“Into the Spider-verse” won an Oscar. Activision and ArenaNet leave a lot of employees out in the cold. We finish our coverage of the Nintendo Direct: Tetris 99, Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, XII, Link’s Awakening, Daemon X Machina (is it Zone of Enders?), Disney’s Tsum Tsum, Rune Factory, Assassin’s Creed, and more endless ports for the Switch. JJ crushes Apex with .4 Kills Per Game and Andy dips back into the Rabbid world. Most importantly, it’s time for another component class: Processors!

Can you drywall? What are these pipes for? What’s the best pasta to make with your sous vide? Only questions Mario can answer - he’s having a big week! The gamers are covering (part of) the huge Nintendo Direct: Mario Maker 2, Super Smash 3.0, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Tetris 99, PlatinumGames’s Scalebound, and the new/old Link’s Awakening. Also, tackling bad reporting!

Episode 4 of our monthly Star Trek sub-series, this week we discussed our general and specific opinions on Star Trek ship design - very often focusing on federation iterative design process. We discuss what works, what doesn’t, and why they chose certain non-optimal designs. Andrew and JJ also pick the most and least favorite ships.

On a Birthday episode, we expose our preferences for college basketball, wonder about the new Hulu and Marvel deal (Howard the Duck?), avoid Russia’s internet, and delve into the new Civilization VI expansion. JJ plays Celeste and Michael braves the Edge of Eternity alpha. JJ and Andrew had an EXPERIENCE with Apex Legends (And Origin), the new battle royale from EA. Andrew watches Hot Ones, while JJ and Michael had a great time with The Lego Movie 2. Chopped chilies on your In-n-Out is next level.

A busy week with the Super Bowl (don’t worry, we only chat about the Ads - the good part) and rumors about a smaller Switch and Xbox Live invading other consoles. What is a Circle of Doom? What happens to your locked Cryptocurrency? Steam made a big play for reducing prices in sales, are they just trying to work customer retention early? Also: Pillars of Eternity 2, Smash Ultimate World of Light, Genesis 6, Skyward Sword, Monument Valley, Kingdom Hearts 3, Wargroove, and even Apex Legends.

As is pretty normal these days, multiple Gamers’s cars are down for the count with myriad interesting problems. Also, coolant is absolutely not water. We also have discussions on: retro controllers for the Switch, Gold Wii’s, and Pillars of Eternity getting changed into a whole new game. Andrew tries Star Trek Fleet Command and Michael enjoys the mobile classic Monument Valley. Try our Search function.

COMPONENT CLASS IS BACK FOR 2019! This is a relatively deep dive on the marquee part of the machine: the graphics card (we bought Asus and EVGA cards). Also, this one brings us: more of the amazing Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bungie leaving Activision, Hitman 2, Darth Maul playing VR, AGDQ 2019 and its best runs, Dead Cells and Pillars of Eternity 2.

Getting the hang of things in 2019 with the first homeowners minute and our totally organized News segment on: Fantasy Flight, Duck Hunt and MTG Arena. JJ played the Pillars of Eternity 2 character creator. Michael went on a covert mission with Starcraft 2. And, Andy had his mind blown by World of Light in Super Smash Brothers. Also: Into the Spider-verse, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Speed Ramps, Yu Gi Oh. Don’t forget to “Smash it up or whatever.”

Subspace Transmissions Returns! Now, finally, in its intended Monthly format. We love Star Trek. And you bet there’s going to be a lot of it in 2019. In this one, JJ and Andrew used a tweet from Star Trek’s account as a start: “Which captain would you want to be your mentor?” We give each mainline captain their dues, but in the end we somehow settle on the same one.

JJ Returns! We talk epic Asian vacations, JJ’s video game moment of 2018 (Dead Cells), and have an in-depth discussion on some digital storefronts.