Last Checkpoint Podcast

The guys discuss their favorite games revealed from Sony’s Playstation 5 conference.

New podcast from the Last Checkpoint crew called Group Chat, where the guys talk about random topics. It gets weird, a little ridiculous, but a ton of fun. We’ll be doing these alongside our regular gamescasts, so please enjoy!

A mailbag episode from Chris answering questions from the stream community!

On this cast, the guys step through the games that are perfect to play while stuck inside during the quarantine. Patrick leads us through his top picks, including Ryan discussing World of Warcraft Classic and Chris talking about Overwatch, and two new games just released. Then, to close out the cast, they guys talk about their #1 current game obsession, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

To begin this week’s episode, Chris and Ryan go over the winners of some of the categories from this 2019 Game Awards, including their take on Game of the Year. Embedded within the game awards chat, also discussed is the two new Riot games announced, spin offs featuring characters from League of Legends. Then, during the second half of the show, Chris talks with Patrick on his Game Awards takes, and the two also discuss their thoughts regarding the new Pokemon Sword and Shield games. Make sure to check out the site at thelastcheckpoint.com.

Patrick went to Pax Prime and we talk about his experiences there. Then the guys talk about all the games that they’ve been playing for the past month including Borderlands 3, Dead By Daylight, and Gears 5.

Part two of E3 2019’s pod, where the guys talk about their two favorite presentations in Square Enix and Nintendo. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the official Avengers game, Breath of the Wild 2, and more are covered (maximum fanboyness ensued).

E3 season has come and gone! This is part one of our post E3 pod featuring our thoughts for Microsoft, Bethesda, and Ubisoft’s presentations.

As we are hard at work on the E3 cast to be posted very soon, today’s episode contains discussions around PS4 mobile device support, more Anthem bad news, THQ Nordic’s questionable decision making, a potential Octopath mobile game, Borderlands 3 news, and Twitch streamers being paid to help kickstart Apex Legends.

Today’s episode consists of the guys discussing their initial thoughts on Apex Legends. Then, Chris leads the cast in a super sized segment of “Next Level Play or AFK” which includes discussion on the new Pokemon Sword and Shield games, Halo Master Chief collection on PC, Halo Infinite, the new Google Stream device to be revealed at GDC, and EA stepping out of E3.

On this episode, the cast discusses its early impressions of both the Anthem demo and Kingdom Hearts 3. Then, in light of the news that the Nintendo Wii digital shop’s official shutdown, Patrick walks us through some of the games he’s going to miss. And lastly, The guys discuss the recent development in Gamestop’s financial losses, and try to brainstorm what may be headed in their future.

Giant cast planned today beginning with our initial thoughts on the new Smash Brothers Ultimate. Then we step into a new segment by Trick called Next Level Play or AFK, where we go over some recent gaming news and give our take on them. Some topics included in the segment are the Diablo backlash at Blizzcon 2018, the new Artifact game, and Epic opening up their own digital game store. Lastly, the panel talks about the game awards, and goes over their take on some of the winners and losers.

The cast begins with Patrick and Chris talking about TwitchCon, and the place the convention holds among others. Then, one the heels of the latest games announced for the Playstation Classic, the pair discusses what is felt as a big miss on Sony’s part. And finally, with the last Nintendo Direct complete in regards to Smash Brothers announcements until the game is released, various Smash related topics are discussed.

On today’s cast, Chris, Patrick, and Ryan talk about the games they’ve been playing, including Overwatch, Destiny 2: Forsaken, Dragalia Lost, and Spider-Man PS4. The cast then goes into the main topic of the show, the abrupt closure of the Telltale Games studio, going over the details that were since disclosed. Lastly, Patrick leads the cast going over his wishlist for the newly announced PS1 classic.

On today’s cast, the guys talk about the current games they’re playing, including Destiny 2, Warframe, and Octopath Traveler. Chris then leads the cast through his early playthrough thoughts of the two new Smash Brothers characters, Inkling girl and Ridley. The panel then concludes with discussion on the latest smash direct.

E3 2018 brought some exciting news this year, but nothing topped the news of Smash Brothers Ultimate for the the Nintendo Switch. The guys discussed everything revealed around the game including every character returning, the small tweaks to the combat, and the potential for a competitive scene backed by Nintendo itself.

On today’s cast the guys review the latest Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3. Ryan, Patrick, and Chris discuss which showcase presentations they liked and talked about the games that they thought looked promising. Also, stay tuned for Episode 37, where the guys discuss their most awaited news to have gotten announced, Smash Brothers Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch.

Episode 35: Square-Enix E3 Predictions To start this week’s cast, Patrick first goes over his top 5 list of video game peripherals. Then, as it’s been some time since Square-Enix’s last E3 press conference, the guys go over what could be in store for the Bahamut sized game company.

On this week’s cast, Ryan, Patrick, and Chris invite friend of the show Randy to talk about a Hearthstone tournament they had recently competed in. Then, the guys go over a Kotaku article that had been published in the month of May titled ‘The 16 Types of Games’ by Kirk Hamilton. The cast goes over a handful of the categories, and which games the guys would include within them.

This cast is filled with Nintendo discussion, beginning with Patrick’s top 5 things he wanted in a future Pokemon game for the switch. Then the guys go into a couple of the news pieces announced in the March Nintendo Direct, including Wii U to Switch ports, a couple of new 3DS games, and Splatoon and Mario Tennis news. To round out the cast, the guys give their reactions to the Super Smash Brothers teaser announcement, and dish on their picks for additions to the already amazing roster.

Today the guys open the cast by discussing the pros and cons of training to be a pro eSports player from such a young age. Then the panel looks at a few pieces of recent games news including release delays of Bioware’s Anthem and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2, the fall of Paragon resulting from the success of Fortnite, and lastly, the new additions Xbox’s Game Pass.

On this Last Checkpoint episode, the guys talk about their early takes on two brand new games that’s come out in the past couple weeks; Dragon Ball FighterZ and Monster Hunter World. The cast then takes a look at the idea of ‘hubs’ in the video game space, and how they can both help and hurt certain games.

From the 2K series, madden, to classics like NBA street and Tony Hawk, special guest, Artie McFly from the ‘From the Stands’ blog and YouTube channel, joins the guys to talk all about sports games. Ryan, Patrick, Chris, and Artie dive into the sports games they loved growing up, what they’re playing now, and the state of the sports games industry today. You can find out more on Artie at yellfromthestands.wordpress.com.

Last Checkpoint starts off its first podcast of 2018 talking about a couple of games the guys are playing. First, Chris talks about his go to during the winter break, the multiplayer-horror game Dead By Daylight. And next, Ryan goes into his current progress of last year's Game of the Year nominee, Persona 5. Lastly, taking a more serious tone, the guys go over the World Health Organization's latest definition for what their calling "gaming disorder."

It's the last podcast of 2017, and the guys are recapping their favorite games of the year. We here at Last Checkpoint want to thank all of you for listening throughout the year! We wouldn't be doing this without you, and are very excited to continue onto the next year.

The guys from Last Checkpoint recap the nominees and winners from this year's Game Awards. The categories included Best Indie Game, Best Action Game, Best Narrative, and the coveted Game of the Year title.

League of Legends Worlds 2017 is behind us, and the cast gives its take on the participating teams from each region, the outcome, and the surprises of the tournament.

This week's cast begins with a discussion on Battle Royale Esports games and where they may be going (1:34). The guys then talk about GameStop's latest foray into a rental system (15:46), the recent release of the Xbox One X (21:35), and finally some of the top news from Blizzcon (31:22). The announcements from Blizzcon that are touched upon include the Overwatch new champion, Moira (31:49), a Blizzard theme park based map for Overwatch (36:08), World of Warcraft update and vanilla servers added (39:24), Starcraft II goes Free-to-Play (45:10), Heroes of the Storm character adds (50:32), and a new Hearthstone expansion (53:37).

On today's special episode, the guys recall some classic horror games, some favorites that they've played, and the current and future state of the spooky genre. Games touched on include Silent Hill, Dead Space, and the Resident Evil Series.

This week, Ryan and Patrick kick off the podcast with a debate on whether or not "Games are easier than they’ve ever been" (1:36). Afterwards, the cast then discusses their true thoughts on the topic (10:19). Then, in discussing what games we are all playing, Ryan talks "Destiny 2" (15:42), Patrick talks about an upcoming strategy based mobile game titled "Alchemist Code" (20:43), and Chris brings up the latest toon style platform game "Cuphead" (24:11). In the topics section, the guys talk about the recent release of the SNES classic (29:15), Microtransactions in fully priced games (33:35), and finally a discussion on the controversial emergence of PUBG clone, Fortnite (46:25).

The guys talk about the latest Hearthstone patch, 9.1, looking over key changes that took place.

On this week's episode of Last Checkpoint, Ryan, Patrick, and Chris start off by getting into the debate topic, "FPS's will always be the most successful game genre" (2:30). Then in the what are we playing segment (16:30), we discuss the RTS, 'Sudden Strike 4' by Kite Games (17:33), the 2D MOBA 'Hyper Universe' by Nexon (22:50), and then we give our day 1 early impressions on Bungie's 'Destiny 2' (27:26). Finally we round out the show discussing Chris's experience at this years PAX West 2017 (28:46).

This week Patrick and Chris look at a number of topics relevant to the past couple weeks beginning with the new Overwatch free-for-all mode, Deathmatch. Other topics covered are the new Shadow of War’s microtransactions, Nintendo Switch sales numbers, and updates to the Pokemon Go scene. Lastly, the guys talk about Valve’s new Dota2 based card game, “Artifact”, and the recent surge in games trying to emulate Hearthstone’s success.

On this week's episode, Patrick and Chris talk about the two games they've been playing, Paladins and Splatoon 2. The two then recap the events of the main games during this year's EVO tournament, touching on the results of Smash Brothers, Injustice 2, and Street Fighter V.

