In our last regular episode of the year, we're discussing two huge games from November that we've gotten into over the past month-- Sonic Frontiers and God of War: Ragnarok. One is one of the most narratively compelling games of the year and one is, well, some good honest fun let's just say that! Eric and Laurence also discuss their Spotify Wrappeds (Spotifies Wrapped?), End of the Year List Season, feelings on the Game Awards (which aired the day after we recorded this episode), and later...

This week, our friend & fellow queer gaming podcaster Travis Ryans (they/he) from the Rainbow Road Podcast,  returns to the show to discuss Pokémon Scarlet & Violet! The 9th Generation of mainline Pokémon games recently released for Nintendo Switch. Since its launch, the game has gone viral for its myriad technical issues, bugs, and poor performance, but is there still a worthwhile Pokémon RPG to be found beneath all of the mess? Well, as they would say in the Paldea region, "es...

It's Halloween time once again, and we are celebrating with an iconically spooky game! Well, first we're doing our civil duty as gay podcasters & sharing our love for Carly Rae Jepsen's The Loneliest Time, as well as briefly going over all the drama surrounding Bayonetta 3  on the internet this past week, but after that we're talking ALL about THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK-- the infamously dark sequel to Ocarina of Time released for the Nintendo 64 in the year 2000. For a 22 year...

This week, Eric and Laurence are joined by Brian Moreno (he/him), the president of the Los Angeles Gayming Society, to discuss Blizzard's mega-popular hero shooter OVERWATCH (2)! Initially released in 2016, Overwatch is a multiplayer competitive shooter featuring a roster over over 40 playable characters with unique abilities and diverse, international backgrounds. The game garnered massive popularity from it's super high-quality animated shorts, went on to become a massive e-sports...

The boys are back from a nice little vacay to discuss their recent trips to the famous Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure theme parks! We went in the same week but on different days from each other, and we review our experiences, ruminate on whether Disney is in its flop era, talk about childhood joy, Disney adults, Star Wars slaying, Marvel's Flop Avengers Campus, and the overall state of the theme park experience in 2022. Later in the episode, to keep the Disney train...

This week, Laurence and Eric meet up for a more casual eppy to discuss this week's Nintendo Direct, Sony State of Play, Tokyo Game Show announcements, and more gaming news*! (*and by "more gaming news" we mean a long tangent about astrology and how 6 planets are in retrograde right now which is really harshing our vibe.) But hey! The sequel to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild finally has a name/release date, Pikmin 4 is real, and God of War: Ragnarok looks good, so even though the stars...

After a couple months of having lovely guests on the pod, this week Eric and Laurence sit down one-on-one for a classic catch up on the truly wild amount of culture that's been happening. From the "Don't Worry Darling" drama, to Lea Michele debuting in Funny Girl, to Queen Liz 2 kicking the bucket and reincarnating as Trisha Paytas's baby— there's a LOT to discuss. Plus, Video Games! We played a couple of great ones this week. Immortality is the latest FMV (Full-Motion Video) game by...

"Category: Pink Round Puff he's the BALL... Alien SUPAstar!" Today we are talking about beloved Nintendo icon Kirby!!! Created by then-19-year-old Masahiro Sakurai (who later went on to create the Super Smash Bros. series), Kirby first hit the scene in 1992 with Kirby's Dream Land for the Nintendo Game Boy.  Kirby was designed to be approachable to new and younger players unfamiliar with games, and since his inception Kirby has been known as a series with something to offer for everyone:...

This week, we're joined by indie game developer, artist, founder of Sipsong Studios, and creator of the new mobile title THE KWANSTONE PROJECT, TinTin V! (he/him) We interview TinTin about his experience of becoming a self-taught game developer over the pandemic & how his Lao-heritage and queer identity/community inspired and shaped the creation of his game. We also take some tangents to discuss our thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Mario Kart, Beyonce's...

This week we are thrilled to be joined by our *EXTRA* special guest, Travis Ryans!! Travis (they/he) is one of the hosts Rainbow Road: A Gay Gaming Podcast, our fellow queer gaming podcast sibling to the north. They join us to discuss PREY, the 2017 FPS/immersive sim from Arkane Studios and Bethesda about a space station overrun by a hostile spooky alien force known as the Typhon. We dive into the game's themes of morality, empathy, queerness, and iconic moments that can only be experienced...

With the recent tragic passing of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" series creator, Kazuki Takahashi,  this week we reflect on the legacy of his iconic franchise, from its manga origins to what is now one of the most popular trading card games & multimedia franchises on the planet. "Yu-Gi-Oh!" tells the story of Yugi Motoh, a timid, kind, young gamer with an iconic spiky hairdo who becomes possessed by the vengeful spirit of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, who becomes Yugi's alter ego as he battles his opponents...

Well gamers, Pride month has officially ended, and with it, the first half of 2022!   We'll be honest, given the current events unfolding on the national stage, Pride month was a little rough on us this year, and we weren't quite in the right headspace to record episodes throughout the month. But we have mustered our strength & gathered once again, coming to the mic as we are, to discuss what we've been playing lately & how our GOTY list is shaping up as we discuss our favorite games...

