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13 episodes with jake kazdal
The final episode of Hidden Levels explores the story of SEGA developer Tez Okano and the bizarre, meta-game he created: Segagaga. Okano joined SEGA in 1992, witnessing firsthand the company's tumultuous experience in the "console wars" against Nintendo and Sony. In the mid-1990s, SEGA struggled to make hardware that kept up with its rivals. The SEGA CD, the 32X, and the Saturn were all commercial failures. For Okano and many developers at SEGA, the console wars were both an exciting time to be in the video game business but also an intense and stressful time. They worked long hours, slept at their desks, and faced relentless deadlines. And so Okano decided to turn the chaotic nature of his professional life into a low-budget, self-parodying game about making video games at SEGA. In Segagaga, the player is a young developer tasked with saving SEGA's market share from the rival DOGMA Corporation (a stand-in for Sony/PlayStation). The gameplay is a mix of a role-playing game (RPG) and a management simulator, where you recruit demoralized, mutant-like SEGA employees by convincing them to join your team for the lowest salary possible. The gameplay reflects the absurd reality of game development. Players can spend a long time creating an original, hit game or they can quickly make a bunch of trashy titles (or shovelware) that barely keeps the company afloat. Okano even told us that the insults characters used in "battles" were actual quotes he heard in the office. The game was finished in 2001, just as the highly anticipated Sony PlayStation 2 was effectively dooming SEGA's Dreamcast. As game journalist Simon Parkin notes, Segagaga was released only two weeks before SEGA exited the console business entirely. This timing transformed the game from a self-parody into a memorial for a dying era, inviting players to literally defeat SEGA's failed consoles as bosses. Though Okano's bizarre proposal was initially met with laughter by executives, the game ultimately got made and, in a strange twist, benefited from the company's decision to stop making video game hardware. Even in the face of industry chaos, some creators simply can't help but pour their love and energy into making games. Credits This episode was produced by Jayson De Leon and edited by Meg Cramer. Mix by Martín Gonzalez. Fact-checking by Graham Hacia. Original music by Swan Real and Paul Vaitkus. Jocelyne Allen helped translate and interpret our interview with Tez Okano (truly the best). Special thanks to Lewis Cox and Tom Charnock over at The Dreamcast Junkyard. Their insight on SEGA, the Dreamcast, and Segagaga was extremely helpful in the making this story. Additional thanks to Adam Kuplowsky and 17 Bit's Jake Kazdal. Simon Parkin has a book about the history of the Dreamcast called Sega Dreamcast: Collected Works. It's rich and beautiful and has even more details about Segagaga that we could not fit into this story. Tez Okano would like to thank the small team that supported Segagaga. Especially Hisao Oguchi, Tadashi Takezaki, and Taku Sasahara. Hidden Levels is a production of 99% Invisible and WBUR's Endless Thread. The Managing Producer for Hidden Levels is Chris Berube. The series was created by Ben Brock Johnson. Series theme by Swan Real and Paul Vaitkus. Series art by Aaron Nestor.
17-Bit buddy Jake Kazdal joins us for his umpteenth 8-4 Play appearance to talk Dragon's Dogma 2 and update us on his Tears of the Kingdom journey, while Gabe dives deep into the wild and wonderful life of robot beavers. Time — Topic Discussed 01:19 – Nicknames 07:36 – Dragon's Dogma 2 16:08 – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 29:27 – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 33:02 – Timberborn 42:02 – News: Wii U & 3DS go offline, Final Fantasy news, Pokémon hacker arrested, and more!
A cavalcade of special guests old and new drop by to talk about their experiences at (or around) this year's Tokyo Game Show. With Brandon Sheffield, John Linneman, Imran Khan, Kevin Gifford (?!), and more! Time – Topic Discussed: 02:03 – TGS is back (w/Brandon Sheffield & Kevin Gifford) 31:42 – Dragon's Dogma 2 & FF7 Rebirth (w/Imran Khan & John Davis) 56:28 – Nivalis, Shadow of the Ninja (w/John Linneman & Diamond Feit) 1:18:18 – Enotria: The Last Song, Black Finger JET, & Zelda (w/Jake Kazdal, David Hellman, Liam Edwards, and Colin Williamson) 1:57:38 – Persona 3 Reload, Like a Dragon Gaiden, & BQM 2:10:44 - Wrapping up
17-Bit head honcho and two-time Kakariko Village gherkin tossing champion Jake Kazdal joins us once again for an epic (and largely spoiler-free) first discussion on all things The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Plus quick thoughts on PlayStation Showcase 2023! Time – Topic Discussed: 00:52 – Nicknames 06:52 – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 01:42:40 – Break 01:43:10 – News: The Playstation Showcase Recap
Kyoto's reigning turducken champion and 17-Bit head honcho Jake Kazdal joins us straight from the dinner table in Kyoto to talk about Somerville, Vampire Survivors, Pokemon S&V, the upcoming Game Awards, and plenty more! Time – Topic Discussed: 01:08 – Nicknames 01:39 – Word Cup Spoiler Talk (Germany v. Japan) 02:41 – World Cup Spoiler Talk Ends 13:10 – Somerville 22:48 – Vampire Survivors 30:02 – Pokemon Scarlet 40:22 – God of War: Ragnarok 50:40 – News: The Game Awards nominations, Miyamoto's Birthady, and more!
