In this special edition of NYVGCC's Playing With Purpose Podcast, Circle president and New York Times games columnist Harold Goldberg interviews brilliant DJ/producer/games entrepreneur Clinton Sparks. With partners like T-Pain, Sparks is launching The Global Gaming League, "where gaming, music, fashion, sports, celebrity, and culture converge for an unparalleled live experience." Here, Sparks talks about his hopes and dreams for the organization - and reveals much about what makes him tick. On on Saturday, June 28, 2025, a GGL live event drops in Las Vegas showcasing the pilot episode. For this episode, the Circle's Ryan O'Callaghan does the intro.

In this limited interview series, Sam Lake sits down with NYVGCC interns to talk about his amazing career at Remedy as the creative force behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and more. Sam Lake is the Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner at the 14th Annual New York Game Awards on Jan 21, 2025. Go to nygamecritics.com/awards for tickets and more info about the NY Game Awards. If you like our work, go to nygamecritics.com/donate to make a donation. All donations support our Playing With Purpose games writing program, which provides education, scholarships, internships, and more to students in underserved communities.

In this limited interview series, Sam Lake sits down with NYVGCC interns to talk about his amazing career at Remedy as the creative force behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and more. Sam Lake is the Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner at the 14th Annual New York Game Awards on Jan 21, 2025. Go to nygamecritics.com/awards for tickets and more info about the NY Game Awards. If you like our work, go to nygamecritics.com/donate to make a donation. All donations support our Playing With Purpose games writing program, which provides education, scholarships, internships, and more to students in underserved communities.

In this limited interview series, Sam Lake sits down with NYVGCC interns to talk about his amazing career at Remedy as the creative force behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and more. Sam Lake is the Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner at the 14th Annual New York Game Awards on Jan 21, 2025. Go to nygamecritics.com/awards for tickets and more info about the NY Game Awards. If you like our work, go to nygamecritics.com/donate to make a donation. All donations support our Playing With Purpose games writing program, which provides education, scholarships, internships, and more to students in underserved communities.

In this limited interview series, Sam Lake sits down with NYVGCC interns to talk about his amazing career at Remedy as the creative force behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and more. Sam Lake is the Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner at the 14th Annual New York Game Awards on Jan 21, 2025. Go to nygamecritics.com/awards for tickets and more info about the NY Game Awards. If you like our work, go to nygamecritics.com/donate to make a donation. All donations support our Playing With Purpose games writing program, which provides education, scholarships, internships, and more to students in underserved communities.

In this limited interview series, Sam Lake sits down with NYVGCC interns to talk about his amazing career at Remedy as the creative force behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and more. Sam Lake is the Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner at the 14th Annual New York Game Awards on Jan 21, 2025. Go to nygamecritics.com/awards for tickets and more info about the NY Game Awards. If you like our work, go to nygamecritics.com/donate to make a donation. All donations support our Playing With Purpose games writing program, which provides education, scholarships, internships, and more to students in underserved communities.

Luis Aguasvivas (PopMatters) joins Harold Goldberg (New York Times, NYVGCC) to talk about his time playing Final Fantasy VIII while recovering from illness while working for the Peace Corp in Africa. Donate to NYVGCC’s Playing With Purpose games writing program at NYGameCritics.com/donate. Playing With Purpose brings journalism and narrative writing classes direct to schools. Participating students are given unique opportunities: mentoring from game industry legends (like Reggie Fils-Aime and Phil Spencer), paid writing internships in NYGameCritics.com, and college scholarships. Subscribe, follow, like, and rate wherever you listen: YouTube: youtube.com/nyvcc1 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3CEs85a3sCpQorzmjo2gdC Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…st/id1445039345 Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/d696c02…s-circle-podcast Follow Us: twitter.com/nyvgcc instagram.com/nyvgcc Created and Produced by: Harold Goldberg (twitter.com/haroldgoldberg) & Ryan O’Callaghan (twitter.com/mrryanoc) Recording and Editing by: Kaitlin Stringer (twitter.com/stringerkait) Graphic Design by: Ryan O’Callaghan

