Checkpoint Daily Podcast

With the success of World of Warcraft Classic, we have to ask the burning question...could anyone else get away with it? Could other MMOs stand to create specialized servers for various era’s of their games? Plus, Joe brings us a new list, this time we’re talking about the top 10 video game weapons of all time. We’re also joined by a special guest, Genie Doi of ESG Law, to talk about a bill that if passed would severely affect the esports ecosystem as we know it.

We are joined by special guest and friend of the show Bryan Reedy aka Mr Advantage of Gamer Advantage. He joins us to talk about the huge announcements and reveals out of Gamescom 2019 in Germany, including Death Stranding from Hideo Kojima and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VIII Remaster. Joe also subjects to another one of his games, this time it’s Spot the Fake. Finally, the geek and nerd world was shook to its core as rumors began to spread about Sony pulling Spider-Man from Marvel, leaving us wondering what that means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Some fans at the International this year complained that the crowd was too quiet when non-Chinese teams were on the stage and too loud when the Chinese teams were on the stage. Do esports fans not know how sports work? We also talk about what the 2020 Overwatch League Schedule is going to look like because it’s a far cry from what we’ve been used to with the introduction of home and away games. Plus, we talk about some of the lesser known games coming out of Gamescom this year and what we’re looking forward too.

On today’s show we see what the guys got up to over the weekend. We also check in with Joe at the news desk to cover some of the biggest headlines in esports and gaming, such as the LCS Semifinals results and Bioware losing two of it’s lead developers. We also asked our social media follows if there was a single video game food item they could eat, what would it be and why?

Gamescom 2019 is right around the corner and being one of the biggest video game shows of the year we have to preview it and provide some of our own predictions. Norris also takes us through some major difficulties and controversies the Fighting Game Community has been dealing with lately. Plus, we preview what's coming up this weekend in the esports scene.

As we near September, we’re coming to the time of the year where all the great, new games are slated to release. We talk about which games we are most excited for; Control, Borderlands 3, Link's Awakening, Death Stranding or Pokemon Sword and Shield...just to name a few. We also talk about the games that are just way too long to replay through, looking at you Persona 5. Joe also poses a question for us, will we ever look at video games the same way we look at literature? Or are we already there?

We start today talking about the biggest movements in the biggest leagues like the PUBG World Cup, The Overwatch League and the North American LCS, including a visit from caster Azael. We also go over the recent headlines in the gaming world and esports scenes including how recent Fortnite World Cup winner Bhuga got swatted while on stream. We also ask our social media follows how gaming has changed their lives.

Last week streaming megastar Ninja left Twitch for Microsoft’s streaming platform Mixer. In the midst of his departure Twitch changed his streaming off-line page to suggest other top streamers in the Fortnite category. Over the weekend an account streaming pornographic content became number one in the category with 20,000 viewers which showed up on Ninja’s page. The streamer was of course, no happy and everyone has an opinion on it. We also talk about what we did over the weekend and Joe brings us a list of the top 25 mascots in video games.

We speak with Chicago based rapper, ShowYouSuck, who has made a name for himself in the video game world with music inspired by the games he loves. We also talk about a YouTuber who allegedly had private investigators show at his home from 2K games to ask him about the content he had been putting on his channel pertaining to Borderlands 3. Plus, ESPN and Walmart both react to the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio by removing video games from their schedule and store, respectively.

With the LCS Summer Split Finals coming to Detroit MI in just a few short weeks, we talk with caster Azael about what we should expect from the competition. We’re big fans of lists at Checkpoint XP and any chance we get to make ‘em or break ‘em, we take. On today’s show we bring you a list from GameSpot of the most influential games of the 21st Century, the games that changed everything! Will it pass the Checkpoint? We also talk about how cheesy and ‘cringe’ some esports moments can be. Is that really a bad thing though? Should esports give up entirely on trying to market itself the way sports does in the mainstream or lean into the fact that we’re all nerds and this is just what we do. Plus, is the current model of video game development sustainable long time? And if it isn’t how long until the bubble pops?