Otakuthon fever sweeps over Montreal as visions of both foxy and odious cat people can be seen (and smelled) across the island. Anna show's off her fancy winged hat and tells us about how she longed for a body pillow but instead loitered in the convention lobby taking pictures of innocent bystanders. Andrew becomes king of the adolescents upon acing his driving aptitude exam and being confronted by a gaggle of 16-year-olds. Raph decides to spend the week at home with his new vacuum cleaner making an elementary-science-fair-style mess with baking soda and vinegar. Olivier's got the games section of our podcast covered as the rest of us were obviously busy with the aforementioned adventures. Speaking of adventures, Olivier wrote an excellent essay entitled “The Grand Adventure,” find it and more on castlecouch.com. Thanks for listening! 20:40 - Guild Wars 2 25:20 - Rare Replay [RR] 25:30 - [RR] Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts 26:35 - [RR] Viva Pinata 31:25 - Journey 31:50 - GALAK-Z 38:20 - Life is Strange Episode 4 43:30 - Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island 46:15 - King's Quest 48:55 - [RR] Battletoads 55:15 - Beyond EyesA direct link to the iTunes page. We'd love to read your emails! Send us questions at [email protected] Many thanks to our friends The JEM for letting us use their music in the show. More info on The JEM can be found on their website: http://www.thejemband.com

This week the crew dwells on the inevitability of their demise and think about days long past where they slept full nights and could sit around without worrying about all the things they should be doing instead. Andrew's broken body recovers from another weekend at the lake and Anna spends long night catching up on homework. Raph stares longingly at his list of games to finish by year's end and Olivier counts the seconds to his next coffee. We do cover a few newer games this week in the form of King's Quest and The Magic Circle before falling into deep holes of clicker game nonsense and our seemingly monthly Metal Gear Solid tangent. Also Anna's friend saw Jeremy Renner, so that's cool. 24:00 - King's Quest 29:50 - Alphabear 31:40 - Rocket League 32:10 - Singstar 35:10 - AdVenture Capitalist 40:54 - The Fall 42:25 - The Magic Circle 50:10 - Metal Gear Solid Tangent 57:45 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

This latest castle couch week paralleled Anna's foray into Chocobo Hot and Cold madness as both Raph and Andrew spent a week of sunburns and heatstroke when compared to Olivier's chilled week of stolen Starbucks internet. Olivier has plenty of stories to tell about the Fantasia film festival that he is currently covering: including a tale of scriptwriting lions who simply could not care less about the well-being of the actors they share the set with. On the other hand, Andrew covers all manner of swine and hogwash with the weekend at the lake with his friends' pet pig. Despite his Disney withdrawal, Raph is able to focus beyond the looming Mickey Mouse monkey on his back to tell us about lake goats and ghost fetuses and bears among other things he experienced in his trip to the app store. Throughout all the raucous hustle and bustle of the zoo that was our lives, we managed to spare a few hours on Twitch catching the latest Summer Games Done Quick charity speedrunning marathon (shoutouts to Jmatt) to support fellow gamers and a great cause. Thanks for listening! Find this a-moose-ing? Share us with your friends! [Ed: Okay, I'm done] 36:00 - King's Quest (Or why the digital future is the worst) 39:40 - Lumino City 46:45 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 50:55 - Summer Games Done Quick 52:40 - Rocket League 58:55 - Year Walk 62:00 - Sword & Sorcery EP 63:30 - Alphabear 66:50 - Bucket List: Final Fantasy IX

Castle Couch's classist society is particularly evident this week as Raph surrounds himself with world-class chicken nuggets in Florida while Olivier sits quietly in his internet-barren apartment thinking of all the average spaghetti he'll have to endure. Left without his brother-in-arms, Andrew is left alone to face the oncoming league of legends horde in the form of 10-year olds. Meanwhile Anna and Andrew have tales to share of their summer class adventures in lands of car-surfing and art pretentiousness. As made painfully obvious in this most recent 'cast, we don't always do right by the English language. Thank you so much for listening and we apologize for both the tardiness and sub-optimal audio quality this week. 16:20 – Code Combat 24:05 – Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 24:55 – R.I.P Satoru Iwata 29:42 – Eldritch Horror 35:10 - EMC 36:50 - Drei 39:15 - The Graveyard 43:30 - The Fall 46:00 - Bucket List: Final Fantasy IX

