The Tangent

The Tangent - 109: Princess Exclusive

Another one bites the dust this week, as Brian is the odd man out and couldn't make it. That's okay, because Justin is back and better than ever. Well, maybe...

Gary has his time to shine with more coverage of Mass Effect: Andromeda. His opinions may or may not be well liked, but one thing's for sure: they're strong. Besides Gary monopolizing the talk time on this game, Justin jumps in to share his thoughts, and much like Justin himself, it wasn't what he expected. The story just isn't there. Or maybe the writing wasn't good. We'll never really know. Anthony then tells us all about his rage in the new Dark Souls DLC. He, of course, beat the whole thing. Shocking, I know. He tells us the last boss is probably the best of all Dark Souls games. If anything, he delivers one classy line at the end. What more could you want? Lastly, we wrap up this week with more Breath of the Wild talk. Justin has gotten the goods (and Anthony's Switch) and sunk a fair bit of time into it. His thoughts? In a word, (repeated many times) fucking fantastic. In fact, we had to write it down.

Points are FLYING in this week's Drunken News. Some of the guys are on a tear, while others are seas full of salt. Difficult to tell who is who (not really). We start strong with GameStop shutting down some store and go on from there with a StarCraft remaster, AMD's graphics card tease, StarWars Battlefront 2, Playstation Plus for April, Cyberpunk 2077, Xbox One dashboard updates, MadCatz filing Chapter 7, and the Yooka-Laylee rap.

AND before we end the news we ANNOUNCE the winner of our Mass Effect: Andromeda giveaway. So, stick around and see if you won! But don't worry if you didn't, as there are sure to be more giveaways in the future. Keep an eye out!

The Drunken News

• GameStop to shutter 100+ stores
• StarCraft remaster unveiled, and original SD version becomes free-as-in-beer
• Teasing a little information out of AMD about Vega
• Star Wars Battlefront 2 officially announced
• Free PlayStation Plus Games for April 2017 Revealed
• CD Projekt calls Cyberpunk 2077 development 'quite advanced,' but release is still a ways off
• Major Xbox One Update Overhauls Dashboard and More
• Mad Catz Interactive Files For Bankruptcy
• The guy behind the DK Rap is back at it again

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 108: Squeaking Out Some Seeds

Sometimes people just need a break. A little time away, if you will. I think you can understand? This week we record a day early, so Justin is out of the mix, because as you know, ball is life. But in any case that doesn't really slow us down.

Leading off is Gary, and boy does he lead off. He gets right into Mass Effect: Andromeda, where Brian and Anthony also jump in. He says he won't be as negative as last week and get caught up in the GIF hype. Gary's got about 12 - 16 hours, whereas Anthony and Brian have only put in  5 - 6 hours and 2 - 3 hours, respectfully. Brian thinks the tutorial does a good job with no heavy conversations and it starts off quick and then slows down. Feeling like a slightly better Mass Effect, but the story isn't all that great. Though, Gary thinks the cover system is a piece of shit. They can all agree that the game shouldn't be getting the "hate" that it currently is. Gary then moves onto Lawbreakers, a game finally secured a demo code for. Hard work pays off. But what's more astonishing is that this could be the game that takes Gary away from Overwatch. Mighty big words. Next up is Brian, where he finally wraps up Horizon: Zero Dawn. It's his 'Game of the Year' so far. He finds the story farfetched and outlandish, but the animations are better than Mass Effect: Andromeda. And as we know, that's hard to accomplish... However, the game and story wrap up nicely. Last this week is Anthony. Him and the rest of us talk about where we are in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Suffice it to say, Anthony's way ahead of us all (surprise, surprise).

We continue on with the Drunken News this week and it's point system, with some great stories. We talk about YouTube's new restrictions, Overwatch and a potential map editor, harsh working conditions at BioWare, leaked Destiny 2 poster, and more!

