Geek To Geek Podcast

Talking Points: E3 2017. Not comprehensive. Not VGNN.  Only talking about things we think are interesting enough to talk about.  You have video game news sites for the rest :) We’re talking about Press Conferences, if more news comes out throughout the rest of the week it won’t be here because we’re recording on Tuesday night! http://e3recap.com/ has been my friend Overall trends Esports being forced onto games that aren’t even out yet “Influencers” being put front and center BJ: torn on the current “influencer” boom. Feels like a bubble that’s totally disingenuous Shorter press conferences with less big game announcements Really hard to tell what is actually exclusive Microsoft “Console Launch Exclusive” Most of these press conferences would have been better pre-recorded as just a series of trailers instead of having a stage show, honestly. Updates on games we already knew existed.  This is what we get for so many years of announcing games way ahead of time.  It finally caught up to the platform h

Best of 2017, Part 1 In this episode: We talk about the best of everything we've loved this year! Yeah, we know it's only halfway through 2017, but we wanted to make sure that nothing got lost in the shuffle. Amazing games like Hitman, movies like Moana, and books like Red Rising top the list, and with such amazing stuff this early, we wanted to talk about it all AGAIN! Since it's the first half, we don’t order them like we do at the end of the year. This isn't a ranking episode--it's more of a recommendation show. We want you to experience all of the coolness that we have, just in case you've missed any of it in our Weekly Geekery segments. Heck, there's some best-of stuff that happened this week that we haven't even had a chance to talk about yet! It's that good! We are also still looking for new questions and ideas for our mini-topics episode that we're doing soon, so make sure to email, Tweet, or throw a post into the mix at /r/geektogeekcast so we can talk directly at you! Wanna know something about us

Online vs Single Player vs MMO Gaming In this episode: Competitive games, multiplayer games, online games, MMOs, single player games, ALL THESE GAMES!? Why do we play what we play? We have it out and discuss what we play and why. Weekly Geekery Beej is hooked on WoW and Kimmy Schmidt. Void has played a ton more games this week with the long holiday weekend!  Games like Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia, Has Been Heroes, ARMs “test punch”, Disgaea 5 demo, Magikarp jump, and others! Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email at geektogeekcast@gmail.com or @geektogeekcast on Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you! Geek Offer of the Week: audibletrial.com/geektogeekcast Subscribe: iTunes Overcast Pocket Casts Google Play Music RSS Feed Geek to Geek Podcast Network: Geek to Geek Geek Fitness Health Hacks

The Future of MMOs (also Webcomics?) In this episode: We thought webcomics would be a full topic but it was super short so we talk in depth about Weekly Geekery and have a second topic… About the Future of MMOs! Weekly Geekery Beej got an Apple Watch, is still playing WoW, and loves his baking shows! Void is done with Horizon Zero Dawn, started Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, thought about Destiny 2, and has a new Guinea Pig! Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email at geektogeekcast@gmail.com or @geektogeekcast on Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you! Geek Offer of the Week: audibletrial.com/geektogeekcast Subscribe: iTunes Overcast Pocket Casts Google Play Music RSS Feed Geek to Geek Podcast Network: Geek to Geek Geek Fitness Health Hacks The Comic Box Geektitude Music by CarboHydroM ---

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 In this episode: We are talking about Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2! We do pretty deep into spoilers this time around--as usual--so be sure to listen for the spoiler alert so you can catch up after you’ve seen the movie. Overall, we liked the movie, and we differ on whether we think it’s better or worse than the first one. The non-spoilery take-away is that it’s exactly what you’d expect out of a GOTG sequel. And we think that’s awesome. We discuss characters, narrative, and how things tie together. We discuss the inclusion of Baby Groot and just how delightful he is (not a spoiler--you learn this 2 minutes in). The filmmaking is clever, and the cinematography is used in fun ways. We also have a few things we think could have been done better, but those are in the minority. So with that, download the episode, tell your friends, toss us a review, and then join the discussion about Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 on our /r/geektogeekcast subreddit! Weekly Geekery Beej watches

Interlude In this episode: Unlike normal, this week forced us to record separately. As the title says, it's been one heck of a week. Between sickness striking the Void residence and destroying him physically (but never emotionally!) and Beej picking up a temp job that beat him up worse than Tyler Durden, for the first time in a year, things just didn't line up for us!  Never fear, though! We love you guys enough that you get a couple of monologues to keep you informed and entertained and aware that we're alive (we think). Next week: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. We promise.

