James Cunningham
@jamesac68.bsky.social
I've been writing for Hardcore Gamer since its first issue in 2005, which may be a long time to do anything but it hasn't gotten boring yet. james (at) hardcoregamer (dot) com
Oh hey, it's @starrupture-game.com preview day! I put a ton of time into the game over the last several weeks, taking shelter from the sun while blasting the local wildlife, having a great time automating a deeply hostile evironment.
hardcoregamer.com/starrupture-...
hardcoregamer.com/starrupture-...
Survival, Automation, and an Absolutely Furious Sun in StarRupture
StarRupture is a survival game set on a wild planet that's as beautiful as it is hostile, and nobody who goes there does so willingly.
hardcoregamer.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Oh hey, it's @starrupture-game.com preview day! I put a ton of time into the game over the last several weeks, taking shelter from the sun while blasting the local wildlife, having a great time automating a deeply hostile evironment.
hardcoregamer.com/starrupture-...
hardcoregamer.com/starrupture-...
Just realized the song running through my head was the Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 theme and I have no idea what that was doing in there.
January 2, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Just realized the song running through my head was the Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 theme and I have no idea what that was doing in there.
Happy New Year all! 2025 couldn't kill us, it merely pulverized us soft and tender for 2026!
January 1, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Happy New Year all! 2025 couldn't kill us, it merely pulverized us soft and tender for 2026!
New Year’s tradition of watching One Piece all day complete! NYEve or Day, either works depending on schedule. Still not through Wano yet but made a ton of progress, and everything is kicking off.
January 1, 2026 at 3:31 AM
New Year’s tradition of watching One Piece all day complete! NYEve or Day, either works depending on schedule. Still not through Wano yet but made a ton of progress, and everything is kicking off.
Being sick and staying up until 3AM playing Alchemy Factory seems like it was a mistake, but for the life of me I'm not seeing any flaws in the logic that got me there.
December 31, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Being sick and staying up until 3AM playing Alchemy Factory seems like it was a mistake, but for the life of me I'm not seeing any flaws in the logic that got me there.
Want to write something, don't have the attention span to focus for more than 3-4 minutes at a time. I'm feeling like anything I write today would be more than a little bit loopy.
Which is annoying because I had a perfectly good schedule to get a fairly large preview done this week. Thanks, flu!
Which is annoying because I had a perfectly good schedule to get a fairly large preview done this week. Thanks, flu!
December 31, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Want to write something, don't have the attention span to focus for more than 3-4 minutes at a time. I'm feeling like anything I write today would be more than a little bit loopy.
Which is annoying because I had a perfectly good schedule to get a fairly large preview done this week. Thanks, flu!
Which is annoying because I had a perfectly good schedule to get a fairly large preview done this week. Thanks, flu!
End of year gaming doldrums, or at least gaming writing doldrums. Once this week is finished up there will finally be news and other things I'll want to cover again.
December 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM
End of year gaming doldrums, or at least gaming writing doldrums. Once this week is finished up there will finally be news and other things I'll want to cover again.
Wasn’t planning on sleeping for 13 hours, but colds suck.
December 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Wasn’t planning on sleeping for 13 hours, but colds suck.
Pumpkin feelin’ stretchy.
December 27, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Pumpkin feelin’ stretchy.
The weather has conspired to make the season extra Christmas-y.
December 24, 2025 at 8:11 PM
The weather has conspired to make the season extra Christmas-y.
Ongoing adventures in Kindle Unlimited- Book 1 of 3-book series- Not great but certainly entertaining. Book 2- First third continues on with potential to go in some interesting directions, and then it doesn't so much fall off a cliff as perform an Olympics-caliber dive into sewage.
December 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Ongoing adventures in Kindle Unlimited- Book 1 of 3-book series- Not great but certainly entertaining. Book 2- First third continues on with potential to go in some interesting directions, and then it doesn't so much fall off a cliff as perform an Olympics-caliber dive into sewage.
That's it, solstice complete! The sun can start setting no earlier than 6PM any day now.
December 22, 2025 at 3:03 PM
That's it, solstice complete! The sun can start setting no earlier than 6PM any day now.
More Adventure in Kindle Unlimited- Reading Wraithwood Botanist and did anyone out there actually edit this thing? There’s a decent story under the typos, weird line breaks, and sentences that are a jumble of words with no meaning.
AI editor, maybe? Might be wasting my time with this one.
AI editor, maybe? Might be wasting my time with this one.
December 20, 2025 at 9:31 PM
More Adventure in Kindle Unlimited- Reading Wraithwood Botanist and did anyone out there actually edit this thing? There’s a decent story under the typos, weird line breaks, and sentences that are a jumble of words with no meaning.
AI editor, maybe? Might be wasting my time with this one.
AI editor, maybe? Might be wasting my time with this one.
On the one hand Zaccaria Pinball uses AI art for its tables. On the other, this started after it became abundantly clear they didn't have the budget for non-terrible table art and there was no practical way forward without it. Steam Winter Sale and I'm tempted to get the tables I missed after AI.
December 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
On the one hand Zaccaria Pinball uses AI art for its tables. On the other, this started after it became abundantly clear they didn't have the budget for non-terrible table art and there was no practical way forward without it. Steam Winter Sale and I'm tempted to get the tables I missed after AI.
Jeff Minter would say Hi but he's probably too busy tending sheep or coding up his next trip into arcade lightshow madness.
December 18, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Jeff Minter would say Hi but he's probably too busy tending sheep or coding up his next trip into arcade lightshow madness.