April Fools! We do actually mostly talk about Elden Ring again. Hey, where else on the internet is anyone discussing this obscure indie?! We DO have new opinions, at least, with Mark back and 17-Bit honcho Jake Kazdal joining in. Also, Breath of the Wild 2 delay and Sony's revamped PS+. 01:09 – Nicknames 03:48 – Elden Ring 52:34 – Kirby and the Forgotten Land 1:02:36 – Tunic 1:14:45 – Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin impressions 01:24:48 – News: Sony's Project Spartacus, Breath of the Wild 2 delay.
Our friend Jake Kazdal (17-Bit) joins us for a (spoiler-free!) roundtable discussion of Elden Ring, in which we compare our experiences in FromSoftware's latest monsterpiece, consider the inseparable nature of its community, and deliberate its bolder design decisions. Show notes: Jake Kazdal 17-BIt Elden Ring Souls (series) Resident Evil 7 Nick's home invasion thread Clint Hocking on the virtues of exploration Lord of the Rings (films) Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour There's no such thing as an Elden Ring cheese Halo Infinite Bill Mudron on player summoning
17-Bit jefe Jake Kazdal rejoins the party to discuss his new VR title Song In The Smoke, as well hot new releases like Dark Souls and Rez. Content warning: contains Final Fantasy XIV talk. Time – Topic Discussed: 00:43 – Nicknames 20:28 – Song in the Smoke 28:52 – Dark Souls 47:23 – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker 1:07:35 – Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi 1:22:02 – Rez's Anniversary
Bryan and AJ talk with special guest Jake Kazdal from 17-Bit
Lucky Number 13 The Legally Best Podcast™ is now with guests! This week we are joined by legendary game kingpin Jake Kazdal of 17-Bit fame! We talk about his history as a Nintendo Games Counselor, time at Enix USA, and Sega. Of course we also talk about his upcoming VR game Song in the Smoke for Oculus Quest, PSVR, and more. Later we rant about Sable and our undying love for Eastward. To cap it off we talk about N64 and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive added to the Nintendo Switch, Donkey Kong Land, and the latest Pokemon manhole covers in Japan! It rules and we love Jake Kazdal! Follow Jake and 17-Bit! https://twitter.com/jkooza https://twitter.com/17_BIT Get our games! Buy Carve Snowboarding on Oculus Quest! https://www.oculus.com/experiences/qu... WISHLIST Cursed to Golf today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/17... And of course follow us on social media: https://www.twitter.com/chuhailabs https://discord.gg/chuhailabs https://www.instagram.com/chuhailabs https://www.facebook.com/chuhailabs Follow Kinsey Burke https://twitter.com/kinszilla Follow Mark Lentz https://twitter.com/thehenrydemos Nasty Labs is a proud member of the Greenlit Podcast Network! Check out all of the lovely podcasts they have in their collection https://greenlitpodcasts.com/
17-Bit’s Jake Kazdal returns to talk about his newly-announced VR title “Song in the Smoke,” Japan Studio’s closure, a bigger-screen Switch, PS5 VR, banana controllers, being Seth Rogen’s stunt double, and more! Time – Topic Discussed: 00:58 – Nicknames 10:59 – Song in the Smoke 44:49 – News: PlayStation VR News, Japan Studio’s fate, New Switch rumors, and lots more
We gorge on Nintendo news along with 17-Bit's Jake Kazdal, topping it off with lots (and lots) of thoughts on Bowser's Fury and very, very little FFXIV updates. And the long-awaited reveal of exactly what time Gabe secured his PS5 order. Time – Topic Discussed: 00:51 – Nicknames 15:10 – Devil May Cry 5 18:50 – Nintendo Direct News 1:07:35 – Super Mario 3D World: Bowser’s Fury 1:41:27 – More News: GoldenEye Leak, DualSense drift, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie, Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion, and more!
