Pretty Pixels Podcast

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The Pretty Pixels Podcast is all about video games. Hosts Joey, Ron, Paul, and Tab discuss, analyze, and gush over video games old and new. While we love to chat about the newest and biggest releases, we also cover indie titles, retro games, and occasionally dip into scholarly discussions that draw on our backgrounds as academics.

Episodes

Sunday Aug 21, 2022

Disco Elysium Game Club Pt 2

Sunday Aug 21, 2022

Hey, coppers, get in the kineema, we’re headed to discover The Pale. We are limited on time this week, so we cut almost straight to the Disco Elysium talk. We’re joined again by special guest Taylor Carlson, but we’re down a Ron (who wasn’t feeling well). We’d all finished the game by the time of recording, so [with FULL SPOILERS] we cover the ending, our stats and personality types, Kim Kitsuragi, the tribunal, the cryptid, more Cuno, what was in that locked shipping container, fatphobia, and Kim Kitsuragi. Did I mention we talk about Kim Kitsuragi? Also, Content Warnings for SA, harassment, suicide. We also share some new developments regarding the future of the podcast – we may be able to continue! We’re going to take a week or two off to make 100% sure we can, and to give Joey time to adjust to his new work schedule, but we hope to see you again in a few short weeks. Until then, feel free to hit us up with emails! What are some things you’d like us to discuss on future episodes?

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @randommox (Tab) and @ConAffettoKiko (Taylor)

00:01:40: An update about the status and future of the podcast!

00:03:11: A brief update on Joey’s quest to find Diana in Animal Crossing New Horizons

00:05:20: Disco Elysium game club part 2!

Intro is an excerpt from "Phasmid Reveal" and outro is an excerpt from "Protorave," both from the official Disco Elysium soundtrack (https://seapower.bandcamp.com/album/disco-elysium) used under Fair Use but with gratitude to Sea Power and ZA/UM.

Thursday Aug 11, 2022

Desert Island Games Redux

Thursday Aug 11, 2022

As announced last week, we’ve pushed the second part of our Disco Elysium game club to next week, so this week we’re revisiting a classic gaming hypothetical: desert island games. Tab and Joey did an episode on their choices way back in the day, but Ron and Paul haven’t had their chance to imagine which games they’d bring with them on such a dire and tropical adventure. We talk about what five games we’d bring, which console we’d bring if it were loaded up with every possible offline game, which multiplayer games we’d choose if we somehow had an internet connection, and which local multiplayer games we’d rock if we were stuck on this island together. Joey also shares some big life news, as well as some potentially sad news for all of you Joey fan out there (yes, I used the singular – hi, Bella), and we chat about another big AAA delay, what we’ve been playing, and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:00:30: A bunch of unprompted Predator talk

00:08:56: Joey’s big news! And some potentially sad news for the podcast (unless you’re Ron, then you’re celebrating *insert angry Joey emoji here*)

00:26:30: Marvel’s Midnight Suns delayed

00:28:43: Paul’s been smackin’ some balls and disco-ing some Elysium

00:30:45: Ron’s Kate Bush cease and desist tale

00:38:30: Which musician would we have dinner with?

00:43:40: Ron’s also been plugging away at the dark, sinewy recesses of his mind in Disco Elysium

00:49:10: Joey has had what Paul is having, plus still trying his damndest to get rid of Boomer

00:51:11: Desert Island games! We talk about which games we’d bring to a desert island with us. Internet connection? No internet connection? What if we could bring one system with every game in its library loaded onto it? What if we were all stuck together and had to pick three local co-op games? We talk about these hypotheticals and more!

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Friday Aug 05, 2022

Far Cry (2008)

Friday Aug 05, 2022

This week, Ron, Paul, and Joey talk about Far Cry (2008), Uwe Boll’s notoriously bland adaptation of the game by the same name. While the movie is widely panned, it does have one huge fan: Tab. Unfortunately, Tab was having major computer issues and couldn’t join us for the recording, so you’ll just have to take our word for it when we say they their love for Uwe Boll’s Far Cry (and disgraced gaming exec Bobby Kotick) knows no bounds. Source: trust us, bro. If you happen to agree with Tab and would like to send in counterpoints to our many criticisms, hit us up at the email below! We promise (for real this time) to engage respectfully and not just rag on you. In addition to torturing ourselves (and our listeners) with another Uwe Boll movie discussion, we also chat about new PS VR2 details, taking PS4/PS5 games mobile, Ron’s drinking escapades, and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:09: Fantasy Video Game Draft midseason re-draft!

