I’m over here trying to enjoy PSLF and this comes across my screen. Sigh. IGN claims his classes are “a world first.” FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, EVERYONE!!!! NEVER BEEN DONE BY ANYONE EVER!!!! Meanwhile, I and many others have been doing this for a decade or more.

Historians (rightly) get annoyed when other academics weigh in on their subject & claim to have “solved” or “completed” history, ignoring existing research & nuance. Yet historians keep weighing in on games as if no one has ever paid attention to them before (& it’s not great)

Last week we hosted a discussion panel at the @royalsoced.bsky.social Curious Festival. Our brilliant speakers (incl. @chriskempshall.bsky.social @drtimpeacock.bsky.social) explored history & fantasy in games & media. Find the recording here if you missed it! www.historicalgames.net/recording-un...

For those who missed this wonderful event and discussion, it's now available in YouTube form! www.youtube.com/live/blXnnwc... 🗃️

This event is happening on Wednesday! I think there's still time to book a place for either in person or to attend online and watch some very smart people (and me) talk about history and fantasy in games and media! 🗃️

This sort of thing came up again in conversation today. I do not believe that UK universities (as institutions) are fully preparing their PhD students and staff for non-academic life & options. I will happily come and talk to students & staff about my experiences & tips etc if universites pay me 🗃️

I made this today to (less eloquently) express the same feeling (of rage):

Last week we hosted the fantastic Otherworldly Entertainment conference on horror, gothic & occult themed videogames @ucph.bsky.social. It was such an inspiring event with so many great talks incl. keynotes by @enwright.bsky.social & @kirstinmills.bsky.social. Thanks to everyone who participated!

🧵 Next month, Dr @enwright.bsky.social is co-running and chairing a panel with the @historygamesnet.bsky.social and the Imperial War Museums Institute as part of the @royalsoced.bsky.social's Curious Festival.

Sooo I guess I now get to say that I am one of the writers working on this incredibly cool game 🎉

History hidden in plain sight in RDR2! And how John Williams's excellent novel Butcher's Crossing influenced the game, especially Dutch Van der Linde. readdead.com/2025/08/06/t...

Sharing this again because the deadline is coming up on the 8th.

Can confirm that it is always a good idea to get a historian to work on your game. Yes even if your game does not have a historical setting. (I am maybe biased but I stand by it)

If you missed our Gender panel event on Tuesday, you can now watch the recording of this fantastic discussion here via our Youtube Channel! Featuring @verysrsgames.com @katexe.bsky.social @tesswatty.bsky.social & @ide4fix.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtP3...

A short piece by me on early modern ships’ surgeons and emotions!

Apropos the recent RDR2-adjacent *discourse*, @readdead.com’s work is a phenomenally in depth consideration of RDR2’s literary, cultural & historical contexts. You should check it out, incl. this hugely valuable demographic assessment of all significant characters (1/2) readdead.com/2025/07/02/r...

New post! Ahead of tomorrow’s panel Andreas Kjeldsen (@verysrsgames.com) discusses forthcoming comedic narrative adventure The Knight & the Maiden, where players solve puzzles to unfold the story of a noblewoman’s quest (& her many gendered disguises): www.historicalgames.net/playing-with...

This is tomorrow! Featuring @tesswatty.bsky.social, @katexe.bsky.social, @andreaskjeldsen.bsky.social of @verysrsgames.com, and Leandro Wallace. Still a few tickets left! #gamestudies #historygames #gamingthepast

I spend a lot of time talking about all the things historical games do wrong when representing (or, mostly, not representing) women in the past - for a change, here I wrote about some games which I think do something better and more interesting in their depictions of historical women & girls!

New on the HGN blog: Gender panel guest speaker @katexe.bsky.social explores the widespread lack of engagement with “women’s histories” in historical video games, & discusses some examples that do represent women’s stories more meaningfully: www.historicalgames.net/womens-histo...

One week to go until our Gender discussion panel! Find out more & sign up here 👇 www.historicalgames.net/gender/

I know how much Bob didn’t want to write this review, but it needed to be written.

We've got a bonus discussion panel event coming up September 10th! In collaboration with the IWM Institute, we're hosting this brilliant lineup of speakers for a hybrid discussion, as part of @royalsoced.bsky.social Curious 2025 Read more and register here! www.historicalgames.net/rse-curious-...

We are happy to announce a further guest for our event on 29 July: Leandro Wallace! Sadly, Leandro isn't here on Bluesky, but you can find out more about him, and about our other amazing panellists, on our event page: www.historicalgames.net/gender/

The HGN team recently chatted with Rytis Jadzevicius of @fluxogames.bsky.social about their upcoming game, Book Smugglers. A decision-driven, point-and-click adventure set in 19thC Lithuania, the game blends resource management with historical storytelling: www.historicalgames.net/interview-wi...

If I do say so myself, a brilliant lineup of speakers to chat about video games, fantasy, history and conflict in Edinburgh this September! Online and in person (and free!!) 👇🎮 @historygamesnet.bsky.social @chriskempshall.bsky.social @drtimpeacock.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

Very much looking forwards to taking part in this panel with @enwright.bsky.social, Fruzsina Pittner, & Mimi Markham at @royalsoced.bsky.social's Curious Festival in September! rse.org.uk/event/unreal...

