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![[Play Episode 151]](play.png "Play Episode 151")
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We're back! Well, I'm back. This is the first review-only solo episode after
the end of our regular format last time. It's no longer weekly, but I plan to
release an episode as often as I can. Until Heath is ready to co-host and we
can return to a weekly schedule, the next few weeks or months or years will
be like this. I hope you like game reviews!
This week, I review Prey (PS4), Syberia II (PS3), and The Surge (PS4). That's
most of the show. First, though, this week's feature is a top ten list of the
most exciting announcements (for me) from this year's E3. Listen afterwards for
this week's code give-away password. Up for grabs are Steam codes for Good
Robot, Manual Samuel, and Dreamscapes: The Sandman - Premium Edition.
Episode 151 is also available as an MP3 here.
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This milestone marks not only our one hundred and fiftieth episode, but also the
last episode for Addie. When the podcast continues (probably in the next month or
two), the format is changing to an all-review pre-recorded show with just me. That
will probably continue for a while, with occasional Mini-Gamers segments with Heath
or other special episodes possibly co-hosted by Bill. Then, when the time is right,
the show will return to a weekly schedule, with Heath as the permanent co-host.
Anyway, that's the plan. It might take months or even years before he's ready, or
it may end altogether before that.
It's impossible to express how grateful we both are for everybody who listened to
and enjoyed our podcast over these past three (almost) years. Whether you were a
recent listener, a lapsed listener from early on, or there from the beginning to
the end, we never would have kept going without you as an audience. It means the
world to us both that you helped make this possible for so long.
This week's show starts with our usual news and new releases, followed by an
update on what I've been playing. That's Syberia II (PS3) and Prey (PS4). After
that, we switch gears to email, which is the focus of this week's episode.
We also received several audio clips from listeners, which are included too.
After that, we reminisce for a bit before closing the show. It may not truly be
the end, but with Addie stepping away from co-hosting duties, it sure feels like
it. We hope you enjoy this "final" episode.
Mentioned in this episode:
Hand of Fate: Ordeals on
KickStarter
Nickelodeon's Actual Reality on
YouTube
Episode 150 is also available as an MP3 here.
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After a real-world month and 121 in-game hours, I finished Persona 5. My epic
spoiler-free pre-recorded review is here at last. Before that, though, Addie's
back for our penultimate episode. I talk a little about plans for the future, to
keep the podcast going in some form even though it's reached an end for her.
I'm sure we'll talk more about that next week, too.
After talking briefly about this week's new releases, we read listener email.
This includes a couple great questions about weapon durability in games, and
frustrating game mechanics in general. We also get brief impressions of The
Fall, The Last Tinker, and Fruit of Grisaia from Nikhil.
Several Steam codes from prior weeks may still be available, and six new ones
have been added this week. They are for Outlast,
Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble, Atonement: Scourge of Time,
Atonement 2: Ruptured by Despair,
Sword of the Stars: The Pit - Gold Edition and Bardbarian.
The ending music this week is an assortment of several clips from Persona 5.
Episode 149 is also available as an MP3 here.
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It's the end of an era, but maybe the start of something new. This version of
the Video Game Generations Podcast will come to an end in two weeks, with
episode 150. Addie is old enough now that her priorities have changed, and
Heath isn't quite old enough to take it seriously, contribute in a meaningful way,
or even just sit still for an hour. The future is uncertain, but I hope to keep
the podcast alive in some form. I may do occassional episodes that are entirely
made up of my pre-recorded reviews for multiple games, or maybe we'll do a bonus
special episode once in a while. The goal, though, is to put the current format
on pause for some period of time, until Heath is old enough to make it work.
Of course, that assumes he'll still want to, when that time comes.
He's here this week, and probably next, but Addie should be back for episode 150.
If you have email or voice mail (using our SpeakPipe link or by sending your own
.MP3 file) for our "final" episode, be sure to get it to us by May 22nd, prior to
our recording on May 23rd.
It's a shorter episode this week, because I'm still not finished with Persona 5
(PS4). I talk a little about it this week, but I'm saving most of my thoughts
for the review. News consists of this week's new game releases. Then I read an
email regarding the differences in walking simulators, Dreamfall Chapters
impressions, and the PSVR-compatible game GNOG.
My plan for this week's feature segment is a little rushed, but it involves
Game Informer's top 100 RPGs of all time in their latest issue. I mention just
the ones I played until reaching the top 10. I had intended to say more about
each game, but by that point in the show, Heath was too restless for that.
The password for this week's addition to the Steam codes page is given out very
late in the episode. Five games have been added this week, and as always, the first
first listener to redeem them gets them. Up for grabs are Sudeki,
Jurassic Park: The Game, Candle, Guardians of Victoria
and ZombieCarz. Quite the eclectic mix.
Mentioned in this episode:
Pawel's GNOG trophy guide is on
PSNProfiles
Episode 148 is also available as an MP3 here.
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May the Fourth be with you! It sure wasn't with us, in our first attempt to
record on the usual night. I thought it would be a good idea to try dual co-hosts
with Addie being unavailable, so Tuesday night, both Heath and Hadleigh sat with
me in what I can only describe as a fiasco to end all fiascos. Stay tuned after
the ending music for a few select bits from that first attempt. The rest of those
painful twelve minutes will most likely remain unreleased, since there was a good
amount of yelling, complaining, and silliness in general.
In our second attempt, Heath and I stick to the plan. Without a well-intentioned
sibling for him to argue with and complain about, it went better. I talk a little
about last week's emails to follow up on a couple things, and then we do the Steam
code give-away for Child Phobia: Nightcoming Fears and Her Story.
After news, new releases, and the free Xbox and Playstation game line-ups for May,
we talk about what we're playing. I skipped Persona 5 this week, even though I put
a lot more time into it. We start with my pre-recorded review segment where I talk
about Late Shift (PS4) and What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4) -- spoiler-free reviews
for both of them. Then, we talk about Heath's first experience with Virtual Reality
(VR) last weekend, and a few games he's playing. These include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
(Switch), C.A.T.S. - Crash Arena Turbo Stars (iOS), King of Thieves (iOS), and more.
It's mainly just a brief mention of each.
This week's feature is something a little different. Because I've been in an
"interview" mindset lately, I decided to interview Heath for the open (and
entirely made-up) "gamer" position. Questions include trivia/facts, personal
preferences, and more. Some of his answers surprised even me.
Mentioned in this episode:
There's a Spring Clearance Sale at
Square Enix
Episode 147 is also available as an MP3 here.
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Something weird happened with the audio for this week's podcast. I use a Polycom
speaker phone currently (maybe now's a good time to get a real mic), and something
was wrong with it this time. Maybe the handset wasn't on right, or there was an
issue due to prior use that caused some distortion and feedback or something.
The problem wasn't evident until listening back and editing, so the entire episode
is like that. Luckily, the noise removal feature in Audacity helped quite a bit,
making the audio a little more robotic and hollow but taking care of most of the
distortion and background static. You may still notice it, especially if listening
with headphones, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse.
Plenty of new game releases make up this week's news segment. After that, we read
several really great emails from listeners. Topics include Double Fine's Amnesia
Fortnight, a Double Fine display at the game exhibition in Hamburg, the Nintendo
SNES-Mini rumor, the portability of digital downloads on the Nintendo Switch, and
what happens when the online servers for games are shut down. That last topic was
supposed to be more about the lack of fanfare when the Disney Infinity servers
were taken down, but I somehow manage to turn it into a rant about online services
in general, and my fears about digital-only content and game patches when
current-gen and last-gen servers are eventually shuttered.
It seems I'm nowhere close to finishing Persona 5 yet (PS4), or Syberia 2 (PS3)
for that matter, so I talk a little about both games, but without a pre-recorded
review segment this week. In particular, I talk about the small-scale criticism
about P5's English translation, and my thoughts on the puzzle design in S2.
Addie talks a little about Little Alchemy (iOS) and Clash Royale (iOS), with me
asking questions to better understand what she's playing. Then in our final
segment, I count down my personal Top 10 List of the games released this year
(so far) that have already hit my ever-growing backlog. The point here is to
maybe provide some insight on a few games I'll be playing and talking about in
the weeks to come.
Steam codes given away this week are Dexodonex, Operation KREEP,
and Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. If you're the first listener to enter this
week's password (given out during the show) into the box near the bottom of our
website's main page, you can redeem these codes on Steam. It never hurts to
check, even if you're a few days late. Sometimes, the codes go unclaimed longer
than you might expect.
Episode 146 is also available as an MP3 here.
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Heath fills in for Addie once again in this week's episode. The neighbor's lawn
mower fills in as an annoying bit of bad luck. We don't have a sound-proof
recording studio or anything, unfortunately, so I apologize in advance for the
droning buzz that can be heard through most of the show. At least my pre-recorded
segment, with a spoiler-free review of Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4), isn't
affected by that.
In this episode, I rant about YouTube's cryptic "inappropriate content" complaint
about one of our recent episodes, which resulted in its removal from YouTube.
Even after disputing it, an uninformative and unhelpful cookie-cutter response
was the only result. Since our content doesn't actually voilate their content
policy, and no specifics were given, it's impossible to continue uploading to
YouTube because I have no idea what the issue was. As a result, we're no longer on
YouTube. My first thought was the ending music in that episode (from Blaster Master
Zero), but I generally only include stuff that others have set a precedent by
uploading already. Even so, a "copyright strike" is an entirely different thing
on YouTube, so the specifics of what went wrong may forever remain a mystery.
