Gaming History 101

This week Trees is in the gutter while Fred is playing musical theaters trying to see Mortal Kombat.  There is a relatively spoiler free discussion, but we also warn you if you want to avoid the 15 or so minutes it's discussed.  Then it's onto the games front where Trees describes the beautiful and fun worlds of Yoshi's Crafted World and Rayman Legends.  The conversation shifts due to a listener question to the state of Sony's first party titles, including the cancellation of Days Gone 2 and the remake of The Last of Us.  It all wraps with Fred having a blast in VR and struggling to find the fun in Watch Dogs 2.

This week Trees is rebuilding his back stairs and attempting to replace his cell phone while Fred is complaining about snow and attempting to soft mod his PS3.  In gaming Trees played the GameStop trade-in game as well as enjoying The Flame and the Flood.  Fred tried the Resident Evil Village "Village Demo" on PS5, continues to love Astrobot, and is frustrated with games that have solid gameplay loops but disconnects in progress.

This week Fred and Trees return after a week off and it's time to get down to business.  Discussions begin with an update on Trees' household, new and old furniture, and Godzilla v. Kong.  We have a listener mail on HDR and how it works on both PC monitors and TVs, then it's on to games.  Trees has started Paper Mario: The Origami King, enjoyed classic shmups with the Vasara Collection, and tried to be king of the hill with Pac-Man 99.  His big passion has been turning into a teenage girl and scouring the land for resources in Atelier Rorona (which also lends to our closing music).  Fred has finally wrapped Days Gone with near 100 percent completion and about 45-50 hours of work, but his true love this week has been VR.  Thanks to a lent PS VR from Trees, he's been flying through a catalog of the top titles of the platform, all of which were obtained from PS+ or freebies from Sony.

This week we get a little personal about life before talking a bit of movies.  On the games front Trees is trying to stay positive with post-campaign Bowser's Fury and checking out Monster Hunter Rise, but also realizing that the true stress reliever for now is Splatoon 2.  Fred is still hooked to Days Gone, which is good because he tried (and failed) to get into Just Cause and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

This week is more about catch-up.  Trees is living a complicated life due to a new visitor in his home while Fred hasn't been up to a whole lot of anything.  On the gaming front Trees has started (and may be done with) Empire of Sin, showed his son Minecraft, and thoroughly enjoying family time with Splatoon 2.  Fred replaced his Genesis with a Gen 2 V4, goes hot and cold on Return to Castle Wolfenstein, wraps up Resident Evil 7 again, and has a surprise reveal from Days Gone.

This week Fred and Trees are all about home and car improvement before moving on to a lengthy discussion about movies.  Heading to the video game front, Trees completed Mario Galaxy, played some Splatoon 2 with his son, and jumped into indie titles A Boy and His Blob (2009) and CounterSpy.  Fred has been playing Real RTCW and Halo 2 with his daughter in addition to enjoying a third round of Resident Evil 7 and questioning the continuation of Days Gone.

This week Fred and Trees open with your listener mail and discuss predetermined notions, an open world Pokemon, and rumors of a new Switch.  The conversation shifts to convenience store snacks and new movies before moving onto the games.  Trees is going hard with Mario (Galaxy and Sunshine) as well as VR (Ace Combat 7 and Super Stardust). Fred discusses the very real issue of preventing PS4 installs of PS5 games, the joy of Astro's Playroom, retro flair with Double Dragon 4 and Oddworld: New & Tasty, and wrapping up with Days Gone.

The show kicks off with a discussion on Dreamcast gaming.  Trees and Fred get very different things from buying, collecting, and playing retro games.  Fred eats crow on his obvious PS5 obsession and then the discussion turns to more New Hammy fun and buying a cheap recliner.  On the games front Trees discusses Nintendo Switch multiple account woes, completes Super Mario 3D World, dabbles in Bowser's Fury, and wraps up with Eastshade.  Fred replayed the Famicom Disk System translated version of Zelda no Densetsu: A Hyrule Fantasy (Legend of Zelda in the US) and had a pretty good time with Super Lucky's Tale.

This week Fred and Trees discuss cabin life and the irresponsibility of the Internet before jumping into games.  Trees has been continuing on with Fall Guys and Super Mario 3D World but also diving into Concrete Genie and Nascar Heat 5.  Both he and Fred talk a bit about Funko Pop! Blitz before Fred rants about how much he works to avoid looking into PS5s before wrapping up with a luke warm response to Batman: Arkham City.

This week Trees is up at the cabin for vacation while Fred is just chillin', literally.  After a few anecdotes about Coke + Coffee it's onto the games.  Trees is all about Mario with Mario Galaxy and the recently released Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, but he also spent some quality time on the PS2 with Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.  A late mention of Funko Pop Blitz piqued Fred's interest in dirty mobile match 3 titles.  Fred has been growing tired of Amalur due mostly to shear volume, partying it up with Rock Band 3 this week, and running through the b-tier 360 title Legendary.  It all wraps up with Fred starting the opening hours of Batman: Arkham City.

This week is all about games.  Family games, football games, arcade games, head games, and oh yeah, video games!  After some long talk about life and WandaVision (*spoiler warning in the show up to Episode 5*) then it’s onto games.  Trees has been doing regular Fall Guys, Wreckfest, and working his way through the Gears of War franchise (halfway through 2).  He’s also started playing through Super Mario Galaxy with his son on Switch thanks to the Super Mario 3D All-Stars.  Fred is still grinding through Kingdoms of Amalur, has some similar thoughts re-visiting Resident Evil (ReMake), and played around with HD NES games on the Messen emulator.  On the experimental front he wrapped up The Medium, which he found a bit better than before, and ponders the overall value of Deliver Us the Moon.

This week has random discussions about life before diving head first into a bunch of games. Trees has been playing more Skyrim and Fall Guys, but also Resident Evil (REmake), Wreckfest, and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.  Fred has been making the most of game pass with Cyber Shadow and The Medium, but also continuing to tackle Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning and finally wrapping up Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time!

After a necessary week off, Trees and Fred deliver a massive episode bringing each other up to speed.  Then it's on to many a video game including Trees' continued adventures in Skyrim before Fred joins in to discuss Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.  Finally Fred has completed Gears 5, including the Hivebusters DLC.

This week Fred and Trees stall due to a lack of actual video game playing, but there’s plenty of discussion to be had about life.  Then things shift over to talking Karate Kid and the first half of Season 1 of Cobra Kai.  Things all wrap up with one game from each host, Trees continuing with Skyrim and Fred getting deep into Gears 5.  Oh yeah and some Magic: The Gathering talk at the end.

This week Fred and Trees share New Years tales and Birthday tales, then it’s on to the games.  Trees is still enamoured with Skyrim while his son barrels through Super Mario Odyssey and beyond where Trees has ever gotten!  Fred is struggling with Death Stranding but enjoyed Terminator Resistance and went retro with Crash 2 & 3 and Snatcher.

This week Fred and Trees return to talk about Christmas, the best gaming year ever, and eventually about the games they’ve been playing.  Trees is still making his way through Final Fantasy X but accidentally booted up Skyrim and now no other game matters.  Fred is playing clean-up by finishing all of Assassin’s Creed Unity‘s campaign and DLC, the Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath DLC, and getting a very early start in Death Stranding.

This week is more about the games, but there’s still time to discuss protecting Santa at the Bass Pro and upcoming Christmas plans.  Then a brief discussion about the Game Awards before getting into the games.  Trees has started to dig deep into Final Fantasy X (from the PS4 Remaster) and he’s quite smitten so far.  Fred has a split of 3 games he quit rather quick and 3 games he really likes.

Fred is out of town and overworked, but he still finds time to talk with Trees about a bunch of things.  Whether it’s traveling to Western Kansas, flavored beers, Black Friday, and many other topics, the show opens heavily on non-gaming.  Moving over to the gaming front Trees is playing Mario Odyssey and Days Gone while Fred is delving into Star Wars Squadrons and MK 11.

As the boys wind down for the holiday they chat about life before delving into gaming.  Trees is co-habitating with his son in Animal Crossing and continues to be so enthralled with PSVR that he’s ready to ship his to Fred.  Fred’s had it with GTA IV, replaying Bloodrayne in the new “Terminal Cut”, and slowly working his way through Gears 5.

This week Trees assists Fred in being a more assertive shopper, the guys talk their history with Dunkin Donuts, and the lengths we go for Christmas decorations.  After a thoughtful listener mail, video games entails Trees dealing with his young son starting to play with menus in Animal Crossing and another love fest over VR.  Fred has been going back to GTA IV and Titanfall 2 while his wife and child are hooked to Tetris Effect Connected.