We haven’t had a book recommendation from Justin lately, what’s he (or any of the rest of the crew) been reading lately?
Personally I have really been enjoying Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. “Demon” won last years Pulitzer and it’s set in Appalachia (near the Tennessee/Virginia border) so I’d be curious what the McElroys think of it, being from the same region. I’m from Tennessee myself and find it really exciting to find a modern Southern author exploring the region through her literature in a way that isn’t exploitative or pitying. Anyway, highly rec’d!
I started playing Thank Goodness You're Here! after listening to the episode and it RIPS, genuinely so funny! Really like the little details like if you stop, you can listen into a conversation that goes nowhere but is funny
With Griffin mentioning (albeit not the first time and probably not the last) having a kid and not having a lot of game time, I know all of the Besties have kids, do you think you’ll be spending a lot of time once your kids are out of the nest on games?
And as a follow up question, do you look forward to being able to play games with your kids once they’re all grown up and can keep up with you? If so what games specifically do you look forward to just dumping a lot of hours into together?
Would like to say, I loved the chats this episode about how your appreciation of games changes over time. Recently I have found really appreciating seeing games evolution. I'm 46 and just being able to identify the through line of different mechanics from games I played in the 80s all the way to now is really fascinating. There's a whole language. It's not unlike the visual and audio language in cinema or the literary language of books.
It took me a long time to realise that videogames were the same, and enjoying that, has given me a new appreciation of the medium. Coming to that realisation reinvigorated my love for the medium. Honestly I wish I'd gone into games journalism!
Hey all! Just wanted to share a game I've been obsessed with lately, it's called Emberward. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459550/Emberward/ It's a tower defense game where you get to use Tetris pieces to make your own maze for the enemies to go through, with a touch of Slay the Spire. It's early access but very addicting if you like rouge-lite or tower defense games!
A while back, the question of “what other games/sports should Mario and friends play,” following tennis, golf, etc. I want to make an earnest case for American Football, and I think it would appeal to football fans and non-fans alike. First, the game could truly capitalize on all the characters being wildly different sizes. While it’s silly to watch Baby Mario play tennis vs. Bowser, who’s ten times his size, it’s not practically relevant aside from the smaller character being a bit faster and larger character a bit stronger. Since some real-life football players are literally double the weight of others, depending on their position, it would be fun to implement those differences strategically and build custom rosters. I think the strategy could be fun on a superficial level for kids, a big target audience for Mario sports games, but also have more complex layers for fans who want to go deeper (similar to Pokémon games). Finally, even the most stalwart NFL fans admit to “Madden fatigue,” since there are so few football video game alternatives. Nintendo may shy away from the idea due to a lack of appeal outside of the U.S., but that’s clearly never stopped EA from making, and selling, a new Madden every year.
Do you agree? And if so, what would your pro-bowl lineup be in “Super Mario Blitz”?
So the music in Steam World Heist and SWH 2 is an amazing indie band called Steam Powered Giraffe. I have loved them for years and their music is a hoot. I HIGHLY recommend y'all check them out. They are on Spotify and YouTube and all the other places.
I'm a bit behind on the podcast but I had to comment and tell y'all to check out the stop-motion video game Feltopia. Just heard about it and it looks incredible!
Hi Besties! I have a question! Do you have any games that really had an effect on you or you really enjoyed, but seem to be buried by the passage of time? For me, it is Radiata Stories, a Square Enix game from 2005. I played it when it came out and LOVED it, but It never comes up in conversation about JRPGS and I honestly thought I’d made it up for a while!
Regarding the triple A/indie discussion, I think part of the mystique of perceived indies is the clarity of their design — Elden Ring is triple A, but it’s clearly Miyazaki’s baby. Is there any language to distinguish clear vs muddled games, since indie vs triple A has fallen apart?
Vault of the Void recently released on mobile, and I've been loving it. Very Slay the Spire influenced, but more immediately engaging and you get to tweak your deck throughout the run which feels much more forgiving and fun. Definitely think it would be up y'all's alley!
I thought the first Heist was top-tier and I'd have been happy if number 2 was more of the same, but it's great to hear they're capitalizing on it and challenging the class system.
We haven’t had a book recommendation from Justin lately, what’s he (or any of the rest of the crew) been reading lately?
Personally I have really been enjoying Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. “Demon” won last years Pulitzer and it’s set in Appalachia (near the Tennessee/Virginia border) so I’d be curious what the McElroys think of it, being from the same region. I’m from Tennessee myself and find it really exciting to find a modern Southern author exploring the region through her literature in a way that isn’t exploitative or pitying. Anyway, highly rec’d!
Dig never clicked for me, but I liked Build and I played through Heist when I was deployed (on a submarine, coincidentally enough) and loved it.
Very excited to play Heist 2.
I started playing Thank Goodness You're Here! after listening to the episode and it RIPS, genuinely so funny! Really like the little details like if you stop, you can listen into a conversation that goes nowhere but is funny
With Griffin mentioning (albeit not the first time and probably not the last) having a kid and not having a lot of game time, I know all of the Besties have kids, do you think you’ll be spending a lot of time once your kids are out of the nest on games?
And as a follow up question, do you look forward to being able to play games with your kids once they’re all grown up and can keep up with you? If so what games specifically do you look forward to just dumping a lot of hours into together?
I guess that’s 3 questions oop
i dont think there are too many games, but i do think games are too long. We need shorter games!
Would like to say, I loved the chats this episode about how your appreciation of games changes over time. Recently I have found really appreciating seeing games evolution. I'm 46 and just being able to identify the through line of different mechanics from games I played in the 80s all the way to now is really fascinating. There's a whole language. It's not unlike the visual and audio language in cinema or the literary language of books.
It took me a long time to realise that videogames were the same, and enjoying that, has given me a new appreciation of the medium. Coming to that realisation reinvigorated my love for the medium. Honestly I wish I'd gone into games journalism!
Boomerang Fu is great! Surprisingly balanced and approachable multiplayer between my gamer and non-gamer friends. Cool hats too.
Hey all! Just wanted to share a game I've been obsessed with lately, it's called Emberward. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459550/Emberward/ It's a tower defense game where you get to use Tetris pieces to make your own maze for the enemies to go through, with a touch of Slay the Spire. It's early access but very addicting if you like rouge-lite or tower defense games!
A while back, the question of “what other games/sports should Mario and friends play,” following tennis, golf, etc. I want to make an earnest case for American Football, and I think it would appeal to football fans and non-fans alike. First, the game could truly capitalize on all the characters being wildly different sizes. While it’s silly to watch Baby Mario play tennis vs. Bowser, who’s ten times his size, it’s not practically relevant aside from the smaller character being a bit faster and larger character a bit stronger. Since some real-life football players are literally double the weight of others, depending on their position, it would be fun to implement those differences strategically and build custom rosters. I think the strategy could be fun on a superficial level for kids, a big target audience for Mario sports games, but also have more complex layers for fans who want to go deeper (similar to Pokémon games). Finally, even the most stalwart NFL fans admit to “Madden fatigue,” since there are so few football video game alternatives. Nintendo may shy away from the idea due to a lack of appeal outside of the U.S., but that’s clearly never stopped EA from making, and selling, a new Madden every year.
Do you agree? And if so, what would your pro-bowl lineup be in “Super Mario Blitz”?
So the music in Steam World Heist and SWH 2 is an amazing indie band called Steam Powered Giraffe. I have loved them for years and their music is a hoot. I HIGHLY recommend y'all check them out. They are on Spotify and YouTube and all the other places.
I'm a bit behind on the podcast but I had to comment and tell y'all to check out the stop-motion video game Feltopia. Just heard about it and it looks incredible!
Hi Besties! I have a question! Do you have any games that really had an effect on you or you really enjoyed, but seem to be buried by the passage of time? For me, it is Radiata Stories, a Square Enix game from 2005. I played it when it came out and LOVED it, but It never comes up in conversation about JRPGS and I honestly thought I’d made it up for a while!
Regarding the triple A/indie discussion, I think part of the mystique of perceived indies is the clarity of their design — Elden Ring is triple A, but it’s clearly Miyazaki’s baby. Is there any language to distinguish clear vs muddled games, since indie vs triple A has fallen apart?
Vault of the Void recently released on mobile, and I've been loving it. Very Slay the Spire influenced, but more immediately engaging and you get to tweak your deck throughout the run which feels much more forgiving and fun. Definitely think it would be up y'all's alley!
I think blast corps holds up.....
personally, i found it to extremely not hold up! Though i think the concept still comes across as fresh and fun.
I thought the first Heist was top-tier and I'd have been happy if number 2 was more of the same, but it's great to hear they're capitalizing on it and challenging the class system.