Shaun Bloom returns and is joined by his former co-worker, founder and CEO of 17-BIT Jake Kazdal! The two share stories from the Nintendo trenches and Jake's incredible journey from GPC to starting his own development company. Plus some exclusive news on the future of 17-BIT games!
This week the crew is joined by 17-Bit head honcho Jake Kazdal to break down the latest news from the PlayStation 5 showcase and miss yet another suspiciously-timed Nintendo Direct.
Jeremy chats with 17-Bit Studios boss Jake Kazdal about the road he traveled from working an NES-era Nintendo game counselor to collaborating on SEGA classics like Rez to running his own game development studio in Japan.
To celebrate the 50th episode, this week we have a bumper 3-hour show! Joining Liam is 17-Bit’s head honcho the excellent, Jake Kazdal. 17-Bit are responsible for titles such as Skulls of the Shogun and Galak-Z. Jake talks about his early career at SEGA working with Rez creator, Tetsuya Mizuguchi. We also have 8 excellent games, including a brand new Zelda title and a huge in-depth talk about VR! It’s a super way to celebrate 50 episodes of condemning video game industry members to the Final Games island! Thank you to everyone who has listened, downloaded, tweeted, shared and supported the show since over the past 50 episodes. It means the world to me! Thank you. Don't forget to follow on Soundcloud and leave a comment about what you thought of Jake's choices! We'd love to hear what you the listeners think of the guest's choices and let's have a lovely discussion :) You can also download this show on iTunes as well, just search for "Final Games". Please rate and review the show! apple.co/1QP0ciS Jake Kazdal: @jkooza www.17-bit.com Also please go check out Craig's excellent music on Soundcloud! Thank you to him for his excellent intro! https://soundcloud.com/windmills-at-dawn @craigedycraig If you'd like to contact the show or Liam, or if you have any feedback please check out: @LiamBME @FinalGamesShow finalgamespodcast@gmail.com Final Games is hosted on Soundcloud at: @finalgamespodcast But is also available on iTunes, aCast and Stitcher!
On today's show, we talk anime, mechs, and interstellar soup factories. That's right, we have an extended interview with Jake Kazdal on Galak-Z: The Dimensional.
Amiibos, Wii U Smash Bros., Captain Toad, Jake Kazdal, Persona Q, Bravely Second, PlayStation Experience, The Game Awards, and more!
We get the whole gang together for a teary goodbye to Milky before he heads back to NY. We also welcome our future Kyoto neighbor, Jake Kazdal of 17-Bit and beg him to let us play Galak-Z! This truly is the bantercast, as we bounce from starting a game studio in Japan, Terada Katsuya's art, PAX, and even a little Steam Machine talk.
Jeremy Parish, Matt Leone, Mike McWhertor, Griffin McElroy, Brian Silva, Jake Kazdal, and the mangod himself, Shane Bettenhausen, all join us to talk Deep Down, Dark Souls 2, Metal Gear Solid V, Vita TV, Gravity Daze...2 (?), Monster Hunter Frontier G, Yakuza Isshin, Wii Sports Club, Strider, and more, plus we all pay our respects to the late, great Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
17-Bit creative director Jake Kazdal talks about life after the frustrating release of Skulls of the Shogun, his goals for the future, and his new baby, Galak-Z.
ETAO Podcast, Episode 01. Game developer and graphic artist Jake Kazdal, who you might know from his work on Rez and Space Channel 5 Part 2, joins us for our inaugural podcast. He discusses the finer points of his studio’s first release, Skulls of the Shogun, and shares the (crazily ambitious) plan for their next … Continue reading "On Weirdness and Geek Culture, with Jake Kazdal"
Touch-panels! Valve boxes! Used-game-blocking-gamma rays and Ouyas and Apple's who-knows-whats-its! E3 isn't even a glimmer on the Hype Train horizon and yet you wouldn't know it from all the new system talk floating around – of course the 8-4 gang is above that sort of wild speculation. ...*Ahem* Anyway: Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest VII for the 3DS, DmC, and a chat with 17-bit big daddy Jake Kazdal on the release of Skulls of the Shogun.
Former Nintendo, Sega, EA, Zombie, Irem, Boss, and Enix superstar Jake Kazdal (now of indie newcomer Haunted Temple Studios) joins the 8-4-some to talk about his experiences working his way up the game industry ladder, from having the dream job of being a Nintendo game counselor in the 80's to...having the dream job of working on Space Channel 5 and Rez with Tetsuya Mizuguchi in Tokyo.
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