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Jersey Finger

Jersey Finger

RELEASING THE EMBRACE: Our hosts start with some wild news about the Embracer Group and how, after years of buying––excuse me, embracing––every video game and tabletop developer in sight, they are now breaking up the company into three surprising publicly traded companies.

CRAWL OUT THROUGH THE FALLOUT: As has everyone else on the plane, it seems, our hosts also check out the new hit Amazon Prime television show, Fallout, the most recent in big-budget video game adaptations.

DEADPOLE: The first full trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine dropped this week and it is surprisingly more…emotional?…than expected.

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Embracer Group news
(09:16) Amazon Prime’s Fallout
(40:35) Outro – The trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine surprised D. Bethel
(43:30) Outtakes

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • A Sense of Place” (18 November 2018): Where Andrew shares his experiences diving into Fallout 76.

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The 2-Body Solution

The 2-Body Solution

WEEK IN GEEK: Our hosts jump right into it as Andrew gets sucked back into the world of Stardew Valley with their most recent update and D. Bethel taps into the zeitgeist and plays the roguelike, deckbuilding, poker-themed (?!) game, Balatro.

THE SEASON OF REGENERATION: With the release of the trailer for the new series of Doctor Who, it contains all that fans could hope for––action, humor, adventure, drama…and it’s “season 1”?

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Andrew got too distracted to podcast…

(01:37) …because he got sucked into Stardew Valley‘s 1.6 release.

(15:33) D. Bethel can’t stop playing the not poker video game, Balatro.

(28:49) Outro – In May we start Doctor Who‘s…first season?

(31:35) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Love the Stank” (30 December 2016): Where Andrew first dives into the addictive world of Stardew Valley.
  • States of Play” (30 August 2019): Where Andrew shares his first experiences with Klei Entertainment’s Oxygen Not Included.
  • Reliable Virtual Helmets” (27 September 2019): Where D. Bethel shares his first experiences diving into the world of roguelike deckbuilding games with Meteorfall: Journey.
  • Smell the Duke” (4 February 2022): Where D. Bethel discusses the roguelike conversation/combat deckbuilding game by Klei Entertainment, Griftlands.

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Ear Covid

Ear Covid

AD&D (ANDREW, DUNGEONS, & DRAGONS): Andrew, after years away, gets drawn into a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Planescape adventure and shares his thoughts on how the game looks after having avoided it for so long.

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – The dangers of COVID broadcasting
(01:35) Andrew’s new D&D adventure adventure
(51:02) Outro – Jon Stewart returns to The Daily Show
(55:16) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • The Space Dog and Bacchus Show” (21 August 2014): Where Andrew first experiments with Dungeons & Dragons‘ 5th Edition open beta, DnDNext.
  • Some Solid Copy” (31 July 2015): Where our hosts discuss Jon Stewart’s departure from The Daily Show.
  • Choose Your Weapon” (31 July 2020): Where Andrew discusses the documentary, Secret of Blackmoor: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons.

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Lunch Talk

Lunch Talk

PROOF OF LIFE: Our hosts have been absent for a few weeks and wanted to check in and discuss why. They also provide a short Week in Geek with Andrew talking about playing Dungeons & Dragons again for the first time in years while D. Bethel was quite impressed with Max’s animated sci-fi series, Scavengers Reign.

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Day of the Diver

Day of the Diver

DOCTOR NEW: Our hosts spend a little bit of time discussing the newest episode of Doctor Who, “The Church on Ruby Road.”

FISHING & STUFF: Our hosts talk about the charm, the complexities, and frustrations of the hit video game, Dave the Diver.

THE CALL OF PUBLIC DOMAIN: With the new year brings a new slate of texts into the public domain. While most people are talking about Disney’s latest loss, Andrew focuses in on a piece of cosmic horror that has officially entered public domain this year, H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu.”

