Having one of those days where I feel very much like I've been "left behind" by the modern world. And in some respects I am 100% okay with that; in others, it's frustrating.

A couple of specific things have triggered this feeling today. One of them is the omnipresence of TikTok, which I still absolutely do not understand the point of. Various people have tried to sell it to me as "it has girls dancing on it" (just go to PornHub) and "it's more real and raw than YouTube" (I don't want "real" and "raw", I want well-produced, informative and truthful) and I absolutely, positively Do Not Get It.

And yet people will not shut up about it. Everywhere you go, someone is blathering on about TikTok "influencers" (ugh). Annoying TikTok videos of people shouting at themselves from different camera angles are shared on other social media platforms. And people seem to think that someone talking fake-earnestly to their phone camera is somehow a more compelling and convincing way to make an argument than writing something coherent.

I hate it. Fuck off with you, TikTok.

The other thing is Cookie Clicker. This got released on Steam recently, and you have to pay for it. I thought it was stupid back in 2013, and I think it's stupid now. Idle games are, by their very nature, a complete waste of time — and indeed many of their original incarnations (Cow Clicker springs to mind) were intended to point out the inherent absurdity of such mechanics. And yet somewhere along the line, the joke was lost and people started taking it seriously.

Now people go crazy for Cookie Clicker. It has 9,662 "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam. No-one will say why it is good, other than "hur, I click cookie, numbers go up". No-one can justify why it is a worthwhile use of your time, other than saying "you can leave it running while you do other things".

I don't get it. And that annoys me. Not because I begrudge people their fun, but because I'm increasingly feeling like everyone is going absolutely insane. I'm well aware how much of an old fart complaining about all this makes me sound, but seriously. Remember when we read books? Tell someone reading a book 20 years ago that thousands, possibly millions of people would be choosing to spend their free time clicking on a picture of a cookie so a number got a bit bigger and they would probably laugh at you.

At least in PowerWash Simulator, which I'm sure many could argue is just as much of a waste of time, you're actively participating in something. I guess some people just find Cookie Clicker comfy and relaxing in the same way? Fair play to them if that's the case, but like I say; I didn't get it in 2013, and I really don't get it now when there are so many other ways you can spend your free time.

Now I'm off to go read a visual novel in bed. All of you, get off my lawn.

Still really tired. Hopefully will get some decent sleep again tonight; had a good nap after work and went to the gym for a relatively gentle session this evening and my ankle isn't complaining, so that's good.

My tiredness is just making me grouchy, though. The Internet in general is frustrating and irritating to me; I'm especially sick of the relentless arguing on social media, because it never ends. I saw a 250-tweet argument that went absolutely nowhere on a British Gas tweet earlier and it just made me wonder how we came to this as a species. What a colossal waste of time and brainpower.

On the upside, I've made a promise to myself to spend more time reading visual novels, so I'm going to read a bit of Code: Realize before bed. I was really enjoying what I read a while back, so I'd like to continue with that — I hope I remember what was going on! I think I do. Cute girl with poison skin, Arsene Lupin, Frankenstein… yeah, something like that, anyway.

Anyway, my brain is melting so I'm afraid I don't have much else of note to share with you this evening. Hope you're all feeling a bit better than I am right now — make sure you get plenty of good quality rest when you have the opportunity to, because you sure feel it when you don't get it, I can tell you!

Feeling marginally better today, though I did go and have a long nap in the middle of the day. That helped somewhat. Another good night's sleep tonight will probably help even more, so I should probably go and do that very soon.

I've been enjoying Cruis'n Blast today, though. I wasn't sure what to expect, because I distinctly remember games magazines over here absolutely hating the original Cruis'n games back in the N64 era, but it seems a lot of people (Americans, anyway) look back rather fondly on them today.

Cruis'n Blast, though, is absolutely great; it's a shot of pure old-school arcade racer adrenaline that feels like it's just stepped out of a time warp from 2010. It's got ridiculously cheesy music that would make Daytona USA proud, it's got insane physics and stunts, it's got enough speed to make F-Zero blush and it's just a ton of fun to play.

I feel like it's one of those games you might be able to "beat" quite easily, but it's also one that you can easily come back to any time you just want a sugar rush in gaming form. It's an absolute delight, and I hope I can convince some people to try it in split-screen multiplayer at some point in the near future!

Check out my full article on it over at Rice Digital if you haven't already.

Now I'm Cruis'n off to bed.

I am exhausted beyond belief. Think everything has just caught up with me today a bit, so it may be just 9pm as I write this, but I'm going to bed. Haven't slept well at all for the last few nights so I'm hoping tonight will fix that.

Had good intentions to get gym and swimming back underway this evening but I'm just too tired right now. I have an evening out at a friend's place tomorrow evening, then on Wednesday I'll get back to things properly.

