/b4a300b3-de71-47fc-9fa3-fb80da4de1e7

Bombshell report! I didn’t see this coming!

PC gaming is growing. I knew that was happening. Console gaming is growing too. But what’s shocking to me?

Mobile gaming stopped growing.

It’s peaked. The audience on smartphones and tablets is static, which is forcing devs to squeeze as much revenue as possible from the same players. Which is why mobile gaming has only increased revenues by 1%.

And we’ve seen this story before. When devs chase short term profit over long term growth, it does not bode well for mobile gaming.

This isn’t the received wisdom, how the established narrative goes. But facts are facts. Mobile has reached its apex.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mobile-revenue-remained-flat-across-2025-but-pc-gaming-sees-another-record-year-sensor-tower-state-of-gaming-2026

Huh. I just remembered that I also have Final Fantasy I on the NES.

https://atomicpoet.org/notice/B3gde9ZfjUGyryskK0

Shogun Showdown is such an addictive game, and you’ll lose hours on this.

Do you like fighting? Do you like cards? That’s what this is about.

You always start with two cards: arrows and swords. But as you defeat opponents, you gain more cards with more powerful abilities, with the option to upgrade the.

This is a turn-based rogue-like deck builder. Which means it’s a pensive affair, all about strategy—but each level is randomized.

Plus there’s something about being a pixelated samurai hanging around in the Japanese countryside. And the soundtrack, full of traditional instrumentation, makes me feel like a badass.

Considering Nvidia’s earnings, the AI bubble—if it’s a bubble—has not burst.

And trust me, nothing would warm my heart like cheaper RAM and storage prices. But alas, this isn’t happening.

Considering US foreign policy, I have my doubts it will happen because the Trump administration is betting big on robotics (therefore AI) revolutionizing American manufacturing.

But when it comes to robotics, they are clearly behind China—so there’s bound to be more spending on AI.

I’ve been using Steam for 13 years, and I’ve been completely oblivious about loot boxes.

I know badges, cards, and inventory exist but I’ve never understood their use.

But just the other day, some random dude messaged me about a trading for a card. They seemed quite desperate about that, and I thought that was weird.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/new-york-sues-video-game-developer-valve-says-its-loot-boxes-are-gambling-2026-02-25/

iPod Classic has a better library than Virtual Boy.

Right now, there’s a lot of nostalgia for the Virtual Boy. However, only 14 games were ever released on the Virtual Boy in North America, 22 worldwide. “

Meanwhile, no one thinks of iPod Classic as a gaming platform. And for good reason: the focus was on music.

However, 32 games were released for the iPod Classic. Many of them were quite good too.

So let’s compare Virtual Boy’s library to the iPod Classic’s library.

Virtual Boy:

1. 3D Tetris
2. Galactic Pinball
3. Golf
4. Innsmouth no Yakata
5. Jack Bros.
6. Mario Clash
7. Mario’s Tennis
8. Nester’s Funky Bowling
9. Panic Bomber
10. Red Alarm
11. SD Gundam Dimension War
12. Space Invaders: Virtual Collection
13. Space Squash
14. Teleroboxer
15. V-Tetris
16. Vertical Force
17. Virtual Bowling
18. Virtual Boy Wario Land
19. Virtual Fishing
20. Virtual Lab
21. Virtual League Baseball
22. Waterworld

iPod Classic:

1. Phase
2. Sonic the Hedgehog
3. A Flight to Remember
4. Asphalt 4: Elite Racing
5. Bejeweled
6. Block Breaker Deluxe
7. Brain Challenge
8. Bubble Bash!
9. Bum: Rags to Riches
10. Cake Mania 3
11. Chess & Backgammon Classics
12. Crystal Defenders
13. CSI: Miami
14. Cubis 2
15. EA Mahjong
16. Lost: The Game
17. Monopoly
18. Ms. Pac-Man
19. musika
20. Mystery Mansion Pinball
21. Naval Battle: Mission Commander
22. Pearls Before Swine
23. Peggle
24. Poker Master
25. Pole Position: Remix
26. Real Soccer 2009
27. Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes
28. Spore Origins
29. Star Trigon
30. The Abominable Snowman
31. The Sims Bowling
32. Zuma Deluxe

The best game on Virtual Boy is Virtual Boy Wario Land. If there’s a reason to get a Virtual Boy, this is it.

However, the best game for iPod Classic is Phase. It’s a rhythm game that allows you to play music that’s stored on your iPod. And it’s made by the same devs that created Guitar Hero. Every song is a new custom challenge, delivering something unique.

