Episodes

  • e557 – The British are Coming!

    e557 – The British are Coming!
    Jun 15 2026

    Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

    Published 15 Jun 2026

    It’s an all-Brits episode, as Andy welcomes Ian “epredator” Hughes back to the show as co-host, while both Michaels are away.

    We take a dive into some recent and current triple-A games as Ian talks through many hours of playtime in Crimson Desert, Forza Horizon 6, and 007 First Light. Although the new open-world Forza Horizon is set in Japan, Andy and Ian enjoy noting that these are games from UK-based studios or with British elements (like the legendary James Bond). Along the way, they talk about a WWDC video shared by Michael Rowe, which brings foveated streaming to the Vision Pro headset, although Ian notes that Varjo has been in this space for several years already.

    There’s a second round of gaming conversations that includes the latest XBox Games Showcase, featuring an older game (Sea of Thieves) from another British studio, and a yet-to-be-released game (Fable) with British voice talent and acting, that was also originally from the UK. There’s also a quick nod to an easter egg in the latest LEGO Batman game.

    The episode wraps up with a discussion of the recently fully-funded Kickstarter for the Virtual Worlds Museum, that we last talked about in episode 555. Ian mentions some of the recent video content that has been released by the project.

    Many thanks to Ian for joining the show this week, bringing a deep focus on games and virtual worlds!

    As usual, Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social with any comments or ideas!

    Selected Links
    • Crimson Desert
    • Forza Horizon 6
      • CarPlay brings Mario Kart to your car?
      • Foveated Streaming with visionOS
    • 007 First Light
    • XBox Games Showcase
    https://youtu.be/W83iAMvXBuM

    Here's an easter egg in the new Lego Batman that I think all of you will REALLY appreciate.

    It's so good, I had to make a video.

    [image or embed]

    — Cabel Sasser (@cabel.panic.com) June 7, 2026 at 9:06 PM

    • Wolfenstein 3D Atari demake
    • Videos from Virtual Worlds Museum via @teleportal_tv
    https://youtu.be/Y5uBQtL0lD0
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    43 mins
  • e556— AI With Extra Guac

    e556— AI With Extra Guac
    Jun 8 2026
    Photo by Mikey Frost on Unsplash Published 8 June 2026 e556 with Michael, Andy and Michael – Michael R’s annual edu-cation, chatbot trickery, data center data visualization, LeRobot Humanoid open source robotics, LEGO and a whole lot more! Michael, Andy and Michael get things started with Michael R’s annual edu-cation, Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference. Then the team turns to a news story about tricking Meta’s support chatbot into granting access to Instagram accounts. This is not a new tactic – check out e429 for a link to try this out for yourself with lakera.ai‘s Gandalf game. Next up is a data visualization for data centers across the United States. And then, a solution for the energy needs of a data center: CrankGPT. And harkening back to the earlier chatbot trickery, there’s a GitHub repo to get Chipotle’s chatbot Pepper to write python code and more. Then, the team considers an article from The Atlantic that spells out a contrarian view that this is in fact the best time for a computer science degree. A new robotics story captured the team’s attention – the LeRobot Humanoid. Hugging Face developed this robotic set of legs as an accessible, low cost, open humanoid (well, humanoid legs) robot. Another intriguing maker project is a 3D book that has printed on it’s pages the machine code needed to fabricate itself. Wrapping up the episode, the team takes a look at some of the newest LEGO sets featuring Gaudi’s architecture and SmartPlay sets featuring Nintendo’s Pokemon. What would you like to have your LeRobot do? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links WWDC 2026 coming up! WWDC26 All systems glow. June 8-12, 2026 From Apple: "Join us on Tuesday, June 9, for a screening of The Mandalorian and Grogu at Steve Jobs Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. A pre-show presentation about the role of Apple technologies in the movie’s production, featuring a special guest, begins at 8 p.m." #WWDC26 — Paul Hudson (@twostraws@mastodon.social)2026-06-01T19:14:54.728Z Random Thoughts blog post: Getting Ready for WWDC And Building my HomeLab AI NEW: Hackers were able to hijack several Instagram accounts by tricking Meta’s AI-powered support chatbot into resetting the victims’ passwords. It’s unclear how many Instagram users were hacked due to this flaw. A Meta spokesperson said the issue has now been fixed. https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/01/hackers-hijacked-instagram-accounts-by-tricking-meta-ai-support-chatbot-into-granting-access/ — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai (@lorenzofb@infosec.exchange)2026-06-01T18:37:54.986Z Games at Work e429: Promptly Engineering (for the discussion on the Gandalf AI prompt engineering game) Tracking American AI Data Center Buildout CrankGPT GitHub cyberpapiii/chipotlai-max The Atlantic article: There’s Never Been a Better Time to Study Computer Science Makers hackster.io article: Hugging Face Launches $2,500 DIY Humanoid Robot Design Boom post: this fully 3D-printed book turns its own G-code into raised lettering LEGO LEGO Sagrada Familia Architecture 21065 Nintendo Life article: LEGO’s Pokémon Smart Play Sets Have Finally Been Officially Revealed
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    37 mins
  • e555 — One Two, One Two