In this very adult and serious version of the castle couch podcast, the guys set up a round table to try a different format. With Anna absent from the show, Raph, Andrew, and Olivier share their backgrounds and upbringings and how video games were a driving factor in their respective youths. The debate floor is opened up with Star Wars vs Harry Potter; Star Trek once again takes a surprising lead on that front. Chatter of forum lurking and Nintendo Power nostalgia flow seamlessly into more current topics like Taylor Swift and Apple Music. So come sit down for an hour and be soothed by the calm voices of three gentlemen in an attempt to hide the fact that we didn't actually play anything different from last week. 31:30 – Batman Arkham Knight 38:30 – Apple Music 45:35 – Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward

After warming up for an hour with Quiplash before the show, the castle couch gang records what is sure to be our wittiest entry yet! Stumbling past our false start, we get right into the thick of things with Anna's hot Michael Caine gossip. As Montreal Comic-con fever sweeps over our city, Olivier covers the new Batman game that he spent his vacation time playing (when wasn't unpacking boxes). Finally, Andrew's Heavensward Endgame Update triggers some talk about role-play LARP. As always, thank you for listening! 18:25 - Batman Arkham Knight 25:15 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 39:20 - Quiplash 42:30 - Limbo 45:00 - Splatoon 48:15 - Sunset

Hear-ye, hear-ye! Gather 'round for the newest edition of ye olde castle couch podcaste. Join Andrew at the northern parapets and listen to the newest updates on the Heavensward dragon assault. Stablemaster Raph shows off his prize-winning stallion-tank in the form of Batman Arkham Knight at the equine garrison. Olivier can be found at the apothecary's booth turning free time alchemy-like into podcasted reviews as he records his thoughts on another slew of games to round out the show. Need comic relief? Peasant Anna can be found jestering about while gawking at the royalty and wishing that she-too can one day play a game for the podcast. 15:15 - Discussion: Apple vs. Confederate Flags 19:15 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 29:20 - Batman Arkham Knight 44:20 - Planetside 2 47:40 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 53:05 - Sunset 56:50 - Her Story

Whether you spent your weekend 'raving and entering' like Andrew or relaxed by the lake with some delightful indie games, we're sure you'll find something for you at the castle couch lodge. This week Andrew talks about food but this time completely at the behest of one Raphael Bennett; all he really wants to talk about though is his imminent descent into the shadow realm that is the new Final Fantasy XIV expansion. After spending so much time talking about some independent games, Raphael Bennett leads the cast in a small eulogy for developer Tale of Tales as they announce that they are no longer producing video games. Stay tuned and as always, thanks for listening! 18:40 - Plug & Play 21:25 - Her Story 26:00 - Jenny LeClue 27:55 - Lifeline 29:45 - Splatoon 32:40 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 37:30 - Dirt Rally 39:55 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 42:35 - Defense Grid 2 44:20 - Fallout Shelter 44:55 - Gears of War Ultimate Edition Beta 45:15 - Sunset