The Drunken News

• YouTube’s restriction rules are impacting gaming channels
• Overwatch Director Says Map Editor Could Come In Distant Future
• Alleged BioWare Employee Details Harsh Working Conditions
• Dark Souls 3 Ringed City DLC Patch Notes Revealed
• Fallout 4 VR Confirmed for E3 2017, Will ‘Blow Our Minds’
• Mass Effect: Andromeda devs "absolutely listening" to fans, investigating updates for complaints
• The hero Australia deserves: senator commands Canberra to 'leave gamers alone'
• Fan project to get Zelda: Breath of the Wild running on PC shows remarkable progress
• Leaked Destiny 2 poster puts release date in September
• Xbox Games With Gold for April include Ryse, Darksiders

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 107: Mom's Against Everything

Gary opens up this week with a EA Early Access game. It's Mass Effect: Andromeda and it has some unique quirks, such as: bad writing, sparse gameplay, and animations that would be fitting in The Looney Tunes. However, not all is bad, as the game looks incredible. Gary's hoping it gets better as it goes on. His next game was Quake Champions, which he got a chance to play at PAX East last week. It's a free to play game, but you can also buy the game outright. It's everything he loves about those old "fast shooters". Rounding out his week is Gotham City Imposters. Another free to play game that's also a first person shooter. Let's just say you press 'G' to throw a grenade. Anthony's next and it's Breath of the Wild, allowing Brian and Stephen to chime in. He's two dungeons down. Lightfall was a game Anthony played at PAX East and he says it's like Super Meat Boy, but faster. I really don't know how that is possible. Anthony and Brian then get into two PAX games, Wulverblade and Chasm. The former is a hand drawn historically accurate side-scrolling beat-em-up game. They got the chance to chat with the developer, too. Chasm is basically a Castlevania-type game. It has a bit of a Game of Thrones vibe. Then Brian talks about a game he played at the Boston Fig, Preception. It's by Deep End Games, and you play as a blind girl who uses sonar (think Daredevil) to navigate her away around a mansion. Brian does a better job explaining it than I do. Lastly, Justin, has two games. First, Moonlighter, also another PAX game. It's a hack-n-slash. The thing he likes most about it? You can sell your items on the innovatory screen. Then it's Dragon Age. He's put about 80 - 85 hours into the game, beating the last mission and all 10 dragons. There is some form of New Game Plus and a multiplayer similar to Mass Effect.

The Drunken News this week is different. We've decided to do a points system (where the points may or may not matter). I think it turned out well, but you can be the judge. So, be sure to let us know!!

The Drunken News

• PlayStation Now will bring PS4 games to your PC
• Horizon Zero Dawn sales top 2.6M units in under two weeks
• H1Z1 PLAYERBASE GROWS 1000% IN THE PAST 6 MONTHS
• Mass Effect 1 Has Distinctively Better Animations Than Andromeda
• Sonic Mania delayed to summer
• Report: Nintendo To Double Switch Production For Next Fiscal Year
• The Witcher 3's animators created 7,000 new animations in one year for the DLC

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 106: Can You Hear Me Yet...Hero?

Justin begins this week with Dragon Age and it continues to impress him. He's pretty much at the end after putting about 45 hours into the game. He hasn't quite beat it yet, as he's planning to play a lot of the side quests first. However, he's three dragons down, out of ten. Gary lets us know about his time with Serious Sam: BFD Edition. Very reminiscent of the old Duke Nukem and Doom games. A fast-pace shooter. What more could you want? Then, it's Paladins for Gary, and it is a game he's discussed before on the podcast. If you forget, (and really you shouldn't) it's an Overwatch knock-off. But, for Gary, isn't everything? It's easier than it, for sure. Speaking of Overwatch... (and aren't we always...) Gary is FINALLY getting the hang of it on the PC. He can thank Season 4 for that as he is now Platinum, with 2730. But if you check out our YouTube (and you always should) you can watch him on his 'Road to Diamond' adventure (3000). Next up, Brian, who spends more time with Horizon this week. He lays his flag in the sand, 14 hours in and level 21, saying the game is more fun than Breath of the Wild. A bold statement, but he makes his case. Maybe he'll come around. You can watch him playthough a good hour or so of the game on our YouTube. That will be fun, I promise. Speaking, however, of Zelda. Brian, Anthony, and Stephen all discuss the time they put into the game this week. I think we all safety conclude it's a game that will take a lot of time to conclude. Brian loves the "school-yard" tips aspect of it, Stephen just keeps repeating how much it's like the first two games, and Anthony is crushing out the game as usual. It's a game we'll be talking about for many months, for sure. Gary will be thrilled.  

No Drunken News this week as we visit PAX East and talk about all the games we enjoyed (and some we didn't). Be on the look out for the videos on our YouTube and photos and impressions of the games we played on our Twitter.

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 105: Pumping It Out

It's the big Switch week and I'm sure you're all just champing at the bit just to hear what we think about it. But before we do that...

We begin with Justin this week and he's all about Dragon Age: Inquisition. He wanted to let you know it's the Game of the Year Edition with all the DLC, so you fools that don't have that version can all feel inferior. The game reminds him a lot of Bioware games. And in case you were wondering... Dragon Age water > Skyrim Remaster water. Pure glisten. Gary's then got some H1Z1 to tell us all about. He played some king of the hill and 170 person free for all. Besides that, it's Overwatch. Season 4. It's his first full season on PC and he finished 1978. Not bad, I think? There was also a new character released, Orissa, who is a four-legged robot. Lastly, finishing things up, is Brian and Anthony with Horizon Zero Dawn. They make note of the long tutorial and an actually good story.

There's no Drunken News this week because it's all about the Nintendo Switch and the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I won't spoil anything here, so just go and listen to what we think so far about one of this year's biggest game releases.

Also, this week we'll be at PAX East in Boston. Feel free to send anything you might be interested in having us check out or if you'd like to find us on the show floor. Shoot, us a tweet over to @Tangent_Podcast.

Extras

• Creep us on Facebook
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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 104: Only The Best For Astronauts

We're down a man this week, as Gary couldn't make it. R.I.P. No big deal, we've got some games to talk about.

Anthony's up first, and is still playing Nioh. He's level 92, but still finds himself under leveled for the last boss, so he's replaying missions to get to 122. Brutal. He also went back to Pokemon Go, as Nintendo added more Pokemon, drawing from the Gold & Silver-era. However, Great Balls continues to remain useless. Justin, for our Let's Play, played Titan Souls, an 8-bit pixel art game that consists only of boss fights. His only game this week. Stephen and Brian then have a nice chat about Chameleon Run. Still pretty blown away from this surprise hit. Finally, Brian, played Adrift. It's a first-person experience game. You're an astronaut on a broken space station trying to collect oxygen for your damaged spacesuit. Headphones on for Brian with this one.

The Drunken News this week lacks Nintendo Switch news as we're mere days away from launch, but does contain some down notes. We've got Xbox Live Games for Gold, AMD's new Ryzen processor, lost SNES games found, the BioShock creator with a new studio, Blizzard MMOs, Twitch Streamer found dead after 24-hour stream, and Nintendo of America's Co-Founder, Alan Stone, passes away. 
  

The Drunken Show Notes:

• Xbox Live Games With Gold For March 2017
• Blizzard Worked on 2 Separate MMOs After Titan Cancellation
• Twitch Streamer Found Dead During 24-Hour Charity Livestream
• Alan Stone, Co-Founder of Nintendo of America, Passes Away at Age 71
• AMD Launches Ryzen: 52% More IPC, Eight Cores for Under $330, Pre-order Today, On Sale March 2nd
• $10k SNES game package lost in the post has been found
• BioShock Creator Ken Levine Reveals New Game Development Studio

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 103: One-Handed Review

Seems like everyone's week went well enough. Especially for Gary, as if any one goes down choking Gary's newly acquired CPR training should save the day. Minus the broken ribs...

First up this week is Justin, and the only game he has is Stikbold. A game he played a little while back, but is on his agenda again because of our new YouTube series, Games for Two. So, you should go check that out. Brian lets us know about Batman: The Telltale Series. He just finished chapter 3 and is moving on to 4 is really enjoying the fact that they're taking liberties with the characters. Brian also ended up Redboxing For Honor. Anthony's still on his Nioh kick, and he finally got the "shitty" boss. And it's confirmed: the boss is definitely shitty. He and Gary feel it really is a Dark Souls meets For Honor type of game. Gary spends time with Rainbow 6: Siege, a game he used to play on Xbox, but is now playing on PC. Let's just say, he's being picked on and is taking it pretty hard. In his defense, he claims it's a hard game to learn. Claims... However, the last game is Chameleon Run and Stephen jumps in to talk about it.

The news is dense this week with updated NBA Jam roster, an animated (Cartoon) Castlevania coming to Netflix, stolen SNES games, and other news from the week!
  

The Drunken Show Notes:

• Netflix Announces Castlevania Animated Series
• 1994's NBA Jam Has Been Updated For 2017
• Nintendo just detailed Switch's smartphone app a little more
• Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers to get a First-Person mode, dev. 50% complete
• 'Zelda: Breath of the Wild' has a $20 DLC season pass
• SNES preservation project "dead" after $10k of games lost in the post
• Resident Evil 7 Banned Footage Vol. 2 DLC Available Now for PS4
• Microsoft will unveil Xbox Project Scorpio on June 11th
• Pokémon Card Game Players Say They Can Tell Rare Cards Before Opening The
• Former Sony Online Entertainment CEO to lead a new Amazon Games studio
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Lands on PS4 June 30
• Yet more bad news for SNES preservation project which lost $10k of games in the post
• Release Spring 2017 - City Skylines

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 102: Batman Nipples

It's a snow day here at The Tangent, but that won't stop us talking about game. Or the fact that there is no wrong Ninja Turtle to choose. Unless it's anyone besides Leonardo.

Justin leads off with Dishonored 2 again this week. He's on his 2 and a half play through, and with no powers. He finds the level design even more impressive playing this way. Borrowing a copy of Resident Evil 7 gave him the chance to play the game and to find that it's scaring the hell out of him. Constantly having his back against the wall. Gary then fills us in with some Overwatch information. Something about 'PTR'. No idea... But he has a 'Gary Bedtime Game™', Chameleon Run. It's sort of an 2-D endless runner where you have to match the color of the floor by switching the clothes color of your character. Nioh is a game made by Team Ninja that may be a better game that Dark Souls. Well, at least Anthony and Gary try to figure that one out. But the game is being compared to Dark Souls, for sure. Speaking of Anthony he's also got some follow up to Fire Emblem Heroes. It's a much similar version of the game. So, if any game is going to get you into the series, this should it. Finally, Brian talks a bit more about Owlboy. Four hours in and he is still impressed with the art style. While the puzzles seem to be getting easier he is still having fun. Then comes Papers Please. A simulation game that has you acting as border patrol and deciding who gets to come into the country. Brian was pretty fascinated by it. Just watch out for the Charlie Brown voices.

The news this week is short, but we talk about not being able to 100A% Breath of the Wild, Nintendo embracing the Unreal Engine, PS4 Pro's boost mode, South Park: The Fractured But Whole delayed again, and more!
  

The Drunken Show Notes:

• Aonuma: 100 percent completion in Breath of the Wild is “impossible”
• Spoilers: Breath of the Wild bird race and more named, causes timeline implications
• Psychonauts 2 Signed By Payday 2 Publisher, Release Window Confirmed
• Nintendo's engineers have embraced Unreal Engine
• Analysis: PS4 Pro’s “Boost Mode” bumps frame rates up to 38 percent
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole Delayed Again

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 101: Nine Wipes

Brian starts Under Your Thumb this week with a title called OwlBoy. A game both he and Gary played. It's a Metroid meets Castlevania style game with beautiful pixel art that harkens back to the SNES. The music is great too. Plus, there's no hand holding, to the point where Gary ended up getting lost. Gary played and completed Resident Evil 7 this week. He's calling it 'Game of the Year' as of now (as is Anthony). He also thinks sound design is the best part of the game. The first half is horror, but in the second, it gets more action oriented. But that hasn't stopped him from playing though again and trying to beat it in under four hours. A speed run, if you will. Justin's still playing Dishonored 2 and is now on his third play through. His second was a new game plus, but he made the mistake of saving over his first file. Lastly, Anthony spends more time with Yakuza 0. He gets more details on how the Yakuza operate. He also makes mention that the first two chapters are linear and after that it becomes an open world. Additionally, he took a look at Nintendo's newest smartphone game release, Fire Emblem: Heroes. A simplified game for the smartphone, but utilizing a "drag and drop" grid.  


