EXP Podcast #463: The Toad Revelations

The first three signs of the video game apocalypse have arrived. "And so it will be, that false peace, false heroes, and falses hats herald the end of days."

This week on the EXP Podcast, we discuss this year's ill portents and what could possibly be inside Toad's head? And more importantly, is it edible?

- 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:

- Runtime: 36 mins 31 sec
- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #360: Games of the Year 2015

Geralt isn't on our list. And he looks pissed.

What a year is has been for gaming! We've browsed through police interviews, parachuted through the sky, and dug deep into the earth. Now, as 2015 draws to a close, Scott and I return for our annual Game of the Year discussion. As always, we encourage you to share your favorite games that you've played. Yes, even if that includes The Witcher.

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

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 56 mins 30 secs
- Intrio & Outro Music by Brad Sucks

SPOILERS
- Additional music from the Super Mario Maker, Rocket League, Life is Strange, Bloodborne, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain OSTs respectively.

Getting Trapped in 'Metal Gear Solid V’s' War Economy

Smooth and bold; just like the military-industrial complex!

This week on PopMatters I get all paranoid about Metal Gear Solid V's sneaky implementation of the war economy.

Here's a free alternate title: the Metal Gear-industrial Complex.  I really think it could catch on.

This isn't a post about Konami's shady dealings around online modes and microtransactions.  I've made my peace with those.  It's about something I find even more unsettling (and cool in the context of MGS V.

By the end, the game makes a strong argument about why militarization tends to spiral out of control.  The game sets you down a path where you continually need to get money to develop weapons that directly add to the need to develop more weapons.  Of course you need money to do this, so you eventually find yourself in a never ending loop of militaristic capitalism.

Of course you could opt out, but you have to be OK with either having a poor loadout or getting ransacked by other players.  A couple months after release and the game has become one huge arms race crossed with a prisoner's dilemma.  With the advent of nukes, meta-game factions have begun to make the cases for and against proliferation.  Sure, perhaps the world would be better off without nuclear weapons, but who wants to go first?  Who wants to bet that a bad actor won't do something reprehensible.

Not I and probably not you either.  So instead we find ourselves in a familiar cycle within one of the most fascinating games of the year.

EXP Podcast #351: The Microtransaction Mambo

How could you say "no" to this face?

Hey, I'm not saying that I'd pay for the ability to do the Carlton dance.  What I am saying is that maybe the fact that other people can pay for the ability to do the Carlton dance isn't all bad.  After all, it brings me enjoyment.  There's been lots of talk about microtransactions recently and not all of them have been as seemingly-benign as silly dances.  In fact, by the end of the show, things escalate to the point where Jorge and I start talking about nuclear proliferation.  Will we ever reach micro-transaction disarmament?  Listen in to find out.

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

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 33 mins 7 secs
- Music by Brad Sucks

Metal Gear Online: Anti-turret Sneaking

There's nothing more satisfying than creeping up on the competition and then launching them into the air.  Well, maybe mowing them down with a mech comes close.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ghost Busting

After a quick chat about cutaneous defecation, Jorge and Scott set about hunting a spooky soldier.

I Still Like Metal Gear Solid V

My PopMatters post from last week is now live!  It's about getting down in the dirt with Big Boss.

Here are some extra thoughts about it.

Here is my reappraisal of the game, courtesy of Jorge's GIF-sleuthing.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Legend of the Shonkey

In which we discover new discover new lifeforms, tranquilize known lifeforms, and try to ride shipping containers.

 

Getting to Know the Ground in ‘Metal Gear Solid V’

PopMatters is undergoing some maintenance, so I'm posting this now and will update with links once the column goes live.

This week on PopMatters I talk about how Snake gets low.

I mean literally low to the ground.  Like hiding in the brush low.  Like down in the dirt low.  This assumes you’re playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain stealthily of course, which is a reasonable assumption seeing as how you’re rewarded with points and unlocks for avoiding detection.  If you’ve decided against the Rambo path you’ll need to do lots of hiding, which means becoming very familiar with the way the world looks from a snake’s eye view.

If you pay attention, MGS V telegraphs this from its very opening moments.  A huge portion of the hospital scene is focused on introducing you to crawling, crouching, and hiding under things.  The pace is deliberately slow and Snake is fairly fragile compared to his enemies.  The “normal” state of the world is one where you’re looking at it from the ground up.

I also got to do some pretty fun research around how many different ways there are to interact with the ground in MGS V.  Here is a video of my studies:

Silliness aside, MGS V’s open world feels very different than GTA or Saint’s Row.  Instead of being rewarded for stealing planes or jumping halfway across the map, you’re prompted to spend time inching along the terrain.  It’s a slower, more methodical pace that is unique and useful as a juxtaposition for scenes when everything goes to shit.  The quiet moments are more tense and the chaotic scenes are more bombastic when it feels like your life is tied to your ability to become part of the landscape itself.

EXP Podcast #347: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Debrief, Part 1

The truest act of heroism.

Nothing makes a splash in the video game world quite like Metal Gear Solid, mostly because it brings Hideo Kojima parachuting in from the skies to wreak havoc on sheep and the like. This week on the EXP Podcast, knowing we have a massive game in front of us, Scott and I discuss our first impressions of The Phantom Pain, from the tutorial to the effect of horse poop on moving vehicles.

If you're playing MGS V yourself, let us know what stands out in the comments below. And of course be sure to check back after awhile once Scott and I have actually, you know, finished the game.

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

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 45 mins 11 sec
- Music by Brad Sucks

The Phantom Pain has the Best Tutorial Ever Made

What is this guy's problem!?

My argument in this week's PopMatters article is right in the title: The Phantom Pain features the best tutorial ever made. I will hear no counter-argument. This is just an objective truth.

Ok, I'm willing to hear some avenues of disagreement if you have a great tutorial in mind. For example, I'm partial to the built-in tutorial of Gears of War that flows effortlessly into the main storyline without skipping a beat. Portal and Portal 2 also have pretty great tutorials that get you comfortably familiar with the world and the mechanics before tossing you into the full-blown puzzles.

You know what neither of them feature though? Fiery unicorns. It's not just the mayhem of Phantom Pain that sets it apart though. It's that this prologue mission is so meta that it's more an introduction to the idea of Metal Gear than the actual game. There isn't some crazy village you have to grok in the prologue for example, no need to fulton people, animals, or goods into the sky. But that's fine. Metal Gear is not about aerial trickery.

The game is about navigating a landscape of controlled chaos. It's about accepting what's in front of you and acting (and reacting) accordingly. It's about confronting insane surprises with calculated and logical decisions given the context. Sometimes fighting back is playing dead. Sometimes defeating your foes means shooting a fire extinguisher. Sometimes everything goes out the window and dammit, that's alright, because you'll figure it out as you go along.

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Growing Pains

Life would be better if you can balloon animals into the sky.