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 (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