00:38:45: New PS VR2 details (https://blog.playstation.com/2022/07/26/early-look-at-the-user-experience-for-playstation-vr2/)

00:47:10: PS5 gets a Backbone One (https://blog.playstation.com/2022/07/28/introducing-backbone-one-playstation-edition-an-officially-licensed-controller-for-playstation/)

00:51:17: Paul’s been Disco Elysiuming it up and playing Everybody’s Golf with the whole Pixels gang

00:53:30: Joey’s been joining in the golf shenanigans, is still trying to evict Boomer in ACNH, and is also chipping away at Disco Elysium

00:55:00: Ron’s been golfing, skating (in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2), and drinking Malort and Old Style

00:59:27: Far Cry (2008) discussion!

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Sunday Jul 31, 2022

Disco Elysium Game Club Pt 1

Sunday Jul 31, 2022

The house is jam-packed for our first ever official game club! Regular hosts Joey, Tab, Ron, and Paul welcome special guest Taylor Carlson, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Animation at Buena Vista University to chat about Disco Elysium! Having played the game multiple times, Taylor acts as our sage guide, our Helpful and Informational Necktie, if you will, as the rest of us are diving in for the first time. Only one of us made it to the stopping point mentioned in previous episodes, but not for trying! We were just surprised by how dense and rich the game was and got very, very distracted. But we are loving it so far, and our discussion hopefully reflects that. We chat about art style, writing, plot beats, character development, our undying love for Kim Kitsuragi, and much more. We’ll continue our discussion in the next few weeks, so if you have a question or something you’d like to add to the conversation, please email us at the address below. We’d love to hear from you! Besides DE, we also talk a bit about Papers, Please, the Knights of the Old Republic remake delay, burritos, and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @randommox (Tab) and @bigbadron (Ron) and @ConAffettoKiko (Taylor)

00:02:50: Taylor’s intro!

00:05:03: Papers, Please is coming to mobile on August 5th (via Lucas Pope on Twitter)!

00:08:33: KotOR remake is indefinitely delayed, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier

00:11:34: Tab’s still shakin’ dem trees in Animal Crossing New Horizons

00:12:16: Joey’s been playing ACNH and Stray when he can, but (like all of us) mostly been plugging away at Disco Elysium

00:12:50: Ron, too, has been Disco-ing it up, but also nomming on some burrito

00:14:22: Paul’s been focusing on Disco

00:15:48: Taylor’s been double fisting Hades and Disco

00:17:03: Disco Elysium! It’s a loose and conversational discussion so there are no strict timestamps or segments

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Friday Jul 22, 2022

Best Booties in Games

Friday Jul 22, 2022

Scoot that tooty, it’s time for some booty! I have no idea what that phrase means. Let’s just move on. Today, Tab, Paul, and Joey chat about the best booties in the biz! We’re (respectfully) sharing some of our favorite glutes in games. We didn’t share our lists with each other beforehand but there were some interesting overlaps! Also, Ron couldn’t join us this week but he also couldn’t resists the rump, so he is with us spiritually with a few choice nods of his own. It’s a somewhat silly, somewhat serious exercise, and we hope you’ll join us for the ride. And send in your booties! Well, not, like, YOUR booties, but video character posteriors that you don’t think get enough love. We also chat about Everybody’s Golf’s imminent shut-down (☹), Minecraft’s stance on NFTs/blockchain, Fat Pikachu Squishmallow, new No Man’s Sky content, what we’ve been playing and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @randommox (Tab)

00:04:12: Everybody’s Golf will soon become Nobody’s Golf when it goes offline in September (https://kotaku.com/everybodys-golf-clap-hanz-ps4-sony-servers-shut-down-se-1848742067)

