iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Elissa

Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 28/09/2026

Hi, I'm looking to speak to people who have left games journalism in the last few years and have gone onto do something else. DMs are open, or luke@aftermath.site, thanks!

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 25/09/2026

It was just a wild (and hard) game. Nothing like some (very) early '90s FMV. Was originally an arcade machine so it's even older than most CD-ROM games.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 24/09/2026

Seminal? Oh, sure, just downplay Mad Dog McCree! What if you had to torturously click on things... but fast?

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Reposted by Elissa

Liam Hogan @liamhogan.id.au · 24/09/2026

Your package of F-35 parts could not be delivered and has been taken to the nearest Auspost collection point

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 23/09/2026

Time to re-watch my favourite video essay for the 67,128th time.

The title placard for "Los Angeles Plays Itself", a feature length video essay from 2004 by Thom Andersen.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 22/09/2026

It is the best drawn-out "daaaaaamnittttt" in cinema history, or very close to. (GOD I love that movie)

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 22/09/2026

It's an especially interesting film to see having grown up watching (and watching, re-watching, and watching some more) Wild Things. Lot of similarites, really. In a lot of ways this feels like a sweatier remake of Double Indemnity, and that's not a bad thing. Especially as it has a better ending.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 22/09/2026

Okay, so I should say more about it I guess. I love the vibes in this movie. The sweat, the lingering shots of people doing... whatever they're doing, whether it's driving, walking, watching, or fucking each other insensible.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 22/09/2026

In the lead-up to GTA VI coming out, I am watching a big 'ole pile of South Florida-set movies, some for the first time, some as I haven't seen them in a while. First up: Body Heat. I'd never seen it before. My review? It's good.

A grimy quad poster for Body Heat, black and white and grainy but for the title which is in red. William Hurt, naked but for a terrible moustache, kisses Kathleen Turner who just about looks like she's ready to climax due to sheer proximity to him.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 16/09/2026

I was getting tired of making big games anyway, seems like as good a time as any to hangup my spurs and just release digital game zines distributed by USB key or something.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 16/09/2026

RIP V-sets. You were glorious.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 16/09/2026

Look let's not over-extend ourselves here.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 16/09/2026

Retail theft up? On the one hand, that's not a surprise because cost of living fuckery, but on the other hand, I think retailers should just be happy that SOMETHING about their business is growing.

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Reposted by Elissa

Dave Gilbert @wadjeteyegames.com · 14/09/2026

The "Adults Only" ranking has been removed from Nighthawks! Everything is set for launch on the 22nd! Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted. If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can! store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 14/09/2026

You know, in retrospect, I really am glad I bought the number of NFTs I did (zero).

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 14/09/2026

It's not -gadgets- that I've lost excitement for, it's hating that what I"m usually being sold is just another hook, going into my skin, keeping me tethered to some corporate service or other.

The same XTEiNK 4 Pro, now running a new OS made by other people. The font is much more legible.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 14/09/2026

Yesterday I got my XTEiNK 4 Pro. Simple enough eReader. Had a play with it, nuked the OS and seamlessly installed CrossInk instead, turning it into a MUCH better device. That? That's the good feeling. The only good feeling a device can give me these days. When it lets me do what I want with it.

The XTEiNK 4 Pro, with the opening of Perfidia by James Ellroy on it. the font is pretty awful. Barely legible. Just not a nice thing to look at.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 14/09/2026

I remember, years ago, watching Apple keynotes and, corpo-fap aside, often being excited for some new device or other. Have felt the complete opposite for basically a decade at this point.

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Reposted by Elissa

Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

THE UFOs FROM OUTER SPACE! The only science fiction film which DARES ask the question... what if Martians were Aussies? Watch it now! youtu.be/XA_1cjceSDk

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 13/09/2026

Canonically, based on what we've seen from the snippets of Stab movies in the Scream movies... a non-trivial amount?

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 13/09/2026

Me, watching a Scream movie: "Wow, there's, like, SOOOO many stabbings in this movie."

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Reposted by Elissa

Stilgherrian @stilgherrian.com · 12/09/2026

Please be watching this important new short film, THE UFOs FROM OUTER SPACE! The only science fiction film which DARES to ask... what if Martians were Aussies? www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA_1... @elissablack.com explains the background. And I have a small role as the ship’s computer, G’day-GPT.

youtube.com

The UFOs From Outer Space

YouTube video by Expect Problems

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

Glad you think so. 😊 They were written at my favourite watering hole while several pints into the evening.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

Honestly, the more I think about it, there being no audio in the trailer and being unable to edit the post is pretty 2026 Bluesky, and very in fitting with the studio name of Expect Problems Productions.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

I'm not even going to try and ask why it stripped the audio out of the trailer and compressed the living hell out of the video. Anyway, grab an Aussie pale ale and watch the film at the youtube link.

