Going to college for video games

Image: Spider-Man (via Reddit)

What's it like to pursue a degree in video games? And what's life like as a video game professor?

This week, my guest is Aaron Trammell, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who teaches undergraduate and graduate students about games, ranging from video games to tabletop games, the craft of design to the critique of play.

• Act 1: Life as a video game student

• Act 2: Life as a video game professor

• Patreon bonus: 5 new video game books to read this fall

• Act 3: The news of the week

(Audio note: There's a little bit of audio level imbalance with my guest's recording in this episode. I was able to fix most of the issues, but it sounds just a little strange, that's why. This should be a one-off issue. Thanks for your patience!)

Image: Persona 5

Act 1: Life as a video game student

• DigiPen (DigiPen)

• Game Design and Interactive Media, B.S. (UCI)

• Game Design MFA (NYU Game Center)

• Interactive Media & Games Division (USC)

• The Life of the Mind by Hannah Arendt (PDF)

Act 2: Life as a video game professor

• Repairing Black: A Black Phenomenology (MIT Press)

• The Privilege of Play (NYU Press)

• The works of Gonzalo Frasca (Google Scholar)

• Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal (PDF)

• The works of Gerald Voohees (Google Scholar)

• The works of Shelly Jones (Google Scholar)

• The works of Kishonna Gray (Google Scholar)

• The works of TreaAndrea Russworm (Google Scholar)

• 2025 Conference on BIPOC Game Studies (conference.blackgamestudies.com/)

Patreon bonus: 5 new video game books to read this fall

• 50 Indie Games That Changed the World (Bitmap Books)

• Free sample of Process by Mathew Seiji Burns (Tune and Fairweather)

• Tune and Fairweather’s books (Tune and Fairweather)

• Q&A with Tommy Wallach, Author of Outer Wilds (Boss Fight Books)

• Outer Wilds by Tommy Wallach (Boss Fight Books)

• Video Game Maps: SNES - Volume 3 (Retro Games Books)

• The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully (MIT Press)

• The Video Game Library (thevideogamelibrary.org)

Act 3: News of the week

• The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | Title Announcement (Illumination)

• The Next Mario Movie Is Probably Going To Outer Space (Kotaku)

• Borderlands 4 launches to 'mostly negative' reviews on Steam thanks to widespread performance problems and crashes (PCGamer)

• Where’s our Borderlands 4 review (Eurogamer)

• Why we don't have a Borderlands 4 review yet (PCGamer)

• The Politics, Theology, And Hype Behind The First Gamer Saint (Aftermath)

• Carlo Acutis, nicknamed ‘God’s influencer,’ becomes the first ‘millennial’ saint (CNN)

• Help! I've been transported back in time to the days of Flash, Miniclip, and Adventure Quest by this charming little '90s-inspired RPG (PCGamer)

This week in video game links

• OK, But Who Is Inverting Their Horizontal Controls? (Aftermath)

• Borderlands 4 is everything you love and hate about Borderlands (Polygon)

• 'The Ark' Is An Alien-Inspired Point-And-Click Horror For Your Genesis / Mega Drive (Time Extension)

• I'm already in love with this eerie low-poly delivery game that feels like Silent Hill meets Animal Crossing meets DoorDash (PCGamer)

• Assemble a manga page to beat up thugs in this flashy roguelike based on a hit Japanese series (RPS)

• Sega Dev Kit Raid "A Preservation Disaster" For "Collectors, Archivists, And The Gaming Community" (Time Extension)

• Nature Board Game Review (IGN)

• Despite difficulty complaints, Silksong stats show fans are progressing surprisingly well (Polygon)

Free game of the week: Waste your wedding

A hungry woman wanders in a wedding venue to eat a gigantic cake. But can she stop her suitors from marrying her along the way? A light-hearted adventure starts! (Itch.io)

What else I’m enjoying

• Rebecca Sugar - Ice Water (Official Music Video) (Rebecca Sugar)

• Chain Reactions: A Texas Chain Saw Massacre documentary (YouTube)

• Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt (Bookshop.org)

• Nouvelle Vague | Official Trailer (Netflix on YouTube)

• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (Nintendo on YouTube)