General Update + Welcome Back - Jan 2026

General Update + Welcome Back

Welcome Back, and Happy New Year!

2026 is upon us (which is absolutely insane, isn’t it?), and I think I speak for a majority when I say there’s a feeling in the air - across Discord servers, Reddit subs, and social media comment sections alike - of returning. A quiet pull back toward simpler ways with tech, games, and the internet.

I feel this is far more than nostalgia talking. It’s a longing - a logical, emotional, and mental response to years of doom-scrolling, algorithm-chasing, and corporate influence and overreach. People don’t merely miss the simplicity of an MSN or IRC chatroom; they’re actively reaching out, searching for modern equivalents - and they’re finding them.

One such example is HexChat, a lightweight, but deeply customizable and powerful little IRC client that'll take you straight back to 2005. 

HexChat Official Site

Going Back to Simpler Tech

It doesn’t have to be anything complicated - No flashy ceremonies or Instagram posts. Sometimes it’s as simple as realizing that the things we used to love and enjoy were never gone; we just started focusing on other things.

We’ve moved six times in five years, across multiple provinces, and in every place we’ve dragged along the PlayStation, GameCube, N64, and others. They still work. They still play their warm, iconic startup chimes. They’re ready when we are.

We’re only two weeks into this new year, and already I’ve had a good friend over. We’ve played a few rounds of Smash Bros. Melee, run some races in Mario Kart 64, and even fired up the Morph-o-Rays in Ratchet & Clank UYA.

So, What's on the Project List For This Year?

- "Welcome Back", a 'revival' of my YouTube channel starting with a series featuring simple recordings of Minecraft beta 1.7.3. No embellishments, no extras, no algorithm-matching edits. Just me, Minecraft and a mic.

Check it out --> HERE

- "Downstairs PC V2", an era-accurate rebuild of one of my family's most beloved and enjoyed entertainment systems. It's an Acer eMachines case with a later 00s board and parts, running Windows Vista Ultimate (stripped of useless bloat) and even loaded with a copy of the original system's HDD contents. We're talking everything from game saves to pictures, documents and media from 15-20 years ago. All intact and given a new home on an age-old system. We'll pick up the weird PnP controllers and play!

- Servers, hosting, web dev and more! With our move complete and a wonderful, stable place to call home, I plan to dive into all manner of nerdy projects, including dusting off some skills and ideas I haven't touched in a good long while. 

Let's Hang Out & Play

Grab a controller, click into that weird folder of games that you haven't touched in 10 years, and have some fun! Feel free to share your adventures and discoveries, too. 

Pixelated Dirt and Glory Welcomes You

Press START to play

There’s a hum in the room.
Not from the lights. From the tower.
You know the one—beige, scuffed, stickers half-peeled, but it still powers on. Every time.

The desk is a bit too cluttered. A CRT monitor leans back like it’s been through some things. There's a 3.5" floppy in the drawer labelled only “maps – use these.” You don’t remember writing that. You don’t remember forgetting it either.

Outside, the world scrolls past—news feeds, synthetic voices, flashing thumbnails asking you to click just one more.
But here, inside, is a game from 2002 that just launched in 0.3 seconds.
No updates. No accounts.
Just you, and a rocket launcher.
And 15 bots with IQs of soggy toast.

You catch yourself grinning.

Welcome back.

A floppy disk containing well-loved game maps

This is Pixelated Dirt and Glory
A small corner of the web built for creativity, curiosity, and a bit of good old-fashioned fun.

No subscriptions. No pop-ups. No clickbait. Just the kind of nerdy thoughts, tech rambles, and gaming nostalgia that used to fill the internet before it got crowded.

I post about forgotten (and sometimes not-so-forgotten) hardware, games, and other rabbit trails that spark a sense of “hey, I remember that!”

Bookmark the site, drop by once in a while, and follow along as this little project grows — one pixel at a time.

~~~~~
You're still here? Impressive. 

To reward your patience, curiosity and/or boredom, I will explain the main inspiration of Pixelated Dirt and Glory: Liero

Liero was released in 1998 — a DOS-era gem built by Finnish developer Joosa Riekkinen. It was simple on the surface: two little worms in a dirt arena, blasting each other to bits with pixel guns and grappling hooks. But beneath that simplicity was chaos incarnate — fast, fluid, and endlessly replayable. It felt like Worms after chugging three slurpees. 

Liero on the main menu in Windows XP, in 2025!

 

It’s the perfect metaphor for what this site’s about: creative chaos, retro grit, and a kind of digital playground where old ideas still feel alive and ready to dig.

Want to go on a nostalgic adventure? 

Even now, almost three decades later, you can still play Liero! 

Grab the game -->  Here
And grab DOSBox, a program to help you run it on modern systems --> Here

If you really want to go old-school, setup WASD and the left side of the keyboard for one player, and the arrow keys/right side of the keyboard for the other! Two players on the same keyboard?! Yup. No online play, no accounts or servers, just good old-fashioned mayhem! 

Liero gets even better.

The original Liero, inspired by Worms (including some of the same weapon styles and names), is limited to two players and same-system play, but in 2003 came Liero Xtreme. Developed by Vincent Lahaye, this version is a complete Windows-friendly remake and expansion of Liero. It includes:
- Custom weapons and levels
- Online and LAN play
- Smoother graphics and higher resolutions
- Mod support
Naturally, the modding community exploded! (pun intended, because Liero) The game got endless mods inspired by popular games and IPs. 

Development on Liero Xtreme slowed around 2006, but then, thanks to a strong fan base, came OpenLieroX. 

Screenshot courtesy of openlierox.net

OpenLieroX directly forked from Liero Xtreme source, which had been partially opened by the dev community and it brought with it:
- Linux and macOS ports
- Network code overhaul
- New modding/scripting capabilities 
-Better performance, stability and modern resolution support. 
To this day, OpenLieroX is still maintained sporadically by open-source contributors. It remains the "modern" Liero. 

And much like Liero, you can absolutely download OpenLieroX and play it!

--> Here 

What does the future of Liero look like?

There's a very simple answer to that question: Whatever we want it to look like! We can still pass the classic Liero 1.33 from PC to PC via floppies (though USB is probably easier), or fire up a little server and engage in some pixelated dirt and glory!