Thanksgiving Shopping Soundtrack

Hi everyone!  It's Thanksgiving here in the US which generally family, food, and shopping.  I can't help you with the first two things, but in case you need a soundtrack for the third thing, here you go:



This has been stuck in my head for weeks now, so I'm spreading the wealth.  Sorry, I guess.

I've actually been thinking about writing a longer post about menu music in general.  Something about the combination of elevator music and weird alternate-future cyber shopping is fascinating to me.  I wonder if Drake would share his friend code with me?

Jorge and I will be back next week.  We're barreling towards game of the year time, so look for that coming soon!

EXP Podcast #356: The Fallout 4 Bug Bite

It's nearly Thanksgiving here in America. Today, Scott and I are both thankful we are not the last survivors of humanity wandering an irradiated wasteland. It's the small things, y'know? Let's celebrate by discussing the game everyone's been playing: Fallout 4. And what would Fallout 4 be without bugs? They define Bethesda games! But do they break them? All this and more in this week's EXP Podcast!

Super Mutant leaving to get some food. #Fallout4 #PS4share https://t.co/C0KSTZLiXX pic.twitter.com/RGXdM6ZiRW

— Jorge Albor (@JAlbor) November 22, 2015

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 33 mins 59 secs
- "Fallout 4 Is Full of Bugs, But Fixing Them Could Ruin It," by Zak McClendon via Wired
- Music by Brad Sucks

Black Ops 3: Chappie's Revenge

We have a DUTY to our viewers get slaughtered in Black Ops 3. As possibly the "gamiest" entry in the franchise, seemingly chock full of robots, this one is a treat.

The Borderlands of Cibele

My latest PopMatters article went up earlier this week, in which I explore the borderlands of youth in Cibele.

This follow-up piece should have gone up earlier, so forgive me of that mishap. I was hoping to get this out closer to Cibele's release. I really do think it's a game everyone should check out. It can cross that border of the uncomfortable for a lot of people, and for that it's worth our attention alone. The game is daring in its honesty, and while I spend more of my time in this article talking about its aesthetic design, Nina Freeman's presence in the games deserves all the attention it has received.

Coming off playing Life is Strange, you have to appreciate how good of a year it's been for coming-of-age stories. The themes of Cibele echo in Life is Strange as well. Minor spoiler alert for the game, but there is a very important character who tries to capture the moment of transition between adolescence and adulthood, between innocence and sin. They use the photograph as the method for seizing this moment, something Max, the protagonist, also takes seriously.

However, by the end of Life is Strange, it's quite clear the attempt to capture coming of age as a singular moment is impossible. By the time Max confronts the game's villain, she has already made countless decisions that ripple into the future and affect so many lives. Coming of age is a process. We take steps forward and back, we forget lessons we should have learned, and even with the best intentions we hurt those around us. Any attempt to isolate growing up into a moment is, in some ways, an act of violence.

Cibele makes this clear in photos as well, but not in one photo, but their relationships with each other, and how these photos are viewed, shared, and constructed. There a beautiful truth to how both these games explore the borderlands of youth.

EXP Podcast #355: Blizzard Bulletins and Nintendo News

Not announced: Smash's new turn-based combat.

Two-headed trolls?  JRPG characters from the 90s?  10-second clips that spawn hours of speculation?  It's all pretty standard business for Blizzard and Nintendo.  The two companies recently announced some new and upcoming games (and in one case, a movie), so we're taking the opportunity to weigh in.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 36 mins 04 secs
- Music by Brad Sucks

Spooky's House of Jump Scares: Adele Says Hello

Geez Adele! Don't sneak up on me like that. You're worse than the ghosts.

 

EXP Podcast #354: An RPG Thing

Everyone loves Teddie!

The state of RPGs, Western and Japanese, ebbs and flows. It might just be the copy of Persona 4 Golden in my Vita, but right now I feel inundated with RPG options. From new spirit-trapping colletion games to the much anticipated Fallout 4, we have plenty of options for games that offer dozens and dozens of hours of gameplay in rich worlds. This week on the EXP Podcast, we discuss some of these RPG options we have out our disposal.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 35 mins 13 secs
- Music by Brad Sucks

Spelunky: Back to the 90s

We're back in a big way, just like 90s era musicians! Enjoy Spelunky. We always do.

Video Games in the Era of "Engagement"

The most valuable candy on the face of the planet.

Hey kids, want some candy?  Who am I kidding?  Of course you do and Activision knows it.

This week I do a little armchair analysis of Activision's recent purchase of King, makers of Candy Crush.  I actually don't even explicitly reference the purchase price in the article, but it was $5.9 billion.  More than Disney paid for Star Wars.  More than Facebook paid for Oculus.  It's gotten to the point where the very concept of money is starting to lose all meaning to me.

Even though it's an incredible amount, I think I can follow their logic.  It all goes back to "engagement."  The number of players that King has and the amount of revenue brought in dwarfs even Call of Duty.  More importantly, those players aren't just one and done; they're recurring customers.  Drawn in by an initial free experience, they end up staying and leaving their money and their behavioral data with them.

Enterprise software has shifted towards services rather than discrete packages (just look at Microsoft, Google, and Adobe's freemium/subscription models) and video games are now accelerating in that direction.  The entire MOBA genre is built on the concept of getting people in the door and then keeping them engaged until they either buy something or they reveal what will get others to buy things.  The King acquisition gives Activision a powerful entry point into a world they've slowly been inching towards with WoW and Call of Duty.

We'll see how it all turns out (King's other games haven't experienced the same success as Candy Crush) but it's safe to assume that this trend towards chasing engagement rather than traditional sales as a path to profit is here to stay.

EXP Podcast #353: Disneyland Debrief

Is a mouse not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

I recently returned from the Magic Kingdom and I bring with me tales of whimsy, churros, and missed opportunities for gamification.  Disneyland is all about fostering the illusion of fantastical, yet grounded environments.  Because of this, I couldn't stop drawing parallels between world building in video games.  So here it is: the definitive Disneyland review.  For your safety, please keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the podcast at all times.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 49 mins 40 secs
- Music by Brad Sucks

Yoshi's Woolly World: Big Woolly Style

This week we get crafty with Yoshi. I always imagined Yoshi as more of a pleather aficionado, but here we are surrounded by a bunch of fuzzy eating machines. Watch as our skills quickly unravel.