Waypoint Radio

Join Rob, Ren, and Patrick as they answer listener questions submitted to Patrick's new "question bucket google form." Have you ever wondered if Patrick's ever had hypothermia? If Rob would rather spend a life at sea or a life underground? How about if Ren likes power tools or hand tools better? Get all this and more, and follow us on twitch.tv/waypoint to get notified when we go live next! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's Friday the 13th so we're kicking things of spooky style. The Waypoint Radio crew discuss the new Alan Wake 2 details, Bethesda's double delay situation, and Rob's new induction stove (which comes with its own set of built in curses). After the break, Patrick drops a cursed plan for... coverage of the next Avatar movie? In slightly (but only slightly) less cursed news, Rob and Ren have been checking out Warhammer 40K - Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters, a new Tactics game with heavy Gear Tactics vibes that makes a great first impression. (Also, the “Inquisitor is hot” per one Renata Price.) Patrick and Ren both dipped into Iron Lung, a submarine based horror game that does some interesting things with space and perception.Discussed: Alan Wake 2 1:58, Bethesda Delays 7:38, Rob's New Induction Range 32:53, Dunkaccino 43:43, Avatar Plans 51:46, Warhammer 40 - Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters 55:32, Peglin 1:26:27, Knotwords 1:36:27, Iron Lung 1:44:07, Rogue Legacy 2 2:01:49, Loot River 2:04:06, Outro and Announcements 2:06

We've got a special double interview pod today! First up: Patrick chats with Panic's Cabel Sasser and Arisa Sudangnoi about the development of the Playdate, the boutique handheld with a crank. They go over how the project started, what working on one thing for nearly a decade is like, and personal crank stories. Then, Rob and Patrick sit down with filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to talk about his involvement with Gunzilla Games and their new Battle Royale game Off the Grid. They touch on the transition from film to game production, Neill's background in games, and how they plan to imbue their multiplayer game with narrative. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Much how Rob Zacny Predicted, it's becoming clearer that it will be a Banner Year for Narrative Games, and profound everyman Patrick Klepek is here dipping his toes into the game Renata and Cado definitely didn't bring to the table because they were both too busy doing other things: Citizen Sleeper. Rob's also taken a break from commiting insurance fraud to play that hot new game that everyone's talking about, Guardians of the Galaxy. Then we dive back into the question bucket, where some questionable suggestions are made to Rob with regards to the purchase of a new oven.Discussed: Citizen Sleeper 3:40, Steam Deck 41:17, Guardians of the Galaxy 48:02, The Embracer Group Acquisitions 1:06:03, Outro and Announcements 1:19:53, The Question Bucket 1:24:33 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob, Patrick, Ren, Cado and special guest Gita Jackson gather around their pod mics on this cold dark night to discuss The Thing, the classic film that inspired 2002's The Thing video game, Patrick's choice for our next Waypoint 101! We talk body horror, cinematic tension, box office flops, intimacy and the lack thereof between men, and the best dog actor of all time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There comes a time when even the most laid-back people will find something that irks them to no end, and Patrick has found that thing this week. Are your monitors level? Are they the right distance apart? Are they perfectly aligned? Probably not, but hopefully it won't be too distracting. Thankfully the news that Sega is pulling old Sonic games in order to re-release them distracted Patrick long enough for us to launch into a conversation about emulation and "stealing." After the break, Ren reports in from the Overwatch 2 Beta currently underway, and finds the changes from 1 deeply underwhelming. Rob's checking out Dune: Spiceworld and enjoying the sowing part more than the reaping. Cado's finding zen in the art of card stacking with Stacklands, a card based rogue-like village builder with chill beats to make small piles of cards to. Then the crew dives into the question bucket to help Ren out with that whole Halo gun situation.Discussed: Patrick's Monitor Woes 1:12, Emulation and Piracy 28:54, Overwatch 2 5

Rob chats with Greg Foertsch, ex-Firaxis art director and founder of Bit Reactor, about his time on Gettysburg!, XCOM, and other seminal strategy games after getting an internship at Microprose right out of art school. Greg reminisces on his time at Firaxis, learning to turn a computer on, and how making games has changed drastically since Gettysburg! was developed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We've got a chock full episode for y'all this week, from Rob wondering about one of his recent purchases (Steam Deck) to Rob updating us on an old one (Speaker Update!) We're all still plucking away at Elden Ring, but Rob in particular has a new perspective on his build choice. After the break, we talk about the recent allegations of a union related firing at Nintendo of America, and how even if unionization isn't happening yet, the way contractors are treated may mean it's around the corner. Rob's jumping on to the recent point and click adventure game wave with Chinatown Detective Agency, of which the opening hours left Rob a bit unimpressed with it's puzzles (but to a puzzlemaster, aren't all puzzles simple?) Then Patrick tells us about his time with the Playdate, the new handheld crank-based console from Panic, the company that made that one FTP client back in the day. You know the one, with the little truck? Yeah that one. Stick around after the outro for some musings on US timezones, and how we should a

