Stardew Valley at 10: the anticapitalist game that cures burnout and inspires queer art Since 2016, the cosy, inclusive, non-heteronormative escapism of the beloved farming sim has inspired a community of devoted fans, and helped it shift 50m units

I got to talk to some wonderful people for this 💜

BBC World Service - In the Studio, New climbing video game Prizewinning climbing video game

fortunately they did really like the game!

icymi, I made a documentary about Cairn's development with the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

took me far too long to realise the American podcasters were talking about Cairn and not in fact a new video game called "Karen"

BBC World Service - In the Studio, New climbing video game Prizewinning climbing video game

It's my birthday tomorrow! If you want to celebrate me by getting up at 4:30am to listen to my new documentary on the BBC World Service, I can't exactly stop you

something I am learning about live radio is: you always always have more to say than you ever have time to get to. if you didn't, it wouldn't be a good idea for a programme.

this is probably also true more broadly of "all the interesting things one wants to do in life"

Is anyone keeping a list of all the new audience-supported video game journalism publications? I have been off Doing Other Things for a couple of years and it feels like I came back from uni to find my folks had moved house

also the stench of generative AI, the publisher of my favourite game getting bought by a group of bad actors, etc etc

hmm listening to a load of established games journos interviewing each other about their new worker-owned podcasts isn't helping me feel better about the idea of trying to re-enter games journalism, weird

Clues by Sam A daily logic puzzle where you deduce who are criminals and who are innocent!

no I haven't played Hollow Knight, I'm busy with Clues by Sam

Immersive Arts funding application deadline: 29 September

£5-£50k available for (UK-based) artists at different stages

immersivearts.uk

Screenshot of text from linked article, which reads: "You might have noticed the sites in that last paragraph pay less than the mostly-American outlets we'd already covered. They're all British, where writers (across all media, not just games) are usually paid pretty poorly across the board, whether they're freelance or not."

🙃

aftermath.site/freelance-vi...

This was inevitable.

Waypoint 2.0's ordeal is the story of games media in 2025:

aftermath.site/vice-waypoint-...

(they did at least eventually acknowledge the current uncertainty in the video games industry)

"for a long time, the stereotype of a novel reader has been a teenage girl with no responsibilities and nothing better to do with her time, but my next guest is not only a man but a man in his 40s! Stu, welcome to the show – what has it been like for you being a male reader in the public eye?"

"we've all heard stories about the detrimental physical effects of ballet, but studies suggest that there might actually be some mental benefits"

"so parents don't have to worry if all their kid cares about is opera – there are actually many well-paid career opportunities in the field!"

finally actually listening to this while I seam rip a skirt

pitch for a Radio 4 programme where I bemusedly interview people from other arts

"you're telling me poetry isn't all about loners reading for hours in their bedrooms, but people sometimes even go to poetry events as a social activity?"

(also next time you tap out come over and we can eat ice cream in a north-facing room)

27 is my fav number! maybe I should reassess

I've half-joked before that people will get no work from me over 30 degrees, but my phone and laptop genuinely refusing to function in these temperatures might force the issue

glad that Woman's Hour is remembering games exist again, glad that pals are involved, but

this framing was eye-rolling enough even before the last three years of mass layoffs in the video games industry

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

a cat is holding a microphone in its mouth and singing into it . ALT: a cat is holding a microphone in its mouth and singing into it .

Call for a voice actor!

We’re looking to cast a female actress for our next game. Vocal age 25-35, Northern England accent, preferably Mancunian, incl. Pakistani and Indian Mancunian accents.

That’s you? Then send a sample to info@inklestudios.com, marked “casting call”.

Paid gig, ofc

<3 RTs!

there's a lot about my life rn that my younger self would be delighted to know, but no small part of that is being paid to write about The Sims

watering each other's plants, collecting each other's packages, lifts to the train station, ordering in bulk from Korea Foods 🙏🏻

my bad we actually got it the week before last but I guess time flies when you're going on dates with towels and dishware

A screenshot from the game Date Everything. A sitting room with a television. A femme character with light skin and dyed black and blonde hair, whose outfit looks as if it's made from game console parts. Text box shows their name to be Connie Soul. Text reads: I am Video Games!

the Switch 2 arrived last week and instead I've played 23 hours of Date Everything on the Steam Deck

Everything is Alive Everything is Alive is an unscripted interview show in which all the subjects are inanimate objects. In each episode, a different thing tells us its life story--and everything it says is true.

And, of course, the internal lives of inanimate objects is a topic also richly covered in the podcast Everything is Alive:

My Holo Love | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB] YouTube video by Netflix K-Content

The concept of the "Dateviators" (the magical glasses that bring your household objects to life) immediately made me think of the k-drama My Holo Love:

Date Everything! on Steam Date Everything! is a sandbox dating simulator set in the comfort of your own home, featuring 100 fully voice acted datable characters! Let the romance flow between your bed, smoke alarm and… Overwhel...

100 characters! An achievement for hooking up with them all! Fully voice acted by unionised actors who are being paid residuals!

store.steampowered.com/app/2201320/...

Date Everything! (with Ray Chase) | Maximum Fun TC brings on special guest Ray Chase (Final Fantasy XV, Play Nice) to talk about his experiences as a voice actor and his new game, Date Everything!

I will admit to having breezed past Date Everything during Steam Next Fest, assuming it was jumping on some kind of bandwagon (Boyfriend Dungeon? Hatoful Boyfriend? I'm not really sure), but the latest ep of Triple Click has convinced me to take a closer look: maximumfun.org/episodes/tri...