New roommate just bailed less than a week before move in. I am skipping becoming the joker get me a behelit.

We reached the 100 new subscribers we needed to unlock a Final Fantasy and politics issue for you folks! We'll start production soon with the goal of publishing it in early 2026. Thank you SO much for all of your help with this drive! We couldn't have done it without you.

NINETY-NINE, this is nuts

i wrote about being a cosplayer and getting over my body image issues as a Youth and how one of my favorite shows did a storyline about this sort of thing and idk that i really needed the show to do this lol

I’ve been playing Baby Steps, which means Zoe has been playing Baby Steps. I did not write about Baby Steps, but Zoe had a lot of thoughts… Zoe did write about Baby Steps. Enjoy the games criticism debut of @kermitthefrog.bsky.social willarowe.bearblog.dev/baby-steps-r...

@unwinnable.com is 5 subscriptions away from the cool hundo we're asking for to make our Politics in Final Fantasy issue a reality!!!! Tell your friends, it's a great deal!!!

Not surprising an Obama staffer is proud friends with a war criminal but like you’re not supposed to admit you’re all actually friends up there and completely detached from the material reality of the empire you launder

changing my mind on putting him in charge of a wannado city we gotta run this man out of town

This month I wrote about Trails in the Sky (og), cookbooks, and what makes a world feel alive.

sorry if i accidently herald the rapture i'm practicing my flow studies

A collection of seasonal excerpts from the commonplace, Summer 2025: autumnwright.bearblog.dev/summer-2025/

Are you or someone you know skipping GDC (or considering doing so) because of worries about coming to the US/San Francisco in the current environment? If so, I want to hear from you for a piece. DM me here or kyle DOT orland AT arstechnica DOT com. Please spread the word

We interviewed @alienmelon.bsky.social and discussed text games, Interactive Fiction, social media, tech fascism, and lots more.

Step into a new identity. This month's issue of Unwinnable Monthly features @daytenrose.bsky.social on butterflies in games, @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social on Disco Elysium and the trans experience, and our regulars on the topics on their minds. Buy: buff.ly/7V3prT1 Subscribe: buff.ly/UexEQz3

A collection of seasonal excerpts from the commonplace, Summer 2025: autumnwright.bearblog.dev/summer-2025/

dems are really just in it for the love of the game (normalizing baseless conservative talking points)

good read unfortunately I am just thinking about Ace Combat’s sensuous LLM again

Is there a spoopy game or movie or book or whatever you've been dying for an excuse to dive into? You're in luck because I am looking for at least one feature for next month's Generically Spoopy Edition of Unwinnable!

Finally wrote about Trails, the series that’s winning by basically doing the opposite of what everyone else is www.theverge.com/games/781492...

The bill wurtz of the 23rdst century making a History of America video

Knights of Guinevere: Cyberpunk Bloodborne in Disney World

jokes on me watching videos YouTube recommend but how are you gonna talk about Xenoblade for 4 hours and your 5 minute conclusion is “it’s a rejection of determinism” NO IT’S NOT

Just fought Phantom in 2 goes Silksong so good when the fights are duels

Sucker Punch throwing its employee under the bus following a right wing pressure campaign is pretty bad as far as nominative determinism goes.

Y’all need to hype this one up more. Marc wrote a thoughtful take on remasters and remakes (including Trails and Metal Gear) by dissecting the history of translations of Homer! WITH an interview too!! Good stuff!

Where is his condemnation of the endless amount of harassment Erika Ishii has received because they're playing the main character in Yotei?

the extent to which my dress up darling pulls of the “fictional game/show/song/whatever within the show” is scary

We are at 89 out of the 100 new Unwinnable Magazine subscribers we need to unlock a Final Fantasy and politics issue, so the gloves are off. This is an image of the social media vulture's cat. You will be denied future images unless more people subscribe to Unwinnable. You know what to do.

Things said watching the intro of new Bake Off: “oh no they gave them a bigger budget” “well at least this one’s not racist” “This is so British”

Knights of Guinevere PILOT youtu.be/MCAdbUaMlAE

been thinking (longer than the past week) bout how online discourse lost a lot to the rhetorical capture of "censorship" by horny men obsessed with how teens are drawn/modelled in anime and games

hi, hello, here's a story. nintendo of america is ending hundreds of customer support contracts in the U.S., and is outsourcing those jobs to south america ahead of switch 2's first holiday season: www.ign.com/articles/nin...

Couldn't review the Trails in the Sky Remake but last year I wrote about the original Sky trilogy (there's nothing spoiling the first two games at all just stop reading about the third game in the finals section if you don't want to)

Hey friends! So if you've been keeping up with this account you know we have hit some hard times this week. We are going to make it through, but if you can spare a couple bucks to help us out it would mean the world to Nora and me.

Just now, 11 state and city lawmakers were arrested by DHS police on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza after a hour of demanding access to the ICE lock up on the same floor. @thecity.nyc

still seeing writing about AI writing that makes vibes based arguments for what writing is for without citing any literacy studies is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy

look journalism and class has never not been this but there very recently used to be more room for people doing actual writing and now we're just back to the children of aristocrats hanging out (and sexting) with their parents' friends being the only people with the stability to call this a career

NEW @teenvogue.com: a Texas bill passed this summer mandating schools deadname trans students, leaving enforcement to districts. @kitoconnell.com speaks to trans students in TX: “I’ve never felt more at threat here. I can’t stop thinking that everything would be so different if I detransitioned.”

I wrote words in this book, but I wrote them a while ago and then a machine printed them BUT!!! if you act fast you can get a copy where @jacobgeller.com writes directly in the book with his HAND?! Madman.

Couldn't review the Trails in the Sky Remake but last year I wrote about the original Sky trilogy (there's nothing spoiling the first two games at all just stop reading about the third game in the finals section if you don't want to)

yes, right now is a switch up in public levels of crackdown on political speech on TV. but states prosecuting protesters more harshly post-2020 while targeting marginalized populations, and the censorship/criminalization of Palestine protest and speech over the last 2 years, gets us here

at least I had an unwatched episode of my dress up darling

Remember that time I wrote a fresh out of undergrad, 2400 word take on the gender and body politics of Hades that was well received by classicists and would probably get me added to a list if it ran now? Five years later, on the the antiquated bodies and modern myths of Supergiant’s Hades:

"we are going to have to live with each other" is a liberal position, whereas the conservative position is "no we don't"

Re. RPS freelance, I now have a budget for irregular (maybe 6-12 pieces a year) 2000-3000 wordish, more granular and specific reporting and investigative criticism that broaches a new topic or addresses a gap in knowledge regarding something familiar.

i finally watched this very good video essay about the horror space lesbians and you should too

Remember that time I wrote a fresh out of undergrad, 2400 word take on the gender and body politics of Hades that was well received by classicists and would probably get me added to a list if it ran now? Five years later, on the the antiquated bodies and modern myths of Supergiant’s Hades:

THEY LET ME WRITE ANOTHER BOOK "You’re Not Overthinking It" is available for pre-order right now. It collects the most meaningful essays of my career alongside hundreds of new annotations on each piece’s creation, background, and legacy. Far more details below: www.lostincult.co.uk/overthinking

Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics. The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.