Welcome to Gay For Play! A podcast where we take a look at the world of gaming through a queer lens.   This week, the CATEGORY IS: Summer Gaming Announcements! E3 may be six feet under girl, but in its wake we've still gotten a *lot* of cool announcements this month, with various publishers & gaming companies big & small holding virtual press conferences to show off new and upcoming games. We watched through most of them and picked over 40 video games to discuss in this episode!...

HAPPY PRIDE 2022! We are back for an all new season of Gay For Play, and we're kicking it off by talking about Queer & Queer-*Coded* Villains in video games. Queer coding the bad guy is a trope seen in media for ages, dating back to old Hollywood censorship laws & really entering our generation's collective consciousness through the villains of the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s, right around the same time that the medium of video games started to come into their own. Eric and...

It's our season finale! We'll be off for the next month, but before we take a little slumber in our memory recovery pods, we're back for one more episode to take another look at one of our favorite video game franchises that we simply cannot stop talking about: KINGDOM HEARTS. The beloved Final Fantasy / Disney crossover JRPG series has been back on our minds lately. It celebrated its 20th Anniversary earlier this month, alongside the reveal of the next mainline entry in the series: Kingdom...

This week, in honor of the new Sonic movie hitting theatres this weekend, we’re doing a deep dive on the blue blur himself: the hog, the myth, the legend– Sonic the Hedgehog!  It's Sonic! The cool blue hedgehog who runs fast and loves chili dogs! You know the guy! In this episode we discuss the loveable blue guy's origin, our first exposure to this gaming icon, and discuss his history as a gaming cultural figure over the years. Plus we get into how the Sonic fandom has made their own queer...

This is a preview for our new bonus episode on Jane Campion's THE POWER OF THE DOG, available now on our Patreon page! (the bonus episode, not the movie. That's on Netflix!) In it we dive deep into the movie & discuss its themes of masculinity, longing, and queer cowboy culture. We also touch on the 2022 Oscar winners  (but worry not, we don't spend much time on *that* Discourse™) To listen to the full episode, head on over to patreon.com/gayforplaypod and become a patron at any tier!...

Full transparency: we're still just playing Elden Ring / experiencing video game burnout from playing too much Elden Ring, so we figured this week would be a great opportunity to catch up on other video game & pop culture moments that have been in the zeitgeist! Aside from an obligatory Elden Ring corner, topics the employee walkouts at Disney over the company's ongoing financial support of anti-LGBTQ politicians, the Hogwarts Legacy State of Play presentation, a few other video games...

Around once a year, a game releases that seems to completely dominate the gaming cultural conversation (by which we mean it's massively popular and men get really testy about it online). This year the game in that spotlight seems to be ELDEN RING - a new open world RPG from FromSoftware (creators of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, & Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), directed by studio head Hidetaka Miyazaki and featuring a story & lore written by George RR Martin (yes, *that* George RR Martin) In...

Yer a wizard, podcast listener! This week we are here to discuss the Harry Potter franchise, its various video game adaptations, and our complicated relationship with the franchise as queer & trans individuals whose childhood fondness for this series has turned sour in our mouths like a bad Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean in light of JK R*wling's dangerous and repeated transphobic comments over the past few years. Our guest (and DEAR friend of the pod) Leo Grierson unpacks their...

On today's episode, we are joined by our dear friend Devon, aka Ms. Blueberri Mary, to discuss one of our favorite video game genres: the humble JRPG! (Japanese Role Playing Game) And more particularly, how the fashion and design sensibilities of games like Final Fantasy X & X-2 have influenced and entire generation of queer designers and drag artists. We get into the character designs and looks that left our young gay brains gagged and inspired, how in practice they aren't too...

***Timestamps for Spoilers*** (Spoiler discussion for The Forgotten City runs from 50:15 to 1:03:00) Salve friend! Believe it or not, this is our 50TH EPISODE OF THE POD!!! We wanna thank y'all up top for helping us make it to half of a hundo. Here's to at least 50 more! For our 50th episode, Daddy Nintendo gifted us an anniversary gift in the form of a juicy Nintendo Direct to discuss! We share our thoughts on Kirby going Throatzilla on large inanimate objects, Earthbound finally landing...

To paraphrase one Ms. Gia Gunn "This is a place for (Pokémon) Legends, okay?" This week, we're joined by our friend (and composer of our theme music) Connor Marsh (he/him) to discuss Pokémon Legends: Arceus— the latest entry in the Pokémon franchise that brings a much needed breath of fresh air to the long-running series of loveable monsters. A prequel to Pokémon Diamond & Pearl (Laurence's favorite Pokémon entries of all time), Legends Arceus is set in the Hisui region— a land of the...

All month long January has been FILMUARY here at Gay For Play. This week, we're ending the month by discussing a queer cult classic, the 1999 satirical romantic comedy: But I'm a Cheerleader And the boys are not alone this week! We're joined by dear friend of the pod Becca Rowland, who last joined us on our The Last of Us (Part 1) episode last March! Becca's the one who recommended we watch this movie for our last episode of Filmuary, and we're so glad she did, because the three of us have...

FILMUARY continues here at Gay for Play this week!     In today's episode, we dive deep into a discussion of The Matrix and its newest installation, The Matrix Resurrections! One of us is a lifelong fan of this iconic sci-fi trilogy, and one of us is a total newcomer to the franchise (& hadn't even seen the original until like, last week!). But we both have a LOT to share about Keanu and his slo-mo bullet dodging adventures. It would be a Herculean task to have a thorough conversation...