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Nerdom & Games
A teenage bedroom at night, a beige tower PC with its CD tray open holding a blank disc, a spindle of blank discs and a marker pen on the desk, a figure seen from behind lit by the glow of a CRT monitor

Notes From The Burner Tray The disc was the network

Game piracy in early-2000s Germany ran on borrowed CDs, blood patches and a school IT room - a look back at a world that dissolved around 2010.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
A Sable-style illustration of a besieged fortress at dusk, mixing a Tolkienesque stone keep with a Crusader desert castle, a tiny granary and wheat field at the wall's foot, a huge simplified army with siege engines approaching, and a lone defender watching from the near tower.

You're Under Attack, Sire Helm’s Deep with Stronghold sound effects

Helm's Deep re-dubbed with Stronghold sound effects - the most cursed, most perfect gaming-nerd crossover since Troy met Age of Empires.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
A rendering of Lara Croft running away from a T-Rex toward the camera, pistols in hand.

Thirty Years Late I finally raided the first tomb – and I did it ugly on purpose

Tomb Raider 1 turns 30 - a personal review of finally finishing the original in its rough classic mode, where mechanics and atmosphere beat graphics.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
Tomb Raider: Side-Scroller Edition

Internet Find of the Week Tomb Raider: Side-Scroller Edition

Deep in a TR1-3 remastered playthrough and I stumbled into the best Netzfundstück of the year - Lara Croft, remade as a cinematic platformer.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
Thirty years of wuseln – The Settlers 2 and the fan project that refuses to die

Two Flags Apart Thirty years of wuseln – The Settlers 2 and the fan project that refuses to die

The Settlers 2 turns 30 - a personal history from DOS to Sài Gòn, and the fan-made overhaul that keeps the Wusler bustling on modern machines.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
MURI: A DOS platformer that actually gets it

DOS Gets It Right MURI: A DOS platformer that actually gets it

MURI nails the early DOS platformer feel - EGA palette, PC speaker, chunky pixels. Thirty years late to its own era, still worth it.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
Illustration in the Sable / Mœbius style: a lone figure in a hazard suit rests a crowbar on their shoulder while overlooking a vast half-buried desert research complex with cooling towers and an elevated monorail tram stretching toward distant mesas.

Half-Life Turns 25 The making of Half-Life: a quarter-century of gaming history

Half-Life is 25 years old. A QUARTER CENTURY. Valve celebrates, we feel ancient, and the legacy of Black Mesa still echoes.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
From heartwarming moments to tearful goodbyes: The enigmatic cyberpunk world of Stray

Stray Cat Cyberpunk From heartwarming moments to tearful goodbyes: The enigmatic cyberpunk world of Stray

Stray - heartwarming moments and tearful goodbyes in a cyberpunk world seen through a cat's eyes. Beautiful, strange, unforgettable.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
A decade in development: The evolution of Star Citizen’s game engine

Decade Of Star Citizen A decade in development: The evolution of Star Citizen’s game engine

Star Citizen's Star Engine at CitizenCon 2023 - a decade of development condensed into one jaw-dropping trailer. Sci-fi dreams, rendered.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games
Easy, medium, hard, or insane? The challenge of designing difficulty levels in games

Difficulty By Design Easy, medium, hard, or insane? The challenge of designing difficulty levels in games

Easy, medium, hard, or insane? Designing difficulty levels in games is harder than playing on the hardest setting. A design deep dive.
EN· ·Published inNerdom & Games