Yo Videogames

Pokemon released a direct today! Pre e3 and we think that means Nintendo won;t waste time going over stuff we have already seen, and instead focus on announcing and showing games we are jonesin' for. We'll see what happens but for now enjoy as we dig into our memories of what is possibly every kid's first RPG. Shine on doods!

Memorial Day weekend was busy. There was some news items. None more disappointing than FF7 remake being pushed back by 3 another 3 years. We spend the bulk of the episode on that, but also talk Friday the 13th: the game, Samurai Jack and Matt's Fanime Panel with Mike from Easy Allies. Shine on doods!

Honestly, f*%# game delays, right? I know it's not the end of the world, and I know a lot of the time it's for the better, but it's still a major let down when it happens. This is me grieving over the delay of RDR2 btw.

It's that time of year! Christmas? NAY! E3 is a month away and that means we have a month to get all worked up on the possibilities for the coming year. Matt and I spend 2 freaking hours throwing out our predictions, our hopes, and our dreams. Kick it with us as we plead with whatever higher power there is to give us an amazing show this year. Shine on!

I was in the mood for some film talk, so we talked about popular games heavily influenced by moves or other popular art. Examples include Metal Gear Solid, Skies of Arcadia, Contra, and more. I also got to call Matt a whore like three times in Spanish so this is a real win for me. We had a lot of fun recording this episode and we ran a little bit long, but shine on and enjoy the ride!

When did collectors editions start? Today we talk about the origins of collectors editions and the best and worst we can recall. Today's topic was suggested by MorteRenatus on our talk show (YoVG Live). We had a lot of fun, and you doods hopefully will too! Have a great topic idea? Hit us up on twitter, the talk show or email. Shine on!

This episode is long as hell. We talk about Gaming Mascots, debate Tetris (and how it can totally eat a dick IMO) and wonder if mascots exist/matter in modern gaming. We also talk about MVCI a little. Yeah it's a weird one, I know. It is also pretty fun. Shine on doods!

Look, I get it, we talk about Nintendo too much maybe. This episode we talk in more detail about franchises that have been left in the dust and what we envision they could do today. I promise we will lay off Nintendo talk for a couple episodes after this. For now, as Easter has just passed, let's talk about resurrecting games we miss like Fzero, 1080, and maybe even Metroid! Shine on doods.

Matt and I talk the positives of Persona 5, and about China's game market. Due to a technical difficulty, I had to cut that conversation completely. I'm not kidding. It happened. We then go on to talk about the different philosophies between east & west game development. Shine on!

On the day of this recording, Atlus Games released a very thinly veiled threat against Streamers and Youtubers about their new game Persona 5. It prompted us to have a long conversation about their PR suicide and the new age of game journalism. The reality is, Atlus is perfectly within its legal rights to make these demands really. However, the reality also is, this threat does nothing but hurt them. See streaming is, in many ways, a free way for companies to advertise their games and get word of mouth to spread for free. Both Twitch and Youtube offers a very real and easy avenue to build a games hype and community. So by attacking the very people your customers are most likely to listen to about your game, you're strangling those avenues of free marketing. Doesn't seem complex but unfortunately much of Japanese business is based on old world (20+ years ago) thinking and mentality. It must be hell on the younger creatives at those companies. Lord knows western branches of these companies are fighting an uphil

75 episodes deep and no sign of stopping! Today we talk about the 5 best consoles of all time (to us). Surprisingly Matt and I only intersect once on the list, and at vastly different ranks. Matt likes to say my list is hardcore casual. Let me know what you guys think. Shine on!

This week we talk Franchise Killers! Matt was inspired by a Youtube video by Game Sack and we basically decided to record the conversation we were having because of said video. We also announce our Patreon being live and do our first Patron of the Month shoutout, and talk about our new producers. We are bumbled and amazed by the support you guys have shown us. Thank you, shine on!

We've been wanting to discuss this for a while, and we finally had the opportunity to have YoVG hype-man Kenny on again, so we busted it out! Today we talk about the games that mattered most to us at 5, 10, 15, and 20 years old. It's a fun topic and comes with lots of insight into YoVG on a personal level. We were going to have Steve on as well but he ended up ducking on us. This episode is a little longer than normal and the audio may be different from normal because I lugged all the equipment down to Max's, and we had to hold the microphones in our hands. You'll probably hear Max's stream in the background several times. Shine on!

The Nintendo Switch was released March 3rd, and we've now had some alone time with it. So here is our love & hate episode. Personally I'm really happy with the system. Matt is too, however he does;t see the point of buying it until holiday season 2017. As requested, here is our definitive Switch launch impressions. Is it perfect? No. But is it pretty damn cool? Hell yeah and we think it's got real potential to boot. Shine on doods! 

This week begins a wonderfully exciting month for us and a terrifying month for our wallets. It seems like March has tons of great games (at least one exciting title a week) and of course there is the switch launch on the 3rd. Join Matt and I as we give a state of the union of sorts. We discuss upcoming games, thoughts on the future, and prioritize what we need to buy, and what we want to buy this month. Plus matt tries to explain some messed up parts of Nier's story, and it sounds insane. Shine on! 

If we've talked about this before, we have never gone this in depth in the conversation. Ever wonder what Matt is most passionate about in gaming? Yeah, it's music! I'm woefully ignorant about the giants in gaming music, but I learned a lot this episode and I hope you do too! Shine on, doods.

So even though I've played all the MGS games, I apparently forgot which game this quote is from. It's a fail, but be gentle! Anyway, today is our 69th episode! So let's talk romance in video games. Many will disagree, but Matt and I are on the same page. When romance is the goal of the game, it's kind of crap. I think it works well as a driving force sometimes, but honestly is it really necessary? I think this follows the thought process in film that a romantic subplot is the best way to have character growth. I don't necessarily agree but I will say it is the easiest way to show growth. Jump in and let me know what you're thoughts are.

So we've done games to film and films to games, but today we get to talk about the sometimes crappy, sometimes amazing BECAUSE they're crappy tv shows based on games. Interestingly enough almost all of these came out in the 90's... It was the best of times for this apparently. Granted it may have been the only way to reach a mass audience of kids in the US. So let's dig in, and hear me tell one awkward story after another. This is another Skype episode as we try to fine tune this before we have a special guest on in the near future. Shine on!

What is the role of combat and violence in gaming? Can you make a game compelling and exciting without direct violence? More importantly, if you can do that, can the game hold an audiences attention for longer than a couple hours? Today we dig into the games that can make this work, and what games we think could definitely do it with some work. Also dudes, let us know how this episode sounds. Honestly, I'm not sure about the quality. Sounds like there is some compression but overall it sounds pretty good and doing an episode over Skype when we have special guests could open the podcast up quite a bit. In any case, your feedback always helps and I deeply appreciate it. Shine on!

NeoGeo made an arcade board that can only be described as a beast. More importantly they are a classic part of any arcade and pizza parlor. Matt and I discuss the games we love most, and share some arcade stories. If I could own one arcade cabinet, it would be a NeoGeo with Metal Slug, Puzzle Boggle, and a couple others on it. Shine on!