EIC of Polygon and co-host of The Besties Chris Plante fills in for Frank on topics like the Cyberpunk anime, Anthem, and a Republican poet’s paradise.

Questions this week:

  1. How can game companies draw attention back to their titles after a botched release? (07:07)
  2. How do you make collecting treasure in a game feel significant? (14:14)
  3. What would you put in The Orange Box 2? (20:12)
  4. How would you quantify an experience point? (26:07)
  5. Design a game based on a White House press conference. (32:59)
  6. From PAX 2022: An interview with Starbucks Workers United organizer (37:59)
  7. MoxBagel re-asks: What’s the ideal video game to play over dinner? (41:11)
  8. Has a plot hole in a game’s story ever ruined the game for you? (48:37)
  9. What is the Avengers: Endgame of video games? (58:14)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design – Panic! At The Disco songs (01:05:38)

Recommendations and Outro (01:18:57)

If you look behind this episode's waterfall you'll find people discussing it in the forums!

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Jaffe: Watch One Piece

Brandon: hold the up and down buttons to control those barrels in the Carnival Zone in Sonic 3, don’t watch Austin Powers, don’t watch any of the Bill & Ted movies, Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)

Tim: Check out Star Trek: Discovery if you want to see David Cronenberg be weird and Michelle Yeoh be weird

Chris: Subscribe to Shudder or The Criterion Channel

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Chris Plante. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.