EXP Podcast #781: Wheel Good Games

Cruising on your phantasm-powered fixie.

With the summer is wrapping up, it's time to talk about a great crop of games we're squeezing in prior to the fall rush.  We're still on our journey to spread the chiral network of course, but we've picked up genealogy and bike racing as well.  We've also dusted off some old classics, although it seems that we still don't know what sort of animal Klonoa is after all these years.  Maybe some fall semester zoology classes are in order.

- 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: 41 min 23 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #780: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Debrief

Foot fetishist, but still cool.

This week on the podcast we visit the beautiful city of Lumiere, eat (and wield) a baguette, take a boat ride on a weirdly large creature, and analyze a painting. Join us on a full debrief of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - including a deep spoiler section on the divisive ending!

- 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 from the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Soundtrack

EXP Podcast #779: Gen Con 2025 Debrief

Now that is some great cosplay.

This week we get a report from the field about Gen Con 2025.  Despite a microscopic demonic onslaught, Jorge was able to see some of the newest table top games.  What have we discovered?  Well, the Souls-like genre seems to be transcending the boundaries of video games.  Prepare to sit across the table from your old friend, Patches.

- 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: 36 min 34 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #775: Summer Game Fest 2025 debrief

Images from an endless summer

Forget weather patterns and school schedules; the real mark of summer is a shotgun blast of game announcements.  This week we pick up the pieces of Summer Game Fest as well as some of the adjacent company-focused announcements.  A slew of Souls-likes, combative muppets, and a very cool looking Big Walk are all on the horizon.

- 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: 45 min 08 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #774: James Bond, Silent Hill F, and More State of Play

"Drake... Nathan Drake."

This week on the EXP Podcast, we discuss the announcements out of Sony's State of Play - recording just a day before Summer Games Fest, so there's a bounty coming! Today it's why James Bond lacks character, what's so unsettling about Silent Hill F, and much more!

- 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 #773: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Doom: The Dark Ages

I told you that Paris is hot in August

Grab your baguette, it's time to le rip and le tear your way through hell.  This week we jump into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Doom: The Dark Ages.  Two games that, while seemingly very different, share a similar commitment to their mechanical and aesthetic themes.  Who knew the mass destruction of an entire age group and jaunt through the realm of the old gods would be so much fun?

- 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: 36 min 01 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #772: The "Dad Game"

"Go to bed!"

Pull your pants up, put away your smoker, and tuck the kids into bed folks it's time to play a dad game! This week on the podcast, we dive deep on what makes a quintessential "dad game," why Remedy's upcoming FBC Firebreak might fit the bill, and what we look for in game for parents with very little free time.

- 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:

- "Remedy says it’s made a Control shooter ‘for Dads’" from VideoGamesChronicle
- Music from Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #771: Gouging, Gears, and Grand Theft Auto VI

The Gears bros, pictured here discussing the DualSense

We turn out back for just one week and everything falls apart: Xbox prices are sky-rocketing.  Marcus Fenix is doing the roadie run onto the PlayStation.  One of the biggest releases of the year and maybe even the last ten years is now delayed.  This week we try to pick up the pieces and figure out how they all fit together.

- 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: 40 min 42 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #769: South of Midnight and other Spring Break Gaming

South of Midnight has "strands," but it's not a strand game.

We're back from spring break and ready to talk about some of the games we've played over the past couple weeks.  Our stops include new destinations like the swamps of South of Midnight, the shifting rooms of Blue Prince, and fungus fields of Avowed.  There's even a return to Hollow Knight's creepy-crawly caverns as we look to wrap up the year's early months.

- 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: 40 min 14 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #767: 2025 Journey Debrief

One lonely traveler, one big mountain.

Our annual springtime ritual continues!  It's the time of year when our eyes are watering and we can't quite tell if it's due to the return of seasonal allergies or because of the sheer majesty of thatgamecompany's 2012 masterpiece: Journey.  As always, we share our thoughts on this year's playthrough and we also review a bit of the 2012 video game landscape, review what we were playing, and put Journey in context with other big releases of the year.  Hope to see you in the desert next 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:

- Run time: 35 min 46 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #766: Citizen Sleeper 2 & Monster Hunter Wilds

Eat your veggies!

