The Game Studies Watchlist newsletter, curated by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Inderst, is published weekly on GamesMarkt. This week's topics include discussions about coastal spaces in GTA, parry systems, and other recommendations.
AHOI there, game studies operators!
Here in Limerick it is not exactly beach weather at the moment, but maybe this is just the reason why I have to feature bandercoot's video essay on The Strange Evolution of GTA's Beaches this week. So get your sun milk and your glasses! Don't forget your beach towel and let's get going.
The beaches in Grand Theft Auto are some of the strangest, quietest, and most beautiful places Rockstar has ever built so today I thought we'd stop at each of them to take a look. In this video, I visit every major beach in the GTA 3D era to figure out why each coastline feels so different.
From Liberty City’s empty edge-of-the-world shoreline to the sunlit Santa Monica homage in San Andreas, to the unsettling dreamscapes of Vice City and beyond, every beach carries its own atmosphere, its own purpose, and its own emotional exit ramp.
I understand this essay as an inquiry into how the GTA series constructs coastal spaces as designed liminal zones rather than mere visual backdrops; the beaches across the 3D era function as aesthetic, emotional, and mechanical thresholds. These are really places where the gameworld’s atmosphere shifts, its boundaries become perceptible, and its cultural references surface. Liberty City’s stark “edge-of-the-world” shoreline reflects early 3D strategies for masking technical limits, transforming the beach into a diegetic buffer that signals the perimeter of the playable world. In contrast, the sunlit coastline of San Andreas, modelled on Santa Monica, acts as an expressive piece of environmental storytelling, embedding Californian cultural iconography into the world and shaping player affect without explicit narrative cues. Vice City’s more surreal coastal environments on the other hand evoke dreamlike ambience and underline the game’s neon-nostalgic aesthetic, inviting players into spaces that are designed less for mechanical function than for mood and tone.
The essay’s premise seems to align closely with Game Studies debates on spatial meaning-making, environmental storytelling, affective design, and the interplay between technical constraints and worldbuilding. So, by treating beaches as meaningful artefacts rather than marginal scenery, the video participates in a broader scholarly conversation about how players interpret and inhabit virtual spaces.
Khee Hoon Chan has a question: What goes into a good parry system? ... and is ready to give some answers. You can find them right here.
Parry systems are everywhere now. Though sometimes considered as frustrating as escort quests and underwater levels, the divisive feature [...] has seeped into combat systems across all manner of games [...].
Sims-alabim!!! Look, what found here: From Boxes to Bonus CDs: The Material History of 'The Sims' – Toward a Media Archaeology of Video Games by PhD researcher Elsa-Margareta Venzmer. This contribution can be found in the PAIDIA special issue Die Sims.
For our German-speaking readers: I had the great pleasure to talk to jack of all trades Benjamin Bigl about all things game culture for TITEL kulturmagazin.
Incoming hawd: The Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) Conference 2026 invites proposals for workshops to with a submission deadline by this Friday December 5th (yeah, that IS today). The conference is to be held on August 10th to August 13th 2026 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. For more information about the conference and its themes, please visit the official website.
Of course, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners of the German Developer Award (roughly translated Der Deutsche Entwickler:innenpreis). That doesn't mean, of course, that the nominees didn't deserve it just as much! Just celebrate like crazy, everyone!
You are welcome to share your ideas and feedback with me. If you like Game Studies Watchlist, please tell your friends, colleagues, as well as fellowship and post on social media about it! Please support my work in game research & culture, consider contributing via Buy Me a Coffee.
Cheers and stay healthy,
Rudolf