    e555 — One Two, One Two
    May 25 2026
    Photo by Michael Martine: The Bean in Millennium Park, Chicago, IL, June 2019 Published 25 May 2026 e555 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Ploopy’s The Bean and Lenovo’s TrackPoint, The Guild, The Movie, AI in commencement speeches, AI in podcasts, Virtual Worlds and Virtual OS museums and a whole lot more! Andy, Michael and Michael get things started with an appreciation of Andy’s work to migrate the Games at Work hosting site to a new service in uninterrupted fashion for our listeners. Next, a new piece of open source hardware that Andy’s purchased, the Ploopy The Bean. After the cohosts wax poetic on the awesome sauce that is the TrackPoint, they turn their attention to The Guild. Felicia Day and the team from The Guild are planning to launch a movie. Andy, Michael and Michael are very excited about this! Switching to AI, and all of the recent stories about how university commencement audiences have been booing speakers extolling the virtues of AI, the team considers Woz’s take on AI being “Actual Intelligence”. This reference is cheered and not booed. Continuing on the theme, the cohosts discuss a recent play by Spotify of providing an authentication for podcasts recorded by actual humans (with actual intelligence). This spurs a lively conversation on what that validation might entail, and what it means, especially given the prevalence of AI generated audio content. The team wraps up the show with a couple of virtual museums – one shared by friend of the show Ian Hughes – the Virtual Worlds Museum. The cohosts all agree that Ian would make a fantastic spokesperson for this museum. The other is a virtual OS museum. Finally, Andy shares a tremendous social networking graph that traces letters sent between 285 cities during the years from 1363 to 1412, Check it out, and give a listen to the song from Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 for how the Russians would write letters in the links below. What would be a good name for AI generated podcast content? Podslop? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links Shiny new things Updated GamesAtWork.biz courtesy of Andy – you rock, Andy! Ploopy, The Bean Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II The Guild The Guild: The Movie Photo of Felicia Day by Michael Rowe, June 2011 Games at Work e415: Pushing our Buttons (for The Guild) Games at Work e96: The Professional Line Sitter (for the Guild’s Zaboo’s seat saving network idea) AI Fast Company article: This sentence about AI got Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak applause—not boos—for his commencement speech Variety article: Spotify Officially Bans AI-Generated Podcasts That Impersonate Someone Else, Adds Verification Badges for Podcasts Playlist Push blog post: How Spotify’s New Verification System Works for Artists TechCrunch article: Google goes for the glitter with disco-ball icons: ‘Are y’all sure you still want this?’ Variety article: Spotify Says Disco-Ball Icon, Which Prompted Massive User Backlash, Will Go Away Next Week as Planned The Verge article: Amazon Alexa Plus can now create AI-generated podcasts Google’s NotebookLM TechDirt article: Amazon Gets Into The AI Podcast Slop Business Sixcolors post: New Apple accessibility updates focus on Apple Intelligence The Atlantic article: Everything You Do Is Being Recorded Virtual Worlds Kickstarter project: Virtual Worlds Museum™ The Virtual OS Museum Real World Datini Letters Geospatial Explorer
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    36 mins
  • e554 — SPI vs I

