Shannon Liao

@shannonliao.bsky.social

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Inverse dot com gaming editor. bylines at New York Times, Vulture, IGN, Esquire and more. ex-WaPo and CNN
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didn't realize iOS added all these emojis 🧿🪬🪆

Wrote about my experience playing Disco Elysium for 30 hours recently + thoughts on the Dr Disrespect Twitch ban news. Read more: shannonliao.substack.com/p/what-happe...

What happened to Disco Elysium's sequel? I spoke to the man behind 300,000 linesshannonliao.substack.com Dr Disrespect breaks his four-year silence

interviewing narrative designers about how they craft games is still one of the most rewarding and inspirational parts of my job

nyc has changed for the better. I don't get catcalled anymore, women just supportively say they like my dress when I walk past them on the street 🙂‍↔️

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The future producer of “Himbo Heist”

If it is something that you’d consider writing yourself, it may be worth pitching @shannonliao.bsky.social at Inverse, @rbryantfrancis.bsky.social at Game Developer, or @kyleor.land at Ars. I believe they all have freelance budgets.

games journalists Venn diagram of intersecting interests: emo karaoke, working on a novel, loves improv/stand-up, was a theater kid growing up

just read this very fun tidbit from Game Informer's @marcusstewart7.bsky.social — that Balatro is actually based on a Cantonese card game called Big Two. I grew up playing that game with my late dad, so it's no wonder Balatro felt eerily nostalgic to me: www.gameinformer.com/interview/20...

Balatro Was Almost Called Joker Poker And Other Details From Its Creator | Afterwordswww.gameinformer.com Learn how Balatro evolved from a small passion project to one of the year's biggest phenomenons.

was so great running into @merrittk.com the other day in New York ☺️

you really have to have mettle to survive in this industry

NEW: What's behind the controversy around the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive, Stellar Blade? Issy van der Velde dives into the game's sex appeal, Orientalism, and whether it panders to the male gaze. www.inverse.com/gaming/stell...

'Stellar Blade' Is At the Tip of a New Culture Warwww.inverse.com 'Stellar Blade,' the upcoming sci-fi action RPG from Korean studio Shift Up, has been thrust into the center of video game culture wars that seem as old as gaming itself. The fight can be most clearly...

it finally happened to me: I had to ask another woman at the women's gym to help me open a bottle of water. she was really humble about it too! "you loosened it," she told me while handing it back to me. "you're just really strong," I replied.

the fallout tv show is charming and full of idiots, Hayes is right www.inverse.com/gaming/fallo....

Amazon's 'Fallout' Show Captures the Most Important Aspect of the Gameswww.inverse.com 'Fallout' nails one key feature of the video game series: every single character is an absolute numskull.

life is so short. hold and be kind to each other, honestly

in my final form (heels), I'm 6'5"

feeling surprisingly optimistic about games journalism, excited about our new hire!

prince of tennis core/ inside of you there are two wolves

i should post on here more

even Beyoncé herself couldn't get me into country music, sad to say

if journalists received royalties every time their work was referenced by content creators, we would partially solve the journalism funding issue

hello to my new followers! how are you all finding me so well?

trolled some AI-powered NPCs... www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL2H6Mbj/

TikTok - Make Your Daywww.tiktok.com

My latest for Scientific American: a reported feature examining the role of video games in LGBTQ communities, particularly in states with anti-LGBTQ legislation. t.co/yLdyAQEfiG

When Real Life Is Hostile, LGBTQ+ Gamers Find Friendship Onlinet.co Many LGBTQ+ video gamers use gaming to build community, especially in jurisdictions that are considering anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

some inverse highlights we've published lately: Renata Price's essay on Balatro and why it's Good, using the design language of poker www.inverse.com/gaming/balat...

'Balatro' Doesn't Encourage Gambling, It Exposes Itwww.inverse.com I am thinking about 'Balatro' all the time. In fact, I am thinking of it right now — as you are reading this. I am forming 'Balatro' in my mind at this very moment. It is staggeringly good, inescapabl...

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helldivers 2 has its own fan-made super earth broadcast with over 300k followers and almost 2M likes on tiktok. for polygon, I spoke to the person behind it (who has 200 hs. of playtime!) about dealing with an obtuse algorithm and capitalizing on virality www.polygon.com/2024/2/27/24...

Helldivers 2 has its own fan-made Super Earth Broadcastwww.polygon.com Good morning, Super Earth

apropos of nothing, one of my colleagues told me today that everything is edible at least once, and I've been thinking about that ever since

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going to GDC next month, still have to set up my schedule. but email me at [email protected] if you'd like to set up a meeting!

when Bluesky app's notification pops up in the corner of my eye, sometimes I think it looks like old Twitter's blue bird

playing a game on deadline versus playing a game for fun at your leisure is such a huge difference that reviewing video games always has to keep that in mind