00:08:49: Minecraft bans NFTs, takes a hardline stand against them (https://kotaku.com/minecraft-nft-blockchain-mojang-microsoft-ban-scam-1849234967)

00:14:07: Pokémon Squishmallows are coming, including our boy Fat Pikachu! (https://kotaku.com/pokemon-squishmallows-pikachu-gengar-togepi-snorlax-1849314292)

00:18:56: Tab gives big kudos to Hello Games for continuing to support No Man’s Sky in big ways (https://www.nomanssky.com/2022/07/no-mans-sky-endurance-update/?cli_action=1658437858.378)

00:22:15: Paul finished Elden Ring and is now with his (*cough*our*cough*) beloved Ranni! He’s also been playing Everybody’s Golf with the gang and is working his way through Disco Elysium

00:27:52: Joey has also been playing ACNH (still no Diana!), working through Disco Elysium, and is loving Stray!

00:29:55: Tab’s back into Animal Crossing New Horizons and is really liking Stray in addition to chip away at Disco Elysium

00:36:10: Best booties in video games! I (Joey) don’t have time to host and post links to the images we share between each other this week, but I’ll list the characters with timestamps below so you can Google (safely!) images for yourself, if that tickles your fanny (meaning booty).

00:37:57: Tab: Tallboy (Back 4 Blood)

00:41:37: Paul: Panam (Cyberpunk 2077)

00:45:29: Joey: Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

00:48:19: Tab: Judy (Cyberpunk 2077)

00:51:07: Paul: Wario (Wario and Mario games, duh)

00:54:22: Ron: Bayonetta (uh, Bayonetta)

00:56:10: Joey: Miranda (Mass Effect 2 and 3)

00:58:58: Tab: Karlee (Back 4 Blood)

01:01:20: Paul: Chloe (Uncharted series)

01:04:00: Ron: Rainbow Mika (Street Fighter series)

01:05:21: Joey: Chun-Li (Street Fighter series)

01:07:28: Tab: Paul’s custom character from Everybody’s Golf

01:10:19: Paul: Raiden (Metal Gear Solid 2)

01:13:10: Joey: Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid series)

01:17:20: Tab: Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima)

01:20:20: Ron: Cyberdemon (DOOM series)

01:22:45: Paul: Merciless Watchers (Bloodborne)

01:27:35: Joey: Paulina (Super Mario Odyssey)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Friday Jul 15, 2022

Video Game Trivia Royal!

Friday Jul 15, 2022

It’s time for Video Game Trivia Royal! Joey has written 30 mind-bending, titty-twisting (not really) questions for Ron and Paul to try their beautifully manicured hands at. There’s music! Amazon user questions! Steam reviews! Instruction manuals! And, as Paul points out, Joey grinds a couple of axes along the way. We’d love for you to play along and send in questions for future rounds! We also chat about Skull and Bones, God of War Ragnarok, Bayonetta 3, Skate, Joey’s continued New Horizons Diana drama, Paul’s aquatic adventures, Ron’s insect-uous romp, and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:11:42: Skull and Bones is coming this year! (11/8)

00:17:05: God of War Ragnarok (11/9)

00:18:48: Bayonetta 3 (10/8)

00:21:36: Skate will be free to play, have cosmetic microtransactions

00:30:02: Joey still. Can’t. Find. Diana.

00:31:18: Ron’s been unsuccessfully fending off bugs

00:33:27: Paul has been floatin’ on avo’, swimming his buns off, and watching Girl in the Picture and White Hot

00:44:30: Video Game Trivia Royal! 30 questions. Points, but no scores. We’re not taking it too seriously (unless you count how SERIOUSLY fun it is).