    e554 — SPI vs I
    May 18 2026
    Photo by Valérie Ungerer on Unsplash Published 18 May 2026 e554 with Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on LLM phone number lookups, proctors returning to Princeton, lavish LEGO, LOTR and a whole lot more! While Andy is away, Michael and Michael get things started with a discussion on the changing nature of sensitive and private information. What was once published in a phonebook is now a central identify hub. While Jenny most certainly had to change her phone number from 867-5309 and have the new one unlisted, she likely posts what would have been very personal photos on Insta, Mastodon or any number of social media services. Michael R points out that while a phone book was available for a municipality, it was not available at a country level, preserving a degree of anonymity. Continuing on the theme of social implications of technology, Michael and Michael consider the Atlantic’s article about the demise of Princeton’s honor code process. Check out the link below for some fantastic quotes from the Daily Princetonian – sadly the newspaper online archives only go back to 2001. Next up is an article from Thinking Machines’ full duplex capabilities for natural voice interaction with agents. LEGO is in focus for this episode (surprise!) with two intriguing sets. First, a super cool LEGO Ideas Tetris arcade game cabinet with a hidden room. This reminded Michael M of the set he built that also has a cool hidden room inside. Then, Michael R shares a bit on the new Minas Tirith set – which has many elements from the movies, and includes the opportunity for a GWP (gift with purchase) of the battering ram Grond if you’re one of the first to plunk down your gold pieces for this build. The fact that this is up on the Internets on 18 May is due to the hard work from Andy. He migrated our hosting over the weekend, and this is the first post on the new service. Hurrah, Andy! Do you still have a copy of your city’s phonebook? Have your bots (or agents!) 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI Gizmodo article: ChatGPT Gave Out My Address and Phone Number The Atlantic article: How AI Killed a 133-Year-Old Princeton Tradition Princeton University The Undergraduate Honor System Venture Beat article: Thinking Machines shows off preview of near-realtime AI voice and video conversation with new ‘interaction models’ Thought Machine Android Engadget article: Everything announced at The Android Show: I/O 2026 edition The Verge article: Android Auto is now one (screen) size fits all LEGO & LOTR Retrododo article: Playable Tetris Arcade Set With Secret Room Arrives On LEGO Ideas LEGO Arcade Machine 40805 Slashfilm article: LEGO Reveals A Massive, Expensive Lord Of The Rings Set For Minas Tirith Brickfanatics article: LEGO The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith was ‘the right choice creatively’ LEGO Icons Minas Tirith 11377 Gizmodo article: ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Is Returning in November Games at Work e382: Know it when I see it (for Rings of Power discussion and cool flying toaster screensaver)
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    31 mins
  • e553 — Monks, Bots & Ghosts

    e553 — Monks, Bots & Ghosts
    May 11 2026
    Stories and discussion on a robot monk, the Dead Internet Theory, agentic autonomy, Happy Net Box, the Artemis II minifig.me crew and a whole lot more!
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    31 mins
  • e552 — Norwegian Blue Vision