On the plus side, I think my foot is mostly healed. The leg I'd been putting most of my weight on while it hurt is very achey now, but I suspect putting it back into regular use will help with that. At least I hope so. If not I guess I'm just one of those perpetually achey old men now.

Anyway, my eyes are drooping so I'll bid you adieu for now. Hopefully I'll be in a generally better condition and mood tomorrow!

While reading through some old ACE magazines the other day, I was struck by an interesting idea: what would a console designed using '80s and '90s conventions but modern technology look like if released today?

I was inspired to think this by ACE's  "Pink Pages" section, which, among other things, provided a "buyer's guide" for all the then-current computers and consoles, including tech specs about graphics modes, hardware sprites, scrolling and suchlike.

These days, modern consoles are effectively custom built PCs, and thus have very generic technology inside them. This means that they're theoretically capable of anything within reason, but also extremely boring. There's nothing unique about them.

Look back at the 16-bit gen, for example, and all the consoles available then had a very distinct personality about them due to their technology — and the games that were released on them reflected that sense of personality. I wonder what that approach would look like today?

Can you imagine how many hardware sprites a modern system would be capable of pumping out without a hint of slowdown today? Can you imagine how slick 1080p or 4K hardware scrolling would look? Can you imagine what a dedicated sound chip created today would be able to synthesise without using samples?

Of course, there's absolutely no need for a system like this today because that generic PC style hardware used for everything can turn its hand to whatever you want it to. But I still think it would be interesting; I'd certainly give a system like that a shot!

Andie and I are going away this weekend to go visit my parents. As such I won't be around much online and won't be posting stuff — Atari A to Z Flashback is already scheduled to go on Saturday morning, but aside from that there won't be anything until I get back on Sunday afternoon/evening.

As such, that means the next Atelier MegaFeature part will be at some point late-ish on Sunday. I've got something I can write, but I'm taking this weekend as an opportunity to just get away from stuff for a bit; naturally I'll be taking some games with me (as well as some stuff I need to test) but I won't be doing any writing other than some quickie posts on here if I remember to do them on my phone of an evening.

Just wanted to let you all know just in case you found yourself wondering where the usual Saturday posts on MoeGamer were this week. They'll be late on Sunday instead… assuming I'm not too knackered after driving back here, of course!

Anyway. Hope you all have a suitably pleasant weekend.

I've noticed a marked increase in YouTube comments recently — and not of the spam variety, either, which is nice. (Well, I did have one guy who was constantly asking about Atari NFTs a while back, but he got his ass blocked. We don't talk about New Atari, particularly if you spam every video I make with the exact same question that is nothing to do with the actual contents of the video.)

View counts are… pretty much where they've always been, perhaps a bit higher. Every so often a vid breaks a hundred views and that feels like it's happening slightly more often than it used to, which is cool. I appreciate I'm doing something niche-interest with YouTube, but I'm often surprised at how much worse the performance is for videos where I deliberately take on something I know is popular and well-known.

The trouble with trying to be part of a more competitive field, I guess; you make a choice between being one of the few people making videos about things that only specific people want to watch, or one of millions of people making videos about things that everyone wants to watch. To be honest, I'm mostly happy with the former; as I've said on numerous occasions, I do this for fun and always have done; the fact that more people seem to be actually enjoying what I'm doing just recently is a pleasant bonus.

On that note, it's been a slow crawl, but I reckon I'll probably hit a thousand subscribers on YouTube by the end of the year, assuming nothing disastrous happens and I don't have a Google Doc written on me by some teenager on Twitter keen to destroy my life and YouTube subscriber count. (I have no skeletons in my closet, don't worry; the most exciting thing about my past life is that time I… wait, ahhh, you almost had me there, didn't you?)

I'm in no hurry to monetise as a tiny channel — largely because the earnings won't really be worth bothering — but a thousand subscribers does seem like a nice milestone. I've had my YouTube account for over ten years at this point, but the majority of those nearly-a-thousand people have showed up since 2018, when I started doing stuff semi-regularly on the channel.

So yeah. Happy with things are, and this seems like a good opportunity to thank you all once again for your support of my passion projects online. It's always a pleasure to know these things are more than just vanity projects — at least some people out there are getting something out of them, too! And there's plenty more where that came from, so please continue to enjoy! 

Every so often when I'm sitting on the toilet, staring into space or otherwise trying to avoid existential despair, I find myself thinking of (inevitably stupid) business ideas that I think would be fun, but usually completely unworkable.

