The Indoor Kids with Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon

This week, Kumail and Emily welcome Devin Faraci (Kick ass movie reviewer/Badass-in-Chief at Badass Digest http://badassdigest.com) to pour his passion for movies into video games. We discuss old and new narratives, special effects, storytelling, and how all that works differently in video games vs. movies. Plus butt plugs.

The Indoor Kids minus Kumail plus Matt Mira host our first EVER live show! In which we basically do the Oscars, but for videogames. Best videogame hair of 2011! Most sexable videogame character of 2011! Other categories! Plus, guests Jordan Morris & Blair Butler! (Kumail could not be there due to completely unavoidable circumstances.) Next live The Indoor Kids show: February 11th! http://nerdmeltla.com/tickets

The Indoor Kids fortify their walls & reinforce their chairs, because Film Crit Hulk (badassdigest.com) stops by to discuss the most ultimatest topic of all: are videogames art? Don't worry; we don't get pretentious. (Ok we do a little bit.) HULK PONTIFICATE!

SPOILERS:

This week, DC Pierson (DERRICK Comedy, "The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To") joins Kumail and Emily to discuss some of the video game world's most bizarre and interesting mysteries. Alien demons in Mario Galaxy? A Russian game that only exists while you're playing it? Easter eggs from the dawn of time? All will be revealed! Plus we talk about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for, like, a while.

It's the holidays, which means it's time for a visit from your friend and ours, Matt Mira. Join us as we discuss superheroes, Christmas memories, old consoles, and the political structure of Super Mario World. No one gets us off topic like Mira!

Al Madrigal (Free Agents, The Daily Show) drops in to take us back to the days when cigarette burns adorned Street Fighter 2 cabinets & the possibility of an actual street fight was all too real. Yep: we talk about video game arcades. How they were scary, how they were awesome, and how barely any of them exist anymore. Al and Kumail also describe some of their favorite stand-up heckling moments.

Jordan Morris & The Indoor Kids put on their Indiana Jones hats and go Indian Jonesing into the world of rare and unreleased/canceled games. Walk with us through this seedy underbelly of missteps, mistakes & mysteries. "This belongs in a museum!" we all say in unison.

G4's Blair Herter & Jessica Chobot visit The Indoor Kids to share how they broke into the gaming industry, and to give tips on how you can too. Then everyone starts raving about Skyrim. It's all Skyrim this and Skyrim that and Kumail starts formulating a new religion based on the teachings of Skyrim. Then, in Side-Quest, Emily & Kumail discuss the big Gears of War contest some more, and share tips on how to game on a budget.

Jeff Rubin (College Humor, The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show) decided to watch every single video game released theatrically in the United States. He visits The Indoor Kids to tell the story of their successes and their failures. Mostly their failures. Like, almost exclusively. Then, during Side-Quest, Emily & Kumail announce a big huge contest for listeners with tons of awesome prizes. Yep.

Steve Heisler (AV Club Writer and Game Reviewer) stopped playing video games around Super Nintendo. A year ago, for The AV Club, he started playing the blockbuster games of today and reviewing them with fresh, childlike eyes. What's it like to make the jump from Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past straight to Bioshock? How do The Indoor Kids feel about Steve getting to avoid the exciting, hit-or-miss years of Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and XBox? What's it like to review games for a living, and how do you stay objective in such a subjective field? Find out!