Persona 5, Reader Riot, And Other Things In this episode: Our week was crazy, this is the result. Weekly Geekery Beej has Reader Riot, Overwatch, and Handmaiden’s Tale. Void beat Persona 5 and finished a book! Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email at geektogeekcast@gmail.com or @geektogeekcast on Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you! Geek Offer of the Week: audibletrial.com/geektogeekcast Subscribe: iTunes Overcast Pocket Casts Google Play Music RSS Feed Geek to Geek Podcast Network: Geek to Geek Geek Fitness Health Hacks The Comic Box Geektitude Music by CarboHydroM --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geektogeekcast/support

Our favorite documentaries and non-fiction In this episode: Beej watches a lot of documentaries and has lots of recommendations. Lots and lots. From tech to food to fitness to memoir and personal stories and pretty much everything he geeks out all the time. He. Loves. Documentaries. OMG. Even after we stopped recording, he kept texting Void about all the different documentaries he forgot to talk about. We discuss gaming docs, audiobooks for non-fiction, vegetarian documentaries, tech documentaries, and all sorts of stuff. Beej really gets excited when talking about it because he uses non-fiction and podcasts and audiobooks to take other people’s stories and journeys and explorations into different topics and apply them to his life. Both tend to agree in how awesome and important the information is and love the same topics, but just prefer to get them in different ways. Void, though, tends to look at non-fiction and documentaries in a different way--they’re neat, but he prefers to get the same information fro

Buying Games Later & Star Wars The Last Jedi Teaser Trailer In this episode: We talk all about buying games on day 1 vs buying games later. Save money, get a more complete game, and have all the bugs squashed at the same time. Then we may tangent onto the new Star Wars The Last Jedi Trailer before stumbling into a surprising amount of Weekly Geekery Weekly Geekery Lots of things!  Listen to find out :p Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email at geektogeekcast@gmail.com or @geektogeekcast on Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you! Geek Offer of the Week: audibletrial.com/geektogeekcast Subscribe: iTunes Overcast Pocket Casts Google Play Music RSS Feed Geek to Geek Podcast Network: Geek to Geek Geek Fitness Health Hacks The Comic Box Geektitude Music by CarboHydroM --- Support this podcast: http

Joss Whedon In this episode: We talk about the works and history of Joss Whedon! Weekly geekery includes Photoshop, Persona 5, S-Town Podcast, and Running! Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email at geektogeekcast@gmail.com or @geektogeekcast on Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you! Geek Offer of the Week: audibletrial.com/geektogeekcast Subscribe: iTunes Overcast Pocket Casts Google Play Music RSS Feed Geek to Geek Podcast Network: Geek to Geek Geek Fitness Health Hacks The Comic Box Geektitude Music by CarboHydroM --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geektogeekcast/support

Worldbuilding, Storytelling, and Genre Conventions In this episode: We get interested in different pieces of media for different reasons. Generally, there are two types of stories: character stories and idea stories. Sometimes, a setting can make us bounce off a piece of media really hard (real-world stuff for Void and traditional high-fantasy for Beej), but it can also be enough of a draw that we push through mediocre stories to find out more about the world. We discuss various settings such as Star Wars, the Brandon Sanderson Cosmere, Mass Effect Andromeda, Fallout, and Zelda. There are lots of draws to each of them, but in the end, we discuss the conventions that make each of them work for us and why others don’t. Weekly Geekery Beej - Card thief / Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze / Splatoon Void - Card Thief / Dynasty Warriors Unleashed / Blaster Master Zero / A King's Tale / Planet Coaster / Torment Tides of Numenera / Shovel Knight Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite po

