Maximum Utcast

On a relatively focused episode of Talking to My Boy about Videogames, Jonathan and Ryan discuss Kirby Air Riders and the accompanying wave of Amiibo toys. We get an update on Ryan's thoughts of the latest chapters of Poppy Playtime, learn about games like Stray Children and Kero Blaster, and Ryan outlines his concept of the universe. 0:00:00 - Wet Fish 0:01:14 - Kirby's Washing Machine Ri...

This week we're talking about the bad boys and girls of videogames with Grand Theft Auto 6, a game that's too big to fail, or so says our guest Rose. But first we get into a forgotten corner of the Duke Nukem universe on PS1 when Duke tried to be Lara Croft? Are the pig cops supposed to be cops or aliens? Who knows?!? Later, Jonathan and Zoey try to find out why they play videogames and ma...

This month on Currently Playing, Daniel is joined by Jonathan (not that one) to talk about the intersectionality of video games and table top role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Penumbra City, Blades in the Dark, Vampire the Masquerade and more. And what better way to frame this TTRPG discussion than by discussing the video game Baldur's Gate 3 which uses Dungeons and Dragons 5th...

On this thicc episode of the Maximum Utcast, Jonathan interviews Matt Bozon and Michael Stragey of WayForward about their game Shantae Advance that originally began development over 20 years ago as a GBA game only to be shelved indefinitely before being revived this year. Shantae Advance finally got released this year on actual GBA cartridges through Limited Run Games or available digitally just a...

Jonathan and Ryan dive deep into the world of UFO 50, but only after a few stops along the way to talk about Among Us, cats, and Iron Mike Sharpe. Later, Ryan thinks he might be nerdy for hoarding some Minecraft soda. But what makes something nerdy? Can videogames be helpful at teaching life lessons? And did I mention the cat? 0:00:00 - Unpredictable Jonathan 0:01:39 - You Gotta Introduce the Show...

What does it mean to be you in a world of false memories? This episode of the Maximum Utcast sees Zoey become the Segue Police, Jonathan sings good but does a bad Schwarzenegger impression, and Daniel updates us on the bathroom situation in Germany. We talk extensively about the kusoge Total Recall on the NES, then Jonathan interviews Tanya (former host of Talking to Women about Videogames) to lea...

Daniel is joined this month by Evan, an old pal from college and a recent father who has found his time for gaming evaporate, but he's still able to find some time to participate in the genre defining MMO World of Warcraft, which he's been playing consistently since launch, now in it's 21st year. They discuss what it's like for Evan to be married to a popular Twitch streamer. Evan...

Love is in the air on this episode of the Maximum Utcast. We find out what criteria would be needed to smooch everyone on the show before Zoey whisks us away to the magical realm of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde...who just is trying to get to the dang church on time! Later, Jonathan chats with his pal Elsa about Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, Final Fantasy, and Donkey Kong...plus she has an exciting annou...

Jonathan and Ryan react to the latest Nintendo Direct which had a lot of Pokemon news, a lot of Amiibo news, and strangely enough, a lot of Virtual Boy news. Despite the newness of the news though, Jonathan seems to think it was mostly old stuff that's not new or exciting, but still kinda cool. Jonathan is also incapable of saying the names of the games Pokopia and Popucom, which are tricky an...

If you're tired of magazines, you might be suffering from debilitating Mix-a-Lot-ism, a newly discovered illness affecting adults aged 18-65 all across the world! And this Maximum Utcast might be the thing to cure what ails you. Zoey and Jonathan are haunted by a few ghosts on this episode as they discuss American Gladiators on the NES before getting to the bottom of swinging mechanics in vide...

Currently Playing returns with guest Beith talking about the classic PS2-era game The Warriors from Rockstar, a videogame retelling of the classic 1979 film and 1965 book of the same name. Beith goes deep on his research, finding it to be a missing link between Rockstar's GTA series and their next big game, Bully. There is a lot of spoiler filled discussion of the film and how it contrasts wit...

We pre-taped this episode so Daniel could skip town for a few days which meant we did one entirely without Jonathan--but fear not! We have an overstuffed episode with representatives from all parts of the animal kingdom, from the mighty Crazy Frog to the lowly Solid Snake as well as the tricky Donkey Kong and the strange Earthworm Jim. We maybe get to the bottom of who killed the Noid, and also ta...

