September 15, 2025

Ep. 406 - Sextuple A, with Esper Quinn

1 hour 1 minute

Podcast Editor and Game Industry Analyst Esper Quinn joins the panel to cover why Silksong’s price doesn’t matter, what the A’s in AAAAA-Game stand for, and the Loudness War. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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SHOW NOTES:

GDQ

Peanut Butter the Speedrunning Dog

Ivan Drago

“It’s a Russian taunt”

Void Stranger

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sid Meier’s Civilization V

Magic: the Gathering

The Sims 2

Hyper Gunsport

Gunhouse

Demonschool

Oh, Deer!

1: Ash Parrish asks: Frank, have you gotten to the ladder in Snake Eater? (06:34)

Triangle Strategy

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Taylor Swift

Cynthia Harrell

Vincent Diamante

2: What is the hardest console, currently and historically, to develop video games for? (10:54)

PlayStation 3

Sega Saturn

Atari Jaguar

PlayStation

Xbox 360

Casio Loopy

Atari 2600

Nintendo Entertainment System

Spacewar!

Atari 7800

Amiga

Sega Dreamcast

3: What is the most common thing to change in a video game’s first sequel? (16:47)

Borderlands 4

Metroid series

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Resident Evil series

Yakuza series

Miles “Tails” Prower

Miles Morales

Sonic the Hedgehog series

Pokemon series

Klefki

Sinistea

Mimikyu

Pikachu

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Tandemaus

Maushold

Blue’s Clues

The Spice Family

4: What do each of the A’s in Quintuple A stand for? (22:01)

GTA 6 Is The First “AAAAA Game,” Industry Veteran Says

Grand Theft Auto VI

Devolver Digital

Hot Coffee

XTC - Making Plans For Nigel

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Mel Brooks

Richard Pryor

5: Anonymous asks, why do so few indie games share their price before launch? (28:17)

Borderlands 4 turns off your brain and turns on the fun

In Silksong, spite is my motivation to keep playing

6: What is the main reason someone will buy a video game? (34:51)

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

The Toys That Built America

Frank on the History Channel with the subtitle “This is epic.”

Fortnite

Minecraft

Trojan Vision

Mystery Science Theater 3000

LIGHTNING ROUND: Clown Car (42:30)

Recommendations and Outro (48:51):

Brandon: Final Draft if you want to watch a bad competition show, release Tracie Spencer’s Naturelle album from 1993 if you work for Capitol Records

Ash: Great British Bake-Off, Wildcard Kitchen

Frank: Antiques Roadshow

Jaffe: Esper Quinn is available for audio and video editing services

Esper: Alex Jaffe is available for hosting and voice acting services, follow my partner and love of nine years Ripley, don’t watch Big Brother

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