Interviews

Microsoft's August 11th Summer of Arcade game is going to be Monday Night Combat from fledgling studio Uber Entertainment. A team-based shooter with some snazzy graphics and interesting ideas, I have a feeling it's going to do pretty well. While we're all still waiting to get our hands on full versions, the good people of Uber were gracious enough to invite me over to their studio for a sneak peek.

Recently I had the pleasure to review Incognito: Episode One, an intriguing title from developer Magrathean Technologies. The game, as the name so aptly implies, is the first in a series of Their CTO, Ron McDowell, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

For those of you who've (still) been paying attention, a great little game called Weapon of Choice hit the Xbox 360's Indie Games area a while ago, and quickly became one of my favorites on the system. It should be one of your favorites, too—it was great stuff, and well-done. Following such an energetic title can't have been easy, but developer Mommy's Best Games and its mastermind Nathan Fouts have come up with not one, but two projects.

We welcome back two of our favorite guests, Nathan Fouts of Mommy's Best Games, and Bryan Jury of Epicenter Studios. They bring us up to speed on what's been happening since their last appearances and talk about their new games, Shoot 1UP and Rock of the Dead. These guys are funny, candid, and filled with pie. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim "Bob Costas" Spaeth.

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Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Games. Comics. Music. Every self-proclaimed geek worth his salt thrives on these things, so put them all together and the result has to be something fantastic, right? Kirby Krackle is a local Seattle-area band with one album under their belt, and another on the way. Absolute up-and-comers to watch, their tune-filled mash-ups of popular culture are smart, sassy, and absolutely on-point. They also prove my hypothesis to be true.

For those of you who've been paying attention to the puzzle genre lately, you may have been hearing the name "Capy" popping up lately, and for good reason. Nathan Vella, co-founder and president of Capybara Games and his team have crafted some strong titles worthy of attention, and they've got more in the pipe sure to make a splash.I recently had the opportunity to ask Nathan a few questions about their current smash Critter Crunch, the studio and more.

I recently had the pleasure of playing Machinarium, a fantastic adventure title from indie developer Amanita Design. Currently available on Steam and on their website, Machinarium has received accolades from many critics, myself included. Their CEO, Jakub Dvorsky, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about the game his company, and his team.

Bonjour class! Welcome to Ludology 101. Matthew Wiese of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab talks about his work and his experience on the academic side of games. Is ludology as sleep-inducing as it sounds? No sir, and in fact criticism and academia may have more in common than you think. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim Spaeth. Happy Thanksgiving to all our listeners!

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Topic and Game References:

• Nerd Heroes: The Phenomenon of Loser Protagonists in Modern Japanese Games by Matthew Weise
• NY Times: Deconstructing the Video Game
• Resident Evil Code: Veronica Review by Chi Kong Lui

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

A while ago, a friend on Twitter recommended I check out SwitchGames, an online trading service for folks who want to get rid of the old in exchange for the new. Rather than messing around with tokens, credit, or trade points (I get enough of that nonstandard currency crap paying for DLC already, thanks) SwitchGames offers a 1-to-1 trading system—basically, a straight-across swap service that matches people up according to their wants.