I don't know about you folks but Heated Rivalry has been the exact hot but wholesome queer energy that I need to end this year on. Cannot recommend it enough. The one shame is that the last episode of the season airs next week. It starts raunchy but evolves into something much more than that.

There’s a moment in this where @ramiismail.com talks about people distancing themselves or being told to do so because of his advocacy. Most never talk about but, man, it’s so real. The last couple years have been professionally and personally isolating in brutal ways. It’s been really eye-opening.

If we manage to pass $25,000, PMG is going to donate a further $5000 in the first weeks of January (once we have the funds to do so). If you're unable to donate, any help sharing this video would be greatly appreciated!! YouTube didn't exactly do us any favours when we covered this back in 2023.

We're also running another fundraiser too! This one, like last time, is for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Back in 2023, PMG viewers donated $67,000 to the PCRF, which is mad. I've no idea if that's possible again here, but please consider chucking a few quid into the pool, if you can.

If you didn't already know about this boycott, or if you felt it was somehow futile when considering the scale of the corporation it's targeting, this video is for you. The topic is not an easy one, but our aim here was to create something that'll give you a bit of hope & importantly, some agency.

Here were a group of game developers working at a Microsoft-owned games studio who felt compelled to lend their own voices to the boycott, despite it targeting the very games they would be making. And so, we traveled to Lyon to hear from them for ourselves.

Although Rami told us he still felt let down by the industry's response to the genocide overall, he told us to pay attention to those who have been brave enough to step forward. Like, for example, the @stjv.fr union members working out of Arkane Lyon, who'd released a statement in support of BDS.

Having covered the relationship between video games and Palestine through @tamoorh.com's video in 2023, we wanted to come back to that topic once again and find out how much has changed over the last two years. Given I was already in the Netherlands, it was obvious who I needed to speak to.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has been targetting Microsoft for years now, describing the company as "perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide". But their most recent campaign has gone after Xbox specifically.

Thanks to the immense pressure that's been applied onto the company from both inside and out, Microsoft has just terminated some of its contracts with the IDF, including the particular unit responsible for capturing these phone calls. And a key part of that pressure came from a boycott.

It felt important for us to see this for ourselves; to make a physical connection between Microsoft and the genocide it's helped enable in Gaza. The data may be hidden from view, but it's significantly more difficult to hide the infrastructure itself.

I recently traveled to Middenmeer in North Holland to visit a data centre belonging to Microsoft. These buildings, we now know thanks to reporting from the Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, were used by the IDF to store **hundreds of millions** of phone calls made by the people of Palestine.

Why We're Boycotting Xbox: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybj1...

Please do not purchase Luck be a Landlord on Xbox. I will be making a $10,000 donation to The Palestine Children's Relief Fund to (hopefully) help offset the revenue the game has generated for Microsoft.

If I'm not mistaken, Sandfall's @expedition33.bsky.social is the first game to have won every single category it was nominated for. Absolutely surreal feat for the team and everyone involved in the creation and publishing of the game. Kudos on delivering one heck of a game.

do you feel a weight lifted off your shoulders after ignoring the future class alumni and press who've asked you to comment on it's abandonment? or is editing hype trailers the most meaningful work you do

I hoped that he'd be willing to talk to the Future Class alumni to collaborate on a way forward for the program. Instead, his team effectively told us to get lost and manage ourselves and he never even bothered to reply. So much for rebirth, renewal, and finding hope that he talked about I guess.

Currently working on a story about the Xbox boycott and hoping to have it up on the channel before the end of the year. But in the meantime, I'm very happy to have my name (and PMG's) attached to today's pledge from @nogamesforgenocide.com.

couldn't be prouder to be part of an amazing team at No Games for Genocide which has worked very hard to provide comprehensive info and steps to take action to boycott & divest from Xbox until Microsoft ends its complicity in the genocide and colonisation of the Palestinian people. consider signing!

Such an honor to host the 2025 @arabic.games Showcase with a tremendous lineup of Arab made games from all across the Arab World. More than 60 games and tools, across an hour, and I cannot be more proud. Big kudos to the team behind the scenes, and speakers throughout. VOD: youtu.be/oE72ZONsXM0

The @arabic.games showcase is live!!! Tune in, and enjoy the show! It's the first time I ever host something like this. youtu.be/oE72ZONsXM0?...

