iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 26/09/2026

ahh full blown editorial pitches from an AI is it

Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 24/09/2026

fwiw I am British & therefore from a country civilized enough to not be worried about school shootings (thus not invoking them in the article), but just bc a publisher doesn't want to pay colt to use the trademarked name, we can't say that these aren't legally distinct M16 & SCAR facsimiles

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 24/09/2026

the officially licensed GTA coke spoon is a really incredible piece of collectors edition tat. they did this before, for ballad of gay tony, but as a promo item (and they now routinely sell for thousands of dollars)

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 24/09/2026

Fascinated by if this AI written, stolen slop actually sells

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 16/09/2026

this shit better be 1:1 or else

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 16/09/2026

Lotus Juice out for a Persona set

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 16/09/2026

The Sega TGS party is always good value. Imagine pulling to the Two Point Hospital DJ mix

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 10/09/2026

Game must recognize game; FF7's Naoki Hamaguchi is clearly one of the legit Watch Guys in game dev. At Gamescom he was wearing a titanium Omega Seamaster (ref 210.90.42.20.01.001, $11,300) & I notice in the Japanese media interview photos he's rocking a Panerai Luminor Marina (PAM01312 $9,500).

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 10/09/2026

The thing about a statement like this is it can't really wash when you deliberately made a song and dance about being on more than one disc the last two times, unless the suggestion is the final version won't fit on 200gb (2 dual layer BDs). I get the biz realities but better to say nothing tbh

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 08/09/2026

hope touches like this are 100% preserved.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 08/09/2026

What I can't work out is what up on the d-pad is used for, though... I can't think of anything else in OOT you'd need to Hot Switch in the way those shortcuts allow.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 08/09/2026

Theorycrafting: I think there's enough new content in Ocarina of Time to justify an additional, 5th bottle. If you look at the menu, it's divided equally & you can work it out: Child Items, Adult Items, Items both can use, Child & Adult Trading Sequence Items, and... 5 bottle slots? OG only had 4.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 07/09/2026

did an interview recently where I asked a dev, "what would you put on a watch/read/playlist for someone excited, to help them get ready for your game?" & the producer looked me dead in the windows of my soul & said "well, we've got a lot of good trailers & would like them to watch those"

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 02/09/2026

I know you shouldn't open a preview with personal waffle, but had to flex my credentials on this occasion. Plus, today would've been his birthday, so...

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 13/08/2026

If you want an idea of what this grand future of bountiful GTA content might include btw, this blurb promising zero use of AI gen was on the front page of @restart.run until a few days ago when they laid all those people off. Gone now, of course. As if there was any doubt!

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 12/08/2026

Broke out the old Telescope for this one.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 30/07/2026

The Gun Officially Returns to My Mouth after seeing this headline/subject matter combination

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 21/07/2026

The 'every device is an Xbox' experience in a nutshell: booting the ROG Ally X for the first time in weeks, an inescapable soft lock on a screen which is asking you to rate the device experience

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 18/07/2026

Gotta be a new low of this bullshit (the story is about Octopath Traveler 1 & 2)

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 15/07/2026

We've now reached the point where the shit click baiting vague headlines (R) are simply being rewritten by AI in Discover (L), so maybe now we can go back to headlines that respect the reader instead? Please?

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 10/07/2026

This week's Respec podcast is out. We talk the Xbox layoffs, launching the site, the fight to keep discs, some retro nostalgia, and as two eras of VG247 collide, it all naturally ends in bullying: www.respec.net/podcast/95-r...

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 09/07/2026

Literally recorded a podcast yesterday where I joked that the headlines about Ever Crisis closing would be something like this. I know poor journos are just following style guides, but frankly I'd rather put a bullet in my head

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 09/07/2026

The Titanic received at least six distinct messages over the ship's wireless from others in the region warning of heavy ice sheets and icebergs as it sailed towards disaster; but for various reasons they were ignored

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 08/07/2026

Forever thinking about the tiny OOT detail of how, as everybody else parties & dances at the end, King Zora & Mido sit depressed off to the side. Yeah, 'cos the King has no standing animation -- but also bc while Link set everything right, the loss of their daughter & best friends was not reset.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 23/06/2026

All the FF7 off Nintendo stuff of the time is amazing. Martin was right, after about a decade.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 21/06/2026

LBC are saying that he was told this by the ambassador, who presumably said it in confidence until it was publicly announced, only for him to put the phone down and tweet it. If true, the President might have a strong future picking up scoops for some games media outlets

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 19/06/2026

These new Star Fox cutscenes are changing the narrative too much for my liking now

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 15/06/2026

Remembering this and simply laughing

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 15/06/2026

Never mind the art and livelihoods smashed to bits; the new regime lets them say 'fuck' in a showcase it must be absolutely blissful to be so thick & morally free

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 21/05/2026

Got a bit of time with the First Light Omega at the premiere. It's gorgeous, and those bronze elements really pop and increase readability... But it is chuffing enormous. 44mm, almost 18mm thick -- this is for big lads only. Ironically I'm not sure it'd even look right on Patrick Gibson irl

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 19/05/2026

400 bucks! they've fucking cracked

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 19/05/2026

It's like, people praised the details in RE9 for passing as legit at a glance (pic related). The funny thing about FH6 is lots of the details don't really pass at a glance, even if the overall vibe is pretty immaculate.

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 20/03/2026

Tetsuya Nomura appearing in this as a disembodied voice talking from an empty chair as Kitase enthusiastically nods along has sent me to the fucking MOON

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 16/03/2026

Everyone's all-in on the RE9 Grace one for good reason, but I can't get over the Hogwarts Legacy one. Not a game I care about, but here we have a less-detailed model that passes for a 15-year-old schoolkid (the character's age!), where the DLSS5 model detail-stuffs them to look a decade+ older

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Alex Donaldson @apzonerunner.com · 16/03/2026

The joker make up is appearing on my face in real time as I read shit like this. Anyone who says anything like this in such an absolute manner needs their head flushing down a toilet. Part of the beauty of art is that it is borne out of the limitations of the medium dipshit

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