Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
@edwinet.bsky.social
News editor at RockPaperShotgun, previously seen at Eurogamer, The Guardian, Wired and Edge - writing about (video)games, art, culture, technology - PhD poetics with a focus on procedural and erasure-based verse. He & him.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Thank you all for your patience! Without further ado, it's This Year In Videogame Blogging 2025, complete with a bonus This Week In Videogame Blogging, December 28, 2025!
critical-distance.com/2026/01/01/t...
critical-distance.com/2026/01/01/t...
critical-distance.com
January 1, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Thank you all for your patience! Without further ado, it's This Year In Videogame Blogging 2025, complete with a bonus This Week In Videogame Blogging, December 28, 2025!
critical-distance.com/2026/01/01/t...
critical-distance.com/2026/01/01/t...
I’m joining the BDS boycott of Microsoft in a qualified personal capacity. I won’t write previews, reviews, reveal or release day coverage for Microsoft-published works for the foreseeable. I will continue to edit work about MS games and write about the company itself (layoff news, etc).
December 22, 2025 at 12:11 PM
I’m joining the BDS boycott of Microsoft in a qualified personal capacity. I won’t write previews, reviews, reveal or release day coverage for Microsoft-published works for the foreseeable. I will continue to edit work about MS games and write about the company itself (layoff news, etc).
The sun from Gusev crater on Mars, taken by NASA's Spirit rover. Happy winter solstice.
December 22, 2025 at 12:12 AM
The sun from Gusev crater on Mars, taken by NASA's Spirit rover. Happy winter solstice.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
We spoke to a dozen professional concept artists who are currently or have previously worked in game development about whether generative AI image tools have made their jobs any easier.
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Concept Artists Say Generative AI References Only Make Their Jobs Harder
“The ‘early ideation stages’, when worlds are being fleshed out by writers and artists, are literally crucial to the development of a game’s vision,” said one artist.
thisweekinvideogames.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
We spoke to a dozen professional concept artists who are currently or have previously worked in game development about whether generative AI image tools have made their jobs any easier.
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Xbox Boycott (Still) Matters
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
🚨 The UK government just published a breakdown of the responses to its consultation on AI & copyright:
- 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is)
🧵 1/2
- 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is)
🧵 1/2
December 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
🚨 The UK government just published a breakdown of the responses to its consultation on AI & copyright:
- 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is)
🧵 1/2
- 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is)
🧵 1/2
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
@naomiaklein.bsky.social: ”Where the Surrealists made irreverent and untameable art, the fascists sought a world of perfect symmetry. While the Surrealists embraced the frailties and mysteries of the human body, the fascists waged war on deviance.’’ www.equator.org/articles/sur...
www.equator.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:30 PM
@naomiaklein.bsky.social: ”Where the Surrealists made irreverent and untameable art, the fascists sought a world of perfect symmetry. While the Surrealists embraced the frailties and mysteries of the human body, the fascists waged war on deviance.’’ www.equator.org/articles/sur...
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I do not know what editors are supposed to do about the flood of AI-generated pitches. I can't be the only editor who's been caught out once or twice over my career by a writer (or a source) who was making something up. Now you can make up a whole article in seconds.
thelocal.to/investigatin...
thelocal.to/investigatin...
Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era | The Local
A suspicious pitch from a freelancer led editor Nicholas Hune-Brown to dig into their past work. By the end, four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, had removed articles from their sites.
thelocal.to
November 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I do not know what editors are supposed to do about the flood of AI-generated pitches. I can't be the only editor who's been caught out once or twice over my career by a writer (or a source) who was making something up. Now you can make up a whole article in seconds.
thelocal.to/investigatin...
thelocal.to/investigatin...
The Seashell and the Clergyman - "this is not a dream, but the very world of images that leads the mind where it would never have consented to go, the mechanism is available to everyone" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Th...
November 29, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Seashell and the Clergyman - "this is not a dream, but the very world of images that leads the mind where it would never have consented to go, the mechanism is available to everyone" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Th...
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I am building my own world 🌱
June 22, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I am building my own world 🌱
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I discovered ‘Penda’s Fen’ in 2018, when I was writing on the poet Geoffrey Hill and stumbled upon this fascinating essay that reads the play alongside Hill’s ‘Mercian Hymns’ (1971):
Strange English Work: Geoffrey Hill’s Mercian Hymns and David Rudkin’s Penda’s Fen
“Child be strange, dark, true, impure, and dissonant.” Penda’s Fen. “Not strangeness, but strange likeness. Obstinate, outclassed forefathers, I too concede, I am your staggeringly-gifted child.” M…
corsepresentblog.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I discovered ‘Penda’s Fen’ in 2018, when I was writing on the poet Geoffrey Hill and stumbled upon this fascinating essay that reads the play alongside Hill’s ‘Mercian Hymns’ (1971):
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I don’t post much on here but this came out today & I’m very proud of it.
Thanks RPS & @edwinet.bsky.social for letting me do this.
Skating, videogames…both things have had a profound impact on how and why I write, so to be able to put this article out in the world means a lot to me.
Thanks RPS & @edwinet.bsky.social for letting me do this.
Skating, videogames…both things have had a profound impact on how and why I write, so to be able to put this article out in the world means a lot to me.
November 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I don’t post much on here but this came out today & I’m very proud of it.