The news has got Nintendo numbers, Nintendo Super Bowl ads, Nintendo Switch VR, GameStop lying to its customers, and more!
  

The Drunken Show Notes:

• Namco founder and “Father of Pac-Man” has died
• Monolith Soft’s Role In The Development Of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Nintendo Releases Third Fiscal Quarter Financial Results
• Animal Crossing Mobile Game Delayed Out Of Fiscal 2017
• Super Mario Run gets easy mode, actual (poor) sales data from Nintendo
• Psychonauts PlayStation VR Game Releases February 21
• Tony Hawk Working on THPS Documentary, New Gaming Project
• Nintendo Details How Voice Chat And Multiplayer Lobbies Work In Splatoon 2
• Switch To Receive Super Bowl Ad
• PS Plus: Free Games for February 2017
• Nintendo to equip Switch with upgraded web services
• New GameStop Program Leads Employees To Lie To Customers
• Retroblox teases modular CD-based retro games console

Extras

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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles

The Tangent - 100: Half Of The Information, 100% Of The Effort

Can you believe it? We finally made it to 100 episodes. We've never missed a week, and we don't plan to. A big thanks for all the support and for listening to the podcast. Onward to the next 100!

This week we open with Justin and he's still on his Dishonored 2 kick. His biggest challenge? Finding things. He sucks at it, but on the positive side he's super thankful for quick save. He also tackled Pokemon Sun & Moon again, beating the game for the second time. That's where Anthony jumps in to give some words of wisdom. Yakuza 0 is his first game this week and it's a GTA-like hack n' slash. He makes note of the long opening, but a good game nevertheless. Then what is probably the biggest game this week, Resident Evil 7, in which both him and Gary play (check out Gary's Let's Plays of it: here and here). Gary played PC and Anthony played Playstation (No VR). The one thing they for sure agree on are the graphics. It doesn't get much better than this. It's first-person and there's back tracking and everyone is scared (except Anthony). Moving on to Gary he's got a "Brian" game, Oxenfree. It's a 2-D side scroller with 3-D elements that's point and click. It's story driven, too. Overwatch was also talked about... blah, blah, blah... skins, roosters, capture the flag (which is garbage). Bring back Lucille Ball. Finally, Brian is up. Guns, Gore & Cannoli sounds like a perfect Godfather summery, but it's actually a 2-D side scrolling game similar to Metal Slug. It's got a nice story and some voice acting, but you can't aim up or diagonal. The last game is For Honor. Brian calls it "different" and "unique", and Stephen's pretty sure that's code for "shitty", but Brian assures him it's not. Plus, I guess, with safari warriors, how could it be?

We hit the news hard and quick this week with discussion of Overwatch hitting 25 million players, the final DLC for Dark Souls III, Tekken 7 delayed, porting games to the Switch, and more. Much more, because for our 100th we also did a nostalgia segment, going over our favorite past podcast titles, along with a guessing game of 'Who Said What?'     

The Drunken Show Notes:

• NIS on porting from PS4 to Switch, why Disgaea 5 was chosen as first game for the system
• 'Tekken 7' delayed to June 2
• The final DLC for Dark Souls III takes you to the end of the world
• February’s Xbox Games With Gold include Project CARS, Monkey Island 2
• The Pokémon Company Releases New 'Pokémon Duel' Strategy Game for iOS
• Blizzard strikes exclusive deal with Facebook for 'Heroes of the Dorm'
• Japanese Players’ Impressions of the Switch
• Lords Of The Fallen Dev's New Action Game The Surge Coming May 2017, Watch New Trailer
• Overwatch Continues To Grow, Now Over 25 Million Players

Extras

• Creep us on Facebook
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• Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail us: [email protected]
• And be sure to check out what we're doing at our website: Pixelated Points
• Theme music: 'My Lady Carey's Dompe' performed by Jon Sayles