The conference is now live across two tracks. Track 1: www.youtube.com/live/Z3f6Bb6... Track 2: www.youtube.com/live/3uRb7wX... The games showcase is later today at 6pm Paris time: youtu.be/ydrq4kACYJ0?... Some really cool Arab made games. Quick sneak peak at something I'm very proud of 🤘🏼💜

Y'all may wanna tune into the Arabic Games Showcase tomorrow for a surprise or two 🤘🏼

We're excited to announce YOUNG SUNS: a new narrative-rich co-op life sim set on Jupiter. Experience life in an optimistic future full of colorful characters. Play solo or with up to 3 friends. Visit planetoids, ruins, and stations. Craft and decorate. Help society heal. youtu.be/rVEWbp1FiKg?...

So freaking proud! Never imagined that I'd get to a part of such a tremendous journey let alone one that is played by 10 million freaking people. And to think back to that naming brainstorming meeting, 3 years ago, where I suggested the subtitle Mirage, thinking it would go nowhere. Dream big!

Back to business as usual. Rollercoaster of a week especially for armchair analysts.

I freaking love Hard Drive

The free AC Mirage expansion, Valley of Memory, is out today. Super proud of the partnership between the DIASI and the Bordeaux and Paris teams. It brings six hours of new content and a first incredible look at ancient AlUla. Update Mirage to continue Basim’s story, fully playable in Arabic.

I Am So Freaking Ready!!! They look absolutely on point and with the music overplayed in the Nintendo Today app my goosebumps got goosebumps.

This week online has been rough. Seeing people cheer for a studio to crash and burn like there are not real humans behind the work hits hard. Even imperfect games come from people giving everything they have. Hard to disconnect when your work depends on keeping up with the news.

I need to give up on the thought that I'll have a year where I don't have to fork out on gaming hardware. The machine and controller look enticing as heck, and address my main gripe with the Deck, in that the experience doesn't scale well on TV. Cannot freaking wait. 🔥🤘🏼

This looks... ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Legit got goosebumps and it looks to be a galactic step up from the first one. Also, Captain Marvel as Rosalina... I see what you did there Nintendo and Illumination 🤩

Chatting with Future Class inductees for my latest at @theguardian.com. They paint a pretty clear picture of the perils of performative allyship. Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!

2 years ago today, I pushed past my fear of the gym and gave it a try. I didn’t expect how much it would change me. The physical progress is great, but the mental shift has been just as big. Looking back at the photos feels surreal. My posture and expression say it all. So freaking proud!

No matter the woes and the issues, one thing I'm thankful for with #TheGameAwards #FutureClass is that it has genuinely connected me to some of the best and most caring individuals from within the industry. The kind of people that keep you going in the darkest of times.

Listen closely as every publisher rushes to change their release schedules yet again... This release will be a monumental one. Wishing the teams at Rockstar all the best in the road to launch 💜🤘🏼

What I found hilarious was getting the honor of being future class and then told we couldnt walk the red carpet. What was the nail in the head for me was being put in a corner a few years ago behind the camera and then made to feel like we should be thankful for even being in the room.

I genuinely cannot describe the disappointment in seeing how much the program has grinded to a halt and fizzled out. The only silver lining has been the classmates and alumni I met along the way, who have been nothing short of incredible.

My favorite part of playing #ClairObscurExpedition33 is me and my partner going, "OMG IS THAT FUTURE GUSTAVE?!" whenever a new male character is introduced on screen. Why do all men Gustave in Lumiere?

Is this what hope feels like? I have nothing to do with NYC but I feel like this win has everything to do with me and people like me. Against all odds and billions of dollars spent against him and his campaign, Mayor Zohran Mamdani did it. Fuck this feels good.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI

The past few weeks have really shown how normalized and non-taboo racism and phobias (Particularly Islamophobia) have become on other social platforms. Truly some disgusting takes, slogans, and "campaigns".

أنا اسمي زهران ممدان وعم رشّح حالي لأكون العمدة الجديد في مدينة نيويورك

Been wanting to do it for a while, and so happy it worked out, but tonight I'm proud to be an Air Bender! Sorry kept y'all waiting 100 years but the Avatar is back! #Halloween #AvatarTheLastAirbender #Aang

Never ever expected to see the words "Halo on PlayStation" but here we are. Gonna be so surreal to fire it up with the XO[]/\ HUD but it's gonna be played for the first time by a whole new crowd. Looking forward!

Not kidding when I say, this is one of the best games of the year. Vampire Survivors meets Brick Breaker meets Sim City... Somehow it works and so darn well. Been hooked since Friday, and literally ignored AAA games in my backlog. Kudos to the team!

Introducing the Accelerate Season 2 Fellows! Today, we welcome... Bea Livesey-Stephens! (@soupdragonbea.bsky.social) A research associate at the University of Bonn, Bea is passionate about intimacy & consent in games & game spaces. For more info about our fellows, go to takethis.org/accelerate.

Happy gym happy flex.