Category Archives: Games

2013 in Review

Posted on by Leave a comment
2013

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

No lists or best of the best choices here, just pure old-fashioned rambling and nonsense in our own 2013 in Review episode! The original team of Earl, Brent Peckham, and Tony [redacted] are back to talk about the things they checked out and didn’t get to talk about in previous episodes. They get into everything from Out of the Furnace, to Final Fantasy 14, to Paul Walker’s untimely demise, to Aziz Ansari’s latest special, and to Justified, among many others. Along the way, Earl gets tipsy, Brent reveals he’s extremely old, and Tony stays quiet about some of his current endeavours.

Guests:
Brent Peckham
“Well we’re off to a great start” Tony

Audio notes: (1hr. 18min. runtime)
0:01:50 – Orphan Black, Sharknado, Out of the Furnace, Homefront, Beyonce, and Frozen
0:15:00 – Netflix, The Bletchley Circle, House of Cards, Amazon Prime, and Alpha House
0:22:00 – Elysium, Neill Blomkamp, Duncan Jones, 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen, & Oscars
0:31:30 – Luther, Idris Elba, Nathan For You, Aziz Ansari, and stand-up specials
0:41:45 – Games, Final Fantasy, Beyond Two Souls, No Man’s Sky, Ready Player One, GTAV, & Persona 5
1:01:55 – Paul Walker and Fast & Furious franchise
1:05:35 – FX in January, and Justified
1:06:50 – 2014, Interstellar, Jupiter Ascending, 22 Jump Street, Captain America, and Marvel films

Theme: Coconut Robot2 (James Pants) / CC BY 3.0
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!

Gone Home

Posted on by Leave a comment
AKOP_gonehome

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

This episode, we go through Gone Home! We invite over Brent Peckham again and newcomer Susan King to talk about the critically-acclaimed indie game, unravel its narrative and themes, compare it to Bioshock and The Stanley Parable, and the possibilities of storytelling in video games. And of course we inevitably get off track by pitching terrible ideas for sequels. So grab your cassette player (or whatever you folks have in 2013) and press play! (Full spoilers for this episode.)

Guests:
Brent Peckham
Susan King

Supplementary notes:
Gone Home Trailer

Audio notes: (58min. runtime)
02:50 – Recommending the game, and its price tag
07:30 – Sam’s story, and exploring the secondary storylines
13:55 – Uncle’s story, the dad’s story, and being a writer
19:00 – Family, trauma, and sexuality
24:05 – The mom’s storyline
29:05 – Building tension, subverting expectations, and game length
35:55 – Comparing to Bioshock and The Stanley Parable, and the potential of games
41:05 – The Fullbright Company, exploration, and narrative
46:10 – Structure, game elements, and pitching ideas for future games
50:35 – Comparing to Resident Evil, music and sound design, and player agency
54:45 – Experience watching other people play games

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!

The Walking Dead

Posted on by Leave a comment
AKOP_Covers_WalkingDead

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

In time for Halloween, this episode is all about The Walking Dead! The comic’s recently done its 100th issue, the TV series is back on the air, and the video game’s just posted a trailer for its new season, so it’s a perfect time to talk about the whole franchise. Earl brings Brent back to talk about the zombie post-apocalyptic series, its growing popularity, critique its writing and characters, and how the games deal with the illusion of choice. And somehow, Brent manages to compare the show to Burn Notice. Board up the windows and shamble over to that play button! (Spoilers up to Issue #48, Season 3 of the TV series, and Season 1, minus DLC, of the game.)

Guests:
Brent Peckham

Supplementary notes:
The Walking Dead Game – Season 1 Trailer
The Walking Dead – Season 1 TV Trailer
Bioshock Infinite baptism controversy

Audio notes: (1hr. 6min. runtime)
02:05 – Intro to the franchise and its popularity
17:05 – The Walking Dead video game
25:05 – (Spoilers start here.) Treatment of female characters, and writing
33:50 – Differences between comics and show
35:55 – The game, illusion of choice, and the Season 1 ending
45:15 – Comparing with The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite
52:50 – Nebulous crossovers, and does the series go too far?
59:55 – Connecting with the characters

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!

The Last of Us

Posted on by Leave a comment
AKOP-Covers_TheLastofUs

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

This episode of All Kinds of Philler is all about The Last of Us: a tense, bloody, emotional, and morally complex video game. In other words, it’s the feel-good hit of the summer! Earl bands together with Brent and newcomer Stephen to discuss the critically-acclaimed survival horror game, the theme of partnerships, violence, enemy AI, and executing post-apocalyptic tropes. They also end up talking about Tomb Raider, and why Ellie looks a lot like Ellen Page. (Spoilers on the entire game.)

Guests:
Brent Peckham
Stephen

Supplementary Notes:
Story Trailer

Audio notes: (1hr. 8min. runtime)
00:30 – Intro to The Last of Us
01:40 – The prologue, Sarah, Joel’s morality, and evoking post-apocalyptic fiction
07:45 – Partnerships, Ishmael, Bill, Tess, Sam & Henry, and Joel & Ellie
17:25 – Realism, AI and level design, Uncharted, and game mechanics
29:20 – Emotional weight to each kill, Joel’s brutality, and the killcams
34:06 – The four seasons as chapters, and the Utah scene
38:10 – “It’s not a fun game!”, emotional drain, The Walking Dead, and cannibalism
42:55 – Threat of sexual violence, lack of female enemies or child clickers, and David
48:35 – The Firefly battle, dissonance between player & Joel, and the final scene
58:35 – Graphics, glitches, voice acting, and Ellen Page
61:20 – Comparisons to Tomb Raider
66:00 – Stephen and Brent’s playlists

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!

Adaptations

Posted on by Leave a comment
AKOP-Cover_Adaptations

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

All Kinds of Philler: Based on the musical based on the film based on the book based on the podcast! This episode is all about Adaptations, which means comic books turned into shows, toys turned into movies, books turned into plays, and so on. Earl chats with Andrew on some recent examples of adaptations good and bad, what changes in translating between media, and nitpick on their favourite shows and films. They also discuss a bit of Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Mortal Kombat, Transformers, and even Pokemon. Minor spoilers throughout, and major spoilers in the Walking Dead section, so fair warning.

Guests:
Andrew Lawrence

Audio notes: (1hr. 7min. runtime)
00:40 – Batman vs. Iron Man vs. Great Gatsby
04:00 – Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing & 10 Things I Hate About You
13:05 – Multiple adaptations, Speed Racer & Jonny Quest
20:30 – Adapting between media, Mortal Kombat & X-Men
30:00 – Changes in adaptations & The Walking Dead
43:35 – Comic book TV shows, Agents of SHIELD & Smallville
52:20 – Toy properties, The Lego Movie & Transformers
58:40 – Movie premiere swag & Pokemon
63:40 – Andrew’s Playlist: Final Fantasy 8

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!
Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!

Page 5 of 6« First...23456