True Avatars - A Queer Video Game Podcast

• Episode 30 - Final Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch, Mario Kart World Direct, The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere

  Nicole joins me for this week’s double whammy segments: discussing that underwhelming(??) Mario Kart World Direct and the exciting premiere for The Last of Us Season 2. We share our thoughts, criticisms, and all the queer goodness. It’s also a busy week for news: Dead by Daylight introduces the game’s first playable trans character, PlayStation Plus prices are going up in several countries, the final major patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on all platforms — and so much more! Queer Game of the Week also returns, and I make a case for the Final Fantasy VII remake (soon-to-be) trilogy.   00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:50 - News 00:17:00 - What We’ve Been Playing 00:22:30 - Mario Kart World Direct 00:45:21 - The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere 01:05:06 - Queer Game of the Week: Final Fantasy VII Remake + Rebirth   This episode was recorded on April 19 and 20 2025.   Sources: https://baldursgate3.game/news/the-final-patch-new-subclasses-photo-mode-and-cross-play_138 https://x.com/lbabinz/status/1912572302556078316?s=46&t=sVUrhNeL5EXDMRDpzdemfQ https://gamerant.com/playstation-plus-price-hike-canada/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZRGDZCl9pg https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/metal-gear-in-concert-coming-to-london-later-this-year/ https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/niantic-is-laying-off-68-employees-after-selling-its-game-business-for-3-5-billion https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-witcher-4-beta-test-invites-are-a-scam-cd-projekt-red-warns/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblwGH-C7eg https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/metal-gear-in-concert-coming-to-london-later-this-year/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq4uCJDwO9U https://www.ign.com/articles/our-big-nintendo-switch-2-interview-with-nintendo-of-americas-bill-trinen

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• Episode 29 - Spilled! Impressions & Queer Headline Catchup

  This week Amy-Lynn joins me to catch up on what we’ve been playing (and want to play)! In particular, we discuss Spilled!, which is a recently released cosy game from a queer dev about cleaning up oil spills! It’s really good, and True Avatars is here with many of the reasons you need to check it out. We also cover a bunch of queer headlines! The Last of Us TV series has been renewed for Season 3 early, Sims 4 receives a free queer content update, Hades II and Cyberpunk 2077 have some Nintendo Switch 2 news, and we discuss what’s going wrong with PlayStation’s upcoming concerts.   00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:21 - What We’ve Been Playing 00:23:41 - News   This episode was recorded on April 11 2025.   Sources: Spilled!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2240080/Spilled/ https://x.com/lentegamedev/status/1909633823362417074?s=46&t=sVUrhNeL5EXDMRDpzdemfQ https://x.com/naughty_dog/status/1909999973258719307?s=46&t=sVUrhNeL5EXDMRDpzdemfQ https://www.gamingbible.com/news/tv-and-film/last-of-us-tv-not-extend-beyond-games-943649-20250401 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/hades-2-will-be-a-nintendo-switch-2-console-exclusive-at-launch/ https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/04/switch-2-allows-players-to-create-per-game-controller-profiles https://gaymingmag.com/2025/04/sims-4-release-new-pride-ful-items-for-create-a-sim-and-build-buy-modes/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXFGmnNbp5s https://store.steampowered.com/app/2318330/Neverway/ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xboxs-big-summer-showcase-is-officially-returning-in-june/ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/playstation-the-concert-is-reportedly-cancelling-numerous-tour-dates-and-delaying-others/ https://bsky.app/profile/cyberpunk.net/post/3llw6kniz4s2f

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• Episode 28 - Interview with Endellion of Zorkie Studios: Encouraging Players to Make Ethical Decisions

