We visited the Mojave desert to cover Wasteland Weekend. It's a 5 day-long cross between a post-apocalyptic LARP and an anti-capitalist Disneyland. We tried to "win" it. It didn't go well.
Wasteland Weekend is like nothing I've ever been to. It's loving and violent, it's spiky but... safe? Mostly?
And it's uncannily like stepping inside a video game, while being disinterested in big brands and gaming culture. I fell head-over-heels in love.
In this documentary you get to watch Chris and I find that out in real time, in a journey that *starts* with us trying to amass loot and prestige, and ends somewhere very different.
Our whole team is enormously grateful to the countless members of Wasteland's dirtfam who made us feel welcome, warm and immersed the whole time.
I just hope that one day I can make it out to their sister event, Neotropolis.
Enjoy the video, everybody!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
In my quest to learn about the most cursed games in existence, I entered the world of Excel eSports. Come learn what a spreadsheet battle is, and watch me and @chrisbratt take on the *world champion*
If I’m honest, the real reason to watch this is Anni’s editing. She chose to make the whole thing look like a ‘90s educational video and committed just... so many crimes
Huge thanks to the Excel tournament organisers, scenesters and champions who helped me with this story.
Now, click that link and come with me on a magical journey.
Big day! PMG just released part 1 of a series on gaming giant Valve.
Today, we want to tell you about the casino industry that plugs into Steam's API and preys on Valve's customers. Why won't Valve shut it down?
For one thing, they're profiting from it.
This story took us months! It involved us speaking to ex-Valve staff, two gambling psychologists, one lawyer and many Steam users who'd become addicted to these predatory websites. But ultimately, we found that this problem both begins and ends at Valve's management.
This video gets into how Valve's own lootbox design not only inspired these casinos, it's actually some of the most unethical monetisation in videogames.
But far from fretting about this, today the company seems to be doubling down on its links to the betting industry.
Okay, remember our video on how Roblox is exploiting a generation of game developers?
After it released, Roblox users reached out to us to blow the whistle on *so* many disturbing aspects of the platform. Today, we're hugely proud to release part 2:
Between these two videos coming out, Roblox released another stratospheric earnings report and their stock price surged once again.
They are now a bigger company than Nintendo.
If you're a journalist, I'd implore you to pick up our reporting. I don't think it's an understatement to say how this company is allowed to operate is, in part, going to define the future of games, game development and children's entertainment.