On this energetic episode, Jonathan and Ryan watched the Kirby Air Riders Direct and the trailers from Gamescom and broke things down to their respective mans: Batman, He-Man, Kirby Man, or Bubsy Man, and decided which one is best...or did they? Will we ever know for sure? Only time can tell, but Ryan's favorite is clearly Rufus the cat. This episode contains spoilers for Donkey Kong Bananza (...

On a jam-packed episode of Maximum Utcast, we're talking all about wrestling, from the passing of Hulk Hogan to his star making role in the TV show Thunder in Paradise (that coincidentally was adapted into a kusoge, Thunder in Paradise Interactive). Later, Jonathan talks to Sarah Carapace about her time spent heavily customizing the game WWE 2K19 to make it a full of ladies and extremely lesbi...

We're talking about all the robots that are fit for combat on this month's Currently Playing where Daniel is joined by Christine of Outside of the Box to talk about how she's playing Two Point Museum (and Two Point Campus). It's a game series that scratches the itch of hyperfixation while providing a cozy take on resource management and might even teach you a bit about financial li...

It's the bombastic first episode of the Maximum Utcast! Starring Zoey Handley and Jonathan Holmes with a special appearance by Coco Hendershott! Getting into the hottest news of the day about 2 different kinds of censorship, one of which involves Lollipop Chainsaw, and the other involves basically every indie game on the entire internet. Which one is real? Listen and find out! Later, the gang...

Jonathan and Ryan dig deep on Donkey Kong Bananza to uncover what's great and what's maybe not so great about it, getting into some interesting theories about characters and contrasting DK with CK (Clark Kent, AKA Superman). Has Nintendo basically been making "good" Minecraft over and over with all their games from the last few years? Do people Ryan's age care about the Switc...

On the eleventy first and final episode of Talking to Women about Videogames (main show! the feed lives on!) Jonathan and Tanya lament the state of the videogames world while looking forward to new horizons. Jonathan interviews Zoey Handley of Maximum Utmost, a once and future collaborator where they talk about "kusoge" or "crap games" and lament about how the enthusiast press...

We're talking with one of the hosts of Talking to Women about Videogames on this episode of Currently Playing, Jonathan Holmes, writer for Nintendo Force Magazine, MTV reality star, illustrator, video producer, musician, and all-around Rennaisance man. Due to the unique nature of his personal and work life, he's currently playing a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing. We ge...

In the finale (for now?!?!) of Yeah! our Yeah-nalyists finally dance with the one who brung them in the form of digging deep on Usher's "Yeah!" We touch on the connections to Jonathan's alter ego Freaky Constantina, dissect Usher's status as a sex symbol, get into a case of Crunk Juice, and try to put a button on the ubiquity of "Yeah!" as a lyric. While the show ma...

It's the Sweaty Summer Edition of Talking to My Boy about Videogames where Jonathan and Ryan hit all the highlights (Space Balls, Donkey Kong Bananza, Looney Toons) and we get updates on the latest wheeling and dealing of kids, the dangers of gacha mechanics in video games, the longevity of interest in Mario Kart World, and so much more. Does Ryan even like videogames any more? And what's...

Currently Playing is back with an old friend in the form of Kai, a frequent main show guest who's been busy with her school work but is happy to drop by and talk her recent faves in the cozy games space. She's been playing the farming MMORPG Palia, the fantasy farming sim Fields of Mistria, and the bug catching card battler Kabuto Park. Daniel mistakenly calls these "Animal Crossing-l...

We're talking about the Switch 2 and the trailer for the latest game from Suda51, "Romeo is a Dead Man" shown off on this week's Sony State of Play on this white hot, electric episode of Talking to Women about Videogames. Or is it a "Talking to My Boy about Videogames" stealth episode? You'll have to listen to find out! Even baby Charles makes a guest appearance so...

Did "Yeah!" just become a metal podcast? Did this song even appear in a videogame? What the heck is even going on? Who knows?!?! But on this episode we learn that Fairies Wear Boots, Ozzy wants to go to the doctor, Toni Iommi is missing some body parts, and Jonathan loved listening to this song as a kid with his brother. Later we learned that Black Sabbath was one of Daniel's first c...

After an exciting visit to PAX, Jonathan and Ryan talk about some of the cool stuff they saw and people they met before switching things up to discuss some of Ryan's game ideas. We learn about Kaiju Big Battel, Pac-Man Museum, "Kirby and the Robot", and Hershey chocolate. 0:00:00 - An Existential Crisis 0:03:56 - Ryan Crashed PAX 0:06:27 - A Better Life for Nico 0:08:02 - Snubbed at...