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Storytelling, Ghosts, & Pop Culture Wormholes

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On this episode, Earl and Shawn hang out with Keith McNally before he ships out for the Maritimes! They fall down the pop culture rabbit hole of ’80s TV shows, cancelled series, movie novelizations, and Keith was up to in ye olden days of the internet. They also get into storytelling, how it works in video games, branching storylines, and rag on Bioshock Infinite a lot. And along the way, Keith reveals his wrestling magazine knowledge, Shawn wants to start a Josie and the Pussycats tumblr, and Earl invokes the vengeful spirit of Roger Ebert.

Guest:
Keith McNally (@keithmcnally) – Host of The Vinyl Countdown

What we’ve been checking out:
Keith: High Maintenance (Webseries)
Shawn: Summer Games Done Quick (Speedrun videos)
Earl: Rectify (TV)

Audio notes: (1hr. 16min. runtime)
0:00:50 – Introducing Keith, olden days of the internet, Roger Ebert, and movie novelizations
0:09:50 – Firefly, cancelled shows, Quantum Leap, Sliders, The A-Team, and TV finales
0:18:35 – Books on games, Worlds of Power, working at a comic book shop, travelling, and stories in games
0:29:00 – Mass Effect, GTA, multiple endings, branching stories, and voices in Stanley Parable & Gone Home
0:41:05 – Bioshock series, travelling through space and time, comparing to The Last of Us, and Ghost of the Year
0:54:25 – Kentucky Route Zero, David Cage & Heavy Rain, playing hard games, and indie games
1:09:55 – What’s everyone checking out?

Theme: Coconut Robot2 (James Pants) / CC BY 3.0
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The Last of Us

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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

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Follow us (@AKOPPodcast or @phillerworks) or email us at akop@phillerworks.com!