Links

Here are some of my favourite places on the internet. I've kept this strictly to sites I actually repeatedly visit. In some cases I link to a particular piece by the person in question, if I feel it stands above their more recent work.

Analysis of 90s 3D game graphics technique, the stuff they call "deep magic".

Game developer, Mormon. Now mostly writes genre fiction.

Old-school demoscene programmer.

A Dutch techno producer whose music I don't much like, but who has an awesomely 90s-feeling site packed with fun stuff like samples, synth reviews and artwork. Check out his zine too. 10/10 for attitude.

Leftist, contrarian critic who's into Doom and music.

Maker of games, figurines, concepts with deeply original aesthetics and concepts rooted in alternative digital culture.

Unbelievably cool old-school personal site covering spiritual, programming and general consciousness-raising topics in depth. Esoteric and awesome.

A blog written by obscure Irish part-time game designer Stephen Gilmurphy, who releases work as thecatamites and Harmony Zone. Critical, wide-ranging explorations of weirdness and poignant failures in game aesthetics and distribution.

Promoter, creator and historian of software that blurs the line between games and tools, commercial and amateur. You get the impression of someone remarkably forthright and intense.

This is one I don't actually read much any more but I'll link him in gratitude for instilling in me a positive, exploratory attitude to programming.

Gay art-game maker who has written some top-notch cultural analysis of level design.

Senior computer scientist and liberal. A large brain. Humanist and Jewish.

A well-known content creator specialising in games programming, game reviews and D'n'D. Good vibes. Engaged in a touchingly hopeful attempt to steer a middle course between reactionary and leftie elements of gaming culture, a bit like Scott Aaronson does in the academic world.

Jimmy Maher is a digital culture historian who has done the world a huge service with his on-going superbly-researched history of gaming spanning the 70s to the early 90s.


Also, here are some newsletters I read (some of the time):

Matt Stoller's non-partisan, very well-informed, power-to-the-people anti-monopoly periodical. Great insights into American capitalism and political workings.

Thoughtful, progressive commentary on dance music with links to the tastiest recent releases.