Active Topical Banter Show

Our hiatus ends by airing the last recording we have with Michael Cunningham. The panel goes over how games confront difficult topics including, loss, mental illness, and so much murder.

We get back into the action with a slew of listener-submitted questions, learn about our gameplay habits, soundtrack preferences, kickstarter regrets, and some other secrets.

Scott is supremely suspicious of nostalgia, Mac is losing his voice, Sam and Trent had it easy as kids all come up in on retrospective...

Game difficulty is a lot like whiskey, in that most people are going about them wrong. Our panel examines what and how RPGs are hard...

Dialogue in games is a bit like the Jazz music in a few ways, mostly in that Scott is way more interested in it than...

We examine our personal experiences with the Final Fantasy franchise, how a major anniversary is half gone without publisher support and some E3 stuff.

The panel goes behind the curtain to explain the RPGamer review process in detail, from solicitation through to comment section. Inside baseball and anecdotes abound.

Our discussion this month is entirely self directed. Scott tries to throw down a glowing trail for questors to follow but it gets off tangents...

Nintendo has always done it’s own thing, and for that we’ve always seen that less than successful. Apple Computers analogies, Swiitch predictions, and yelling at...

We stand at the cusp of having to buy new consoles (maybe) to get the most of “core gamer lifestyle.” But is that worth anything?

No year-end navel gazing here. Just coasting the through the season on some user-submitted content.

We yell about class systems, job boards and mid-game specializations. Scott sneaks two tabletop rants in.

The Game of the Book of the Movie is finally out. We examine the peculiarities of confronting tie-in rpgs.

Sometimes the only winning move is not play, and then try to eke some trade-in value out it. The panel delves into what makes us...

The word ‘grind’ gets thrown around too often with a clear meaning. We spend an episode trying to unpack the term for our own benefit,...

Does spending money on games before they are out even make sense anymore? We delve into the business and cultural factors of the pre-order problem.

The panel tackles the nature of localization and the methods behind it.

When we look at a game, how much of what is not the game proper do we take into account. Or “I came to play,...

Looking at the 2016 release calendar we find ourselves faced with an unprecedented market saturation. We share our concerns about that fact.

We end the year with user questions. Thanks for asking and thanks for listening.

People are the worst, but how can we write reviews around those facts? These and other complaining question answered by our panel.

Hallowe’en is upon us and we take an hour to explain why the hybridization of typical RPG mechanics, detracts from horror games.

The panel breaks down the moral compass of games writers only to discover it only points two directions. We ramble on that and some related...

So, the Final Fantasy VII remake is finally happening. We have thoughts and feelings about this.

‘Power to the people’ meets ‘Shut up and take my money’ as we go through the ins and outs of gamerdom and crowdfunding.

We look at Bioware’s output since their buyout by EA, and what that has meant for gamers and business types since then.

A multi-level examination of the ludic, narrative, and artistic elements of the JRPG and how they interact with the Western market vis a vis popularity....

The Banter panel unpacks special pleading, ignorance and self-centred behaviour in the fandom and hope for a brighter future for comment sections.

Gaffs, goofs, preshow rituals, gossip and the biological needs of pets round this collection of never-before-heard Banter.

Sex is not a win-state and other romantic notions are on the slate this installment. We share all of our varied emotions about this splendid...

When gunplay and stats interact sparks and ideas fly. We capture a few of both for podcast infotainment value.

We open up the old mailbag for some listener-submitted topics in rapid-fire succession. Then we get judgemental about each other. It’s a Festivus miracle!

We tackle this issues faced by this benighted franchise, from both the business and creative standpoint. More importantly we attempt to decide whether we should...

Between various platforms, business models and the ever-present Square-Enix Tax, we navigate the state of game pricing for RPGamers.

Sony’s latest handheld endeavour has been struggling, or maybe it hasn’t. It’s a matter of perspective. Listen to our panel vigorously share theirs on the...

As gamers get older we begin insisting the youth of today play the games that mattered way back when, this doesn’t seem to work out...

We tackle the notion of evolution within a game genre via an pair of related metaphors about rare animals. Whether or not JRPGs have to...

Immersion, engagement and a few other ten dollar words get taken to task by our panel. Both the design and marketing side of the terminology...

Scoring is a fickle beast for a reviewer. Our crew attempts to tame and/or slay the monster with our of bits intact.

In this episode our intrepid crew tackles the East/West Divide, the phone/dedicated gaming device divide and the environment. Also debuting the feedback segment (with prizes).

Re-releases, ports and up-scales, ‘What do we want and what does it mean for the business’ get examined in this instalment. Rather apropos for the...

Can objectivity be achieved in game criticism, and is such a state even worth it? Join our new podcast as we discuss the questions and...