Authenaccureality

The HGN’s next panel discussion on gender, history and games is coming up in 2 weeks! Sign up via the post below, and read more about the theme (and our brilliant speakers) here: www.historicalgames.net/gender/

New this week on the HGN blog, Marcus Jensen reflects on Elden's Ring's explorations of gender through the ideas of medieval alchemy. Enjoy! www.historicalgames.net/let-us-be-sh... #gamestudies #historygames

The next contribution to our Gender theme is out! Regina Seiwald’s new video, Hidden Architects, explores the history of women in the UK games industry, from 1970-2000. You can find it here: www.historicalgames.net/hidden-archi... #gamestudies #historygames

We’re excited to announce that the online panel discussion for our Gender theme will take place on 29 July, 16:00-17:30 UK time, featuring @tesswatty.bsky.social (chair), @katexe.bsky.social, @andreaskjeldsen.bsky.social and a third, mystery panellist. Tickets at buytickets.at/historicalga....

are you ready 📰 It's TRADE MAGAZINE WEEK 📰 💥 NEARLY 400 video game industry trade magazines, full-text searchable by the public 💥 🎙️ NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto, Sid Meier, and more 🎙️ ☠️ NOT for the FAINT-OF-HEART historian ☠️ 🚨 ONLY at archive.gamehistory.org 🚨

New post on the blog! Rob Sherman writes about A Master Betrayed! - a set of physical and digital interactive works for the East Looe Old Gaol Museum in Cornwall, UK. The post includes links to explore the project yourself at home: www.historicalgames.net/a-master-bet...

Generative AI companies have stolen from everybody with the implict belief that nobody would actually have the balls to sue them for doing so, and as a result have acted with a blatant disregard for copyright law. They thought big corpos would want to pay them. They were wrong.

Absolutely delighted that the first episode of the podcast I’ve been making with Ubisoft and HistoryHit is now out wherever you get your podcasts! We discuss creating Victorian London in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, featuring an interview with the lead writer ✍️ open.spotify.com/episode/0kTv...

Exciting HGN-Gender Theme News! On May 28th, our guest convenor @tesswatty.bsky.social will be livestreaming a play test of a new table top role playing game - World Weaver: Which Witch? - alongside a fantastic lineup of fellow researchers. Full details here: www.historicalgames.net/livestream-e...

Close to TWO THOUSAND academics and educators say TRANS RIGHTS NOW. (Sorry if you've seen this (and the historians' letter!) too many times. The lack of an algorithm means we have to keep reposting it to catch people, and this really matters.)

You can now register for the Mythological Game Studies Conference (22-24 May, online)! We'll have around 30 presentations on mythology & games, a dev roundtable, and more. Head over to mythgamescon.wordpress.com for the conference schedule and abstracts! @maciejpaprocki.bsky.social #MythGames2025

Incidentally if you've been enjoying the conversation about gender & protagonists in historical games this week, then get involved with the next HGN quarterly theme on gender! More information coming very shortly, but you can already start planning your own contributions.

We are excited to announce our next HGN quarterly theme: Gender! Guest-chaired/convened by Dr Tess Watterson, the theme will accept contributions from this very moment until 30 June 2025. More details here: www.historicalgames.net/call-for-con... #gamingthepast #historicalgames #skystorians

If you missed our Medievalism panel a few weeks back, you can now watch the recording on our YouTube channel, featuring @robehoughton.bsky.social @jubalbarca.bsky.social @blairapgar.bsky.social & Katie Newell! 📺 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V1O... #gamingthepast #historicalgames

What we need is for everyone to talk like this the moment one of these losers starts their stupid culture war bullshit.

Your #GDC2025 ain't over until you've been to WHATS NEW IN GAME HISTORY 2025 // 3-4PM in 2006 West. Once more, with feeling, we've assembled a banner line up of experts on game history community initiatives, scholarly publishing, museums and archives, and legal updates. JOIN US!

Today's the day, history and games fans! This afternoon, our brilliant lineup of speakers will be exploring medievalism and/in games. Come join us later! You can register here: buytickets.at/historicalga... In this thread, you'll also find a roundup of all our speaker's posts for the HGN blog👇:

Over 2 days we brought the University into the communities of Caerau & Ely to showcase that #thehumanitiesmatter @beinghumanfest.bsky.social @janmachielsen.bsky.social @enwright.bsky.social @emilyncock.bsky.social @mariafragoulaki.bsky.social @abdulazim.bsky.social youtu.be/m4XZHype364?...

Completing the lineup of content from our Medievalism panelists, in today's post Blair Apgar @blairapgar.bsky.social explores the reuse and reinterpretation of historical architecture, & how the practice connects to memory&power in The Witcher 3 www.historicalgames.net/echoing-the-... #gamingthepast

New post! Katie Newell explores Hampshire Cultural Trust's partnership w/ @ubisoft.com on 878AD: an immersive living history experience that combines elements of AC:Valhalla & Discovery Tour: Viking Age, live actors & artifacts www.historicalgames.net/878ad-immers... #gamingthepast #assassinscreed

There is still time to submit a proposal to the CFP for Otherworldly Entertainment (details found via link below). The deadline is 31 March 2025. It is sure to be an incredible event with two amazing keynotes: @enwright.bsky.social & @kirstinmills.bsky.social Best of all, you get to visit Copenhagen

The UK university sector is on fire. This is happening virtually everywhere -- job cuts, hiring freezes, department closures, PhD funding programmes... full blown crisis