There isn't a single videogame ever made worth this kind of bullshit. Not one.
December 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
There isn't a single videogame ever made worth this kind of bullshit. Not one.
Steam Replay is up and I regret nothing!
Dysmantle with all DLC is a great "play before sleep" kind of game. Repetitive, sure, but the good kind of repetitive that gives your hands something entertaining to do while your brain gently shuts down for the day.
Dysmantle with all DLC is a great "play before sleep" kind of game. Repetitive, sure, but the good kind of repetitive that gives your hands something entertaining to do while your brain gently shuts down for the day.
December 16, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Steam Replay is up and I regret nothing!
Dysmantle with all DLC is a great "play before sleep" kind of game. Repetitive, sure, but the good kind of repetitive that gives your hands something entertaining to do while your brain gently shuts down for the day.
Dysmantle with all DLC is a great "play before sleep" kind of game. Repetitive, sure, but the good kind of repetitive that gives your hands something entertaining to do while your brain gently shuts down for the day.
Adventures in my wife's Kindle Unlimited- I've been looking for sci-fi/fantasy with a bit of punch, she's looking for lighter entertainment, and the algorithm is adjusting based on both. Tore through book 1 of Otherworldly Anarchist in 2 days, have just started book 2, and can't wait for more.
Otherworldly Anarchist book 4: The Broken Dead
Up for pre-order here at Dreamersriot.com
Lillith has sacrificed a lot for a better world, but she is still breathing, if only barely. And that is enough for her to keep fighting.
[🌈📚]
[📚💙]
#booksky
Up for pre-order here at Dreamersriot.com
Lillith has sacrificed a lot for a better world, but she is still breathing, if only barely. And that is enough for her to keep fighting.
[🌈📚]
[📚💙]
#booksky
December 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Adventures in my wife's Kindle Unlimited- I've been looking for sci-fi/fantasy with a bit of punch, she's looking for lighter entertainment, and the algorithm is adjusting based on both. Tore through book 1 of Otherworldly Anarchist in 2 days, have just started book 2, and can't wait for more.
Ooh, looking sharp! No time for it for several hours but the demo is installed for later.
Introducing AUDIOMECH: your music transformed — my next game!
Steam page is live with screenshots + details. Wishlist here:
store.steampowered.com/app/3925150/...
Steam page is live with screenshots + details. Wishlist here:
store.steampowered.com/app/3925150/...
AUDIOMECH: your music transformed on Steam
Your music paints the world, and controls the action. Each of the Mech’s three forms [Bass Knight, Vocal Gunship, and Treble Bomber] react to any audio. Yes, even streaming.
store.steampowered.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Ooh, looking sharp! No time for it for several hours but the demo is installed for later.
So that's going to take a lot of practice to go from barely surviving to dancing among the sawblades. @headup.bsky.social's Super Meat Boy 3D released its demo today and its ten levels do a great job of guiding the player towards perfection.
hardcoregamer.com/getting-spla...
hardcoregamer.com/getting-spla...
Getting Splattered In a Brand New Dimension in Super Meat Boy 3D Demo
Exactly what one would expect from Super Meat Boy moving to 3D: precision platforming with precision controls and a challenge level to match
hardcoregamer.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:56 AM
So that's going to take a lot of practice to go from barely surviving to dancing among the sawblades. @headup.bsky.social's Super Meat Boy 3D released its demo today and its ten levels do a great job of guiding the player towards perfection.
hardcoregamer.com/getting-spla...
hardcoregamer.com/getting-spla...
New rule this year: If you post "Play more indie games" during the game awards, you are required to make a thread recommending 50 of them.
December 12, 2025 at 12:49 AM
I am so glad The Game Awards are tonight so I can soon stop hearing about them for another year.
December 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I am so glad The Game Awards are tonight so I can soon stop hearing about them for another year.
Been waiting for this for a while and can't wait to tear into the full version come February- @fabraz.bsky.social's Demon Tides has a release date plus new trailer, only a couple months wait before its serious platforming challenge lands.
hardcoregamer.com/demon-tides-...
hardcoregamer.com/demon-tides-...
Demon Tides Going Hard with Release Date Trailer
In a few more months, almost but just a couple days shy of a year since the demo's release, Demon Tides is finally going to be fully explorable.
hardcoregamer.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Been waiting for this for a while and can't wait to tear into the full version come February- @fabraz.bsky.social's Demon Tides has a release date plus new trailer, only a couple months wait before its serious platforming challenge lands.
hardcoregamer.com/demon-tides-...
hardcoregamer.com/demon-tides-...
A couple of years after finding out that Jonathan Blow was a way worse pathetic excuse for a human being than I'd ever realized I got the urge to replay The Witness, maybe finish it this time after getting stuck on an end-game puzzle. I played a bit and found the secret ending after about an hour.
December 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
A couple of years after finding out that Jonathan Blow was a way worse pathetic excuse for a human being than I'd ever realized I got the urge to replay The Witness, maybe finish it this time after getting stuck on an end-game puzzle. I played a bit and found the secret ending after about an hour.
Can't say I expect it to do much good, but I reported both reviews. "I don't like brown people" is about the reviewer, not the game, and therefore not a valid comment/judgement.
Valve has now rejected my complaint, confirming that "I don't like muslims" is a valid reason to leave a negative review on a game on Steam
This is where we're at now.
This is where we're at now.
December 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Can't say I expect it to do much good, but I reported both reviews. "I don't like brown people" is about the reviewer, not the game, and therefore not a valid comment/judgement.