Gavin Lane

Throughout it all, even when things went bad, Spencer clearly understood games as a medium, a profession, and a business. Having an Actual Game Guy at the top of a big gaming company is far rarer than it should be, and while there was a lot of facade to Spencer — particularly towards the end, when he used faux-candour and his gaming credentials to try to mask the godawful shitfest he had spawned — I imagine this is the aspect of him we will come to miss the most. Heartening though it is to at last see a woman in the big chair in this most historically blokey of industries, I do not see much in Asha Sharma’s track record to suggest things are about to get better. (And that’s before we get into all the birthrater stuff.) So, yeah. Phil was a good bloke, and he did some good stuff. I believe his heart was in the right place right up until the end — but unfortunately for him, and the rest of us, Microsoft these days is no place for hearts. Let’s have a quick look at the three big moments where, to my mind, it all went wrong for Phil Spencer.

On Phil Spencer newsletter.hitpoints.co/362-dank-spe...

Jesus. Video games

woody from toy story is dancing in front of a red wall Alt: Woody from Toy Story looking outrageously smug, grinning and flicking a pointed finger at an imagined onlooker while simultaneously flicking his hat up

Me when I plug in a USB-A the right way up first time

A screenshot from Animal Crossing: New Horizons showing a character dressed in a Star Trek TNG uniform sitting in the corner of a room decorated to look like Ten Forward on the Enterprise D.

I’m back in my 2020 happy place, making Star Trek stuff in ACNH.

A partly assembled, partly painted 1/1400 scale 3D printed resin model of the USS Enterprise G from Horner Shipyards, as designed by Bill Krause, as assembled and painted by yours truly. Viewed from the rear, above.

A partly assembled, partly painted 1/1400 scale 3D printed resin model of the USS Enterprise G from Horner Shipyards, as designed by Bill Krause, as assembled and painted by yours truly. Viewed from below looking at the front of the ship.

A partly assembled, partly painted 1/1400 scale 3D printed resin model of the USS Enterprise G from Horner Shipyards, as designed by Bill Krause, as assembled and painted by yours truly. Saucer mainly, viewed from the front and slightly above the midline of the ship (nacelles visible, secondary hull and deflector dish obscured by the saucer).

A long way from launch, and in need of repair following a severe gravitational anomaly in December. But despite it all, she still gets the pulse racing any day, and double on 17/01. 🖖

If “too many deltas” is the biggest criticism, I think we’re off to a fabulous start. 🖖

Lego set showing 11 featureless, single-colour minifigures of different hues standing beside each other in a line.

The Lego USS Enterprise D, viewed from the front, below.

The Lego USS Enterprise D, viewed from above.

A nacelle from the Lego USS Enterprise D held in my left hand.

One final bag and boom, ready to launch. A couple of mods I want to make before taking her out but construction is essentially finished.

It’s hard to convey just how big this ship is! She’s a beauty

A crucial piece of the canon.

The Stardrive section of the Lego USS Enterprise, missing nacelles.

The stock look of the deflector dish with a black 6x4 plate behind the transparent blue pieces.

The black piece replaced with a bright red plate.

The plate replaced with a mixture of dark red and orange plates, plus a white 2x2 rotating plate with a grey centre.

Still only 9 bags in with this 30-bag beauty! I’m thinking about options to mod the deflector that keep that the cool printed piece but make it closer to its onscreen look.

A sticker is the obvious solution, but I’m exploring other ideas.

The Lego USS Enterprise D, freshly unwrapped beneath a Christmas tree.

Make it snow, etc. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.

a man in a red and black uniform with a star trek badge on his chest Alt: Sisko from Star Trek Deep Space Nine purses his lips and shakes his head.

Damnit no 😔

An IKEA SAMLA storage box with a sticker on the lid. Someone is trying to peel the sticker off with their left index finger.

Roughly 15% of my life now is finding these and trying to peel them off cleanly.

Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks giving a good, solid thumbs up with a confident, positive expression on his face. Surrounding him are positive phrases rendered in white text (all lower case, sans serif, sizes vary). Clockwise from the top left, text reads: “you are a valuable human being” “keep doing your best” “good work” “i love you” “you should probably have some coffee” “i like your outfit”

Time for one of these I think

I’d take this further in how it once (and still can, at its best) cross divides. That anybody could ever say ST wasn’t political is INSANE to me, but also quite wonderful.

How many closed minds were gradually opened, possibly over the course of many years, to the possibilities of… existence?

Oh man, I’m so sorry Darran.

A PAL boxed copy of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse for the Sega Mega Drive.

A few big 35th anniversaries today, but let’s not forget this one. Whaddagame!

Shot from Star Trek: Generations showing the Enterprise D saucer section flying above the landscape on Veridian III. It looks like a flying saucer. X-Files style text reads: I WANT TO BELIEVE.

#Generations30th #StarTrekGenerations

A screenshot from the Onedrive’s ‘Looking Back’ tab. Image shows Austin Powers cross-eyed. Text reads “Looking Back - Last week - over time”

Yep, tracks.

Temba, his wallet open.

A baked pumpkin, ready for a pie.

A baked pumpkin cut in half, ready for a pie.

Have a good one, everyone. X

Still of icon animation showing Resetti vacuuming leaves in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update.

Luigi's Mansion 3 character DLC when

For gamers who aren't in game dev, you should know that we are in one of the worst periods in game dev history in terms of industry stability and the reason you're not seeing that play out through products is because the average development window of games is 3-7 years so it hasn't reached you yet.

1/1400 scale USS Enterprise G model with freshly painted details.

Clean-up needed, but it’s starting to come together.

The saucer of a 1/1400 scale USS Enterprise G model with Tamiya 3mm and 1mm tap masking a strip around the rim.

The saucer rim of a 1/1400 scale USS Enterprise G model with three thin sensor bands masked with yellow Tamiya tape, ready to be airbrushed.

Masking, ready to spray some sensor bands. Sensor bands? Yep, let’s go with sensor bands.

Can I share something with you? I'm really really scared of the day when one of the #StarTrekTNG main cast members dies. I remember the days when DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy died vividly. But #TNG is *my* #StarTrek. I just can't imagine at all how I will cope. 🙈

Another titanic karting effort from the excellent @georgebanks.bsky.social here, also featuring a surprise appearance from an NL alum and thoroughly nice chap!

Bookmark and come back later if you can’t squeeze a longer read in rn