Staring at Screens.

Happy Easter, everyone! In this week's episode, Lisa tells us a really bad joke inspired by Kami, Vick evaluates the story of Max Payne 3 and the mechanics of Disco Zoo, and Joel plays Guild Wars 2 and the sixth and final Layton game, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. Also Dave sleeps through the entire recording.

Inspired by Jim Crawford's GDC talk on Preserving a Sense of Discovery in the Age of Spoilers, we embark on a trip down memory lane as we talk through a few of the Easter Eggs and rumors (true or false) that we know of from our gaming history. Spoiler alert. If you know of any interesting Easter Eggs or glitches (?) in any game you've played, tell us about them via email or Twitter.

Music:

• Disco Zoo OST

During the break Dave, Lisa and Jim shared their experiences with some experimental IRL interactive games. we're not even sure what to call these collectively, but if they are playing near where you live you should definitely check them out. Except for Her Things they should still be playing.

• Escape From The Time Travel Lab and other Real Escape Games
• Her Things: An Interactive Real Estate Sale
• Sleep No More

This week we’re joined by the mercurial Jim Crawford aka Twinbeard of Frog Fractions fame, and he’s been playing Skyrim and Rockband and Hungry Cat Picross; during the recording Lisa plays Doge 2048, a clone of a Threes clone; Joel goes low-fi with the Blackwell series of point and click adventure games; and Dave tells us about the Experimental Games Workshop at GDC and Bounden (watch the video on their site and you'll get it immediately).

For this week's discussion we had a chat with Jim about the Frog Fractions 2 Kickstarter (that you should totally back right now) and his adventures in crowdfunding. Inevitably we also discussed Facebook's $2b acquisition of Oculus and pontificate about their nefarious(?) plans for VR technology. If you have any questions for Jim you can tweet @mogwai_poet and as always if you'd like to write in to us you can do so via email or Twitter.

Music:

• Jim Crawford - Pond Life (Frog Fractions OST)

So during our last recording some of us (we're not naming names) may have gotten a little carried away chatting with our friend Chin the bigshot AAA game developer about their latest game and what they're working on next. The resulting conversation didn't quite make it into the final cut of the episode, but we present it here for your edification. Let us know if you like what you hear.

This week we are joined by Chin from Respawn Entertainment (you may have heard of them) and he talks to us about Titanfall and Dota 2; Joel completes his first Legend of Zelda game: A Link Between Worlds and introduces the very forgiving Yoshi's New Island; Lisa gets started on Autumn Dynasty Warlords (made in Singapore, baby!); and Vick beats down people and slugs in Only One.

In other news, we discuss games that disappointed us and try to figure out where they failed to meet our expectations. You know who you are. That's right, we're looking at you, Simcity (2013), Metal Gear Solid 2 & 4, Mirror's Edge, Alphabets, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Fable: The Journey and others. Got a game that disappointed you? Tell us what and why by dropping us an email or a tweet.

Jed from OMGeek joins us this week and he tells us about The Blackwell Legacy; Lisa catches the Threes bug from Dave; Vick finds a new way to enjoy music in Song Blaster; and Joel picks up Dragon Age: Origins from where he left off in 2009 and starts The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

This week we discuss some memorably difficult games and try to expound on the appeal of deliberately (or accidentally) difficult games. Along the way we talk about Codestorm, Flappybird, Dark Souls, Devil May Cry, Battletoads (ARGHH) and many more! Got a difficult game you want to talk about? How hard-boiled are you? Tell us by dropping us an email or a tweet.

In our most explicit episode ever, Lisa treats us to a sampling of the salacious video game fanfiction she's been reading. (Why, Lisa, WHY??) It's our Valentine's Day episode, so we're humoring her. Be warned, you may need ear bleach afterwards. Definitely don't listen to this episode with your parents within earshot. But before that Joel talks about Broken Age Part 1 and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, and Dave and Joel gush about the Titanfall Beta. If you have any erotic video game fanfiction to share, keep that shit to yourself. Feel free to email or tweet us for anything else though.

This one's for all you developers out there. In this half-episode, Chin gives Dave some advice on what to do in preparation for attending GDC for the first time. If anyone is going to GDC 2014 and would like to meet up, please write to us at [email protected] and we'll work something out!

We're back! Welcome to 2014! Chin (y'know, from Respawn?) tells us about playing Jet Set Radio Future and Strike Suit Zero during his company-mandated end-of-year break. Joel's been… kinda free, evidently. He talks about overdosing on Batman games, indie darlings Papers, Please! and Starbound, and 22Cans' purportedly 41%-done Godus.

This week we talk about our gaming-related resolutions and goals for the new year. Take a listen and find out what we're looking forward to in 2014. Obligatory name-dropping follows: Ultra Street Fighter 4, Evolve, The Witness, Titanfall, GTA V, Watchdogs, and Bravely Default. Got a game you're looking forward to in 2014 or a gaming-related resolution to share? Write to us at [email protected] or tweet us @StaringScreens. Stay tuned for episode 49.5 next week and an important announcement for the 50th episode soon after that!

Music:

• Curtis Schweitzer - Starbound Complete OST: Epsilon Indi

That is the question. In which Lisa reveals her ornithophilic tendencies and we discuss various other salacious things. That's right, folks, only Staring At Screens dares to ask the hard questions!!

This will be our last episode for the year, but we'll be back fairly soon! So in case we don't get to wish you, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Kung Hei Fatt Choy. Okay just kidding, we're not gonna be gone that long. See you in 2014!