Wardcast

For the lead up to Best Games Played this year, we’ve created a new, five-part series for the hosts to take the time to really dive deep into the games that meant the most to them. Welcome to: the Road to BGP! This episode, we discuss Alex’s favorite games of the year. He guides us through a journey of meaningful experiences, a variety of rougelites, and the discovery of a new universe. Games incl...

On our last regular episode of the year, we spend only 120 seconds on Blizzard’s attempt to bounce back before we switch to updates on PC storefronts, sing a song or two, and take a trip to the outer worlds. We also discuss game projects currently being worked on by the group, from a hack-and-slashy that’s oh so flashy, a 3D Sinistar revival, and a… professional wrestling visual novel? Games inclu...

We’re joined by Spencer Hays — running business and content over at itch.io — here to talk about the fraught debate about how to pronounce his place of work and the rackets of top level domain registration. We dive deep on the state of game subscription services, and its direct effect on developer sustainability and mainstream game design. There’s also a whole mess of talk around algorithms and it...

It’s a house full of scat as we discuss the fallout from Blizzard’s decision to ban Hearthstone player Blitzchung, Riot’s rocketing release roadmap, an alignment chart for game publishers, and the continuous deluge of Apple Arcade releases. Games include Risk of Rain 2, What the Golf?, Bleak Sword, Card of Darkness, Grindstone, Exit the Gungeon, Legends of Runeterra, Destiny 2, A Short Hike, and M...

This week, we’re rejoined by Jay Tholen, developer on Dropsy the Clown and Hypnospace Outlaw. Since the last time we had him on the show, Hypnospace has been released out into the world, so we talk about the specific memories of the early Net that influenced game, such as the playfulness of the pre-Web 2.0 era. We also discuss the pros and cons of building Hypnospace within Construct 2, the post-r...

Back from the dead, we’re joined by Alex “One Organ Down” Damrath, here to talk with us about his erstwhile hospital stay, only to confront the dangers of Glenlivet’s liquor tide pods. We also discuss that there Joker movie, Nelson’s exquisite experience with Devil’s Hunt, and the release of Borderlands 3 amongst a sea of controversies of its own making. Games include Wilmot’s Warehouse, Control,...

We now live in a world where our weeaboo compatriots have thrown themselves at the gates of Area 51, attempting to uncover the facility’s vast secrets. Meanwhile, we find ourselves in our own government black site as we hunker back down with Control, experiment with the launch lineup of Apple Arcade, and witness the ghostly return of Telltale Games. Games include Control, Divinity: Original Sin II...

This week, we discuss our preferences in gamer chairs, follow up on the origins of Digimon, and find out who among us is a true chocolate mage. But we spend the majority of this week talking about Doc Burford’s medium post, “i don’t think i like prestige games,” a piece where he describes his distaste with most mainstream games. It’s also a piece that folks in indie dev spaces and beyond have been...

We know this is predominantly a video game-focused podcast, but what if… what if we didn’t talk about video games? What if we talked about board games instead? Well, we tried that, but ended up slipping back into our old digi-game ways, talking about the best acquire-them-all franchises; how to properly secure, contain, and protect in Control; and discover the real leading man of our hearts. Games...

We start off the show by pouring ourselves a little bit of the bubbly as we settle a score concerning some Smashers, welcome the return of Kyle Katarn, and discover what abandoned Wii U games are coming to Switch. For the episode’s second half, we cover the past few difficult weeks in games — content warning for topics of sexual assault, abuse, and suicide — as we discuss Nathalie Lawhead’s blog p...

There’s two more DLC characters yet to be announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but who could they possibly be? Goku? James Bond? Maybe ♥♪!? — the artist formerly known as Geno? Using a combination of tea leaves, industry insight, and good ol’ blind faith, we’ll try our best to guess who the last two fighters will be. Follow along as we draw the odds on who will fill those remaining slots, fro...

Hidden Gems returns with Dylan Ilvento, Dante Douglas, Kevin Snow, and Mike Williams in the Emerald City to talk about what goodies PAX has to offer, from some crankin’ games to some typing games to a plethora of other delectable digital daydreams! Follow along with the panel slides here. From the panel description: You’ve entered the hallowed halls of PAX, and you’re on the hunt for any secrets a...

We’re relieved to hear that new footage of Death Stranding streamed last week at Gamescom. News has flowed forth from Germany, trickling in new details about the game’s various mechanics. We’re glad this didn’t leak ahead of time, or it might have whizzed by us while we were otherwise preoccupied. Games include Grand Theft Auto Online, Grand Theft Auto III, and Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Got a quest...

