Features Angry Robot and Angry Writers Angry Robot publisher Eleanor Teasdale speaks out about controversial use of AI tools
Paid-members only Digests Astrolabe Digest: 040824 Publisher Angry Robot reveals and then shutters an AI revolution, Commodore 64 finally hits Analogue Pocket, and a whole bunch of retro games sold for a whole bunch of money at auction
Features Akira Toriyama (1955 - 2024) Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, and Chrono Trigger was an art legend who changed the world
News I wrote a thing! How Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Unites Parents and Kids Across Generations I was absolutely tickled to speak with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's director Naoki Hamaguchi about his experience as a father, and how games like Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth are using nostalgia to reach a whole new audience through the original generation of Final Fantasy VII fans: our kids.
Features Avatar: The Last Airbender is brilliant Avatar: The Last Airbender is a remarkably consistent piece of storytelling that retains its quality from the first episode to the last.
Features Yoshitaka Murayama (1969 - 2024) Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicle creator Yoshitaka Murayama has passed away at age 54. He leaves behind a legacy of unforgettable games.
Digests Astrolabe Digest: 013124 A Final Fantasy VI remake would take how long? Spec Ops: The Line suddenly removed from Steam and other digital storefronts. Persona 3 Reload ditches the original game's transphobia for conspiracy theories.
Flagship Issues Astrolabe 36: Panic! At The Hugos Another Hugo Awards controversy, all the seas of the world, and the one that (sorta) got away
Digests Astrolabe Digest: 011824 Is Elden Ring's DLC imminent? Kotaku's got a layoff tracker, and it's super Grim. Tor.com is relaunching as Reactor.
News Substack has a nazi problem, so Astrolabe has a new home. Again. For the third time in its short existence, Astrolabe has a new home—hopefully a permanent one this time.
Features Here are a few of my favourite things in 2023 From new Makoto Shinkai to Chained Echoes, The Bear, Sea of Stars, and R.F. Kuang, 2023 was PACKED
Digests Astrolabe Digest: 121923 The gargantuan Insomniac Games leak, that Goodreads one star thing, and why you should never sue the Tolkien estate
News Featured Here's my 2023 Award Eligibility post! Plus recommendations, because recommending other people's work is sexy.
Digests Astrolabe Digest: 120423 YouTube plagiarism, how a 17 year old convinced Nintendo to go 3D, and nitty gritty Hugo ballot stats
Gift Guides 2023 Holiday Gift Guide for Geeks! A gift for every nerd on your list! Books! Video Games! D&D! A... basketball?
Free Fiction Astrolabe Fiction: Youngblood LOST 🏝️ meets Jurassic Park 🦖 fueled by the Dead Kennedys 🤘🏻
Digests Astrolabe Digest: 110723 Worker-owned websites are here to save games media, summer vacations, and pronoun meltdowns
Flagship Issues Featured Astrolabe 35: Is 2023 the best year in video game history? Or the worst? Fuck capitalism. Oh, and handheld gaming rules.
Features VGHW Excerpt: How Kazuko Shibuya's survived the "end times" and changed pixel art forever "Gamer Girls" author Mary Kenney explores the Shibuya's groundbreaking work, the end of the end times, and the creative freedom of technical limitations
Features VGHW Feature: And that's how you get “Shigeru Miyamoto once tried to make a Donkey Kong dating sim.” Monster Kids author Daniel Dockery digs into the realities of writing video game history
Features VGHW Feature: 13 Books for Japanese RPG fans From Final Fantasy to NieR, Suikoden to Xenosaga, there's a great book for every kind of RPG lover
Video Game History Week VGHW Feature: Retro eight-bit RPG storytelling, but make it super gay. How this award-winning SFF writer is turned to retro video games for his next story
News Fight, Magic, Items is a year old! The history of Japanese RPGs is a year older, but my book's just getting started
Features Featured VGHW Excerpt: Japanese RPGs journey to the west with a bang in Fight, Magic, Items. Literally. From chain smoking in a Denny's, to a volcanic explosion, and a massive Nintendo Power giveaway, this Fight, Magic, Items excerpt chronicles Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest's tumultuous journey west