    e552 — Norwegian Blue Vision
    May 4 2026
    Photo by Shannon Potter on Unsplash Published 4 May 2026 e552 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on AI, life on Mars, life of the Vision Pro, retro C64s and a whole lot more! Andy, Michael and Michael get things started with a brace of AI articles dealing with with a wide variety of topics. First up is Meta’s use of employee activities on their corporate computers to train their AI models. Then, a discussion on the SpaceX and Cursor business deal. Next, a conversation on a breach to access the Claude Mythos model. Interspersed with these is a discovery by NASA’s Curiosity rover finding organic molecules on Mars. With a number of articles claiming, and paraphrasing here, that the Vision Pro is bereft of life, shuffled up its mortal coil and joined the choir invisible, Michael Rowe shares his perspective on the subject. His says his Vision Pro is not an Ex-Vision Pro. The cohosts go retro – as they are wont to do – with a flock of posts about all things Commodore. Links below if you are curious and want to see what these devices look like. While no Artemis II image for this week’s episode, do check out the minifigs.me offering of the crew, along with the jar of “Studella” in the links below. There are a couple of additional bonus links that the cohosts didn’t have time to include in the episode that prove that we can have nice things. What is your quest? What is your favorite Monty Python sketch? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI The Verge article: Now Meta will track what employees do on their computers to train its AI agents Futurism article: Your Former Employer Is Selling Your Slacks and Emails to Train AI Anthropic news post: Introducing Claude Design by Anthropic Labs The Verge article: SpaceX cuts a deal to maybe buy Cursor for $60 billion kottke.org post: NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules on Mars Wikipedia article: Marvin the Martian The Verge article: Anthropic’s most dangerous AI model just fell into the wrong hands Apple Vision Pro & more Mac Rumors article: Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop Six Colors article: The Vision Pro: Not quite dead yet Wikipedia article: Dead Parrot Sketch lifewinning.com post: Alchemy Studies Will It Blend Games Retrododo article: Factory 95 Sees Players Building PowerPoint Factories In Windows 95 Ravensburger Labyrinth The Verge article: The Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum have been turned into retrofuturistic handhelds Commodore C64 Ultimate Games at Work e223: CES and C64 (for the Commodore retrogames.biz Bonus Links minifigs.me Artemis II Crew with Studtella! People Magazine article: How Tiny Vending Machines Have Created a Resurgence in Popularity of Richard Scarry’s Busytown Universe (Exclusive) FastCompany article: KitKat’s newest product is … a Faraday cage? Slashfilm article: Ted Lasso Season 4 Trailer: Apple TV’s Comedy Series Returns With A New Football Team
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    27 mins
  • e551 — ATProto Socials

    e551 — ATProto Socials
    Apr 20 2026
    Photo from the International Space Station 1 April 2026 of the exhaust plume from Artemis II in Earth’s atmosphere – NASA ID: iss074e0431736 Published 20 April 2026 e551 with Michael, Michael and Andy – a tour of the Atmosphere with ATProto, Sifa, Eurosky, Leaflet, a LEGO cacophonous karaoke of “Mad About Me” and a whole lot more! Michael, Michael and Andy get things started with a series of applications powered by ATProto, the protocol powering Bluesky and many more. Andy shares his experimentation & experiences with several of these applications, including a set curated on portal.Eurosky.tech such as Leaflet, Popfeed and Sifa. Andy also shares Anisota, which is a gamified approach to Bluesky social media browsing where you may collect photos of moths and start expeditions. Andy learned of Aetheros from from whitep4nth3r.com and takes Michael and Michael through it. There is a nice capability in this service called Deckard, which provides a columnar view of Bluesky posts. Rounding out the episode for this week, the co-hosts take a look at Aadam Jacobs’ collection of recordings on the Internet Archive. This is an impressive set of hundreds of live music recordings from 1984-2019. Check it out in the show notes below. And for a little more contemporary musical example, have a listen to a cacophonous karaoke of “Mad About Me” created with 7 of the Mos Eisley Cantina SMART Brick sets. And to continue to set the mood for the upcoming #StarWarsDay, give a listen to the original via the YouTube embed. Also, managed to get in an Artemis II reference for the third straight episode with the hero image. What is your favorite Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes song? Have your droids 🤖 drop our droids 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AT Protocol AT Protocol AT Protocol post: Understanding Atproto The ATmosphereConf 2026 Bluesky Wikipedia article: Personal Data Service (PDS) Equals Drummond blog post: The Difference Between a Personal Cloud and a Personal Data Store Smoke Signals leaflet.pub Eurosky Portal Eurosky’s Introducing Portal blog on leaflet sifa.id Andy’s sifa.id post: https://sifa.id/p/andypiper.me anisota.net Aetheros.computer via (https://whitep4nth3r.com/) Media James Kottke blog post: Now Online: a Treasure Trove of 1000s of Secret Concert Recordings Internet Archive: Aadam Jacobs Collection at the Live Music Archive Brick Fanatics post: What can you do with £750 worth of LEGO SMART Play sets? CBC article: 5 things you didn’t know about the Star Wars Cantina band (unless you are a total Star Wars nerd) BBC article: LEGO’s new smart brick Games at Work e546: Smart Play Doom Brain Brick (for the new LEGO SMART Brick)
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    24 mins
  • e550 — Moontella

