WOW it’s been a long time since I sent one of these out. Over a year, in fact! Really screws up the whole “just subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t wanna follow me on social media” dealio, but at least we can say I’m not spamming y’all. Due to that long time and it being the end of the year, this is gonna be a long one, folks!
Much is the same for me going into this year from the last, but there are two major changes with some knock-on effects that will all be relevant here. Firstly, I left my old job, which compensated me very well but took up an inordinate amount of energy. Not the best news of course, but I think my life is better for it and I’m happy to have more time for myself and my personal projects (at least in the short term). Secondly, I’ve joined the VGBees podcast as a full-time cohost!
New From Me
The primary new-from-me business item here is of course my joining VGBees, but I’ll expound on that in a bit, at the appropriate time as we get into a chronological recap of this past year. I’ll keep it as trim as I can, but some pretty good stuff happened, despite it all!
K-YOS, slowly but surely, kept on truckin’! We had some serious soundproofing issues on first moving into our new space, but we got it done! We introduced some light format changes in the January episode, mostly concerning the fact that we began discussing more non-k-pop music on the show, especially in months we felt were light on k-pop we wanted to talk about. I’m glad we had the foresight to do this, but, wow, it was not a good year for k-pop. That light change was just not enough to keep the pod going on even a monthly cadence in a year this rough. We haven’t released an episode since July, and even that episode combined April, May, and June into one, for a lack of releases to talk about… Should we adapt even further and become a more general music podcast that also appreciates k-pop, unlike many others? If we do, how does that affect our “Best of the Year” programming? These are the questions I’ve been asking myself lately!…
In streaming news, there hasn’t been much streaming news. I did say that that job was sapping all my energy, after all! The biggest thing we did was a late pride charity stream back in July for Organizacion Latina Trans en Texas. Owing to my busyness, it was put together quite quickly, with a very loose schedule and the only incentive being a de facto double donation match; I was donation matching up to 1,000 USD, and I verified ahead of time that my at-the-time job could donation match my own contribution. In the end, y’all donated a whopping 725 USD, which I then donation matched, and then my job did afterwards! That’s $2,175!
I also wrote a couple things this year over on the Patreon, both very much informed by video games discourse (womp womp). The first concerns a sort of proposed genre term I and many others have quickly come to loathe, “metroidbrainia,” and its inherent lack of merit as a critical, commercial, and even basic informational tool. To me, it’s a signifier of the long, downward trend of video game design and experience where we just don’t remember how to think while we play games anymore, so ubiquitous is over-tutorialization and handholding. The second thing I wrote of substance this year is, of course, also about a (much less serious) genre term: “friendslop.” Specifically, friendslop is an extremely online, Gen Z, consumer-driven idea, and I was frustrated to see so many people speaking derisively of it while clearly not understanding it on even a basic level.
Now: VGBees! In case you’re unfamiliar, VGBees is a games site, podcast, and community run by my friend and former boss over at Fanbyte, John Warren. He and Niki (another friend and ex-coworker from Fanbyte!) have been hosting VGBees together for the past 18 months or so, joined by loads of cool guests like Jeff Gerstmann, Dan Ryckert, Jenna Stoeber, and many more! I was also on a few times before (drumroll) being invited to come on as a permanent cohost in October, and I’ve been on every regular episode since. I was very much honored as someone who already listened to the pod and, plain and simple, really values the coverage and knowledge that John and Niki bring to the scene. They’ve both been in the industry for a hot minute, and their sharpness for industry business is matched only by their humor. As much as I know and love them for acting the fool and having a grand ole time of hateration, they’re unafraid to get a little more serious and tackle things critically — be that games as art or financial decisions or hype trains — in a way that I’ve always found very refreshing. I think other folks like myself who’ve become disillusioned with the influencer and media side of games for that signature one-note obeyance of popular opinion will also enjoy VGBees, John, and Niki as I have. I’m happy for the opportunity to talk about games in a somewhat professional capacity with people I respect so much while we all have our own personalities, idiosyncracies, likes, and dislikes. It’s a breath of fresh air and I hope you’ll give us a listen! A wall of links ain’t gonna look too pretty in this format, but what can you do? Here’s every episode I’ve been on thus far, in order:
Inquiries on Animes, Gamifying HIPAA Violations, 1-900-GAMBLER, Stuck in a House, No Outside, Assassin’s Creed: Roku City, Body Works, Body Worlds, Body Bath & Beyond, Phil & Todd Flood the Zone, Competing with Steam as a Goof, Matt Booty’s 10,000 Testers, Even You Could Be Samus Aran’s Sidekick, The Joe Pesci of Podcasts, Hold Your Horses, Everything is Safe in Netflix’s Capable Hands!, Protecting Muppet Kayfabe, Gibbed in the MRI Machine, and VGBees Games of the Year 2025
Man, that sure looks like a lot when they’re all written out like that. I should also mention that VGBees has their own Discord server (where I and many other cool folks are quite active!) as well as their own subscription and related perks, like a special section on the Discord and the ability to send in listener questions every week. That supports everyone involved with the show and site, myself included!
