The Experience Points Podcast

Download this podcast and open the file. Surprise! You have a 1 in 4000 chance of winning a special version in which our voices are played at 3x speed. Most of you will get an episode in which we take a look at the recent loot box discussions and monetization plans in high profile games. Sorry to disappoint those looking for a Chipmunks version of the podcast.

It's that time of the year where friends and families gather around an offensively large portion of food and give thanks. This time, Scott and I are joining the festivities by serving up some of the things we're thankful for in games. From esports money to in-game settings, here are some of the underappreciated life-changers we're glad to have in our gaming habitat.

Put on your travelling cap, it's time to take an Odyssey with Mario to save Princess Peach from a bad Tinder date. This week on the EXP Podcast, Scott and I discuss the much-anticipated  Mario Odyssey . Join us while we discuss the dark origins of this particular tale. If you listen to this whole episode, you get a Moon.   Show Notes: - Runtime: 39 mins 08 sec - Music from  Super Mario Odyssey

Ah, Paris: city of Zombies, ninjas, and procedurally generated adventures. This week, we talk about Sony's showing at Paris Games Week. There was a surprising amount of brand new stuff, so we dig through the announcements and maybe even commit a bit of light blasphemy by comparing Spelunky to the bible.

Scott and I have weaved our way through a barrage of bullets, over fields of violent vegetables, and through terrifying trainyards to bring you this week's EXP Podcast. At least,  Cuphead  is here and we've drunk down all (or most) of what the game has to offer. What makes this game so special? How difficult is  Cuphead  really? And did the conversation around its challenging nature tarnish our an...

Hope in our magic wagon and mind the drive imps: it's time for a full debrief on Pyre! We touched on it a few episodes back, but now that we've both finished, it's time to talk about the weird intersection of arcade sports, turn based strategy, and dating simulators that is Pyre.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we have reports from  Destiny 2 's first raid, our thoughts on the upcoming slate of Nintendo games as well as the company's bizarre approach to streaming, and a conversation about  Red Dead Redemption 2.  Will "Juan" Marston make an appearance? I sure hope so. All this and more, so give it a listen!

Forget about the carnage taking place within the slowly shrinking blue circle; this week we're talking about a vicious battle taking place outside of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Ok, maybe it's actually more of a slap fight, but even so it's still entertaining. Epic has decided to release its own Battle Royale mode in their game Fortnite, but Blue Hole (publishers of PUBG) don't like the fact th...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we wrestle with the dark underbelly of online gaming - its own players. With toxicity causing  trouble in  Overwatch , Steam's  failure  to address racist community groups, Campo Santo  striking back  against PewDiePie, the topic is on our mind. Even Bungie is reeling from a piece of armor that  looks uncomfortably similar  to a white supremacist logo. How should deve...

Jorge and I have been hard at work. Jorge has been fulfilling his destiny to become the best-dressed guardian in the universe while I've been practicing my 360 tomahawk jams. This week we do a check in on two of our most anticipated games of 2017: Destiny 2 and Pyre.

In space, no one can hear you scream against unsafe working conditions and unethical labor contracts with faceless multinational corporations. This week on the podcast, we put on our space pants and drift into  Tacoma . What does this short little follow-up to  Gone Home  have to say about AI, humanity, and the corporatocratic future? Join us and find out!

This week we take a journey to the north and debrief on Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. This game was flying beneath our radar, but we couldn't be happier that we made the time to play it. Do yourself a favor: grab some headphones, carve out a few hours, and thank your lucky stars that you don't live under the constant threat of being stalked by Fenrir.

This week on the EXP Podcast, we pay a visit to  Titanfall 2  and wonder where everyone went. Was it the dull brown of the landscape that cleared the room? Would this game be more popular if it had brighter colors, cooler names, or banana rockets? The answer is clearly yes.   Everything is better with banana rockets.

Sometimes, you play a game once and then bounce off, never to return.  Other times you see the potential, but are put off by a weird mechanic.  And sometimes you're just too damn lazy to leave the house and interact with other human beings.  This week, we discuss some games we're considering returning to.  Some of them we've finished, others we originally gave up on.  We also invent a new Pokemon...

The endless war between Mayonnaise and Ketchup continues in this EXP Podcast debrief on  Splatoon 2 . After we get into a heated discussion about condiments, we weigh in on the splatfest design, Nintendo's trouble relationship with online support, and the elements of  Splatoon 2  that make this game so damn special.

Summertime means relaxing on an island.  After murdering the 99 other people on that island of course.  This week we dive out of a plane and into Player Unknown's Battlegrounds.  Along the way we learn about abbreviations, Twitch drama, and that there's a high correlation between a game having someone's name in the title and its quality. 

This week on the EXP Podcast, we put on our space helmets and meet up in the Tower to discuss the  Destiny 2 beta. How do the new classes feel? Is this a significant departure from the first  Destiny ? How money hours will we spend farming motes of light? Who knows! Show Notes: * Music from  Destiny 2 * Run time: 43 mins 15 secs

Strap on your bowcaster and fire up your T-16s folks: it's time to get immersed in the world of Star Wars.  Disney is looking to bring a "100 percent immersive" Star Wars experience to us Earthlings, so Jorge and I decided it would be a good idea to brainstorm what the future has in store for us.  Video games have dealt with the challenging concept of immersion for a long time, so we discuss some...

The last few months have been a whirlwind of good times with my Tokyo buds. I've laughed, I've cried, I've told my cat to shut up. Now, at long last, I've finally finished  Persona 5 . While it'll be awhile before Scott graduates Shujin Academy, it's time we dive into the hotly anticipated entry in the long-running Persona franchise. How do the characters stand out compared to  Persona 4 ? Is this...

Ah how time flies when you're desperately battling against its passage!  We're halfway through 2017, so we decided to take stock of some topics that have been bubbling under the surface or were overlooked.  VR, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, eSports labor strikes and more await you.  Quick: listen while you still have your whole life ahead of you.

In Nintendo's infinite wisdom, the NES Classic has been discontinued. But never fear lovers of nostalgia! The hardware distribution experts at Nintendo have announced the SNES Classic, another retro-gaming option that you can pre-order now  regret not pre-ordering within the first 30 minutes of its sale. Join us as we discuss the great games on the mini-console, and the great games mysteriously ab...

It's time once again for our annual E3 debrief! This year we have some father-son drama, some good ol' fashioned pirate swashbuckling, hardware announcements, and so much more. Did we mention Mario? We've got some Mario too. Join us in the discussion and let us know your favorite games out of E3! Show Notes: - Music by  Brad Sucks - Runtime: 66 mins 50 sec

We finally did it!  Ganon is banished, Hyrule is peaceful(ish), and we can go back to pursuing our true passion: equine science.  Or maybe we'll finally open up our hearty durian farm.  Then again, our shield surfing skills could use some work if we hope to make the olympics this year.  In any case, we've finally finished Breath of the Wild and it's time to talk about the big picture.

Our march through Hyrule continues.  In this penultimate debrief, we find some mysterious glowing animals, play a round of golf, and visit the Rito and and Gorons.  Jorge laments the cruel blood moon and Scott pours one out for Andre, the giant horse.  Next up: Calamity Ganon and beyond!

Overwatch is one year old! Come celebrate by checking in on the state of the game and remembering those other year-old games that none of us can remember.