Wallace
@exalclaw.bsky.social
700 followers 470 following 990 posts
A writer & video creator with a weakness against soft cookies | Rambles without oversight at exalclaw.com | Words also at Unwinnable, Stop Caring, PopMatters, etc. 📬: [email protected] Latest: https://linktr.ee/Exalclaw
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exalclaw.bsky.social
New at my site Exalclaw: I chatted with a few people about what EA's acquisition could mean for The Sims, as well as what they're seeing in their communities reaction-wise. While opinions vary, it's clear that many are worried about the franchise's future.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/f...
Fans Of The Sims Face An Uncertain Future Following EA’s Acquisition By Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner
“The main concern, as a female LGBTQ player, is that the representation will disappear.”
exalclaw.com
Reposted by Wallace
gr8earlofhell.bsky.social
hi folks, i'm here to plug my workshops again. even if you have no experience doing any of these things, they will be very fun and you should sign up for one or maybe all of them.
gr8earlofhell.bsky.social
icymi, i lost my job and am running some workshops to make money to uh, live?

tickets for the first run of THE RANDOMIZER are up now at natraum.com/links. the rest are coming soon!
2025 workshops

It's Lit: Literary Magazine Submissions. October 29 @ 7PM EST.

THE RANDOMIZER #1. November 6 @ 7pm EST.

No Choice But to Stan: Writing Pop Culture in Poetry. November 15 @ 12pm EST

Writing to Grieve: Poetry as Processing. November 22 @ 12pm EST

THE RANDOMIZER #2. TBD late November. About your instructor

nat raum is a queer, disabled, and recently unemployed artist and writer based on unceded Piscataway and Susquehannock land in Baltimore. They hold an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus in Poetry, and have served as an adjunct faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art and The University of Baltimore. They’re the author of 22 books of poetry, all of which were proudly published independently.
Reposted by Wallace
stopcar.ing
Stop Caring covers indie games (sometimes)

we have no pull in the industry but we're passionate writers with an equally passionate audience. Also, we hate fascists and pull no punches.
Stop Caring
A publication about video games focused on the ways they evoke unique cultural conversations as well as the personal lessons we can learn from them as artistic media.
www.stopcar.ing
Reposted by Wallace
nathangrayson.bsky.social
spoke to @afterclimate.com.au about the sustainable games standard, a means of tracking emissions now publicly available for use by the entire games industry. a lot of thought went into this thing
“In terms of methodology, each one is a little bit different,” said Abraham. “I started with whatever already existed, talked to a lot of our member companies and some other contributing ones. We knew we needed a quick and dirty method for as many as possible, so where there's the option to make a ‘spend based’ calculation, we've put one in there. Those are good for fast and easy numbers, but they don't give you any control over the emissions, because the only way to reduce them is ‘spend less money,’ which you might not want to do if you're marketing your new game.”

This meant that in some cases, Abraham – alongside games industry experts – had to devise new methods entirely.

“Like the [section 3.11] use of sold products (mobile) component, which says ‘OK, phones have batteries, what if we measure the battery level at the start and the end of a game session, that will tell us how much power the game has used,’” said Abraham. “Because the use of energy at the battery doesn't actually directly generate emissions, we also have to trace it back to the source, which is grid electricity emissions. To get power from the grid there has to be a charger that converts AC to DC, and when you do that you get power losses, so you also need to account for that by adding some extra on top for charger losses.”
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
Don't Stop, Girlypop! is fun to say, the demo was fun to play, my fingers need more practice with what it was asking of me, and I miss Totally Spies.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/09/d...
I Wasn’t Ready For The Finger Workout Don’t Stop, Girlypop! Gave Me
I should’ve taken pre-workout beforehand, but alas.
exalclaw.com
exalclaw.bsky.social
As it should be 🙂‍↕️
exalclaw.bsky.social
Don't Stop, Girlypop! is fun to say, the demo was fun to play, my fingers need more practice with what it was asking of me, and I miss Totally Spies.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/09/d...
I Wasn’t Ready For The Finger Workout Don’t Stop, Girlypop! Gave Me
I should’ve taken pre-workout beforehand, but alas.
exalclaw.com
Reposted by Wallace
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
Some exciting news: 404 Media just won a grant via Muckrock to investigate book bans and educational censorship in the U.S. The plan is to file hundreds of public records requests around the country and to report on and archive all the documents for public use:

www.404media.co/help-us-inve...
Help Us Investigate Book Bans and Educational Censorship Around America
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
www.404media.co
Reposted by Wallace
muellershewrote.com
Portland has elevated protesting to an art form.
Reposted by Wallace
heartimecia.bsky.social
hate it here, man
stephentotilo.bsky.social
SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...
Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year
Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File
www.gamefile.news
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
Other ICYMI: Celeste rules, playing games in the language you’re learning rules*, everyone should try both if you haven’t already

*it’s not easy
exalclaw.bsky.social
Had to write about Celeste. Not just bc it's a great platformer that I loved pretty much every death of, but also bc it's now a major milestone in my language learning journey:

