Gay for Play: A Video Game Podcast

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...

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 Phar...

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,...

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...

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 persona...

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 N...

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.)...

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...

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 sourc...

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: Direc...

Bonsoir! Bienvenue à PARIS! This week we set aside video games in favor of OLYMPIC games, as we are joined by the lovely Gerry Tonella (Olympic gold medalist in the sport of "being Eric's cutie-patootie boyfriend") to discuss the games of the 33rd Summer Olympiad in Paris, France! Collectively we found it to be our favorite Olympic games of recent memory, with soooo much to discuss!...

Are we still a video game podcast? Well, sorta kinda! That, pop culture, and beyond as we say, (with an emphasis on the latter two lately...) But still, it's a question we find we are asking ourselves lately! tbh, We find it a little difficult to care as deeply about video games when we are so busy living through major current events and existing in the context of all in which we live (&...

We've been Nasty girls for sitting on this episode for a couple weeks, but we are back! This week we discuss Luca Guadagnino's bisexual fever dream smash hit CHALLENGERS, as well as Another Crab's Treasure - a cute undersea Souls-like where you play as a hermit crab trying to get his shell back, the Met Gala (which we kinda dgaf about but discuss a bit anyway), the recent layoffs in...

Get in the robot, listener, it's time for another Gay for Play! This week we're joined by bestie of the pod and G4P alum, Sara Brown! We get deep and philosophical about the re-release (and first North American release) of The End of Evangelion in theaters and discuss why this film and its anime is still one of the most beloved and mind-boggling series ever made, as well as a show and fi...

It's all aces this week as Eric and Laurence chitchat about all the culture and games they've been playing this month. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth , the hotly anticipated follow-up to 2020's FF7 Remake. Rebirth reunites us with our favorite PTSD-addled twink Cloud Strife, as he and his gang of gay friends and divas leave the city of Midgar and embark on an open world adventure on the...

Time marches ever onward, and here we are, with our first episode of 2024! Back in January (sorry for the delay, it's been a busy start to the year for us) we sat down with one of our OG G4P guests and dear dear friend Leo Grierson to discuss digital theatre and storytelling, A.I. and our complex and evolving opinions on the technology, the joys of grad school, the best farming sims to enjoy...

"The GOTYs, said to portend... untold slayage, and the end of the *year*~" 2023 is over! And we find ourselves at the end of a truly landmark year for gaming. On this episode we discuss some of our favorite games of 2023. We each pick 5 games from our personal lists that we want to highlight, then culminate the show with 3 "joint slays": games that made both of our lists that w...

We back y'all. This week Eric and Laurence hop back on the mics after a much needed break & discuss gaming ruts, our teacher-eras, the end of the actor's strike, AI, some light predictions for the Game Awards (we recorded this episode 2 days before the ceremony) and of course, gaaaaaames! Games discussed include: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (a slay), Alan Wake (the first one), Su...

Autumn has officially begun, and with it, massive Role-Playing Games have arisen as some of hottest games of the season. We're leaning into this genre trend this week and discussing 4 games we've been playing! -First we have the stellar new RPG Baldur's Gate 3 , a colossal Dungeons & Dragons-based adventure where dialog choices & character interactions massively impact the s...

It's Virgo('s Groove) Season and we have been blessed by the queen! Beyoncé Knowles (female pop vocalist) Carter brought her record-breaking, epic, indelible Renaissance World Tour to Los Angeles, California earlier this month, and we were there to witness it! (well, 2/3rds of us were, but Eric has watched multiple YouTube recordings of the tour, so he was with us in spirit). Our friend...

You and your party stumble across a new episode of G4P! Go ahead and roll for initiative~ Baldur's Gate 3 is currently the hottest new RPG in the gaming world right now. Only problem is, none of us have played it yet! So on this week's episode we're joined by Steven Christie, our oomfie from down under* (*Australia, not the Underdark) to discuss the game that inspired BG3 and countl...

This week, Eric and Laurence discuss the 1997 Studio Ghibli Classic, Princess Mononoke and discuss how it had so much more of an impact on the latest Zelda games than we had previously been aware of. We also get into some of our other favorite films from the beloved animation studio, Laurence converts Eric to a NewJeans stan, Eric extols the virtues of garlic confit, and so much more on this episo...

This week we are joined by our friend Matthew Pezzulich (he/him) to discuss PIKMIN 4: the latest entry in the beloved Nintendo franchise about little guys doing silly little tasks at the end of the world (and in that sense, aren't we all Pikmin when you think about it?) We talk about the history of franchise, its themes of environmentalism, collaboration, and the strength of collective labor,...

This super special episode is a recording of our live show from this past June with SUPER DATING SIMULATOR @ the Alamo Drafthouse's Video Vortex in Downtown LA!!! It was such a blast to be a part of, and now that Hot Labor Summer (the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes) has led us to shift our release schedule around, we're so glad to finally share this episode with you, dear listener! At Super D...

This week it's back to business after the incredible joy and success our first ever live show in LA last weekend! Eric and Laurence debrief on our show with Super Dating Simulator and the weekend at large before diving into our main topic: JUNE VIDEO GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS! E3 may be officially dead and gone, but the games are here to stay. We cover our favorite announcements from the June Ninten...