Carnage Infernational Featuring: @cybrlich.bsky.social /// Michael Overton Brown /// @strangescaffold.bsky.social /// @direkris.itch.io /// Playables

Friends! You may have heard that Bo Kampmann Walther and me have written a game studies book about football: www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/1... 
Well, we’re going to do a book presentation! miguelsicart.net/football_book/

Registration for our conference Playing Futures is now open! Register here: miguelsicart.limesurvey.net/589896 Some notes: entrance is free, there are limited seats, and we will not be livestreaming. Also,we're running this with a skeleton crew, so apologies if things are not smooth and professional

Friends! New book announcement! It’s finally out! Bo Kampmann Walther and me have written The Laws of the Game: A Game Studies Book About Soccer, and now you can buy it: www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/1...

Next Monday I will be presenting our paper "Video Game Archaeology as Hauntological Practice: A Collaborative Autoethnography in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree" at #chi2026! The preprint is available to download here: kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/pu... #archaeogaming #archaeology #hci #gamedev

Klaatu Barada Nikto

The acceptance/rejection emails for Playing Futures have been submitted. We have accepted 13 very interesting works by junior and senior scholars. I look forward to hosting the conference and learning from all this wonderful people!

Join us at the @claptoncfc.co.uk clubhouse on Sunday for the finale of my (exhausting) 2 month Billionaires & Guillotines board game tour (pub by @plutopress.bsky.social). Organized w. @gamestransformed.bsky.social and kicks off the 2026 game jam: SMASH THE FASH www.tickettailor.com/events/rival...

We'll host a conference on the convergence between videogames and gambling in late September 2026 in Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳 Call for papers: tinyurl.com/thegamblingcfp Let’s think “outside of the loot box.” Abstract deadline: 26 June 2026 Results notification: 20 July 2026 Conference: 28–29 September 2026

Artist Sam Lavigne created ‘Slow LLM’ to make people question their dependence on tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Or at least, make them super annoying to use.

I have an idea for academic publishers: why not do the "10 Euro each book campaign" that Palgrave did once? Your book prices are ridiculously absurd. #academicchatter

I've written a book! Next Level: Making Games That Make Themselves is the story of procedural generation - the tech behind games like Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress. It's about how it works, the games that use it, and the art and magic behind it. Out May 7th, in bookshops: linktr.ee/next_level 🎲🔮

Copenhagen friends, I need a bit of help: I have to find a venue that can host around 80 people in late May, preferably affordable. I just need the space, no need (nor budget) for catering. Suggestions here in the open or in DM. Thanks!

Friends! Game designer and scholar Max Haiven is visiting the ITU on Friday, March 20th, at 15:00: digitalplay.itu.dk/event/max-ha...

all will rise is handing back Microsoft money & pledging @nogamesforgenocide.com — it’s a difficult thing to do when funding and attention are scarce commodities for indies like us, but we hope more of our fellow devs and indie studios will join us in taking a stand 🔥 www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

Come study with us in the Master in Interaction and Computational Media Design! Second phase of applications is open until April 2nd! More info at mdimc.fba.up.pt/index-EN.html #InteractionDesign #UXUIDesign #WebDesign #ApplicationDesign #GameDesign #XRDesign #ArtisticProduction #CreativeDirection

Here’s @samuelhorti.bsky.social on how the consolidation of soccer video games has mirrored the capture of the sport itself by some of the worst actors on the world stage. remapradio.com/other/enclos...

Friends! The ITU is hiring! We're looking for a tech-savvy person who can help us develop the games program and the Center for Digital Play research profile: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI... If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Char and Martin are: a)some of the best people you will ever meet, and b) great game makers. So there's at least two reasons for you to go get the demo of their game. If you need another one: c) it's a very, very good deckbuilder.

Friends! On Friday March 13th, at 14:00, the Center for Digital Play is hosting a talk by Victor Navarro-Remesal, on The Making of Zen and Slow Games. You can read more about the talk here: digitalplay.itu.dk/event/victor...

Friends! If you are in my network, I probably asked you to do some reviews for this conference we are organizing at the Center for Digital Play: playingfutures.today

A quick update about the playingfutures.today conference. We are getting ready to send all the submissions for review, and we expect to have a preliminary program around April 6th, plus or minus the usual academic delays with these things. As usual, questions or comments, please send them my way!

Muy feliz de anunciar que CINE LUDENS: 50 DIÁLOGOS ENTRE CINE Y JUEGO está en abierto en pdf en el repositorio O2 de la UOC: hdl.handle.net/10609/154304 Espero que con ello encuentre nuevos lectores y que sea provechoso a aquellos con interés en el tema. ¡Viva la ciencia abierta! #openaccess

I'm looking for work! I love technical challenges and got a deep artistic sense. I enjoy stunning folks with visuals AND coding efficiently. I worked on games, XR and immersive art, but especially interested in museum displays, music videos, science education. DM me! Would love to chat.

Friends! Next Friday Dooley Murphy will give a talk at the Center for Digital Play. The talk is called Patiency - The Feeling of Being Acted upon in Virtual Reality and it's going to be a must for people interested in VR and human experience.

