I used to be a lurker on Twitch but now I have actually made an account and started watching some content on there. I have to say that the site impresses me. Unlike YouTube, it is better run and is easier on the eyes.
Dune Awakening is one of the most played games on Twitch in June 2025.
What makes Twitch different from YouTube is the community. While there are bots on the platform, it is clear that this site cares about user engagement and experiences over just raking in the ad revenue. Unlike on YouTube, the site has a reasonable number of ads and then do not take up hours. They are also not as obnoxious as they are on YouTube.
Another thing that I like about Twitch is that even after many years, the site is still for gamers and creative people. They have not sold out completely as YouTube had early on in the site’s history.
This is still a place where imagination still feels fresh and interesting. That is what makes Twitch have something that many other sites do not have; a sense of community and organic growth.
Another great thing is that there are not tons of irrelevant videos popping up in the recommendations.
This is truly a site for the creative and I hope to build a home here.
When I look at all these streams on Twitch, I see an outpouring of creativity which has been sorely lacking on the internet for quite some time.
The video game market in other countries has always been interesting to me. With the usage of machine translators, the ecommerce cultures of other countries become more available to outsiders.
The world of Norway, one of the world’s most intriguing countries. I am interested in how the small country manages to create its own cyber culture.
Norway: A Country missing the Cyberspace?
Norway is a wealthy country in a sense but it is not wealthy in a Qatar sense. Qatar may not have as many EVs but it is a country that is focused on the future not maintaining the past. Norway’s social welfare and culture is seen in high regard by some but it clear that is starting to run into stagnation and the internet seems to be passing by the Nordic country. Yes, they have fast internet speeds, but the internet is more than having quick speeds, it needs to be integrated into the way that the country interacts with the world. In many ways, these European countries tend to treat the internet like it is an extension of the television establishment rather than its own thing that is separate from those older forms here.
Enter Retrospillkongen
Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian retro gaming website. In a country of 5 million people, this website helps to bridge the gap for a country that is wealthy yet paradoxically is not exactly in the right place for commerce.
Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian company serving Norwegian needs and it reminds of the many retro gaming stores dotted across America.
Retrospill Kongen is very appealing site to read. Unlike other sites, it is not full of ads and auto-playing videos. The color scheme is easy on the eyes and it seems to reference Japanese aesthetics which makes sense, considering how important Nintendo was with revitalizing the industry after the crash in the early 1980s.
Retro Gaming is popular in Norway?
As the video game industry continues to stagnate and people are not as confident in it as it once was. In my opinion, the video game industry has become a lethargic place lacking any sense of direction. Only a couple games show any vision. Grand Theft Auto VI, while risky in its production cost, actually seems to have competence behind its making. It is like an interactive movie, the likes of what Hollywood used to make.
Norway having an interest in retro gaming is no surprise. The country unfortunately never really had any major companies in the video game landscape except for a few companies such as Funcom, which just recently released the Dune Awakening game.
Retrospillkongen is another example of the power of the internet.
People have a tendency in this age to be cynical about the internet now. There ads like there are gas stations on every corner; however, this site shows that people have to be willing to make the effort to commit to changing the digital nature of the internet. Big companies only have such power on the internet because we allow it. The Internet is ultimately about collaboration and healthy conflict, not stale stagnation. Retrospillkongen should be inspiration for other small nations put their own mark on the Internet we all enjoy in this epoch.
This is a gallery of a recent Empire Earth skirmish that I had with two medium level AIs.
I made a choice to have the era start in the Dark Age and only let it progress towards the Middle Ages. I wanted to see how the AI interacted in this match.
The AI at Medium Difficulty was still cheating in Empire Earth.
The AI is alot more competent at this difficulty level here. They use the unit upgrading system in Empire Earth unlike in the Easy mode where they do not use it. This means that the AI tends to be better at tactical movements of their units.
They are also better at using their naval power in this game. In this particular match with the AIs, the Carthage AI was sending ships to my port and harassing me. My ally helped me with this, allowing for my fishing ships to deliver food to my empire.
However, I generally go for Wonder Victories in Empire Earth.
The Wonder victory in Empire Earth was analogous to the Wonder victory in Age of Empires games. These wonders take time to build, so I recommend having many citizens to build it and do it when you have strong economy and military in place.
The AI, as soon as you build the wonder, immediately starts beelining for the wonder with huge armies, sending everything to the wonder to prevent you from winning.
Of course, the AI has full view of the map. There is no fog of war for a smart computer. The AI also has huge resources and can just send tons of troops and ships to the location.
When one looks at the AIs towns and cities, alot of the citizens are not farming or mining. Often times, I will see them moving in straight lines, getting harassed and taken down by soldiers.
The match was somewhat annoying but I bulit strong walls and chose Byzantine Rome as my civilization. This meant by walls were strong and I had no issue with winning this wonder victory. Carthage was getting really aggressive at the end but my team was victorious.
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