To: Player

Yeah that second part was a band reference, but that's not what this episode is about.

This week Ian and James spend some time unpacking the concept of The Sublime. Have you ever stared at something so big, so awesome, so towering that it was jarring? Did it kick you in the shins, give you goosebumps or turn your stomach upside-down? That's the sublime.

Edmund Burke, a philosopher from the mid to late 1700s, popularized the notion of The Sublime. Not as just an expression of beauty, which it had been mostly up until that point, but as a way to express the delight that someone experiences by being dwarfed. You experience terror and delight at the same time when facing your own insignificance. Pretty dark, right? Oddly enough, it's something lots of people have experienced, and it doesn't quite have the negative connotation that you might think. If you look at something like a massive cliff face, a thunderstorm, a tornado or the vast open ocean you might be marveled by its beauty and intimidated by its power. Again, that's the sublime.

How does this apply to video games?

What interesting now is perhaps that people probably have more opportunities to experience the sublime, but many will experience it at home via proxy. If you've seen "Free Solo," a documentary about an expert rock climber summitting El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without any ropes... you've probably experienced the sublime. But... you weren't there. We think about VR for instance, and it's easy to see how the brain can by hijacked by virtual experiences. Even if you're not fully immersed you can still have your stomach turned upside down by a powerful and terrifying experience. I often think about the "leap of faith" mechanic in the Assassin's Creed franchise and how it's been churning my stomach every time for the better part of a decade.

We hope you enjoy the episode. It takes a while to warm up, but once we're there we really dig into this concept.

Thanks as always for listening.

Later Player.

P.S. We did also take a few minutes to discuss what we were playing. Those games are linked below.

GRIS

Void Bastards

Insurgency: Sandstorm

This game is a doozie. An epic doozie, and it took us on our on Odyssey to complete it. Playing and discussing this game nearly broke us and turned us into just another game review podcast. But we swear it, we're getting back to our roots.

Funny how when a game takes so long, like a beloved TV series or Movie franchise, what you get at the end of the game can be very different than the beginning. Such was the case with the newest in the Assassin's Creed game. This game highlights just how tight you have to keep an open world RPG in order to keep it all making sense and feeling good, and avoiding things that just seem downright silly.

Like kissing people that tried to kill your whole family and wearing a mapped-on power suit while breaking the 4th wall (kinda). That level of silly.

Thanks for the laughs AC Odyssey, you big scamp.

Next time we'll be back with more gaming philosophy, or thought provoking material. We're looking to discuss either the 'sublime,' or start to dig into our remix culture and nostalgia obsession. Let us know if you have a preference @podcast_to

Thanks for listening. Later Player.

Ian & James

James and Ian join forces again this week to unpack some of the massive title: Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Having started this game more than a month ago our opinions have shifted slightly from where they were. Having been somewhat rose-tinted before, that shine is starting to wear off for Ian - though James is still very much in the thick of it.

What did you think of the title? Is this just Origin's Lite? Or is it something that's going to continue to spice up your life?

We'll be back soon to discuss the endings of the game and more of the plot at large. This week we focused more on the game play. James is going to finish the game so I can start to rip this narrative a new one.

Thanks for listening. You can always follow us on Twitter @podcast_to and please tell your gamer friends who you think might enjoy listening.

Later Player.

Hi all

We're back after the long vacation to talk about mobile games 80 Days, Florence, and Mini Metro. They're all fantastic and we hope you enjoy. We also set up a chat for next week about Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. On this week's podcast we also invited Theresa, a human who played video games when she was a kid but not any more, to talk about the award-winning mobile title "Florence."

Thanks for listening.

Later Player

Feeling lost and confused? Not sure why the Skyrim intro seems to be killing the internet? Don't understand the ebb and flow of Battle Royal style shooters? Think a Battle Royal is what they call a Big Mac in France?

You've come to the right place.

Ian and James channel their inner Abe Simpson and yell at a few passing cumulo nimbi as they wade throw the garbage storm that is gaming in the 21st century.

This week they talked about Apex Legends, Frostpunk, Borderlands, EA, Guns of Icarus, and discuss whether or not chess is going to get that big comeback in 2019.

Thanks for listening.

Later Player.

Apex Legends

Frostpunk

Guns of Icarus

Skyrim

Rust

Rainbox Six: Seige

James is back this week, and Ian couldn't be happy to have his social life preserver back in house. Join in as James and Ian discuss new titles like Return of the Obra Dinn (for the last time we swear... for now), Apex Legends, and Frostpunk. We also take a detour to talk about how much fun it is to play Dungeons and Dragons, provided you have as good a DM as Ian. Ian also reviews James's review, it our most true-to-title Review Review yet.

...We hope you enjoy.

Later Player.

The games we mentioned this week were:

Return of the Obra Dinn

Apex Legends

DnD

Frostpunk

Guitar Hero

They Are Billions

Surgeon Simulator

What a silly title. Definitely our silliest. James is away this week so Ian got the website codes. And he's going to break something for sure. I mean the title's not even related to Charmeleon OR Charmillionaire.

Ian takes a moment to lay waste to the snoozefest of No Man's Sky. It has some good qualities but eventually that negative reputation starts to make sense to Ian, it's just a shame that he realized it after buying the game. He also takes some time to unpack the steampunk apocalypse title "They Are Billions," which has given Ian a lot to work on over the last several weeks. It's a great challenge will tonnes of replay potential.

We also take a moment to discuss a little indie release called "Alien Scumbags," though Ian for sure calls it Scumbag Aliens once or twice. It's a charming, fun, and funny game, and it's clear that a lot of TLC went into its production. Well done to Monster Finger Games who put it together.

Ian also takes a minute to wade through a real life MMO ghost story as he re-uncovers streamer "Vinesauce's" video of stepping back into 20 year old MMO title "Active Worlds" only to discover he wasn't alone. Watch the video, linked below, and enjoy the thoroughly disturbing experience.

We're starting to play around with some more music in the podcast. This week you'll find "Battle of Pogs," by Komiku and "Album Instrumental" by Cheese N Pot. Good stuff you guys.

Discussed this week we've got:

Alien Scumbags by Monster Finger Games

No Man's Sky by Hello Games

Terraria

They Are Billions

Vinesauce's Active Worlds Ghost Story Experience [VIDEO LINK]

Thanks for listening.

Later Player.

We're a little late on our new year's post but we had to peel ourselves off the couch after the holidays for this one. James and Ian discuss 2018's greatest hits - well sort of. The games we played in 2018 at least. Ian fought off his sickness to get this one to you, and James was there too.

We gots some helpful links below. @podcast_to

Later Player

On our hate list:

Stick Fight: The Game (even their website is garbage)

Hello Neighbor

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Our Greatest Hits of the Year:

Return of the Obra Dinn (Play this game for the love of god)

The Witcher 3 and its DLCs (feel free to write hate mail to James for being so late to this)

Most improved player:

No Man's Sky - Next Update

What we're looking forward to this year:

We. The Revolution (Ian)

Cyberpunk 2077 (James)

This week James did his homework and takes Ian on a psychonautical journey into the fifth chapter of "Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World," by Stephen Johnson. The idea that human fascination in projecting illusions into our universe has continued to be a pattern in the modern world makes sense. Think about it. We've gone from cave drawings to the Oculus Rift. Where our imaginations used to be the only vehicle, we can now almost touch for real - almost.

Join us as we discuss the internet, Nvidia's insane new AI city rendering technology, and how they're already applying that to deepfake videos. Knowing the difference between the real and the unreal has clearly never been more important. Has our fascination with fun and whimsy led us to a point of living in a surreal fantasy IRL?

We also talk about repairing your own computers, Fallout: New Vegas, Bad Company, Hearts of Iron, not the Witcher, and start to get hyped about Obsidian's (of Fallout New Vegas fame) new project: The Outer Worlds.

Did you know Nigerian conspiracy theorists think their president is a clone? True.

Thanks for listening. Tell a friend why don't you!

Later Player.

This week James and Ian continue the discussion on Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, and wonder themselves if this conclusion seems a little broad for their liking. They also talk about what kinds of games might be the coziest, curl up next to a fire, get a cat on your lap, and frag some noobs kinda games. We talk about the Danish custom of Hygge, aka that sweet cozy hibernation station exercise, and figure out how we can square-peg-round-whole this paradigm shift into our own lifestyles. What's Hygge and what's not is what we're up to here. Extra sleepytime tea is definitely Hygge.

Thanks for listening. You can follow us at @podcast_to on twitter.

Later Player.