The Board Meetings: NPC Inc

Send a text Oh, the wonders of smashing one's head against a wall for hours on end and call it fun. For the uninitiated, the souls-like genre is exactly that. You adventure your way through a difficult and dangerous game, practicing your pattern recognition and patience until you've either given up or claimed victory as the king neckbeard. Well, King, with all of the other nerds who push...

Send a text In a world where casual games have become part of the norm, this genre captivates even the most light-deprived video gamers. Is it a true genre to be enjoyed and celebrated or maligned and ridiculed? That is what we try to figure out in this episode.  Oh? Do you like casual games? Pitiful, you're mistaken. The truest essence of gaming is to emotionally assault yourself with games...

Send a text let's talk gaming with significant others. It's no trivial thing game with your somebody. Small differences can go downhill quickly or forge stronger bonds through challenges. Where do you think everyone lines up? Is gaming with a spouse a good idea? Have we grown up enough to maintain a healthy relationship capable of surviving gaming? Yeah... It's not that serious. Chi...

Send a text You know it seems like the only good AAA games are coming out of Japan for a while now. They aren’t without their problems. We just had more layoffs and closures this month. The industry shitheads are saying things like “Success Can’t Save Your Favorite Studios Anymore” and the like. Which isn’t true. That is not how business works but so few people care or know, they can lie. If your...

Send a text A-D-D games. Games that tick your spectrum-riddled boxes. We have gone around the bend a few times now about what makes ‘games fun’. What Autistic boxes do we have? Do we even know? What makes us sink hours into some games but not others? Compense Operation: “Time loss”. 5/23/24 For more insights and discussions, check out our content through the following links: https://www.youtube.co...

Send a text One of the first games that I can remember dominating my social life was Starcraft. In the 90's I begged my parents for a computer capable of playing games. It was basically the birthday and Christmas gifts that year plus it had to be the family machine. Kinda lame but none of that mattered. The whole world of PC gaming just opened up and it was beautiful. Duke Nukem, Doom, Myst,...

Send a text Yeah, we chat about Remnant 2 again. It's hard to leave it alone now that we've all played it and played together. Games of its caliber are few and far between. As many people as possible should hop on and enjoy them. Gunfire Games did a great job and they deserve every accolade, they've earned it. 10/10 would get crushed by rolling cubes again.   5/23/24 For more insigh...

Send a text Once upon a time in a retail space far far away, video games were treated like toys and dismissed by the masses. Fast forward to 2024; summer blockbusters and AAA games launch as if they are competing. In truth, they are. Video games are pushing 100 billion dollars worldwide each year. It's been a long time since you could wave off a game release as a toy. Although, I'm not s...

Send a text Gather your friends, grab the torches, and watch out for traps because it's DUNGEON CRAWLER TIME! It's the best crawl of them all. The genre has developed quite a bit over the years. Gone are the days of bad graphics, and terrible mechanics. I know we all miss gaming on the eternal and superior MS-DOS but who are we kidding? We've evolved and moved on. The mechanical and...

Send a text As time goes by popular titles and genres fade from vogue. The new shiny pops up stealing our attention and shifting an industry. Somehow, we still trot out remakes, updates, spiritual successors, or reimaginings of old titles to sell nostalgia. We know what they are doing but the chance to relive "The Moments!" is too good of a chance to pass up. Shame on us. Then we have th...

Send a text Stellar Blade is out and the activists hate it. Why? Good bloody question. We live in a modern age of sex positivity,  female empowerment, and apparently demonizations of all things that fail to bend to the tyrannical will of fringe crazies. Nothing says tolerance like openly calling for the murder of those who boldly disagree with you. What should have been a normal game release with...

Send a text In a world where gamers are fapping away immeasurable amounts of energy, one company seeks to harness the power of the gamer protein juice and use that power for EVIL! Sort of.  Games elicit so many emotions. Anxiety, fear, happiness, hope. What is it that gives you the feels?  What gets your juices going?  “… something something the fee fees…” -Tom. 5/23/24 For more insights and discu...

Send a text Hey patriot! Enlist in the Helldivers and spread managed democracy. After all, you don’t want to be a communist traitor, do you? How is it that small studios have been slapping around the AAA companies with lower budgets and lower costs? It’s a good and reasonable question to be asking when companies are pushing the envelope on value. Nothing says modern gaming like $70 and an incomple...

Send a text This episode is dedicated to a man who shaped the interests and imaginations of nerds around the world. My childhood would look very different without his work. He was an incredible artist and deserved every bit of his fame and more. He will be missed. Join us as we share our love for this legend. 5/23/24 For more insights and discussions, check out our content through the following li...

Send a text Gaming burnout or gaming fatigue. What kind of sick perverse nonsense is that? Getting tired or bored with fun? It’s more like too much of a good thing is still a bad thing. In this episode we talk about our experiences with it and some casual ways to mitigate, so we don’t hit the wall and miss out on fun more than we have to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect https://...

Send a text How many idiots does it take to complain about the gaming industry? Well, the more the merrier but turns out two can get the job done. Video game companies have been shipping half-finished games for a long time now, we expect it at this point. That said they don’t need to be competing with each other to see who can launch the most incomplete game with the most expensive, worst DLC. Som...

Send a text This is a brainstorming episode. It's meant to field ideas openly and see what clicks. This time we covered gaming fatigue and burnout, good and bad downloadable content, gamers being terrible people, and more. 5/23/24 For more insights and discussions, check out our content through the following links: https://www.youtube.com/@makermovementsnj8084 https://linktr.ee/Makermovements...

Send a text Palworld has had an incredible journey over the past three weeks, amassing a staggering 7 million players in its first week and shattering records along the way. However, even in the realm of gaming, where excitement should reign supreme, the activism economy has taken its toll. Critics argue that Palworld bears too close a resemblance to Pokemon, igniting controversy and stirring disc...

Send a text Welcome to Non-Player Character Incorporated, where we dive deep into the exhilarating world of gaming nostalgia and intensity. Join us as we reminisce about our favorite crazy moments in gaming history, sharing memorable anecdotes that brought laughter, astonishment, and sheer excitement. We’ll recount the trials and tribulations faced in the most challenging and action-packed games t...

Send a text 5/23/24 For more insights and discussions, check out our content through the following links: https://www.youtube.com/@makermovementsnj8084 https://linktr.ee/Makermovementsnj