The Insert Credit Show

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Ep. 288 - El Podcast Regular May 22, 2023

Show notes

The panel you know and love reconvenes to weigh in on Overwatch 2, the GameCube handle, and Minter’s thing. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

What does it mean to beat a video game? (05:04)
In the “games as service” era, when do you update a game, and when do you make a sequel? (11:20)
What’s the best non-game feature a gaming console has ever had? (18:32)
What kinds of things aren’t video games licensing that they should? (28:21) Insert Credit Quick Break: Egglien (33:12)
From ShlooterMcGavin: What would an eSports Utility Vehicle be like? (34:40)
When have game developers best anticipated player behavior? (44:21)
What games have successfully ripped off older games without anyone really noticing? (49:17)
What is the Who Shot Mr. Burns? of video games? (54:03)

LIGHTNING ROUND: GameFAQ&As: Tears of the Kingdom (01:01:00)

Recommendations and Outro (01:06:09)

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations: Frank: Unofficial Rent-A-Hero No.1 Translation, use actual games saves and not save states if you’re using the Redream emulator, the Xbox Elite Controller Tim: the Xbox Elite Controller, the Analogue Duo Brandon: talk to your relatives about trans rights issues

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Ep. 287 - Rated L, with Kat Bailey May 15, 2023

Show notes

IGN news director and Axe of the Blood God creator Kat Bailey joins the panel to discuss Metacritic scores, ranked polls, and what the ESRB actually does all day. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Kat Bailey. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: Frank Cifaldi asks: What are the best British games? (05:11) Why doesn’t a Sight & Sound-style poll work for video games? (12:22) How does IGN review games? (25:33) If ESRB ratings were literal, which games would actually be for everyone, for teens, and mature? (29:43) Insert Credit Ad Break - Sully: A Very Serious RPG (36:45) Azurelore Korrigan asks: What medium is best for adapting to video games? (38:29) What’s something you wished video games would do, they eventually did, and now you’ve had enough? (45:14) What counts as video game news? (50:12) Did everyone here always know what IGN stands for? (58:09) LIGHTNING ROUND: From Yeso - Oblique Game Designs (59:24) Recommendations and Outro (01:06:54) Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED: Final Fantasy VII: Remake Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Final Fantasy XV Final Fantasy V Sonic R Plok July 4th Best British Games Spectacular, with Bennett Foddy and Mathew Kumar Cannon Fodder Batman Ste and John Pickford Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship Equinox Tim Follin The Bitmap Brothers The Chaos Engine series Judge Dredd Alien³ OutRun series Snake Rattle N Roll Battletoads Bubsy series Slippy Toad Star Fox Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Donkey Kong Country Star Fox Adventures Slalom Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods Cobra Triangle R.C. Pro-Am Sensible Soccer series Football Manager series Dog’s Life Red Dog: Superior Firepower Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) The Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022 100 best video games, ranked by experts Ernest Borgnine Laser Mission (1989) From Here to Eternity (1953) Seven of Nine Wild Arms series The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time StarCraft The Last of Us Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings Super Mario Bros. Pac-Man Final Fantasy VI Tetris Sonic the Hedgehog games Academy Awards Goichi Suda NetHack Dwarf Fortress Factorio IGN Eurogamer Edge Metacritic Hyper Gunsport Deadly Premonition ESRB Ratings Call of Duty series Wii Sports Diablo II Mad Planets California Extreme Skies of Arcadia Koudelka Flappy Bird Candy Crush Saga Grand Theft Auto series Mortal Kombat games MSCHF’s Tax Heaven 3000 Star Wars: Jedi - Survivor Disco Elysium David Cage VIDEOBALL Baroque Neon White 2K Sports Jake From State Farm Is A Character In NBA 2K22’s City God of War Marko’s Magic Football Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City Fire Pro Wrestling series Dear Boys Captain Tsubasa licensees Football Drama Dragon Quest series Carcassone Baldur’s Gate Forgotten Realms Pathfinder licensees Cyberpunk 2077 Disney’s DuckTales Battlefield series Legend of the Red Dragon series Final Fantasy XIV Online Ultima Online EverQuest World of WarCraft Kingdoms of Amalur series The Lord of the Rings Online series Star Wars: The Old Republic The Matrix Online Destiny Phantasy Star Online Monster Hunter series GameDeveloper.com Thegia Recommendations: Brandon: Continue to listen to this if we keep doing it, I Am a Hero (2015) Kat: Episode 400 of Axe of the Blood God with Felipe Pepe Frank: Episode 34 of Video Game History Hour with Felipe Pepe This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by Sully: A Very Serious RPG, and patrons like you. Thank you. Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Full show notes at the publisher

Ep. 286 - Musouls, with Blessing Adeoye Jr. May 08, 2023

Show notes

Kinda Funny Games host and producer Blessing Adeoye Jr. joins the panel to cover review scores for video games, Frank’s answer for good adventure game design, and the Capcom Five. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Blessing Adeoye Jr. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

