Yes, the Commodore 64 is celebrating an anniversary this month, having arrived on these shores 40 years ago. I’ll spare you too much history here (this 10-year-old article does a great job of that); the psychology behind why retro games get so much love (Wired have already covered that) and discussion of its place in culture […]
Since you’re here, the chances are you’re into a bit of science-fiction-themed listening. Try these… 1] Phoebe’s White Skin by Velvet May This dark and relentless headphone-techno track is perfect for soundtracking sci-fi action sequences in your imagination. Its atmosphere reminded me a lot of 1990 SF cult movie Hardware. Which incidentally, if you’ve never […]
A couple of sci-fi gaming recommendations… Dune: Spice WarsShiro Games Finally got my hands on this RTS from my New Year wishlist at the beginning of the year, in which I was hoping it would follow in the lineage of the two quality retro Dune games from the Amiga era. I’ve played around 10 hours […]
Want a music playlist for deep-focus tasks, for an upcoming spacewalk, or merely for drifting off to sleep to? Check out my Hypersleep Spotify playlist, featuring beatless dreamscapes from the likes of Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin, Kelly Lee Owens, Nils Frahm, Oneohtrix Point Never and many more. Keep checking back, too, because I’ll keep […]
Time for a round-up of how I’ve spent my gaming time lately and I have to admit, it’s mostly been in yet another renaissance of the mighty State of Decay 2 – easily the best zombie game on any gaming platform to my mind – all triggered by the enticing reveals of the forthcoming next instalment, which […]
I mean, would you look at that? Retro-gamer heaven, right? I recently spent a day with a few friends at Arcade Club, a small franchise providing an old-school arcade experience in a few locations around the UK, and I can thoroughly recommend it. You pay an entry fee, get a wristband and then dive into […]
Dead Formats (A Rand Hoté Mystery) is my new book, available now on Amazon. It’s a science-fiction mystery novel, featuring a detective investigating a murder in a near-future world that’s extrapolated from our own. Here’s the blurb: When holo lawyer Rand Hoté meets Tegan Kolechko, she hires him to investigate her death. Tegan’s been resurrected as a hologram, but has no memory of […]
My latest novel is a sci-fi mystery story set in 2064, in a world based loosely on our own where immortality has been achieved via workable, but imperfect, hologram simulation technology. Check out the amazing cover, which was designed by Kat Bastow and incorporates elements by Bruno Thethe and Irina Bg. I think it manages […]
This month for me in PC games, the city-builder Surviving Mars by Haemimont Games via the mighty Paradox Interactive is undisputed royalty, but this recommendation comes with a health warning. I picked the game up a while back and got around to giving it a go this month, intending one of my quick tests to […]
Sci-fi’s impact on the mainstream is surely stronger than it has been for a long, long time – but let’s hope that the in-depth characterisation that elevated the SF of yesteryear isn’t sacrificed on the altar of beautiful surfaces. Take the mega-success of Squid Game, the survival-game dystopia with a strong anti-capitalist theme that has, ironically, […]
