Even 47 years later, this thing gets me hyped. The “Master Component” had a 16-bit microprocessor?! Three-part harmony music? A display they called an “extraordinarily high level of resolution”? That sounded like the future. Sign me up. And when they start hyping up ROM cartridges to a general audience, most people probably had no clue what that meant. But it must have felt like home electronics had just landed on the moon. This was the first real console war: Intellivision vs Atari 2600. And wild to think—two years ago, Atari finally bought Intellivision.

In 1972, this must have felt like stepping into the future. TVs had only ever been passive, and suddenly the screen could respond. Families were seeing their living room sets turn into game machines, with paddles controlling little glowing squares. Now, the overlays look wild. Plastic sheets taped to the glass to turn dots into tennis courts or haunted houses. It’s clumsy. Also brilliant—an early hack to add color and imagination to an otherwise bare signal. You had to supply the magic yourself, which makes it all the more fascinating today. And the way Magnavox pitched it. What are you going to do when your kids are snowed in? It was sold like a family appliance. Little did they know that this would be revolutionary.

Love that Metal Jesus is diving deeper into obscure PC games. As a former Sierra employee, he brings a perspective few retro enthusiasts can match. And honestly, any spotlight on PC gaming history is welcome. It’s a part of retro culture that too often gets pushed aside. Which blows my mind—because even if you only count DOS and Windows, leaving out Mac, Amiga, and Linux, PC still has the single biggest game library of all time.

Two new rules have been added to this community, and they deserve some explanation. Inspired by this comment, I started thinking about why so many gaming spaces feel shallow or exhausting. The problem is that they are rarely about video games themselves. Instead, they become about “being a gamer”—a label, an identity, and a consumer tribe. That identity is built on cycles of hype, outrage, loyalty to platforms, and endless talk of hardware or marketing. It flattens games into consumable products, and the people into market demographics. That’s not the kind of community I want to build. I’m here because I see games as art, and I want to share that perspective with others who think the same way. If someone views games mainly as a lifestyle accessory, or if their whole identity is wrapped up in consumption, then this space will feel alien to them—and that’s intentional. Which is why the first new rule is simple: “This is not a gamer identity space.” It sets the boundary clearly. We don’t need the baggage of gamer identity here. This community isn’t a loyalty badge, it’s a place for deeper thought. The second new rule grows directly out of the first: “Talk about games as art.” If games are art—and they are—then the most interesting conversations we can have are about design, aesthetics, mechanics, and meaning. What is this game trying to say? What choices did the creators make, and why? How does its structure, its tone, or its style affect the way we experience it? These are the kinds of questions that lift discussion beyond consumption and into critique, interpretation, and appreciation. I added this rule because I’ve seen firsthand what happens when you try to talk about games in this way elsewhere. In another gaming community (which doesn’t need to be named), I made the mistake of approaching the medium with positivity and seriousness—treating it as art worth celebrating. The reaction was hostility. People saw appreciation as “shilling,” and thoughtful discussion as a threat to their outrage-driven culture. That told me all I needed to know: rather than fight to carve out space in communities built on negativity, it’s better to establish one that starts with positivity and respect for the medium itself. So that’s the point of these two new rules. They’re not just lines in a list—they’re the foundation for what kind of community this will be. A place where games are treated as works of art, not consumer trophies. A place where we discuss choices, meaning, and design, not just hardware wars or outrage cycles. This is a place where positivity is not only welcome but expected.

Farmiga is a farming simulator for the Commodore Amiga. Yes, you read that right. Somebody made Stardew Valley for your A500. It started out in AMOS, which made for a clunky, memory-hungry, not exactly smooth experience. Then the dev—Paweł “tukinem” Tukatsch—rewrote the whole thing so it would actually run on real hardware without crying for 1.5 MB of RAM. Now it works on OCS, ECS, or AGA with Kickstart 1.2. Around 500k plus a bit of extra RAM gets you farming. A full MB if you want music. The alpha is on itch.io as a bootable ADF. You can plant veggies, harvest crops, slap down fences, pay taxes, and wander into a shop. If that’s too boring, you can just make moonshine. There are mini-games. The “cow” one shows up again here, though right now you have to trigger them yourself with F1–F3. Event triggers are still cooking. It runs entirely on mouse. Menus, credits, save slots—it’s all point-and-click. Feels more polished than you’d expect from something still branded “tech demo.” Polish was the first language, but English and German are already built in. The music comes from Marcin “Eightbm” Białobrzewski, who handles sound on a lot of Tukinem’s projects. Older builds were rough. This one feels like if Maxis had secretly made SimFarm for the Amiga in the early ’90s. And yeah, wild-boar shooting and milk delivery were in earlier previews, so expect them to return. It’s weird and charming. It’s farming on a machine never meant to farm. Boot the ADF—less than a megabyte—and watch crops grow on your A500. Farmiga. Farm + Amiga. Simple and dumb. Which is exactly why it works.