Moving on to the last couple things here: I started a couple little joke accounts on Bluesky and Instagram! Basically, I had written up some submissions for a games media satire site, but unfortunately was not accepted. But, I had a lot of fun writing my proposed headlines and got into quite the groove, with a good 20 or so I was happy with. So I just said screw it and made my own accounts to post them, alongside anything new I think of that’s funny enough, and maybe even some submissions from friends! I named the fake site Geimu Chronicle, in an effort to have something immediately recognizable as both a gaming outlet and something that no one in their right mind should take seriously. I love and hate it. I’ll be posting there about once a month with each account being identical, so drop me a follow wherever you prefer! Once I get a proper website I can give it some space over there, but til then, it’s just socials for me.
Also, the new year cometh, and that means I’m working on this year’s installment of the “XX (Indie) PC Games Coming In 20XX” video. I decided last year that 2025 would probably be the last year the number of games and year would match, as much as I loathe to leave behind my nice little naming convention. But with every increase, it gets harder and harder to make a good list that I’m really proud of. 25 is already about as far as I can push it while still honoring the spirit behind the “indie” label and trimming games that seem unlikely to come out in the given year. Games get delayed all the time, but given the concept of the video, I do think it’s important to be selective and choose those with more concrete or realistic release windows when possible. Also, hey. 25 is just a good number for a list, and I don’t wanna get stuck on an uglier one! So look forward to “25 (Indie) PC Games Coming In 2026” hitting your screens in the near future.
Music of the Newsletter
I haven’t quite decided on my favorites of 2025 yet as far as music goes, but it’s the beginning of the year so I may as well drop my frontrunners!
SOTY: Despite my late in the year obsession with “Lola’s Theme” by The Shapeshifters (a really great ‘04 dance track you should give a listen when you have a spare seven minutes), there’s no song I listened to more than “KNOW ABOUT ME” by NMIXX. Pop music doesn’t get much better than this, especially when specifically Pop Grading, which necessarily includes an appraisal of the music video, choreography, and overall styling. Who else had a 720 degree ponytail flip? No one. Was any dance break as exciting as this one, with the center and youngest member pulling out high harmonies while performing live? Not that I know of! Did anyone look more beautiful than Bae in her frosty bob, especially at 2:25 and 2:31 in the MV? Debatable, but it’s not looking good. There was no pre-chorus/chorus combo more addicting than that in “KNOW ABOUT ME,” made all the sweeter by NMIXX’s live performance and vocal chops.
AOTY: I Love My Computer by Ninajirachi totally came out of nowhere for me. I was enchanted by one single in particular, “iPod Touch,” with no knowledge of a forthcoming album. It’s a bright electropop track that is nevertheless an easy listen, with its softly sung melody and choppy vocal accompaniment. It’s got a nostalgic streak without sounding unoriginal or overly referential, which makes it a good representation of I Love My Computer as a whole; although there are certainly some sonically harder-hitting songs throughout the album, like “CSIRAC” and “All At Once,” that are great fun of a different kind.
News & Recommendations
I think the most important thing to mention here is the creation of No Games for Genocide, a website dedicated to the BDS movement and the boycott of Microsoft as it pertains to the games industry. I’d recommend watching People Make Games’s related video for a more robust explanation, but TLDR: Microsoft has very direct ties to the Israeli military and, therefore, the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Boycotting all of Microsoft is nigh impossible, but BDS organizers have given us a clear and straightforward target to help increase pressure on Microsoft: Xbox. There’s a lot that anyone can do, and the site has these all laid out in plain language. And, remember: You can always commit to something small and then ramp things up later. Everything counts. The more average, everyday people learn of Microsoft’s complicity, the more the pressure increases, and every day is another step towards real change. So be like me and share the PMG video with the gamers in your life! As grim as things feel sometimes (often), we know this shit works, and we know a lot of people care. Just scrolling the pledge list and seeing all those names (I’m on there, and so are a lot of other people you know; maybe even friends!) can be incredibly heartening.
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading this extra long update and continuing to follow my work. It’s been a tough year and I’m just glad we’re still here, lol. Cheers to all of us for surviving the nonsense and finding the many things worth living for each and every day. It’s not always easy, but they are always there. Seeya soon!