Having experienced both Wario Land and Phase, I have to say that Phase is better.

Virtual Boy’s biggest genre was puzzlers, which included 3D Tetris, Panic Bomber, V-Tetris, and Virtual Lab. However, only 3D Tetris was released in North America.

Meanwhile, iPod Classic had Bejeweled, Peggle, and Zuma Deluxe. I believe these puzzlers are superior compared to what was on Virtual Boy.

What about RPGs? Virtual Boy has SD Gundam Dimension War, which was only released in Japan. Meanwhile, iPod Classic has Crystal Defenders, a spin-off of Final Fantasy developed by Square Enix. There’s also Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes, an iPod Classic exclusive likewise developed by Square Enix.

Galactic Pinball is well-liked on Virtual Boy. But I got far more enjoyment out of Mystery Mansion Pinball on iPod Classic.

I will admit that Virtual Boy has more and better sports games with Nester’s Funky Bowling, Mario’s Tennis, Virtual Fishing, among others. iPod Classic only has Real Soccer 2009 and The Sims Bowling.

Virtual Boy has no board games. Yet iPod Classic has board games with Chess & Backgammon Classics, Monopoly, and EA Mahjong.

Finally, Nintendo just officially released Zero Racers, a “lost” F-Zero spin-off. Since it just appeared this year, I’m not sure it counts. If we do, this is Virtual Boy’s only racing game.

iPod Classic has Asphalt 4: Elite Challenge and Pole Position: Remix.

So what’s the takeaway here? Platforms with branding often fall short. And platforms which we don’t regard as “gaming” systems often have stronger libraries than the ones branded for gaming.

Yesterday, SPACE INVADERS: Deck Commander was just delisted from Steam, which means you can no longer buy it—it’s gone forever.

Now I’m shocked because I’m a Space Invaders fan, and yet I have never heard of this game until it was gone. Apparently, I’m not the only one because the Steam page shows six reviews.

Development was started in 2024, was supposed to be released in 2025, yet never left Early Access. They were never able to attract enough funding to finish the game.

Unlike typical Space Invaders, this was not a straight up fixed screen shooter. Instead, it was a deck-building competitive card game. While a single player mode was available, they were advertising a PvP online mode.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3060310/view/521990850610203731?l=english

Back in the 2000s, I had this big ambition to buy all the best albums ever made on vinyl. This was when vinyl was cheap and you could get albums at flea markets for $1. But then Millennials started believing that vinyl sounds better on CD—even though this is technically untrue—so the price of vinyl skyrocketed and they gave away all their CDs. So now I buy the best albums of all time on CD for $1 at flea markets.

Seeing how Google, Meta, and Reddit are voluntarily giving DHS information about anti-ICE accounts, it’s pretty important to build social media infrastructure outside the USA. https://gizmodo.com/reddit-meta-and-google-voluntarily-gave-dhs-info-of-anti-ice-users-report-says-2000722279

The Highguard situation is everything wrong with the games industry.

And by that, I mean the problem clearly wasn’t with the devs. They were genuinely doing their best.

The problem is the economics of the industry and the toxicity of so-called “gamers”.

This game took 2.5 years to make. From the moment it was announced at the Game Awards, they got a dogpile of hate—for a game that was unreleased and free-to-play. And within 16 days of its release, lay-offs ensued because 2.5K daily concurrent users is supposedly not enough to sustain devs.

I don’t understand why someone’s livelihood has to live or die based on the assumption it will pull in 100,000s of users instantly. I also don’t understand why gamers put so much energy into hate instead of celebrating the things they love.

Personally, I didn’t play Highguard because it’s unplayable on Linux. Oh well, there’s 1,000s more games for me to play. I’m not wanting for titles.

https://www.ign.com/articles/former-highguard-developer-reflects-on-disastrous-announcement-and-launch-we-were-turned-into-a-joke-from-minute-1

USA is blatantly working to break-up Canada. Not only is the Trump administration in talks with Alberta separatists, they’re actively working to destabilize my country. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-teams-secret-meetings-with-group-plotting-to-break-up-canada-exposed/

It’s embarrassing when Americans go, “What about Russian propaganda?” when I point out that Alberta separatism is an American psy-ops campaign. When Alberta separatists meet with Putin officials, I will bang the drum. But right now, they are meeting with Trump officials. I’m not making this up. Many credible sources are pointing this out: https://www.junonews.com/p/alberta-separatists-tout-us-meetings https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/01/24/us-seeks-to-use-alberta-to-destabilize-canada_6749765_4.html https://ca.news.yahoo.com/alberta-separatists-boast-cabinet-level-140128253.html

Despite all the awful world events happening this week, it’s important I talk about video games. Why? Because I’m not letting anyone rob me of my joy.

Here’s why DOS is so important to retro gaming.

If you look at the library of all Nintendo consoles in the 20th century:

• NES: 1,616 games
• SNES: 1,281 games
• Nintendo 64: 388 games
• Game Boy: 851 games
• Game Boy Color: 720 games
• Virtual Boy: 24 games

TOTAL: 4,880 games.

Now that’s a lot of games. But remember, that’s 6 unique platforms. With the exception of the Game Boy Color being backwards compatible with the Game Boy, these games can’t be played across devices.

Meanwhile, what is DOS library? 8,382 games. And this is just what we know about, because so many shareware titles have been lost to time.

That is to say, DOS alone is nearly twice the size of all Nintendo consoles’ libraries combined.

And these DOS games are not insignificant. Many of them weren’t released on consoles. Titles such as Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, and Rise of the Triad.

A lot of important publishers conquered DOS before they made their way to consoles: id, Epic, Ubisoft—among others.

DOS seems pretty damn important. Yet retro gaming channels on YouTube rarely talk about DOS games. And trust me, I’ve looked.

It’s important to talk about this because video games are the face of culture now. In 50 years, that’s how the next generations are going to remember us by.

Take Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour on DOS. It’s an above average game, as good as anything on Genesis or SNES. Published by Ubisoft. At the time of release, it was beloved.

No one talks about it anymore.

David Rosen, co-founder of SEGA, just died. He was 95 years old. Wait. He wasn’t Japanese? That’s right. SEGA started as an American company. The reason SEGA is capitalized is because the original name was Service Games. And the “Service” in that name refers to the American military—its first customer base. SEGA remained largely American until the 1980s, when David Rosen—along with Japanese business partners—bought the company from its parent, Gulf+Western, which also owned Paramount Pictures. This initiated one of the most innovative and creative periods in video game history. SEGA produced classics like Space Harrier, OutRun, Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, and Virtua Fighter. For nearly two decades, SEGA was the primary rival to Nintendo, separating itself through speed and attitude. Along with Atari, it was one of the companies that defined my childhood. R.I.P., David Rosen. May you enjoy that great arcade in the sky. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jan/05/sega-co-founder-david-rosen-dies

The reason today’s discourse about art really grinds my gears is because this crumpled ball of paper genuinely is art.

Official title: Work No. 88.

Artist: Martin Creed.

Yes, it’s literally a balled-up sheet of paper. And it’s exhibited in galleries.

I’ve never believed art is about labour or technique. Honestly, the idea that “art = how many hours you sweated” feels backwards to me. Art is about concept.

Anyone could have made Work No. 88. But they didn’t. Martin Creed did. End of story.

Same goes for Piero Manzoni’s Artist’s Shit (30 grams of excrement, canned for your convenience) and Duchamp’s Fountain (a urinal with better career prospects than most artists). Anyone could’ve done it—except they didn’t. Someone else had the idea first. Them’s the breaks.

Meanwhile, I’ve seen technically impressive work with zero original thought behind it.

That’s not art. That’s craft. And craft, while impressive, doesn’t scratch the same itch.

I’m not loyal to labour, technique, or craftsmanship. I’m loyal to ideas.

If someone has a novel thought and actually executes it—that’s art.

