The Experience Points Podcast
A weekly video game podcast from the co-writers of ExperiencePoints.net

There are some weeks when I swear I spend as much time watching games as I do playing them. Let’s Plays, Twitch streams, and tournament broadcasts are thriving. The usual assumption behind all these types of broadcasts is that there are people on the other end controlling them. What happens when there isn’t? Strangely enough, it’s easy to find game broadcasts in which humans are relegated to the sidelines. This week we talk about the allure of AI vs. AI violence, the allure of gambling, and what happens when thousands of people try to plan a Rube Goldberg machine.

 

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes

- Find the show on Stitcher

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed

- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.

- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

 

Show notes:

 

- Runtime: 30 min 17 sec

Video Game Championship Wrestling

Salty Bet

Twitch Plays Pokemon

 

- Music by: Brad Sucks

Direct download: EXP_Podcast_265_-_Self_playing_games.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:40pm PDT

How do you find games? Or do they find you? Who are your trusted sources for video game news and what sort of effort do you put into finding strange or weird games? This week on the podcast, Scott and I wonder how we heard about The Walking Dead and whether or not Steam tags are absolutely useless. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and hey, maybe even give us a game recommendation or two!

 

Show notes:

 

- Runtime: 29min 37 sec

 

- Music by: Brad Sucks

Direct download: EXP_Podcast_264_-_Discovering_Games.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:04pm PDT

Last week, an unassuming little game called Flappy Bird managed to ruffle some feathers. Sorry, I just had to do that. The entire saga is actually a fairly sad tale about the video games press, attitudes towards intellectual property, and the state of mobile gaming in general. Flappy Bird may be gone from the app store, but legal, financial, and ethical questions it embodied remain. Feel free to jump into the comments with your thoughts! 

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:
- Runtime: 32 min 03 sec

Direct download: EXP_Podcast_263_-_Figuring_out_Flappy_Bird.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:43pm PDT

I have not finished Dark Souls. Can I still sit at the big kids table? This week on the EXP Podcast, Scott and I join in on the AV Club's discussion about Dark Souls and status symbol games. How did this brutally difficult game become not only popular, but a video game rite of passage? And how will it be remembered in ten years? Let us know in the comments below!

Show notes:

- Runtime: 33 min 04 sec

- "Why do games like Dark Souls become geek status symbols?," by Matt Gerardi & Drew Toal via AV Club

- "Android Netrunner - The Game Designer's Game," by Krystian Majewski via Game Design Scrapbook

- "Playing Dark Souls: Desperate Acts and Our Shared Humanity," by Jorge Albor via PopMatters

- Music by: Brad Sucks

Direct download: EXP_Podcast_262_-_Dark_Souls_and_Status_Symbol_Games.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:16pm PDT