Electronic Wireless Show

It's a party podcast this week and you are all invited. Adam likes the shouting and panic of co-op chef game Overcooked. Alice enjoys throwing people around paddling pools in Jelly Stompers. And Brendan will always adore the playdough wrestlers of Gang Beasts. But it's also a minigame special. We've got two new quizzes. One called Pure Steamin' and the other called, er, Patch Alice. What a good pa...

Listen up, 2018! The team have a list of demands and they're not leaving until you've delivered. Or until the one hour playtime is up, whichever comes first. Adam wants more surprises and creativity from big developers, but also Pathologic 2. Alec desires something that will confound and delight him as much as Twin Peaks. And Brendan wants a large city to explore, maybe Cyberpunk 2077. Our listene...

The team discuss the worst games they've played in 2017. John thinks the misogyny of House Party puts it firmly in the bin, and Brendan is still wiping the red dust from his eyes after woeful survival game Rokh. But Matt can't bring himself to call any game terrible, not even Star Wars Battlefront 2. It's not all negative vibes, however. We've also been smiling at pretty and poignant Gorogoa, clim...

The pod squad chat about some of the most overlooked and underappreciated games of this year. Katharine thinks head-in-a-sack sim Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice might qualify, while Adam praises the unsettling tales of Stories Untold. Brendan just wants more people to slap in skinny biffing game Absolver. We've also been playing the magical realist family chronicle What Remains of Edith Finch and na...

The team look at some upcoming games of 2018. Adam is looking forward to smashing big robots with other, bigger robots in Battletech. Matt wants to make trousers from dinosaur skin in Monster Hunter World. And Brendan forgot all about the surreal isometric detective game No Truce With The Furies. We've also got some chat about viking strategy Northgard and some more love for FTL follow-up Into The...

Let's talk about "running away". Ie. games that encourage you to flee from danger, rather than face it. Adam runs from the soldiers of ARMA. Brendan scarpers from poor odds in For Honor. And Alice only *pretends* to run away in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. We also have some Quickfire Questions with Zach Barth of Zachtronics about their alchemy-based puzzler Opus Magnum. Links: How do Alien Isola...

We like Opus Magnum, the new alchemy-based puzzler from Zachtronics. So we decided to have a chat with developer Zach Barth about it. We also talk to him about researching life in China, his short stint at Valve and the reasons he sold his studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The team have accidentally overdosed on EA games, and they don't like it. You could say they're in a ... critical condition! Ha ha ha. But seriously, don't buy the new Need For Speed. Links: Need For Speed Payback is really very terrible indeed: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/14/need-for-speed-payback-review/ ‘We don’t attempt to be too serious’, says Need For Speed developer: https://ww...

The team assemble to pass judgement on the latest shootwar, Call of Duty WWII. John says single player is better than usual and our multiplayer reviewer Matt says he misses the jetpacks. Meanwhile, Brendan has concocted a war-based quiz game. There's also time to horse around in the ancient Egypt of Assassin's Creed Origins, which has psychic eagles, glittering unicorns and a nice photography mode...

Oh no, Brendan is sick. That means there's no new episode this week. But we don't want to leave you hanging, so we've ventured down to the dusty audio archives and pulled out a recording of an old misadventure. Arma 3 is a realistic military sim. But one of its mods, Altis Life, is a strange world in which players become police officers, ambulance drivers and outlaws. In this Ridealong, Brendan jo...

This week we're talking guilty pleasures - the games that make us feel embarrassed but not so much that we won't play them to death. Alec feels a bit sheepish about American Truck Simulator, Matt remembers picking flax in a Runescape field, and Brendan attempts to explain the sea-based boredom of Sailaway. We've also been playing Opus Magnum, the alchemy puzzler from Zachtronics, in which we're st...

The gang talk about their worst nemeses from gaming. Dota 2 magicians, evil JRPG electricity corporations, and giant '@' symbols all deserve our animosity. But there's also the orcs of Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the ghosts of The Evil Within 2, and brutal robots of Tekken 7. We have enemies everywhere. Links: EA closing down Visceral Games: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/17/ea-to-close...

The team talk about "binge" gaming, the grubbiest and unhealthiest form of digital entertainment. Adam has been gorging on Bungie's alien shootfest Destiny 2, along with Alec, who insists he will be going on a "controlled binge". Meanwhile, Brendan is slurping down Steamworld Dig 2, like a silky warm soup. Links: 1000 years of Football Manager: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/04/foot...

The RPS team talk Things Going Wrong. Adam once accidentally murdered many more people than he intended in Dishonored 2, while Brendan threw a gun at a guard's head in Heat Signature, to no effect. John likes to "save scum", so he has none of these problems. We also talk about the Zelda-like Hob and the big ol' RPG of the season, Divinity: Original Sin 2. AND we've got quickfire questions for the...

We're chatting roguelikes, roguelites, roguefites and roguelifes. None of these things mean anything. Pip is enjoying the blocky scampering of Rogue Islands, while Adam is fantasy-ing all over the RPG world of Divinity: Original Sin 2. Brendan is just sitting there feeling sad because PIP IS LEAVING US. Links: What is a roguelike? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/14/what-is-a-roguelike/ Ro...

It's an animal extravaganza! We're talking pets in games this week. Alice joins us to praise a terrible raccoon Pokémon who's great at surfing. Pip adores the ghostly holo-cat of Tacoma. But I prefer a cute xenomorph. We also talk about birdy meditation of Fugl, the ratty wars of strategy game Tooth and Tail, and the ever-popular man-murder of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. On top of that, we conf...

The podgang love videogames so much they met up in *real life* to talk about them in a room. Pip likes the new teen angst drama Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, in which she's been talking back like a brat. Speaking of which, special guest Chris Bratt from Eurogamer joins us to talk about XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, because we're sick of Adam's face. Meanwhile, Brendan is getting slap-happy in br...

The gang are back from Gamescom and ready to CHAT HARD. Pip has been shooting aliens in the Destiny 2 beta, while Adam has been shooting other, slimier aliens in XCOM 2's massive War of the Chosen expansion. Brendan is the only one who's been hurting humans, punching and kicking them in multiplayer martial arts fighter Absolver. But he just lifts them off the floor afterwards. Links: Final Fantasy...

Pip, Alice and Adam gather round the podfire for warmth to talk about the lies (told by Adam) of Gamescom, the chilly wastes of The Long Dark, the beautiful rain of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, and the deadly climates of No Man's Sky. We then turn to you, to discuss reader's favourite in-game weather. And somewhere in the middle there's also a long discussion about karaoke, for some reason. Game...

Graham and Brendan man the podcast all by themselves. The topic: "What TV show deserves to have a good videogame adaptation?" Graham desires a road trip game based on anime Kino's Journey, whereas Brendan wants a cop management sim of The Wire. The listeners also have their say. But we've also been playing things. Limbo follow-up Inside gets the pair disagreeing over dark humour, while Brendan has...

We're talking comfort games - things you play when you feel down, stressed or sick. Adam cosies up in his cottage in the Long Dark, Pip faffs around in Zelda, and Brendan renames characters in Final Fantasy IX. But we've also been playing Tacoma, the new spacewalking sci-fi tale from Fullbright, the creators of Gone Home. So we also do some Quickfire Questions with Karla Zimonja of that very studi...

The gang are talking horror in games this week, though not necessarily "horror games". Adam and Brendan are scared witless of the depths of Subnautica, while Pip likes the water just fine. But we've been playing nice games too. Brendan has been scoring points in the purgatorial fantasy sport of Pyre, while Adam goes fishing in Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles. And Pip is dating dads in the que...

The RPS team gather to talk merch, and why it's often a bit rubbish. Pip will regale you with a story about a hidden dagger, while Adam has his own bloody airport tale. Brendan doesn't have any merch, because he THINKS HE'S TOO GOOD FOR IT THE SWINE. We've also played "transhumanist text adventure" Sun Dogs, in which we drink cocktails of bacteria and get swallowed up by solar flares between glimp...

The RPS team talk "replayability". Why do we always go back to our comfort games? What makes something replayable? How many hours does Adam have in Crusader Kings II? (hint: a lot) Meanwhile, Pip tries to cultivate the excrement of colourful monsters in Slime Rancher, Adam's cowardice is unassailable in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, and Brendan is sneaking around stabbing cards with other cards i...

Pip, Adam and Brendan gather to talk about the gossip from Barcelona's Gamelab, including tales from a RiME developer and the creator of the Cyberpunk 2020 pen and paper RPG. We've also been falling off airships thanks to poor grappling hook skills in sandbox MMO Worlds Adrift. As a treat, there's also an especially tough edition of our patch notes quiz, Patch Adam, and we answer some reader's que...