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Doctor Who
(03:11) Dave the Diver
(28:59) Outro – New items in the public domain
(32:48) Outtakes

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Quite Easily Done” (08 June 2018): Where our hosts discuss a documentary by the video game documentarians, NoClip, about the history of the developer, Bethesda.
  • Academic Quality Entertainment” (04 August 2023): Where Andrew talks about his time playing Dredge.
  • Pleasure Quotes” (22 December 2023): Where our hosts talk about the bigeneration episode that introduced the new Doctor as played by Ncuti Gatwa.

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Academic Quality Entertainment

Academic Quality Entertainment

WEEK IN GEEK: It’s all about indie video games this week as both of our hosts have been indulging in new ludic adventures. Andrew participates in the eldritch fishing adventure of Dredge while D. Bethel has been having roguelike RPG fun with Star Renegades.

RIP PEE-WEE: Paul Reubens died after a long bout with cancer on July 30; our hosts spend a bit of time memorializing his work.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Baguettevania” (24 August 2018): Where our hosts discuss the roguelike Metroidvania, Dead Cells.
  • Hobbit Seasons” (24 June 2022): Where Andrew talks about the iterative awesomeness of Rogue Legacy 2.
  • Tentacles or Bust” (12 May 2023): Where D. Bethel shares his experience with the Lovecraftian adventure game, Call of the Sea.

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Don’t Pull Out Your Deck

Don’t Pull Out Your Deck

ANDY’S STEAM DECK ADVENTURES: Andrew shares what it was like to actually take his handheld PC-device on the road (and what games he’s been playing).

BOMBING THE BOX OFFICE: This summer has been marked with a series of movies that had really big budgets and very low returns, and it’s a trend that seems to only be continuing. Our hosts talk through possible causes and possible futures of this distressing trajectory.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Space Man From Pluto” (30 June 2023): Where our hosts talk about studios’ use of AI as well as the financial struggles of streaming services.

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Dungeons & Grandmas

Dungeons & Grandmas

ROLL TO SAVE: Now that Andrew has finally seen it, our hosts dive into the surprise hit of the year, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and look at how it honors (and deviates from) the game it’s based upon.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • The Black Arts of Algorithms” (5 August 2016): Where our hosts discuss the disparity of interpretation of box office numbers with regard to Ghostbusters: Answer the Call and the first Suicide Squad.
  • Open Awesome License” (13 January 2023): Where Andrew discusses the Open Game License controversy D&D publisher, Wizards of the Coast, got into.
  • Madmacguffin” (20 January 2023): Where our hosts share their thoughts about the first (and only?) season of the Disney+ show, Willow.

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Jellyfish Panthers

Jellyfish Panthers

A-NEWS BOUCHE: It’s been a busy few months, so our hosts felt that it was time to get away on a cruise, albeit a news cruise. They talk about the recent legal woes with Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, recap all of the Wizards of the Coast’s woes, and all the strange Twitter drama as of late.

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Hammering With a Screwdriver” (19 August 2016): Where D. Bethel discusses the first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series.
  • Nature’s Velcro” (3 July 2020): Where Andrew relays his time with Owlcat’s Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

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Full Frasier

Full Frasier

WEEK IN GEEK: After avoiding the microphones for a week due to disaster-level weather, our hosts return with their Weeks in Geek. Andrew watched Cobra Kai, season 5, and finds it makes a bad movie good. D. Bethel watched people play videogames over on the Nextlander YouTube channel, where they work their way through the incredibly dated, but also incredibly daring point-and-click adventure game, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (aka Gabriel Knight 2).

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Premature Clapulation” (19 June 2014): Where our hosts talk about the history, legacy, and current state (as of 2014) of point-and-click adventure games.
  • The Tainted Lens” (28 April 2017): Where D. Bethel discusses his favorite point-and-click adventure game, LucasArts’ Full Throttle, after it was remastered as Full Throttle Remastered.
  • Chekhov’s Honk” (22 January 2021): Where our hosts talk about the first three Karate Kid movies.
  • Too Many Johnnies” (05 February 2021): Where our hosts have a big talk about the Cobra Kai series.

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