Tim and Phill Talk About Games

VR! It's amazing, it's nearly here, and it places you in the game in a way you've never been able to before. But with that presence comes a vulnerability to the curator of whatever is on the screen in front of you. We're not trying to fear monger, but the concept of trolling in VR is kind of terrifying if you think about it. So we did! And now we'll talk about it.

How much would you say a weapon skin is worth? Ten cents, ten dollars? How about millions? If you're one of the lucky folks running a CS:GO skin gambling site, that's how much you are making in trades between players usually too young to understand the concept of statistics. This week we talk loot boxes, crates, keys, and the gambling economy.

Finally! It's been a long time, but Tim has finally finished digging through the mess of input lag, audio syncing, and quality issues to bring you our great discussion with our friend and collaborator Megan about in-game avatars. Apologies once more for this taking so long, and thanks once again to Megan. You can find her at @scienceninjagal if you want to chat!

This episode Tim is away from keyboard as Ryan from the Magic Hour podcast steps in for a chat about a wide range of topics including (obviously) being a gamer parent, teaching young gamers, virtual reality, and all the games we've been playing.

If a game sits in a Steam library and can't be finished, does it make you squirm? In this episode of TAPTAG, we're talking about games that can't be finished, games that don't want to be finished, and games that...eh, we don't really want to finish.

As the game creation space begins to accommodate more and more diverse creators, we're beginning to see the next generation of game experiences coming through. This episode we're talking about two medium-bending spaces where those creators are making waves: games as documentaries, and virtual reality periscopes.

We're back from the break and ready to go for 2016! But before we do, it's time to look back on the year that was 2015 and decide what kept us most entertained throughout. We go through the highs, a few of the lows, and our gaming resolutions for the next year.

There's nothing quite like coming home. After our trip to PAX AUS 2015, the thought of our homes got us pondering the many virtual spaces we've made our own in games. What does it take to make a textured cube your home? How many games successfully recreate the feeling of a place to call your own

While we here at TAPTAG know that you can learn a whole bunch from video games, sometimes educators take that idea a little bit too far in the wrong direction. In other words, why do edutainment games suck so hard? And what can we do to make them better? This week we're losing a plumber in history, finding a lady in a red dress, and saving anthropomorphic blobs as we discuss edutainment in games!

Why is that games set in dungeons have to be ill-lit? Does no-one pay their utilities any more? Delve deep with us as we return to review-land once more and go searching for ancient evils, treasures, and more in Darkest Dungeon and Australian-made Hand of Fate. Crawl time!