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Reposted by Elissa

Stilgherrian @stilgherrian.com · 12/09/2026

Here is me with my alter ego. Photo by @elissablack.com taken on the day of voice recording.

A black and white photo of a round-faced white man with short but unruly hair and spectacles — it's Stilgherrian — cuddling some sort of "electronic equipment" labelled G'DAY-GPT in embossed tape, a switch labelled ON with positions YEAH and NAH, and five big knobs. A couple of random wires stick out of it.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

$96,000 of that was a containment field they had to put in place so the pure awesome of Tim Curry couldn't escape and harm anyone with its unique power.

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Reposted by Elissa

Hayley G - Good Society 2E on Kickstarter now! @storybrewersroleplaying.com · 09/09/2026

🎩🍰Call for tea and biscuits as Good Society 2nd edition is live upon the Kickstarter! 🍰🎩 We're back with more romance, scandal, and drama than ever. Come visit upon us and take a look at this Jane Austen rpg 💌 www.kickstarter.com/projects/sto...

kickstarter.com

Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG – 2nd Edition

Navigate the pitfalls of romance, reputation, manners, and marriage in the sumptuous new edition of this award-winning regency rpg.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

Oh, and being it's an Australian parody film, we made sure as much of our kit was Aussie as possible. Filmed on a Blackmagic 6K Pocket Cinema Camera, and on-set audio recorded on Røde wireless and boom mics. Edited, of course, on Da Vinci Resolve.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

Post took a bit longer, especially as we had to get some audio recording for g'day-GPT and another character, but in the end, it's one of the silliest and most enjoyable things I've worked on.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

She thought this was a swell idea, so we came up with the concept, wrote the script, build the props and found fine people for each role within 10 days.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

I said no, we drink with friends all the time. What if, instead, we cajoled our friends into making a film with us? It is, after all, our favourite thing to do.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

I'm going to blog about this later, but this is the short film we shot back in May for my birthday. Myself and the my collaborator & star, Martelle, share a birthday. She asked, as she often does, what I wanted to do for our birthday. A shared party maybe?

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

Featuring the inimitable @stilgherrian.com as the Martians' onboard computer, g'day-GPT!

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 12/09/2026

THE UFOs FROM OUTER SPACE! The only science fiction film which DARES ask the question... what if Martians were Aussies? Watch it now! youtu.be/XA_1cjceSDk

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 10/09/2026

Oh wow. We had a wild one of those here in Sydney. Check the photos out. Waking up tot his (I was living near the harbour at the time) was WILD.

en.wikipedia.org

2009 Australian dust storm - Wikipedia

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 06/09/2026

For the curious, mine is an Argus A2B, manufactured about ten years after the one Indiana Jones is depicted as having.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 06/09/2026

Which is super interesting to me because I have almost exactly this model of Argus! Still takes wonderful photos, too. Mine is a newer model with a built in physical light meter (yes, really). So cool.

An Argus camera, much like the one in Indiana Jones, but with a little physical light meter slapped on top. You look through the little vents, find the one which just shows light through, move your slider and get your settings from the table on the top of the camera. Like a slide rule type thing.

A photo of some palm trees behind a graffiti'd garage. It's B&W and very hazy at the edges. Very vintage looking, despite being taken only in the last two years.

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Reposted by Elissa

Nick Wheeler @nwheeler.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

@elissablack.com Are the torpedo graphics code generated? I can't seem to find them in the graphics files. Admittedly, they are very small, so I might just be missing them...

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 06/09/2026

Oh that's gorgeous! No, they aren't coded - they're in i (for general images). i_torpedo, i_probe, etc. The flashing is a very tiny animation.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 05/09/2026

Do not talk to me about Internet, sir, I was forged in modem screams.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 05/09/2026

Thanks! Saving doesn't save un-executed steps unless it's a multi-step process. So, if you're mid spinup, that will stick, but if you order to dock then quit, it won't save. Think of it as saving the state of the game at the beginning of the turn you save it on.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 04/09/2026

At a certain point “mid century” is going to mean “right now, around the middle of the 21st century” and that is going to hurt my soul.

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Elissa @elissablack.com · 04/09/2026

Rob Zacny appeared on Adam Conover's podcast talking about the state of the games industry, and it's a very good deep-dive into the state of things. It's... mostly depressing, but still interesting.

youtube.com

Is The Video Game Industry Collapsing?

YouTube video by Adam Conover

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