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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them)

@heartplus.bsky.social
80 followers 306 following 49 posts

Music / Games writer - Formerly: InBetweenDrafts | Currently: STAR✷KISS / STAR✷KISS RADIO www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADIO www.patreon.com/c/starkissmag Washington D.C / Columbus ✈️ sincerely yours worldwide 🌐 pirate radio historian 🏴‍☠️🖤

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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sneak peek into this week's STAR KISS RADIO...
A banner on a building that reads "the only good system is a soundsystem" in read paint. The logo of StarKiss Radio is layered on top.
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The Sheep's Meow @thesheepsmeow.com · 25/09/2026
Hold On. A small yet grand journey across life. Simple interactions connect seemingly unrelated moments, from the microscopic to the cosmic. Made by @brianschung.bsky.social & @leegj.bsky.social. To make you feel small and experience big emotions. Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/4867140/...
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Josh Boykin @wallstormer.blacksky.app · 25/09/2026
I helped make a Steam Sale, and it's right next to Control: Resonant! gdoc.events/sale2026 Fantastic sale filled with games made by people of color from AROUND THE WORLD. Check it out! (And please share it too 😉)
A snapshot of the Steam homepage (slightly scrolled down). Control: Resonant is on the top, then a banner for the Game Devs of Color Expo Steam Sale. Below that are Discounts and events for other various franchises.
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Highly recommend listening w/ headphones if able!
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨Episode 2 of my show, STAR KISS RADIO is OUT NOW!!! This week's show is dedicated to travel, body movement, dissonance, and curiosity through sounds of dub techno, footwork, indie electronica, and underground hip-hop. Give it a listen below! www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADI...
mixcloud.com
Star✷Kiss Radio 002 - Transience
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨Episode 2 of my show, STAR KISS RADIO is OUT NOW!!! This week's show is dedicated to travel, body movement, dissonance, and curiosity through sounds of dub techno, footwork, indie electronica, and underground hip-hop. Give it a listen below! www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADI...
mixcloud.com
Star✷Kiss Radio 002 - Transience
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hey friends! I'm happy to finally share that I have my own radio show! It's called STAR KISS RADIO and it will be LIVE Sunday nights at 11 on WCRS FM. They will be archived on my Mixcloud the following day. www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADIO/
mixcloud.com
STARKISSRADIO
STARKISSRADIO is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Star Kiss Radio is now live! I really wanted my first mix to be about the final summer in my 20s. The parties, chill hang outs, all of it carried me through this past year. Feels good to soundtrack it. I hope you enjoy. www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADI...
mixcloud.com
Star✷Kiss Radio 001 - Endless Summer Vacation
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hey friends! I'm happy to finally share that I have my own radio show! It's called STAR KISS RADIO and it will be LIVE Sunday nights at 11 on WCRS FM. They will be archived on my Mixcloud the following day. www.mixcloud.com/STARKISSRADIO/
mixcloud.com
STARKISSRADIO
STARKISSRADIO is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
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Maddy Myers 🏳️‍🌈 @midimyers.com · 03/09/2026
"My mother’s story ended five years ago in a hospital room; she gets no second act. Am I ready to pick up my controller and move forward with Faye, leaving my mom even further behind me? I’m not entirely sure that I am."
mothership.blog
I don't know if I want to meet Laufey
After playing God of War in the wake of my mother's death, I'm not sure I'm ready to move forward
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Wallace @exalclaw.com · 03/09/2026
Interview time! I sat down with ORIGAME DIGITAL's @veselekov.bsky.social to talk about Penguin Colony, Lovecraft, how the author's fear of the unknown is inseparable from his racism + xenophobia, and a good chunk more. Full interview on YT, but here's a good slice: exalclaw.com/naphtali-fau...
exalclaw.com
How ORIGAME DIGITAL Is Tackling Lovecraft Without Erasing His Racism and Xenophobia
"What would Lovecraft have written as a story if he were alive in World War II?"
