Vidjagame Apocalypse

Who doesn't like to hear a villain sing about themselves and their evil plans? It's a time-honored tradition, dating back to some really old thing or other, but it's a more recent phenomenon in video games. So this week, special guests Alaina Yee and Matthew Allen join to help us count down five - count 'em, five! - of our favorite singing bad guys.

Ready Player One is in theaters this week, and whatever you think of it, the core idea of being rewarded with actual riches for doing something in a game is a powerful one. So powerful, in fact, that it's been done several times in real life. So with help from Matthew Allen and Nathan Ortega, let's spend this short-form episode diving into five games that were sold on the promise of fantastic rewards for in-game skills.

Big news this week - VGA is going on hiatus at the end of April. But we've got plenty of shows still to go, starting with this week's, in which Heidi Kemps and Matthew Allen help us look at five Japanese games that never made it out of Japan, despite their series being popular over here. Then it's on to Sea of Thieves, Attack on Titan 2, Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered, PUBG mobile, and the games that caused controversy in your own lives.

Last week saw a return to the bad old days of video games as a whipping boy in the national debate over violent crime, and that brought some weird old memories rushing back - so many, in fact, that we decided to drag special guests Nick Suttner and Matthew Allen into an unexpectedly heavy discussion of five of the most controversial, moral panic-inducing games of the past 30 years. We also take the time to chat about Burnout Paradise Remastered, last week's Nintendo Direct, and the games you discovered thanks to monthly freebies from PlayStation Plus and others.

Plenty of games let you play as multiple heroes, but how many have you switching back and forth between heroes that seriously have it in for each other, pushing you to work against yourself as your perspective shifts? A whole bunch, as it turns out, so this week we'll look at five of our favorites, with help from Matthew Allen. Then it's on to idle chatter about Far Cry Arcade, the return of Fear Effect and Drake of the 99 Dragons, and your favorite chill-out games.