Kotaku Splitscreen

Kirk and Jason briefly gush about the new Wonder Woman emulator Assassin's Creed Odyssey before bringing on Stephen Totilo for a lengthy chat about microtransactions (21:43). The three talk about how Assassin's Creed Odyssey's microtransactions work, whether they affect the game, whether their sheer existence plants a seed of skepticism inside the player's head, the "poisoning the well" argument, how video games have always been after your money, whether games should still cost $60, and much, much more. Finally, Kirk and Jason briefly chat about some off-topic stuff (1:19:55) like Better Call Saul and the new season of American Vandal.

Jason's back from his honeymoon and there's lots to discuss, starting with the Splitscreen boys' first impressions of the new open-world game Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Then, Kirk and Jason dive into this week's news (34:36) on a leaked Harry Potter game, Google's Project Stream, and much more. Finally, it's time for a Spider-Man spoilercast (56:27), getting into the strengths and weaknesses of the story, MJ and Peter's relationship, and what Kirk and Jason want to see from Spider-Man 2. LINKS: "We've Got A Wild Theory About The New Harry Potter Movie" Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: The Kotaku Review 

Kirk and Maddy start off by talking about the biggest news of the last week: the sudden closure of Telltale Games, a move that left more than 200 game developers out of work with no severance. (Well REALLY, they start out by talking about comically huge mouse pads, if we're being totally accurate.) After talking about the Telltale debacle, they discuss Sony finally opening up the PS4 to cross-play with other consoles, how a Shadow of the Tomb Raider fan found an unintended post-credits cutscene by playing the game without the day-one patch, and how Nintendo's tight-lipped approach to explaining their games lets fans create things as wonderful as Bowsette, a.k.a. Peacher. They close out with some talk of how Destiny 2 has become life-devouringly good, how Maddy has been charmed by last year's Battle Chef Brigade, and some off-topic TV, podcast, and music recommendations. LINKS: Kirk's podcast breaking down why Toto's "Africa" is a great song "Telltale Employees Left Stunned By Company Closure, No Severance,"

Kotaku's Stephen Totilo finally had a chance to play Rockstar's upcoming wild west open-worlder Red Dead Redemption 2. For this bonus episode, he sat down with Kirk and Maddy to share his impressions of the game and answer questions about rusted guns, horse balls, and causin' a ruckus on the open prairie.  LINKS: Stephen's full written preview of Red Dead Redemption 2 

Jason's out of town, so Kotaku editor Maddy Myers joins Kirk to fill in as co-host. First up they talk about Nintendo's new Switch online service, the just-announced PlayStation Classic, how the maniacs who beat Destiny 2's new raid unlocked new stuff for everyone, and how streamers are reacting after someone shot a BB gun through the window of a popular PUBG personality.  Then Kotaku EIC Stephen Totilo joins (33:33) to talk about Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a good game that's been unfortunately overSHADOWED (cough) by certain other September mega-games. Maddy and Kirk close out (55:23) with some talk of Assassin's Creed Origins, a couple TV recommendations, and a New Zealand-tastic music pick of the week. LINKS: "After Shooting At Dr Disrespect's House, Streamers Are Concerned For Their Safety," by Nathan Grayson for Kotaku Stephen Totilo's review of Shadow of the Tomb Raider   "After Jacksonville Shooting, Gaming Event Organizers Pledge Better Security" by Maddy Myers for Kotaku Heather Alex

First, Kirk and Jason talk some more about Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion, addressing the question "how much should creators listen to fan feedback?" and talking about the brilliant new Dreaming City location. Then Kirk sits down with video producer Lindsay Ellis to talk about Disney, Star Wars, fascism, and YouTube. Jason rejoins the show to cap things off with more Spider-Man love, which Kirk finally acknowledges is as good as Jason said it was.Lindsay Ellis's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG1h-Wqjtwz7uUANw6gazRwSnarky Puppy - Lingus (live recording): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc

Kirk and Jason talk about web slinging and swinging in Spider-Man, the excellent new PS4 game, then dive into Destiny 2's new Forsaken expansion, talking about the new systems, the story, and the Destiny treadmill that never ends.

