Jason Hawreliak
@profjay.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Game Studies. Brock University, dept. of Digital Humanities.
That's ok guys tackling isn't that important anyway
February 6, 2026 at 7:07 PM
That's ok guys tackling isn't that important anyway
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
My co-author Dr. Megan Condis and I gathered nearly 3,000 print ads from the console wars era to analyze whether the popular narrative that "Sega was for rad teens and Nintendo was for babies" actually holds up.
The results paint a slightly more nuanced picture.
Read about it on @aftermath.site!
The results paint a slightly more nuanced picture.
Read about it on @aftermath.site!
The Console Wars, As Told By '90s Nintendo And Sega Advertisements
'The way you come to understand [anything] inside and out is by seeing how it evolved over time'
aftermath.site
February 4, 2026 at 5:14 PM
My co-author Dr. Megan Condis and I gathered nearly 3,000 print ads from the console wars era to analyze whether the popular narrative that "Sega was for rad teens and Nintendo was for babies" actually holds up.
The results paint a slightly more nuanced picture.
Read about it on @aftermath.site!
The results paint a slightly more nuanced picture.
Read about it on @aftermath.site!
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
"rich dipshit owner doesn't understand the industry he's bought into and clumsily destroys what made it good" feels less like a narrative unique to the washington post and more like the music that's been playing in the background of all our lives for at least 40 years
February 4, 2026 at 2:53 PM
"rich dipshit owner doesn't understand the industry he's bought into and clumsily destroys what made it good" feels less like a narrative unique to the washington post and more like the music that's been playing in the background of all our lives for at least 40 years
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests
February 4, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
Media coverage of Gaza has plummeted. So today on @thenation.com, we're doing something pretty special: we're only running pieces by people in and from Gaza.
We're calling it "A Day for Gaza." You can find links to all of the incredible pieces here. Please read! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
We're calling it "A Day for Gaza." You can find links to all of the incredible pieces here. Please read! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
A Day for Gaza
Today, The Nation is turning over its website exclusively to stories from Gaza and its people. This is why.
www.thenation.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Media coverage of Gaza has plummeted. So today on @thenation.com, we're doing something pretty special: we're only running pieces by people in and from Gaza.
We're calling it "A Day for Gaza." You can find links to all of the incredible pieces here. Please read! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
We're calling it "A Day for Gaza." You can find links to all of the incredible pieces here. Please read! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
Finally! My book Super Nintendo is out TODAY in the US + Canada. Here's where to buy it: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753986...
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
February 3, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Finally! My book Super Nintendo is out TODAY in the US + Canada. Here's where to buy it: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753986...
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
“Notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein played a role in convincing Bobby Kotick to embrace loot boxes, essentially gambling for children” what is this sentence, what is this world
February 1, 2026 at 1:54 AM
“Notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein played a role in convincing Bobby Kotick to embrace loot boxes, essentially gambling for children” what is this sentence, what is this world
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
"technologists, reactionaries, and seething upstarts are brought together by decadent parties on a wealthy idiot's pedophile island, laying the groundwork for a digital-first fascism" sounds like a cyberpunk plot but you know it's real life because they did it with the style of people in bumper cars
January 31, 2026 at 3:58 PM
"technologists, reactionaries, and seething upstarts are brought together by decadent parties on a wealthy idiot's pedophile island, laying the groundwork for a digital-first fascism" sounds like a cyberpunk plot but you know it's real life because they did it with the style of people in bumper cars
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
In the 90th episode of GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES, we journey all the way back to 1984 to discuss the first published textbook on video game development, Atari legend Chris Crawford's pointed, prescient, and idiosyncratic THE ART OF COMPUTER GAME DESIGN: rangedtouch.com/2026/01/31/9...
January 31, 2026 at 3:21 PM
In the 90th episode of GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES, we journey all the way back to 1984 to discuss the first published textbook on video game development, Atari legend Chris Crawford's pointed, prescient, and idiosyncratic THE ART OF COMPUTER GAME DESIGN: rangedtouch.com/2026/01/31/9...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
For decades the Right has daydreamed about saving their country from monsters, they finally got the chance and it turns out they love the monsters. The monsters are even monstrous in the exact ways they fantasized about! You never have to listen to these guys about anything again
January 30, 2026 at 9:52 PM
For decades the Right has daydreamed about saving their country from monsters, they finally got the chance and it turns out they love the monsters. The monsters are even monstrous in the exact ways they fantasized about! You never have to listen to these guys about anything again
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
IDF accepts Gaza Health Ministry death toll of over 71,000 Palestinians killed in the war
Although Many International Experts Have Accepted the Health Ministry's Data as Reliable, and Even Conservative Relative to the True Death Toll, Israel Had Refused to Accept the Health Ministry's Coun...
www.haaretz.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:29 PM
I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
new blog post: notes on level design workflows for the 3D platformer Big Hops www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2026/01/note...
Notes on level design workflow for the 3D platformer Big Hops
A behind-the-scenes look at some of the tooling, level design methods, and metrics use for this cartoony 3D exploration game I helped make.
www.blog.radiator.debacle.us
January 28, 2026 at 12:57 AM
new blog post: notes on level design workflows for the 3D platformer Big Hops www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2026/01/note...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
There is not a lot Canadians can do about ICE, but we can ask Parliament to investigate Canadian companies doing business with them, like Hootsuite. Call or email your MP - or contact the INDU House committee MPs. Will post link below. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Hootsuite CEO says ICE contract will stand as long as agency honours terms and conditions
‘We did nothing wrong here,’ head of Vancouver social media company said in internal call with employees
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:49 PM
There is not a lot Canadians can do about ICE, but we can ask Parliament to investigate Canadian companies doing business with them, like Hootsuite. Call or email your MP - or contact the INDU House committee MPs. Will post link below. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
rightwingers see people caring about others in their community and instead of finding that inspiring they think it’s some sort of grand conspiracy because they don’t understand what it means to care for others you don’t personally know
January 25, 2026 at 7:57 PM
rightwingers see people caring about others in their community and instead of finding that inspiring they think it’s some sort of grand conspiracy because they don’t understand what it means to care for others you don’t personally know
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics
Let us all have the courage displayed by the residents of Minneapolis.
