iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by George E. Osborn

Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 21h

British Conservatives: "Russia has disgracefully interfered in politics in France, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and invaded Ukraine. They even meddled in the US elections." Also British Conservatives: "What? Russia! Interfere in Brexit? Ridiculous! Just a tired old conspiracy theory."

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2h

"If it's too good to be true, it probably is" remains world-beating advice

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2h

Reels: Have you seen Melty? It's the AI powered video game mash-up tool that lets you merge Minecraft and Elden Ring, isn't it cool? Reddit: we regret to inform you that Melty may be a massive cybersecurity risk. www.reddit.com/r/aigamedev/...

reddit.com

From the aigamedev community on Reddit: Melty launched today. Is it legit or malware?

Explore this post and more from the aigamedev community

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Dr Tomas Rawlings @tomasrawlings.bsky.social · 3h

A week and a day until this event - do join us for @georgeosborn.bsky.social talking about his great new book on gaming, culture and politics.

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

The Onion @theonion.com · 14h

So-Called Professional Gamer Not Even Racist theonion.com/so-called-professional…

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Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 16h

NEW: Epic Games has delayed its upcoming (not yet announced) Star Wars + Marvel shooter as it pivots to complete AI game development. "No more hand-written code," a director told staff. All art "generated with full AI workflows." Full scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.com

Epic Games Delays Disney Project, Asks Developers to Use More AI

The company told the team behind the upcoming shooter that it will now be an ‘AI first’ production

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 21h

If you were ever targeted by the Gamergate horde from 2024 onward, I'd love to talk to you briefly for a short section in my book! Reply, DM me, or email me at alyssamerc@gmail.com. Signal boost!!

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 18h

*puffs cigarette* and remind me Nige, what do you think of Putin

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

But what I will say is a breath of fresh air is to have a PM who i) knows that dealing with information manipulation matters and ii) is trying to turn it into a national conversation. Tackling misinfo/disinfo is a priority for our national defence and it's important we keep the conversation going.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

Does it come with risks? Yes. Thomas Rid's book on Active Measures warns that democracies weaken if they don't live their values. Overplaying the impact of Russian success in 2016 risks being seen as misinfo, as well as giving them undue credit for our own self-inflicted cock-ups.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

That means we need a shortcut to get the topic back up the agenda, get people discussing it, and, eventually, focus on the current misinfo/disinfo challenges facing us. Pointing at Russian interference re: Brexit is an effective way to psychologically get people up to speed.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

And despite the fact that we've know that this is a big part of Russia's playbook, the UK has done little to educate or prep its citizens about the risk of misinfo/disinfo – leaving the average person ill-prepared in terms of psychological resilience.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

We know that Russian hybrid activity is ramping up. We understand from lots of sources that it is thinking about testing NATO's boundaries. And we know that if it wants to salami-slice somewhere in Eastern Europe, misinfo/disinfo will be slooshed everywhere to try to confuse allies across the world.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

Generally, it's fair to say that i) Russia dabbled with interfering in Brexit, ii) its efforts were relatively weak, and iii) the overall effect on the result was negligible. BUT Russian disinfo campaigns were effective in the US in the same year and are key to its modern hybrid playbook.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 19h

I think analysis of Andy Burnham's comments on Russia interfering in the Brexit vote is anchoring itself too much in a technical analysis of what happened in 2016, rather than the strategic purpose of talking about it now

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 23h

I signed up as an annual subscriber this morning for considerably less than the cost of a single Triple A video game. If you want great media about the industry, then please invest in it (and writers like Chris).

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

🎉 HUGE CAREER ANNOUNCEMENT 🎉 Today, I'm launching Vertical Slice, a new independent trade outlet committed to producing quality video game journalism that inspires, informs, and interrogates. That means daily news, incisive interviews, vital investigative work, and more. www.verticalslice.news

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

On the balance of probabilities, I'm concluding that it is AI slop because the email marginally mismatches what is available in the public record. But still 🤦

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Reasons why I dislike people who use AI to write number 1,678: I've received an invite to appear on a radio show and it is impossible to tell whether it is genuine (but a bit verbose) or outright spammy slop. WHY IS THE WORLD LIKE THIS NOW 😤

