Browsed by
Tag: steam

Dragon Crap

Dragon Crap

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew gets entranced (and a little ill) playing the hit indie rhythm game, Trombone Champ, while Dan gets charmed by the hit AppleTV+ show, Ted Lasso.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Jerry Goldsmith White Noise Machine” (6 March 2015): Where D. Bethel talks about John Carpenter’s first album of instrumental music, Lost Themes.
  • “An Existential Poem” (12 August 2018): Where D. Bethel talks about John Carpenter’s second album of instrumental music, Lost Themes II.
  • “Toxic Delivery Mechanism” (12 October 2018): Where our hosts discuss another of John Carpenter’s incredible entries into the horror genre, Halloween.
  • “Chasing Chickens” (17 July 2020): Where Andrew shares his excitement for an early AppleTV+ show, For All Mankind.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Meat Pops

Meat Pops

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

NEWS CRUISE: Andrew and D. Bethel cover a lot of different news stories this week, including the acceptance of NFTs in video games by Steam and the Epic Games Store; the workers of tabletop game developer, Paizo, form a union; developers who worked on Metroid Dread not seeing their names in the credits; Ruby Rose speaking up about their treatment on the set of Batwoman‘s first season; and some announcements made by DC during the DC Fandome event.

UPDATE: Venerated Metroid fansite, Shinesparkers, reached out to Metroid Dread developers, MercurySteam, for clarification on what qualified for crediting in the game, specifically with regard to what constitutes the “25% game dev time” and “significant creative contributions,” stating:

“A significant contribution might mean A LOT of things: from designing a playable character, writing dialogues, lore.. anything substantially important to the game. On the 25% this is something based on our experience. Of course it can be seen differently elsewhere.”

FURTHER UPDATE: Union issues with Paizo and its workers came to an agreement on Thursday, October 21, with Paizo officially recognizing the workers’ union.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Business Exempt” (19 October 2018): Where D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the first major attempt to unionize video game workers.
  • “A Casualty of the Rhyme” (22 May 2020): Where our hosts, along with Taylor, talk about Ruby Rose’s sudden departure from Batwoman.
  • “Milkbloods” (09 April 2021): When Andrew and D. Bethel first discussed the strange culture of NFTs.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Exposure Creates Tolerance

Exposure Creates Tolerance

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MINI-WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew and D. Bethel need a week to recoup after weeks of birthdays, Doctor Who, and a celebration of Star Trek, so they’re going to briefly cover the things that have been keeping their attention recently. To no one’s surprise, they’ve been playing video games. Andrew has been playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection that includes Final Fantasy 1-4 (at this point), while D. Bethel has not been helping his mental health––though he has been having a lot of fun––playing The Last of Us, Part 2.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

In the Reward Zone

In the Reward Zone

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew plays the first few games in Square Enix’s nostalgia-trip, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, while D. Bethel dives into nostalgia and music theory reading the newest book from Boss Fight Books, Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Premature Clapulation” (19 June 2014): In Episode 4, D. Bethel and Andrew discuss the positive qualities of Final Fantasy VI.
  • “Answer Sandwich” (24 October 2014): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the work of Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu.
  • “BTAS” (7 August 2015): Nearly exactly six years ago, D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the ludomusicology of Final Fantasy VI.
  • “Alien Control Party” (22 January 2016): Where Andrew and D. Bethel ponder the different ways––and the best ways––to “archive” old games for modern players.
  • “Five Minutes to Funny” (9 December 2016): Where D. Bethel shares his thoughts reading the Boss Fight Book about Metal Gear Solid, written by Ashly & Anthony Burch.
  • “Editing Is Magic” (13 July 2018): Where D. Bethel and Andrew read Final Fantasy V by Chris Kohler, published by Boss Fight Books.
  • “Little Paper People” (2 November 2018): Where D. Bethel reads and shares his thoughts about another Boss Fight Books book, Shovel Knight by David L. Craddock.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Tiny Text

Tiny Text

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A NEW CHALLENGER: Recently, Valve Corporation––owners of the PC gaming storefront and launcher, Steam––announced a new piece of hardware that excited a lot of gamers: the handheld Steam machine called the Steam Deck. D. Bethel and Andrew walk through the announcement and ponder what it could change in the industry, and how it could leave some gamers lacking.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Where the Hands Touch” (13 January 2017): Where Andrew discusses a previous piece of Valve-made hardware, the ill-fated Steam controller.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Feed the Fish God

Feed the Fish God

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, after giving a brief update on the announcement of IMDb TV’s revival of Leverage, Andrew talks about his experience playing Coldwild Games‘ delightful trading simulation game, Merchant of the Skies while D. Bethel finally got around to watching Netflix’s The Witcher.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

The Battle Is The Game

The Battle Is The Game

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew finds the retro-JRPG stylings of Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler engaging and fun while D. Bethel gets challenged making the new pages from his webcomic, Long John, into short videos for Instagram, forcing him to look at his own work in new ways.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Cuddle Point

Cuddle Point

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives in to Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky after another patch while D. Bethel relays his experience going to see Kevin Smith present his newest film––Jay and Silent Bob Reboot––as part of a traveling tour for the movie when it came to Sacramento.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Robot Monsters From the Future

Robot Monsters From the Future

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: As 2019 hurries to a close, our hosts kick up their feet and just chat about the things they’re doing to occupy their time until the new year rolls around. They talk about everything from the winter Steam sale, to finishing Outer Wilds (no spoilers!), to Lovecraftian tabletop games (Fate of Cthulhu), video games (The Sinking City), and novels (Winter Tide), to developing for web browsers, to––of course––Doctor Who and Star Wars.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • “Weird World News“––a module for Fate Core by friend-of-the-show, André La Roche.
  • La Roche, André. “Spotlight: The Joke’s On Us.” A Website [ , ] For All Intents and Purposes, 27 October 2019––André’s critical look at one of the most divisive movies of the year.
  • Wildfire––the game by Ryan Kubik.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Shortcast 03 – Interview with André La Roche” (31 December 2014): When we actually had friend-of-the-show, André La Roche, on to talk about writing for tabletop games, thus becoming a friend-of-the-show.
  • “Episode 89 – High-Five Forever” (25 March 2016): Where D. Bethel talked about the revisionist Lovecraftian story, The Ballad of Black Tom.
  • “Shortcast 21 – Love the Stank” (30 December 2016): Where Andrew first talked about playing Stardew Valley.
  • “Shortcast 77 – Smash Talk” (14 December 2018): Where our hosts talk about Series 11 of Doctor Who, which introduced the world to Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor.
  • “End-Of-Year-Cast #001 – #WIN” (28 December 2018): Where our hosts go over the things that defined 2018 for them.
  • “Plants Having Sex” (05 April 2019): Where Andrew first talks about playing No Man’s Sky.
  • “Threadnaught” (13 September 2019): Where Andrew talks about the big No Man’s Sky update, No Man’s Sky Beyond.
  • “Tile Pile” (22 November 2019): Where D. Bethel discussed his first impressions of Outer Wilds.
  • “Universe of Nonsense” (06 December 2019): Where the trailer (and release date) for Series 12 of Doctor Who was discussed.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Nothing But Feet

Nothing But Feet

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

WEEK IN GEEK (kind of): It turned out to be an accidental Week in Geek episode as D. Bethel talks about his disappointment with Valve Corporation’s sidelining of Campo Santo’s Firewatch followup, In the Valley of Gods. On the opposite side of breaking news, Andrew finally gets around to watching Star Trek: Discovery and kind of unabashedly loves it.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC: