megan farokhmanesh
@megannicolett.bsky.social
senior writer @ WIRED reporting on video games | nyc | face god and walk backwards into hell | email: [email protected] | signal meganfarokhmanesh.76
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
I like games that give you tough choices
December 15, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I like games that give you tough choices
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
Before the Game Awards in LA last week, a US video game workers union turned up to protest. "Anyone who works in the games industry can identify that our art form is being sold for parts to make a few people a lot of money." @alyssamerc.bsky.social reports
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...
‘Our industry has been strip-mined’: video game workers protest at The Game Awards
Outside the lavish event, workers called out the ‘greed’ in the industry that has left games ‘being sold for parts to make a few people a lot of money’
www.theguardian.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Before the Game Awards in LA last week, a US video game workers union turned up to protest. "Anyone who works in the games industry can identify that our art form is being sold for parts to make a few people a lot of money." @alyssamerc.bsky.social reports
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
I must not have a take on the insane rage bait. Having a take on the insane rage bait is the mind-killer. Having a take on the insane rage bait is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face the insane rage bait. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone
December 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I must not have a take on the insane rage bait. Having a take on the insane rage bait is the mind-killer. Having a take on the insane rage bait is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face the insane rage bait. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
new from me: are data centers going to wipe out water supplies? how much water does ChatGPT really use? and what's going on with that big correction in Empire of AI?
i went long on the conversation around AI and water, and how it's actually about what we want resources to be used for:
i went long on the conversation around AI and water, and how it's actually about what we want resources to be used for:
You’re Thinking About AI and Water All Wrong
Fears about AI data centers’ water use have exploded. Experts say the reality is far more complicated than people think.
www.wired.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM
new from me: are data centers going to wipe out water supplies? how much water does ChatGPT really use? and what's going on with that big correction in Empire of AI?
i went long on the conversation around AI and water, and how it's actually about what we want resources to be used for:
i went long on the conversation around AI and water, and how it's actually about what we want resources to be used for:
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
I give you 5,000 words on Slutcon, a one-of-a-kind sex education event where inexperienced men paid thousands of dollars for the chance to flirt — in a controlled, judgement-free environment — with a fleet of sex workers and intimacy experts. It was fascinating to see it up close.
December 12, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I give you 5,000 words on Slutcon, a one-of-a-kind sex education event where inexperienced men paid thousands of dollars for the chance to flirt — in a controlled, judgement-free environment — with a fleet of sex workers and intimacy experts. It was fascinating to see it up close.
kojima found crying in the bathroom
December 12, 2025 at 3:33 AM
kojima found crying in the bathroom
weird to have all these hollywood people and not...feature...more actors in games
there are....a lot of celebrities at this game awards huh
December 12, 2025 at 3:26 AM
weird to have all these hollywood people and not...feature...more actors in games
there are....a lot of celebrities at this game awards huh
December 12, 2025 at 3:24 AM
there are....a lot of celebrities at this game awards huh
it never feels any less bizarre to watch geoff blow through awards at his award show
December 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
it never feels any less bizarre to watch geoff blow through awards at his award show
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
if you for any reason feel like reading about remedy rn, here you go www.theverge.com/games/691964...
Remedy is in control
Amid a bleak landscape, the studio behind Alan Wake has found a way to survive and grow, all while staying weird.
www.theverge.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:17 AM
if you for any reason feel like reading about remedy rn, here you go www.theverge.com/games/691964...
They Put Orville Peck In A Street Fighter Movie. No Really I'm Confused Too But I Support Him
December 12, 2025 at 2:11 AM
They Put Orville Peck In A Street Fighter Movie. No Really I'm Confused Too But I Support Him
video game trailer set to tool...recession indicator
December 12, 2025 at 1:55 AM
video game trailer set to tool...recession indicator
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
“Don’t gather some of the most brilliant activists in the industry, treat us like crap, and then expect us to do nothing about it.” After the Game Awards cancelled its Future Class programme, @alyssamerc.bsky.social talked to its former honorees
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
“We were effectively props”: young stars of game development feel let down by the ‘gaming Oscars’
Announced in 2020 by the Game Awards as an inclusive programme for the industry’s next generation, the Future Class initiative has now been discontinued. Inductees describe clashes with organisers and...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:33 PM
“Don’t gather some of the most brilliant activists in the industry, treat us like crap, and then expect us to do nothing about it.” After the Game Awards cancelled its Future Class programme, @alyssamerc.bsky.social talked to its former honorees
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
NEW: Doxing-for-hire services are using forging emergency data requests from law enforcement to trick major tech companies like Apple and Amazon into handing over people's private information. @davidgilbert.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/doxers...