Cisco is on the verge of doing something genuinely absurd. It’s inches away from reclaiming its March 27, 2000 intraday all-time high of 82.00. This is the price level everyone swore would remain frozen in amber forever. Yet here we are. Twenty-five years later, the chart is knocking on the same door it slammed into during the dot-bomb. If it breaks through, that’s a quarter century of history closing like a tab no one thought would ever get paid. And the significance is massive. Cisco was no mere casualty of the dot-com bubble. It was the mascot. The crowned king. At the peak, it briefly became the most valuable company on Earth. Then gravity kicked in, the bottom fell out, and Cisco lost more than 80% of its value in record time. For years, analysts pointed to Cisco as the archetype of speculative mania. It became shorthand for “brilliant idea, terrible valuation.” Now, right in the middle of a brand-new hype cycle—the AI gold rush—Cisco is quietly about to remind us all of that ancient trauma. However, the conditions today are nothing like 2000. Cisco is no longer the poster boy for speculation. Its forward P/E is roughly 18.72, its PEG is 1.82, and it’s been paying reliable dividends since 2011. You don’t get a 2.16% yield from a company powered by hype. You get that from a slow, heavy, cash-generating machine that investors treat like infrastructure—because that’s what it builds. Which means we can’t say Cisco’s return to its dot-com high is necessarily a bubble signal. Perhaps it’s fundamentals finally catching up to a price investors placed on it a generation ago. Thing is, the dot-bomb valuation wasn’t ridiculous because Cisco’s future never materialized. It did materialize. The internet became the foundation of the entire global economy. Everything runs on networks now. Cisco’s hardware is the plumbing of modern civilization. What investors got wrong wasn’t the future. It was the speed. The market priced in 25 years of growth and adoption as if the whole thing would happen in 5. The vision was right. The timeline was fantasy. And that’s why this moment is historic. Is Cisco the canary in the coal mine for yet another AI bubble? Or is it proof that sometimes the world really does move in the direction everyone predicted—but not necessarily on schedule? If Cisco finally clears 82.00, I don’t think it will be a warning. It will be closure. A full cycle completed. And the final proof that the dot-com era wasn’t wrong about the internet. It was wrong about how long it would take to turn prophecy into cash flow.

Valve isn’t just the biggest force in PC gaming, and they’re not just the newest console manufacturer swaggering into the arena. They’re morphing into something far bolder: the Apple of Linux. If you’re not a gamer, that might sound unhinged. Maybe even a little deranged. But if you’re already deep in the Steam ecosystem—if your library scrolls so far it needs its own municipal transit system—you know this isn’t wild at all. It’s practically destiny. Let’s rewind. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he didn’t reinvent the wheel. He just drew a big cross on a whiteboard and said: four products. iMac, Power Mac, iBook, PowerBook. Four neat squares. Four clean market segments. And everything Apple built slotted neatly into that grid. Apple didn’t suddenly leap to 30% marketshare. They barely scraped 3%. Didn’t matter. Because the money wasn’t really in the hardware. It was in the ecosystem. Buy a Mac and suddenly you’re buying OS upgrades, iLife apps, office software, music tools, the whole glittering Cupertino starter kit. That stack of software made the hardware profitable, and that hardware made the software inevitable. The loop fed itself. Now fast-forward to Valve. Look at what they’ve assembled. Four core hardware pillars: Steam ControllerSteam DeckSteam MachineSteam Frame Four segments. Four use cases. Four doors into the same house. Already have a PC? You grab the Steam Controller. Want your library in your backpack? Steam Deck. Want it in the living room? Steam Machine. Want it strapped to your face? Steam Frame. And the moment you buy any one of these, something interesting happens: the rest of the ecosystem starts making sense. Buy a game on Steam and it works everywhere. Your save files carry across devices. You can stream titles between them. The more hardware you add, the smoother it all feels, and the more the ecosystem pulls you deeper in. But here’s the part I really want you to notice: I didn’t say Valve wants to be the Apple of gaming. No. They want to be the Apple of Linux. And that’s where this gets concrete. Their hardware ships with Linux that isn’t locked down or lobotomized. It has a real desktop environment hiding under a slick UI. Which means Valve can evolve SteamOS in ways Apple never aimed to with macOS. Apple built a general-purpose OS that occasionally supported games. However, Valve built a gaming OS that can naturally branch outward into media, creative tools, and productivity. “Gaming-adjacent” doesn’t require a conceptual pivot. It’s the next logical step. What might that look like? A native media center built directly into SteamOS—think Plex or Jellyfin, but officially blessed and seamlessly integrated.First-party creative tools that take advantage of Proton and GPU acceleration—video editors, music tools, asset creators.A productivity layer—file syncing, cloud storage, collaborative apps—that piggybacks on your Steam identity.A SteamOS app store that isn’t just for games. Apps, utilities, editors, streaming clients, the works. They’ve already dipped into this with Big Picture Mode’s media features, Steam Link, Steam Input configurators, desktop mode on Steam Deck, and Proton opening the gates for thousands of non-gaming applications. Nothing stops them from extending that further. That’s why Valve—private, secretive, and small enough to fit inside an Amazon lunchroom—is still one of the most valuable forces in the entire industry. Not because they sell hardware like Apple, but because they’re building an ecosystem like Apple. Except this one runs on Linux. If you’re a PC gamer, none of this is news. But if you’re outside the gaming bubble and this future arrives exactly how I’ve described, just know: it didn’t come out of nowhere. You just weren’t looking in Valve’s direction.