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Meat Pops

Meat Pops

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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.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Ghost Games

Ghost Games

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BETTER DREAD THAN DEAD: D. Bethel shares some initial thoughts on the newest 2D Metroid game, Metroid 5 aka Metroid Dread.

EMULATE YOU WANT IT, THAT’S THE WAY YOU NEED IT: Kotaku got in a bit of heat when they reported a story about how people were able to get Metroid Dread up and running on emulators in a smooth 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. The problem is that, in the original story, readers felt that Kotaku was, in fact, recommending people pirate Dread instead of buying it because of the emulator’s stronger performance. This lead to another round of discussion about emulation, piracy, and game preservation. Andrew and D. Bethel do their best to weigh in on these issues.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “The Eye of Agamemnon” (18 November 2016): Where D. Bethel and Andrew discuss the storied history of old episodes of Doctor Who erased from existence by the BBC.
  • “River City Rampage” (17 August 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the value and importance (and danger) of video game emulation.
  • “I Am the State” (26 February 2021): Where D. Bethel and Andrew discuss whether the Metroid series is being neglected by Nintendo.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Crypto ATM

Crypto ATM

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PACHINKO IS CRYPTO: Our hosts walk a snake-like path this week as they discuss everything from recent trends in the sketch cryptocurrency/NFT market to the news that Konami may be getting out of pachinko and back into making video games again. It’s quite a conversation, in other words.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Heart Law, Article 9” (03 July 2014): Where our hosts discuss why Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is an important game (by their metric, at least).
  • “Recorded Entirely in Esperanto” (01 May 2015): Where our hosts discuss the fall of “the final domino” on Konami’s game-developing existence.
  • “Milkbloods” (09 April 2021): Where our hosts first discuss the shady business of NFTs.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Halloween Still

Halloween Still

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RTD2: With the next series of Doctor Who wrapping up the tenures of both the star, Jodie Whittaker, and its showrunner, Chris Chibnall, it was announced that the 2023 series will herald the return of the showrunner who brought the show back from the wilderness in 2005, Russell T Davies. Our hosts discuss the possibilities––and drawbacks––of this announcement.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Teasing the Difference” (05 June 2015): Where D. Bethel discusses playing The Last of Us, the game that came with his purchase of this Playstation 4.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

A Braver New World

A Braver New World

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GIANTS FALL: Kind of a combination of a News Blast and a Nerd Law, but the lawsuit between Apple and Epic has been decided and…it’s complicated. We have Andrew walk us through the ins and outs of this strange event.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • “Nerd Law” by D. Bethel
Exposure Creates Tolerance

Exposure Creates Tolerance

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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.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Beware the Harp Ladies

Beware the Harp Ladies

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HAPPY STAR TREK DAY: This week, 8 September to be specific, the world celebrated Star Trek Day. With one of our hosts being an avowed and public Star Trek fan, our hosts discuss the ways they decided to celebrate: Andrew watched all the exciting announcements and trailers from the Paramount+ Star Trek Day Celebration event while D. Bethel coincidentally started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation not more than a week ago and is enjoying every minute of it so far.

RELEVANT LINKS:

https://youtu.be/EBE7d8sH5Rg
  • Asplund, Andrew. “News Blast: Star Trek Fan Films.” A Website [ , ] For All Intents and Purposes, 23 June 2016.
    • Where Andrew covered the strange legal journey of fan films of the beloved franchise.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Crow Hat” (31 July 2015): Where Andrew and D. Bethel watch and discuss the pilot episode(s) for Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Encounter at Farpoint.”
  • “Butt Magic” (16 October 2020): Where Andrew discussed his joy having watched the first season of the hit adult animated series, Star Trek: The Lower Decks.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Fashion Blasters

Fashion Blasters

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BLOOD AND THUNDER DAYS: To celebrate D. Bethel’s birthday this week, our hosts take a look at another story from the classic run of Doctor Who. In fact, it’s another story from the same season as “Survival.” In fact, it’s the first story from the season that “Survival” brought to a close. Andrew and D. Bethel dive into the pool of Arthurian legend, militarism, and timey-wimey shenagigans found in “Battlefield.”

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Spaceship Mall” (20 August 2021): Where we celebrate Andrew’s birthday by watching and discussing the last story from Doctor Who‘s final season (of its classic run), “Survival.”

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • Catch D. Bethel on Brunch with Ben & Friends on Sunday, September 5, at 10:30am PST by tuning into the YouTube channel for Ben’s comic shop, Empire’s Comics Vault.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • Additional audio from Doctor Who “Battlefield”, episode 4.
Doctor Ennui

Doctor Ennui

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ALREADY OBSOLETE: This is a short episode––you could even call it a “shortcast”, but why would you––because Dan had to have a little procedure that knocked him out a bit. However, they don’t leave you hanging as they talk about things that have drawn their attention this week. D. Bethel is impressed with the first two episodes of David E. Kelley’s new show, Big Sky, while Andrew dives deep in to the Zyuranger pool.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “The Space Dog and Bacchus Show” (21 August 2014): Where Andrew talks to Kai, game designer and apparent Kamen Rider aficionado.
  • “Dulce Et Utile” (12 June 2020): Where Dan previously talked about this artistic concept.
  • “Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew first mentions his perusal into the world of The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Zyurangers.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • The trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home:

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FEATURED MUSIC:

Spaceship Mall

Spaceship Mall

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To celebrate Andrew’s birthday today, he and D. Bethel talk about thing they both love a lot: classic Doctor Who.

SURVIVAL OF THE WHO-IEST: “Survival” is an interesting story for a variety of reasons in classic Doctor Who, not the least of which being that it was the last story to air before the show was cancelled in 1989. Beyond that, though, and beyond the questionable production design and special effects, is a real clever story that says as much about the culture it was made in (and today!) as it does about its characters. Though it’s a capstone on a series that was, perhaps, past its prime, its a more endearing and impressive capstone on the era of the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, and Ace, played by Sophie Aldred. Andrew and Dan take a few minutes to walk through all the impressive––and mildly less impressive––aspects of this story.

RELEVANT LINKS:

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FEATURED MUSIC:

  • Additional audio taken from Doctor Who, “Survival”, Episode 3.