Stay ConnectedWhat’s good, Internet? Join Waypoint’s Rob Zacny, Patrick Klepek, Renata Price, Natalie Watson, and Ricardo Contreras two times a week, as they break down the biggest stories in video games, talk about their favorite media, and unfairly compare everything to Dark Souls.
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The concept of game cloning is about as old as games themselves, but there's new, tricky territory to cover here in 2018. Inspired by a few tweets and a GI.biz article profiling Voodoo—the mobile publisher behind Hole.io, a game that sure takes "inspiration" from indie darling Donut County—we discussed the situation this week on Waypoint Radio. Join Patrick, Natalie, Rob, and Danielle as they look at the complications that separate genre and mechanical inspiration, the ethics of farming game ideas with a big checkbook, and the fear that this could have a chilling effect on the spirit of sharing and creativity in the indie space.
Discussed: Hole.io, Donut County, Threes, 2048.
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The Waypoint gang has to work through their complicated feelings about the Slate Political Gabfest and, in particular, the worldview they bring to their work as expressed by their recent episodes on the passing of George H.W. Bush and the assault allegations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Is there a point where centrist punditry literally becomes one with parodies about it? Is the technical language of expertise more about gatekeeping and limiting political imagination than about describing and explaining the world around us? Finally, in our second segment, Rob has been watching the latest season of Hard Knocks and finds a fascinating portrait of a doomed coaching regime planning for a future that will have no room for it. Austin explains what a Herb is. Both topics center on Hue Jackson and the waning days of his tenure at the NFL's worst team.
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December is a big month for a lot of reasons. It’s only a few weeks until we get a few days off, and reset for the new year. The Chicago Bears are playing meaningful football for the first time in nearly a decade. And we’re also feverishly trying to play as many video games as possible, so we can figure out what our game of the year lists are. The problem? A bunch of last-minute games we didn't expect to like so much are forcing Austin, Rob, Natalie, Patrick, and Cado to throw up their hands and totally rethink their list. Who will be sacrificed in pursuit of a pure top 10 list?
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On Monday we made our predictions: At this year's Game Awards, we'd finally see the new Avengers game, we'd get a 15-30 second trailer for a new Dragon Age game with Solas voice over, and we'd probably be more bored than entertained by the proceedings. Were we right? Well... Not exactly, yup, and, shockingly, not at all, in that order.
Austin, Natalie, Rob, and Patrick talk through the highlights of the show (the Sonicfox, Dead Cells, and Celeste wins; a new Obsidian RPG; Persona 5's Joker joining Smash Ultimate) and the occasional missteps (skipping through some key awards, the failure of the "big 3" to announce anything collaborative despite being on stage together). Plus, Austin offers up some early Ashen impressions, the crew debates the likely outcome of 2Milly's lawsuit against Epic Games, and, uh, Natalie has some thoughts about the Dread Wolf
Discussed: Fortnite, Epic Games Store, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Far Cry New Dawn, Hades, The Outer Worlds, Ashen, Dragon Age, That Egg Fuck Solas, The Pathless, Psychonauts 2, Smash Bros. Ultimate, SonicFox, Celeste
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On a slightly out-of-control episode of Waypoints, Rob has been watching Ordeal by Innocence and enjoying a fresh take on a classic mystery genre: Which posh asshole is murdering other rich dirtbags on an English country estate? Meanwhile, Patrick is working through his feelings about a new parenting trend: Parents who eat lunch at school with their kids. And finally, Austin has everyone listen to the latest season of More Perfect, a Radiolab podcast about the US Constitution. Dismay gives way to anger as we discuss the understanding of law, politics, and power that informs the podcast, and why it feels like such a poor answer to this moment in American political life.
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As the days pass on and the weather gets colder (then warmer, then colder again), we're finally leaving beyond the rush of big AAA fall games. Sure, we still found time to chat about new releases like Just Cause 4, BattleTech: Flashpoint, and (more) Darksiders 3, but under this bright December sun, our focus has shifted: Today, we talk about video game industry news and rumors.
Will we see Dragon Age at the Game Awards? What does Sony's absence from E3 mean for their third party partners? How would you make your dream Avengers game? And hey, what the hell is Obsidian Studios working on? Listen in for our thoughts!
Discussed: Just Cause 4, Darksiders 3, THQ Nordic, Carmegeddon, Get in the Car Loser, BattleTech: Flashpoint, Broken Reality, Dropsy, Hypnospace Outlaw, Hitman 2, The Avengers, Dragon Age, Immersive Sims
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Join Danielle as she interviews Ark from New York Excelsior, our local Overwatch League team! NYXL is in town this weekend to meet fans and play a few exhibition games, and ArK stopped by Lobby 1 to chat about his experiences visiting NYC, his past in Nursing, and how that ties in to being a Mercy main. You can find ArK @Arkyjun on twitter, and the rest of the New York Excelsior team @NYXL.
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Content warning: discussion of bodies (especially women's bodies) and ideal beauty, and references to stalking and sexual assault in 80s movies.
When you look at Soulcalibur's Ivy Valentine, plenty of things may come to mind. She's a tall, dominating (in many senses) fighting game character with an exaggerated pin-up figure and a whip, and she's the subject of Kotaku editor Maddy Myers evolving feelings in a recent piece entitled The Inexplicable Sexiness Of Ivy Valentine. In this episode of Waypoint Radio, Danielle, Patrick and Rob gather to talk about the piece, sexualized ladies in games, depictions of desirable bodies in games and movies, and what it means to reclaim a character for your own, whether they were intended for your demographic or not.
Then we take a dip into the question bucket and ponder the need to "go back!" to previous iconic locations in games.
Discussed: Soul Calibur series, Dishonored, Say Anything, Blade Runner
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This week, Austin introduces the gang to Evangelion with the first two episodes, and places the series' in the broader context of mecha anime the preceded it. Why is Evangelion so much more explicitly horrifying than most Gundam shows, despite sharing their anti-war politics? And how about that penguin, huh? Danielle has also been watching SB Nation's video series on the history of MMA, "Fighting in the Age of Loneliness" from Jon Bois and Chapo Trap House's Felix Biederman. An often riveting history of sports and martial arts, the series also attempts to put them in context of the political and cultural currents that flowed around them, to more mixed success. But first, Rob has been fascinated by the story of a tiny little burger joint that was destroyed by a rave review... only to learn just before recording that a far more familiar and ugly story of abuse was lurking under the surface the whole time.
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The First Purge is about the first purge, but it’s not actually the first Purge movie. It’s the fourth Purge movie, but set during the first purge in the Purge universe. Still following? No matter, Be Good and Rewatch It is here to help. Writer/director James DeMonaco, who helmed the past three movies, only worked on the script for The First Purge, with Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands) stepping in—a refreshing shift the franchise has badly needed. As we close out our discussion of the Purge series, Austin, Patrick, Rob, Danielle, and Natalie gather to break down a franchise that surprised, delighted, and disappointed us.
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