80-Bit Podsmash

Penguin & Termite get serious about the dark side of gaming. We discuss some of the negative affects of gaming in our culture, addiction, toxic behavior, and a false sense of accomplish. Does gaming affect you this way?

Footnotes: http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-violent-video-games-might-be-screwing-with-your-brain/ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/opinion/video-games-toxic-violence.html Music: The Guillotine Factory - Assembly Line Album: All Hallows Eve in 8bit Hell http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Termite has collected issues 200 through 300 of Game Informer. That knowledge spans 2009 through today; Nine years of gaming. Penguin & Termite discuss what has changed in that time. We highlight big innovations in the industry as well as talk about our gaming history in that light.

Do you think gaming has changed much in the past nine years?

Music Ozzed - I Like Jump Rope ozzed.net http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite discuss Fan Theories! We seek to define what they are. We ask why do they matter and explore which ones actually came true. Come bring your own fan theories and explore with us!

Footnotes: https://geeks.media/history-of-fan-theories http://www.cracked.com/article_20614_6-insane-video-game-fan-theories-that-make-total-sense.html https://whatwouldbaledo.com/2016/11/21/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-fan-theories/ Music: Ozzed - Copenhagen Funhouse ozzed.net http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite ask why video games are priced the way they are. Is $60 ok as a standard? We discuss why they're priced that way and explore how we got there. We also share our budgeting tips.

Footnotes: https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/15/16152194/video-game-pricing Music: Ozzed - Cooking Together http://ozzed.net http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite reflect on the current gaming industry trend to bring females front and center in video games. Is Hollywood doing the same thing? We dive into the history of women characters in games and look at how that's evolved over the years.

Music: Ozzed - Dragspel i Natten http://ozzed.net http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/study-tracks-31-year-history-of-female-sexualization-in-video-games https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/07/31/leading-women-are-becoming-less-sexualised-in-video-games-study_a_21442163/?utm_hp_ref=au-gaming http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ridiculous-excuses-sexy-video-game-costumes/ http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-dumbest-excuses-game-makers-gave-excluding-women/ https://www.theaquilareport.com/biblical-womanhood-what-is-a-woman/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_video_games

Penguin & Termite discuss Final Fantasy. How did this Japanese series of RPGs become relevant in the "West"? We rank our favorites and discuss our best memories of how we came to be fans of Final Fantasy. Listen in and tell us about your Final Fantasy experiences.

Music: Ozzed - Introjuice http://ozzed.net http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite review the newly released book adaptation film, Ready Player One! What did we like about the movie? Did it line up with the book? What did you think? Join in on the discussion.

Music: Daydream Anatomy - Combat http://daydreamanatomy.bandcamp.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite tackle Termite's beloved topic surrounding video games; Trophies and Achievements! We explore their relevance and their impact in today's video games.

Footnotes: http://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-746-10-video-game-achievements-you-have-to-be-nuts-to-complete/ http://business.financialpost.com/technology/gaming/barely-a-quarter-of-gamers-complete-their-games-and-other-interesting-facts-gleaned-from-playstation-trophy-data Music: Daydream Anatomy - Nin10day http://daydreamanatomy.bandcamp.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite welcome back esteemed cos-player and YouTube extraordinaire, "Shut Up Kristen!"s own Kristen Corradeno! We discuss Ready Player One as we anticipate the movie launching on March 29th. We take a deep dive in to the book and all things nerd culture.

Shut Up Kristen! https://twitter.com/shutupkristen https://www.patreon.com/shutupkristen https://www.youtube.com/user/kristencakess Music: Halcyonic Falcon X Of Rainbows and Unicorns and Cuppycakes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Penguin & Termite discuss Character Customization. We dive deep into what it is and why people create the characters avatars that they do.

Why do male gamers create female characters? Why do you think so?

References: https://kotaku.com/im-a-man-who-plays-as-a-woman-in-games-and-im-definite-1576592743 https://www.quora.com/What-motivates-guys-to-play-female-characters Black Desert Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNP2OQB3MWs Music: 8-bit Hell All Hallows Eve - Ghosts of a Fallen Empire https://archive.org/details/AllHallowsEveIn8bitHellCompilation http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/