The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for having a nice tea and a little biscuit. Before you sip and/or dip, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

Over on Vice, Marie Le Conte wrote about the people who roleplay as UK MPs on Reddit. I can't help but feel they'd steer the UK in a better direction than our, err, current 'leaders'.

"It can be surprisingly dramatic, and it imitates the intrigue of real politics - tight votes, u-turns, private negotiations, people briefing against each other - very well”, says Nuke, the former deputy speaker turned head moderator of the channel. “I vividly remember doing uni work in one tab and negotiating coalition deals in another."

Over on The Verge, Claire L. Evans wrote about the search for Susy Thunder, a great lost hacker of the 80s who disappeared without a trace. A story of how abuse and hurt can fuel a hunger for control. Susy Thunder could practically do anything.

Susan took Scott under her wing. “She’d talk about systems she’d compromised, how to do it, how to trick people into thinking you’re someone else to get information,” he remembers. “She was a mix of smart, technical, connected, and able to absorb information like a sponge.” She seemed to know all the elite hackers of the day, and she introduced him around. Now, it’s Scott who holds the keys to Susan. Before I can talk to her, he tells me, I have to prove myself worthy.

For Unwinnable, Julie Muncy wrote about how silence works in videogames. Namely, Halo Infinite, and how silence is a resource that should be better appreciated in games.

Or, I wasn’t, anyway. I’ve been on new medication lately, and it’s helping. I have a bit more patience than I used to. So, I slowed down. Did the side objectives. Looked around, climbed mountains, tried to breathe this imaginary place in. And it came alive for me. Halo: Infinite takes place on a fractured, broken Halo ring, one that’s been destroyed by an unknown cataclysm. Parts of it are drifting apart from the rest, slowly falling into the void of space. The parts that are still intact are half-naked, the nature giving way to brutalist architecture and networks of pylons and communications beacons, the ring’s internal infrastructure revealed. Here and there, you can see hints of it healing itself – a flock of birds, young trees. An undisturbed lake, glistening in the sun.

For Polygon, Mackenzie Manley wrote about the enduring appeal of Furby's cursed DIY cousin, the LongFurby. As much about surrealism as it is about making some very, very strange Furbys.

Gardner was also quick to the trend in late 2018. After seeing an article, he became inspired to make his own, despite not having prior sewing experience. Now he runs an Etsy shop where he sells modified Furbies that he creates in a personal studio. Over the years, his content has grown increasingly surreal. A recent TikTok, for example, features an omelet with glass eyes being flipped in a skillet as his blue LongFurby, Cookie, stares on in wonder. Several TikToks feature Gardner wearing a round, white Furby suit performing unsettling things like slicing a toy worm with a pizza cutter, cracking an egg filled with goo — the list could go on.

Music this week is You by Axel Flóvent and Tusks. Here's the YouTube link and Spotify link. Perhaps not the sunniest track, but it's still rather nice.

That's me folks, until next time!