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🚨NEW POST🚨 I wrote a feature about the NOLA no-wave band Special Interest and a somewhat brief history of queer punk from past to present. Today, I wanted to revisit that feature and highlight the importance of community even and especially when you're a queer POC. www.patreon.com/starkissmag/...
patreon.com
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Special Interest, ‘The Passion of’, and a (very brief) History of Queer Punk | STAR✷KISS
Note - This feature was originally written in 2020 for Offcultured. -- Special Interest doesn’t care what you think about them. The New Orle
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🚨NEW POST🚨 I wrote a feature about the NOLA no-wave band Special Interest and a somewhat brief history of queer punk from past to present. Today, I wanted to revisit that feature and highlight the importance of community even and especially when you're a queer POC. www.patreon.com/starkissmag/...
patreon.com
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Special Interest, ‘The Passion of’, and a (very brief) History of Queer Punk | STAR✷KISS
Note - This feature was originally written in 2020 for Offcultured. -- Special Interest doesn’t care what you think about them. The New Orle
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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I love living in a time when a candidate for governor of my state is making fake viagra commercials to smear his political opponents www.404media.co/bruce-blakem...
404media.co
The Republican Nominee for New York Governor Made a Creepy, AI-Generated Video of Mamdani and Hochul
The video makes Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul look like they're hanging out in a prescription medication commercial.
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Aggro Crab 💥🔪 @aggrocrabgames.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
REBOUNDER. A new game developed by ThirtyThree, published by Aggro Crab. Rebounder is a hand-crafted precision platformer about a roughneck worker recruited for a hazardous job on a distant planet. Nail the run. Deliver your line. Dropping 2027.
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Honored to have spoken with the goat.
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
STAR✷KISS IS LIVE! This is my go at independent writing on Patreon. My first post just went live today - It's an interview with @stillcrisp.bsky.social , the composer of CICADAMATA and the upcoming Metamorphosis. Read it here! www.patreon.com/starkissmag/...
patreon.com
"I knew it was a hit from the very beginning ." An Interview with Crisp | STAR✷KISS
Over the past year, I've done a deep dive into electronic music and the literal canyon of subgenres it inhabits. This is the music I hear pl
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Honored to have spoken with the goat.
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crisp @stillcrisp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
my first interview! :)
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
STAR✷KISS IS LIVE! This is my go at independent writing on Patreon. My first post just went live today - It's an interview with @stillcrisp.bsky.social , the composer of CICADAMATA and the upcoming Metamorphosis. Read it here! www.patreon.com/starkissmag/...
patreon.com
"I knew it was a hit from the very beginning ." An Interview with Crisp | STAR✷KISS
Over the past year, I've done a deep dive into electronic music and the literal canyon of subgenres it inhabits. This is the music I hear pl
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Hello! I have not been consistent in using this platform to promote my work. That is now going to change! Frankly, I've been quite anxious about sharing my work everywhere, but taking risks are the only way I can get over that fear.
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Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
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open mike eagle @mike-eagle.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
DOOMED! a rap album about a relationship that ends in every possible universe produced by Kenny Segal featuring Gothic Tropic, Hemlock Ernst and billy woods out 8/14 via @backwoodzstudioz.bsky.social openmikeeagle.bandcamp.com/album/doomed
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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
microsoft is in full damage control mode following last week's layoffs. its main strategy so far? namedrop sequels to popular series at every turn. but despite what execs like asha sharma might want you to think, those series were made by people, and now they'll never be the same
Todd Howard just shared plans for the Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Starfield franchises. These worlds have earned a special place with hundreds of millions of people over many years. I'm looking forward to what's next, including the partnership with Obsidian on a new Fallout game and closer collaboration with ZeniMax Online Studios on The Elder Scrolls. The achievements of these franchises are remarkable: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has crossed 65 million units sold, becoming one of the 10 best-selling games of all time, Fallout 4 has also crossed 35 million units sold, joining the top 25, and Starfield will soon reach over 1 billion hours played.
This statement sucks so bad that it makes my blood boil. Look what the franchises did, all by themselves! Look what they’ve accomplished, of their own volition, thanks to their own intrinsic goodness! So many big numbers, which translate to giant heaps of cash in the bank accounts of execs and shareholders! Never mind the people who spent decades painstakingly crafting the many games, stories, and other creative endeavors that corporate ghouls now so happily flatten into “franchises,” erasing themes, meaning, and human beings in favor of empty iconography.

This is how the people running the show at Xbox—and countless companies besides—view games, not to mention everything else in their robotic, colorless lives. Numbers and lines trending ever upward. Fuel for platitudes and faux-inspirational nonsense directed at the LinkedIn hivemind, of which they all paradoxically believe they’re the main character. Another stepping stone toward the next bigger, better thing. No ultimate destination, no camaraderie, no soul. Just an endless ladder that leads to the void regardless of which way you climb.
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Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
BREAKING: Obsidian Entertainment is making a big pivot as part of the Xbox restructuring. It has laid off a quarter of its staff, canceled a planned sequel to Avowed, and is now beginning work on a new Fallout game, according to people familiar with the plans www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Microsoft’s Xbox to Shift Obsidian Studio to New ‘Fallout’ Video Game
The game maker is also canceling a planned sequel to last year’s ‘Avowed’
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Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
BREAKING: Xbox will cut 3,200 jobs as part of a major reorganization, and divest from five studios: - Compulsion and Double Fine will go indie - Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will be sold - Arkane to enter consultation process Here's the full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Microsoft’s Xbox to Cut 3,200 Jobs, Divest Five Studios in Major Overhaul
Compulsion and Double Fine studios will become independent; Undead Labs and Ninja Theory will be sold. Xbox will also look to sell or spin out Arkane Studios.
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DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ @djsabrina.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
to everyone who thought my music sounded like ai slop, did you ever think it was because Suno was using a dataset that contained 22 of my songs? it’s funny how there were no accusations of my music sounding like ai slop until these datasets started getting used to generate slop
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Stude @studeproblems.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Time to smash this motherfucker up
A screenshot from Xenoblade Chronicles with the text 'Location- Data Centre' appearing on screen
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Kahlief “The Best Adams” Adams @itskahlief.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
With everything kind of on fire. I hope you all are finding some semblance of joy somewhere.
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GleasonRyan @gleasonryan.videogames.fyi · 13/06/2026
Thanks to @lookingfor.game (and @jessicogs.bsky.social) I found the Burn-9 Demo that as basically described as Metal Gear Solid but from the other side of the call and its 100% that and the demo is VERY GOOD. store.steampowered.com/app/4377480/...
store.steampowered.com
Burn-9 on Steam
A spy thriller where you’re not the spy. Safe behind your screen, guide the last survivor of an elite black-ops team in a desperate attempt to salvage a mission gone horribly wrong. Caught between mil...
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Matt McMuscles @mattmcmuscles.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Fuck this fucking whack ass garbage publisher
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Double Fine @doublefine.com · 16/06/2026
😅
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alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I am very happy I'm not working in games right now. It's an incredibly depressing time, you're getting it from the higher-ups and the chud bottom-feeders, and the stress is simply not worth the paycheck.
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niki grayson @nikigrayson.com · 15/06/2026
folks, i am shocked that the first studio to go is the one that most recently made a game about the south with a black lead
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Imran Khan @imrankhan.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
South of Midnight was the kind of game that wasn't going to sell a bunch of copies, but it was a portfolio-builder to go "Hey, you should get an Xbox and Game Pass." And it was probably greenlit as exactly that. Then in the timeframe between concept and release, Xbox entirely changed strategies.
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The recent Xbox news is genuinely infuriating. And once again, it shows that the rot that sits in the gaming industry is one that see everywhere right now. Greed and favoring profits over people. I hope everyone is able to land on their feet soon.
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alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Love to the devs today. Anyone celebrating people losing work is a fucking ghoul.
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noé @celechii.itch.io · 15/06/2026
WILD HOW THIS SHIT KEEPS HAPPENING TO ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE ART INDUSTRIES ON EARTH HUH MAKES YA WONDER WHERE ALL THAT MONEY IS GOING HUH
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Ash Parrish, Kotaku's LeBron James @adashtra.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The Compulsion news is such a bummer. We'll never get a game like that again from a big 3 publisher. we just wont. when i said miracle i meant it.
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Kahlief “The Best Adams” Adams @itskahlief.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
In my 13th year of making content, I wanted to share a little bit of what it is like to create content as a solo creator at a show like Summer Game Fest. I hope that the imperfect process inspires folks both old and new. Please share! youtu.be/HE49_34eBEA
youtu.be
The Reality of Being a Solo Gaming Journalist at SGF
YouTube video by Spawn On Me Podcast with Kahlief Adams
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Kate Sánchez @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
South of Midnight was the first time I saw my peers talk about the South as something beautiful and worth seeing. That game did something I didn't think was possible; it was a love letter to a region I believe we should fight for, and for once, my peers got to see the beauty and magic that I see.
butwhytho.net
REVIEW: 'South Of Midnight' Is A Love Letter To An Overlooked Community - But Why Tho?
Compulsion Games has created a love letter to the South, to its beauty and its stories in South of Midnight.
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Rebekah Valentine @duckvalentine.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
if any Xbox employee from any studio or part of the company want to chat with a reporter about all this, anonymously or otherwise, my email and Signal are in my bio, and I would like to listen. I cannot fathom what everyone must be feeling right now.
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Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
BREAKING: Several Xbox studios, including Compulsion, Ninja Theory and Double Fine, are negotiating with Xbox as they try to avoid closure. Some or all could spin off. Lots still in flux as many studios remain unsure about what's happening. Here's the latest: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Studios in Microsoft’s Xbox Division Brace for Closures
The studios, which include Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in active negotiations with Xbox and may be given the chance to go independent.
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Jess Fink🍉🌈 @jessfink.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Finally finished Perfect Tides and dear God but it hits a little too close to home for me as a kid who had no friends for most of high school. Like this is really what it was like man. Literally nothing is happening to you but you are falling apart with every human interaction
A screenshot from the video game Perfect Tides. It shows three teens sitting in a living room/den watching tv. The text box describes the main character's emotions as she sits next to a boy she likes. The text says "the room is enveloping you. You're unraveling into your base particles, charged and spinning.
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This Week in Videogames @thisweekinvideogames.com · 24/05/2026
The 2006 Barnyard game was an ambitious open-world title featuring cows squirting milk, riding bikes, and playing golf. Those who remember it do so fondly. To mark its 20th anniversary @maddie-b-a.bsky.social spoke to its director Nick Hagger about what made the game and its development so unique.
thisweekinvideogames.com
"GTA for 8-Year-Olds": A 20-Year Retrospective on Barnyard
"'You’re f***ing crazy. This is never going to get approval by Nickelodeon or by THQ’.”
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Skill Up @skillup.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
I love when they dgaf any more and just start saying stuff.
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Travis Hymas @travishymas.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Bit late to the party on this one but @heartplus.bsky.social makes the case for Perfect Tides: Station to Station being a high water mark for point and click games: inbetweendrafts.com/perfect-tide...
inbetweendrafts.com
'Perfect Tides: Station to Station' is an instant classic - InBetweenDrafts
Here's why the deep and wonderful 'Perfect Tides: Station to Station' needs to be on your Game of the Year lists for 2026.
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HEART+ | STAR✷KISS (they/them) @heartplus.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
My new piece for @inbetweendrafts.bsky.social is live! I wrote about Perfect Tides: Station to Station and why it's already an instant classic. Such wonderful writing and complex characters. This game is very special to me and I think it will be for you too. inbetweendrafts.com/perfect-tide...
inbetweendrafts.com
'Perfect Tides: Station to Station' is an instant classic - InBetweenDrafts
Here's why the deep and wonderful 'Perfect Tides: Station to Station' needs to be on your Game of the Year lists for 2026.
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