Kotaku Splitscreen

Episode 219: Jason, Kirk, and Maddy talk about Dragon's Dogma, Death Stranding, and Divinity: Original Sin 2 for a while before diving into the game that everyone's playing -- Kirby: Planet Robobot (33:27). Then they talk about how the coronavirus pandemic may impact the video game industry this year in some big ways and discuss whether Trials of Osiris will bring Kirk and Jason back to Destiny 2. Finally, some off-topic chat on Uncut Gems, RoboCop, and Better Call Saul.

Music pick of the week: “By Fire” by Hiatus Kaiyote from Choose Your Weapon, 2015

Links: "The Universe Has Been Outsourced" - Michael Thomsen

Apple Music playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/kirks-strong-songs/pl.u-V9D7mXEHJ7o0a

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1zRtCq81Z6kXKmGCK0Xm7u?si=2qwuFExCTfCkRFY9d3hUhA

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Episode 218: Jason returns to complete the trifecta and take his rightful place as Splitscreen's Triforce of Power... or is it Triforce of Courage? He, Kirk, and Maddy talk about some video games they're playing, including Dragon's Dogma, Death Stranding, and Enter the Gungeon. Then they dive into a Disco Elysium spoilercast (38:31) to talk about the game's guiding ethos, its ending decisions, and what it all means. Finally, it's off-topic talk (1:16:53) about Mythic Quest, the new Apple TV show about video game development, is actually pretty damn good!!!

Music pick of the week: D’angelo and the Vanguard - “Ain’t That Easy” from Black Messiah, 2014

Links: Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/kirks-strong-songs/pl.u-V9D7mXEHJ7o0a

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1zRtCq81Z6kXKmGCK0Xm7u?si=2qwuFExCTfCkRFY9d3hUhA

Cameron Kunzelman on the end of Disco Elysium: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v7445x/the-mysterious-magical-end-of-disco-elysium-was-one-of-the-years-best

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Episode 217: Kirk and Maddy start by discussing the upcoming "reinvention" of Anthem, then talk about what we're playing, with Kirk having beaten The Evil Within 2 and Maddy playing Death Stranding and Super Metroid. Next we bring on Kotaku senior reporter Nathan Grayson (20:41) to talk about the new Metro Exodus DLC, as well as his recent reporting on Twitch and Mixer and the lucrative deals that streamers have been cutting with platforms. We close with off-topic talk (53:46) about John Wick, Birds of Prey, and Sex Education.

Music pick of the week: “Incwadi Encane” by Simmi from her 2018 album Tugela Fairy

Links:

BioWare Plans A 'Substantial Reinvention' Of Anthem

Top Streamers Are Leaving Twitch Amidst Big Money And Shady Deals

Why Twitch Fans Donate Money To Wealthy Streamers

Music Picks Playlists - Apple Music, Spotify

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Episode 216: Maddy and Kirk talk about games they're playing, with Maddy having beaten Disco Elysium and returning to Death Stranding, and Kirk having beaten A Plague Tale: Innocence and finally able to start The Evil Within 2. After a break (35:53), we bring on Kotaku video producer Paul Tamayo to talk about his coverage of Journey To The Savage Planet. Then, he tries to sell us on playing Dragon's Dogma (and he's pretty convincing). We close with off-topic discussion (59:51) about The Wire, Dunkirk, Cheer and The Good Place.

Music pick of the week: “La Villa Strangiato” by Rush from Hemispheres, 1978

Links:

Paul Tamayo's Journey To The Savage Planet video

The Optional podcast (Paul's show)

Music Picks Playlists - Apple Music, Spotify

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Episode 215: Kirk and Maddy talk about games they're playing, with Kirk still restricting himself to beating A Plague Tale: Innocence before he can start playing The Evil Within 2. Maddy is playing too many games and has decided to start another one, which is Kentucky Route Zero. After a break (22:54), they bring on Kotaku staff writer Ethan Gach for a Destiny 2 update and more emails from listeners about hard-won gaming accomplishments. Then we get into off-topic talk (1:05:16) about The Witcher, Lost In Space, Joker, and Uncut Gems.

