Another year, another GOTY discussion! 

Though we haven't recorded as many episodes this year, we still found plenty of games to love this year (as well as plenty we missed, plenty of games from before 2025 that we tapped into for the first time this year, and lots more to yap about!)

Join us as we get into all of our faves, and crown Gay for Play's 2025 Game of the Year!

Games discussed (in no particular order) include: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, PEAK, Despelote, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Consume Me, Kirby Air Riders, Dispatch, Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong: Bananza, Fortnite x The Simpsons, Ball x Pit, South of Midnight, Skate Story, Blue Prince, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, UFO 50, Tactical Breach Wizards, Batman: Arkham Shadow. 

What Else We're Gay for this Year

Theatre! - Paranormal Activity, Stereophonic,

Film! - Sinners, Weapons, Wake Up Dead Man,

Theatre/Film! - Merrily We Roll Along (the pro-shot of the Broadway revival production)

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

Follow Eric's YouTube Channel: Getting There with Eric

Subscribe to Laurence's Substack

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

After years of anticipation, HOLLOW KNIGHT: SILKSONG, one of the most anticipated games of the decade, is finally out, and we have been playing it non-stop! (No really, it was hard to pull time away to record, edit, and produce this episode because all we wanna do is keep playing more Silksong.)

It’s the first game in a hot minute that both of us have been simultaneously obsessed with, and so Pharloom’s silk has beckoned us to the microphones to sing our song* (*record our pod). 

Before we dive into this massive Metroidvania that has pogoed its way straight to the top of our GOTY contenders, we have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT to make about the future of our podcasting careers. We’ve been cooking something new up and are excited to reveal it here in this episode!

Later in the episode, we discuss upcoming 2025 video games that we’re looking forward to (it’s a stacked last three months of the year y'all!) 

We also catch up on what we’ve been playing this summer: Laurence shares some thoughts on Donkey Kong: Bananza, while Eric has been filling in a blind spot by diving into the first 3 games of the Metal Gear Solid series.

WHAT ELSE WE'RE GAY FOR:

ERIC: Metal Gear Solid | Tate McRae’ VMA Performance

LAURENCE: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky | Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low 

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

Follow Eric's YouTube Channel: Getting There with Eric

Subscribe to Laurence's Substack

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

MUSIC THIS WEEK:

Cogwork Dancers by Christopher Larkin

A whirlwind of a couple weeks, to say the least! The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally out, the 2025 Tony Awards were a slay, brand new video games have been announced at Summer Game Fest, and all in all things feel...bad! 

Listener, it always feels weird to talk about video games and culture when things feel so dire and bad in the world. We recorded this episode amidst the ICE-protests in Los Angeles, and as the fight against the authoritarianism and fascism of this administration continues, it feels very bread-and-circus-y to talk about trivial things like video games during these times. But rest and joy are important, and we hope we can provide a little bit of levity in your day while still encouraging you to protest, donate, fight, pressure your elected officials into doing something, et al. Hang in there and keep up the good fight!

In this episode, Laurence shares his first impressions of the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, the two of us discuss the banger 2025 Tony Awards, and we share some of our favorite announcements from Geoff Keighley's E3 successor, Summer Game Fest, and its related events. 

WHAT ELSE WE'RE GAY FOR:
ERIC: Super Mario Eclipse
LAUR: Parade at the Orpheum Theater

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

Theatre is on the brain this week here on this video game podcast that is rapidly becoming more and more of a theatre-podcast by each episode (listen... Gay for PLAY is a double entendre; walk with me...) 

Our main topic this week the stunning pro-shot of the West End production of Next to Normal: the 2009 Pulitzer-prize winning musical about a woman's mental health and its impact on her and her complicated family. It's a show we forgot how much we loved and we're thrilled to have this new version to chew over and analyze. Before that, we also get into the Patti LuPone drama that shook the theatre world this week, and Eric discusses his latest theme park adventures which you can follow along with on his new YOUTUBE channel! (Watch and Subscribe HERE!)

On the video game front, this week we share some more thoughts on Blue Prince now that Eric has played a good deal more & Laurence as rolled credits. We also touch on LOK Digital, a lovely little word/puzzle game we've been playing on mobile. But mainly, we're focused on the video games of days past this week as we both have been having fun with some Emulators across our various devices! We discuss Chibi-Robo, Silent Hill 2, Golden Sun, Twilight Princess, and a host of other classics that we've been revisiting with the power of technology.

What Else We're Gay For:

ERIC - RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars 10

LAURENCE - Vine: Six Seconds that Changed the World

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

It doesn't take much to get us to talk about Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, but what a joy to have a legit reason to do so! Laurence recently saw Gaga's "Mayhem in the Desert" at Coachella, and Eric is fresh off of seeing night 1 of Bey's "Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit". We've gathered here, in a conclave of two, to discuss both! (Our own personal "Telephone Part 2", if you will). 