What do people expect from a review of a new game? (06:29)
Who have been the best level designers since Doom? (17:23)
How can a difficult video game puzzle keep players from losing patience and resolve to solve it? (25:06)
Let’s all record some all purpose video game sample dialogue. (33:13) Insert Credit Ad Break: 100 Gold (37:36)
Lloyd Irving asks: Rank the Capcom Five (38:50)
Koei Tecmo wants you to scout the right IP for their next Musou game. Who do you approach? (46:46)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Reccing Crew - Star Wars characters (54:42)

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:06)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Blessing: Check out The Blessing Show on Kinda Funny Games and the Phil Spencer interview from Kinda Funny

Brandon: Demonschool public demo, Koudelka

Tim: Play the Shadow Hearts series and Sōkaigi if you want to play a couple other weirder lesser talked about or looked at video games that are all somewhat related to Koudelka, have a unionized workplace if you have the option

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Ep. 285 - Daria of Sorrow May 01, 2023

Show notes

The panel returns to classic formation to cover UX design, Microsoft acquisition developments, gross Yoshis, and sellouts within sellouts. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

From Simone de Rochefort: What else should Microsoft acquire and make exclusive? (03:33)
What is The Day The Clown Cried of video games? (10:19)
What makes a New Game+ feature the most enticing? (11:41)
What are common terms game designers use that game players don’t? (17:10)
How can User Interface inform the themes and story of a video game? (24:52)
Let’s criticize some things we want to bring attention to. (31:13) Insert Credit Ad Break: Midautumn and Games and Feelings (37:04)
JackOakleaf asks: How long should a cutscene be? (39:55)
Which video game protagonist’s job would you want to do the least? (48:02)
What is The Day The Clown Cried of video games? (54:19)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Famicom Feud - Video Game Playboy Appearances (01:02:47)

Recommendations and Outro (01:19:47)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations:

Brandon: Plug things on different CRT inputs into different power strips to reduce interference, Bullet Train (2022), Shudder TV if you’re Frank, Joe Bob Briggs

Frank: please do not actually mark Video Game History Foundation donations as “for Playboys”

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Ep. 284 - Let Me Be Frank, with Simone de Rochefort Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

What starts as a lively episode with Polygon editor and podcaster Simone de Rochefort becomes something far more interesting when one panelist’s audio goes missing. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Simone de Rochefort. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

From Frank Cifaldi: What is the Criterion Channel of video games? (10:48)
Sega just bought Rovio. Why? (25:29)
Simone, please convince the panel board games are good. (32:26)
What’s the deal with those TikTok videos that all have Minecraft or Subway Surfer footage playing at the bottom? (38:48)
Improv Zone - Video Game Pawn Shop (42:20)
Zara asks: Have you ever recognized something deeply personal from your real life inside of a video game? (48:29)
From Ash Parrish: Who is the American Mario? (55:24)

LIGHTNING ROUND: VIOLENCE ISLAND (01:02:24)

Recommendations and Outro (01:25:26)

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations: Brandon: Echo Image, Spirit Posession, make more things like game stores and video stores so people can be paid to get baseline experience in a field they care about Simone: Murder, She Wrote Tim: Decision to Leave (2022), The Little Drummer Girl, Interview with the Vampire

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Ep. 283 - Oops! All Necrosoft, with Lotte May, Son M., and Jenna Stoeber Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

Necrosoft founder Brandon Sheffield sits with Necrosoft programmer Lotte May, Necrosoft producer Son M., and Necrosoft marketing director Jenna Stoeber to mostly talk about romancing Merlin. Hosted by Brandon Sheffield, with Lotte May, Son M., and Jenna Stoeber. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

What kinds of games should we be making with text? (03:05)
What are the best untapped genre mashups in video games? (05:12)
What are some under represented vehicles we should be using in games? (09:50)
Design a new fantasy sports game. (12:20)
What makes relationship systems in games compelling, and how can we make them even more compelling? (16:44)
Alex Jaffe asks: If Necrosoft stuck to its original vision of being a game studio that only hires dead people, who would be on the payroll? (23:05)
As of April 2023, how can content creators best present their work? (27:32)
How will today’s youth silo themselves in the future? (33:31)
What’s a question you’ve accidentally built your whole life around answering? (35:52)
What part of your job would you be totally fine with AI taking away from you? (41:15)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Game Companies (43:20)

Recommendations and Outro (48:01)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations: Brandon: Don’t forget to check if something is available new if you buy it Lotte: Necrosoft Games, Watch an episode of the original Gundam series with your friend every week Son: Necrosoft Games, Perfect Garbage Studios, wishlist Love Shore Jenna: twitch.tv/the_jenna, video essay youtube channel, patreon, fuck the algorithm

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Ep. 282 - Bye Forever GDC 2023, with Brandon Sheffield, Liz Ryerson, and Ty Underwood Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

Insert Credit reports directly from GDC 2023. Brandon Sheffield relives past GDC memories with new and familiar faces, while Liz Ryerson and Ty Underwood dive into the dark underbelly of Web3 Cryptopits and explore the show floor.

Segments:

Brandon picks up his badge (00:00)
Liz and Ty wait in line (02:33)
Brandon interviews Greg Miller about GDC memories (08:10)
Ty and Liz interview Evan Balster and Tammy Duplantis about why GDC is bad this year, lines, and lunch (14:46)
Brandon hangs out with Ash Parrish in a bar watching baseball (19:13)
Liz and Ty cover Web3 and the Trauma Trough with Emily Rose (23:43)
Brandon and Vincent Diamante cover planes in hurricanes, cranky old men, and meeting IRC friends (28:28)
Liz updates after emceeing the main stage (35:00)
Liz and Ty walk the expo hall and talk to Issac Io Schankler (37:30)
Brandon talks GDC memories in a bar with Kat Bailey, Wesley Fenlon, Jeremy Parish, and JJSignal (45:07)
Liz recovers after a difficult day (54:25)
Brandon shares his reason for coming to GDC (and DICE) and shares shoe repair tricks (56:26)
Liz tests positive for covid (01:03:50)
Ty reports for the Experimental Game Workshop and asks the hard questions (01:05:52)
Brandon settles on an Italian restaurant with Frank Cifaldi, Chris Charla, and Kelsey Lewin and share stories (01:10:09)
Brandon and Jenn Sandercock have a serendipitous meeting (01:29:02)
Ty scours Yerba Buena to get final thoughts on the conference (01:30:09)
Brandon gets Jim Stormdancer’s GDC memories (01:32:28)
Brandon and Ash Parrish discuss preconceptions, Kirby, Iran, and the giving nature of people at GDC (01:35:25)
Ty unwinds with Eva Khoury to get the vibe of the show (01:51:22)
Brandon runs into Mimsy and talks parties and Oakland (01:52:04)
Ty shares their final thoughts on GDC 2023 (01:55:11)
Brandon wraps up the show (01:55:50)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

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Ep. 281 - Flawful Loss, with Casey Explosion Apr 03, 2023

Show notes

Twitch streamer Casey Explosion joins the panel to talk Resident Evil 4 Remake, Ash Ketchum, and region locked soda machines. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Casey Explosion. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

Vincent Diamante asks: What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done to obtain a video game? (03:08)
Has the Steam Deck lived up to everything we thought it might be? (11:17)
How do you pick what to play next? (17:49)
How would you end Ash Ketchum’s story? (25:17)
Scoregem asks: What games have a button that lets you roleplay? (30:57)
Are there any games that do what BioShock can’t? (38:37)
What is the least evil big video game company? (45:22)
How’s that Resident Evil 4 remake? (51:30)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Fursona Royal (55:49)

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:18)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations: Frank: Tune in to a future episode of Insert Credit Show if you’d like to hear discussion about the Criterion Channel of Video Games. Casey: twitch.tv/CaseyExplosion, Casey Explosion Steam Curator page Brandon: See if your ceiling fan can go backward for better air distribution, Frankie Rose, Mammoth Volume, Ritsuko Kurosawa Tim: Fuga: Melodies of Steel

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Ep. 280 - Zimulation, with Vincent Diamante and ThorHighHeels Mar 27, 2023

Show notes

Composers Vincent Diamante and ThorHighHeels join Tim in covering modern video game news sources, mysterious games, and excellent yacht names. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Tim Rogers, Vincent Diamante, and ThorHighHeels. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

Here and now in 2023, how do you get video game news? (08:59)
What qualifies a game as mysterious? (14:39)
Tell me about a project that you really believed in at one point, but couldn’t find a way to make it come together. (18:46)
What subject could you give an unprepared GDC talk on? (28:29)
From Kyle: What’s the newest game genre, excluding overt combinations of established genres? (36:36)
Are YouTube audiences more interested in hearing about bad video games than good ones? (48:26)
Why do you think people like what you do? (54:17)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Pull Quotes (59:32)

Recommendations and Outro (01:09:39)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

Recommendations: Vincent: Baseball, Chair Simulator Thor: Boot up a Zed X Tim: The city of Detroit

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Ep. 279 - Cauliflower If It Makes Sense, with Jeff Gerstmann Mar 20, 2023

Show notes

Video game journalist Jeff Gerstmann sits down at the Insert Credit table to cover video game history, AI, and the return of Violence Island. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, Brandon Sheffield, and Jeff Gerstmann. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

Have any of you seen the news lately? (09:58)
Let’s examine the evolution of the endless runner. (21:53)
Wrestling games. Glorified character creators, or is there something there gameplay-wise? (28:22)
Definitively rank tank, healer, and DPS from best to worst. (35:52)
Kyle asks: Form a musical super group composed of video game characters. (43:38)
Are AI programs like ChatGPT good for video games? (50:44)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Violence Island (01:03:50)

Recommendations and Outro (01:23:49)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED: