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Gamers with Glasses

@gamerswithglasses.bsky.social

2.6K followers 690 following 230 posts

We are a volunteer-run writing collective working at the intersection of academic game studies and popular game criticism. We've got gaming stories to tell; we bet you do, too. www.gamerswithglasses.com

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Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 2d

and @corndruid.bsky.social: "... the plumber stomps the winged turtle and feasts upon the stars."

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 2d

@aguaspoints.bsky.social: "Every time I think about you hopping across the Mushroom Kingdom, I think about getting to ride a Yoshi. This is not fair. Why are there no Yoshis in the real world?"

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 2d

Also featuring @srtrzinski.bsky.social: "I immediately envisioned a future world where people took an 'Introduction to Mario' course and examined his characterization, the plots of his games, and his evolution over time."

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 2d

Featuring @aetataureate.bsky.social: "In a volunteer survey, we found almost no significant correlation between the zodiac sign and the favorite Mario items of respondents."
www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/sup...

Super Midlife Brothers: Thoughts on Mario at Forty — Gamers with Glasses

It’s-a Mario’s birthday! Sort of. So here’s a Mario bonanza from your friends at Gamers with Glasses, which in typical fashion includes a scientific* study on Mario and the zodiac, elegiac expressions...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 2d

Mario fought his way to forty, so we fixed a fancy fête. Enjoy the Super Mario Zodiac, new directions in Mario Studies, crying over fake Yoshi, and, of course, André Breton.
www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/sup...

Super Midlife Brothers: Thoughts on Mario at Forty — Gamers with Glasses

It’s-a Mario’s birthday! Sort of. So here’s a Mario bonanza from your friends at Gamers with Glasses, which in typical fashion includes a scientific* study on Mario and the zodiac, elegiac expressions...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 4d

Hey there new folks! We had some good stuff in September (like www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/my-..., www.gamerswithglasses.com/reviews/vile..., and www.gamerswithglasses.com/reviews/blip...). We've got plenty cooked up for October, too.

My Defunded Friendly Neighborhood — Gamers with Glasses

In the horror game My Friendly Neighborhood , the puppets from a children’s show become monsters after a long period of neglect. Samantha Trzinski explores what we stand to lose, as parents, children...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 9d

Check out this week's edition for a GwG triple play, feat. @srtrzinski.bsky.social, @mayorhere.bsky.social, and @patfio.bsky.social!

Critical Distance | Where’s all the good writing about games? @critdistance.bsky.social · 10d

This week: 21 articles on culture movements, maps, difficulty, dungeon crawlers, and much more. No Freddi Fish articles this week, sorry:

critical-distance.com/2025/09/28/s...

Welcome back readers. We’re two for two on this recent streak of on-time Sunday updates. I’m hoping to keep this up as I adapt my schedule to accommodate a couple of new work commitment…

critical-distance.com

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 9d

At the risk of explaining the gag, you can sing the first sentence of this post to the tune of the ending of the chorus of Weird Al's "UHF."

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 11d

We've got it all, they've got it all, on BLIPPO+. See what YACHT, @telefantasytv.bsky.social, @panic.com, and more have been up to just a ways away in spacetime. New contributor @patfio.bsky.social has the review!

BLIPPO+ Asks If You Want to Get Bent — Gamers with Glasses

It’s time to tune in, turn on, and.. blipp out? Patrick Fiorilli explores the channels of BLIPPO+ and its blend of the televisual and interactive. It’s hypermediated, unabashedly queer, and remediates...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

Luis Aguasvivas 🔜 TGS @aguaspoints.bsky.social · 11d

Welcome @patfio.bsky.social to @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social. Awesome review of @blippo.plus! 🔥

www.gamerswithglasses.com/reviews/blip...

BLIPPO+ Asks If You Want to Get Bent — Gamers with Glasses

It’s time to tune in, turn on, and.. blipp out? Patrick Fiorilli explores the channels of BLIPPO+ and its blend of the televisual and interactive. It’s hypermediated, unabashedly queer, and remediates...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 11d

I also dig the preview, with quotes, in the latest issue of @funland.itch.io. This one:

𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐄 @funland.itch.io · 12d

INTRODUCING FUNLAND NO. 3 // ARRESTING DEVELOPMENTS

What's eating @qdork.bsky.social & @apthomson.bsky.social? What's stopping @maggiemaefish.bsky.social?? What planet is @theuniverse.bsky.social from???

These answers & more!!!!

Cover by @princessaggy.bsky.social

funland.itch.io/funland-zine...

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

Patrick Fiorilli @patfio.bsky.social · 11d

New writing! Jazzed to contribute to @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social about such a cool project.

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 11d

We've got it all, they've got it all, on BLIPPO+. See what YACHT, @telefantasytv.bsky.social, @panic.com, and more have been up to just a ways away in spacetime. New contributor @patfio.bsky.social has the review!

BLIPPO+ Asks If You Want to Get Bent — Gamers with Glasses

It’s time to tune in, turn on, and.. blipp out? Patrick Fiorilli explores the channels of BLIPPO+ and its blend of the televisual and interactive. It’s hypermediated, unabashedly queer, and remediates...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 11d

We've got it all, they've got it all, on BLIPPO+. See what YACHT, @telefantasytv.bsky.social, @panic.com, and more have been up to just a ways away in spacetime. New contributor @patfio.bsky.social has the review!

BLIPPO+ Asks If You Want to Get Bent — Gamers with Glasses

It’s time to tune in, turn on, and.. blipp out? Patrick Fiorilli explores the channels of BLIPPO+ and its blend of the televisual and interactive. It’s hypermediated, unabashedly queer, and remediates...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 13d

ICYMI, we couldn't wait and started horror posting last week. This will continue.

