Epilogue Gaming: Video Games as Art, Literature and a Storytelling Medium
This is a very special short episode explaining the exciting new game mode, Super Kaizo. With one week of gameplay under our collective belts, let’s see just what kind of differences this new mode has to the ever popular IronMON Kaizo challenge.
Host(s): Kiakolee, Skapp_TV
Expert(s): Ice_ArchAngel, StreamingFalcon
Welcome to the second episode of the IronMON Cast! Click here for an introduction to the challenge and why it has become so popular for content creators.
Welcome to the first episode of the IronMON Cast! Click here for an introduction to the challenge and why it has become so popular for content creators.
Dakota and Blake (who is filling in for Ayana this week) explore the lonely waters of Sea of Solitude, a recently released indie game through the EA Originals program. It’s a beautiful game that...
Dakota and Ayana dive deep into Night in the Woods, a tale about millennial dread, the fear of growing up, and how to move on from your comfortable past. They explore the intricate smalltown plot...
Blake, Marcos and Dakota break down each of the major E3 conferences – the good, the bad and the cringe. We gush over some of our favorite moments and grade each conference on how...
Dakota and Ayana deep dive into “Devotion,” a first-person psychological horror game that was controversially pulled from the Steam store after it was revealed that the developer, Red Candle Games, had slipped in a...
Ben and Blake convene for some breaking coverage of Kojima’s latest reveal for “Death Stranding”. Did the 9 minute trailer reveal help us get a better understanding for what’s in store?
Death Stranding Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hen8tPH0A2w&t=285s
This week on the Epilogue Gamescast, the panel discusses the impending doom of Esports and makes some E3 predictions for EA, Bethesda, and Microsoft. In an otherwise quiet week for the news, Microsoft and Sony announced a surprising partnership this week, the Nintendo Switch surpassed the PS4’s total sales in Japan, and several publishers pulled out from the Epic Games Store’s big sale.
Trailers
Minecraft Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQEizp-VrVU&feature=youtu.be
John Wick Hex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy_q5XvPnCA
News:
Sony and Microsoft Explore a Partnership: https://news.microsoft.com/2019/05/16/sony-and-microsoft-to-explore-strategic-partnership/
The Switch Surpasses the PS4: https://www.famitsu.com/news/201905/15176251.html
Publishers Pull Their Games From the Epic Game Store: https://kotaku.com/publishers-pull-their-games-from-epics-store-during-its-1834828248
“Shady Numbers and Bad Business: Inside the Esports Bubble”:
https://kotaku.com/as-esports-grows-experts-fear-its-a-bubble-ready-to-po-1834982843
The Epilogue Gamescast returns with the announcement of the next-gen PlayStation, three juicy video game trailers, and a Mass Effect inspired sex game.
This week, Ben details the downfall of Minecraft’s creator Notch and Dakota talks about Kotaku’s latest on video game development hell, and what it’s like to create an ultra-violent video game. Marcos breaks down the Kickstarter success of Subverse, and Blake discusses the pros and cons of a recent bill introduced to ban lootboxes. Relevant links:
Trailers:
Star Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GLbwkfhYZk
Final Fantasy VII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAgx7PROcMc
Ghost Recon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JAgcQdpgd8
News:
“Extremely Violent Dreams”: https://kotaku.com/id-have-these-extremely-graphic-dreams-what-its-like-t-1834611691/amp?__twitter_impression=true
“Minecraft Ditches Notch”: https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/minecraft-creator-excluded-from-anniversary-due-to-comments-and-opinions-exclusive-1203200050/
“Mass Effect Inspired Porn Game”: https://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-inspired-porn-game-is-now-one-of-the-biggest-gaming-kickstarter-of-all-time/
“Bill to Ban Lootboxes”: https://kotaku.com/u-s-senator-introduces-bill-to-ban-loot-boxes-and-pay-1834612226
“Wired: What to Expect From the Next-Gen PlayStation”: https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-sony-next-gen-console/
Listen in as Dakota and Ayana spoil the intricate narrative in Nier: Automata.
Andy continues his break down of HUD elements in video games. What should, and should not, be considered a HUD?
Andy explores HUDs in video games such as Dead Space and The Legend of Zelda.
The Epilogue crew breaks down the best video game Easter Eggs and plays the last segment of “Name my Game”… for now. Also, rumors of not one, but two new Nintendo Switch’s are about and Borderlands 3 finally gets a teaser.
The Epilogue crew breaks down Google’s move into video games and analyzes what it might mean for the future of video game consoles. Plus, Marcos and Dakota are tasked with which consoles weigh the most in this week’s trivia segment.
Epilogue takes on the difficult task of answering: “What are our favorite video games?”. Capcom lands another big hit with Devil May Cry 5 and EA bounces from its E3 press conference.
Anthem is bricking Playstation 4s, Reggie says goodbye to Nintendo, and the Epilogue Crew breaks down what boss fights actually are, and which ones are the best and worst.
In this month’s episode of LudonarrativeFM, Preston and Blake journey through the many joyful kingdoms in Super Mario Odyssey (2017). This bouncy and boisterous 3D platformer boasts a bunch of boundless fun and movement tech. We begin by critiquing and pulling this game apart for being over-hyped and simplistic, but end by celebrating the abundance of creativity and polish in this Mario installment. This episode asks: in what ways does Mario Odyssey fit into discussions of ludonarrative?
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The Epilogue Crew breaks down video game economics. Are games more expensive than they used to be? What justification could there be for firing 800 employees all at once?