Doxers Posing as Cops Are Tricking Big Tech Firms Into Sharing People's Private Data
A spoofed email address and an easily faked document is all it takes for major tech companies to hand over your most personal information.
www.wired.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:57 PM
NEW: Doxing-for-hire services are using forging emergency data requests from law enforcement to trick major tech companies like Apple and Amazon into handing over people's private information. @davidgilbert.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/doxers...
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
As of August 2025, Vietnam accounted for 75% of all video game consoles shipped to the US.
In 2024, 86% of consoles shipped to the US were from China.
In 2024, 86% of consoles shipped to the US were from China.
New on Bloomberg : “Made in Vietnam: Trump Tariffs Ended China’s Monopoly on US Video Game Consoles”
Made in Vietnam: Trump Tariffs Ended China’s Monopoly on US Video Game Consoles
www.bloomberg.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
As of August 2025, Vietnam accounted for 75% of all video game consoles shipped to the US.
In 2024, 86% of consoles shipped to the US were from China.
In 2024, 86% of consoles shipped to the US were from China.
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
See also: BAFTA's "Game Beyond Entertainment", which ends up as a catch-all for games with PoC in them + social impact games. While it's an honour to be nominated for a BAFTA I was utterly baffled that *Thirsty Suitors* a game about fighting your hot toxic exes and wuxia cooking was in this category
On Games for Impact:
“It's good that it's there, but it's also, in a way, kind of insulting. Because giving a special award for a game for actually meaning something or having some human content... we should be aspiring for that in every category."
postgame.substack.com/p/the-histor...
“It's good that it's there, but it's also, in a way, kind of insulting. Because giving a special award for a game for actually meaning something or having some human content... we should be aspiring for that in every category."
postgame.substack.com/p/the-histor...
December 11, 2025 at 5:18 PM
See also: BAFTA's "Game Beyond Entertainment", which ends up as a catch-all for games with PoC in them + social impact games. While it's an honour to be nominated for a BAFTA I was utterly baffled that *Thirsty Suitors* a game about fighting your hot toxic exes and wuxia cooking was in this category
san francisco: well, well, well, not so easy to find a location that doesn't suck shit, huh?
Saudi Arabia's latest overture to the games industry is a new conference, produced by GDC parent Informa, taking place in December 2026
www.gamesindustry.biz/saudi-arabia...
www.gamesindustry.biz/saudi-arabia...
Saudi Arabia to host Kingdom of Gaming conference in 2026
Organisers hope for 20,000 attendees, 500 studios and 200 investors to be in attendance next December
www.gamesindustry.biz
December 10, 2025 at 7:56 PM
san francisco: well, well, well, not so easy to find a location that doesn't suck shit, huh?
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
Again, apologizing to all videogame environment artists who knocked up satirical posters for their games, I should not have rolled my eyes, yes, even you Cyberpunk billboard team, I am sorry
jesus christ
December 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Again, apologizing to all videogame environment artists who knocked up satirical posters for their games, I should not have rolled my eyes, yes, even you Cyberpunk billboard team, I am sorry
in a cab and a lawyer ad offering representation for victims of Roblox grooming is playing on the radio. wild stuff
December 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
in a cab and a lawyer ad offering representation for victims of Roblox grooming is playing on the radio. wild stuff
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot
December 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
ICYMI: I wrote about Horses and how, despite its right to exist in the face of censorship, the game still has a lot of problems www.wired.com/story/horses...
‘Horses,’ the Most Controversial Game of the Year, Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype
First it was banned. Then its sales blew up. But “Horses” fails to meet the lofty goals of its own ideas.
www.wired.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:10 PM
ICYMI: I wrote about Horses and how, despite its right to exist in the face of censorship, the game still has a lot of problems www.wired.com/story/horses...
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
The conversation about the ban was/is important and necessary, but I'm glad we're moving into the "What about the actual game" part of the discourse.
wrote about Horses, which should be defended against censorship, and also is a game I think is bad :) www.wired.com/story/horses...
Horses, the Most Controversial Game of the Year, Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype
First it was banned. Then its sales blew up. But Horses fails to meet the lofty goals of its own ideas.
www.wired.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The conversation about the ban was/is important and necessary, but I'm glad we're moving into the "What about the actual game" part of the discourse.
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
wrote about Horses, which should be defended against censorship, and also is a game I think is bad :) www.wired.com/story/horses...
Horses, the Most Controversial Game of the Year, Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype
First it was banned. Then its sales blew up. But Horses fails to meet the lofty goals of its own ideas.
www.wired.com
December 5, 2025 at 8:50 PM
wrote about Horses, which should be defended against censorship, and also is a game I think is bad :) www.wired.com/story/horses...
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
