This week Chris, Tom and Pip gather to immerse themselves in the soothing and faintly irritating waters of Abzu, before toweling off with Quadrilateral Cowboy and magical Dota 2 VR spectator experiences.
Also! Will will see VR versions of games become commonplace? Will an assassination attempt from a piece of frozen blackberry take Pip out? Why are almost all depictions of games in films and TV so utterly shit? We may never know, but we can at least complain into a microphone.
Show notes:
- “All the fish are here”, in Abzu. Here’s Pip’s review for RPS.
- Quadrilateral Cowboy is neat. Here’s Tom’s review for PCG.
- VR’s first convincing combat game is the terribly named Raw Data.
- You can now watch Dota 2 from a creep’s perspective. Here’s Chris following Dendi around from just that position.
- Run for your lives! The International is upon us! Chris’ guide may help you survive.
- Will we see more parallel VR editions of games? The Assembly goes for a two-tier pricing structure for VR/non-VR versions.
- The third-person VR game that Tom forgets the name of is Lucky’s Tale.
- Experiential games such as Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture could be sweet VR.
- Also, for different reasons, Tabletop Simulator.
- Does Tom Francis have an inflatable J. C. Denton sex doll? YES*, according to Jordan Thomas on the My Favorite Game pod.
- *He doesn’t but we will check.
- Spaced is 17 years old. Fuck. You can see the ghost of the outstanding Shaun of the Dead in Spaced’s Resi scenes.
- TV and films that don’t seem to understand what games are. There is no bullet point list long enough to contain them but for now: Veronica Mars, House, The Good Wife, Pixels, Wreck It Ralph.
- The scene Tom half-remembers is from Spike Lee’s Inside Man.
- In House of Cards Frank Underwood loves his Vita. He also plays shooters, because games are a natural hobby pursuit for sociopaths, right?
- However, the Murder She Wrote episode ‘A Virtual Murder’, is an outstanding and entirely accurate portrayal of the medium we love. I can’t find a video, so here’s a fun Wired breakdown of the episode.
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Chris Thursten
Philippa Warr
Tom Senior
Our intro music is by The Mandibles from their track Clambake. Many of the band members now tour as Count Bobo And The Bullion