Waypoint Radio

After a massive 4/20 stream involving Spy Party, Battletech, and building various Nintendo Labo projects, Austin, Patrick and Danielle have plenty to talk about. But there's much more than that on this cast, which includes thoughts on Swords of Ditto, David Cage's latest controversy, and... 60s board games. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Austin at a work event, Danielle, Patrick and Rob discuss their own uneasy relationships with hype—say, around a game as big as the new God of War—and how they navigate the joys and sorrows of buzz around big games. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Patrick and Danielle got together to discuss the hulking behemoth of the moment: God of War. They stay away from spoilers, but get at the games themes, combat and sheer size. Then they chat up the Zelda-with-a-twist antics of Minit and get some quality question bucket time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danielle, Patrick, Rob, and Austin gather to discuss the topic of game marketers occasionally telling a more interesting story than the game that's being sold. They touch on Far Cry 5, Dead Island, No Man's Sky, Bioshock Infinite and more, with a dash of stories about raves in empty Toys R' Us stores for flavor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Waypoint’s Patrick Klepek gives us his review of Sony’s latest entry in the long, bloody God of War series. Watch as he unpacks how a story about Kratos, a violent man who doesn’t deserve redemption, tries to reconcile his past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During PAX East 2018, Waypoint's own Joel and Rob sat down with Celtics forward Gordon Hayward: himself a competitive League of Legends player—to talk about esports, basketball, and using games as a healthy, competitive outlet while injured. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Rob, Danika, and Patrick led a rousing discussion from the Waypoint Radio Live panel this PAX East, with talk of all the games from the show floor - including Phantom Doctrine and Due Process. They also ate some mysterious food, including the mythical McGoosta! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Zacny tackles MLB The Show 18 and then talks to Austin about sports, politics, religion, and every other damn thing.Read along right here: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/gym5yy/mlb-the-show-18-dreams-of-escape-from-politics-and-damn-its-tempting Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

​Heads up: We get into spoiler territory for A Way Out from around 20:35 until 36:00. ​Everyone on the panel has finished A Way Out so it's time for some final thoughts on the game overall before we dive into a spoiler-rich discussion of the last act and different endings. The gang also digs into the Fortnite phenomenon, as Patrick unpacks the degree to which the game has taken over teenage and young adult culture. Speaking of feeling out of touch with the culture, why do streamers keep using that slur? Judging from the quality of the almost-daily public apologies we're getting, a lot of them still seem shaky on why they shouldn't.Here's Patrick's piece​ on Fortnite​'s tremendous popularity in schools: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/59j9pk/teachers-and-parents-share-stories-from-inside-the-fortnite-phenomenonHere's the Twitter thread​ Austin mentioned about how the FGC took steps to reform some attitudes and behaviors: https://twitter.com/HoldenShearer/status/980404490938482688 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danielle, Austin, Rob and Patrick have been playing a whole bunch of games lately that are more fun to, well, make our own fun in. Like Sea of Thieves, and A Way Out—but also, in streaming Far Cry 5, Bloodborne, and Into the Breach. We talk improv, role play, and all the ways we like to make our own fun in games, and then, read a slew of listener stories about the way they play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin reads his review of Far Cry 5 and discusses the game with host Rob Zacny. New changes to the structure are welcomed, but Far Cry 5, Austin says, has no confidence and no heart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Patrick, Rob and Danielle gather around the proverbial campfire to discuss Far Cry 5, a game that does very little with its political ambitions (and fire mechanics), A Way Out, a prison break game that is a little broken, and more tales from Sea of Thieves. Then, we all get into endorsements (which we still need a more original term for.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danielle, Austin, Rob and Patrick took some time today to discuss their week of writing stories about the relationship between guns and games. We interviewed game developers who never shoot in games, an academic who studies the relationship between games and violence (and lack of strong correlation), and wrote and edited critical pieces on games as cultural objects, customizable trophies, and much, much more. We also discuss Canadian pizza, because, of course we do. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finally, Austin and Danika have a chance to process Drake’s recent takeover of Twitch, while Danielle and Patrick scratch their heads. We talk through our early hours with the surprisingly delightful Sea of Thieves, and introduce a new segment at the end: recommendations from the group. You’ve been, uh, warned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As people who play games, we often take the notion that games don’t correlate to real-life violence for granted. But what’s the science behind that statement? How did we get there? To learn more, I spoke with Villanova University professor of psychology Patrick Markey, co-author of the 2017 book Mortal Kombat: Why the War on Violent Video Games Is Wrong.Like most of the country, all of us at Waypoint spent the last month processing the horror of yet another school shooting, while simultaneously admiring the bravery of the student survivors from Parkland, Florida rising up, demanding change, and pushing back.In the lead up to this weekend’s March for Our Lives event, Waypoint is publishing a series of stories this week about gaming’s relationship with guns. To be clear, we’re not suggesting playing games, even violent games, causes real-life violence, but as Austin said in a piece earlier from today, “that doesn’t mean that the way guns and violence are portrayed in our favorite hobby cannot test our consciousness or that we cannot be critical of their depiction.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Patrick, Rob and Danielle discuss the sad news that is the end of Toys R Us, the store that has always held a special place in our gaming childhoods. We also discuss recent news about Luigi's bulge. It's a very special Friday episode of Waypoint Radio! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sci-fi, Tarkovsky, gender politics, World War II, STALKER, centrism, subs vs. dubs... this Metro 2033-focused episode of Waypoint 101 has it all! Join Austin, Danielle, and Rob for a in-depth and wide-ranging discussion of 4A Games' 2010 adaptation of Sergei Glukhovsky's 2005 post-apocalyptic novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Rob, Danielle, and Patrick are all about playing mecha tactics game Into the Breach lately, though some have caught the bug worse than others. Austin talks Far Cry 5, Patrick also played Florence, and Rob is all about the low-fi beauty of Command Ops 2. Then, we take a nice, refreshing dive into the question bucket. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Waypoint published a piece this week about a professor who’s cataloged more than 2,000 soda machines in video games, which got Danielle, Rob, and Patrick thinking about the different ways games choose to represent the most innocuous parts of real-life. It’s always handy to have an excuse to get very nostalgic about flushing toilets in Duke Nukem 3D. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Danika, Patrick and Danielle recount their stories of weekend triumphs, fending off creatures in Hunt: Showdown, wrecking Anjanaths and dragons in Monster Hunter, playing BioShock again and eagerly awaiting Prey DLC. There's also some solid reality show talk and a shred of good advice (we hope!) for new writers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick, Austin and Danielle ponder games that have crossed the thin red line from beloved to hated, and how to define where that line actually gets drawn, after all. It's a slightly quicker, but still meaty pod for a stormy Friday! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Rob, Patrick and Danielle dig into the politics, performances, and problems of Marvel's latest film, Black Panther. During our spoiler-filled discussion, we cover everything from the disrobing of Michael B. Jordan to the frustrating (centrist?) answers the movie offers in response to some of its big questions. Wakanda forever? Wakanda forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The follow up to 'FTL' isn't the game you might have expected. But it's still a must play. Listen to Austin Walker read his review of the latest from Subset Games, and be sure to stick around for the conversation he and host Rob Zacny have afterwards! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's an especially monday Monday, but that didn't stop Patrick, Austin, and Danielle from discussing their latest adventures. Patrick's playing Moss, a very cute VR game about the adventures of a mouse named Quill. Austin is all about Into the Breach, a mecha strategy game from the FTL developers. And Danielle is all about Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, but with a few disclaimers (like the fact that Austin did contract work on it). Then they dip into a serious, forward-looking question bucket. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most games let you be a “good” person because that’s just how things usually go, but what if more games pushed players outside moral and ethical comfort zones? This week, Rob wrote about how games can uncomfortably reflect who we are as people, which Rob, Patrick, Austin, and Danielle used to more broadly discuss why games don’t ask more from players. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance, an open world medieval RPG set during the Holy Roman Empire, launched earlier this week, and it's already an enormous hit. Waypoint hasn't covered the game yet, partially because we've struggled over how to over a game whose creative director has both publicly and forcefully supported GamerGate and made highly questionable statements about the game's "historical" accuracy regarding representing people of color. Maybe we shouldn't cover it all? On the podcast, Austin, Patrick, and Danielle decided it was time to have a public conversation about all this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a rousing pod today as Austin, Rob, Patrick and Danielle talk about Monster Hunter, "theatrical" minigolf, Dynasty Warriors 9, Civilization 6, All our Asias, and the PS1 aesthetic, and enjoy a refreshing dip in the question bucket. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things have been rough lately. The last couple of years have made it incredibly clear that aspects of American culture that many convinced themselves were latent or diminished were only lurking quietly in the background. We've also seen new forces mobilized, driven by fear and nihilism, to dehumanize others—especially those in the margins.So, uh, where do video games fit into this?Well, that's the question I was asked by the NYU Game Center, who invited me to give a guest lecture titled "Making and Playing Games in a Time of Political Struggle." Thanks again for the NYU Game Center for hosting me, Frank Lantz for the post-talk interview, and to everyone who came out, asked questions, and offered their support and interest! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austin, Danika, Patrick and Danielle discuss a whole slew of interconnected stream celebrity issues, first, looking at Twitch and Mixer's new rules. We also look into the curious cases of Dr DisRespect and Logan Paul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

​In today's episode of Waypoint Radio, Danika, Austin, Patrick and Danielle discuss Superbowl antics, Monster Hunter, and the excellent pixellated platformers we're playing—including Celeste and Dandara, a Metroid-y Soulslike—before shifting over to Yakuza chat. There will be dads, and especially dads in white pants. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of video game villains are cartoonish and over-the-top, but as Danika Harrod argued in a piece on Waypoint this week, sometimes games go too far in trying to make the point that evil people are evil. Danielle, Rob, and myself huddled around some microphones to use Danika’s piece as a launching pad for a broader discussion about how games use villains, prompting us to discuss everything from BioShock Infinite to Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest Waypoint 101 excursion, Patrick, Rob, and Austin tackle the grim London of Zombi. Originally ZombiU, an early Wii U game later adapted to other platforms, the game impressed the panel with its tension, early digital video aesthetic, and fresh, high-stakes take on surviving one of video games' most tired settings: the zombie apocalypse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Monster Hunter: World is a very good game, but as Austin pointed out in his review last week, it’s a game that “offers intricate environments, lively creatures, kinetic combat... and a dash of colonialist fantasy." Austin, Patrick, and Rob talk about what to do with complicated (and often contradictory) feelings regarding a video game you’re enjoying, while checking in on Rob’s attempts to survive the zombie hordes in the strategy game We Are Billions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This new world offers intricate environments, lively creatures, kinetic combat... and a dash of colonialist fantasy. Waypoint's Austin Walker shares his thoughts. You can read (and watch!) the full review at https://tinyurl.com/waypointmonhun Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

​On Waypoint's day off last week, a series of investigations into Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream broke out of France, outlining allegations of a deeply toxic studio culture. (There are good write-ups on both Kotaku​ and Eurogamer​.) Austin, Danielle, Rob, and Patrick consider this means for one of 2018's more high-profile games, and what we're supposed to with this information when eventually playing Detroit: Become Human. Elsewhere, we discuss our time with The Red Strings Club, Celeste, and They Are Billions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Monster Hunter: World on the horizon, it seemed like the perfect time to discuss the reasons why some games—or game series—have proven tough for us to wrap our heads around. Sometimes, it’s design. Other times, it’s the community around the game. Austin, Danielle, and Patrick hopped on microphones to use Monster Hunter as a starting point for this larger question, which dragged in everything from Dark Souls to Darkest Dungeon. (The embargo is up on World next week. Stay tuned for more!). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We had a special treat this week at Waypoint HQ, with the whole team in town for meetings, streams, and this very podcast. So Patrick, Austin, Rob and Danielle talked about “forever” games, thanks to two pieces Patrick wrote this week, on a Mario Maker Creator who has spent close to 2000 hours playing his almost-impossible creation, and on a Die Hard Desert Golf fan who found the elusive ending to his favorite game. We chat about our very own “forever” games, from the endless appeal of immersive sims to the promise of near-infinite space in No Man’s Sky, and Patrick gets a very special surprise at the end! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Waypoint loves video games, which is why Austin, Rob, Danielle, and Patrick spend the first 20 minutes of this podcast talking about The Thing and the 80s anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Of course. Later, we discuss the defense-oriented brawler Way of the Passive Fist, re-visiting Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn through DLC, the good boys of Yakuza 0, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a few different Waypoint editors taking some time off this week, Danielle and Patrick are joined by one of our more regular writers, Cameron Kunzelman, to break down my piece arguing Assassin’s Creed should ditch its sci-fi trappings. Somehow, we end up talking about the Hellraiser movie that takes place in space, a bizarre D&D campaign called Spelljammers, and why we get hung up on the notion of “it’s good for a video game.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2018 is here! At least, it should be. This podcast description was written in 2017, so if something happens between now and then, apologies. Maybe it was the alien alloys? In any case, before everyone returns to the office and begins formulating another year of hot takes, Austin, Rob, and Patrick returned to The Question Bucket. Yes, we still have questions from more than a year ago. No, we didn't get to all of them. Sorry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are so many games we've yet to finish from 2017, but in a few days, 2018 will be here. Though we've spent much of this week taking stock of the year that was, now's a chance to think about what we'll be playing and talking about in the months ahead. Austin, Danielle, Rob, and Patrick looked through the calendar and came up with four games we'll be hot taking in 2018. (Yes, we're aware one of the games we discussed, Psychonauts 2, has already been delayed out of 2018. Oops.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone knows video games have to make money somehow, but the question over how games make money became one of the central arguments in 2017, as various big name publishers brought one of the most popular ways to monetize mobile and free-to-play games—loot boxes—into the mainstream. Now, governments around the world are looking into whether loot boxes should stick around. Austin, Rob, and Patrick got together to break down the past, present, and future of loot boxes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Because there were so many games to love in 2017, there was a pretty good chance our individual top 10 lists were going to include games no one else featured. In an effort to give every possible game its due, Austin, Danielle, Rob, and Patrick decided to huddle around some microphones and propose and champion a game that came exclusively from one of our own lists. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the big reasons Waypoint exists was to create a space where it was not only accepted to talk about games and politics, but encouraged. That we stumbled into a year where politics dominated every conversation, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, only underscored our point. To take a closer look at the intersection of gaming and politics in 2017, Austin, Rob, Danielle, and Patrick gathered around their microphones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's no reason a game of the year list can't be filled with 15 or 20 games, but by constraining the list to only 10 games, you're forced into making interesting decisions about what you truly valued in the past year. Of course, that means leaving some games behind, especially in 2017! For today's podcast, Austin, Danielle, Rob, and myself picked one game that didn't make the list, and made the case for why it's great. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In-between preparing for next week's holiday break and organizing our game of the year lists, the Waypoint staff has been unable to shake this weird story from The New York Times that, seriously and soberly, suggests aliens are, uh, real?? With the rest of the Fake News mainstream media ignoring this extremely important story, it was time for Austin, Danielle, Rob, and Patrick to weigh in. Also, machine elves. MACHINE ELVES. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are only a few more days before the Waypoint staff has to finalize their game of the year lists, which means everyone is hurrying through various games, trying to figure out if there's a game they missed (or forgot about). This prompts myself, Austin, Rob, and Danielle to talk about everything from the subtle genius of Resident Evil 7, characters being jerks in Night in the Woods, the bad opening hours of Gravity Rush 2, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Few movie franchises inspire as many hot takes as Star Wars, and with the latest film dropping, you can already feel the Internet shaking. There are zero The Last Jedi spoilers in this podcast, but the movie's release prompted Patrick, Danielle, and Austin to consider why people so compelled to deliver their opinions ASAP, how hot takes relate to spoiler culture, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new trailer for Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Ready Player One dropped this weekend, which prompts Austin, myself, and Rob into a longer discussion about Ready Player One as a work, the kinds of films Spielberg is making these days, and more. We also dig into the new desert map in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and why Rob is playing so much Dead Rising 3. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week, the popular crowdfunding service Patreon announced some controversial changes to the way it handles processing payments, and basically nobody's happy about it? To wrap our heads around the rocky future of media and react to 2017's Keighleys, CNET editor editor at large (and frequent guest of Giant Bomb's Beastcast podcast) Jeff Bakalar joined Patrick, Rob, and Austin. We also spend way too much time speculating about a 30 second teaser for FromSoftware's new game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.