‼️Call for reviewers‼️ We are looking for three peer reviewers familiar with textual analysis and/or media philosophy for a manuscript titled "The Look of Gaming's Cognitive Bond" 📷 Please check the attached image for the abstract. (1/2)

Played this at PAX in 2023 and had an absolute blast (and still got the pin!). Great Aussie get by Devolver.

Letters to Arralla is OUT NOW on Steam with a limited time 20% launch discount!! 🏝️💌 After 5 long years of development and lots of fruit & veggies eaten to power our developers, this cheeky game is finally ready to be delivered directly into your hands!! ☺️ Play now on Steam! youtu.be/7GbGTEpsoIM

I realise posting this on a Saturday is not ideal, but, hear me out. We are trying very hard to keep Frosty alive, and even grow it into something more helpful for ANZ based devs, long term 🍦

✨I’m recruiting for a research project on game monetisation!✨ I’m keen to chat to game devs about how monetisation shapes the dev process. Interviews will be 60mins via Zoom. To learn more, head to bit.ly/40mOB3f if you'd like to participate, shoot me a DM or email [email protected] 😊

@antipollution.bsky.social and I double-dipped this week and ALSO spoke at Media Traditions 2025 on our work thinking through itch.io as an incidental videogame archive. Full on week, but been very luck to see a lot of great research and meet a lot of lovely researchers.

Oh. Oh this one hurts.

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! @mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and myself have combined our collective brains and written a wide-reaching introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of Game Studies in this forthcoming book for Polity. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

Myself and @antipollution.bsky.social are at Replaying Japan 2025 this week and just presented our work on dark media archives and itch.io horror games Frontiers of the Mind and Basilisk 2000

Game is very good, should play.

📢Press Start is delighted to welcome our newest board members! We'll be introducing one member every day in this thread, so please give them all a warm welcome♥️

Still thinking about despelote from earlier this year, would absolutely recommend picking up if you haven't already.

Reviewed the new Prince of Persia. Great game. EXCELLENT music. Not being able to recommend its score to people while under embargo was very hard.

Parallels returns and early bird tickets are available now. Check out freeplay.net.au for tickets and info, with a full lineup and general release tickets coming in September

Open Call for Papers 2025🥰📢 Press Start is currently seeking full-length game studies papers from current grad students/recent grads. Submit by November 10, 2025, for a potential spot in our 2026 issue! More details below in this thread👇 #CallForPapers #GameStudies

Had a great time looking averagely fashionable at Freeplay Angles this week (incredible talks all around)

This was honestly one of the nicest and most impressive talks I have ever seen.

I'm writing an article about the impact of delisting games on queer creators. If anyone is willing to share a comment to be included in the piece, or maybe a screenshot of your delisted games, I'd appreciate it! (I think I have the data I need at the moment otherwise.) Feel free to share!

MAGPIE is going to have a small table all through Freeplay Angles showing off some of the amazing research of our members (and also our Bird RPG Discord game). Come say hi!

tomorrow! 📆

valve takes 30% of nearly every sale on steam

Historiographies of Game Studies is now published open access with @punctumbooks.bsky.social ! This massive collection examines why game studies is the way it is, and how it might change and grow in the future. Congrats to all contributors, and please share! punctumbooks.com/titles/histo...

Tomorrow from 2-4pm I am going to be on @checkpointau.bsky.social's weekly radio show on @joy949.bsky.social talking both the games news of the week and discussing my research into teaching with games!

New Press Start issue! This is a particularly special issue for me given it will be my last as co-vice editor (as I am firmly not a student anymore hah). Working at Press Start was incredibly formative, and I feel very lucky to have been able to help foster a place for emerging scholars.

Local legends Sabby Gallery are looking for supporters. "Co-ops show that our local industry is moving forward… This is what we need to secure the future; we need community, we need to invest in each other, and this is one extra drop in that bucket.” checkpointgaming.net/features/202...

📢 APPLICATIONS OPEN: Games Production Fund & Emerging Gamemakers Fund Up to $100k for AUS game makers: www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-... Up to $30k for AUS game makers: www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-... Eligibility guidelines, FAQs + our latest Trends Reports available online 💙

The Freeplay Angles 2025 schedule is now online, and tickets are on sale! Angles runs from 31st July - 2nd August at Science Gallery Melbourne. www.freeplay.net.au

Semi-spiritual experience at Indie Symphony II tonight.

This week @mahliann.bsky.social and I released a white paper report looking into ways to make games more available for teaching in Higher Education. Report can be found here! arts.unimelb.edu.au/school-of-cu...

As much as I loathe the NYT right now, and 'best of' lists are always arbitrary, I couldn't resist submitting (was very hard to narrow down to just ten).

We maaay have just shadow-dropped Malys into Early Access on Steam, for those of you so inclined. Does it still need work? Well, yes! It's very EA! But if you're willing to try it out and offer feedback, it'll only set you back $10 and we'd super appreciate it. www.pcgamesn.com/malys/out-no...

We are looking for three peer reviewers for a manuscript titled "Third places and community environments in gaming"😊 Please check the attached image for the abstract! (1/2)

Necessary reminder that literally every digital media expert in the country have been saying exactly this since this whole sorry ordeal started. None of this is a surprise.

EOIs open now until July 17th for Play Now Melbourne 💚 vicscreen.vic.gov.au/playnow/

MAGPIE is thrilled to announce that we are going to be part of the Science Gallery Melbourne’s latest exhibition DISTRACTION. Showing at Science Gallery at the University of Melbourne, 26.07.25 –09.05.26. Learn more about the exhibition: melbourne.sciencegallery.com/distraction

Reviewing this gave me a great excuse to go back and watch TRON: Legacy, and discover the top Letterboxd review summarises it as 'one of the best looking, best sounding bad movies ever'. Pretty spot on I reckon. TRON: Catalyst is decent too, but sadly not a game that will stick with me long.

This arvo 2-4pm I'm going to be on Joy for @checkpointau.bsky.social chatting about the latter half of Summer Games Fest 2025 and talking to A/Prof Phoebe Toups Dugas about gender euphoria in videogames. First time on the radio, so should be fun!

If your cooking is inspired by Chinese food from your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends, we want to hear from you!

game conferences

This is tonight! Still a few tickets available.

We are looking for one more peer reviewer for a manuscript titled "Playfully Anachronistic and Historically Inauthentic: Understanding Resistance to Diverse Representation in Call of Duty: Vanguard"😀 Please see the attached image for the abstract (1/2)

REVIEW: Monster Train 2 “It’s carriage after carriage of big numbers, satisfying combos, dizzying synergies and new tactical possibilities…” checkpointgaming.net/reviews/2025...

This game slaps. checkpointgaming.net/reviews/2025...

To celebrate the end of semester, Unimelb's Screen & Cultural Studies program are hosting a free screening of Grand Theft Hamlet, followed by a conversation between myself and @dangolding.com. Feel free to come along and talk GTA shenanigans with us! www.eventbrite.com.au/e/grand-thef...

I generally don’t do Andor spoilers and certainly not the morning after new episodes dropped. But the plot point where a senator is exiled at risk of death for daring to call out a genocide by name may be the most extraordinary thing Star Wars has ever done.

How is Andor this good.

Still thinking about this - I think all good political news should be delivered by Drag King Herrod.