Ever since Double Fine Adventure (a.k.a. Broken Age), Kickstarter has been the go-to place to fund games in genres long-thought dead (e.g. Adventure Games), by creators long thought dead (e.g. Al Lowe — kidding! We love ya puddin’), or franchises long thought dead (e.g. the Mega Man-esque Migthy No. 9 by Keiji Inafune). Is this a good thing? And can it possibly last? Vinnk and Sean discuss their one-night-only Madison Underground live show, including the story of being accosted by a supposedly off-duty Marine while filming some footage for the show. It’s a long story, and we totally tell it! We also talk about which Kickstarter games are the most interesting, which ones we’ve funnded and played, and whether or not having a Wii U stretch goal is an absolute necessity (well, Sean thinks so). We also tried out some “delicious” Pepsi-flavored Cheetos — complete with video!
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What companies or individuals make games that you will buy just because their name is on it? Vinnk and Sean examine the perils and the pitfalls of Developer Worship, and wonder aloud if there’s really anything our favorite personalites and companies can do to make us hate them. We list some of our favorites: Harmonix, Square and Enix (before they were one company), BioWare, Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51 and more! Which ones are your favorites, and why?
Injuries in video games tend to be minor annoyances rather than the game-stopping events they should be. But wouldn’t having to heal from actual injuries be a sure way to kill gaming fun? Vinnk and Sean discuss how injury has been taken out of games with the advent of armor and shielding, and on the other side of the spectrum games that are all about healing. And somewhere in between, there’s the worst offender of the blurry line between life, death, and severe crippling injury: RPGs. Also, we give out copious amounts of Phoenix Downs.
When did video games start using “lives”? More importantly, when and why did they stop? With this changing, what does it mean to die in a game? Vinnk and SeanOrange examine the games that pioneered this mechanism, and take a look at when and why it started changing. Was it with games like Myst, or did adventure-style games always buck this trend? Has the fall of arcade gaming lead games to be easier, and therefore no longer need “lives”?