the speediest time(s) of the year

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 22:59:00 GMT

It's GDQ time again!

I'm not as totally engrossed as I was the first few times I watched it. It's been many years. The kinds of things you do to speedrun a game--not just playing really well, but intentionally taking damage, skipping powerups, even before you get to things like clipping through walls--aren't novel anymore, and I've also already seen many more of the games, often at previous GDQs but also there's lots of games played online these days.

But it still has its ecumenical spirit! Your SNES favorites have pride of place for historical reasons but they play anything and everything, which turns it into a week-long festival celebrating videogames. I appreciate that! And they have been trying to mix it up, shmups and rhythm games which take a fixed time to play get their own exhibitions, and they do more races and randomizers and rom hacks which put a new spin on old games.

So even if I don't give it as much attention as I used to, I'm glad it's there and I keep it on while it's running.