This week on the podcast we venture through the raggedy outer reaches of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector to the monster filled dunes and valleys of Monster Hunter Wilds. Two vastly different games with enough fascinating and sometimes infuriating designs to chew through. Join us on our adventure and be sure to download the amazing Mr. Broccoli in your Wilds campaign! (Code: F99PE4N38B64)

- 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:

- Intro from Monster Hunter Wilds
- Outro from the Citizel Sleeper 2 OST

EXP Podcast #765: Pokemon, Prices, and Putting up With It

Truly, a work of art

A blurry tree here and little upsell there can't be so bad, can it?  But what happens when these little annoyances build into something that truly irritates people into action?  This week we have ugly Pokemon and triple-digit game prices are top of mind as we talk about some recent dust-ups in both the fan and financial circles.

- 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: 38 min 41 sec

- "Pokémon games have become consistently ugly, and it's alright to wish they weren't," by Chris Tapsell, via Eurogamer

- "Analyst thinks Take-Two will sell Grand Theft Auto 6 at an unprecedented $100 price point," by Tom Ivan, Video Games Chronicle

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #763: Secret Level Debrief

A mega boy becomes a mega man

What with the hectic holiday season and all the game of the year madness, we were so busy talking about games that we didn't have time to talk about games-adjacent things like Secret Level.  The streaming anthology series takes direct inspiration from some very well known (and not so well known) games, so we sat down to debrief on what makes a good short-form cross-media game story.  Honestly, we're still having nightmares about the Pac-Man episode.

- 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: 38 min 55 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #761: The Year Ahead 2025

A new year appears at the threshold like a wandering ronin.

It's the beginning of the year and it's nothing but endless possibilities stretching out before us!  This week we continue our tradition of looking at this year's scheduled (and perhaps not so scheduled) releases and call out what we're most looking forward to. 

- 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: 38 min 10 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #759: 2024 Game of the Year

Astro Bot, ready to duke it out for GOTY

We've made it around the sun once more and we have a handful of great games to prove it.  But which games will be our favorite of year?  And will Jorge and I maintain our drift compatibility and choose the same game as our GOTY?  All this, along with more Balatro pro tips, in this week's show.

- 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: 41 min 56 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #757: Story Time with Shawn Layden

The look of a man who has seen many Hideo Kojima pitches.

Thanks to the recent 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation launch, there's been plenty of retrospectives about the system and the era it ushered in.  This week, we dig into Eurogamer's extended interview with Former Sony CEO Shawn Layden.  Layden's tenure at Sony spanned the pre-PlayStation era all the way through the PS4 and he offers some candid thoughts about the state of the industry, development costs, and why he may be the last of the console warriors.  Plus, he floats the concept of triple-A development being akin to building a massive cathedral and now I'm obsessed with the image of a stained-glass Dual Shock.

- 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: 35 min 28 sec

- ""There comes a time when we all declare the war is over": Former PlayStation Studios boss Shawn Layden on the future of video game consoles," by Tom Phillips, via Eurogamer

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #756: This Is My Favorite Xbox on the Citadel

No. That's a phone.

According to Microsoft you probably have an Xbox in your pocket. So what's an Xbox again? This week on the podcast we chat Microsoft news and venture into the future... of television with the Mass Effect TV series.

- 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 #755: Time to Face the Music

But is it strong enough to handle me smashing snooze?

Leave it to Nintendo: we turn our backs for just a couple of weeks and they exponentially increase their wackiness.  Well I can officially tell this to our favorite baffling company: Chill out, we're awake and we have ready access to the Internet!  Your clock and your music app is very cute, but shouldn't you be working on a new console or something?  Wake me up once you're ready to tell me what the Super Mario Odyssey team has been working on.

- 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: 31 min 33 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #753: The PlayStation Paperclip and other Weird News

Traditional 30th anniversary gifts

I can't believe we missed out on the most important PlayStation Pro news when we talked about it a couple weeks ago.  Yes, your long nightmare of dealing with disorganized lose paper is over: Sony has created a solution and it only costs $1000.  But hurry: there's only 12,300 in existence, so act quickly or else you'll have to go crawling back to Clippy.  We dig into this as well as more stories on Professor Layton, Microsoft R&D, and Nintendo's secret police this week.

- 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: 32 min 55 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #751: PlayStation 5 Pro and Con

The fine print says the vertical stand is sold separately, you chumps.

The PlayStation 5 Pro was formally announced and I have to say that my favorite part by far was listening to the calming timbre of Mark Cerny's voice as he explained highly technical things in a way that made me feel like I could understand it.  His sonorous, professorial presentation was perhaps the only thing that could have calmed my jangled nerves after seeing that $700 price point.  This week, we discuss the announcement and what we think it means for the PlayStation landscape.

- 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 06 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks