FromSoftware and Romanticism, Dark Souls II and Walter Benjamin’s theory of history? Justin Fenech reflects on Scholar's Codex and the depth of the FromSoftware Games in new @geeknative.bsky.social article. www.geeknative.com/240233/a-wor... @gua-le-ni.com @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social

A Word on The Scholar's Codex - An Accessible Academic Study on FromSoftware Games

Art historian Justin Fenech reviews The Scholar's Codex, an accessible academic study offering fresh perspectives on FromSoftware games and game design.

geeknative.com

Scholar’s Codex is a beautifully illustrated, philosophical exploration of the FromSoftware universes curated by game studies researchers @gua-le-ni.com @danielvella.bsky.social (U of Malta), @domford.bsky.social (U of Bergen), and @nelevdm.bsky.social (Tilburg U). www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/ac...

New book decodes FromSoftware’s Lore and Philosophy through discarded items

A new deeply philosophical exploration of the FromSoftware games by leading game scholars

um.edu.mt

📰 @gua-le-ni.com spoke to El Dia, a leading news outlet in Buenos Aires, Argentina about the new Spanish translation of his book 'El videojuego del mundo' published on Adriana Hidalgo, exploring the intersection of video games and philosophy. 🎮📚 www.eldia.com/temas/i-stef...

<I>Stefano Gualeni</I> Filosofía con mando en mano | El Dia

El filósofo y diseñador italiano publica un ensayo que cruza el existencialismo, la semiótica y el diseño interactivo. Su propósito parece sostener que los mundos virtuales no son entretenimientos men...

eldia.com

Now available at Adriana Hidalgo: Stefano's philosophical exploration of digital worlds translated into Spanish by Ana Miravalles!

Stefano Gualeni@gua-le-ni.com · last mo.

Friends who speak Spanish, a book of mine was translated in your beautiful language (in Argentina). It's about existing with and within games, and in case you're interested, you can find it here: www.adrianahidalgo.com/libro/el-vid...

Just got my beautiful copy of The Scholar’s Codex from @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social. Congrats to the contributors and editing team for pulling this off! From what I’ve read so far, it’s very compelling. I love seeing academic works meld with and celebrate fan culture like this.

Congrats! Institute of Digital Games students, @teamdienosaur.bsky.social, have won the Best International Game at Expovit 2025 in Costa Rica. The team sacrificed Roxanne as the member to pick up the award and get a photo with the award. 😅 Read more about the award: www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/st...

3 of our students recently took to the stage to present their research at #DiGRA2026, the largest academic game studies conference in the world, hosted by @maynoothuniversity.ie this year. Read more: www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/st... #gamestudies #research #students

Next at the #GameAISchool2026 is "Hype into Practice: The Harness Behind Unity AI" by Anping Wang from our sponsors at @unity.com !

We are starting our third day strong with "A Decade of SEED: Lessons from 10 years of Research and Development in Games" with Konrad Tollmar from EA SEED.

Exciting news for @mightyboards.bsky.social and the core team of UM and IDG founders including David Chircop, Prof. Gordon Calleja and Mark Casha!

Spiel des Jahres@spiel-des-jahres.de · 2mo ago

Nun auch im Vorstellungsvideo: Belohnende Anlegestrategien, nominiert für das Kennerspiel des Jahres. "Rebirth" von Reiner Knizia, erschienen bei Frosted Games und MightBoards ist "elegant und zwingt zur Konzentration auf das Wesentliche", sagt die Jury. youtu.be/124t4gmRcp8

Huge inspiration for (board) game designers in Malta!🎲 Rebirth by @mightyboards.bsky.social —co-founded by IDG alumnus David Chircop, Prof. Gordon Calleja, and UM's Mark Casha—is nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres! 🏆 Read more: timesofmalta.com/article/malt... @spiel-des-jahres.de |

Maltese board games publisher is nominated for top industry award

Rebirth is Mighty Boards’ 13th game

timesofmalta.com

Submission form is now open for Game Poems Magazine Issue 2! Learn more and submit your game at www.gamepoems.com/submit Submission deadline is July 1, but early submissions are welcome. Thinking of submitting something, but haven't started yet? No worries, you've still got a whole month. :-)

Just received physical copies of our volume of essays on the games of From Software, out now on @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social - and it's an even more gorgeous thing than photos can convey. I was planning on doing some work today but might just stare at this on the shelf instead.

Scholar's Codex (@tuneandfairweather.bsky.social) is out! Edited by @domford.bsky.social, @gua-le-ni.com, @nelevdm.bsky.social and @danielvella.bsky.social, with an essay of mine on the relationship between Darkness and humanity from Augustine of Hippo to Elden Ring.

📢The second edition of 'What We Owe the Dead' (my quirky, procedural sci-fi novel) is out 📢 Get it while it's hot at Set Margin's Press! @freeklomme.bsky.social >> www.setmargins.press/books/what-w... <<

Stress-testing architectural designs for their emotional impact before a single brick is laid. PhD research by E. Xylakis focused on using machine learning to predict emotional impact of architectural experience from spatial variables. Read more: www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/di... #Architecture #VR

Can Video Games and Virtual Worlds Help Us Understand Architecture?

Training machine learning model to predict emotional responses in relation to architectural spaces

um.edu.mt

In case you missed it, I wrote about #Deadpool games, the dead in our games, and the Italian game of #Fantamorto in my latest gamestudies.org contribution. Take a look! :) >> gamestudies.org/2601/article... <<

Institute of Digital Games - University of Malta@indigitalgames.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Did you know Marvel's #Deadpool was named after a game? Dead pool games are folk games where players predict which public figures might die within a given period. @gua-le-ni.com explores the space where play, ethics, and mortality meet in new #GameStudies article. www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/li...

Join us in #Rome on June the 3rd for a 'Bonfireside chat' with the authors of the Scholar's Codex! The event starts at 4PM at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Rome (Vicolo Doria), feat. @domford.bsky.social @danielvella.bsky.social, @nelevdm.bsky.social & more! CC: @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social

Our student Paul Psaila is nominated for the FreeHour Malta Youth Awards (Sci & Tech)! 🎓 Paul teaches our DegreePlus unit on #Unity & shares science on his YouTube Channel: Fruity Pol. Great to see #gamedev represented with Ryan from Midow Studios as well. youthawards.freehour.eu/vote/tech-an...

🎢 FutureCopLGF goes through a rollercoaster of emotions playing HAMM-3R in his Best of @newgrounds.com April 2026 video! www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoKh... #indiegame #gamedev #philosophy #Chekhov @gua-le-ni.com @amidos2006.bsky.social

Newgrounds Monthly Game Review (Best of April 2026)

YouTube video by FutureCopLGF

youtube.com

Did you know Marvel's #Deadpool was named after a game? Dead pool games are folk games where players predict which public figures might die within a given period. @gua-le-ni.com explores the space where play, ethics, and mortality meet in new #GameStudies article. www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/li...

Fantamorto - Fantasy Football with the Dead

Exploring the Italian folk game about predicting which public figures might die

um.edu.mt

In case you're also in #Zagreb (Croatia), I will be talking about my latest fiction ('What We Owe the Dead') this evening at Bogdan Ogrizović's Library. The talk starts at 18:00! >> www.kgz.hr/hr/dogadjanj... <<

Knjižnice grada Zagreba - What we owe the dead

False

kgz.hr

✅Play games | ✅ Playtest games All the tabletop fun you know and love, BUT we’re adding a special twist: an open invitation YOU to show us what you're working on (digital/board game). 👉 www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/up... #gamedev #indiegame #boardgame @mightyboards.bsky.social @gua-le-ni.com

#Free #Online #Artbased Learning Training! On May 14th at 5pm CET will take place the Module 4: TECHNOLOGY FOR ARTS IN EDUCATION, about how digital tools can support artistic expression and interdisciplinary learning. English & Greek. Inscriptions: forms.gle/vfMz8GkmMyKi... #PULSEARTproject

Two free @pulseartproject.bsky.social events this Wednesday, 6 May, and you can join both! 🚀 🎮 15:30 CET | Game Jams & Art 📚 17:00 CET | Cultural Ed No prior experience needed, and there's a break in between! Check the image for info & register here: www.um.edu.mt/digital.../s... #artseducation

💡Student spotlight💡 Turning distraction into Purrductivity! 😻 IDG student developed a productivity game featuring cats. Watch his full development journey—from concept to launching on Steam! youtu.be/FiXHegmzXC4?... #indiegame #gamedesign #productivityhacks #steamwishlist

What if a Game could make you more Productive

YouTube video by Fruity Pol

youtu.be

Sound design in games is easy to overlook, but can be the secret sauce for the mood and knowing whether something hurts or helps. Dr Oliva reflects on the sound design for HAMM-3R: www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/le... #SoundDesign #IndieGames #musicology @gua-le-ni.com @amidos2006.bsky.social

Sound Design in Games: Behind the Sounds of HAMM-3R

Learn about the sound design in new experimental philosophical game by Institute of Digital Games

um.edu.mt

Web Game of the Day: HAMM-3R museumofscreens.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/w...

Web Game of the Day: HAMM-3R

To someone holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Saying anything more about the game would do a disservice, it is a short and sweet experience with a lovely retro FPS aesthetic, and a poi…

museumofscreens.wordpress.com

My friend and fellow professor @gua-le-ni.com made a whole game about being a gun in space; admittedly its "gunfeel" is not as good as anything made by Bungie but it does make its point in 10 minutes (or even less if you're a true pro gamer) hammer.gua-le-ni.com

HAMM-3R

HAMM-3R is a SHORT and FREE experimental videogame about how our equipment influences the ways we understand the world and act within it.

hammer.gua-le-ni.com

💻 PhD candidate Adam Kysler takes us on a tour of the 1970s-90s Slovak game industry! See how enthusiasts built games before entrepreneurship was legal in '89. 📅 Tue 21 Apr, 14:30-15:30 📍 Institute of Digital Games 🎟️ Limited spots! Register & play 8-bit games: www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/up...