Today's random thought was some sort of sandwich bar, but one whose specialism was adding crisps to their sandwiches. I was inspired to think of this by… something I watched online recently (possibly a Mythical Kitchen episode?) in which I learned that it seemingly wasn't uncommon for certain parts of America to put crushed tortilla chips in their sandwiches. I've certainly experienced that after a fashion courtesy of Taco Bell and, of course, it works. Why wouldn't it?

My idea is something along the lines of Subway, where you have a sandwich bar with a selection of different predefined fillings, or the option for a custom. Rather than being subs, these are proper nice doorstep sandwiches with tasty bread, though, with plenty of filling. You'd get your sandwich done, have all your optional bits and pieces, and then, as the final step in the process, select one of a wide variety of crisp flavours to be put into your sandwich and crushed for that finishing touch.

And I don't mean just boring old Walkers default flavours; I'm envisioning some sort of Shakeaway-style wall filled with every variety of crisps you can think of. Want a ham and cheese sandwich complemented by KP Skips? Go right ahead. Tuna mayo with Flamin' Hot Monster Munch? Sure thing. Bacon, Brie and Wotsits? Absolutely. Chicken salad with Walkers Sensations roast chicken flavour? You're damn right.

If this wasn't enough of a gimmick, you could combine it with some sort of other feature to bring the punters in. Board gaming and crisp butty café! I'd go there. LAN Quake and crisp sandwiches! Oh god, imagine the cleanup.

Maybe this isn't such a good idea.

Made a start on Police Quest III: The Kindred this evening. So far I'm liking it… apart from the driving, which is somehow even more rubbish than in Police Quest, but I can live with it for the moment.

I greatly appreciate how this series has "escalated" with each new installment; while an early part of Police Quest III does see Sonny Bonds back on the traffic beat for a short period — they're always understaffed, you know — for the most part, each new game has significantly upped the stakes in terms of "seriousness".

I was surprised how invested I was when the major crime of the first part of Police Quest III — I'm being vague for the benefit of those interested in playing it — was perpetrated, and the impact it had on Sonny. I'm definitely interested to see where it goes — and, looking through the credits (or rather the in-game "personnel" file) I see that Jane Jensen had some involvement with this one. I can tell!

It's actually been quite some time since I played any Sierra games with any seriousness, so trying these games for the first time has been a real pleasure. It's encouraging me to check out some others I've never tried, too; I've got my eye on the two Laura Bow adventures after I'm done with Police Quest.

Anyway, for now I must tear myself away from old PC games and hit the hay. Didn't sleep all that well last night, so hoping I have a more restful night tonight — though with the heat the way it is right now, I'm not counting on it.

This month's Patreon shenanigans have gone through, so thank you once again for all your support (and welcome to the few new and returning Patrons from the last few days!); S-Rank Patrons, I'll get you a new wallpaper either towards the end of this week or at the start of next. I'm away this weekend, otherwise I'd take care of it then!

Anyway. G'night. Have a good evening!

I feel kind of… restless. I suspect it's mostly a result of having not left the house for about two weeks (although I did actually go out today for the first time since knackering my ankle). But still… it's a bit of a frustrating feeling, because it's that kind of restless that makes you feel anxious that you "should" be doing something, even when you know that you've 1) done everything that you need to have done and 2) don't actually have anything to do that is of such earth-shattering importance that you need to worry about it even a little bit.

Oh well. I at least got some recording done today; Retro Select next week will be fun, since I went for Westwood's classic RPG Lands of Lore and ended up playing it for an hour and three quarters because I was having such a good time. I'd forgotten quite how excellent that game was, and I'm tempted to play more off-camera — but I do have a lot of other things I want to be getting on with, too, so I should probably resist the temptation. For now, anyway.

I feel like I'm getting pleasingly close to the end of Atari A to Z Flashback, too. We're not yet on the last page of games, but the episode I recorded today was the last one of the middle column of the penultimate page. I think I've got one more two player-only game to inflict on my wife, then it should be a smooth ride to the finish, all being well. It's going to feel damn good when that project's complete — that and the Atelier MegaFeature are the biggest, longest-term major creative projects I've ever undertaken, and finishing one of them will feel amazing. Finishing both of them will feel even better!

I'll likely play some Police Quest III this week because the first two intrigued me sufficiently. I see mixed opinions on III: some people absolutely love it, others hate it. IV is pretty universally reviled, but I'm intrigued to try it anyway; it was a game of a few interesting "firsts" for gaming at the time, so it's of historical significance, if nothing else.

I'm keeping busy if nothing else. Got a nice weekend visiting the folks planned for next weekend, too, so that will be a nice opportunity for Andie and I to enjoy a bit of quiet time in the country. I doubt we'll do anything particularly out of the ordinary while we're there; sometimes it's just nice to relax somewhere other than your own house, you know?

Anyway. Work tomorrow so time to hit the hay. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!