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TL;DR: Disagree with ideas without disrespecting people. Bring receipts. Leave each other with dignity. No pile-ons. No mobs. No manufactured outrage. I want this community to be a refuge from outrage culture. Most gaming spaces reward dunks over dialogue. We will not. We can be blunt without being cruel. We can be funny without punching down. We can be passionate without turning every thread into a bonfire. What civility is Here are ten concrete behaviors we value. Each one is an action you can take right now. Kindness in delivery Speak to people the way you want to be spoken to. Direct is fine. Cruel is not. Assume good faith Start with the idea that the other person is trying. Ask a clarifying question before you accuse. Critique ideas, not people Target the claim, the code, the test, the footage, the source. Never the person who posted it. Bring specifics If you disagree, show your settings, hardware, OS, repro steps, or a timestamped clip. Replace vibes with details. Be flexible It is fine to revise, retract, or say you were wrong. That is strength here. Consider other contexts Different rigs and budgets change outcomes. State your constraints and read theirs. Encourage contribution If someone is new or unsure, help them level up. Suggest edits. Share links. Invite better. De-escalate If heat rises, slow down. Ask what would resolve it. Move from public to DM when helpful. Step away if needed. Respect boundaries No demands for personal info. No thread-jacking DMs. Stop when someone says stop. Stay on topic Keep replies aimed at the subject of the thread. Start a new post if you want a different debate. What civility is not These are behaviors that undermine discussion. Ten clear no-gos. Tone policing Dismissing the content of a message because you dislike the way it was said. Engage the point. Do not ignore it because the tone is blunt, frustrated, or emotional. Gaslighting Denying clear words or lived experience to score a point. If someone says a remark felt hostile, listen first. Dogpiling A crowd repeating the same dunk at one person. Even if each post is mild, the effect is harassment. Gatekeeping Purity tests. Real fan nonsense. Credential checks to join a conversation. Vote brigading Coordinating upvotes or downvotes on or off site. Let posts rise or fall on their own. Personal attacks Insults, name-calling, questioning motives by default. Compare ideas, not worth as a human. Bad-faith tactics Straw-manning, quote-mining, sealioning, or moving goalposts. Ask fair questions and accept fair answers. Identity attacks Slurs, dehumanizing language, or targeting someone’s identity. Zero tolerance. Doxxing or privacy violations Sharing private info, hints, or screenshots from private spaces without consent. Baiting and derailments Low-effort provocations, meta drama, and off-topic gotchas that drown the original subject. Clear examples Green examples • “Your benchmark misses shader cache. Here are my steps and numbers.” • “This reads like marketing. Can you add specifics and sources” • “Title says native Linux. Store page says Proton. Can we update the title for accuracy” • “I could not repro the stutter on 580. Pop!_OS, 32 GB RAM, Nvidia 535, Proton GE 9-10.” Yellow examples Context matters. Delivery matters. • Sarcasm used once to defuse tension • A single spicy joke aimed at a trend or corporation • Firm mod note that asks for edits Red examples • “You sound like an AI/ad copy.” • “Touch grass.” • “Everyone downvote this clown.” • “Real gamers do not play on easy.” • “You always lie.” How to disagree well Start with a steelman: “If I am reading you right, your claim is…” Ask one clarifying question before you counter. Bring evidence. Benchmarks, logs, timestamps, sources. State your setup and constraints. OS, GPU, resolution, controller. Propose a path forward. “If the goal is 60 on mid-range, here is what worked for me.” Humor, snark, and heat Jokes are welcome. Keep the punchline pointed at ideas, systems, hype cycles, and corporate nonsense. Do not make your fellow members the target. Roast the console war, not the poster. Tone feedback without tone policing You can ask for clearer delivery without erasing content. • Good: “I want to engage your point. The sarcasm is making it hard to parse. Can you restate the claim” • Bad: “Your tone is rude, so I will ignore your argument.” Bystanders: how to help • Add signal. Share data that resolves the dispute. • Defuse. “What would fix this for you” • Report harassment instead of joining it. • Offer quiet support in DM if someone is getting piled on. • If you have nothing to add, keep scrolling. Restraint is a contribution too. Mod approach We weigh intent and impact. Patterns matter more than one hot moment. Common actions • Gentle nudge in-thread • DM asking for an edit or clarification • Remove a comment or prune a branch of replies • Lock a thread that is melting down • Limited time-outs for repeat issues • Bans for clear malice or refusal to course-correct Not every violation is a ban. Not every heated moment gets a lock. We choose the lightest action that protects people and lets good discussion continue. Appeals Think we got it wrong • DM a mod with links and a short explanation • Add context we might have missed • If we missed, we fix. Reversals happen Quick self-check before you post Am I attacking the idea instead of the person Did I include enough detail to be useful Would I say this the same way face to face Will this add light or only heat If I am wrong, can I edit without ego FAQ Can I be blunt Yes. Be clear without being cruel. Can I swear Yes. Do not weaponize it at people. Can I call something low effort Critique the post, not the poster. “This needs sources” beats “You are lazy.” Is satire allowed Yes, if the butt of the joke is an idea or a trend, not a member. What about off-site drama Do not import it here. Summarize only what is needed to discuss the topic itself. Can I compare someone to an AI No. That is dismissive and dehumanizing. Explain the problem with the content instead. In short Civility is our floor, not our ceiling. We are here to build useful threads, share knowledge, and enjoy games together. If behavior turns toxic, it is a Rule #1 issue. We will act. If you go too hard, own it and adjust. That is how we keep this place better than the average gaming mud pit.