The Experience Points Podcast

The Switch 2 announcement is here and it made a splash, but it's one of those tiny little splashes you see at the Olympics. Classic Nintendo, no notes. Join us this week as we discuss, dissect, and have a laugh with the Switch 2 announce trailer.

It's the beginning of the year and it's nothing but endless possibilities stretching out before us!  This week we continue our tradition of looking at this year's scheduled (and perhaps not so scheduled) releases and call out what we're most looking forward to.

This week to take one last look backwards at 2024 and some of the amazing games that didn't quite make out Top 3. Happy near year everyone!   Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks

We've made it around the sun once more and we have a handful of great games to prove it.  But which games will be our favorite of year?  And will Jorge and I maintain our drift compatibility and choose the same game as our GOTY?  All this, along with more Balatro pro tips, in this week's show.

The most prestigious video game award show is back, celebrating once again not just the greatest bummers and mood lifters, but also the best Waifus/Husbandus, the most elegant games, and of course the gameyest. The 2024 Gameys are here!

Thanks to the recent 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation launch, there's been plenty of retrospectives about the system and the era it ushered in.  This week, we dig into Eurogamer's extended interview with Former Sony CEO Shawn Layden.  Layden's tenure at Sony spanned the pre-PlayStation era all the way through the PS4 and he offers some candid thoughts about the state of the industry, d...

According to Microsoft you probably have an Xbox in your pocket. So what's an Xbox again? This week on the podcast we chat Microsoft news and venture into the future... of television with the Mass Effect TV series. Show Notes:   - Music by Brad Sucks

Leave it to Nintendo: we turn our backs for just a couple of weeks and they exponentially increase their wackiness.  Well I can officially tell this to our favorite baffling company: Chill out, we're awake and we have ready access to the Internet!  Your clock and your music app is very cute, but shouldn't you be working on a new console or something?  Wake me up once you're ready to tell me what t...

Sick kids are on the mend so it's back to the gaming mines for us. This week on the show, we fight our way through fog to bring you debriefs on the Silent Hill 2 Remake, Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Balatro mobile, and the Plucky Squire! Show notes: Music by Brad Sucks

I can't believe we missed out on the most important PlayStation Pro news when we talked about it a couple weeks ago.  Yes, your long nightmare of dealing with disorganized lose paper is over: Sony has created a solution and it only costs $1000.  But hurry: there's only 12,300 in existence, so act quickly or else you'll have to go crawling back to Clippy.  We dig into this as well as more stories o...

This week on the podcast, we discuss two of the most charming love-letters to video games of all time, both of which are not just loaded with nostalgia, but also amazing games (or games-in-games) all on their own! Show notes: - Music from the Astro Bot Launch Trailer and the UFO 50 Launch Trailer

The PlayStation 5 Pro was formally announced and I have to say that my favorite part by far was listening to the calming timbre of Mark Cerny's voice as he explained highly technical things in a way that made me feel like I could understand it.  His sonorous, professorial presentation was perhaps the only thing that could have calmed my jangled nerves after seeing that $700 price point.  This week...

As the saying goes: "Grand opening, grand closing."  This week we recap the baffling Concord situation and what it means as part of the broader game landscape.  Along the way we check in on some other games, ranging from Flock, to Black Myth: Wukong, and Deadlock as part of a late summer check in.

We're off to Germany this week to discuss some of the exciting  - and not-so-exciting - news coming out of Gamescom 2024. News, Molyneuxs, and more, oh my! Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks

This week on the EXP Podcast we say goodbye to a games industry institution. We also briefly discuss  Fortnite , cultural conglomeration, and gambling! Show Notes: - Music by  Brad Sucks

This week we do a summer check in on some of the games we've been playing.  Strangely, they're all some form of retro-inspired RPG/adventure style games.  There's the Commodore 64-era inspired Skald: Against the Black Priory.  There's the Super NES era Super Mario RPG remake.  And there's the PS1-aesthetic adventure game homage, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.  Lorelei was of particular interest, as i...

Time and money is at a premium, are we spending it on Game Pass, in-game purchases, or another caramel macchiato? This week on the podcast, we explore some news about digital games and purchases.   Show Notes: -  Game Pass Tiers ,  Capcom Digital Sales , and  In-App Purchases - Music by  Brad Sucks

The only thing hotter than this summer's weather is this collection of spicy takes.  This week, we use Polygon's collection of provocative opinions as a jumping off point to revisit some of the fundamental arguments that started us down this wacky path.  Will we ever figure out what art is and do video games qualify?  Maybe the real art is the fun we've had arguing along the way.

Just in time for the Steam Summer Sale, Valve has dropped three lists of the most popular games played on the Steam Deck. These lists are updated in real time and reflect some trends in the industry. This week on the show, we run down the lists and share some of our favorite games on the Steam Deck - including a remaster of a classic:  Riven .

It's Elden Ring and The Shadow of the Erdtree time and with it comes the predictable discussion about difficulty in games.  I guess it makes sense that a game about making looping runs through a punishing world gets people fired up, but I still think it's hilarious that people seem to be surprised at how hard these games continue to be.  And thanks to a new interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, we can...

The  definitely NOT E3 window of events is over with one more big set of announcements. This week on the podcast, we discuss some exciting games coming to the Nintendo Switch - THIS YEAR! Show Notes: - Music by  Brad Sucks

Now that the great collapse of the E3 ecosystem is well and truly complete, we're beginning to see saplings spring from the ashes.  And it's not just a few; Summer Game Fest and the numerous other publisher-specific, indie, PC, and various thematic conferences have quickly formed a forest and are spreading the video game news over the wind like a dense cloud of pollen.  This week we take our antih...

This week on the EXP Podcast, in between Sony's announcements and Xbox's big news, we discuss the state of big budget first-party exclusives and what the future of publishing massively expensive games might look like. Show notes: " You can't make AAA games for just one platform anymore " by Oli Welsh via Polygon Music by Brad Sucks

I've always lived in areas with municipal water systems, so wells are a bit of a foreign concept.  But now that I've played Animal Well, I'm basically an expert.  I was surprised by the number of hidden eggs and platforming puzzles, but I guess that's just the miracle of underground waterways.  This week we debrief after seeing the credits, but most definitely not all the secrets, hidden in Animal...

This week on the EXP Podcast, we record live from our sick bed to discuss recent industry news before getting into some games we've been playing - including  Balatro ,  Children of the Sun , and  Minishoot Adventures ! Show Notes: - Music by Brad Sucks