by Melissa Brinks | Jan 1, 2021 | Postgame, Video Games
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Welcome back to Postgame, Sidequest’s monthly Patreon-exclusive podcast, where the editors lay down hot takes on cold games. This is our [checks notes] October 2020 episode, releasing in January 2021. The missing episodes are in the pipeline, though, so they’ll be up in the coming month!
In this episode, we talk about queer teenhood in games and how much queer media has developed over the years—and how it’s shaped by the eras that shaped its creators. We also get in our feelings about community, walking simulators, and, in an unexpected turn of events, tennis anime?
*** Spoilers for Gone Home start when Zora says they’ll add a timestamp and continue until the end of the episode (sorry!). ***
Topics & timestamps:
Theme music is Bass Thee by Alexander Nakarada, used under Creative Commons 0.
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Melissa Brinks is Sidequest’s editor in chief, co-creator of the Fake Geek Girls podcast, author of The Compendium of Magical Beasts, and an aspiring beekeeper. She once won an argument on the internet, and tweets at @MelissaBrinks.
by Melissa Brinks | Apr 22, 2019 | Essays, Opinion, Video Games
Grow Up is a series in which I evaluate whether games called young adult actually fit the definition and exploring why that matters.
Gone Home was really the inspiration for this column. It’s a critical darling—when it was released back in 2013, it was everywhere. At the time, it was like few other games out there; you didn’t play the hero, it revolved around two queer teenage girls, and it was more interested in exploration and atmosphere than traditional game mechanics. By virtue of being new and different (and kicking off the explosion of walking simulators), it was impossible not to talk about. (more…)
Melissa Brinks is Sidequest’s editor in chief, co-creator of the Fake Geek Girls podcast, author of The Compendium of Magical Beasts, and an aspiring beekeeper. She once won an argument on the internet, and tweets at @MelissaBrinks.
by Melissa Brinks | Mar 26, 2019 | Features, Opinion, Video Games
I am an unabashed lover of young adult fiction. I always have been; it was there for me when I was a kid, and as an adult it’s a breezy respite from the heaviness of the mature books I also read. The same is true of games, where “young adult” is a label that doesn’t quite exist. Instead of young adult, we label games as for kids—though, for adult audiences, kids’ games are seen as somewhat more acceptable than young adult fiction, given the number of us unabashedly sinking hours into Sonic Mania—or for adults, with little room for anything else. (more…)
Melissa Brinks is Sidequest’s editor in chief, co-creator of the Fake Geek Girls podcast, author of The Compendium of Magical Beasts, and an aspiring beekeeper. She once won an argument on the internet, and tweets at @MelissaBrinks.
by Madison Butler | Dec 31, 2018 | Opinion, Roundtables, Video Games
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re beginning to wind down from the holiday seasons by curling up beneath warm blankets with a mug of hot chocolate, while the Southern Hemisphere is no doubt basking in the sun on a beach. Naturally, this got us thinking about coziness and the recent conversations the gaming industry has been having about how to capture it and what it can add to a game. Our own Maddi Butler wrote a piece on coziness in the Nancy Drew series, which served as a perfect jumping-off point for this discussion.
What does it mean to be cozy? Should games strive to make us feel that way? Let’s find out! (more…)
Madison Butler is Sidequest’s self-proclaimed jock editor. She co-founded the blog Critsumption and once got really into powerlifting via Fitness Boxing for the Nintendo Switch. She tweets at @_maddilo.
by Draven Katayama | Sep 12, 2018 | Mobile Games, News, Video Games
Happy Wednesday! What games are you playing this week? As always, feel free to tweet at @SidequestZone and let us know! I’ve been playing Spider-Man for PS4 obsessively. I love how Mary Jane Watson and Miles Morales are integrated into the story. You even play as them for portions of the game! It’s been a joy to see Twitter light up with excitement over Spider-Man. (more…)
Writer at Sidequest and WWAC; past: Newsarama, Comicosity, executive editor of Kollaboration. I’ve watched over 200 hours of Life is Strange playthroughs. Talk to me about LiS, The Last of Us, and the games and fandoms you love! Twitter: @loudlysilent
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