Music pick of the week: Timnit Welday, “Weni” - New Ethiopian Tigrigna (tee-greena) music (via YouTube)

Links:

Henry Cavill breaks down The Witcher fight

Music Picks Playlists - Apple Music, Spotify

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Episode 214: Maddy and Kirk talk about games they're playing (without Jason), with Maddy starting up Pokemon: Shield and Kirk having finally beaten Disco Elysium, as well as continuing with The Witcher 3 and Plague Tale: Innocence. After that (36:52), we read listeners' stories about the hardest challenges they've ever bested in video games. We don't get through all of them, so we're going to keep that up in future episodes. We close out the show with off-topic discussion (1:06:06) about You Must Remember This, Avatar, and Uncut Gems.

Music pick of the week: “Migrations” by Chris Potter feat John Scofield from his 2002 album Traveling Mercies

Links:

"Game Delays Cause More Crunch" by Jason Schreier

The Witcher anime film

Music Picks Playlists - Apple Music, Spotify

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Episode 213: Jason, Kirk, and Maddy talk about Disco Elysium, Hollow Knight, and Monster Hunter: Iceborne before checking in on some quick news (29:00): Sony's skipping E3 and Final Fantasy VII and Avengers are both delayed. Then they open up the listener mailbag for some questions about the hardest things they've ever done in a video game, whether Microsoft will ever turn Xbox into a living room PC, and the games they might hypothetically speedrun. They close things off with some off-topic talk (1:07:00) on James Cameron, Parasite, and the glorious return of Jason's NFL Playoff stories.

Music pick of the week: “The Other Side” by Moonchild from their 2019 album Little Ghost

Links:

Heather Alexandra on speedrunning.

Luke Palmer on Snowpiercer and Willy Wonka

Music Picks Playlists - Apple Music, Spotify

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Episode 212: Kirk, Jason, and Maddy talk about the games they played over the holidays, like Resident Evil 2, The Witcher 3, and Control, then look back at their predictions for 2019 to see who got the most things right (28:22). Then they make predictions for 2020, a year that will no doubt be full of fun video game nonsense. They close things off with movie talk on Knives Out, Parasite, Little Women, and more (1:10:53).

Music pick of the week: “Dream Sweet in Sea Major” by Miracle Musical (ミラクルミュージカル) from the 2012 album Hawaii: Part II

(Kirk's playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1zRtCq81Z6kXKmGCK0Xm7u?si=2qwuFExCTfCkRFY9d3hUhA)

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Episode 211: Jason, Kirk, and Maddy continue their discussion of the games they played in 2019, capping off the year with July through December.

The games: Dragon Quest Builders 2, A Short Hike, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Telling Lies, Grandia HD Collection, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Control, Remnant: From The Ashes, Madden NFL 20, Eliza, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, AI: The Somnium Files, No Man’s Sky: Beyond, Zelda: Link’s Awakening, What The Golf?, Assemble With Care, Spek, Bleak Sword, Grindstone, Ori and the Blind Forest (Switch), Gears 5, Hitman 2: Haven Island, Borderlands 3, Untitled Goose Game, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Disco Elysium, The Outer Worlds, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Ring Fit Adventure, Afterparty, Death Stranding, Guildlings, Romancing Saga 3, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy (Switch), Star Ocean: First Departure R, Heroland, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Shovel Knight Showdown, Halo: Reach PC re-release

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Maddy, Jason and Kirk have all seen Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and guess what? They have some thoughts. Our three hosts—a Force Triad, you could say—sat down and recorded a spoilercast that is nearly as long as the movie itself. Because, you see, these things echo. They rhyme.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Jason and Chris Kohler's conversation about the movie on Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/well-okay-lets-talk-about-star-wars-the-rise-of-skyw-1840561224

Kirk's old article about how The Last Jedi makes The Force Awakens more interesting. (RIP a few of those reasons): https://kotaku.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi-makes-the-force-awakens-much-m-1821721569

The Star Wars leaker's version of the story as posted to Reddit, which Jason references a few times during the cast and which differs from the final movie in some interesting ways: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/d5i0ye/the_basic_plot_of_the_rise_of_skywalker_updated/

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