Finished @inkle.co's new TR-49 and it's predictably excellent, but I'm now fascinated by the distinct genre of scientific mysticism blended with interpersonal tragedy that characterizes so much of the British indie game writing scene (see also: Dear Esther, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture...).

The gorgeous soundstage landscapes of The Jade Raksha (Ho Meng-Hua, 1968)

Academics from around the world have come together to explore the themes and lore of classics like #Bloodborne, #DarkSouls and #EldenRing in "𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗" ...and pre-orders are open! ONE DAY...I will have all the @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social collection on our shelves....ONE DAY... ❤️

I don't willingly use AI for anything, but the fact that every app insists on shoving it into my face means I keep seeing things like this which remind me why I don't willingly use AI for anything.

And our CfP is out! History of Games 2026: The Ages of Games. Epochs and Periodisations 25-27th June, City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-ko... Please share and hope to see you there!

The Scholar’s Codex is available for pre-purchase, published by @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social ! I’m so amazed to be part of such a well-crafted collection (the illustrations are gorgeous) edited by @domford.bsky.social, @gua-le-ni.com, @nelevdm.bsky.social and @danielvella.bsky.social.

Can finally talk about this book! @domford.bsky.social @gua-le-ni.com @nelevdm.bsky.social & I have been on this journey for a while with a great team of contributors, and it's amazing to see what T&F have done with it. Certainly the most gorgeous book I've ever been involved with.

Can finally talk about this book! @domford.bsky.social @gua-le-ni.com @nelevdm.bsky.social & I have been on this journey for a while with a great team of contributors, and it's amazing to see what T&F have done with it. Certainly the most gorgeous book I've ever been involved with.

Between the fog and the flame, a truth lies buried in ash.

Amazing item ahead. Watch this space!

Last month The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Games, ed. by @add-hawk.bsky.social & John Richard Sageng, was also out! I've got a chapter on the idea of 'beauty' in the aesthetic philosophy of Kant & Schiller and how it applies to play & games, and it's in great company in this huge collection.

And it's out! Widely available in the US. Ask your favourite bookshop if outside of the US. Digital version open access (any minute). Hope you all enjoy it!

ah well at least we restructured the entire contemporary university, the product of many centuries of slowly accumulating human ingenuity, to boost this

I also wrote a piece in the issue about ruins in occupied Palestine - from post-1948 attempts to erase the ruins memorialising centuries of Palestinian presence, to post-2023 (ab)use of images of the ruins of Gaza to foreground, rather than obscure, the violence and cruelty of the Zionist project.

I haven't been great at sharing my recent work on here. Time to fix that! First up: with Mathias Fuchs, I co-edited a special issue of Digital Culture & Society on Ruins and the Contemporary, exploring images and imaginaries of ruin in contemporary culture. www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/...

I haven't been great at sharing my recent work on here. Time to fix that! First up: with Mathias Fuchs, I co-edited a special issue of Digital Culture & Society on Ruins and the Contemporary, exploring images and imaginaries of ruin in contemporary culture. www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/...

One thing you will never think after reading a great book or listening to a great album or seeing a great piece of art is, “I’m really glad this person remained cautious while they were making this and guarded against being perceived as weird.”

Honoured that PlayLab! Magazine picked this 2015 paper of mine to revisit! www.tuni.fi/playlab/the-...

Birzeit University is the leading university in Palestine. I've taught some incredible exchange students from there. Israel has already obliterated all universities in Gaza, but it was never going to stop there: it's about making Palestinian life just as impossible in the West Bank, and everywhere.

US imperialism & aggression is hardly news - it's just been more mask-off recently. But as academics the question we need to ask is how we can act in relation to it, & at least part of the answer is to interrogate the default centering of US institutions, viewpoints & agendas in global research.

We just dropped our latest regular issue of Eludamos! With an editorial, 12(!) articles, 4(!) book reviews and a commentary, it's a big boi, and I'm really pleased to see all this excellent work out in the wild.

🚨 My new article 'Antagonistic Game Design: the Author as a Player' is out on #Eludamos (Journal for Computer Game Culture)! 🚨 >> septentrio.uit.no/index.php/el... << WARNING: might contains traces of @cloobot.bsky.social @doougle.net @jzagal.bsky.social @foddy.net and @add-hawk.bsky.social XD

The Center for Digital Play at the IT University of Copenhagen is organizing a new conference: Playing Futures. The conference will take place from May 20th to 22nd at the IT University of Copenhagen. You can read more about it here: playingfutures.today

Maybe useful, especially if you want to argue against this nonsense bsky.app/profile/oliv...

I'm delighted to announce that my new book, Artgames after Gamergate, is out now with Palgrave: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

I'm hardly championing an obscure artist or anything, but I finally listened to the new Rosalía album in full yesterday (was waiting to get the record in my hands) and I had a full-body emotional experience. My maximalist soul loves it when an artist goes all the way out. youtu.be/htQBS2Ikz6c?...