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 20d

@srtrzinski.bsky.social on horror sensation My Friendly Neighborhood and the actual horror of defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting:
www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/my-...

My Defunded Friendly Neighborhood — Gamers with Glasses

In the horror game My Friendly Neighborhood , the puppets from a children’s show become monsters after a long period of neglect. Samantha Trzinski explores what we stand to lose, as parents, children...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 15d

We are LIVE with @mayorhere.bsky.social on VILE: Exhumed, art, payment processors, profit, gatekeeping, censorship, reactionary politics... I'm going to stop listing things, go read the piece:

VILE: Exhumed and the Politics of Digital Horror — Gamers with Glasses

Cara Cadaver was supposed to launch her game VILE: Exhumed on Steam. Instead, she got banned. Spencer Johnson explains how this exemplifies how companies seek to maintain their profitable gatekeepin...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

Spencer Johnson @mayorhere.bsky.social · 15d

This game made me reflect on the horror genre with how Vile: Exhumed unsettles you with implication instead of gore. That kind of discomfort is art. And lawful art, no matter how challenging, should never be at the mercy by payment processors.

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 15d

We are LIVE with @mayorhere.bsky.social on VILE: Exhumed, art, payment processors, profit, gatekeeping, censorship, reactionary politics... I'm going to stop listing things, go read the piece:

VILE: Exhumed and the Politics of Digital Horror — Gamers with Glasses

Cara Cadaver was supposed to launch her game VILE: Exhumed on Steam. Instead, she got banned. Spencer Johnson explains how this exemplifies how companies seek to maintain their profitable gatekeepin...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Reposted by Gamers with Glasses

Critical Distance | Where’s all the good writing about games? @critdistance.bsky.social · 17d

This week: Literary editions, punk rock, TikTok nostalgia bait--oh, and videogames, too, we promise:

critical-distance.com/2025/09/21/s...

Welcome back readers. Behold! A rare on-time-ish Sunday post! If you are as amazed by that feat as I am, what would you say are the odds we can translate that amazement into Patreon support? Eh? Eh…

critical-distance.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 15d

courtesy of @endlessmode.bsky.social and this week's @critdistance.bsky.social, it turns out this goes well with @gracemachine.bsky.social's piece from last week: www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

The Games Behind the Bans: Vile: Exhumed and Girls Purgatoriem

We know Steam and Itch ban games due to pressure from payment processors. Nobody discusses them in artistic or aesthetic terms, though.

www.endlessmode.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 15d

We are LIVE with @mayorhere.bsky.social on VILE: Exhumed, art, payment processors, profit, gatekeeping, censorship, reactionary politics... I'm going to stop listing things, go read the piece:

VILE: Exhumed and the Politics of Digital Horror — Gamers with Glasses

Cara Cadaver was supposed to launch her game VILE: Exhumed on Steam. Instead, she got banned. Spencer Johnson explains how this exemplifies how companies seek to maintain their profitable gatekeepin...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 20d

"Removing or banning media that celebrates kindness and teaches sharing, acceptance, teamwork, and friendship poses a major risk...Shows like Sesame Street can help make the world a kinder place."

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · 20d

@srtrzinski.bsky.social on horror sensation My Friendly Neighborhood and the actual horror of defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting:
www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/my-...

My Defunded Friendly Neighborhood — Gamers with Glasses

In the horror game My Friendly Neighborhood , the puppets from a children’s show become monsters after a long period of neglect. Samantha Trzinski explores what we stand to lose, as parents, children...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · Aug 29

I, meanwhile, will see myself out!

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · Aug 29

I think this article makes @srtrzinski.bsky.social game crit's official correspondent on matters related to ducks and geese - games which some have been calling "fowl play."
From the mighty @unwinnable.com!
unwinnable.com/2025/08/26/d...

Duck, Duck, Goose - Unwinnable

“All hail the goose,” we say, to which the goose simply replies, “Honk.”

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · Aug 26

Guess who it is? It's the one and only @jmrivera.bsky.social, here to explore the fascinating relationship between profit and preservation in the return of dormant franchises like Power Rangers and the Mana series!
www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/the...

The Low-Key Comeback of Gaming's Oldest Franchises — Gamers with Glasses

In the wake of the Okami sequel announcement, Joshua Rivera explores the ways in which Oddball revivals fill the void left behind by gaming's biggest players in search of smaller hits that still make ...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · Aug 21

What's it really like to be in the booth with the actors, making the choices that determine how a game's story will feel to us, the players? @aeneas-nin.bsky.social interviews Tom Keegan on his new book, The Complete Guide to Videogame Performance Directing.
www.gamerswithglasses.com/interviews/v...

"Every Story Is a Clash of Titans": Videogame Performance Directing with Tom Keegan — Gamers with Glasses

Alexander B. Joy interviews Tom Keegan, videogame performance director from franchises like Battlefield , Wolfenstein , Call of Duty , Resident Evil , Need for Speed , Dead Rising , Walking Dea...

www.gamerswithglasses.com

Gamers with Glasses @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social · Aug 6

What games with climbing feel most like actually climbing to you? @mayorhere.bsky.social has the full scoop on the Cairn demo by @thegamebakers.com, which along with being the climbiest climbing game also concludes a trilogy on different kinds of freedom
www.gamerswithglasses.com/impressions/...

Liberation through Limitation in Cairn — Gamers with Glasses

If you've ever wondered what would happen if a climbing game actually tried to simulate climbing instead of just letting you hold a button and magically ascend any surface, Cairn has a genuinely tac...

www.gamerswithglasses.com