  Back in Episode 24, we played several game demos during Steam Next Fest. One of those demos was “Quality Dreams, Reasonably Priced,” a dystopian visual novel from Zorkie Studios with a surprising premise — what if you had the ability to approve or decline someone’s gender-affirming care? That’s an oversimplification of the game’s narrative, but QDRP (as it’s affectionately called) is a game that’s queer through and through — and this week, I have Endellion, one of two developers making the game, here for an interview! Endellion discusses their favourite games, what inspired QDRP’s story, how they’re designing a grim and futuristic world, and even expands the visual novel genre! Plus, I have all the recent headlines, including the Zelda movie release date, how layoffs impacted a very popular (and recent) queer game, new accessibility tags on digital game storefronts, and the tariffs’ effect on the Nintendo Switch 2.   00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:46 - News 00:22:31 - Interview with Endellion of Zorkie Studios   This episode was recorded on April 6 2025. The interview was recorded on March 25 2025.   Sources: Zelda movie release date: Nintendo Today app https://productionlist.com/production/the-legend-of-zelda/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoVfBvxKdm0 https://www.ign.com/articles/gamestop-plans-to-close-a-significant-number-of-stores-and-invest-into-bitcoin https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/tomb-raider-studio-crystal-dynamics-has-confirmed-several-layoffs/ https://aftermath.site/gdc-awards-deck-nine-laid-off-developers-life-is-strange-double-exposure https://accessiblegames.com/about/ https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/introducing-the-accessible-games-initiative/ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-delays-switch-2-pre-orders-in-the-us-due-to-trump-tariffs/ https://www.ign.com/articles/esa-responds-to-trump-tariffs-if-we-think-its-just-the-switch-2-then-we-arent-taking-it-seriously

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• Episode 27.5 - BONUS - Is Nintendo making a HUGE mistake with the Switch 2?

  Nintendo’s Switch 2 directly finally arrived and we have all our initial thoughts and reactions in this bonus episode! Joining me this week are Ekamy and game dev Zoe Straw as we discuss the specs, the games (which look awesome, and some of which are queer!), and the very controversial prices. Could Nintendo be overestimating what fans are willing to pay? Are the games exciting enough to make us overlook the huge price increases? Tune in to hear our thoughts!   00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:58 - Nintendo Switch 2 Discussion   This episode was recorded on April 3 2025.   Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrTVeYm4iIM https://www.sega.com/news/sega-announces-yakuza-0-director-s-cut-raidou-remastered-puyo-puyo-tetris-2s-sonic-x-shadow https://x.com/wario64/status/1907588922424676623 https://x.com/lbabinz/status/1907842046246953352 https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/04/the-switch-2-will-emulate-switch-games-because-it-shares-no-internal-hardware-with-its-predecessor

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• Episode 27 - Nintendo Direct News & The Playersexuality Debate

  Nintendo surprised us with a last minute Direct, a livestream focused entirely on upcoming games coming to the original Nintendo Switch. Possibly the final Switch 1-focused direct.. ever. Ekamy and Lloyd_Lloydster join me to talk about all the announcements including Metroid Prime 4, Rift of the Necrodancer (feat. Celeste!), Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (which might have gay marriage?), and Virtual Game Cards. In the second half, we debate the thesis of an article from Xtra Magazine: “The queer fantasy of playersexuality.” What is playersexuality? Does it make a game queer, or is it queer erasure? What does the future of queer romance in video games look like? Tune in to hear our thoughts on these questions and many more! This episode went a bit longer than expected, so Queer Game of the Week will return in Episode 28.   00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:17 - Nintendo Direct (March 26) Impressions 00:59:11 - The Playersexuality Debate   This episode was recorded on March 27 2025. ***MINOR SPOILERS for Pokémon Legends Z-A***   Sources: The queer fantasy of playersexuality: https://xtramagazine.com/culture/playersexuality-gaming-queer-representation-270263 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OqoRxXUjGA https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/nintendo-apologizes-omitting-gay-marriage-tomodachi-life-n101861 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-small-print-suggests-some-switch-games-will-get-enhanced-switch-2-editions/ https://www.thegamer.com/best-playersexual-romance-games/

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