Already laying out my meditation mat and lighting my scented candles in preparation.

When Elden Ring had been announced but not yet released, its subreddit started collectively pretending the game was already out. I spent far too many hours reading strategies to defeat the (completely made-up) Glaive Master Hodir. For research. This is the result: doi.org/10.1093/aest...

New stream of "A LIft Home." Premium Passenger Dr. Joleen Blom. Live on November 19, 2025. From Lublin (EPLB) to Helsinki (EFHK). Inflight menu: Transmedia storytelling and the dynamic game character. Departure 7pm (CET)/8pm (EET). #gamestudies #transmedia #mediastudies wp.me/p5EI1K-1tC

As always it was a pleasure to be at Essen Spiel with @mightyboards.bsky.social! Got to show off our new Fateforge expansion, caught up with friends, made new ones, played some excellent new games (special shout out to the Yōtei team, who made one of the most delightful games I've played in a while)

Okay, at this point, if I want to publish an academic book, which publisher can I work with that means my intellectual labour isn't being fed into an LLM wood chipper to make money for someone else? Asking for a friend.

Okay so did Paul Thomas Anderson happen to be driving down a particularly undulating stretch of road in the desert and have a eureka moment, or did he have the idea for the scene and scour the Southwest looking for a stretch of road like that? Someone has to ask the real questions.

The Zone of Interest La Chimera Furiosa Drive My Car Decision to Leave Bacurau Petit Maman RRR I Saw the TV Glow Aftersun

DiGRA 2026 (Ireland) CfP is now live Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025 Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026 www.digraconference2026.com #games #gamestudies

Please please please everyone (pls reskeet) who is involved with a uni/college academic program (broadly speaking) conected to games Could you write a quick comment + links if any apply to what you and your institution are doing in that sphere? I need to show what's out there. 1/ #AncientBluesky 🗃️

The new issue of Countertext includes a paper by Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone and myself on libraries in digital games - their significances, (non-)functions, meanings. It's not open-access (boo), but ask and you shall receive www.euppublishing.com/toc/count/11/2

Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan is awarded Adventure Game of the Year at the Polish Board Game of the Year awards! It's beyond amazing to see Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan continue to get recognition, especially right as we've wrapped up work on the second expansion.

I think we should start using the term "long gamergate"

The Play for Peace: Games for Palestine charity bundle is now live! Nearly 400 games from creators all around the world, with proceeds going directly to Gaza relief efforts. Bundle link: itch.io/b/2979/play-... We made a launch trailer to celebrate this moment👇 Please RT.

At #historyofgames2025, where the focus is the 1990s! My own 90s in gaming involved playing NES game knockoffs on my cousin's Micro Genius, getting my first PC, and, as a 13-year-old, buying pirated PC games from a police officer running a side business from the trunk of a squad car. Ah, nostalgia.

It's been ten years since I defended my PhD at ITU - the community of researchers I met during my time there set me off on the academic path I'm still on, and it's great to be back this week to participate in this anniversary celebration. en.itu.dk/About-ITU/Pr...

Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump was a mask off moment and showed the world we can’t depend on US tech companies. For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!

The future dystopian Rome of Lucio Fulci's Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984). My paper on the film's use of the gladiatorial combat trope has just been published in @gua-le-ni.com @domford.bsky.social and Riccardo Fassone's special issue of Eludamos on fictional games. eludamos.org/index.php/el...

The future dystopian Rome of Lucio Fulci's Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984). My paper on the film's use of the gladiatorial combat trope has just been published in @gua-le-ni.com @domford.bsky.social and Riccardo Fassone's special issue of Eludamos on fictional games. eludamos.org/index.php/el...

It was a true honor to give the keynote at DiGRA 2025 at the University of Malta. The audience was deeply moved, some in tears and many asked: “What can we do to help Palestine?” That question alone meant so much. #DiGRA25

520+ participants from 42 countries, 326 paper & abstract presentations, 16 workshops, a PhD consortium, a public discussion, conference dinner, board game night, improv show, and a beach visit. I think we can safely say that #DiGRA25 organized by @indigitalgames.bsky.social was a big success!

I spent this week in Valletta, Malta, at Digra 2025 conference. Digra is an annual game studies conference, that I have managed to attend approximately every other year since 2007. I’ll list some of my highlights from this year. (Looong thread.)

aaaaah it's starting tomorrow digraconference2025.org

Are we doing this? Mulholland Drive Portrait of a Lady on Fire In the Mood for Love Happy Hour First Reformed Mad Max: Fury Road The New World Pulse An Elephant Sitting Still The Zone of Interest

The US and its proxy are dragging the world into nuclear war but, but...movies are awesome, am I right? Right? This is fine.