Ren has invited Yuts, writer and lead developer on NORCO, onto the pod today to talk about the origins of NORCO as a side-scroller, different literary styles, what we mean when we say "the american south" today, hope, and other equally fascinating and bummer topics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lore Reasons is back for a very special mini-sode! The Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary event dropped some new announcements so we had to get Austin, Natalie, Patrick, and Cado back on mic to live react to the announcements! The crew then does a bit of lore sleuthing to see how much they remember about Kingdom Hearts, what the deal with those hoodies is, and which person with an X in their name is which. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob Zacny, some would say, is a man of taste. And as any man of taste would be, he's incredibly discerning, especially when it comes to his Audio Equipment. Join Ren and Patrick as their whisked away on a tale of audio shops, conspiracies (!?), and audio speaker maintenance. After the break, Ren checked out Gundam Evolution, a new character based team FPS that has surprisingly good Mech-feel. Then she says some objectively wrong things about DOTA 2 that really made this producer question her judgment. Patrick has to address one point of clownification, er, clarification before our NORCO spoilercast drops later this week on Waypoint Plus, and then the crew takes a dive into the question bucket, where we learn that yes, in fact, Renata can be wrong (see: previous DOTA 2 statements).Discussed: Rob Zacny's Audio Saga 1:51, Gundam Evolution 51:54, NORCO 1:20:07, Gettysburg 1:26:04, The Question Bucket 1:28:08 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We kick off this weekend with a lengthy discussion of remote vs in office work. COVID has changed how many companies deal with remote work, but some companies are trying to return to the world before. Riot Games is one of those companies, and as Patrick has reported, has taken some poor measures with regards to their employees safety. After the break, Ren, Patrick, and Cado have all been checking out NORCO, the sci-fi? magical realist? point and click adventure that is causing waves and garnering quick Disco Elysium comparisons. Then we check back in with Rob, who's taken his exploration of the Halo franchise to a new level with Halo Wars. Does it have good Halo-feel? Should he be playing with a controller? Was there enough lore? We might answer a few of these questions so tune in!Discussed: Riot Games return to office policies 0:32, Max Payne 32:12, NORCO 46:57, Weird West 1:10:29, Halo Wars 1:19:05, Acti-blizzard announcement 1:44:52, Outro and Announcements 1:47:47 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and op

As we return to a more regularly scheduled podcasting, the Waypoint Radio crew emerges to find that the return of the immersive sim may be upon us. Rob's been digging into Weird West, a third person isometric view CRPG styled immersive sim, and has found that a few of those gold ingots he dug up might be pyrite. Ren's been checking out Abermore, a first person Thief inspired immersive sim, that had a troubled development, but still has interesting ideas despite it's unpolished nature. After the break, Patrick talks us through his article on his relationship to E3 and the recent news that there will be no E3 2022. He's also been playing Ghostwire: Tokyo, and ended up finishing it in fact. He's not sure why, but he did! Discussed: Weird West 0:44, Abermore 31:53, The Death of E3 59:29, Ghostwire: Tokyo 1:11:36, Question Bucket 1:22:34 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In what was certainly not supposed to be an episode of Waypoints, Rob, Patrick, Ren, and Cado all gather up to discuss the first episode of Halo, the Paramount Plus live action TV series based on the FPS juggernaut. Along the way, we learn that Ren has all of the Halo lore crammed into her skull alongside the assertion that "4 and 5 had good campaigns, actually." The crew discusses the production on the show, how it reads differently depending on your previous knowledge of Halo, and talk about how it compares to previous live action Halo media.Forward Unto Dawn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTGqNRhm_qQDiscussed: 0:00 Halo TV Show Episode 1 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Content warning for discussion of alcohol from 2:38 - 9:58We are all in NEW YAWK CITY???? Getting set up for a STREAM! To raise money for TRANS LIFELINE!!! On this pod though we talk about Norco, little dip of Elden Ring, and a day early discussion of Gran Turismo 7's credit problem.Discussed: Norco 33:56, Elden Ring 44:05, Gran Turismo 7 47:26 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Content Warnings for detailed discussions of sleep disorders and injuries from hyper-flexibility 0:00 - 29:35We're currently setting up for our livestream (March 26th!) and yet we still found time to record one last remote podcast. Ren, Patrick, and Cado (or Ricardo? who could say) gather round their mics today to gawk at the opening hours of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and the bizarre choices that seem to have been made from coming in way too hot. After the break Patrick takes us through his time with Ghostwire: Tokyo, a game with a lot of style but little substance. Then we dive into the pizza bucket. that's right, a whole bucket of pizza to swim around in.Discussed: Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin 29:35, Ghostwire: Tokyo 1:18:19, The Pizza Bucket 1:40:25 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pizza. Keyboards. Tunic? Mechs. This podcast has it all and well, it was a hell of an edit. So we're running into stream time, so enjoy this very light teaser for the most Friday Energy pod we've recorded in a while. Discussed: Keebchat 34:06, Tunic 48:43, Phantom Brigade 1:04:18, Outro and announcements 1:49:46 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this special episode of Waypoint Radio, Patrick interviews the ... director? creative visionary? Well, he might not know what to credit himself as but his name is Andrew Shouldice and he was solo dev on the isometric action adventure game Tunic, until he wisened up and got some help! They chat about moving from solo development to team based development, how Tunic's cute fox protagonist came to be, and how finding hidden secrets in video games as a kid influenced the design of Tunic's world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Gita Jackson is back on the pod to join Patrick, Ren, and Cado on their long adventure into the depths of everything Elden Ring. We talk about Elden Ring's immense reach compared to other FromSoft titles, moments of dubious boss balancing in the late game, and that ever present cycle of difficulty and accessibility discourse that we return to with each new iteration of the Souls formula, and the ways we all approach difficulty differently in isolation and within community.Discussed: Elden Ring 8:23, Mechanical Spoilers for a boss fight and a specific area quirk 33:23 - 46:24Steve Saylor on accessibility and Elden Ring youtu.be/FOQFu7OKJ5o See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Patrick, Renata, and Cado all saw a movie this weekend, but first they have to talk about what Cado spend 23 hours doing over the weekend. That's right, it's Raid Time in Destiny and Cado went full gremlin mode. After that, we get into Matt Reeves' The Batman, discussing how surprisingly funny it is, it's issues with character motivations, and how much it really loves cops. Discussed: Destiny 2 Raid 3:06, Raid Encounter 1 Spoilers 7:36 - 14:02, The Batman 36:43, Outro 1:58:39 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.