#darksouls #bloodborne #eldenring #fromsoftware

{Pre-order} Scholar’s Codex 🚚 Delivery estimate: Q2 2026. In Scholar’s Codex, academics from around the world have come together to explore the themes, lore and ruined majesty of classics like Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Elden Ri...

www.tuneandfairweather.com/products/sch...

I picked Rubbish from Dark Souls 2, and explain what its significance is through the writings of Walter Benjamin

The boom features a number of academics, each picking one object description from FromSoftware, Inc. games and doing a deep-dive on what they reveal but also what they help us understand beyond the games themselves.

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.

With contributions by:
Editors
Dom Ford (@domford.bsky.social)
Stefano Gualeni (@gua-le-ni.com)
Nele Van de Mosselaer (@nelevdm.bsky.social)
Daniel Vella (@danielvella.bsky.social)

Authors
Andrea Andiloro (@aandiloro.bsky.social)
Angelo M. Andriano
Marco Caracciolo
Stefano Caselli

If you’re interested in game history, media convergence, or the cultural status of videogames, I’d love for you to check it out.

The article argues that many debates we now associate with early game studies, such as convergence vs. specificity, interactivity, artistic legitimacy, were already being negotiated in popular media long before they entered academic discourse.

I identify three waves:
1990–1992: optimism on cinematic convergence and “interactive movie”
1992–1996: backlash against FMV and a turn toward interactivity and medium specificity
1996–1999: renewed convergence and self-critique

I trace the emergence of what has been referred to as 'cinema envy', i.e. the belief that videogames were less serious, artistic, or culturally legitimate than cinema, and show how this discourse evolved across the decade.

This piece examines how 1990s videogame magazines shaped the way players, journalists, and the industry understood the relationship between games and film.

I’m very excited to share my latest article, “Premiers to Pixels: The Discourse of Cinema Envy in 1990s Videogame Magazines”, now published in the Hollywood and Games special issue of Convergence, edited by Helen Stuckey and Angela Ndalianis. Open access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

and overhearing people walking by saying that “Swinburne students always make cool stuff” really reminded me why we do it!

It’s been a challenging semester for many reasons, and much like students I’m feeling the burn, but seeing their smiles and pride in their eyes, witnessing parents (some of whom I’m sure were sceptical about their choice of study) show up to support and play their game congratulate them,

I’m so incredibly proud of my students who showcased their games to tens of thousands of people at PAX Australia. They worked so hard, and visitors loved it!!!

I will also be at Freeplay: Parallels 2025 tonight, catching up with friends, listening to some interesting talks by independent devs, and checking out what look like some awesome games coming out soon!

They have worked super hard on some incredible games, and their effort and quality of their output make me proud to be one of their teachers. If you're going to be at PAX you should definitely come check them out.

It's Melbourne International Games Week! Swinburne University of Technology's Games & Interactivity students are going to be showcasing their capstone projects at PAX Australia over the course of the next three days.

I'm very proud to announce that our Games and Interactivity team was awarded the Swinburne University 2025 School Teaching Excellence Awards. A well-deserved recognition for a (dare I say) excellent team of educators

Very proud of our students showcasing their games at Swinburne University’s Open Day!

Had a fantastic time at DiGRA 2025 in Malta. It’s been great catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, and putting names on faces. The ANZ contingent performed excellently, contributing to the global academic discourse on games and play.

In the specific, I analyse the case of 'Before Your Eyes', a brilliant game that through its clever UI featuring eye-tracking technology, operationalises Heideggerian notions of finitude, authenticity, fallness and 'the moment of vision' (der Augenblick).

Death as design: video games and the framing of finitude - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences Video games uniquely mediate existential themes of mortality through their formal mechanics and narrative structures. This paper positions video games as “death media,” arguing that their affordances ...

The article (available here link.springer.com/article/10.1...) is titled 'Death as Design: video games and the framing of finitude'. I take a look at video games as a type of 'death-tech' with a capacity to reframe our understanding of death and finitude through their formal features.

I am beyond stoked to share my latest publication on Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, for the special issue on 'Grief in the Digital Age' edited by Marilyn Stendera and Regina Fabry.

Thanks to the editors Philippe Bédard, Alanna Thain and Carl Therrien.

States of Immersion Across Media Immersion across media opens our perception to altered states of consciousness. Far from disconnecting us from our surroundings, these experiences reframe how we connect to the world and to others. In...

For those interested in media and immersion, I have a newly published chapter titled "Video Game Immersion as Bodily Atmospheric Attunement" in the edited collection "States of Immersion Across Media: Bodies, Techniques, Practices" for the Amsterdam University Press. www.aup.nl/en/book/9789...

I feel very honoured and humbled as this would have not been possible without the help of my supervisors, review panelists, examiners and other fellow scholars.

The next objective is the book proposal!

I'm very proud to announce that my PhD dissertation 'Something in the Air: A Phenomenology of Videogame Atmosphere' won the 2024 Digital Games Research Association of Australia (DiGRAA)'s Best Thesis Award.

The dissertation is available at: figshare.swinburne.edu.au/articles/the...

The Metal Gear Solid Series This collection, arriving in the wake of the 25th anniversary of 1998's Metal Gear Solid, provides scholars and fans alike with a wide-ranging selection of crit…

If anyone is into Metal Gear Solid, there's a new edited collection out for which I've written a chapter - the foreword is by Solid Snake himself!: www.bloomsbury.com/au/metal-gea.... My chapter is titled "Metal Gaze Suture: Analyzing Metal Gear Solid through Psychoanalytic Film Theory"

I'm not completely sure if it's a 'mission accomplished', but even if it is not, I think it is important to seriously engage with thinkers beyond the Western canon if we are to remain true to the posthuman ethos - I think I achieved that much at least. journals.tplondon.com/jp/article/v...