    e550 — Moontella
    Apr 13 2026
    Mashup of photo by Victor Serban on Unsplash & images-assets.nasa.gov/image/art002e009287/art002e009287~orig.jpg Published 13 April 2026 e550 with Michael, Andy and Michael – celebrating Moon Joy with the Artemis II crew, Nutella in space, AI, an isomorphic reboot of Wolf3D and a whole lot more! Michael, Andy and Michael get things started for this episode with stories Artemis II mission, recorded just a few hours ahead of the splashdown off the California coast. The Artemis II mission has captured the attention of many and reignited interest in space and space exploration. NASA has leaned into the Moon Joy and the celebration of the Artemis II crew has inspired and touched the co-hosts. Check out the Artemis II moon wallpaper, and the LunarWall shortcut courtesy of Federico Viticci. In addition to the Rise mascot floating around the Artemis capsule, the world certainly took note of the floating Nutella jar. This was not the only COTS product aboard. In addition to the photos shot on iPhone and Nikon D5, Jessica Alba’s Honest lotion also had its moment. NPR had an entertaining story about all of the Moon movies – at least those that had Moon in the title. This of course missed examples such as the Austin Powers film (with Moon Unit Alpha and Moon Unit Zappa). Fortunately, Wikipedia has a set of movies set on the Moon. In the AI section, which persisted throughout the episode, actually – “AI!” – the co-hosts talk about the 3D models created by Google’s Gemini. They also take a moment to consider the reported cybersecurity vulnerability discoveries from Anthropic’s project Glasswing. Rounding out the episode for this week, the crew takes a look at the Android XR capability for turning 2D websites, apps and more into 3D experiences. And a fun reboot of Wolfenstein 3D in isomorphic form – though a bit of a challenge without remapping the keys. What #MoonMovies can you think of that do not have moon in the title? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links Artemis II Splashdown & More https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfhDuOHMp0A Mashable article: How NASA made ‘moon joy’ a space-age catchphrase Cult of Mac article: How to put stunning Artemis II moon wallpapers on your iPhone, iPad or Mac Futurism article: Lone Jar of Nutella Drifts Around Cabin of Moon Spacecraft Nutella at Costco NPR article: The most memorable moon movies aren’t even about space Wikipedia article: Category:Films set on the Moon Games at Work e549: Dark Side of The Moon (for discussion & show notes on Artemis II) AI The Verge article: Google’s Gemini AI can answer your questions with 3D models and simulations The Verge article: A new Anthropic model found security problems ‘in every major operating system and web browser’ Le Chat by mistral.ai 3D The Verge article: You can now turn 2D apps into 3D while using the Galaxy XR headset Isowulf Wolfenstein 3D Mod Wikipedia article: Wolfenstein 3D
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    24 mins