Backstage Gaming

This week, we get REAL granular on you. We take the gift that the universe has given us all in the form of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer and dive in deep, trying our absolute hardest to try to reverse engineer the footage it offers in search of the artistic thinking behind the film. Also included: The Teeth, The Teeth, Oh, God, The Horrible Teeth.

We done gone and lost our Dylan this week, everyone! Due to some scheduling conflicts, this week is a Chris Solo Show, in which he finally semi-tackles his long-standing project of comparing the works of Anton Chekhov to the recent game, God of War (2018). It’s not quite as goofy as our typical fare, but it made Chris very happy to talk about. Enjoy!

This week, with Bushido Blade on the brain, we take a deep dive into the unique and specific ways that fighting games create meaning out of their mechanics. Along the way, we talk a little about the history of the genre and geek out about one of our favorite odd-ball fighting series. Also included: Santa Dylan, Karate Guy is Dead, Marvel’s Rouge the Bat, The Plug Zone, and Capitalism Death Traps

Whoopsies. This one turned out to be much more about the current twitter “discourse” on game difficulty than either of us intended at first, but we think we had a salient angle to speak from. We also talk about games that have made us do weird things, from map drawing to creature memorization. Also included: Cheating the Game, Cheating Yourself, Not Growing, Not Improving, Taking Shortcuts, Gaining Nothing, Hollow Victories, Risking Nothing, and Not Knowing the Difference.

We got you! You clicked! Our clever ruse is a success! This week, we talk for a while about why it’s so rare to see a licensed game for a film property turn out to be actually fun, but then transition into talking about a lot of licensed movie games we actually really liked. It’s a roller coaster! Oh, plus, at one point we talk for a long time about a game cutscene that you can watch HERE. Also included: Tax Prison Podcasting, The Nightmare Before May Cry, an Ear Crime, and the Bumble Good-Bye.

This week, we get wet and wild, by which I mean we were recording before either of us had fully absorbed our morning coffees. With that weird energy at our disposal, we talk about how stories change when the audience is forced to take on a different point-of-view, and how games create opportunities for this by swapping around main characters and making perspective switches. Also included: Horny for Osmosis, Nolan Nurth, Chris the Segue Boy, and an Actual Spoiler Warning

This week, for our 20th Episode, we return to our Writer’s Room segment, taking a look at the Resident Evil franchise and how one might effectively translate it into another medium. We choose not to engage too much with the existing Resident Evil movies, because of reasons. We also talk a lot about toilet paper. Have fun! Also included: Personal Pan Potty, Big Pharma-Zombie, and Oops! All Terrorists!

No pre-recorded episode this week, due to travel and work, but enjoy a quick treat! Our first ever live show, recorded at the Chicago Podcasters Unite C2E2 show on March 16th, 2019! The crowd was great, and we take our slot to talk how games sell immersion. Also included: Chris Forgets his Shakespeare, ThE tHeAtRe Of ThE eYe, and Sega Stole My Wallet!

This one is kind of short, due to some outside world drama that took the wind out of our joke-sails a little bit during recording, but what we got is still good and fun! This week, we chat about how side content, whether it’s fetch quests or collectibles, can influence a game’s story or highlight its world. Also included: Sleepy Dylan, Chris’s Incompetence, and “It’s Just a Slap.”

Join us as we look at games criticism, how it works, and the ways that it is helpful and how it could be improved. We also play a game using some game reviews. It’s all very fun. Trust us. Also included: Peaking with Dylan, Chris’ Big Plug, and DC’s Sham-Wow!

This week we’ve got another super special guest episode! Our friend Christine, host of the podcast The Unexplored Places, joins us to talk about analog RPG narratives, as well as to gush with Dylan about one of their favorite JRPG series. Also included: Zesty Ohio, A Very Confused Audience Surrogate, and Dylan’s Anime-Glasses-Flash

This week, we chill out, max, relax all cool, and answer some questions from friends and Twitter. Come along as we play it by ear and engage with our audience for once! Also included: Chris’s Ear Rant, 12-Year-Old Murder, and Dylan's big cop-out.

This week, we are excited to unveil the long sought-after fourth book in the Russian acting teacher’s cannon of texts, in which he discussed character creation in video games as a parallel to the actor’s process. In addition to the above being our stupidest and most-inside-baseball joke ever, we also have a lot of fun this episode, and Dylan and Chris both rant for a while on current gaming loves and how games allow creative impulses in their players. Also included: The Great Bathroom Puzzle, Dylan the Ouija Boi, The Robot-Arm Acting Technique, and Key-Blazing.

Welcome to the Backstage Gaming Morning Show! On this slightly-groggy episode, we talk about the place of failure in narratives, and how games engage with this tool (or, in some cases, fail to). Also included: Dylan’s One, Two, and Three, Build a Beefcake Workshop, Hot Podcast Mixtapes, and Da Bear Pits.

This week, we use the newly released 12th game in it’s series, Kingdom Hearts 3, to talk about multi-part storytelling, and the difference between “Story” and “Lore.” Also included: Big Main Energy, Fan Poking, and Hot Jam.

We’re back on schedule this week with a very special episode, featuring our first ever guest! We’re joined by our old friend JP, a sketch comedian with Bad Medicine Comedy out of Washington, D.C., and with his help we look at what makes for a good piece of sketch comedy, and how those principles show up in a handful of games. Also included: The Hairy Fight-Man, JP’s Favorite Movie, and Baby’s First Segue

It’s late episode time! The boys are back to talk about a new Resident Evil game, complete with Dylan’s many thoughts about how these games work and why he loves them. Also included: Announcement Time, A Horny Zombie, and Scooby Doo Body Horror

This week, we introduce a new (possibly recurring) episode concept! We spend the whole episode attempting to find the potential means to adapt the classic NES game Metroid into a non-interactive, narrative experience. We think we might actually have done a decent job. Also included: More Other M hate, Needless Geass, and the Pokemon digression.

This week, we continue our ramblings on silent protagonists, but this time we look at a few who stopped being silent. Sometimes this works out. Other times… well, come along with us. Also included: CGI Donkey Kong, Dylan’s Worst Noise, and the Wheeler Possession.

This week, we talk about a uniquely video-gamey narrative tool: Silent Protagonists. We talk about what makes them work, how to pick apart their differences, and how games use them to different ends. Also included: Awful Hairy Sonic, Dylan’s Link-Takes, and the Return of the Return of Snagglepuss