The Epilogue Crew takes listener questions like which video game characters they are most… interested in, origin stories about their online usernames and which video game controller is the worst. Plus, a last second Nintendo Direct makes its way onto this weeks episode for analysis.
The Epilogue Crew breaks down open world games and argues Marcos argues that Kingdom Hearts isn’t one of them. Plus, EA releases a Battle Royale and there some juicy Nintendo Switch rumors float their way onto the podcast.
In this month’s episode of LudonarrativeFM, Preston and Blake laugh and wonder at Toby Fox’s unforgettably idiosyncratic game, Undertale (2015). This narratively complex and multifaceted game ensnares the player in a multitude of unique situations that only video games could provide. Your expectations will be undermined, played with, tricked, and reinvented. Undertale proves that characters are perhaps the most powerful vehicle towards meaningful plot and consequence.
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For more discussions like these: EpilogueGaming.com
Chat with us on Twitter: @LudonarrativeFM
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Join the Epilogue Discord: discord.gg/yzD2kMT
Blake, Marcos and Dakota break down what it means to cheat in a video game.
The Epilogue Crew asks whether Fortnite is really Netflix’s biggest competitor. Blake argues that some games can only reach their potential on mobile platforms, and Andy gives up Marcos’ big lead in the trivia segment.
EA continues to crush our dream Star Wars games, so we have to create our own. The Epilogue crew discusses what their ideal video games look like, and why that doesn’t involve Sim speedruns.
The Epilogue crew talks about the disappointing Alien Blackout announcement. Ben says that 2019 will be the year of Banjo-Kazooie, Dakota predicts that Anthem will tank, and Marcos believes Kingdom Hearts III will be game of the year.
Andy discusses play and asks “What makes play fun?” in his finale of “On Play”.
The Epilogue Crew talks about their video game resolutions for 2019 and breaks down sex video games. Are there any good ones? Ben, Dakota and Marcos break down the genre and its future.
In this month’s episode of LudonarrativeFM, Preston and Blake explore the uniquely artistic and emotional Gris (2018). This melodic platformer envelops you in a swirling watercolor world of hand-animated beauty, illustrating the journey of a young woman through emotional grief and depression. We argue that Gris will be enshrined as an affirming response to the question of whether videogames are art.
Support LudonarrativeFM: Patreon.com/EpilogueGaming
For more discussions like these: EpilogueGaming.com
Chat with us on Twitter: LudonarrativeFM
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Join the Epilogue Discord: discord.gg/yzD2kMT
The Epilogue Crew breaks down the announcements of the Epic and Discord stores. Marcos defends the in-game advertising in Street Fighter V while Dakota believes that a level must first have penguins to be properly holiday themed.
The Epilogue crew breaks down the Game Award announcements and tallies up their predictions. Why don’t video games have a comedy genre? Ben, Marcos and Dakota look to find the answers.
Andy dissects Blake Guthrie’s “Short Stories and Scrambled Chronologies in ‘Beyond: Two Souls”. How much does player perspective mean? Can we compare games to moments in film or poems?
The Epilogue Crew brings on Blake Guthrie as a special co-host for some Game Awards predictions and pipe dreams.
The Epilogue crew breaks down what it takes for a game to be completely broken. Ben laments the news that Sony won’t be at E3 while Marcos and Dakota don’t even know what a Pokemon game is.
The Epilogue Crew has an unsurprising amount of hot takes on the Detective Pikachu trailer. Ben thinks the Game Award nominees are short on depth. Marcos and Dakota debate over video game tropes and which ones deserve to live on.
The Epilogue crew breaks down the upcoming Nintendo Direct and has a discussion about what makes good horror design. Marcos is terrified of fish and Ben is scared of Daddy.
Dakota returns to the podcast and the Epilogue crew breaks down the latest Smash Bros rumors, what makes a good NPC, and invents the Goofy Rule.
Andy continues to break down the language of art and play.
Andy discusses shared language and participatory art.
Andy presents and explains the nature of “mediums” as an intermediary phase and dives into the concept of video games as art.
A series of mini podcasts begins with Andy navigates the concepts of play, ludonarratology, and video games as art.
The Epilogue crew breaks down the Red Dead news about Rockstar overworking their development team. Blake Guthrie steps in for Dakota this week and shares some of his favorite video game crossovers.
Welcome to Musings, where Andy reflects on video games as art, literature, and a storytelling medium.
The Epilogue crew returns for a second season of the podcast. In this episode, they break down the Telltale closing and its effect on the industry. They also discuss the use of video game nostalgia as a marketing technique.
In this month’s episode of LudonarrativeFM, Preston and Blake relive the harrowing tales of Telltale’s The Walking Dead (2012). This episodic series of games frames large swaths of its narrative in terms of player choice, making you feel like a deep part of moral decisionmaking. The unforgettable relationship between Lee and Clementine binds these otherwise horrible and gruesome plots together in a beautiful and lasting way.
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Join the Epilogue Discord: discord.gg/yzD2kMT
The Epilogue Crew separates the morally correct from the legality of pirating and downloading ROMs. Ben can’t stand 64 bit style games, Marcos throws escort missions in the trash and Dakota can’t stop buying bad simulator games.
Do Twitch streams and YouTube “Lets Plays” have an impact on the sale of single player games? The EG crew breaks down how that might be the case. Additionally, Ben brings up “The Reboot Effect” and Dakota wants Fable to come back.
