The Experience Points Podcast

The gaming industry has suffered another loss, this time in the form of (in)famous peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz. What have we gained from their past creations? And what have we now lost, that is, besides controllers seemingly made from rubbish found at some estate sale? All this and more in this week's episode!

Nothing like waking up from a century-long nap to get you in the mood for wandering the wilderness. What's that? You're hungry? Well don't you worry; we've got enough strange mushrooms and fiery peppers to keep you fueled up and ready to survive even the fiercest blizzard. Here, take this sword. Don't get too attached to it though; it'll break if you sneeze too hard.

Yes, it's time for part 1 of what will likely be a periodic, multi-episode debrief on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Greetings from Mount Olympus, where I preside with the other Bloodborne Platinum Trophy owners over the casuals down on the muck you call Earth. This week on the EXP Podcast, I deign to speak with Scott about trophies and the place of achievements in gaming culture today. You may give it a listen, but take care, lest my seraphim-like voice shatter your feeble mind.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 34 mins 12 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

Sharpen up your kusarigama and pack plenty of salt: we're talking about Nioh. This week we get into our podcast stance and apply all our ki in an attempt to understand the game's numerous complex mechanics. But mostly we just talk about evil yokai and pancakes.

The Nintendo Switch is out and playable for those not living in Atlantis, a radio tower, or some combination of the two. This week on the EXP Podcast, we check-in on the public reaction and look ahead at some coming games.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 29 mins 28 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

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You know that old abandoned house in your neighborhood? Well it's probably just a sad, empty echo of happier times that no one is particularly interested in revisiting. Then again, it might be an elaborate shell; an ornate elevator to a secret underground bunker where (at this very moment) Valve is hard at work designing the new...thing...that will consume all our lives. Erik Wolpaw's departure and the end of Steam Greenlight are simply signs that even more resources are needed for the wonderful, terrifying creation that has yet to be released.

This week we are inspired by a Waypoint article arguing that Nioh proves that Dark Souls has created a genre. If so, what does that genre include and what should we call it? Does it bring any value to games to classify genres like this? These are important questions, but not half as important as this one: What ever happened to the Bro-Shooter?

What are you running from, Mario? A horde of rabid koopas? The long arm of the law? The unyielding, existential terror of modern existence? Whatever it is, he sure likes running. This week, we do a very rare mobile game debrief and talk about Super Mario Run.

You've waited nearly a decade, and we made you wait a little longer, but finally our debrief for The Last Guardian has arrived. How does the game measure up against Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, two of our favourite games of all time? Was it worth the wait? And more importantly, did we see Trico poop? All this and more on this week's episode!

We're almost a month in to 2017. We'll ask the question we always ask at this time: How are your New Year's resolutions doing? Hopefully most of them revolved around "playing video games" because there are quite a few exciting things in store for this year. In this week's show, we take a look at what the rest of the year has in store for us.