Beating Mass Effect Andromeda and Buying Video Games in Installments In this episode: OMG! BIG NEWS! We are incredibly excited to announce that we made a new friend! YAAAAAY! The Geektitude podcast has joined the Geek to Geek podcast network. Geektitude is an interview show, which our network has been looking to include for quite a while. We just had to find the right one. And Joe is the right guy for the job. We couldn't be happier with the addition, and we certainly hope y'all will give him the same kind of love and warm-fuzzies that you have given the rest of us. Make sure you head over to the Geektitude Facebook page and give it a like, subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and give him a shout at @epicgrays on Twitter. And you know what's best of all? He has like 70ish episodes to listen to already, so what are you waiting for? Get to streaming! Mass Effect Andromeda Void beat Mass Effect Andromeda very quickly. He reviews the game for those of us who haven’t played it, and he discusses

Introducing your friends to Star Wars In this episode: Getting into Star Wars can be tough. It has a huge history and a gigantic fanbase, and with 50 years behind it, some people are intimidated by the franchise and don’t know how to jump in. Never fear, geeks! We’re here to help. Inspired by our resident Jedi Noobs Chocobochica and CapsuleJay (among others!), we want to make sure that Star Wars is not unapproachable. We provide suggestions on the best viewing order on the movies, as well as jumping-on points that aren’t necessarily even tied in with the films. There is a huge swath of Star Wars-related media out there, so if you’re a book person, we recommend books (specifically, audiobooks!), or if you’re a gamer, there are always video games, and if you like to binge, you can even jump in with some of the cartoons and even different ways to watch those! We discuss the oft-mentioned Machete order, as well as how The Force Awakens (Episode 7) changed the way you jump in and get accustomed to the galaxy far,

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild In this episode: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is finally out, and Beej and Void are playing (and loving) it. Void has it on the Switch, and Beej grabbed it on Wii U. We discuss the differences in the versions and how each piece of hardware handles the game (hint: they’re pretty much the same). We discuss how Breath of the Wild treats armor and weapons differently than other games in the series, making it much more like a traditional RPG, but still feeling totally like Zelda. The setting is a unique version of Hyrule, and it’s a welcome change. You can see the other Hyrules there, but this one feels more alive...even though it has technically been destroyed. Nintendo did what Nintendo does: makes a game full of fun little details. In a way, they did what Blizzard did with World of Warcraft--took an existing genre and perfected it. The game assumes you’re not stupid and doesn’t have a real “tutorial.” You have an intro, get some abilities, and are set into the

Nintendo Switch Launch Spectacular! In this episode: Nintendo Switch is here! It’s launched! Void got one! Beej didn’t! He can’t find one at all! There were however...hiccups. Don’t buy day-1 console hardware from Amazon. Impressions of Hardware Why is Nintendo marketing it as a console that you can take with you instead of a handheld that docks? It plays better when it’s not docked. Suspend any time and anywhere, like a handheld.  Faster suspend and more integrated than PS4. Definitely leans toward the handheld side and not the console side. Kickstand sound is disconcerting. Controllers: Joycons are great, and they feel awesome when clicked into handheld mode. Also as separate controllers, and the clip thingies make them bigger and more comfortable. The dog-head controller is terrible. But the Nintendo Switch pro controller is the best, and it connects to the PC, too, a bonus. I do not like the dog head controller at all (the grip) Docking and undocking is very close to seamless. Just be slightly careful