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/c...
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
ICYMI: Chatted with a few Sims players and community moderators about how the EA sale is landing. Give it a read!
exalclaw.bsky.social
New at my site Exalclaw: I chatted with a few people about what EA's acquisition could mean for The Sims, as well as what they're seeing in their communities reaction-wise. While opinions vary, it's clear that many are worried about the franchise's future.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/f...
Fans Of The Sims Face An Uncertain Future Following EA’s Acquisition By Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner
“The main concern, as a female LGBTQ player, is that the representation will disappear.”
exalclaw.com
exalclaw.bsky.social
Other ICYMI: Celeste rules, playing games in the language you’re learning rules*, everyone should try both if you haven’t already

*it’s not easy
exalclaw.bsky.social
Had to write about Celeste. Not just bc it's a great platformer that I loved pretty much every death of, but also bc it's now a major milestone in my language learning journey:

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/c...
exalclaw.bsky.social
ICYMI: Chatted with a few Sims players and community moderators about how the EA sale is landing. Give it a read!
exalclaw.bsky.social
New at my site Exalclaw: I chatted with a few people about what EA's acquisition could mean for The Sims, as well as what they're seeing in their communities reaction-wise. While opinions vary, it's clear that many are worried about the franchise's future.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/f...
Fans Of The Sims Face An Uncertain Future Following EA’s Acquisition By Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner
“The main concern, as a female LGBTQ player, is that the representation will disappear.”
exalclaw.com
Reposted by Wallace
despelote.game
despelote is 30% off as part of the steam autumn sale!

people always say this is the best season to play soccer, maybe it is also the best season to play despelote? (unless ur in ecuador where we have no seasons so it is always the best time to play soccer)

buy it now!
Save 30% on despelote on Steam
A slice-of-life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of Quito, Ecuador in 2001.
store.steampowered.com
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
Had to write about Celeste. Not just bc it's a great platformer that I loved pretty much every death of, but also bc it's now a major milestone in my language learning journey:

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/c...
Reposted by Wallace
lmichet.bsky.social
Learned that I am being laid off from Heart Machine, and will be leaving the studio later this month.

Do you need a contractor? I've got a track record of leading scope-friendly script revisions late in dev. I have also done a lot of consulting on new IPs and pitches/demos. Feel free to DM me!
exalclaw.bsky.social
Might mess around and play Cult of the Lamb’s upcoming DLC in Spanish tbh, just to finish business
Right now, I’m back in one of my consistent phases and want to keep it going. This has meant looking for ways to diversify my learning experience, which finally brought me to trying to play a game in Spanish. I’ve thought about it before, and even briefly tried it one night while slaying gods in Cult of the Lamb, but ultimately never gave it a real shot. I don’t know why now — maybe I had a quiet confidence in my skill level gain since the last attempt, maybe Celeste’s whole “You can do this!” ethos clicked earlier than I realized —  but something flipped a switch in my brain that made me play in Spanish. A screenshot of Celeste and Theo taking a breather on a snowy part of Mount Celeste, backdropped by a starry night sky
exalclaw.bsky.social
bbno$’s music videos are always fun, but hot damn does a fully animated one with each artist credited on screen hit different

youtu.be/dYIqX7ZLMyE?...
bbno$ - ADD (official video)
YouTube video by bbno$
youtu.be
exalclaw.bsky.social
Had to write about Celeste. Not just bc it's a great platformer that I loved pretty much every death of, but also bc it's now a major milestone in my language learning journey:

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/c...
Reposted by Wallace
premthakker.bsky.social
NEW: David Adler—a Jewish American on the Gaza aid Flotilla—details Israeli detention.

At one point, he says, he was forced to his knees for a photo op with the Israeli flag, as Ben Gvir yelled in his face, calling him a terrorist.

Says US "hung up" on families of Americans, veterans seeking help.
EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel
The Jewish American writer says Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir specifically targeted him, forcing a photo op with the Israeli flag and calling him a “terrorist.”
zeteo.com
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
One consistent, and I’d say valid, concern is how LGBTQ+ representation and inclusion will be affected given that EA’s future owners have terrible track records in how they treat the community
In addition to pricing, both Mason and Eastland brought up worries around LGBTQ+ inclusion and representation. “The main concern, as a female LGBTQ player, is that the representation will disappear. Fans of the sims have fought and protested online for more representation, [and] thus far this is the best version we have. There is a huge possibility, depending on how much of a part Saudi Arabia play, that all of that representation could be gone within seconds,” shared Eastland. Mason said, “The Sims franchise has long been a figurehead for expression and diversity within gaming and with this acquisition bringing the franchise into the ownership of far-right leaning Conservative individuals, community members are rightfully concerned about the future of LGBTQ+ and gender-equal content.”
Reposted by Wallace
exalclaw.bsky.social
New at my site Exalclaw: I chatted with a few people about what EA's acquisition could mean for The Sims, as well as what they're seeing in their communities reaction-wise. While opinions vary, it's clear that many are worried about the franchise's future.

exalclaw.com/2025/10/07/f...
Fans Of The Sims Face An Uncertain Future Following EA’s Acquisition By Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner
“The main concern, as a female LGBTQ player, is that the representation will disappear.”
exalclaw.com