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I had checked the original source and a couple of follow-up posts yesterday, which seemed to verify that it was a decline in bot traffic overall. However, the above thread persuasively dismantles that argument. And if we want a healthier information landscape, we need to fess up when we mess up.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Yesterday, I reposted a graph that implied a Ukrainian strike on a Yandex data centre had meaningfully reduced bot activity in Germany. This thread debunks that, showing that the graph measured a decline in automated requests from Yandex's network and that bot posting is unaffected.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Having fun the only way I know how to: by managing my personal online security across multiple platforms 👍

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Rune Skovbo Johansen @runevision.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

"In my joke blog post (during my time at Unity) I invented the Semantic Game Builder Interface as a silly cautionary tale." Unity 12 years later: "At long last, we have created the Semantic Game Builder Interface from classic April 1st blog p- web.archive.org/web/20120501...

Image from April 1st 2012 blog post "Semantic Game Builder Interface to be Integrated Into Unity". It shows a dialog box with a text input field containing the text: "Make a first person shooter in space. It should be open world with different planets to explore. There should be aliens of different types. Some are hostile but others are friendly and you can trade".

Image from Unity Spark announcement in 2026. It shows a dialog box with a text input field containing the words: "A corridor shooter set in space".

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Belfast Airport serving up light holiday reads

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow at home, with the sofa bed unfurled and A Compelling Video Game (current choice TBC) to hard reset

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

You know when you've had one of those weeks where you end it feeling like you've been forced headfirst into a tumble dryer? yeah, that.

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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

JOINT STATEMENT OF THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OF CANADA, DENMARK, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY, JAPAN, THE NETHERLANDS, UNITED KINGDOM "As committed supporters of the ICC we regret and strongly disagree with the announcement of sanctions to be imposed upon the Court by the United States."

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Eric Levai @ericlevai.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Now THIS is how you write a story. Devastating.

Screenshot from this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/us/politics/fort-hood-execution-streamed-public.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HVE.Rw7O.Sj-0_s5YONzL&smid=nytcore-android-share

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

*Blair is actually a board advisor but still YIKES

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Bobby Kotick AND Tony Blair on the board of Skydance. hoooooooo boy

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Video Games Industry Memo @vgim.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

What's the UK Video Games Council been up to in its first year of existence? And what's it planning next for the domestic video games industry? We chatted to the chair of the council to find out: videogamesindustrymemo.substack.com/p/towards-a-...

videogamesindustrymemo.substack.com

Towards a UK video game strategy, 08/10/2026

What’s next for the UK Video Games Council? Drafting a video games plan, of course

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Things I’d like to see: for one week only, a brave game journalist immediately publishes every story that’s sent to them “under embargo” when the PR hasn’t explicitly agreed to one beforehand

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Got a chimney for a head? Doctors HATE IT when you use this quick trick

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Does the salutation immediately give away that they scraped my details from LinkedIn? Yes. Is the service completely irrelevant to me? Yes. But does it also get its point across faster than approximately 99% of emails in my inbox? Also yes.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Someone sent me a pitch for 'direct labour roofing' this morning and I have to say I'm oddly impressed by how punchily to the point the pitch is

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Makes a change from usual (ty, ty)

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Also, here's something wild: Video Games Industry Memo is three today!!!! Here's a list of what the newsletter has achieved in the past three years that some commentators are already describing as a "rap sheet."

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

He has a knighthood, but is the only person from the games industry to have one (I think total number of video game people with honours is 15-20 odd)

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The UK Video Games Council is working on a Games Growth Strategy, which includes plans to create a dedicated industrial body for games, unlock funding from institutional sources and land a games expert in the Lords. More on this in today's VGIM: www.videogamesindustrymemo.com/p/towards-a-...

videogamesindustrymemo.com

Towards a UK video game strategy, 08/10/2026

What’s next for the UK Video Games Council? Drafting a video games plan, of course

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

An image which screams “Hedgehog will be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday”

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Did that nine games thing, couldn’t quite fit in Baggio’s Magical Kicks 🙃

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Maarten Schenk @mschenk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

An example of FIMI (Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference) in action at the @disinfo.eu conference? Apparently someone in the U.S. did not agree with the topic of a session named "USA as a FIMI threat: acknowledge, adapt, push back" and applied pressure on the sponsors...

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Kemi's command of the facts remains elusive

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

*glances knowingly at the GCHQ agent monitoring the chat*

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Can't believe that I have to work when Dungeon Crawler Carl is just SITTING in my bag

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