Video games in the news
2026
I just published my first blog post about game development in a very long time, titled Games, Art and Business (30 July 2026). It's kinda-sorta related to blubberquark's recent write-up about a hypothetical crowdfunding plan (28 July 2026). Short version: game people are weird about money. Other things, too, but especially money.
In other news, the year started badly: Discord will soon require face scans or ID for all users, or restrict access (9 February 2026) and the other shoe is about to drop. In adjacent news, Colorado and California age verification bills exempt open source operating systems (25 May 2026).
In happier news: Eve Online's Carbon engine is now open source: Fenris Creations explains why (1 July 2026).
Last but not least, this embodies the spirit of No Time To Play: Tinkering with games is as good as playing them (25 May 2026).
2025
The year ended with a good write-up about one of my all-time favorites:
But before that, there was controversy: Steam Is For Products, Not Art (26 November 2025) A machine (not) for Horses
and some follow-up commentary: There's more to Horses than the Steam ban: The controversial horror game is a great example of how games can effectively borrow from film, and how they can also stumble (13 December 2025)
By way of contrast, here's a much simpler message: If You’re Having Fun, You Are Winning the Video Game (16 September 2025). On a related note: Alternative Games From The Fringes Of Cyberspace (fighting for art and something better in this dystopian digital world) (27 November 2025).
From early in the year, an opinion piece by Felipe Pepe that hits hard: The Gentrification of Video Game History (3 January 2025) that goes together with this one: The Magic of Games (4 February 2026)
In a similar spirit: Why old games never die (but new ones do) (6 May 2025)