After news and new releases, I include my previously-mentioned pre-recorded review.
We had no email this week, which may have been for the best, since Heath was very
anxious to move ahead into game discussion. Much of his gaming time has been spent
on the Nintendo Switch, so he talks a little about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of
the Wild (Switch) and Snake Pass (Switch). Most of the discussion is about Lego
City Undercover (Switch), which prompts us to talk about collectibles and
completion percentages in games.
This week's Steam code give-aways include Puzzle Agent, Puzzle Agent 2,
and The Silent Age. The ending music is the
Mass Effect: Andromeda title theme.
Episode 145 is also available as an MP3 here.
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Game code give-aways have been streamlined (even though you wouldn't know it from
my lengthy explanation in this episode). Instead of solving clues and filling in
the blanks, just listen for the password each week, and enter it in the box near
the bottom of our main page (www.vggpodcast.com). This week, we're giving away one
copy of Christopher Brookmyre's Bedlam and a copy of Lichdom: Battlemage, both on
Steam. Plus, last week's codes are still available, as far as we know.
Addie doesn't have much to say about the Xbox Scorpio announcement, but I share
my thoughts during our news segment. After that, she helps me with this week's
list of new game releases. In email, I talk more about the Mass Effect: Andromeda
faces/animation controversy (a topic that comes up again later in my pre-recorded
segment), math, and Pawel's thoughts on Psychonauts and Blackwood Crossing.
Also in my pre-recorded segment, I give first impressions of Thief Town (PS4) and
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (PS4), plus a brief update on my progress in Syberia
II (PS3) and Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4). Being busy as usual, Addie played very
little and doesn't really have anything to add. In fact, this episode may be a bit
more monolouge-y than usual.
Mentioned in this episode:
Thief Town on
PSN
Psychonauts on
Wikipedia
Late Shift (game trailer) on
YouTube
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime on
PSN
Blackwood Crossing (game trailer) on
YouTube
Episode 144 is also available as an MP3 here.
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This week's free Steam codes are for Just a Cleric, Just Bones,
and Monster RPG 2. As always, if you're the first listener to fill in
the blanks using show-related clues, you can redeem one or two or even all
three of these on Steam. Sometimes the codes don't get redeemed for days or
weeks, so it's always worth checking them out, just in case.
This week's news is a recap of April's free PlayStation Plus games, and the
games releasing this week for various platforms. In email, listeners share
opinions about several games, including Limbo, The Incredible Adventures of
Van Helsing, Guacamelee, TellTale's Batman, Night in the Woods, and L.A. Noir.
Blaster Master Zero (Switch) gets a review in my pre-recorded segment. After
that, Addie talks a little about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
and I Love Hue (iOS), which is her Mobile Game of the Week.
Without adequate time to prepare, we have no top ten list or quiz this week.
But we do have some Blaster Master Zero music. The show ends with the title
theme and a sampling of early level music in all its retro-inspired glory.
Episode 143 is also available as an MP3 here.
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Even though it's still March, I think Addie considers this our April 1st episode.
Rather than spoil anything, I'll just leave it at that.
After news and new releases, an email from Pawel gives us a chance to talk briefly
about Addie's role as co-host. Nothing is decided, and she's here for now, but
the time may come when it's just me and Heath, as Addie's priorities change with
school, friends, and various other activities and interests. The same email also
gives me a chance to disagree with him about Horizon: Zero Dawn.
I have a brief update on Blaster Master Zero (Switch) and opening thoughts on Mass
Effect: Andromeda (PS4). In my pre-recorded segment, I review Nier: Automata (PS4).
After that, Addie has a short game review of her own. Then, in a new quiz, I
challenge her to name the exclusive gaming platform (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo)
associated with each of sixteen iconic game characters. Bonus points are awarded
if she can name a game featuring that character. Listeners can play along too.
Steam game codes given away this week are Time Mysteries: Inheritance Remastered
and Broken Sword 1: Director's Cut. As always, the first person to fill in the
blanks using simple show-related clues (the answers to which can be found at our website)
gets one or both of these free games.
The ending music this week is the amusement park theme from Nier: Automata.
Episode 142 is also available as an MP3 here.
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Each episode, we give away codes for free games -- usually on Steam, but sometimes for
PlayStation or Xbox. These are one-use codes, so the first listener to redeem them
gets them. With each episode, the page name changes, so listen to the current week's
episode to get the latest key or number or password. Enter it here and click "GO" to
see which codes (if any) are still available. If the password you enter is invalid
or from an older episode, you'll get a "page not found" page instead. Just use your
browser's back button to return to this main page.
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