Thanks RPS & @edwinet.bsky.social for letting me do this.
Skating, videogames…both things have had a profound impact on how and why I write, so to be able to put this article out in the world means a lot to me.
Thanks RPS & @edwinet.bsky.social for letting me do this.
Skating, videogames…both things have had a profound impact on how and why I write, so to be able to put this article out in the world means a lot to me.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Photos from the 2025 Small Publishers Fair! Drop by the @royalholloway.bsky.social Poetics Research Centre table for new work from the poetry and poetic practice MA pathways, PhD candidates, and staff 🧡
October 25, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Photos from the 2025 Small Publishers Fair! Drop by the @royalholloway.bsky.social Poetics Research Centre table for new work from the poetry and poetic practice MA pathways, PhD candidates, and staff 🧡
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
SUBMISSION CALL: We are open for poetry pamphlet/chapbook submissions until 30th November.
A very small percentage of people who submit actually buy a book from us. If everybody who submitted bought a book it'd be a massive boost to us.
Full guidelines here: www.brokensleepbooks.com/submissions
A very small percentage of people who submit actually buy a book from us. If everybody who submitted bought a book it'd be a massive boost to us.
Full guidelines here: www.brokensleepbooks.com/submissions
October 22, 2025 at 4:58 PM
SUBMISSION CALL: We are open for poetry pamphlet/chapbook submissions until 30th November.
A very small percentage of people who submit actually buy a book from us. If everybody who submitted bought a book it'd be a massive boost to us.
Full guidelines here: www.brokensleepbooks.com/submissions
A very small percentage of people who submit actually buy a book from us. If everybody who submitted bought a book it'd be a massive boost to us.
Full guidelines here: www.brokensleepbooks.com/submissions
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Valnet unfortunately let go of the entire TheGamer features team today alongside several other staff members.
Many incredibly talented and hard working writers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past several years.
Many incredibly talented and hard working writers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past several years.
October 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Valnet unfortunately let go of the entire TheGamer features team today alongside several other staff members.
Many incredibly talented and hard working writers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past several years.
Many incredibly talented and hard working writers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past several years.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I tried to relitigate "immersion" using Nietzsche's Apollonian-Dionysian binary. It's all Frictional's fault for turning him into a deep sea desk ornament. Also I accidentally published this on Nietzsche's birthday. HBD, Friedrich. www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-a-nod-to...
How a nod to Nietzsche in Soma got me thinking twice about that suffocating buzzword, immersion
Frictional's ocean-going philosophical horror game offers a way of rethinking the marketing cult of immersion, with some help from a legendary philosopher.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I tried to relitigate "immersion" using Nietzsche's Apollonian-Dionysian binary. It's all Frictional's fault for turning him into a deep sea desk ornament. Also I accidentally published this on Nietzsche's birthday. HBD, Friedrich. www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-a-nod-to...
Nice to chat with these hooligans again. Also nice to rediscover Mass Effect, sort of, and inflict knowledge of the Krogans on Nate.
The second episode of Text Adventure is live for Patreon backers, in which @edwinet.bsky.social joins us to judge the prequel to Mass Effect: Andromeda and Nate attempts to guess what Asari look like. Find it on Patreon and Spotify. www.patreon.com/posts/text-a...
September 27, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Nice to chat with these hooligans again. Also nice to rediscover Mass Effect, sort of, and inflict knowledge of the Krogans on Nate.
Re. RPS freelance, I now have a budget for irregular (maybe 6-12 pieces a year) 2000-3000 wordish, more granular and specific reporting and investigative criticism that broaches a new topic or addresses a gap in knowledge regarding something familiar.
September 17, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Re. RPS freelance, I now have a budget for irregular (maybe 6-12 pieces a year) 2000-3000 wordish, more granular and specific reporting and investigative criticism that broaches a new topic or addresses a gap in knowledge regarding something familiar.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
We're shortstaffed on RPS and need some rad PC-minded freelancers for urgent review work. Specifically:
- Borderlands 4 (yes I know it's out already)
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Silent Hill f
Standard rate is £200 GBP per review, make yourselves known at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com
- Borderlands 4 (yes I know it's out already)
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Silent Hill f
Standard rate is £200 GBP per review, make yourselves known at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com
September 15, 2025 at 3:59 PM
We're shortstaffed on RPS and need some rad PC-minded freelancers for urgent review work. Specifically:
- Borderlands 4 (yes I know it's out already)
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Silent Hill f
Standard rate is £200 GBP per review, make yourselves known at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com
- Borderlands 4 (yes I know it's out already)
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Silent Hill f
Standard rate is £200 GBP per review, make yourselves known at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
TRUE ACCESS TO REALITY GUIDE
September 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
TRUE ACCESS TO REALITY GUIDE
I'm looking to commission a freelancer with knowledge of the Russian games industry and preferably some ability to read/speak Russian. If that's you, my email is in my bio: www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...
September 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
I'm looking to commission a freelancer with knowledge of the Russian games industry and preferably some ability to read/speak Russian. If that's you, my email is in my bio: www.rockpapershotgun.com/authors/edwi...
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
August 29, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
Reposted by Dr Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.
Not this time. Not anymore.
Not this time. Not anymore.
August 25, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.
Not this time. Not anymore.
Not this time. Not anymore.