Video Game Purists

This week has to be a bit shorter due to Fred's schedule, but nothing is trimmed and we still get in about 2 hours.  After plenty of home drama last week Trees has a more relaxed week prepping for summer while Fred is just playing with retro setups.  On the games front Trees is getting back into runs on Dead Cells and completed TellTale's Guardians of the Galaxy title.  Fred gave MIitopia a try as well as dove into VR with Rez Infinite and Moss.  The big game for him is, of course, Resident Evil Village, which he adores.

This week opens with some talk of upcoming releases.  Yes, there are games starting to come out!  Then Trees is having more home improvement fun while Fred is back to outdoor theaters and animated series.  On the games front, both Trees and Fred are having a blast with Rayman Legends.  Trees jumped on game pass to get back into Rory McIlroy's PGA 14 and is watching all kinds of Mii insanity on Switch with Miitomo.  Fred is on his 3rd round of Resident Evil Village demos and also played the E3 demo of the unreleased Dreamcast title Castlevania: Resurrection.

This week Trees is in the gutter while Fred is playing musical theaters trying to see Mortal Kombat.  There is a relatively spoiler free discussion, but we also warn you if you want to avoid the 15 or so minutes it's discussed.  Then it's onto the games front where Trees describes the beautiful and fun worlds of Yoshi's Crafted World and Rayman Legends.  The conversation shifts due to a listener question to the state of Sony's first party titles, including the cancellation of Days Gone 2 and the remake of The Last of Us.  It all wraps with Fred having a blast in VR and struggling to find the fun in Watch Dogs 2.

This week Trees is rebuilding his back stairs and attempting to replace his cell phone while Fred is complaining about snow and attempting to soft mod his PS3.  In gaming Trees played the GameStop trade-in game as well as enjoying The Flame and the Flood.  Fred tried the Resident Evil Village "Village Demo" on PS5, continues to love Astrobot, and is frustrated with games that have solid gameplay loops but disconnects in progress.

This week Fred and Trees return after a week off and it's time to get down to business.  Discussions begin with an update on Trees' household, new and old furniture, and Godzilla v. Kong.  We have a listener mail on HDR and how it works on both PC monitors and TVs, then it's on to games.  Trees has started Paper Mario: The Origami King, enjoyed classic shmups with the Vasara Collection, and tried to be king of the hill with Pac-Man 99.  His big passion has been turning into a teenage girl and scouring the land for resources in Atelier Rorona (which also lends to our closing music).  Fred has finally wrapped Days Gone with near 100 percent completion and about 45-50 hours of work, but his true love this week has been VR.  Thanks to a lent PS VR from Trees, he's been flying through a catalog of the top titles of the platform, all of which were obtained from PS+ or freebies from Sony.

This week we get a little personal about life before talking a bit of movies.  On the games front Trees is trying to stay positive with post-campaign Bowser's Fury and checking out Monster Hunter Rise, but also realizing that the true stress reliever for now is Splatoon 2.  Fred is still hooked to Days Gone, which is good because he tried (and failed) to get into Just Cause and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

This week is more about catch-up.  Trees is living a complicated life due to a new visitor in his home while Fred hasn't been up to a whole lot of anything.  On the gaming front Trees has started (and may be done with) Empire of Sin, showed his son Minecraft, and thoroughly enjoying family time with Splatoon 2.  Fred replaced his Genesis with a Gen 2 V4, goes hot and cold on Return to Castle Wolfenstein, wraps up Resident Evil 7 again, and has a surprise reveal from Days Gone.

This week Fred and Trees are all about home and car improvement before moving on to a lengthy discussion about movies.  Heading to the video game front, Trees completed Mario Galaxy, played some Splatoon 2 with his son, and jumped into indie titles A Boy and His Blob (2009) and CounterSpy.  Fred has been playing Real RTCW and Halo 2 with his daughter in addition to enjoying a third round of Resident Evil 7 and questioning the continuation of Days Gone.

This week Fred and Trees open with your listener mail and discuss predetermined notions, an open world Pokemon, and rumors of a new Switch.  The conversation shifts to convenience store snacks and new movies before moving onto the games.  Trees is going hard with Mario (Galaxy and Sunshine) as well as VR (Ace Combat 7 and Super Stardust). Fred discusses the very real issue of preventing PS4 installs of PS5 games, the joy of Astro's Playroom, retro flair with Double Dragon 4 and Oddworld: New & Tasty, and wrapping up with Days Gone.

The show kicks off with a discussion on Dreamcast gaming.  Trees and Fred get very different things from buying, collecting, and playing retro games.  Fred eats crow on his obvious PS5 obsession and then the discussion turns to more New Hammy fun and buying a cheap recliner.  On the games front Trees discusses Nintendo Switch multiple account woes, completes Super Mario 3D World, dabbles in Bowser's Fury, and wraps up with Eastshade.  Fred replayed the Famicom Disk System translated version of Zelda no Densetsu: A Hyrule Fantasy (Legend of Zelda in the US) and had a pretty good time with Super Lucky's Tale.