The Game Studies Watchlist newsletter, curated by Prof. Dr Rudolf Inderst, is published weekly on GamesMarkt. This week's topics several special issues and calls, as well as a video essay on remakes.
AHOI there, game studies operators!
I am delighted to welcome you to the first edition of our newsletter in the (still) fresh (but, from a geopolitical perspective, already bloody) year 2026. But games, I can already hear the complainers out there shouting, should please stay out of this business. Fun! Escapism! Competition! But, as we learned from Jon Bailes in his 2018 book Ideology and the Virtual City, we are dealing with digital games... and they ‘reflect the culture in which they are produced’ (p.4). And with these wise words, let's get started!Not only the kids are all right, but also the ... remakes? Wait, hold on, Sputnik38 ... have you, uhm, actually played that awful Dark Alliance title from 2021? Anyway ...
"I line up for the slaughter. I make an argument as to why (video game) remakes are actually kind of a good thing."
Remakes are interesting for us game researchers since they make change visible within continuity. By reworking familiar games, they expose shifting technological standards, design philosophies, and player expectations across time. Remakes invite comparison between original and revised versions, highlighting how memory, nostalgia, and canon are actively produced rather than preserved.They also reveal industry strategies around heritage, risk management, and cultural legitimacy. As such, remakes function as playable archives that show how games and the meanings attached to them age, adapt, and are reinterpreted.
Eludamos has released a new Call for Papers: This special issue addresses this research gap and seeks to explore men’s gendered gaming experiences and what it can mean to be a man in gaming, in the pursuit of new understandings of masculinity and gender in game studies.
Kitfox Games founder and CEO Tanya Short swings by the Game Developer studio to unveil the latest output from game design retreat Polaris: an expert-led list of the 100 most influential video games of all time.
Sega co-founder David Rosen dies aged 95: Rosen, who led Sega from the 1960s into the 90s and who died on Christmas Day, was a hugely important figure in the history of arcade and home gaming.
Also, another Special Issue (GAME The Italian Journal of Game Studies) has revealed itself: “Queer and Trans Game Studies in Global and Local Contexts”. The editors invite scholarly submissions that explore the ongoing development of queer and trans games studies, asking contributors to reflect on its origins, current trajectories, methodological approaches, and possible futures.
I can't tell you how often nasty campers lie in wait for me in ARC Raiders at the metro station and open fire. #sad
P l e a s e support my work in game research & culture, consider contributing via Buy Me a Coffee.
Cheers and stay healthy, Rudolf
