Syp reviews a busy December (finishing Pillars of Eternity II, grabbing Rogue Trader and more) and maps January plans across LOTRO zones, WoW retail/classic prepatches, and finally starting Rogue|_end
Krista rounds up fitness games as a low-pressure New Year’s move-more plan, from Wii Fit classics to Ring Fit Adventure, with a quick history lesson and a big “moderation” disclaimer.
Luna kicks off 2026 with a reader poll on favorite console/handheld playstyles, shares last month’s “seasons in games” results (Autumn wins), and notes the blog’s on break until Jan 13.
Shintar tours WoW’s original Vale of Eternal Blossoms in Mists of Pandaria Classic before it gets wrecked again, contrasting it with the later “ravaged” version she first experienced.
Andrew Plotkin announces NarraScope 2026 (Albany, June 12–14) is taking submissions for talks, games, and a new “Experience” track for embodied/physical-digital narrative—deadline Jan 31.
Warner reacts to news of the U.S. invading Venezuela and kidnapping its president and wife, calling the press conference shaky improv and warning the fallout will get even wilder.
Wilhelm double-features Pluribus (a Vince Gilligan hive-mind sci-fi he reads as an AI metaphor) and The Beast in Me, with some “it’s fine, not THAT good” binge-watching realism.
Tobold unpacks how international law works by consent, arguing the U.S. grabbing Maduro risks “open season” on leaders and triggers the Pottery Barn rule—now you own Venezuela’s mess.
Ron Gilbert is polishing a Hugo comments script (flat files or SQLite, Discord notifications) and admits the real trick is public promises—same motivation hack he uses for game dev.
Azuriel watches workplace AI go from “don’t paste sensitive notes into ChatGPT” to a walled-off setup where one programmer uses Copilot to build a massive form in 100 hours—and worries about junior岗位.
Jamie Zawinski adds a self-test mode to the Snarkatron and celebrates that most of its 27-year-old pixels are still kicking—retrocomputing joy with a side of glitch appreciation.
Dave Winer vents about copy-pasting into five social silos instead of real web interop, then reflects on how easy wars start, blog archives, and his new nightly Scripting News email.