Maximum Hearts

Derek has played Eiyuden Chronicle Rising, the prequel/spinoff to hotly anticipated Kickstarter success story (and Suikoden spiritual successor) Eiyuden Chronicle: The Hundred Heroes. Is this town-building action/rpg/sidescroller worth your time? John would love to know even though he's buying it anyway.

Thanks to 505 Games for providing us with a review code and enabling timely production of content.

We're joined by MatronEdea to talk about Square Enix selling off most of their western studios and IP for what seems like pocket change, and talk about our favorite "comfort food games". Plus, Derek comes back for round 2 to defend history's most prolific serial killer for some reason.

Our main topic this episode was Sony's recent announcement of a "Preservation Team", combined with recent job postings for a new head of PC strategy. Plus, Finn talks about some of the best and brightest from PAX East 2022.

We're joined by friends Amanda Farough and Anoriand (the ORIGINAL gamedad, he has the YouTube link to prove it) to talk about a complaint alleging union busting activity by Nintendo, which has opened the floodgates for contractors to share their bad experiences working for the American branch of the company. It's not a uniquely Nintendo problem, with this sort of alleged treatment being common through the tech industry and anti-union activity in general being the norm for the American workforce.

We regret to inform you that Activision Blizzard keeps happening. With accusations that California governor Gavin Newsom is interfering with California's case against Activision Blizzard, where does this leave us exhausted folks trying to navigate the situation? For fun, we also spend a bit of time talking about last year's increasingly-prophetic Nvidia leak.

Bro! Our Stranger of Paradise review discussion is here bro! Bro, John and CJ do like a million fist-bumps on their quest to talk about Chaos bro! Bro please listen to this and give us a follow bro! CHAOS!

Chrono Cross was already recognized as one of the best JRPGs ever, but how does the remaster hold up twenty-two years later? Britt talks with John about her first impressions!

We're joined by two friends this week as we break down the reveal of Playstation's "Spartacus" program (a set of changes to the Playstation Plus service). Plus, Sam Maggs and the crediting problem within game development.

Gaming companies are reacting to the invasion of Ukraine, and their responses help tell us a lot about what feels genuine and what feels lazy (or, at best, well-intentioned but useless). What do we actually want from these companies when major current events have the world's attention?

There's no live show this week, so in the meantime check out this new show from SDGC's own Derek Van Dyke and community manager Charlotte Landale that examines the history and politics of the Godzilla franchise. This episode and the rest of Season One can be found on Castle Bravo's own podcast feed, which can probably be found on whatever feed you listen to SDGC on!

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