Categories
AI Gaming

The system plays Atari in total darkness

As a writer of both sarcastic and extremely aggressive robot characters, I’m naturally interested in any developments in the field of AI… that my laughably primitive, non-scientific brain can actually understand and process, that is. Mainstream media understandably has its own obsessions at the moment and consequently, amazing developments happen under the radar. Perhaps some […]

Categories
Gaming

Why Carrier Command still conquers

Having managed to get a fully functioning DOSBox (and Amiga and C64…) emulator running on an Android tablet I’ve been enjoying some of the highlights of gaming from the days of yore for the first time in years. Most notably, the mighty sci-fi strategy simulation Carrier Command – there’s a great little sci-fi concept in […]

Categories
Films

Alien resurrected

The Hollywood auction house Julien’s Auctions is set to auction off a Holy Grail artifact from sci-fi cinema lore on 28 and 29 March. In amongst 800 lots from Batman, Die Hard, Edward Scissorhands, Independence Day, Predator, Scarface, the James Bond films and more, is the ‘Big Chap’ – a full-size prototype xenomorph costume from […]

Categories
Films

10 time loops to get stuck in

Time travel is almost by definition off limits for the space-opera universe my books are set in… a shame, because it’s a narrative gift that keeps on giving. The rom-com Palm Springs is the latest example of why filmmakers keep coming back to the time loop, and here are a few more you won’t mind being […]

Categories
Monthly transmissions

April 2021 transmission

Greetings, fellow galactic residents. Airstrip One is out of full lockdown, so we no longer rely on raids on the food-transport network of the Morrisons Alliance to feed our colonists. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re sci-fi fans, we have imaginations… defeating reality and dreaming of better things is what we’re best […]

Categories
Gaming

Cannon fodder

I love Taur. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, it’s described on Steam as an “action-strategy sci-fi game”, but its lineage is that of the well-stocked tower-defence genre where the emphasis is very much on the action. You control the mighty Prime Cannon, which you must constantly upgrade and supplement from the tech tree, […]

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