Day 1 Technology & Nintendo Switch Prep In this episode: Talking Points: Day 1 technology and console adopters vs… not. The Nintendo Switch will be out by the time many if you listen to this, and we wanted to talk about tech that we grab on Day 1. And tech that we wait for. Which consoles or tech have you picked up on day one? For us, it depends. Void grabbed Gamecube, Gamecube, GBA, PS2, Vive, and the Xbox 360, while Beej was mostly a Month 1 person as supplies and money allowed. Dreamcast was his favorite Day 1 purchase. Most of our Day 1 video game consoels were when we were younger and had far more disposable income than we do as adults. We waited on a lot of consoles, too, whether it was for hardware upgrades or some other reason. Beej waited on the 2DS, the PS3, and the PS Vita, and they were all fantastic purchases. Void really loves that he waited on the 3DS XL, the PS4 (Black Friday bundles FTW), the PS VIta, and the Wii U. Same for him--they were all amazing purchases. We both pick what we get

Hitman & Complex Game Systems In this episode: If there is anything in the world Void loves, it’s a complex system that he can learn and exploit in video games. When he found out about Hitman, he jumped in and loved it so much, he gifted it to Beej just so this episode could exist. While neither of us really likes the “murder” aspect of the game, it doesn’t feel like it’s really violence. We really do both see it as a puzzle game, and we tend to overlook the violence as it’s a means to solve the puzzles presented. Beej isn’t entirely into complex systems like Void. They have to serve a true gameplay purpose. Some games are complicated for the sake of being complicated and add nothing to the experience, but Hitman is the opposite of that. It feels as though you are learning skills and building on them as you progress. The game really helps you learn the systems through its very thorough tutorials--they don’t really feel much like tutorials, either. If you go through them, you’ll learn a pretty decent path

YouTube In this episode: For a lot of people, YouTube pretty much is the internet. It’s the world’s second largest search engine (next to Google, obvs), so we wanted to discuss how we use YouTube, get some great channels out there to you guys, and also find out what you’re watching and how you use. What we actually watch on YouTube differs quite a bit. We initially thought it would be balanced, but it very much isn’t. Void uses YouTube as essentially a TV with all sorts of cool shows and creators he loves, while Beej sees it more as a novelty for one-off views. Beej doesn’t have much that he watches: VetRanch, Dr. PimplePopper, Woodworking for Mere Mortals, ObeseToBeast, RunSelfieRepeat, various funny puppy and kitty clips, CineFix, and catches up on clips of late-night shows or music videos. And really, that’s about it. Void, on the other hand, uses PLEX to stream YouTube to his TV where he follows various channels and creators like most people do their network sitcoms and police procedurals. Void’s YouTub

Career Corner and Life Transitions In this episode: We are both going through pretty major life transitions right now, and we expect some of you are, too. We wanted to discuss how we’re coping with them so that maybe your life can get just a little easier. Mostly talking about new jobs because that’s the kind of transition we are both going through, but lots of things cause them, from health to marriage to kids to a hundred other things. What’s funny about us, though, is that we traded--Void went from freelancing into a full-time position, while Beej went from a full-time position to freelancing. Weird, right? It turns out that we have kind of the Geek to Geek Career Corner this episode inadvertently, so we talk about how we use our skills from other places to really move into something we love, and that even though we are changing, it’s still a career path that we both intended to take, and that some things happened by accident. The hardest parts of life transitions, though, are how routines get thrown off,

Geeky Knick-Knacks and Toys to Life In this episode: Geeks love toys. And collecting things. It’s just kind of what we do. So we wanted to talk about that for a while, and really dig in deep about the kind of knick-knacks that we keep around us at all times, those that are special, and the kinds we just don’t care about. Void is very particular about what he collects, and Beej is now. He used to be a “gimme all the stuff” kind of person, while Void has always been more pragmatic about the kinds of collectibles he buys. But you folks could have probably guessed that. Knick-knacks don’t always have to be physical, either. We talk about collecting in games, such as Pokemon and MMO items, getting ultimate weapons in Final Fantasy and things like that. Do we finish games all the way and feel as though we need to get every single thing we can? And nowadays, there’s a huge surge in toys-to-life products. Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Amiibo, