Gaming with Grief Podcast

My wife and I talk about things we have been playing as well as some spooky stuff. To be honest this is also the stuff we have been playing but I love talking to her on the stuff she likes. Which just happens to line up with Halloween.

One of the best years in gaming followed by the worst year for layoffs is something that is hard to reconcile. Avin and I from The Grief of Politics talk about how these are real people’s lives and how those lives are being affected by a small amount of people.

It may seem strange to talk about this considering I’m from Tacoma but here we are. The Fullbright Company’s second game Tacoma deals with the ticking clock of death and what you would do if you knew for certain you had a limited amount of time left. Let’s talk about the game and if it shares with us something new about grief.

Dungeons and Dragons has meant a lot to me over the years. I recently finished reading the Arts & Arcana book that came out in 2018. I talked about the art in the book and my overall history with the game. If you like tabletop then you might like this episode. I recommend looking at the YouTube for this episode, As I use art from D&D’s history to paint a picture.

Andrew Huberman is a has a P.H.D in neuroscience. and is a professor at Stanford University. About a year ago made a YouTube video about healing from grief. I’m going to talk about what I learned after listening to it and I recommend everyone else watch it as well. Very educational.

Christian is a co-worker and we never really get to talk about his gaming influences. It was great to finally get the time to do so, and with all the guest I have on the podcast we will do it again. Enjoy. (Note: There was a weird audio bug I noticed in the episode and tried to fix it. The conversation was still great but you might have to adjust your volumes accordingly).

Maybe a bit sappy, but I really enjoyed hanging out with my digital parents. They still wanted to know who I was dating and if my job gave me a promotion. Really wanted to do a load of laundry over there though. Let’s talk about the parents in Starfield.

I was completely blown away by this short and sweet puzzle game. Not only did it make me feel something and reflect on it a week after I played it but it was truly heart-felt. Something I wasn’t expecting. Whatever is next from this studio I’m totally on board. Let’s talk about it.

Since I talked about the show 10 years later last week, I thought it would be great if I had my friend Martin on to talk about the differences between the show and game, and if the emotional beats carried over from the game to the tv show.

With the HBO show of the same name coming out earlier this year, many people are talking about The Last of Us again. Does it hold up? Do all the emotional beats hit the same? Well, let’s talk about it.

Sometimes, you just want to talk with a friend without being interrupted. For years of our friendship Jesse and I always talk about games while we are playing other games with people and for this episode of GwG, I just wanted to talk to Jesse about games and a little on mental health.

For Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, the new album, In Times New Roman… was about the coming to terms with what you’ve been through and how that becomes music, and the therapy of making something that helps you deal with it all. I talk about QotSA new album and what it means to take grief for someone and make it an album.

Sometimes games can help people deal with the stuff that is happening in their lives. After 220 episodes I finally have my friend Todd on to talk about what he is playing and how it helps him with his mental health. A big bonus is that it’s actually Todd’s birthday too so a banner day. Enjoy.

My wife and I have been talking about some pretty heavy topics lately, some of them on the podcast. So this week we are changing it up and talking about some things we’re having fun with including Remnant 2 From the Ashes, which we have been playing for about 5 days. So here is our early impressions.

If you could would you like to talk to a loved on that has passed away. My wife and I talk about that this week and the ability for people to hold on to the people that have passed on in their lives a bit longer then usual.

Not all games have to be all things, but when 2 big aspects of the game have to deal with a type of suicide(maybe?) and characters suffering from schizophrenia, I wanted for Control to say more about these things in the game. Let’s talk about it.

Doing anything creative is hard. The thing that makes it ten times harder is asking people who expect exponential growth to have patience and understanding when the thing that took years of your life doesn’t sell well. How do people keep making video games when the investors demand more and more. Let’s talk about it.

I sometimes try to put a square peg in a round hole. This is one of those times. Although Concrete Genie deals with bullying and associated trauma that comes along with it, Concrete Genie is maybe about healing with art but maybe not what the developers were thinking of. Well talk about it.

Can you ever truly heal through art? Well, with a stand out art style and a moving story about bullies and a town that has been ravaged by a natural disaster, Pixel Opus’ Concrete Genie attempts to answer these questions. In this Early Impressions episode, I’ll talk about how New Orleans used art to help heal from Hurricane Katrina, and what I’ve taken away from the game so far.

For years, the Embracer Group has been buying up companies left and right. Last week they announced that a 2 billion dollar deal fell through and it will lead to thousands of layoffs in the company. There is no word when the layoffs will come or the total number. How does it feel to come into work every day wondering if you will be fired, or laid off?

Way back on episode 133 of Gaming with Grief Avin Carroll and I talked about The Activision/Blizzard lawsuit. I decided with a new interview with Variety, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision/Blizzard talks about the effects the lawsuits have had on him and the company. It was also recently reported that Activision/Blizzard paid out millions of dollars to about a hundred victims. Avin and I talk ab...

Not all games that deal with grief have to be giant epics about the peeks and valleys of loss. Some just want to tell someone that they are thinking about them. Let’s talk about the indie title, It Comes in Waves. A short game, but still moving and profound.

So many times the things you love change when you get older, but if you still like to play video games what do you do when you have less time and more responsibilities. I talk with my friend Martin Chick about gaming nowadays and gaming with kids. We both still have a passion for it but we realize that change isn’t always bad.

Some games are transformative because of mechanics and gameplay.  Some can make you reflect on their story and themes.  Tears of the Kingdom make me look at something in life that was terrible and look at it differently.  Let’s talk about my Mom.

For many people a holiday isn’t a holiday. It’s hard. My wife and I have suffered two miscarriages and the death of a child. For a mother I can’t imagine what it is like, as a husband, I’ve had this talk with my wife before, but I really wanted to find out where she was mentally this year. It’s a tuff episode but I love my wife and I love talking to her. And don’t worry, I try to find out what she...