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Thursday Jul 07, 2022

Make These Games, Dammit pt 2

Thursday Jul 07, 2022

Howdy-do, boys, girls, enbys, and others! Have we got a show for you. If you love games like we do, maybe you get the same wacky ideas to, I dunno, make them? Well, we don’t have the resources to make a game either, but we hope against hope that game designers will hear our call to Make These Games, Dammit! On this installment, Joey paints a proverbial picture of a roguelite game based on a very famous comic book villain, Paul sings a siren’s song about an epic, swashbuckling, seafaring adventure game by a renowned open-world developer, and Ron shares a mind-blowing take on a classic. We also chat about Rockstar’s upcoming project plans, KotOR bug fixes, potential PS3 (or Vita) backwards compatibility that may be in development for the PS5, a new itch.io bundle to support abortion, The Quarry, and lots of literal potty humor. Tune in next week for a mega trivia extravaganza! Joey has worked hard on coming up with fun trivia questions to stump and bump Paul and Ron, with bonus questions contributed by Tab!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:00:45: Mozzarella sticks versus cheese curds – fight!

00:09:32: GTA IV, RDR1 remasters shelved after the tumultuous launch of GTA Trilogy last year. Rockstar focusing efforts on GTA 6 (via Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/gta-iv-remastered-red-dead-redemption-canceled-rockstar-1849142371)

00:20:20: Game-breaking bug in KOTOR 2 fixed, some new/lingering bugs present but now Paul can finish the second game (albeit with some blurry cutscenes?) (via Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/kotor-2-gamebreaking-bug-aspyr-crash-onderon-1849136189)

00:24:02: Based on a Sony job listing, there may be hope for PS3 emulation on the PS5 (which means we all get to download and play the Sly Cooper Remastered Trilogy, baby!!!). This would also potentially apply to PS3 peripherals, such as the EyeToy, the PS Mouse, and PS Move controllers, and maybe rock band/guitar controllers or that fleshlight controller we’re all going to buy used :P (via Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/sony-playstation-ps5-ps5-ps3-emulation-engineer-1849140353)

00:31:07: An itch.io Indie Bundle for Abortion Funds is nearing its goal: https://itch.io/b/1472/indie-bundle-for-abortion-funds

00:33:08: Ron’s been having a Wendy’s cheddar burger for dinner

00:34:36 Paul has been munching on some Dairy Queen Dirt Cup and watching (and recommends) Last Night in Soho and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

00:38:06: Joey had a Burger King Whopper for dinner and is still trying his damnedest to get Boomer off his island in Animal Crossing New Horizons and he’s finished another run of The Quarry

00:52:09: Make These Games, Dammit!

00:55:40: DOOMSDAY (Joey)

01:14:55: Tells No Tales (Paul)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Monday Jul 04, 2022

Who Knew That Review Volume IV

Monday Jul 04, 2022

We’ve all had busy weeks, but we did find time to record a very fun round of Who Knew That Review and chat about some video games. To recap, we each read reviews for two games, omitting proper nouns/important “giveaway” words or phrases like character names, locations, publishers, etc. If we near the end of the review(s) and don’t feel like our co-hosts are getting it, we can let some of those things slip to help them out. If they can’t get it by the end, we can give us hints like year released, publisher/developer, genre, etc. We had some interesting reviews this time around! We also chat a bit about the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, though we didn’t see enough of it to get a deep dive. I think we can all agree that the most important thing is that Persona is finally coming to Switch, right? We also talk about some board games (Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and Telestrations), Joey gives his camp counselor rankings for The Quarry, Ron talks about his recent fitness adventures, there is too much talk about harmonicas, and more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:00:45: This is NOT a music/Blues Traveler podcast, but here we are

00:11:55: Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase

00:17:24: Paul’s been playing some Shredder’s Revenge, Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, and Telestrations with Joey, Tab, and friends

00:26:48: Ron’s been walking like a madman and watching speedruns

00:35:51: Joey finally finished The Quarry and started Hunie Pop 2

00:37:40: Who Knew That Review!

00:38:23: Game 1: Joey

00:47:28: Game 2: Paul

00:55:12: Game 3: Ron

01:03:50: Game 4: Joey

01:13:35: Game 5: Paul

01:28:01: Game 6: Ron

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Friday Jun 24, 2022

Favorite Weapons in Video Games pt 1

Friday Jun 24, 2022

A lot going on this week! We do an Anime Check-in, where Ron discusses his first gentle steps into the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Joey talks about his continued love for Sailor Moon (despite the annoyingly limited monster vocabulary in season 2), and Paul shares some thoughts on recent Love, Death & Robots episodes. We also come up with a plan to update our fantasy video game draft in the near future, so stay tuned for that. In terms of what we’ve been playing lately, we got a little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, a smattering of Mario Party Superstars, a dash of It Takes Two and The Quarry, and Paul celebrates his first video game figure purchase (of the Geralt Ronin figure from Dark Horse Direct, link in timestamps below). Our feature is (some of) our favorite weapons in video games! We run out of time to cover all of them, so look forward to a future episode with more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:03:40: Anime check-in! Ron talks Evangelion, Joey touches on Sailor Moon, and Paul shouts out Love, Death & Robots