On top of that, we have a stellar video game to discuss this week! We share our first thoughts on BLUE PRINCE, a puzzle adventure game about a young boy exploring a shapeshifting manor in a quest to earn his inheritance. It's scratching our brains sooo good and is an early GOTY contender that we know we'll be talking about much more throughout the year.

Also in What Else We're Gay For: Laurence is watching an anime (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) and Eric is reading a book (Woodworking)! Woooo!! We hope you're ready to eat what we're serving. Order UP, Divas!

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

MUSIC THIS WEEK:

Stories of All Manor (Blue Prince) - by Trigg & Gusset

This past week, Nintendo lifted the veil and gave us our first in-depth look at their new console, the Nintendo Switch 2, beckoning the two of us back to the airwaves to ask the question: "Will I spend 450+ USD on this?" The answer? Well... we'll see. At this point it's unclear when we'll even be able to consider preordering one! (Girl, the tariffs...) 

For now though, a Nintendo Direct about what the Switch 2 will have to offer in its launch days has us with plenty of exciting things to talk about! Open world Mario Kart! Kirby Air RIDERS💜! A sexy new Donkey Kong! A Switch 2 exclusive FROMSOFTWARE game! 

We get into our favorite announcements, thoughts, and feelings on all of it this episode.

PLUS! We discuss our thoughts on The White Lotus S3 ahead of the finale, Severance, Lady Gaga's MAYHEM, Evita (and Rachel Zegler's impending motherquake performance in it coming to the West End), plus a lot more!

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio) 

The Nintendo Switch 2 got announced yesterday. However, we recorded this episode a day *before* that announcement. So instead we, as gay people, talked about a bad movie we are obsessed with. (Which is honestly the best thing one can do for themselves sometimes in times of crisis! It's been a rough week for us amidst the LA wildfires, the impending incoming presidential administration, etc.)

The bad movie in question being Emilia Pérez, the controversial musical melodrama that beat out Wicked at the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. It's a movie that is not particularly good, and arguably downright offensive to both the Mexican and Trans community, but did leave us with plenty of worms in our brains to warrant hopping on the mic and making it our main discussion topic this week.

Later in the episode, we share our predictions for the Switch 2 (topical!), our gaming resolutions for 2025, Eric's foray into VR gaming, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, RHOSLC, The Traitors S3, and more!

A few links to help support the victims of the Palisades and Altadena Wildfires:
United American Indian Involvement
Altadena Girls
GiveDirectly

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio)

For our last episode of 2024, we share our thoughts on The Game Awards and then have a good ol' fashioned GOTY chat on our favorite games of 2024!

Listen... if we're being real, we honestly didn't play *too* many games released this calendar year, but the ones we did play were bangers nevertheless! Including an undisputed choice for our joint Game of the Year. Join us as we give the girls their flowers and talk about what vibed with us the most.

Thanks for sticking with us through another year of G4P! We'll be back in your ears in 2025!

What Else We're Gay For this week:
Eric: Hundreds of Beavers (dir. Mike Cheslik) 
Laurence: Doechii's Tiny Desk Concert, Gracie Abrams "That's So True", Kurt Vonnegut on Making Art
 
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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio)

MUSIC THIS WEEK:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth -  Salmon's Theme (Bow Wow Wow) by Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki
I Am Astro Bot (ASTRO BOT Remix) by Kenneth C M Young

Laurence and Eric work in tandem as they are joined this week by their partners, Hector Barajas (first time guest!) and Gerry Tonella (returning from our Olympics episode) to hold space for the musical/cultural blockbuster event of the year –  WICKED (part one). Full spoilers ahead for the movie, the stage musical, the book kinda, the source material (The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz) and the source material’s source material (another book) as we discuss all things swankified in the Oz, Shiz, and beyond. We *are* in queer media so, naturally we have an Emerald City’s worth of thoughts to share about this formative musical and its superb film adaptation.

Then later in the episode, we share tales of our respective recent couples’ vacations: Eric and Gerry recount their trip to Walt Disney World, and Laurence and Hector about their trip to Mexico City.

Put your pointy hats on and vogue on down to the Ozdust Ballroom & enjoy this episode!

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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio)

This week, on what is approximately our 4th(!) anniversary of the pod (we launched on Thanksgiving Day 2020), we gather to discuss the future of the pod, games we’ve been playing, the Game Awards nominations, theatre we’ve been holding space for, and ruminate on some of our favorite albums of the year as the year rapidly draws to a close!

Games discussed: Pokémon TCG Pocket, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Mario Party Jamboree, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Metaphor Re:Fantazio
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Get in touch with us!

EMAIL US at [email protected]

FOLLOW G4P (& Message us on any of our socials for a link to our Discord!)

Twitter: @GayForPlayPod
Instagram: @GayForPlayPod
Twitch: twitch.tv/gayforplaypod

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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)

Show art by Benny Kessler (@retro.spectacle.studio)