Tom Chick

Robots don’t just come from the future. Sometimes they come from the past.

Next: Dr. Sleep

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Can Jason McMaster explain the baby soon to be on his doorstep? Can we get Nick Diamon to call something “visually stunning”? What is Tom Chick’s deal with Bolo Santosi?

Outer Worlds at 7:34, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at 22:57, and Indivisible at 36:53.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Red Faction: Guerilla not only introduced the idea of a fully destructible world, but it remains the only example of it 10 years later.  It could have been a revolution. But fully destructible worlds are hard to do. Level designers also have to be architects, because understanding how a building collapses also requires understanding how it’s built.  The ingame physics require elaborate rules for destruction. Weight distribution, stress, intricate collision detection, gravity, kinetic energy, all interacting to do something that would be much easier to script with a set of canned animations.  It’s much easier to fake it. The rules for chaos are many and complex. That’s why it’s called chaos. So videogame developers carried on, pretending like Red Faction: Guerilla never happened. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. It’s also a perfectly viable approach to game design.

There is no such excuse for why more games don’t copy Depths of Peril, an action RPG with a dynamic world instead of a field that grows loot and monsters to be harvested and grown all over again.  Depths of Peril was a revolutionary action RPG in which the world changes as much as the hero. 12 years later and there’s only one guy copying this idea. And he’s the same guy who made Depths of Peril.  It’s a failure of videogame development that Soldak Entertainment’s Steven Peeler doesn’t have any competition.  

Comments

From the director of The Witch?

Next: Terminator: Dark Fate

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

I just got a new car and, let me tell you, it is something else.  It feels remarkable. The steering wheel under my fingertips, the responsive grip of the tires on the road, the graceful suspension, the throaty purr of the engine.  And the interior! Plush seats that feel like they were made to fit me, fancy leather, lots of cool lights on the dashboard. It’s a dream to drive this thing, to sit in it, to take it across town, to admire it.  

Well, it would be if it weren’t for a couple of features.  

Comments

Why are games called what they’re called instead of games that should have been called that? Why isn’t Space Base called Among the Stars, why isn’t Paper Tales called Vorpal, and why isn’t Arkham Noir called Arkham Horror?

Space Base at :51, Paper Tales at 16:04, and Arkham Noir at 34:20.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Give us your lunch money or we’ll make you listen to us talk about bullies in movies for an hour, starting at the 33:09 mark. But first, we’ve seen a few movies we want to tell you about.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark at 3:21, Stuber at 10:30, and First Man at 17:24.

Next: The Lighthouse

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Tom Chick talks about a movie called The Boat, Bruce Geryk talks about the short stories of Flannery O’Connor, and Jason McMaster talks about how to find illegal drugs. We also talk about some videogames we’ve been playing.

Sea Salt at 2:54, Slay the Spire at 22:43, and Disco Elysium at 42:42.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

It’s been ten years! Can you believe it? Ten years. That’s also how long ago the first Zombieland came out.

Next: a 3×3 about bullies

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

One of us has gotten our hands on the latest from Stonemeier Games. Tom Chick, Hassan Lopez, and Mike Pollmann also consider games with split personalities and boxes containing 92 tiny space ships.

Tapestry at 2:45, Bosk at 27:41, and Red Alert: Space Fleet Warfare at 41:32.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Well, its nothing if not divisive. So at least that part worked.

Next: Zombieland: Doubletap

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

What if Jason McMaster was the sole survivor of an aircraft crash along with about 70 other people? What if videogame masochist Nick Diamon got to play a game he actually liked? What if Tom Chick wasn’t so scared of Factorio? This week, we answer these question and more.

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint at 1:41, The Surge 2 at 18:36, and Mindustry at 34:37.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Let’s find out what happens when you shoot Brad Pitt into outer space!

Next: Joker

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

What’s a religious cult to do when the world actually ends, how do you raise a young civilization in the Mediterranean, and what’s the orange cube again? Tom Chick, Bruce Geryk, and Hassan Lopez consider these questions and more.

Prophets of Doom at 3:07, Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea at 15:48, and Lords of Waterdeep at 47:25.

Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments

Let’s talk about notable scenes of kids being put to bed, something we’ve all either done or had done to us. It starts at 34:19. But first, we’ve seen movies! Burning at 2:00, Corporate Animals at 15:35, and The House at the End of the Street at 27:30.

Next: Ad Astra

Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments