Today's episode features some pretty heated discussions on a varied of fronts including; controversy surrounding Blizzard’s Overwatch League as well as some Hearthstone related blunders, the French government stepping in and laying down legislation for esports and a surprising statistic about how much of esports viewers actually play the games they watch. Other headlines include; Bioware putting Mass Effect on hiatus, the Rainway App making it’s way to other consoles and Square Enix parting ways with a long-time franchise.

Today on the podcast - do video games need to have a story? For decades video games have been an effective medium for telling stories, but what are some other approaches to hook players and keep them playing? We'll break all that down today on the Checkpoint Podcast

Last week a video leaked of .dat mined Stormblood zones used in the Benchmark Trailer. SE was very diligent in removing it, but not before we got our grubby paws on it! We watch the video and break down what we see as we explore a few of the amazing zones coming in Stormblood. Plus, we read emails...yea, we still have those laying around.

Long before even Twitch existed, Let’s Play videos were among some of the most popular genres of content. Starting as a collection of screenshots on forums it eventually evolved to be a massive cache of content capitalized on by personalities like Markiplier. But is the genre doomed for death? Or will it learn to evolve? Tune in to find out what the Final Encounter Cast crew thinks. Other headlines include; Trolls influencing major events within Elite Dangerous, Activision Blizzard adding ANOTHER billion dollar game to its catalog and the best selling Switch game to date.

Gather 'round Checkpoint fans, and hear the legend of how the first national radio show about esports and video games came into being. Nate, Robbie Norris and Joe share stories of meeting each other for the first time and working together on various podcasts through the years.

On todays episode the LBR hosts dig into the 52 questions asked and answered at the most Producer Live Letter. This covers everything from lore, to raid gear and the type of aesthetics we can expect from the zones and new gear. Plus, an exclusive interview with a "Final Fantasy XIV representative".

For the second time in recent history, Dragonball Z Abridged was removed from YouTube only to be later re-added. Nate and Joe lead a discussion outlining the merits of the highly popular and hilarious series. On top of that other headlines include: an Overwatch Pro whose parents took away his internet, more on Nintendo’s strange business decisions and do cheat codes and mods lead to cyber crimes? Find out on this episode Final Encounter Cast.

After taking a week off to spend with family, Limit Break Radio returns. They begin the show by diving into Mr. Happy’s insightful interview with Yoshida, asking some tough and intriguing questions. But all that devolves in the third act when LBR have their own take on improv. Nothing and no one is safe. Aniero nearly suffers from asphyxiation onset by gut busting laughter.

This past week Netflix relaunched the 90s cult classic TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Nate has roped everyone into checking it out and reminiscing about what makes the show great and how the continuation has improved on the old formula while staying true to it’s roots. Other headlines include; Star Wars Battlefront 2, $45,000 worth of games in Storage Wars and Chris likens the Switch to...just tune in.

GameStop has seen some pretty major problems, and another one may have just been uncovered. According to KrebsOnSecurity the 3'rd party was able to find, for sale, thousands of GameStops customers financial data, complete with credit card CVV numbers. What could this mean for the future of GameStop?