We have to escape to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by television: space! If we’re flying out to the void above, we might as well embrace everything in this wild and wacky future: biopunk mods, subscription services, megacorps, and possibly — maybe — a better Steam client? Games include Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Divinity: Original Sin II, Sunset Overdrive, Metro Exodus, Void Bastards...

This week, we’re joined by Joseph Knoop, host of The 1099 and weekend web producer at IGN. We check in on the Good Ship 1099 since the last time we had a member of her crew on while also discussing the changing landscape of games media, the continuous fallout from the E3 doxxing, and the return of politicians blaming video games for making people violent in the wake of two mass shootings. Got a qu...

In a world where new genres are popping up every day — battle royales, card battlers, auto chess — what’s a person to do? Well, certainly the thing not to do is harass an indie developer for announcing Epic Store exclusivity. With that, we also cover the ESA’s E3 leak snafu, some games best described as roguelikesque, and how to never meet your Marvel heroes when they’re on Switch. Games include D...

This week, we go deep into our guest bench for a pair of Wardcast locals: Sam Loeschen, developer on Silent Earth, back in RVA after living on the west coast and abroad; and Justin Mitchell, developer on War of Velana, here with another fresh food minute. On the docket today: the landscape for mobile devs looking for a publisher, Blender’s recent epic mega grants, hiring practices we’d prefer not...

Here in Twenty Nineteen we’re keeping things Twenty Ninekeen with live updates on the latest cryptocurrency trends and emoji-focused Twitter bots. We try to find out where Peter Molyneux’s twenty other cans went; reckon with the hunky, new, made-for-TV Geralt of Rivia; and consider the joy-pros and the joy-cons of the new Switch Lite. Games include Divinity: Original Sin II, Dungeons and Dragons 5...

On this, our 200th Wardcast, we take the time to appreciate the little things. Namely: we eulogize a Mario clone that was too good for this world, find ourselves in the throng of JRPGs and CRPGs alike, and put a cap on last week’s conversation about the Steam Summer Sale’s effect on indies. Games include Mario Royale, Flappy Royale, HexSweep, Outer Wilds, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, The Arc...

Ben Wander, designer at indie studio The Wandering Band, joins us to talk about what indies get up to at E3. We also chat about his time at Visceral Games before going indie to make A Case of Distrust, the post-release slump devs can find themselves in, and building a team to collaborate on their studio’s new game, Airborne Kingdom. We share thoughts on if there’s a benefit to having a demo for yo...

We return home from E3, carrying with us tales of new games and new friends. Come join us for the coda of this year’s Electronic Third. We’re excited about: Kal Kestus’ white lightning Some delicious Gnoggin Thoth Leaving John-117 to float endlessly through space Project Scarlett: Red Ring edition Ikumi Nakamura being just the best Eating Gooigi The Legend of Zelda: Thirst of the Thief King Games...

For E3 2019, we’re joining forces with Spawn on Me for the E3 Collab Couch! If you want to check out all of our coverage from the show, be sure to follow Wardcast as well as our friends at Spawn on Me. On this episode of the Collab Couch, we’re joined by Finji co-founders Adam and Bekah Saltsman! We catch up with them about what they’re doing at the show, from showing games to maintaining industry...

For E3 2019, we’re joining forces with Spawn on Me for the E3 Collab Couch! If you want to check out all of our coverage from the show, be sure to follow Wardcast as well as our friends at Spawn on Me. On this episode of the Collab Couch, we’re joined by writer and designer Dante Douglas and Finji’s Harris Foster to talk about second tries on post-apocalypses, what they’re doing at the show, and m...

For E3 2019, we’re joining forces with Spawn on Me for the E3 Collab Couch! If you want to check out all of our coverage from the show, be sure to follow Wardcast as well as our friends at Spawn on Me. On this episode of the Collab Couch, we’re joined by Indie Megabooth’s Kelly Wallick, Funomena’s Robin Hunicke, and Kitfox’s Victoria Tran to talk about indie games, their presence at E3, and more!...

For E3 2019, we’re joining forces with Spawn on Me for the E3 Collab Couch! If you want to check out all of our coverage from the show, be sure to follow Wardcast as well as our friends at Spawn on Me. On this episode of the Collab Couch, we’re joined by USGamer’s Mike Williams, here to talk with us about all our impressions of the first slate of press conferences so far — EA, Microsoft, Bethesda,...