This week, we bring on pro gamer Max Leon to talk all about his game, CS:GO. We go over the game Counter Strike, and its transformation over the years, his story as an extremely high ranking player, and how CS:GO stack up as a top tier eSport. Then later in the cast, Chris, Patrick, and Max explore eSports as a whole, and discuss what the new investor scene in the upcoming Overwatch League, could mean for the future of competitive gaming.

This week on the cast, Patrick and Ryan debate on if the success of Nintendo's future is reliant on a new IP. Then, the cast discusses the latest changes to Blizzard's popular digital card game, Hearthstone. The cast then recaps the biggest reveal of the past couple weeks in the SNES Classic, and laments over the lineup of games that the console is being released with. And finally, the main topic of the show is a review on the new Nintendo Switch fighting game Arms.

It's E3 week and the Last Checkpoint podcast is here to walk you through what each of the big conferences had to offer. The guys discuss their likes and dislikes from this years big gaming event.

Patrick talks about the game he's been obsessing over, Nier Automata (1:15). Moving into the debate, Ryan and Patrick argue over whether or not "Esports pros should have a say, in how their respective game competitions are run" (4:32). Finally, during the main topic (15:06), the cast discusses issues brought up in a recent Compete article (http://compete.kotaku.com/burnt-out-smash-pros-are-talking-about-unionizing-1795513509) that talks about the pros in the Smash 4 competative scene. Chris, Patrick, and Ryan talk about what makes Smash 4 different from other eSports environments and the difficulties that come with it.

Patrick takes us back to the very first E3, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on May 11, 1995. The panel, which includes guest Randy Tong, talks about the highlights of the first E3 and how today's conventions have been effected by it.

The cast gives their impressions on the new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch and also on a brand new game from Epic Games, that is in its alpha stage called Fortnite. Also on this cast, as we are recording on May 4th, we welcome special guest Randy Tong to celebrate Star Wars Day! Each cast member reminices about their favorite star wars video game and we close out with a little trivia game based around the Star Wars video game franchise.

Patrick takes the cast through memories of one of his favorite childhood arcade cabinet games, Smash TV.

Nintendo decided to end production of the fabled NES classic, but theres a new rumor in town. The guys give their take on Nintendo's decision making in regards to the rumored holiday 2017 release of the SNES classic. Chris, Patrick and Ryan then talk about their personal wish lists for what should be on this new, old console.

Welcome to our new podcast titled This Day in Gaming, brought to you by the guys from Last Checkpoint. The goal of this brand new podcast is to give the audience a smaller sized podcast, that explores a particular game release or game related event in history for one particular day. Today's cast looks at the legendary SNES action adventure game Super Metroid. Released here in the U.S. April 18, 1994, the panel of Chris and Patrick explore their memories of the game, and how it effects games we play today.

The Last Checkpoint welcomes special guest and friend of the show Randy Tong on the cast, talking about Nintendo Switch and the new Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We're also debating over whether or not stream services will be the definitive way we play games in the future.

Sorry for the delay on the upload listeners, the cast took a vacation last week, but are now back on track with editing and recording. On this week's show the guys talk about Twitch and Youtube gaming, and how its effectively changing the way we perceive games. Then during the debate, Ryan and Patrick have a fun arguement over whether or not "Dark-Souls-Like" games are fun.

The cast is back this week with a segment on the games announced for the Evolution Championship Series. We're talking about the 8 games that are going to be played, including Street Fighter V, Injustice 2, and Super Smash Brothers. We also take a look at the selection choices and process of choosing the 9th game that will be at the tournament.

This past week, the cast got the chance to play Resident Evil VII. The guys give their take on the new entry in the series, their likes and dislikes, and what it was like playing it on the Playstation VR. Then, Ryan and Patrick debate on whether or not humans are the scariest villains in video games. Note: Light Resident Evil VII spoilers in the cast, but nothing that gives away main story points.

The Nintendo Switch is upon us and the panel certainly wants to talk about it. Join the guys while they give their take on everything we know about Nintendo's. Since the panel got so caught up in discussion, the panel had to skip the debate and...SWITCH (*snaps fingers*) gears...sorry, but not sorry about that.

Have you ever gotten into an argument about a factual statement with someone where one side is sure that its true, where the other does not? Welcome to the first Probables Debate cast for the Last Checkpoint! Picture the above argument type, only video game style. With help from friends from friends of the cast Ben and Alex, the cast gets into some fun filled arguments in this debate exclusive special episode.

The Last Checkpoint podcast is back in the new year with a special review podcast of Final Fantasy XV. With the help of guest panelists Alex, Ben, and Randy, the gang talks about their various stopping points in the game and their mid-to-early review. The cast is spoiler free!

This podcast features topics on the most notable games releasing in December, followed by a topic regarding PlayStation VR sales estimates dropping dramatically, and then discussing the No Man's Sky big Foundation Update and what it means for the game. The cast is then rounded out by a debate where the topic is "Do Games Deserve a Second Chance?"