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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Episode 200 of Waypoint Radio is here! And we worked hard to ensure that it is the quintessential episode. No special guests or new segments or live bands, no, this puppy is stuffed to the brim with the games we've been playing. Austin and Rob have both Red Dead Redemption 2 updates and a sort of Subterfuge post-mortem. Danielle has further thoughts on Call of Cthulhu and a very fun, very 90s-tastic racing game in Grip: Combat Racing. Natalie has her hands full with Dark Souls and Red Dead. And Austin has an extra-special robot game to share with all you replicants out there.
Discussed: Subterfuge, Red Dead Redemption 2, Grip: Combat Racing, Dark Souls, Call of Cthulhu, Inhuman Conditions: A Game of Cops and Robots
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Content warning for discussion of racism in horror games and movies, and a mention of rape in horror movies at 1:10:00-1:11:00.
H.P. Lovecraft, the author so well-known for his works of horror, his writings on monsters and madness and cosmic horror, was a radically, horrifically racist person, even for his time. So, how do we deal with that, when his influence is all over the horror genre, indirectly through popular tropes and immediately, in games inspired directly from his work, like this week’s Call of Cthulhu? Why are these tropes so enduring, and where do they come from? And how to we wrestle with works that we may enjoy, even if they come from this lineage? Danielle, Natalie, Rob, and Patrick sit down to discuss the new game, cosmic horror tropes, and Lovecraft’s influence in games.
Discussed: Call of Cthulhu, Bloodborne, works of H.P. Lovecraft.
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In the second (and final) part of our Red Dead Redemption playthrough for Waypoint 101, we—ugh—survive the extremely long Mexico section of the game, and revisit the still-memorable finale and epilogue. Red Dead Redemption is a game that's aged weirdly in the eight years since its release, as Austin, Patrick, Natalie, and Rob discover over the nearly two hours spent picking apart the game's conclusion. Some things work, a lot of things don't, and much has changed since 2010. We also sneak in some talk about Undead Nightmare, the game's celebrated horror expansion.
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We have a monster-sized episode this week, as we've all been extremely on our bullshit. Rob was stunned by Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman, a powerful family tragedy set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Patrick's troubled by the swiftly evolving dystopia typified by this Planet Money episode on China's experiment in giving citizens "social credit scores". Danielle has been thinking about sexuality and kink as explored in Clive Barker's Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. And Natalie has been watching Laid-Back Campand thinking about the ways it depicts the relationship between self and nature, and how it relates to the historically troubled concept of the sublime. And then [CW: Arachnaphobia] there is an outtake from a conversation from our first attempt at starting the show, in which Natalie talks about various bugs invading her home, urban legends around rats and toilets, and lots and lots of spiders.
Discussed: Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman, Planet Money, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Laid -back Camp
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This week on Waypoint Radio: Austin and Rob are still living Subterfuge, Danielle is getting in to the Halloween spirit with some spooky indie horror games, and just about everyone is finally playing Red Dead Redemption 2. The team then dips into the question bucket to discuss the impulse to monetize or professionalize our hobbies, Danielle and Patrick make a quick and dirty list of their top 5 platformers, and we return to the Dishcourse to ask "What makes a good sandwich, contents or bread?"
Discussed: Subterfuge, Stay, Paratopic, Red Dead Redemption 2, Mega Man 2, Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Banjo Kazooie, Mark of the Ninja, Super Meat Boy, Braid
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During our charity stream last week, Austin and Rob were sucked into participating a game of Subterfuge, a "simple" mobile strategy game built on alliances, betrayal, and taking over your life. It’s even invaded our podcast. Despite this, Patrick, Austin, Rob, Danielle, and Natalie found a way to discuss Fallout 76’s beta, Black Ops 4, Return of the Obra Dinn, Call of Cthulhu, Soul Calibur 6, and Unexplored. We’ll have thoughts on Red Dead Redemption 2 next week, as we only got access to the game a day before it came out.
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Patrick, Austin, Danielle, Natalie, and Rob gather to discuss the second film in The Purge series, The Purge: Anarchy, as part of a deep dive into the entire series. Warning: Spoilers abound. Warning: Rob is upset about how people employ tactics. Warning: This movie needed more Michael K. Williams.
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On this episode of Waypoint Radio: Austin, Natalie, Patrick, and Rob sit down to discuss the new article by Jason Schreier on Rockstar's crunch culture. They dive deep on what the new info out of Rockstar says about working conditions there, worker's rights in the gaming industry as a whole, and how they hope this new conversation can help bolster real change across the industry.
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It's Wednesday and that means Waypoints, where the site's staff and friends will bring something to share with each other and with you: a TV show, art exhibit, movie, album, or other thing from the universe of pop culture. to discuss, dissect, and enjoy.
This week, Patrick brings us an article that delves into Instagram's harassment problem, Rob revisits 'Looper' to find something less hard sci-fi, more crime movie, and Danielle is getting into the fall spirit by watching 'Haunting of Hill House,' a beautiful blend of very scary horror and family drama.
Discussed: Instagram Has a Massive Harassment Problem by Taylor Lorenz, Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012), Haunting of Hill House' (Netflix)
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Content Warning: short discussion on statue genitalia from 45:30 - 46:40
It's Waypoint Radio 195! Or something very much like it! Danielle, Patrick, and Rob are excited about video games! Rob's been playing Oxenfree, Danielle is still playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Patrick has discovered the future of gaming with Astro Bot, and it's virtual reality (or "VR" for short). But before they get into that, the gang just has to read this one Vulture article about the making of Red Dead Redemption 2 and offer a few measured observations. Are 100-hour work weeks good? Should writers offer some context and address some of the criticism faced by the high-profile creators they covers?
We also get ready for our streaming marathon for The Florence Project and interview Development & Research Director Amalia Luxardo about the organization's work on the immigrant detention crisis.
Discussed: Astro Bot, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Oxenfree
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