We're back from spring break and ready to talk about some of the games we've played over the past couple weeks.  Our stops include new destinations like the swamps of South of Midnight, the shifting rooms of Blue Prince, and fungus fields of Avowed.  There's even a return to Hollow Knight's creepy-crawly caverns as we look to wrap up the year's early months.

Nintendo unveiled all the juicy details about the Switch 2 this week and in classic Nintendo fashion the news came with a great deal of excitement, bafflement, and surprise. And all of this recorded even before the Tariff's delayed the release of the already expensive console even further! Join as we run down our surprises and disappointments.

Show notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

Our annual springtime ritual continues!  It's the time of year when our eyes are watering and we can't quite tell if it's due to the return of seasonal allergies or because of the sheer majesty of thatgamecompany's 2012 masterpiece: Journey.  As always, we share our thoughts on this year's playthrough and we also review a bit of the 2012 video game landscape, review what we were playing, and put Journey in context with other big releases of the year.  Hope to see you in the desert next year!

This week on the podcast we venture through the raggedy outer reaches of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector to the monster filled dunes and valleys of Monster Hunter Wilds. Two vastly different games with enough fascinating and sometimes infuriating designs to chew through. Join us on our adventure and be sure to download the amazing Mr. Broccoli in your Wilds campaign!

Code: F99PE4N38B64 

Show notes:

- Intro from Monster Hunter Wilds
- Outro from the Citizel Sleeper 2 OST

A blurry tree here and little upsell there can't be so bad, can it?  But what happens when these little annoyances build into something that truly irritates people into action?  This week we have ugly Pokemon and triple-digit game prices are top of mind as we talk about some recent dust-ups in both the fan and financial circles.

This week on the podcast we share a lot of mixed feelings about two of last year's biggest RPGs. What compels us to finish games like these? Who knows!?

Show Notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks

What with the hectic holiday season and all the game of the year madness, we were so busy talking about games that we didn't have time to talk about games-adjacent things like Secret Level.  The streaming anthology series takes direct inspiration from some very well known (and not so well known) games, so we sat down to debrief on what makes a good short-form cross-media game story.  Honestly, we're still having nightmares about the Pac-Man episode.

The Switch 2 announcement is here and it made a splash, but it's one of those tiny little splashes you see at the Olympics. Classic Nintendo, no notes. Join us this week as we discuss, dissect, and have a laugh with the Switch 2 announce trailer.

It's the beginning of the year and it's nothing but endless possibilities stretching out before us!  This week we continue our tradition of looking at this year's scheduled (and perhaps not so scheduled) releases and call out what we're most looking forward to.

This week to take one last look backwards at 2024 and some of the amazing games that didn't quite make out Top 3. Happy near year everyone!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

We've made it around the sun once more and we have a handful of great games to prove it.  But which games will be our favorite of year?  And will Jorge and I maintain our drift compatibility and choose the same game as our GOTY?  All this, along with more Balatro pro tips, in this week's show.

The most prestigious video game award show is back, celebrating once again not just the greatest bummers and mood lifters, but also the best Waifus/Husbandus, the most elegant games, and of course the gameyest. The 2024 Gameys are here!

Thanks to the recent 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation launch, there's been plenty of retrospectives about the system and the era it ushered in.  This week, we dig into Eurogamer's extended interview with Former Sony CEO Shawn Layden.  Layden's tenure at Sony spanned the pre-PlayStation era all the way through the PS4 and he offers some candid thoughts about the state of the industry, development costs, and why he may be the last of the console warriors.  Plus, he floats the concept of triple-A development being akin to building a massive cathedral and now I'm obsessed with the image of a stained-glass Dual Shock.

According to Microsoft you probably have an Xbox in your pocket. So what's an Xbox again? This week on the podcast we chat Microsoft news and venture into the future... of television with the Mass Effect TV series.

Show Notes:

Leave it to Nintendo: we turn our backs for just a couple of weeks and they exponentially increase their wackiness.  Well I can officially tell this to our favorite baffling company: Chill out, we're awake and we have ready access to the Internet!  Your clock and your music app is very cute, but shouldn't you be working on a new console or something?  Wake me up once you're ready to tell me what the Super Mario Odyssey team has been working on.

Sick kids are on the mend so it's back to the gaming mines for us. This week on the show, we fight our way through fog to bring you debriefs on the Silent Hill 2 Remake, Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Balatro mobile, and the Plucky Squire!

Show notes:

Music by Brad Sucks

I can't believe we missed out on the most important PlayStation Pro news when we talked about it a couple weeks ago.  Yes, your long nightmare of dealing with disorganized lose paper is over: Sony has created a solution and it only costs $1000.  But hurry: there's only 12,300 in existence, so act quickly or else you'll have to go crawling back to Clippy.  We dig into this as well as more stories on Professor Layton, Microsoft R&D, and Nintendo's secret police this week.

This week on the podcast, we discuss two of the most charming love-letters to video games of all time, both of which are not just loaded with nostalgia, but also amazing games (or games-in-games) all on their own!

Show notes:

- Music from the Astro Bot Launch Trailer and the UFO 50 Launch Trailer

The PlayStation 5 Pro was formally announced and I have to say that my favorite part by far was listening to the calming timbre of Mark Cerny's voice as he explained highly technical things in a way that made me feel like I could understand it.  His sonorous, professorial presentation was perhaps the only thing that could have calmed my jangled nerves after seeing that $700 price point.  This week, we discuss the announcement and what we think it means for the PlayStation landscape.

As the saying goes: "Grand opening, grand closing."  This week we recap the baffling Concord situation and what it means as part of the broader game landscape.  Along the way we check in on some other games, ranging from Flock, to Black Myth: Wukong, and Deadlock as part of a late summer check in.

We're off to Germany this week to discuss some of the exciting  - and not-so-exciting - news coming out of Gamescom 2024. News, Molyneuxs, and more, oh my!

Show Notes:

This week on the EXP Podcast we say goodbye to a games industry institution. We also briefly discuss Fortnite, cultural conglomeration, and gambling!

Show Notes:

This week we do a summer check in on some of the games we've been playing.  Strangely, they're all some form of retro-inspired RPG/adventure style games.  There's the Commodore 64-era inspired Skald: Against the Black Priory.  There's the Super NES era Super Mario RPG remake.  And there's the PS1-aesthetic adventure game homage, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.  Lorelei was of particular interest, as it inspired us to lean into the artistic approach and go back to pen and paper as a way to solve puzzles and remember information.  It's a good sign when a game inspires a notebook full of glyphs and half-crazed riddles.

Time and money is at a premium, are we spending it on Game Pass, in-game purchases, or another caramel macchiato? This week on the podcast, we explore some news about digital games and purchases.

Show Notes:

The only thing hotter than this summer's weather is this collection of spicy takes.  This week, we use Polygon's collection of provocative opinions as a jumping off point to revisit some of the fundamental arguments that started us down this wacky path.  Will we ever figure out what art is and do video games qualify?  Maybe the real art is the fun we've had arguing along the way.

Just in time for the Steam Summer Sale, Valve has dropped three lists of the most popular games played on the Steam Deck. These lists are updated in real time and reflect some trends in the industry. This week on the show, we run down the lists and share some of our favorite games on the Steam Deck - including a remaster of a classic: Riven.

It's Elden Ring and The Shadow of the Erdtree time and with it comes the predictable discussion about difficulty in games.  I guess it makes sense that a game about making looping runs through a punishing world gets people fired up, but I still think it's hilarious that people seem to be surprised at how hard these games continue to be.  And thanks to a new interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, we can be certain that this difficulty is not only intentional, but also pursued out of respect to players.  This week, we dissect some of his comments and consider the long-term legacy of his design sensibilities.

The definitely NOT E3 window of events is over with one more big set of announcements. This week on the podcast, we discuss some exciting games coming to the Nintendo Switch - THIS YEAR!

Show Notes:

Now that the great collapse of the E3 ecosystem is well and truly complete, we're beginning to see saplings spring from the ashes.  And it's not just a few; Summer Game Fest and the numerous other publisher-specific, indie, PC, and various thematic conferences have quickly formed a forest and are spreading the video game news over the wind like a dense cloud of pollen.  This week we take our antihistamines and dive into some of the many game announcements we've seen over the past couple weeks.

This week on the EXP Podcast, in between Sony's announcements and Xbox's big news, we discuss the state of big budget first-party exclusives and what the future of publishing massively expensive games might look like.

Show notes:

• "You can’t make AAA games for just one platform anymore" by Oli Welsh via Polygon
• Music by Brad Sucks

I've always lived in areas with municipal water systems, so wells are a bit of a foreign concept.  But now that I've played Animal Well, I'm basically an expert.  I was surprised by the number of hidden eggs and platforming puzzles, but I guess that's just the miracle of underground waterways.  This week we debrief after seeing the credits, but most definitely not all the secrets, hidden in Animal Well!

This week on the EXP Podcast, we record live from our sick bed to discuss recent industry news before getting into some games we've been playing - including Balatro, Children of the Sun, and Minishoot Adventures!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

War never changes - the streaming television war, that is!  This week we do a deep dive on the new Fallout series.  Who knew the post-nuclear wasteland would have so many cameos in it?  And are those the jingle of spurs I hear?  Looks like The Man with No Name has become The Man with No Nose.

The Wii U, one of the worst selling consoles of all time, is finally shutting down its servers and turning off the lights. Today on the podcast we poor one out for a console ahead of its time, a messy, imperfect, but maybe a little prescient attempt by Nintendo to transform the gaming landscape.

Show Notes:

I meant to publish the show earlier, but I thought I could squeeze in a few more hands of Balatro.  48 hours later, I realize two things: that was a mistake and I'm now starving to death.  This week, we dip into Balatro, make our stage debut with Princess Peach: Showtime!, and evaluate Red XIII's surreal attempt at acting like a human.  Now, just a few more hands and then I swear I'll go to sleep.

Everyone's favorite lovable stoners are coming to Call of Duty, about 50 years too late to be culturally relevant. This week on the podcast, we try to draw a line between interesting and relevant in-game partnerships and the pup-culture goop that is Content with a capital "C". Don't puff, puff, pass on this one!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

It's finally Spring again around these parts, which means it's time for one of our favorite annual rituals: the yearly Journey playthrough!  For whatever reason, Jorge and I both had cautionary tales of resource scarcity and environmental collapse on the brain (I blame Barrett and the rest of Avalanche) and it just goes to show that you can still get something new out of a game every time you play it.  Twelve years on and we're still finding new treasures in the desert.

We discuss why Final Fantasy VIII is actually awesome, how the remake is changing the legacy of the franchise, and what's up with the best (and worst) Final Fantasy games.

Show Notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks
- "Final Fantasy is the Best, Area Man Claims," via Polygon

Reports of us rejoining the lifestream have been greatly exaggerated.  We're back after being under the weather, but we return having played a bunch of new games.  We have Helldivers, Donkey Kong, and more, including 2024 gamiest-game contender Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.  While we're only a few hours into what will undoubtedly be an enormous game, there is plenty to talk and speculate about.  Grab a comfy cushion to soften this rickety old bench and join us!

Last week the internet was buzzing with Xbox speculations that was quickly deflated by corporate-speech-laden "podcast" from Phil Spencer and his team at Xbox. Yes, some Microsoft games are coming to other consoles, but is that it? What does this, and could this have meant? Join us and Mr. Businessman to discuss the future of Xbox.

Show Notes:

* Music by Brad Sucks

We are back this week catching up on Sony's latest State of Play, which featured not one but TWO Hideo Kojima announcements. 2024 really is starting strong! Join as we discuss Judas, Sonic, and Kojima's amazing fashion-sense.

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

Watch out, that pikachu is driving a tank and it looks disgruntled!  But perhaps not as disgruntled as Nintendo and the Pokemon Company's lawyers must be right about now.  Yes, it's time to talk about Palworld.  Part catching monsters and putting them in your pocket, part hitting trees and crafting gear, and all the rage on the Internet - Palworld has clearly tapped into something that both Pokemon and survival game fans have been searching for!

It feels like we just caught our breath from the game release whirlwind of 2023, but there's no time to delay.  2024 is here and it's bringing a pretty unique list of games with it.  This week, we talk about some of our most anticipated games and make some predictions about the unknown unknowns lurking out there.

Our GOTY-cast is out, but before we leave 2023 behind we need to spotlight some of the great games that almost made our lists. It was a fantastic year for games, so be sure to try some of these games soon before you move on to the hot new thing!

Show Notes:

We made it!  2023 is over, which means it's time to talk about our top games of the year.  Every year we challenge ourselves to embrace brevity and pick our top three.  2023's landslide of great games made this an even more fun challenge than usual, as did the ongoing meta game of trying to predict if our picks will overlap.  Next week we'll talk about some of the other great games that we didn't get to highlight, but for now, join us for the brightest of all the shining stars.

Show Notes:

• Music by Brad Sucks

Just in time for the end of the year, we reach the end of another story: Alan Wake II!  This week we debrief on a game created by and for humanities nerds.  Nothing like contemplating the death of the author while rocking out to Norse mythology inspired heavy metal!

We're head to Vice City, where the sun is shining, drugs are plentiful, and you might get eaten by an alligator. Also, we retroactively predict the Game Awards winners.

Show Notes:

• Intro from the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer
• Outro by Brad Sucks

This week we emerge from our holiday haze and talk about the ways in which some large publishers are trying to foster a fuzzy feeling by appealing to a sense "the good old days" of established games and franchises.  This kind of packaged nostalgia is clearly popular; just ask the people paying actual currency to play the original version of World of Warcraft.  But what does it mean that we're drawn to these time capsules and does it mean we're headed toward a looping cycle where we reset franchises once every seven to ten years?  If so, then I can't wait for my Cow Clicker remake.

Do you feel that tingle of excitement? No, not that weird green dude. It's Nintendo's latest announcement that Legend of Zelda is getting a big screen adaptation and it's... live action!?

2023's absolute deluge of games continues this week and we hanging on for dear life!  This week we web sling our way around Spider-Man 2, piece together the mystery of Alan Wake 2, welcome a special end-credit guest in Lies of P, and conclude our trip in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

We also knew all the mushrooms would catch up to Mario. This week on the podcast, we take a wonder seed trip into Super Mario Bros. Wonder!

Show Notes:

• Intro from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder launch trailer
• Music by Brad Sucks

This week we talk about a game all about language and a game completely devoid of the written word!  Chants of Sennaar and Cocoon are in the rotation this week and both games have impressed us.  While they're quite different, both of them drop you right into a world without much explicit hand holding, so we have a good time unpacking the various mysteries contained within.  Plus: a little extra Lies of P and Sea of Stars analysis as we continue to dig in to those games!

This week on the podcast, we leap into Sony's cloud gaming news and marvel at the lengths Baldur's Gate 3 players will go for the perfect run.

Show Notes:

- Music by By Brad Sucks

Rumors abound this week as we all collectively start to piece together clues about the Switch's successor.  I'm going to out on a limb and say that there will be a Mario game and a convoluted friend request system - maybe together?!  On top of that, Jorge and I do some strategizing about how to introduce turn-based RPGs to the next generation.  Suffice to say it's a high pressure situation.

It's a debacle at Unity, some surprising DLC news, the high cost of games, and a step into the closet with Hideo Kojima!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

Even after a busy spring and summer, video games refuse to take a break and just chill.  There's just so much to play and it can get distracting.  Maybe that's what happened over there at Microsoft - someone was so distracted trying to master their mech in Armored Core that they forgot to properly secure all the links in their public court filings.  This week it's a gaming grab bag and a rare look at what goes on in the Xbox team's internal pitch meetings.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we ask whether great games like Baldur's Gate 3 or Tears of the Kingdom should raise the standards for what we expect out of games or if doing so sets the bar too high.

Show Notes:
Music by Brad Sucks

After several months of traversing the gloom, scarfing down endura carrots, and harvesting dragon scales, both Jorge and I have seen credits in Tears of the Kingdom.  I won't even pretend to say we've "finished" it, as there are more korok seeds in this game than there are grains of sand of beach.  Regardless, we do a deep dive on both the late game mechanics as well as the time-bending plot.

Mer-people, a strange dog (?), and more on this week's games discussion!

Pop quiz: do you know the various subscription tiers for your game platforms?  And more importantly: do you know which ones you're automatically being charged for every month?  Well here's a hint: it's not Xbox Live Gold, that one's riding off into the sunset.  This week, we play that exact game and quiz each other about what each major console platform is pitching and which ones we've bought into.  Let's just say things get convoluted fast.  On the bright side, we rediscover some members of our Nintendo family and also give Sony some free naming ideas!

This week on the EXP Podcast, we revisit some of video games' best, and worst, endings - from the multicolored conclusion to Mass Effect 3 (and Elding Ring) to the touching conclusion to some great narrative games like Life is Strange. 

Show Notes:

Hello!  Remove that gloom effect, because we're back from the depths after a few weeks.  Well it's not really the depths, it's just that Jorge and his family acquired a new little korok and were doing some much needed bonding.  We ease back in by catching up on what's been going on in Hyrule and what's been going on over at Nintendo.  Apparently Mario is getting bigger than ever.  And I truly mean elephant-sized.

It's time to hit the street with Street Fighter 6!

This week we talk about the recent PlayStation Showcase.  But first, stick with me for second here, gang: what if I took a dual sense and chopped it in half...wait, no let me finish...and then stuck a big screen in the middle and then Tears of the Kingdom Ultra Hand-style just mashed all of it together!  We call it Project Q and it's going to revolutionize toilet-based gaming in the home.  What's that?  Fine, we'll sweeten the deal with some ear buds.  Are you happy now?

Grab your bugs, horns, and fire peppers because this week on the EXP Podcast, we're brewing a love elixir for Zelda!

Show Notes:

It's a big week around these parts!  And when I say parts, I also mean the various pieces of scrap wood and ancient tech I'm using to fashion a crude over boat.  Yes, it's time to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!  We debrief on our initial few hours in the game and talk about how it fits int he broader open-world landscape.  Spoiler: we're having a great time so far, although maybe it's good we didn't pursue engineering in school.

This week on the podcast, we explore a galaxy far, far, away in Jedi Survivor, wonder why the Jedi Council is training an army of child soldiers, and briefly discuss some classic Nintendo wildness.

Oh, and see you on the other side of Breath of the Wild 2!

Show Notes:

This week, Scott ventures out into the theater and reports back on the latest cinematic adventure.  That's right, it's the The Super Mario Bros. Movie!  Seeing is how it's based on a Japanese game franchise and created by Illumination's French studio, can I call this a foreign film?  In any case, and despite a distinct lack of John Leguizamo, there is plenty to talk about, so grab your popcorn and your fireflowers and join us.

700 hundred official episodes is no small feat! We are celebrating the accomplishment by hosting the first ever Gamey Awards Tournament of Champions! It's time to settle once and for all who the best Waifu/Husbandu is. Why is Inciniroar a genuine contender? And what is the gameyest game?

When playing a cross-play multiplayer game, what do you do when the an entire platform's worth of players gets left behind?  Well, if you're playing Rogue Company, maybe you rejoice?  This week we use the recent end of Switch support on a cross-play multiplayer game to talk about the ongoing search for your preferred video game community.  What's the slow-pitch, dad-squad, beer-league softball equivalent in video games?  Because those are some folks I could really get along with.

This week on the podcast, we bask on the sandy shores of Tchia, a darling little Breath of the Wild homage, trudge back into Resident Evil 4, and touch on a couple more games that are actually pretty damn great as well!

Show Notes:

Bad news: you have to live in a brutal post-apocalyptic zombie hellscape.  Good news: The Internet's latest crush, Pedro Pascal, is your companion and protector!  This week we talk about HBO's The Last of Us.  Roughly ten years after the first game's release, we revisit the game's bleak world and see how it fares in the world of prestige television.

It's time again for the yearly Journey replay ritual, in which we wander the sands of Thatgamecompany's magnum opus and maybe even join some strange new wanderers!

Show notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks & the Journey OST

We've got some pretty hefty games on the horizon this spring, so we're spending the last few weeks of winter doing a bit of a sampler.  We have a wide variety to talk about this week, ranging from the manic Hi-Fi Rush to the meditative Season.  And then we throw some survival horror in the middle there for good measure!

It's time to revisit some classics that were, actually, just bad?

I've long since abandoned trying to be cool, which is hopefully a good defense mechanism against being "cringe."  Marvel, Star Wars, and now Forspoken have all now received criticism for crossing the line that separates wry humor and obnoxious self awareness.  But what's really behind our negative reactions to these try hard characters?  This week we use an article by Austin Walker to explore if maybe the audience-facing winks we see so often are actually a defense mechanism in which writers try to mock their own work before anyone else can beat them to it.

This week we re-board the Ishimura to take a violent and viscera-filled visit to the Dead Space Remake. Is it one of the best horror games of all time? Absolutely!

We also make a pit stop to check in on a new holiday in Japan - Final Fantasy 7 Day!

After a very long, Gamey and GOTY-filled Fimbulwinter, we're finally looping back to one of our favorite games of 2022: God of War Ragnarök!  We discussed it in a few previous shows, but this time we go fully into spoilers and geek out over everyone's Greek lout.

The year is well under way and there is going to be an absolute glut of games dropping this year. With barely any lulls in major releases, we are looking ahead at our most anticipated games of 2023 and some of the games we might play... if they come out this year!

Show Notes:

I'm still totally fine with people saying "Happy New Year" at this point in the year, so you better believe I'm still good with game of the year discussions! This week we wrap up the season with some of the best games that didn't quite make our top 3 this year. And you know what, I won't even judge you for the Christmas tree I still see in the corner over there.

Before we put 2022 behind us, it's time to share our favorite games of the year. That's right, it's the GOTY cast! This was a truly great year for such a wide variety of games, in part due to the dearth of Triple-A games taking up all our time. Stay tuned next week for the last of 2022 leftovers!

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

It's time to sum up the year in the most traditional way: by having animated discussions about superfluous game mechanics, waifus/husbandos, and the most "gamey" games of the year. This is the episode that most exemplifies our "serious but not humorless" take on medium and it is one we look forward to all year. Thanks as always for listening!

It's time to dive into all the adorable, terrifying, and black goop filled goodness from the Keighley's 2022 Game Awards extravaganza!

Oh snap, it's time to get obsessed with a new card game! What's that you say? You think you're fully saturated by Marvel already? Well check out these foil-variant chibi avengers cards and then despair at your own weakness as you begin another game. Yes, this week we talk about Marvel Snap and its impact on the current gaming landscape.

It's time to deck the halls... STEAM DECK the halls! This week on the EXP Podcast, we dive into Scott's latest handheld device - the Steam Deck.

