EXP Podcast #743: Miyazaki and the Family Erdtree

A peaceful moment in The Lands Between

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 be certain that this difficulty is not only intentional, but also pursued out of respect to players.  This week, we dissect some of his comments and consider the long-term legacy of his design sensibilities.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

 

Show Notes:

- Run time: 37 min 49 sec

- "‘I have always felt the world was a harsh place’: Elden Ring’s Hidetaka Miyazaki on why he may never stop making games," by Keza MacDonald via The Guardian

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #742: Nintendo Direct June 2024

"Wand of Ikea activate!"

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!

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

 

Show Notes:

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #741: Summer Game Fest 2024

Patrolling the bean streets of the video game industry

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 antihistamines and dive into some of the many game announcements we've seen over the past couple weeks.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

 

Show Notes:

- Run time: 43 min 44 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #740: State of Big Budget Play

"What makes him so special?"

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.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

 

Show Notes:

- "You can’t make AAA games for just one platform anymore" by Oli Welsh via Polygon

- Music by Brad Sucks