THE FINAL POST OF THIS ISSUE IS LIVE @jarrettjawn.bsky.social got a quick Q&A with Creative Director of @yasukethegame.bsky.social Will Gwasera to chat about afrobeats and anime inspos for their upcoming action game

🚨 NEW POST🚨 HI NEW READERS! Welcome to the Bar Review series, where my media friends consider the best part of press events and appointments: the food. @imluisgutierrez.bsky.social reflects on his very busy July that had him in in front of many delicious catering spreads.

"A friend of mine once told me that when a game isn’t clicking for him, he says “I am going to die one day” out loud, and lets his instincts guide whether he turns the game off and moves on. " - @edgarallanbro.bsky.social buff.ly/AROmTbv

NEW POST As he watches time tick in the fabled multi-season industry Madden League, @edgarallanbro.bsky.social reflects on the role-playing game-ness of it all, and how he gained the agency to spend his time as he see fits.

"Sometimes the world is decaying around them already, haunted by the ghosts of the past, and the authority remains in denial until there’s a bat in the face." - @broganchattin.bsky.social READ MORE HERE:

Freaky ahhh ghost party?? OFF's got that. Existential dread? OFF's got that. RPG Maker-core? Yep, thats OFF, too. Read @broganchattin.bsky.social's case for it's timeless necessity! lifebarmag.com/how-to-make-...

🚨 NEW POST🚨 Consider: All of your favorite weird ass RPGs? They're all OFF's sons, says @broganchattin.bsky.social 🔗

"The problem isn’t The Island itself per-se, as virulently feculent as it is, it’s in the demonstrable inability 2K Games has shown over the last six months to meaningfully support it..." - @jamwa.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/ZgaidOa

TFW you hated 2K's The City and they make a somehow worse version for WWE 2K25 🔗 buff.ly/ZgaidOa ✍️ @jamwa.bsky.social

The enshittification of WWE TV shows might finally have seeped its way into the the 2K series, which was just enjoying a renaissance of sorts. @jamwa.bsky.social warns the end is nigh for the series' bounce back if it continues to body slam all of its goodwill 🔗

"Just like trying to make sure that my best soldiers stay alive and kicking in XCOM, I have to make sure my best wrestlers stay around on my show." As @easbygames.bsky.social points out, WWE 2k25's MyGM is a hidden gem of tactical strategy game. 🔗 buff.ly/Lr7PGj4

If you like the work LIFEBAR is doing, please consider supporting with a donation the Ko-Fi! This situationship I have with publishing good writing from talented friends and colleagues is fun, and also expensive! Any little bit will help secure the future of the operation! 🔗

Easby, Rhi. "The Assassination of Baron Corbin by the Coward The Undertaker." 2025 (also read @easbygames.bsky.social 's piece on how MyGM rules, actually: buff.ly/Lr7PGj4)

LIFEBAR 005 begins now!!! Starting with a hot take: What if @easbygames.bsky.social told you that MyGM Mode in WWE 2K25 was one of the best post COVID-era strategy games available???

🚨 LIFEBAR ISSUE 005: FALL 2025 IMMINENT🚨 With contributions from: @jamwa.bsky.social @easbygames.bsky.social @broganchattin.bsky.social @imluisgutierrez.bsky.social + MORE STARTING OCTOBER 6th! ko-fi.com/lifebar

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“The [narrative] is about telling your own story, in your own voice, and learning that sometimes you need to relive something 1,000 times until you can make the truth shine.” lifebarmag.com/hell-clock-g...

"Just because a bunch of assholes make a lot of money parading their defiled shell around doesn’t mean we can’t reclaim it for ourselves. " Timo's right! Read more about how they were emboldened to not let the shit birds scare them away from the REMATCH pitch

“Of all the ways AI has killed us in fiction, the reality is the meanest and stupidest.“ @letominor.bsky.social reminds us that, if current events are to be considered, Grok will be a greater threat to civilization than any SHODAN apocalypse fantasy. lifebarmag.com/praise-the-m...

LINKS TO PREVIOUS ISSUES ARE ON THE WAY! This will include last issue's web debut, as well as the first two's pieces reformatted for the new situation we have going on here. More details to come!

If you enjoy LIFEBAR, or just want to support independently run games media, please consider donating! All proceeds go towards paying for the work of LB's fabulous contributors. ko-fi.com/lifebar

Hot off the heels of EVO 2025, @tierknee.com reminisced about the winding path of online netcode and in-person weeklies that brought him to his love for fighting games. (ft. @edgarallanbro.bsky.social and @sharpiepls.com) #EVO #FGC 🔗

I'm in here with this piece on System Shock 2, in which I state that "image trained replication may only come across as the surface imitation of a pathetically limited toy managed by minds too small to understand the smallness of the machine that they built." lifebarmag.com/praise-the-m...

ITS TIME!!!!! Come see what we cooked up for Issue 004!

For @lifebarmag.com, I spoke on my time in fighting games, college, competition, COVID, and more! lifebarmag.com/my-time-with...

⏰ LIFEBAR ISSUE 004 IS LIVE⏰ IN THIS ISSUE: 🤖 TWO (2!) great thought pieces about System Shock 2's relevant and divisive legacy ⚽ Reclaiming online gaming, one Rematch game at a time 🐴 Does "everything is wrestling" apply to anime horsegirls? + MORE lifebarmag.com

🚨 LIFEBAR ISSUE 004: SUMMER 2025 IMMINENT🚨 With contributions from: @tierknee.com @letominor.bsky.social @amisma.bsky.social @jdharlock.bsky.social @dontfeedthecharlie.bsky.social + MORE AUGUST 1ST!