January 25, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
By who? Who shot the person dead? You saw the video. We all know a federal agent shot a man dead who was prone on the ground. Also, it's not "according to officials." It's according to verified video seen with your eyes. Not saying what anyone can obviously see with their eyes is a form of lying.
January 24, 2026 at 6:28 PM
By who? Who shot the person dead? You saw the video. We all know a federal agent shot a man dead who was prone on the ground. Also, it's not "according to officials." It's according to verified video seen with your eyes. Not saying what anyone can obviously see with their eyes is a form of lying.
Almost like the whole "freedom of speech" thing was a rightwing ruse and everyone who fell for it are giant marks...
I'll say yet again: Trump & his party do something virtually every day that constitutes a more violent & alarming suppression of speech than anything that happened during the entire alleged tyranny of woke. Every day. Yet the entire Free Spech army has just vanished into mist.
I wrote on the shameful situation re: the recession of a deanship to Emily Suski at the University of Arkansas Law. What was the reason? Prof. Suski signed an amicus brief supporting trans rights. The Arkansas legislators admitted that was it! Horrible outcome. ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...
January 22, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Almost like the whole "freedom of speech" thing was a rightwing ruse and everyone who fell for it are giant marks...
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
Speeches are great but a reminder that what we're getting here in Canada so far is:
* Tax cuts for the wealthy
* Militarization and more surveillance powers
* More oil, less action on climate change.
* Austerity and cuts to the public service
* Deals with authoritarian regimes
* Tax cuts for the wealthy
* Militarization and more surveillance powers
* More oil, less action on climate change.
* Austerity and cuts to the public service
* Deals with authoritarian regimes
January 21, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Speeches are great but a reminder that what we're getting here in Canada so far is:
* Tax cuts for the wealthy
* Militarization and more surveillance powers
* More oil, less action on climate change.
* Austerity and cuts to the public service
* Deals with authoritarian regimes
* Tax cuts for the wealthy
* Militarization and more surveillance powers
* More oil, less action on climate change.
* Austerity and cuts to the public service
* Deals with authoritarian regimes
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
If a conservative anywhere has to hear, encounter, or be subject to judgement based on an opinion they disagree with that’s maoism but if conservatives use state power to prosecute, defund, or censor you that’s fine because they’re just entitled to do that for reasons
January 17, 2026 at 3:17 PM
If a conservative anywhere has to hear, encounter, or be subject to judgement based on an opinion they disagree with that’s maoism but if conservatives use state power to prosecute, defund, or censor you that’s fine because they’re just entitled to do that for reasons
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
It exposes directional alignment; you still seek to limit, not expand, who is allowed to be human. Yes, you have set your limitation more inclusively than our fascist gang of white supremacists; it doesn't mean you're not also setting limitations & they'll use your limit as long as it serves them.
I can't trust politicians who are anti-trans. Not because I'm "only searching for perfection" which is what centrists will be accusing me of for the rest of my life, it's because if you're not pro-trans you'll be garbage on lots of other issues too. Being anti-trans NEVER exists in a vacuum.
January 17, 2026 at 12:57 PM
It exposes directional alignment; you still seek to limit, not expand, who is allowed to be human. Yes, you have set your limitation more inclusively than our fascist gang of white supremacists; it doesn't mean you're not also setting limitations & they'll use your limit as long as it serves them.
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
It’s so funny to be like “this is when women were WOMEN”
January 16, 2026 at 1:50 PM
It’s so funny to be like “this is when women were WOMEN”
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny
It occurs to me all the yelling at ICE in MPLS isn't merely funny. Getting made fun of like this is awful for morale. ICE is losing field officers faster than it can wave them through training, and a big part of it is how little of this these little weasels can take.
January 12, 2026 at 5:54 PM
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
The reactionary centrist logic is simple: if the left does something bad it’s the left’s fault, and if the right does something bad, it’s also the left’s fault for making them do it. It’s a simple formula and once you see it every one of their arguments is the same
January 10, 2026 at 11:24 PM
The reactionary centrist logic is simple: if the left does something bad it’s the left’s fault, and if the right does something bad, it’s also the left’s fault for making them do it. It’s a simple formula and once you see it every one of their arguments is the same
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
a government agent, who murdered a civilian for peacefully protesting, flying a dont-tread-on-me flag is such a perfect distillation of the maga ethos it almost feels fake
ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who shot and killed an unarmed civilian, flew a don't-tread-on-me Gadsden flag at his house, per the Daily Mail.
January 9, 2026 at 2:47 PM
a government agent, who murdered a civilian for peacefully protesting, flying a dont-tread-on-me flag is such a perfect distillation of the maga ethos it almost feels fake
Reposted by Jason Hawreliak
this is your mission. roll up to this daycare in full tactical gear to harass some kids and teachers. when you get spooked by your own shadow like a panicked horse and start shooting your gun, our pedophile president will call the person you shot a terrorist. good luck soldier
January 8, 2026 at 2:33 PM
this is your mission. roll up to this daycare in full tactical gear to harass some kids and teachers. when you get spooked by your own shadow like a panicked horse and start shooting your gun, our pedophile president will call the person you shot a terrorist. good luck soldier