The Experience Points Podcast

I used to be worried about gene splicing, but then Motion Twin synthesized a hybrid of Dark Souls, Spelunky, Castlevania, along with a generous helping of their own secret sauce. Now I'm fully onboard with our wonderful future of procedural, rogue-like, side-scrolling combat exploration games. This week, we talk about Dead Cells!

Admit it. You hate Luigi.

Even if you don't, we can all agree the younger Mario brother is the "green sheep" in the family. Inspired by Polygon's recent history of Luigi's unfortunate status in gaming, we discuss our feelings towards loser characters - from Luigi to Link.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 31m

- "When Did Luigi Become Nintendo's Punching Bag," via Polygon

- Music by Brad Sucks

The future is here! Again. For at least the third time this year. It's like the future doesn't want to leave us alone. This week on the EXP Podcast, we discuss the MagicLeap, a new pair of Alternate Reality goggles that promise to change the way we see the world - and the way we play in it.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 33m - Music by Brad Sucks

We've always suspected that Nintendo has sold millions of hardware and software units, but what if I told you they made mii-lions? Well now you can check for yourself! Nintendo has taken their investor relations site to the next level and opened the books on all (well, almost all; RIP Virtual Boy) their console platforms. This week we dive in and compare the golden geese with the goose eggs!

When automated robots and talking Amazon devices take over the world and subject us to all kinds of dehumanizing experiments in the name of creating a half-man half-robot demigod, will we think back to video games as the harbinger of the end days?

This week on the EXP Podcast, we discuss all of the little things (and sometimes big things) we let our games handle - for better or worse.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 37m 21s

- Music by Brad Sucks

Have you noticed things getting dark around here? Why are people swearing all the time? When did you start wearing eyeliner? Looks like we've just entered the gritty dimension. This week after a particularly grim and brooding Comic Con, we talk about the various times when game franchises have taken a turn for the dramatic. Remember when the Prince of Persia got really into nu metal? You know you do.

This just in! Hackers have broken into the mega-city of Inkopolis and illegally modified their Splattershot weapons to fire ludicrous volumes of ink! And just went we thought Nintendo had built an impenetrable squid-city.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we dive into the reasons for and ramifications of the sudden increase of Splatoon 2 hackers. Will this tarnish the Switch or is Nintendo capable of weathing this storm... Tune in and join the discussion!

The word is out: people are surprisingly obsessed with virtual trucking. How do we know this? Thanks to an inadvertent leak, Valve exposed data that gave us an unprecedented look at the player counts of games distributed via Steam. The hole has since been patched, but the data we have is fascinating and can be analyzed for a long time to come. This week we take a look at some of the surprises and get quantitative when it comes to figuring out what the damn kids are playing these days.

This week on the show, we discuss some of the recent games we've been playing, which includes some of the best games of 2018 so far. Journey with us to Jurassic World Evolution where we care and nurture dinosaurs, to the land of the Nintendo Switch where we play such games as Celeste, West of Loathing, and the soon-to-be-released Octopath Traveler. We also spend a bit of time with Minit, a game where your play sessions are only 60 seconds long.

It's a big batch of games this week. Join us!

This week, we talk about the evolution and possible dissolution of a once massive empire: GameStop. With news that they are pivoting to selling comics as well as quietly shopping around for a potential buyout, we review our past and current relationship with this divisive institution. And of course, we give some sage advice about the difference between fighting a swarm of bees and fighting a single enormous gorilla.