Argue the Toss

In a special episode, recorded at art and games festival, Feral Vector, nestled in a wooded valley in Yorkshire, England, the ATTeam chat to surreal LARP organiser and unstoppable indie game developer, Xalavier Nelson. The main topic is the representation of dark skin in videogames. It's not always successful, but Xalavier praised Mortal Kombat XI for getting right. He's also on the show to tell stories of Texas dust storms, tales from the game dev frontline and also remind us that Drew is awesome. Post credit music, we also have some Feral Vector footage to give an insight into what this wild thing is all about.

The new John Wick film is out this week and Mike Bithell recently announced that he's working on John Wick Hex, a game based on the films. This got the ATTeam thinking about films they'd like to see as games and how they would work. There's a tradition of movie/game tie-ins, but they're often lacklustre marketing opportunities, with the occasional gem, such as The Chronicles of Riddick. Drew and Chella discuss the films that should be games, taking us from time loop adventures to mermen.

10 years of storytelling and 22 films come together in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel's grand cinematic project, the like of which has never been done before. Drew and Chella get into it on this episode. It's a tremendous fete, which largely pays off, but it's not without some flaws.

Falcon Age released yesterday, kicking off the 2019 releases in superb style. Drew and Chella discuss the games they're looking forward to in 2019. A mix of AAA blockbusters and smaller indie projects - find out what's piqued the interest of the Argue the Toss team and tell them your most anticipated.

Get Out made a splash on the horror scene, in 2017, and that's saying something, as 2018 was also a pretty stellar year for the genre, with the VVitch, A Quiet Place and Hereditary all coming out. Regardless, Jordan Peele's follow up, Us, stars Lupita Nyongo and expectations are high. Fortunately, Peele doesn't disappoint and delivers another stunning social horror that leaves you thinking. Drew and Chella discuss the themes, the horror references and all the things, in this episode of Argue the Toss.

Captain Marvel is the first female led film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), so people are genuinely excited in both positive and negative ways. Drew and Chella discuss the film and establish how much space cat is too much space cat. Where does Captain Marvel sit among the rest of the MCU? And is it a patch on DC's Wonder Woman? All these questions answered in one burning hot episode of Argue the Toss.

Nightflyers is a SyFy produced show based on the 1980s novella by George R. R. Martin, he of Game of Thrones fame. It was recently picked up by Netflix and the blurb tells us, "with humankind's future at stake, a group of scientists and a powerful telepath venture into the void aboard a spaceship full of secrets." It's a sci-fi show that borrows too heavily from other things and fails to do the horror well, but it's not all bad. Drew & Chella discuss.

Drew & Chella discuss video game remakes and remasters, inspired by Drew's latest dalliances with Resident Evil 2, Spyro and others. It turns out that remakes aren't as new as we might first think, but began with ports from arcades to the very first home gaming machines. What makes a good remake and how many of them are in the Resident Evil series? It's all covered right here.

Drew and Chella discuss Bandersnatch, the latest episode of Black Mirror to hit Netflix and the streaming service's latest brush with interactive TV. Bandersnatch is an interesting experience that's divided opinion. For those familiar with interactive fiction, it's going over old ground, but presenting it to a new audience as if it's just invented this clever new thing. For those who aren't familiar with interactive media, Bandersnatch is a bold new step into the future of TV entertainment. So which is it?

Kicking off season 5 with a review of Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, the Sony picture made in association with Marvel. Complicated cinematic rights aside, Spider-Verse delivers a first class superhero film and arguably the best Spider-Man offering to date. The Argue the Toss team have lots to discuss, from the visual style to the great cast, story and Easter eggs. Very minor spoiler at 28 mins.