Dr. José Zagal
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jzagal.bsky.social
Dr. José Zagal
@jzagal.bsky.social
Game scholar, academic, professor at University of Utah's Division of Games
Author: Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy
https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/jose-p-zagal-23078/
https://www.pillowfort.social/jpzagal Comics
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Our brand-new and bilingual website for CGSA 2026 is now live (a whole day early, go us!): event.fourwaves.com/cgsa2026

We're officially ready receive your wonderful proposals (click the "Submissions" tab in the top-left).

As always, email us if you encounter any issues or have any questions. <3
CGSA/ACÉJ 2026
Fourwaves - CGSA/ACÉJ 2026
event.fourwaves.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Screen Australia is doing a massive research project on the current state of the screen and games industries in Australia. Local devs, please consider taking the time to complete their survey survey.alchemer.com/s3/8573365/S...
Screen Currency 2025 — Screen and Games Industry Survey
survey.alchemer.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:45 AM
With the #DiGRA26 deadline coming up I hope this meme isn't true for everyone! www.digraconference2026.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
ECONOMICS GAMES ARE NOT ABOUT MONEY AND I CAN PROVE IT BY SHOWING THIS ALIEN BABY ABSOLUTELY BEEFING IT AND LOSING ALL AUTONOMY AND LIVELIHOOD IN SPACE WARLORD BABY TRADING SIMULATOR.

I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
November 6, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
For our new followers: We run a free digital library for researching game history!

We have over 4000+ out-of-print game magazines and hundreds of development documents, press kits, event guides, and more

archive.gamehistory.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Thanks Sean Keanaaina for the amazing update on your achievements! Three-game combo deserves three exclamation marks!!! (thankfully Bluesky lets me put more than one pic) @utah.edu @capcomusa.com (is there a Japan Capcom on Bluesky?)
November 4, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Y'all, I know two hours is a big time commitment, but this panel I arranged and hosted last month is one of the most important things I've ever done for video game history. The launch of the NES is a crazier story than most people realize, and my guests were extremely generous with their memories.
November 3, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I have @jaakkostenros.bsky.social to thank for getting this for me. It was a fun and interesting read - neither academic nor journalistic, so quite personal(?). With Sweden punching above their weight in terms of videogame industry impact, there's some obvious strong TRPG links and influences, no?
November 3, 2025 at 4:41 AM
I read at least one of these books - it was good! So, probably a good idea to just get both while you're at it. :-)
Genre is inherently political. It captures the sensibilities of contemporary life and strategies for responding to the present that cultivate different futures

Updated/Final covers for a passion-project w/ @joshcall.bsky.social, @profmatthew.bsky.social, and @betsybrey.bsky.social

Out Jan 2026!
October 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Should I ghost the students in my classes next week so I can sit down and play this? (#ProfessorJokes) Thanks and congrats to
L. Chan for, as always, helping knock out another (I'm sure) banger of a game! @utah.edu game alumni making us proud again!
October 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Call for papers: Mapping the Borders of Larp Research -The Academic seminar of the Nordic Larp Research Network.
Larp Research – Nordic Larp Research Seminar
www.larpresearch.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Llamasoft The Jeff Minter Collection (PS5) is $27.09 on Amazon buff.ly/EITdyzB

$13.49 GOG buff.ly/9EPGqbo #ad
October 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
The McDonald’s x Street Fighter collab in Japan is incredible. No notes. 🤌
October 16, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
👀 We heard Nintendo is bringing the Virtual Boy back to gamers. While we can't get you the new add-on, the story behind this unique platform is completely free!

@jzagal.bsky.social & @benjedwards.com's "Seeing Red" is available #OpenAccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204506...
October 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Wait, what? The tail eats the dog?
I just learned about sports betting farms, where bored, underpaid workers play games day and night for the sole purpose of online betting.

They have to create sports-looking content to trigger the same dopamine hits of "real", culturally embedded competitions.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4f5...
Inside Russia's creepy sport farms
YouTube video by Search Party
www.youtube.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Virtual Boy is aesthetically the coolest looking console
October 8, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Had to speed it up to post on BlueSky.
But here's what naneinf looks like.
October 6, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Australians, please raid your Uncle's old PC in his shed, and help me find a copy of this to archive.

#Australia #AFL #DOSGaming #Wolfenstein #RetroGaming #MSDOS #RetroComputing
October 4, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
DiGRA 2026 (Ireland) CfP is now live
Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025
Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026

www.digraconference2026.com

#games #gamestudies
DiGRA 2026 Conference | Maynooth University
Join the DiGRA 2026 conference at Maynooth University, 14–18 June 2026. Theme “Intersectional Pleasures.” A global hybrid event for game research, culture, design, and industry.
www.digraconference2026.com
October 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I feel seen. Guess which side of the divide I currently sit on... ;-)
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
September 30, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
Introducing the William Volk papers, a new digital collection in the VGHF Library!

Explore thousands of documents, developments schedules, and memos from the early history of Activision.

Read more: gamehistory.org/william-volk...
Discovering Activision's early history | VGHF Library Highlights
YouTube video by The Video Game History Foundation
www.youtube.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:43 PM
@unboxingpod.bsky.social Hearing about your survey results from polling your students was interesting! Any chance you can share the survey questions? I'd like to poll my students (and share the results with ya'll of course)
September 26, 2025 at 9:41 PM
New game of the year just dropped.
September 25, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Dr. José Zagal
If you lot can’t handle striped trousers how are you going to deal with me in my 1590 Dice Man outfit 🙄
September 23, 2025 at 7:49 PM