At last, our final podcast of our E3 conference day is at hand and with it a series of life-shattering announcements to be discussed at the Sony show. A dozen hours into the day and the castle couch crew is still [barely] toughing it out despite the deepening couch sores. If you're still looking for more of our thoughts after our podcast triplet, you can be sure that next week's podcast is going to be chock-full of Nintendo and Square Enix impression. See you soon and thank you, as always, for sharing your E3 with us. Sony The Last Guardian coming 2016? Horizon: Zero Dawn a new IP set far in a post-apocalyptic setting where the Earth has recovered looks like the combat will focus on hunting robotic wildlife Hitman new Hitman game, no subtitle Street Fighter V PS4-exclusive beta incoming No Man Sky gameplay demo to show off the enormous scale of the game Dreams a Media Molecule “game” that is probably a lot more like modeling software easy-to-use tools allow users to create assets that can be shared with others to add to a library has animation tools to be able to use these assets to make videos Firewatch first-person adventure game featuring an outdoorsman wandering around the forest and a disembodied voice coming from a walkie-talkie seems to be a Twin Peaks blend of comedy and mystery Destiny: The Taken King first major expansion coming 15th September 2015 Assassin's Creed Syndicate introducing the Evie Frye female protagonist World of Final Fantasy a chibi game set in the Final Fantasy universe you can ride around bubbly Behemoths, it looks really cute Final Fantasy VII Remake showed off an excellent cg trailer Devolver Digital Ronin Mother Russia Bleeds Crossing Souls Eitr Save Shenmue bizarre advertising plug for a Shenmue 3 kickstarter Batman Arkham Knight Nightmare DLC featuring Scarecrow is exclusive to Playstation Morpheus they briefly showed a series of virtual reality games Playstation Vue a subscription-based television application Call of Duty Black Ops III gameplay featuring a sick frag reel Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars is going to release in two installments (1/2/3, 4/5/6) Playstation timed-exclusive Boba Fett figure Star Wars Battlefront Uncharted 4: A Thieve's End gameplay demo

Back again for more E3 2015 conference coverage? Us too. This time the local roundtable sums up the more interesting highlights of the Electronic Arts and Ubisoft press conferences. Second in our line of “mini” conference podcasts this week, EaXUbi is bound to stir up pessimistic discussion about modern triple-A games. Stay tuned for more as we make our way through our mountains of notes (some of mine are included below) and thank you once again for stopping in to share in our E3 experience. Electronic Arts Mass Effect Andromeda no gameplay, just another teaser Need for Speed coming 3rd November 2015 Star Wars: The Old Republic Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion to feature Bioware-style story and dialogue Unravel very cute 2D indie platformer where you play as a miniature yarn doll in a real-world environment Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 zombies defend against the plant invasion coming spring 2016 NHL16 EASHL ranked league NBA Live 16 “Hoop Gawd” Mobile games Star Wars collectible card game new 'tapped out'-style city builder game featuring Phil and the Despicable Me minions. FIFA 16 Pele onstage to tell us about 'the beautiful game' mocap girls usher in an age of women in FIFA games Mirror's Edge Catalyst open world with “no loading” coming 23rd February 2016 it looks like there's a HUB and that NPCs are going to be present in the city this time Madden 16 draft champions feature Star Wars Battlefront gameplay demo featuring the battle of Hoth they showed a lot of the different roles on the battlefield and indicated that the game can be played in both 1st and 3rd person, interchangable at will Ubisoft South Park: The Fractured but Whole super-hero themed RPG sequel developed by Ubisoft San Francisco For Honor “the art of battle” gameplay focus 4v4 multiplayer 3rd person melee gameplay playable build featured @ E3 The Crew: Wild Run Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max DLC pack The Division “Dark Zone” scripted gameplay scenario shown, terrible beta available early next year, full game coming 8th March 2016 Anno 2205 coming 3rd November 2015 Just Dance 2016 smart phone motion controls Jason Derulo onstage performance new subscription service called Just Dance Unlimited RainbowSix Siege featuring CG of Angela Basset Terohunt PvE gameplay demo beta coming 24th September, 2015 available as a preorder bonus Trackmania Turbo gameplay demo features procedurally-generated time trial track generation virtual reality demo available @ E3 Assassin's Creed Syndicate excellent CG trailer, no gameplay Ghost Recon: Wildlands world premiere reveal looks like it's set in a Far Cry-style open world and involves taking out drug lords can be played with the classic drone-oriented strategic stealth that is a staple to the series or just full-frontal assault style