Publication announcement! I can now retire in peace: together with my friend Bo Kampmann Walther, I have written a book about football (aka soccer, fodbold, or fútbol). The book is out i April 15 from Routledge/CRC Press: www.routledge.com/The-Laws-of-... (1/5)

A couple of updates about our conference playingfutures.today Deadline extended to February 23rd! Submit your work! playingfutures.today/call-for-pap... If you have tried to contact us through the website and have not heard anything, try now! I have just fixed the email so it works!

🤩¡Vamos a Santiago a presentaros el atlas! ¿Dónde y cuándo? 📍El 18 de febrero estaremos presentando 'Las fuerzas que mueven el mundo' a las 19:00 horas en la Librería Follas Novas La entrada es libre hasta completar aforo. ¡No te lo pierdas! 👀

🤩¡Vamos a Santiago a presentaros el atlas! ¿Dónde y cuándo? 📍El 18 de febrero estaremos presentando 'Las fuerzas que mueven el mundo' a las 19:00 horas en la Librería Follas Novas La entrada es libre hasta completar aforo. ¡No te lo pierdas! 👀

The Bathysphere is a weekly newsletter with recommendations and deep dives on games and game-related culture. It's completely free and you can subscribe to get it automatically delivered to your inbox here: buttondown.com/Bathysphere

👾 ANNOUNCING 868-BACK! Dismantle capitalism one server at a time in this computer-hacking strategy roguelike game by Michael Brough! Play the free demo in Steam Next Fest on Feb. 23rd! Wishlist on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3304110/...

I'm getting some questions regarding the playingfutures.today call for papers regarding interactive works, so here's a tl;dr: - It's not mandatory that the interactive works submitted become part of the conference's itch collection. It will be up to the creators to decide! (1/3)

As you may know, we are running a conference on games, play, and climate futures in May at the ITU Copenhagen: playingfutures.today Some news: the deadline for abstracts has been extended to February 20th. Now you have no excuses left not to submit!

Friends! On Friday February 6th at 14:00, the Center for Digital Play will be hosting a talk by Maria Ruotsalainen: The rise and fall of the Overwatch League - Understanding desiring production esports.

Ya disponible Estética y videojuegos, un libro que he tenido el honor de editar y que está compuesto por las maravillosas aportaciones de numerosos académicos y especialistas en la cultura del videojuego. Disponible en la web de Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca - www.eusal.es/eusal/catalo...

A thread on ZEN AND SLOW GAMES (MIT Press, 2026)

If you have a US mailing address, you can buy the book today with a hefty 30% discount! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/798035... Use the code MITP30 for 30€ today (20/1). After that, READMIT20 will get you 20%. mitpress.mit.edu/discount-cod...

Slowness and reflectiveness have always been part of the video game medium. In "Zen and Slow Games," Víctor Navarro-Remesal challenges the dominant discourse by delving into the reflective modes of playfulness in video games. Available #OpenAccess: bit.ly/3Lh2r22 @vthewanderer.bsky.social

Veo que ya está disponible la charla que dimos Beatriz Pérez Zapata y yo en el último Bilbao International Games Conference (BIG), "Enseñar Historia del videojuego en tiempos de economía de la atención". Esperamos que os guste. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPV1...

Here’s a friendly reminder about the conference we are running at the ITU in May: playingfutures.today Deadline for abstracts is February 16th, and the conference will take place May 20th to 22nd in Copenhagen. Look at our call for papers for more details: playingfutures.today/call-for-pap...

Our game is for Mario Party fans, algorithm please find them! Our game is for Boomerang Fu fans, algorithm please find them! Our game is for Party Animals fans, algorithm please find them! Our game is for Lego Party fans, algorithm please find them!

friends! acquaintances! help! i'm looking to hire a game designer (living in the Netherlands) to help build games in The Hidden Folks Universe, starting with a sequel to the indie hit game Hidden Folks. know someone who's a good fit? pls forward this, ty! hiddenfolks.com/job-opening/...

Making games is a LOT easier than getting eyeballs on them, lemme tell ya! Speaking of... our weird bird deckbuilder has a great new free playtest build out: 🦜 Daily flights! 🦩 Tutorial! 🦚 2 playstyles! 🦆 So… many… birds!!! Join us! Or tell a friend! store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

For my english-reading friends: if you want to know more about the really excellent programs for using games as part of civic literacy that Lucas Ramada is running in Barcelona, check this out! The booklet is available in English, and I think it's a must for library folks.

Hey! Que por fin se ha publicado en tres lenguas (Cat/Cas/ En) el nuevo librito de Ficció en Joc, el programa de mediación con juegos en bibliotecas públicas de la diputación de Barcelona. www.diba.cat/ca/web/bibli...

Compren este libro / Buy this book

Some good contenders for ‘father of indie games’ (‘indie’ as we understand it today, in its various senses) - Cly5m (seiklus) - Derek Yu (eternal daughter) - Charles Tumino (destruction carnival) - Kenta Cho (gunroar) - Jeff Minter (space giraffe) - Mark Overmars (game maker) - Jun’ya Ōta (touhou)

The Center for Digital Play (digitalplay.itu.dk) has a YouTube channel, and we've just published a ton of content! Seth Giddings (@sethgiddings.bsky.social) on Postdigital Playthings: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAjE...

Stealworkers

I’m very excited to share my latest article, “Premiers to Pixels: The Discourse of Cinema Envy in 1990s Videogame Magazines”, now published in the Hollywood and Games special issue of Convergence, edited by Helen Stuckey and Angela Ndalianis. Open access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...