00:16:54: Paul’s still delving into every dark corner of Elden Ring and having a great time in Mario Party Superstars, plus he pre-ordered his very first fancy video game figure! https://direct.darkhorse.com/collections/the-witcher-3-the-wild-hunt/products/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-geralt-ronin-lone-wolf-figure-standard-edition

00:28:09: Ron’s been doing all kinds of cooperating in It Takes Two, plus he’s been liking (we think) his time with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge with Joey and Tab

00:38:49: Joey’s still in search of Diana, his love, in Animal Crossing New Horizons and has just scratched the surface of The Quarry

00:40:45: Fantasy Video Game Draft check-in! We come up with a plan for how to draft new prospects and make the scoring more fair, but we’ll draft the fresh-faced new recruits on a future episode

01:01:10: Our favorite weapons in games!

01:01:39: Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0WnaoQJwo

01:05:00: Joey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Z06j3Hic0

01:07:30: Ron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjls6qvohfU

01:10:39: Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zq1HT7lMn4

01:15:13: Joey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWlsEpGbw68

01:19:00: Ron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5JdatXlG_E

01:22:15: Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsVrS0Jgig8

01:26:47: Joey: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cat-uxo-storage-production/hazards/909/images/pm-n-4-001.jpg

01:32:04: Ron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QD7aFBJUDU

01:35:45: Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9UeE4xz4HI

01:39:57: Joey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs2QcokiYkI

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/chrono/images/e/e8/Rainbow.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100603155238

01:45:20: Ron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7liB19WRY_I

01:52:15: Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY55T11AG4s

01:57:43: Joey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKtBZgSfqZ4

02:03:00: Ron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsCqLQJ1EOc

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Friday Jun 17, 2022

Pretty Pixels After Dark

Friday Jun 17, 2022

Strap in (and on), it’s episode 69, babyyyyyyy! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate this momentous occasion, so we’ve dubbed this episode “Pixels After Dark.” We chat about some historic erotic video games, our first experiences with sex in games, notable examples of mature sexual content, what we want to see in future games with regards to sex, and more. We also cover the epic Microsoft Bethesda showcase, more Capcom news, the newly released PlayStation Plus Premium games, what we’ve been playing, and much more!

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:05:40: Microsoft Bethesda showcase

00:06:30: Starfield

00:15:57: Persona games on Xbox!

00:18:40: Hollow Knight Silksong

00:19:30: Redfall

00:20:40: Microsoft Flight Simulator

00:27:40: Sea of Thieves

00:33:17: Capcom showcase

00:36:40: Joey meant Final Fantasy VII Remake, not Resident Evil 7

00:36:55: PlayStation Plus Essential and Premium releases

00:43:22: Joey’s been playing Fantavision, Resident Evil Director’s Cut, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party Superstars, and The Quarry

00:51:22: Paul’s also been playing Mario Kart 8 and Mario Party Superstars, plus his Elden Ring adventures continue!

00:57:42: Ron’s been kicking it old school with Super Mario World

01:01:37: Final Fantasy VII Remake showcase live reactions

01:03:36: Sex in (and?) games!

01:05:29: Softporn (1981)

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/the-odd-history-of-the-first-erotic-computer-game/383114/

https://archive.org/details/a2_Softporn_Adventure_1981_Blue_Sky

01:11:34: Night Life (1982)

https://mashable.com/article/video-game-sex-scenes

https://archive.org/details/d64_Night_Life_19xx_William_Quinn

01:15:00: X-Man (1983)

https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_x-man_1983_universal_gamex_corporation_alan_roberts_h.k._poon_gx-001