Episode 179: Jason's wisdom tooth removal has left Kirk and Maddy by themselves to discuss Phoenix Wright and the music of mystery games. Kirk is also playing Rage 2, Destiny 2, and a tabletop game about bluffing called Sheriff of Nottingham. This week's news (33:32) includes a very pretty Final Fantasy 7 teaser and the announcement of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which Kirk is excited about. We also discuss the Vox article “Angry Birds and the end of privacy” and our own concerns about games and apps that collect our data. We close out with off-topic talk (58:50) that ends up veering off into discussion of the works of Patrick Rothfuss.

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With each new episode of Game of Thrones, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath. Too bad for us, "The Bells"' coin landed on the "unfortunate plot developments" side.

Kirk and Jason talk through the ins and outs of Dany's big day, along with the highs and lows of what was, in the end, a pretty disappointing episode.

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Episode 178: Jason, Kirk, and Maddy talk about the new Kotaku piece about what it was like to work on Mortal Kombat 11's ultra-violent scenes, then get into the games they're playing: Danganronpa, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and a potpourri of Kirk video games. This week's big news (35:05) includes a U.S. senator introducing an anti-loot box bill, Riot employees walking out, and the Sonic movie changing course. Finally, lots of off-topic talk (1:01:28) on all sorts of TV shows and movies.

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Kirk and Jason discuss the fourth episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, "The Last of the Starks." Jon's secret gets out, Brienne has some wine, Dany has a latte, Varys and Tyrion scheme, Cersei does evil stuff, and no one pets the dog. Let's discuss.

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It's time for Teeth Talk with Kirk, Maddy, and Jason! First the Splitscreen gang talks about some video games they've been playing, like Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Danganronpa, along with dropping some wisdom about just letting games go (like Days Gone) when you've had enough. Then they bring on former Kotaku writer and current comics writer Evan Narcisse (30:49) for a big spoilery chat about Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the future of Marvel movies might go, comic references you might have missed, and much more.

Music pick of the week: “Juice” by Lizzo from her new album “Cuz I Love You”

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Squint and turn up your monitor's brightness, and you'll see that our special coverage of Game of Thrones season 8 continues with episode three, the nightmarish "The Long Night."

Our surviving heroes wage a desperate battle against the Night King's overwhelming zombie army - will the walls of Winterfell hold? Could the good guys possibly win? And in a battle like this, what does "winning" even look like, anyway? Let's discuss.

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Kotaku Splitscreen's special Game of Thrones coverage returns with a double-header recap of the first two episodes of the show's final season. Kirk and Jason go over what they liked (and didn't like) about both "Winterfell" and "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," then share their hopes for the future, make some wild predictions, and guess who'll live and who'll die this coming Sunday.

We'll be back to recap that episode on Monday, and will be publishing Monday recaps from there on out to the end.

Links:

• "The Key to ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 Isn’t Dragons or Swords or White Walkers or Even Incest. It’s Consequence." - The Ringer
• A post from r/GameofThrones listing parallels between S8E1 and S1E1
• "Exhuming Lady Stoneheart: What We Lost in Game of Thrones’ Biggest Cut" - Tor.com

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Episode 176: Jason's back from vacation to talk about all sorts of video games with Kirk and Maddy, including Mortal Kombat 11, Baba Is You, Hitman 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Phoenix Wright. Then the trio dives into Days Gone (42:16), the new PS4-exclusive that's all about killing zombies -- sorry, freakers -- and being sad on a motorcycle. Finally, some off-topic talk (1:02:10) on Avengers: Infinity War, Carmen Sandiego, and Barry.

Music Pick of the Week: “First it Giveth” - Queens of the Stone Age from their 2002 album Songs for the deaf

Show notes:

• "I watched 21 Marvel movies this month — and witnessed a decade of progress for women" - Washington Post

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Jason's on vacation, so Maddy and Kirk get the podcast to themselves. We start with a listener email about how we'd react if our significant others broke our game consoles, then we cover the news, from the PlayStation 5 announcement (!) to the way that the Notre Dame fire has brought Assassin's Creed: Unity back to the forefront. We then talk about games we're playing (32:15); Maddy's enjoying a Switch indie puzzle game called The World Next Door, and also some good old Street Fighter. Kirk's still playing Root and Sekiro, the latter of which inspires us to discuss difficulty, accessibility, and the ways people say games "should" be played. We wrap up with off-topic talk (1:05:23) about what we're watching (Leaving Neverland, Shazam, and Captain Marvel) and reading (Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars). Kirk's music pick of the week is “Bustin’ Out” by GRiZ, featuring Bootsy Collins.

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