Ahoy

I've been having a bit of a clear-out and I discovered a stack of scripts from 2010/11 - the original project worksheets and scripts from the Modern Warfare 2 weapon guides. The very same pages I would have read the words from, including clumsy handwritten edits! (These days, I mostly read direct fr

Ammo counters are an underappreciated part of game UI design, I feel. Most of 'em are boring little things tucked away in the corner of the screen. But who could deny the brilliance of Halo's assault rifle, or Dead Space's holographic display? Anyway, this is kind of a follow-up to Chicken-o-meter.

An Austrian bullpup with distinctive appearance. It's been a while, so it's time for Iconic Arms to return. AUG. (YouTube)

"Everybody knows that video games went through a phase of desaturated brown, yellow filters, and bloom." But did they? This video started with a curiosity, and some experiments in colour analysis. It evolved into an attempt to challenge the universally accepted truth that Gen 7 games were brown. (It

2001 was a monumental year for video games. A year that saw the formation of the modern console landscape. It's the inevitable follow up to the 2000 video - the first video did quite well, so I'm testing further viability. I'd quite like to cover the entire noughties eventually. Next up: I'm not sur

It's back. It's just me rambling into a microphone, but it's back. Bonus. (YouTube)

Bonus was an informal Q&A series on my second channel (Ahoy² ), originally made with leftover clips from the weapon guide. It ran from 2010 until 2017, shunted out of priority by the pressures of parenthood. I know some of you mourn the loss. It's time to bring it back. Leave your questions in the c

Part one of a reappraisal of Peter Molyneux's career - and reputation. Originally I planned a long video on the entirety of Molyneux's career, but production realities have forced me to reassess my approach. Instead, I'm splitting the video into a series - with each part focussing on an era of Molyn

It's the sunglasses: The leather jacket; The gold chain. This isn't just some cute baby - it's a cute baby with attitude. I wanted to do a RetroAhoy-like format that could work for less well known games. The trouble with RetroAhoy is it's quite comprehensive, which often means long runtimes and a ri

Good news! After a brief absence (it was pulled due to artificial streams beyond my control), the Flatline soundtrack has returned to Spotify. Flatline: How the Amiga Languished (Spotify)

A year in gaming. Some of you might even remember it. I've been wanting to do a chronological cross-section like this for a while. An attempt to make a cohesive narrative across the myriad releases and events of a single year. It's challenging for a number of reasons, the least of which is that hist

The sound, the blood - the fun! It is time for another Iconic Arms. Chainsaw. (YouTube)

A midlength look at Chris Sawyer's career, particularly focused on Chris' style of development and a games industry that left him behind. I've been going off-piste a little with recent videos, taking a more freeform approach to format. While it's good to experiment (I find established series a littl

The lack of accurate Amiga sales figures has always bothered me. They became particularly apparent when I was writing 'Flatline' back in 2018. I knew the Amiga had a slow start, but it was impossible to quantify with any real data - Commodore were not forthcoming with unit sales. There was only one

Surprisingly, I've never made a Call of Duty 4 video. It's featured in plenty, but I figured it's probably about time I gave it more devoted attention. It's also 17 years old - a painful realisation - but also an excuse to consider it retro enough to write about its history. I was most curious about

'I know what you're thinking. It's a stupid question - it's an FPS. It's the definitive FPS!' One of my goals this year is to produce more regular, shorter content - 10 minutes or so. The grander feature length productions are great - but they can take many months to complete. Work continues on the

A modern assault rifle made for a modern Germany. G36. (YouTube)

"Can I show you my favourite piece of pixel art?" I had originally planned a video on some of the technical peculiarities of floppy disks, but during the early stages of that project I was struck with inspiration for another. Four-Byte Burger is a bit of an odd one - there's a blend of tech history,

Every rule has exceptions – and sometimes you need an exceptional rifle. Barrett .50 Cal. (YouTube)

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Let me take you back to around 1984 - the dawn of 16-bit computing, and the emergence of a new style of computer music. Ever since I did 'A Brief History of Graphics', I wanted to do a similar treatment for sound & music - but rather than attempt to cover everything in a single video, I thought it w

You ought to be afraid. Iconic Arms returns with the flamethrower. Flamethrower. (YouTube)

Computer games used to come in boxes. They still do, but they used to as well. Big Boxes. (YouTube)

Overused. Everywhere. Explosive Barrels. Explosive Barrels. (YouTube)

Iconic Arms returns with the Glock. Glock. (YouTube)

Here's a question for you: what was the first ever video game? A question which I always thought lacked a satisfactory answer. This video is my attempt to find one - or at least a reason for the difficulty in answering. The First Video Game (YouTube)

I've always been fond of the analogue domain. From the footage dubbed onto VHS for Polybius, to the direct-from-CRT shots of Flatline, there's something about the impefections of the real world that can't be simulated authentically. Naturally, for a video about the first ever video game, I wanted so