Gaming Under The Influence

Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of how difficulty settings cheapen player agency and why games with the option are always best played on the hardest difficulty

Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of why Metaphor: ReFantazio, in contrast to its bloated and confused competition, is the best RPG of 2024

Silent Hill 2 Remake is a bad game, contrary to what you have heard. It is bloated, standardized and features disfigured, potato-like monsters in place of characters. Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of how it betrays the original.

Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of what distinguishes long-running Japanese from Western franchises.

Do you hate Concord, CoD and Dragon Age: Veilguard? Then join Alex and Mike for a discussion of the top 5 games for real gamers launching in Q4 2024.

Amidst the raging dumpster fires, 2024 has seen a quantity of excellent, world-class video games. Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of what sets the good games apart from trash, and which of them are worth your attention in 2024.

Join Alex & Mike for an in-depth discussion of the underlying principles behind the DEI religion, and how these have adversely impacted the Western video game industry.

"The eagerness to grave dance on unpopular games has become a bad habit", says PC gamer. Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of how profoundly stupid this statement is. Discussion includes the inbuilt failings of service games, the nature & impact of DEI, and why it is good to hate bad things.

Many video game commentators have deemed the current console generation the "worst ever". Join Alex & Mike for an examination and rebuttal of their reasoning.

Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of the four best JRPG series of all time

Alex & Mike discuss the built-in problems with the live service format. Why has every live service game been so bad? Why will every future entry in the genre be worse? Tune in to find out.

Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of the controversy surrounding Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Is it too difficult? Are the bosses overdesigned? How does scaling work?

Alex & Mike revisit the defintion of a "soulslike" game in 2024. What essential characteristics distinguish them from games in other genres?

Though the Western video game industry is in complete decline, Japanese and indie games have never been better. Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of some of these titles as seen at Summer Game Fest 2024.

What is an 'auteur'? How does the concept of authorship apply to video games, where a multitude of people and crafts are necessary to a finished work? Who are [some] video game auteurs? Join Alex & Mike for an explanation of video game authorship.

What could compel Xbox to shutter talented studios it just paid billions of dollars for? Join Alex & Mike for (another) discussion of what's wrong with Xbox.

Join Alex & Mike to discuss the ongoing surge of soulslike titles from Korea. Stellar Blade is set to launch this Friday, continuing the trend initiated by Lies of P.

The most anticipated AAA releases of 2024 have so far undersold and have underwhelmed many players. Join Alex and Mike to talk about why AAA games are deteriorating in quality, failing commercially and why this is no cause for concern.

Did you know that the layoffs affecting the video game industry in 2023 and 2024 have been an exclusively western problem? Asian developers like Capcom, Fromsoft, Kojima and Neowiz continue to expand and hire while American and European studios shrink and collapse. Join Mike and Alex for a discussion of the situation and its cultural causes. References https://www.gameinformer.com/news/2024/03/07/...

Microtransactions have been patched into Dragon's Dogma 2. Join Alex & Mike to discuss if microtransactions always ruin games.

What's the problem with consultancy firms like Sweet Baby Inc? The conversation has so far left the most important things unstated: the violation of artistic integrity and the putrescent ideology at play.

On the heels of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, join Alex & Mike for a rundown of the best games for newcomers to the JRPG genre.

Recent events consolidate the impression that the Western AAA video game industry is in dire straits. Creative interests are sacrificed in order to pursue defunct genres and monetization styles; this shows no sign of letting up.

What separates the best games from the rest? Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of the distinguishing feature[s] of the video game canon.

After some time with Fromsoft's Soulsborne games, returning to other things just doesn't cut it. Join Alex & Mike for a discussion of why playing souls ruins the experience of other games.