Remy Siu joins Luis Aguasvivas (PopMatters) and Harold Goldberg (New York Times) to talk about the his love for immersive gaming experiences, his arts and music background, and the inception of his studio, Sunset Visitor, and his hit game, 1000xRESIST. Donate to NYVGCC’s Playing With Purpose games writing program at NYGameCritics.com/donate. Playing With Purpose brings journalism and narrative writing classes direct to schools. Participating students are given unique opportunities: mentoring from game industry legends (like Reggie Fils-Aime and Phil Spencer), paid writing internships in NYGameCritics.com, and college scholarships. Subscribe, follow, like, and rate wherever you listen: YouTube: youtube.com/nyvcc1 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3CEs85a3sCpQorzmjo2gdC Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…st/id1445039345 Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/d696c02…s-circle-podcast Follow Us: twitter.com/nyvgcc instagram.com/nyvgcc Created and Produced by: Harold Goldberg (twitter.com/haroldgoldberg) & Ryan O’Callaghan (twitter.com/mrryanoc) Recording and Editing by: Kaitlin Stringer (twitter.com/stringerkait) Graphic Design by: Ryan O’Callaghan

Ronald Gordon (NYVGCC), Brandon Henriquez (Video Game Amateurs) & Mashfiq Ahmed (NYC DOE) join Ryan O'Callaghan at the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo for NYVGCC's game education panel, Pixelated Pedagogy: The Evolution of Video Games in the Classroom. The panelists talk about their favorite education games back when they were in school and share how their work is helping bring video games into the modern education space. Donate to NYVGCC’s Playing With Purpose games writing program at NYGameCritics.com/donate. Playing With Purpose brings journalism and narrative writing classes direct to schools. Participating students are given unique opportunities: mentoring from game industry legends (like Reggie Fils-Aime and Phil Spencer), paid writing internships in NYGameCritics.com, and college scholarships. Subscribe, follow, like, and rate wherever you listen: YouTube: youtube.com/nyvcc1 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3CEs85a3sCpQorzmjo2gdC Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…st/id1445039345 Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/d696c02…s-circle-podcast Follow Us: twitter.com/nyvgcc instagram.com/nyvgcc Created and Produced by: Harold Goldberg (twitter.com/haroldgoldberg) & Ryan O’Callaghan (twitter.com/mrryanoc) Recording and Editing by: Kaitlin Stringer (twitter.com/stringerkait) Graphic Design by: Ryan O’Callaghan

Raheem "Mega Ran" Jarbo joins Harold Goldberg and Ronald Gordon to talk about the creative process, teaching & education, Mega Ran's origin story, Nerdy People of Color, and much more. Donate to NYVGCC’s Playing With Purpose games writing program at NYGameCritics.com/donate. Playing With Purpose brings journalism and narrative writing classes direct to schools. Participating students are given unique opportunities: mentoring from game industry legends (like Reggie Fils-Aime and Phil Spencer), paid writing internships in NYGameCritics.com, and college scholarships. Subscribe, follow, like, and rate wherever you listen: YouTube: youtube.com/nyvcc1 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3CEs85a3sCpQorzmjo2gdC Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…st/id1445039345 Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/d696c02…s-circle-podcast Follow Us: twitter.com/nyvgcc instagram.com/nyvgcc Created and Produced by: Harold Goldberg (twitter.com/haroldgoldberg) & Ryan O’Callaghan (twitter.com/mrryanoc) Recording and Editing by: Kaitlin Stringer (twitter.com/stringerkait) Graphic Design by: Ryan O’Callaghan

Brandon Henriquez joins Ryan O’Callaghan and Ronald Gordon to talk about Video Game Amateurs, the NYC Gaming Community and how VGA went from Smash Tournaments to making an exclusive Bronx Brewery Beer: Power Up IPA. Donate to NYVGCC’s Playing With Purpose games writing program at NYGameCritics.com/donate. Playing With Purpose brings journalism and narrative writing classes direct to schools. Participating students are given unique opportunities: mentoring from game industry legends (like Reggie Fils-Aime and Phil Spencer), paid writing internships in NYGameCritics.com, and college scholarships. Subscribe, follow, like, and rate wherever you listen: YouTube: youtube.com/nyvcc1 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3CEs85a3sCpQorzmjo2gdC Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…st/id1445039345 Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/d696c02…s-circle-podcast Follow Us: twitter.com/nyvgcc instagram.com/nyvgcc Created and Produced by: Harold Goldberg (twitter.com/haroldgoldberg) & Ryan O’Callaghan (twitter.com/mrryanoc) Recording and Editing by: Kaitlin Stringer (twitter.com/stringerkait) Graphic Design by: Ryan O’Callaghan