Kirk's back from vacation and raring to talk about games. What kinds of games? VIDEO games, baby!  He and Jason start off discussing what they've been playing, covering God of War's New Game+, Prey: Mooncrash, Destiny 2, The Messenger, and Dragon Quest XI. Then they talk a bit about the glut of indie games en route to the Switch and share some thoughts on that super-slick Cyberpunk 2077 E3 gameplay demo, which CD Projekt Red finally released to the public this week. After that, Kirk has a chat with Ari Gibson and William Pellen, the Australian duo behind the wonderful side-scroller Hollow Knight, before he and Jason bring it home with some TV, book, and music recommendations. Links: Team Cherry Blog, Team Cherry on Twitter Tim Rogers's Dragon Quest XI review Cyberpunk 2077 48-minute E3 gameplay demo Jason on the victims of the Jacksonville shooting Kirk on learning different combat moves in God of War's New Game+ Kirk tries to explain Destiny 2's new weapons system "How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth

Jason brings on Square Enix's Koji Fox, who's been at the company since 2003 and currently heads up translation on Final Fantasy XIV. They talk about what it was like to join Square on the day it became Square Enix, how Final Fantasy XIV's overhaul affected the staff, and what it's been like to write for a story that never ends.

Jason and Kirk talk CPU cooling and Diablo 3 on Switch before diving into Dead Cells and the appeal (or lack of appeal) of video game grind in games like Destiny. Then, Jason talks to Arkane co-founder and Prey director Raphael Colantonio (41:03) about why he left the company he helped start, what he dislikes about big-budget gaming, and why Prey's final act was so different than the rest of the game. 

Kotaku editor Maddy Myers joins Kirk and Jason to talk about IGN plagiarism, deleting old tweets, and what makes the perfect Metroidvania. Also: EVO, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, and Better Call Saul!

Kirk and Jason crack open the mailbag to answer some of YOUR questions about RPGs as a service, how companies can afford to delay games, Microsoft potentially making an Xbox PC, and much more. As always, you can send questions to splitscreen@kotaku.com.

Journalist and producer Alanah Pearce, formerly of IGN, joins Kirk and Jason to talk about No Man's Sky's game-changing new update, a recent Twitter shitstorm involving the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, and what makes for a perfect Switch game. Plus: D&D and Destiny 2!

Kirk returns from vacation and there's a whole lot to discuss, including Jason's first time DMing in Dungeons & Dragons, more on Octopath Traveler, and the ArenaNet debacle that left two people out of jobs.

Actor Nathan Fillion joins Jason to talk about his new Uncharted fan film, why he's not playing Cayde-6 in Destiny 2 this year, and why he had to stop playing Uncharted 2.

Kirk's off this week, so Jason brings on Kotaku's Tim Rogers to talk about the structure and story of Octopath Traveler. Short version: The combat system is fantastic, and it looks and sounds gorgeous, but everything else... eh. Then Jason and Tim geek out about The Sopranos for a while.

Happy Independence Day! Kirk and Jason talk about shoveling hot dogs into your mouth, and also other things (like GDQ, the Cyberpunk E3 audio leak, Google Yeti, Hollow Knight, and the appeal of difficult games).

Jason and Kirk talk about weddings, PS4 cross-play failures, and big lawsuits, then spend a very long time raving about Hollow Knight, an astounding video game that you should play right now. 

Jason returns from E3 with hands-on impressions about a ton of games, including Anthem, Spider-Man, Kingdom Hearts III, and many more. Then he and Kirk talk about a ton MORE games, including Hollow Knight, Yoku's Island express, and a whole lot of Dark Souls.

While at E3, Jason speaks with Yakuza localization producer Scott Strichart about the art and history of video game localization, how they approach the process with Yakuza games, and how it's been watching the long-running series finally start catching on in the mainstream.