Claim OwnershipEmotive Pixels: The Year of AAA Videogames
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© Nate, Craig, Pauly and Will
Description
A one-game-at-a-time deep dive show. We take a game, spoil its plot, and get deep into the weeds debating random aspects of it, just like you would with your book club friends. In Season 5 we are exploring AAA games and what that term means. We try to keep it friendly to people who haven't played the games.
101 Episodes
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We get deep into the plot of this large JRPG political election story, its metatextual commentaries (or lack thereof) on 16th century English authors, and its intertwining of Medieval royal succession and liberal democracy.
We break the hearts of fandom as we are baffled by the rampaging success of Baldur's Gate 3, an interesting game made of many spectacular details that don't cohere for us into something that we like playing - a game whose reception and accolades led us to be very confused: "It's all informed by the next sentence you don't get to pick."Part 2 in our evolving series of wrestling with understanding the inherent appeal of all-consuming and frictional media objects.
We continue our investigation of what big-budget gaming means with one of the titans of AAA graphical fidelity, marred by a rocky launch. Yet, after 4 years, the game captivates us all. Was it all the dollars spent on Polish demoscene graphics programmers, fantastic voice acting, and Studio Trigger tie-ins?
Season 5 is all about AAA gaming in 2025, and in episode 1 we inspect the EA-published Immortals of Aveum, which was declared a commercial failure last year, with most of its studio laid off. What is going on in the game - can we find a reason for its lack of success? Is it actually an indie game in disguise, and is that what "AA" gaming is? Remap Radio interview with Bret Robbins
We ride the cozy caravan into the storm in this charming open world. We ponder identity, coziness, and the differing texture between this and Sable.
We dive deep into the mind of a lekky on a crumbling North Shore oil rig as the otherworldly manifestation of our avoidance gives us a hard time.
We press through the fog of trauma.
We fall into the Olympic Peninsula trauma-bonded to a four-wheel Object of Power.
Pacific Drive and the New Weird
A Shell in the Pit's website
Dear Dwery: Pacific Drive with Alexander Dracott
We probe the tender and potentially autistic-coded Harold Halibut, a German narrative game handmade with over 200kg of clay.
Three gamers absolutely fail to grok a cultural phenomenon that uniquely represents today's neoliberal world.
Ordered map of Elden Ring
Hustling Souls — Hard games and neoliberal catharsis
Hollywood's Downfall
Hidetaka Miyazaki on guides
We question the voice in our head during a surrealist existentialist Siberian adventure about faith and relationships, full of a lot of interesting and satisfying mechanics. This game has it all!
We are gripped by poker-solitaire fever.
Playing Balatro is Like Being Elon Musk on Ketamine
We regale in deep philosophy and fantastic Yugoslav architecture.
We aim to hit the best line of loving Forza without comparing to Gran Turismo, but end up off-track.
We attempt to fit Alan Wake 2 in the Alan-Wake-2-shaped-hole in Nate's heart labeled "POSTMODERN MEDIA THEORY".
We remove all the limbs, and are not triggered by any of it. In a bonus segment, we also fail to escape prison.
We visit Mortimer Goth's digs while creating a gorgeous but confusing [Loading...] bridge to the undead and time-warped.
Craig has a blast being a dog.
We try to classify Alan Wake, like, as a person.
Alan Wake from the Control universe
We tango our way through the tensions between Finance and R&D.
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