Surprise Mechanics

"It just works." With those words, Todd Howard made us Gamers a sacred promise: that the game would work. Not that sacred, I guess. Kind of what you would expect from a full price AAA game, I guess.

But still! Did he deliver? Do Bethesda games work?

Kind of! Sometimes! Depends!

Chance Duffy joins Roman and Mike to figure it out.

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Articles:

Bethesda’s litigation history:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/28/17511658/bethesda-lawsuits-fallout-elder-scrolls-prey

More info on Gridiron:

https://kotaku.com/before-elder-scrolls-bethesda-helped-create-madden-5816920

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/ff5g3v/in_an_interview_bethesda_vp_pete_hines_resented/

Crunch:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/top-bethesda-devs-on-why-video-game-crunch-is-bad/1100-6462838/

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/06/05/todd-howard-reflects-on-crunch-at-bethesda-and-across-industry-a-ign-unfiltered

Bethesda Indeed reviews:

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Bethesda-Softworks/reviews?fcountry=ALL

Dr. Joseph "Dynasty Warriors Expert" Johnson joins local numbskulls Mike & Roman to discuss the newest mash-up of the Dynasty Warriors and Zelda franchises.  The fellas hack and slash their way through thousands of enemies, dozens of hours, and even more laughs. :-)

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It's part 2 of the Superhero Spectacular and Wisam Awadallah joins the boys to discuss cinema history. That's right, folks, it's real; Zack Snyder's Justice League is live on HBO Max and the boys couldn't wait to dig their grubby little mitts into this four hour epic.

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Drop us a line: [email protected]

Articles:

https://www.gq.com/story/zack-snyder-justice-league-interview-original-plan-revealed

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2564640/zack-snyder-says-the-studio-had-rules-about-what-he-couldnt-put-in-his-snyder-cut-of-justice-league?pv=related_list

https://www.polygon.com/22327290/snyder-cut-hbo-max-release

Sean O'Connell's Release the Snyder Cut:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56633957-release-the-snyder-cut

It's part one of the Surprise Mechanics 2021 Superhero Spectacular! Mike practically begged to do this one and who was Roman to say no? Today, the boys are talking about the overall MCU, what they like, what they don't like, and why the discourse is such a mess.

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Drop us a line: [email protected]

Ashton Jacome pulled a really funny prank on us this week, gang. This dude comes into our house and makes us familiarize ourselves with the Kingdom Hearts mythos AND read a bunch about Epic Games. Pretty good prank. We're not friends with him anymore, obviously, but at least he went out with a bang.

Follow us on Twitter: @surprisemechpod

Drop us a line: [email protected]

Articles:

https://gamerant.com/video-game-controversy-2019-worst/

https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-game-storefronts-compared-what-you-need-to-know-about-retailers-and-resellers/

https://gamerant.com/epic-games-store-vs-steam-cut-of-sales/

https://gamerant.com/epic-games-store-exclusive-controversy/

https://gamerant.com/epic-games-founder-defends-store-exclusive-games/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/16/18334865/epic-games-store-versus-steam-valve-pc-gaming-console-war-reimagined

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/16/18334865/epic-games-store-versus-steam-valve-pc-gaming-console-war-reimagined

https://www.techradar.com/news/epic-games-store-vs-steam-battle-of-the-online-stores

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/5/18295833/epic-games-store-controversy-explained

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/kingdom-hearts-a-history-of-one-of-the-most-beloved-but-unlikely-franchises-of-all-time/

Jimquisition The Problems with the Epic Store: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foeYsvbOxJ0&ab_channel=JimSterling

Playframe’s Kingdom Hearts Summary: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NFJaNTJPGM

Barry Kramer’s Kingdom Hearts Plot Summaries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjiHufVEc7g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5lDpJ5CgE

The fellas are joined by artist & friend Perry Lerit to discuss a new Mario game, which is actually 3 old Mario games.

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Articles:

https://screenrant.com/mario-3d-all-stars-limited-release-bad-why/

https://gamerant.com/super-mario-3d-all-stars-limited-time-release-nintendo-defense/#:~:text=Doug%20Bowser%2C%20president%20of%20Nintendo,celebrate%20it%20in%20different%20ways.

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/1332126/Super-Mario-3D-All-Stars-Nintendo-Switch-limited-time-eBay-prices

https://www.gameinformer.com/opinion/2020/09/10/nintendo-is-playing-a-dangerous-game-with-the-limited-release-of-super-mario-3d

https://www.thegamer.com/super-mario-galaxy-3d-all-stars-nvidia-shield/

Folks, we're going legitimate. That's right. No more of this video games nonsense!* We're doing movies now. That's our new thing. This is a movies podcast. A moviecast. Filmcast! That sounds better, more fancy. This is a filmcast now.

We kick off our filmcast by discussing the paid Disney+ Mulan 2020 HD Remake DLC.

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Drop us a line: [email protected]

Articles:

https://fortune.com/2020/09/20/disney-mulan-2020-china-box-office-flop/

https://time.com/5886000/mulan-remake-review/

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/07/mulan-disney-live-action-remake-hong-kong-china

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/inside-disneys-bold-200m-gamble-mulan-stakes-couldnt-be-higher-1280999

https://observer.com/2020/09/was-mulan-an-unmitigated-disaster-or-a-success-its-complicated/#:~:text=With%20each%20account%20paying%20%2429.99,an%2080%25%20cut%20of%20revenue.

*there will absolutely be more video game nonsense.

James Walsh joins us to talk about running from spooky killers in Dead by Daylight. We talk about the game itself, progression systems in games, and, of course, game store economies. What fun!

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Drop us a line: [email protected]

I guess February is as good of a time to do this as any. Bill Hyland joins us once again to talk about the best games we played last year. 

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Drop us a line: [email protected]

Our friend and borderline professional gamer Matthew Rao joins us to talk about 2020's Doom Eternal. It's extremely righteous.

Follow us on Twitter: @SurpriseMechPod

Drop us a line: [email protected]

Articles:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-05-04-id-confirms-its-parted-ways-with-doom-eternal-composer-after-soundtrack-controversy#:~:text=After%20several%20weeks%20of%20silence,music%20for%20Doom%20Eternal's%20DLC

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-04-21-doom-eternal-composer-distances-himself-from-soundtrack-album

https://www.dreadxp.com/news/id-software-releases-full-statement-on-controversy-with-composer-mick-gordon/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/gdg25y/doom_eternal_ost_open_letter/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/gdg25y/doom_eternal_ost_open_letter/

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-23-id-software-crunched-most-of-last-year-to-hit-delayed-doom-eternal-date

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/71258/id-didnt-crunch-on-doom-eternal-dev-is-lifestyle-hugo-martin-says/index.html