Binding of Isaac Rebirth: Sugar Cookies!

One day while bored and hungry, my friends and I were discussing what would be the most entertaining cookies we could possibly make at home. We already made leather daddy gingerbread men, so we needed something new. Then my gaming pal Brian B suggested Binding of Isaac. He nailed it. Perfect suggestion. Their heads were already round. The game is terrifying. We are all kinda nerdy. So, we had to do it.

So, I called my chef pal Sara Whittlesey and asked her to help us make Binding of Isaac Rebirth sugar cookies with one caveat - we have to make everything from scratch! So, almost everything you see was done with a simple rolled cookie dough and simple royal icing made from powdered sugar, egg whites, water, and food coloring.  We did cheat a little and used a store bought bottle of black cookie icing for some of the piping work. Watch the short video below to see decorate one of the cookies.

Other than Sara, I also need to thank Brian B. and Tyler S. for their gaming and cookie design advice. Between the two of them, they have wasted more than six hundred hours playing Rebirth on Steam. And thanks to Brian Ballard for helping make the video and taking pics! Also, here's a rolled sugar cookie recipe and a royal frosting recipe in case you wanna try this yourself!

Yes...we know this is not supposed to be a top hat! 

Five Traditional Fairy Tales Re-Imagined Using Gaymers!

We teamed up with wonderful artist Reed Black to bring you five well known fairy tales re-envisioned using gaymers in place of the traditional princes and princesses. This first batch includes Rapunzel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rumplestiltskin, and Jack & the Beanstalk! Clearly, if Rapunzel lived in modern times, his suitor could climb the tower using nothing more than the cord from a video game controller. And, of course, there's no need for Goldilocks to accidentally startle the three bears where they live when he can just coordinate with them via headset while playing Call of Duty.

A graduate of the prestigious Ringling College of Art & Design, Reed Black has a growing catalog of books, webcomics, magazine covers, and anthologies in his arsenal. Recently, he successfully crowd source funded a children's book called Zombie Boy is Lonely,the premise of which is just because you are a zombie, doesn't mean you can't have friends. Also, he did some illustration work for the book Red Caps: New Fairy Tales for Out of the Ordinary Readers. Reed is also known for his wonderful podcast Drawn This Way in which he loosely interviews other artists. "Loosely" meaning they just talk about anything and everything that comes to mind.

You can learn more about Reed at his Website, Tumblr, or by following him on Twitter! Or, read the interview we did with Reed about a year ago!

Rapunzel

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Jack and the Beanstalk

Rumpelstiltskin

Must Watch: Gaming In Color - Documentary Exploring the Queer Side of Gaming

GAMING IN COLOR exists for anyone who believes that the pixelated world can be a better place for everyone, no matter who they are. It is not too uncommon a tale where a bullied, abused youth seeks solace in a video game, only to find that their one hope of sanctuary, their escape into a virtual universe, is plagued with floods of more vitriol and hatred. This exists doubly so for anyone who is a minority, including people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ community.

A lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise queer gamer has a higher chance of being mistreated in a social game. The power dynamic of a geek society tips against them. Diversive queer themes in storylines and characters are still mostly an anomaly in the mainstream video game industry. However, the gaming community is far more colorful than one may expect. Gaming In Color shows that there is a full spectrum of gamers picking up their controller to play.

This feature length documentary explores the queer side of gaming culture and the game industry's LGBTQ presence. The GaymerX convention that took place in 2013 was a huge step forward for the queer geek community being recognized on a worldwide industry scale. In the same year, more popular mainstream and indie games featured a greater amount of gay and lesbian characters than ever before, helping with visibility and acceptance. The video games universe will only continue to improve and diversify both in its community and industry if we elevate the conversation about inclusion and respecting one another - not in spite of our gay geekiness, but because of it!

The documentary was released today, April 22, 2014! It is available as a pay what you want stream or download! The minimum is just $1, but hopefully you will give them a bit more! Watch the trailer!