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Keza MacDonald

@mackeza.bsky.social

9.9K followers 170 following 510 posts

Guardian video games editor, exhausted millennial. She/her 🏳️‍🌈

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · Sep 3

My book, Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped the World Have Fun, is out next February! It is a lively cultural history of the world's most beloved video game company, drawing from 20 years' worth of reporting and interviews. Pre-order here: linktr.ee/super_nintendo

The UK cover of Keza's forthcoming book, Super Nintendo, out 12 February 2026

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 11h

I think one of its messages is that giving up isn't an option

Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 11h

I have finished neither Hades nor Silksong but here I am trying to finish Baby Steps anyway

Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 11h

It is about the obstinate and futile impulse to keep going no matter how bad things get, yes

Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 12h

15 years later I am still Like This

Michael Gulliver @mikegulliver.bsky.social · 12h

This is the Keza I remember from the Dark Souls mines from back in the old days on Twitter 😂

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 12h

I made it out. I am unstoppable. No game can defeat me. No pursuit is too futile

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 13h

Can I stop playing? No

Do I now feel infinitely worse after watching someone on YouTube manage this entire section, somehow, in 15 minutes? Yes

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 13h

I have never hated a game as I hate Baby Steps. I have been stuck inside a sandcastle for hours. It has brought out my worst self, as I curse vehemently at a pallid loser sliding pathetically down a sandy slope for the 40th time. Every time one of his pallid feet slips off a ledge I hate him more

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 16h

I have a fairly predictable Hyrule crest (with a bit of a twist from the artist)

Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 16h

I feel like someone has made this game specifically for me?? (I did my masters dissertation on Berlin's architectural memory, many years ago)

The Berlin Apartment + Constance - Blue Backpack Games @bluebackpack.bsky.social · 22h

Memories live here.
In laughter, in paint, in cracks in the wall.

The Berlin Apartment
November 17th

Wishlist now on Steam.

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 16h

I have one too, I might get another to celebrate both the book and the anniversary

Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 17h

Waterstones are doing 25% off preorders on my book Super Nintendo this week, alongside other 2026 titles. Preorders are super important for authors so please, buy your future self some cool books! www.waterstones.com/book/super-n...

Use the code OCTOBER25 for 25% off Super Nintendo, out February 2026

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Reposted by Keza MacDonald

Keith Stuart @keefstuart.bsky.social · 23h

Sometimes as a writer it is important to really test yourself - to take risks, to break out of your comfort zone and do something radically new. With this in mind, I have written a nostalgic article about a Sega game

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/o...

Space Harrier at 40: how Sega’s surreal classic brought total immersion to arcades in the 80s

As they flew above Yu Suzuki’s innovative, psychedelic 3D landscapes combating space dragons and alien rock monsters, the moving arcade cabinet would physically involve players in the action

www.theguardian.com

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 1d

I've seen a lot of critics empathise with/relate to Nate. I can't relate to Nate! I'm a woman who has to deal with the world's Nates! Weirdly I have ended up feeling almost maternal towards him instead

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 1d

Riley you could fly to Scotland, live here for several months AND go to baking school for less than that amount

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Reposted by Keza MacDonald

Keith Stuart @keefstuart.bsky.social · 1d

Hi I reviewed Battlefield 6.

Tldr:
multiplayer = great, back to classic Battlefield
Campaign = ughhh 🤢

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/o...

Battlefield 6 review – operatic, ear-shattering all-encompassing warfare

In contrast to the blast-em-ups this franchise drops players into a vast and vividly realised military offensive and the latest instalment is a brilliant return to form

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Keza MacDonald

A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 4d

I've noticed the opposing team's fans only cheer when the opponents score on us. To win those fans over, I recommend we score on ourselves repeatedly; that will surely make them so happy they'll start supporting us. And I'm sure all our fans will keep cheering for us—who else is there to cheer for?

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 2d

Impressive that AI has made even something as laborious and depersonalising as app dating worse

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Keza MacDonald

Jelly🪼 @huskapet.bsky.social · 14d

smart guy in an rpg: hmm..
party member: what's wrong?
smart guy: it's nothing.
(20 hours later)
smart guy: so it's true... i knew it.

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 3d

Inclusivity through laziness is a pretty good summary of essentially all video game diversity in this time period

Reposted by Keza MacDonald

Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 4d

I'd love to know what every comedian who played the Riyadh Comedy Festival thinks of this piece by Jonathan Liew. It's an electrifying read. And really hard to think what any counter-justification from the participating comics would consist of. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We know what the comedians got out of the Riyadh comedy festival. What about the Saudi regime? | Jonathan Liew

The tawdry event was an ultimately doomed attempt by the Saudi government to buy the kind of authentic grassroots culture it is unwilling to countenance, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

www.theguardian.com

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 4d

Hi Austin! Sorry this has taken me a hot minute - I've asked them to get in touch with you, would be delighted for you to read it

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 4d

I played that game as a female character and there were some VERY strange scenes where I was being whipped for trying to sneak into some duke's (?) daughter's chambers. I'd gotten caught exploring the castle at night on a whim, I had no idea what was going on 😅

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 5d

Truly letting the side down in the most dramatic fashion

Reposted by Keza MacDonald

alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 5d

My interview with Alyssa Walles of the @igda.org Foundation is live at @theguardian.com right now!

What a lovely chat about a crucial service: helping people around the world break into the video game industry.

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/o...

The non-profit helping people from all over the world to become successful game developers

The IGDA Foundation broadened its reach by attending the world’s biggest video games event this summer – but faces challenges funding its work helping underrepresented developers

www.theguardian.com

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 5d

I HAD FORGOTTEN THIS

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