Notes:
- Music by Brad Sucks

Ah: Feel that brisk chill in the air? Smell that seared flesh? Hear that deafening groan of the world serpent? That's fimbulwinter baby and we are 100% here for it. This week to have an initial discussion about God of War Ragnarök's opening hours. Pull up a seat next to the fire and let's work through some father figure issues together.

Back after some rough colds, we bring with us a tiny yellow Play Date, which is great for sick days! Also, Scott has made a great accomplishment in the Lands Between.

Google decided to shut down Stadia, so unfortunately all those games you may have bought are evaporating in what you might call a cloud-like manner. Don't worry though: something has appeared to fill the spiritual void: it's Mario's new voice. This week we talk about the artistic and moral tightrope that is the Super Mario Bros. Movie as well as the postmortem view of Stadia.

Cheating has thrown chess and competitive fishing into an existential crisis! Maybe shouldn't bother with real-world sports anymore anyway...

It's officially Fall, which means we have precious few weeks to wrap up some of the other games we've been playing before the end of year release bounty arrives. This week we come with a pretty wide selection, both thematically and mechanically. We explore the goofier side of cult-life with Cult of the Lamb. We have a snack at the end of the world with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. And we get side eye from our significant others as we painstakingly scrub through full-frontal sex scenes in Immortality.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we check in on Kojima's podcast - apparently there's a robot? We also dive into some news and games from Nintendo and Sony. Where will it take us? Let's fall out of the sky with Link and aim for somewhere good.

We couldn't move past Gamescom without taking a look at some of the announcements that got our attention. But really, we should all acknowledge the elephant in the room Hideo Kojima's new podcast. We implore you: find room in your heart for two podcasts. But if you can't, we get it: morbid curiosity alone is enough to check out Kojima's new show. Just know that, after it's revealed that his podcast was just an elaborate way to get all your Internet-connected devices trapped in a massive botnet dedicated to forming a strand-based compute cluster for optimizing egg recipes while listening to mp3s of Bauhaus vinyl records, we will welcome you back with open arms.

We journey the land of dream and wander backwards through games to find the source text upon which they're based. Some have changed wildly, many for the better!

Sometimes you just make one of those wholesome internet finds that completely derails your afternoon in the best way possible. My most recent example is my realization that a bunch of old video game manuals and guides have been lovingly digitized on Archive.org. Not only has this enabled me to pump those sweet nostalgia chemicals into my brain, it allows me to harass my family about how cool retro game art was with complete visual aids. This week we dive into some of our favorite instruction manuals and game guides and attempt to not sound a million years old.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we say goodbye to a rarely used features on the PS5: Accolades. Is praise for your opponents dead?

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

Corporate machinations make for some strange arguments. This week in bizzaro mergers and acquisitions land, Microsoft is trying to downplay any potential regulatory roadblocks to the Activision deal by threading a hilarious needle: Call of Duty (while clearly valuable enough to be worth billions of dollars) isn't important enough to put them into anti-monopoly danger. Sony is of course twisting the knife and claiming Call of Duty is an "essential" franchise within the gaming sector and beyond. Regardless of who wins, we decided to take it as an opportunity to talk about the long-running franchise, its current influence, as well as what other franchises seem essential in today's landscape.

Get our your cat ears and ready your fursona, it's time to talk about Stray, a game all about being a cat, hanging out with robots, and knocking things off shelves.

Show Notes:

* Music from the Stray OST

Well it figures: we voice our doubts about God of War Ragnarok's release date and Sony turns around and dunks a 2022 date right in our faces. We were both totally surprised by the news, which got us thinking about other big and unexpected video game releases from past years. This week, we talk about some of the events that have slipped by our prognostication prowess and why they were such memorable surprises.

This week on the EXP Podcast, it's co-op puzzlers, action puzzlers, and a curiously-named RPG from the early 90s. We are chatting about some games we've been playing!