The allure of nostalgia

I bought a gaming rig late last year, to play Starfield properly. It’s a game I’ve been looking forward to since its announcement. As a fan of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls games, and Mass Effect, this felt like it could be a nice open world mix, in space.

Total time spent with Starfield: 42 minutes.

Time spent in Skyrim: Days and days and days.

What happened?

Nostalgia, that’s what happened. And mods, which keep updating and tweaking old games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim into something that looks good today, but that’s just gravy. I’ve got tens of hours in Oblivion, too, which certainly doesn’t look nor play particularly modern, even with mods.

Nostalgia makes me play Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past every now and then. It makes me return to Yoshi’s Island, and Tetris. Sure, these are great games, but I have plenty of modern, unplayed games that could be just as great. Reliving the memories are safe and cozy.

There are some games I won’t pick up, or return to. Lately, I’ve take to watching let’s plays on YouTube to relive these games. There’s no way I’ll replay Knights of the Old Republic, for example, but I enjoy watching SorcererDave play it. Silly, I know, but it’s the same sort of reward as picking up a loved game you know inside-out. Or rewatching a movie or show, re-reading a book or graphic novel, or listening to that old favorite record that’s quite silly but oh so familiar.

The allure of nostalgia is strong. I won’t apologize for it.

Linkage

🇷🇺 “The rest is dictatorship” spells it out plainly for Russia.

🔫 A write-up on a fairly new Ian Fleming biography that went straight to my reading list. Of course, I’m already not only a fan about the James Bond films, but the books as well.

✅ Terrorists are allegedly buying blue checks on X, says The Verge.

🤖 AI is already ruining the web with bland generic crap content, and now it comes for video. Sora is impressive for a first generation model, but this is nothing compared to what it’ll be down the line. YouTube, you’re next in the enshittification we call progress through AI.

📺 Are youtubers making the same mistakes bloggers did during the blogging boom? I have problems with the sentiment, but there are certainly some valid points in here.

🌙 Manu on his newfound dreams and goals. Chip in if you can, it’s good stuff. I sure will.

📛 It’s about time: Signal support for usernames (beta users only for now). I don’t want to give out my phone number to, well, most people.

👺 Right-wing media doesn’t block AI bots, which makes total sense to them, and anyone else who’d rather just get the message, or propaganda, out there. And that, friends, is what the bot search crap is today.

🐋 Communicating with whales? Maybe in the future, albeit perhaps not likely. Interesting story, though.

Got something I should read? Send it to me, either by replying to this letter, hitting up tdh.me on Bluesky, or any of the other means that appeal to you. Thanks!

Currently

📚 I’m reading Meet Molly by Nicholas Bate at the moment. It’s been sitting on my Kindle forever, so it’s about time.

🎵 I rediscovered EBM by the Editors, so I’ve been listening to that when I’m at the gym. Other than that, not much listening at the moment.

📺 Masters of the Universe: Revolution was pretty good, working well with the lore. Just wish the season was a bit longer. Nice cliffhanger in the end too, so I hope there’ll be a follow-up.

🎮 I have this project about Game Boy games that I want to do, so I’ve been playing some of the older games to get a feel for it again.

This letter is a day late, sorry about that. There’s a lot on my plate right now, so I’ll be back with a new letter in two weeks. If things go well, it’ll include an announcement of sorts, too.

Do check out the site in the coming days though, as I’ve got some things lined up to be published there.

Until next time, take care.

— Thord D. Hedengren ⚡