Kotaku Splitscreen

Episode 179: Jason's wisdom tooth removal has left Kirk and Maddy by themselves to discuss Phoenix Wright and the music of mystery games. Kirk is also playing Rage 2, Destiny 2, and a tabletop game about bluffing called Sheriff of Nottingham. This week's news (33:32) includes a very pretty Final Fantasy 7 teaser and the announcement of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which Kirk is excited about. We also discuss the Vox article “Angry Birds and the end of privacy” and our own concerns about games and apps that collect our data. We close out with off-topic talk (58:50) that ends up veering off into discussion of the works of Patrick Rothfuss.

With each new episode of Game of Thrones, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath. Too bad for us, "The Bells"' coin landed on the "unfortunate plot developments" side.Kirk and Jason talk through the ins and outs of Dany's big day, along with the highs and lows of what was, in the end, a pretty disappointing episode.

Episode 178: Jason, Kirk, and Maddy talk about the new Kotaku piece about what it was like to work on Mortal Kombat 11's ultra-violent scenes, then get into the games they're playing: Danganronpa, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and a potpourri of Kirk video games. This week's big news (35:05) includes a U.S. senator introducing an anti-loot box bill, Riot employees walking out, and the Sonic movie changing course. Finally, lots of off-topic talk (1:01:28) on all sorts of TV shows and movies.

Kirk and Jason discuss the fourth episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, "The Last of the Starks." Jon's secret gets out, Brienne has some wine, Dany has a latte, Varys and Tyrion scheme, Cersei does evil stuff, and no one pets the dog. Let's discuss.

It's time for Teeth Talk with Kirk, Maddy, and Jason! First the Splitscreen gang talks about some video games they've been playing, like Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Danganronpa, along with dropping some wisdom about just letting games go (like Days Gone) when you've had enough. Then they bring on former Kotaku writer and current comics writer Evan Narcisse (30:49) for a big spoilery chat about Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the future of Marvel movies might go, comic references you might have missed, and much more.Music pick of the week: “Juice” by Lizzo from her new album “Cuz I Love You”

Squint and turn up your monitor's brightness, and you'll see that our special coverage of Game of Thrones season 8 continues with episode three, the nightmarish "The Long Night." Our surviving heroes wage a desperate battle against the Night King's overwhelming zombie army - will the walls of Winterfell hold? Could the good guys possibly win? And in a battle like this, what does "winning" even look like, anyway? Let's discuss.

Kotaku Splitscreen's special Game of Thrones coverage returns with a double-header recap of the first two episodes of the show's final season. Kirk and Jason go over what they liked (and didn't like) about both "Winterfell" and "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," then share their hopes for the future, make some wild predictions, and guess who'll live and who'll die this coming Sunday.We'll be back to recap that episode on Monday, and will be publishing Monday recaps from there on out to the end.Links:"The Key to ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 Isn’t Dragons or Swords or White Walkers or Even Incest. It’s Consequence." - The RingerA post from r/GameofThrones listing parallels between S8E1 and S1E1"Exhuming Lady Stoneheart: What We Lost in Game of Thrones’ Biggest Cut" - Tor.com

Episode 176: Jason's back from vacation to talk about all sorts of video games with Kirk and Maddy, including Mortal Kombat 11, Baba Is You, Hitman 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Phoenix Wright. Then the trio dives into Days Gone (42:16), the new PS4-exclusive that's all about killing zombies -- sorry, freakers -- and being sad on a motorcycle. Finally, some off-topic talk (1:02:10) on Avengers: Infinity War, Carmen Sandiego, and Barry.Music Pick of the Week: “First it Giveth” - Queens of the Stone Age from their 2002 album Songs for the deafShow notes:"I watched 21 Marvel movies this month — and witnessed a decade of progress for women" - Washington Post

Jason's on vacation, so Maddy and Kirk get the podcast to themselves. We start with a listener email about how we'd react if our significant others broke our game consoles, then we cover the news, from the PlayStation 5 announcement (!) to the way that the Notre Dame fire has brought Assassin's Creed: Unity back to the forefront. We then talk about games we're playing (32:15); Maddy's enjoying a Switch indie puzzle game called The World Next Door, and also some good old Street Fighter. Kirk's still playing Root and Sekiro, the latter of which inspires us to discuss difficulty, accessibility, and the ways people say games "should" be played. We wrap up with off-topic talk (1:05:23) about what we're watching (Leaving Neverland, Shazam, and Captain Marvel) and reading (Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars). Kirk's music pick of the week is “Bustin’ Out” by GRiZ, featuring Bootsy Collins.

Episode 174: Lots of video game news this week! Maddy talks about her trip to Disney World, Jason describes the new Danganronpa-ish game Zanki Zero, and Kirk raves a bit more about Sekiro and The Division 2. Then the Splitscreen crew gets into a newsy week (39:57) full of info on the next Dragon Age, the next Assassin's Creed, and a few listener questions, followed by off-topic talk (1:16:31) on Golden Girls and Veep.Music Pick: “Sight of You” by Sigrid from her 2019 album Sucker PunchLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baba is... everyone? Kirk, Jason, and Maddy are all playing the wonderfully clever puzzle game Baba Is You, which they're talking about this week alongside Sekiro, Pokemon, and Phoenix Wright. Then it's time to dive into Jason's new article about the making of Anthem (30:20) and the crisis of burnout at BioWare. Topics discussed include the video game industry's sustainability, how Anthem turned out the way it did, and whether big-budget video games can ever be made in a healthy way. Finally, some off-topic chat on PEN15, The Orville, and Captain Marvel (50:18).Music pick of the week: “Moanin’” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers from their 1959 album Moanin’Show notes: How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong by Jason Schreier; The Writer Will Do Something by Tom Bissell and Matthew BurnsLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 172: Just what does newly minted Bloodborne expert Jason think of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice? How does Kirk feel about missing out on all that sweet, sweet GDC content? And why is Maddy playing Pokemon Go? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, all those questions are answered and more. First it's video game talk, on the likes of The Division 2, Baba Is You, and Sekiro. Then it's the news of the week (50:29) on Zelda indies, Switch rumors, and Google Stadia, followed by off-topic talk (1:20:19) on The Dropout, Hamilton, and Umbrella Academy.  Music pick: “When it Rains” by Brad Mehldau from his 2002 album “Largo”  

Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry, two members of the team that made Night In The Woods, are now part of a games studio without any bosses. It's a worker co-op called The Glory Society, and at GDC 2019, Scott and Bethany dropped by the podcast to explain why they prefer bylaws to bosses. In the second half of the episode, longtime Splitscreen guest Matthew Burns came by to talk about his new visual novel about artificial intelligence and also, how cool he thinks SpeedTree is.

Justin Ma and Matthew Davis, the creators of FTL and Into The Breach, sat down with Jason and Maddy at GDC 2019 to discuss the intense creative stress involved in making their most recent game. Despite wanting to pull the plug on Into The Breach many times, the duo forged onward and made a strategy game that is elegant in its simplicity. In the second half of the show, Christine Love joins us to talk about her past visual novels (Analogue: A Hate Story, Ladykiller In A Bind) and her pivot towards making an RPG called Get In The Car, Loser! which will have actual combat mechanics alongside the dialogue trees.

At GDC 2019, Double Fine boss Tim Schafer is losing his voice, but he still croaked through his annual Splitscreen appearance to discuss the union joke he told on stage at the IGF awards, the state of Psychonauts 2, and his thoughts on Google Stadia. We explained to him how unions work so that he can tell even better jokes about them next year. In the second half of the episode, Gabe Amatangelo of QC Games told us about his history at Bioware, the cancellation of Shadow Realms, and the eventual creation of a not-so-different dungeon crawler called Breach, which launched in early access earlier this year.

Jesse Snyder, creative director at NantG and formerly the creator of Call of Duty's Zombies mode, sat down with Jason and Maddy at GDC 2019 to tell the real story of how the zombies came to life. The mode began as a late-night passion project that actually got a lot of internal pushback, and eventually, Snyder realized he'd rather make "crazy" games than super-realistic ones. After that, we talked to Andrew Maximov about Promethean AI, a piece of software aimed at helping artists create in-game universes more easily. If it works the way that Maximov says, this AI tech will be like a (robot) junior artist who does the boring, fiddly grunt work so that video game artists can focus their creative attention on grander things.

At GDC 2019, shortly after announcing Google Stadia, Phil Harrison sat down with Jason and Maddy to reveal more details about Google's new game streaming platform. He didn't say how much it will cost, but he did clarify the importance of a good internet connection to making this service work as well as it should. Plus, you'll need a Chromecast and one of Google's new controllers to make Stadia work on your TV. After we try and fail to get Phil Harrison to tell us whether Google has official E3 plans, we sat down for another interview with Sarah Elmaleh, the voice of Anthem's female protagonist.

Episode 171: Devil May Cry 5 is outrageous, and Splitscreen's here to talk about it. First, Jason, Kirk, and Maddy get into the games they've been playing -- Breath of the Wild, Broken Age, Destiny, etc. -- before diving into the mania of the newest Devil May Cry. Then it's time for news of the week (36:03) on Nintendo's Labo VR, EA skipping E3, and Valve removing a game called Rape Day from Steam. Finally, some off-topic chat on Captain Marvel, Succession, Leaving Neverland, and tips for working well from home (59:53). Music pick of the week: The Wood Brothers, “Snake Eyes” from their 2015 album Paradise

Episode 170: Surprise! It's a one-day-early episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, here to talk to you about Bloodborne (which Jason's finally finished), Danganronpa (which Maddy's almost finished), and the many games Kirk is playing, like The Division 2 and Ape Out. There's news of the week (36:13) on Pokemon, Anthem crashing PS4s, and THQ Nordic's major screw-up, and then Jason shares some impressions of the upcoming zombie game Days Gone, which he got to play for an hour and a half at a Sony event two weeks ago. Then it's time for some off-topic talk (59:16) on Killing Eve, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Big Mouth, followed by Kirk's music pick of the week and a brief Russian Doll spoilercast. MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK: “Under the Sea” by Fearless Flyers from their Debut EP Watch the video here LINKS:Wesley Morris on Michael JacksonSlate Culture Gabfest Russian Doll spoilercast

Episode 169: Kirk's on jury duty this week, leaving Jason and Maddy to talk about Bloodborne and Danganronpa without him. They also talk about beloved Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime retiring and the rumors of a Nintendo-Xbox love affair, then take some listener questions on Anthem and games as a service (35:10). Then it's time for off-topic talk (52:40) on X2 and Russian Doll as well as JASON'S surprise Music Pick Of The Week. It's a good one.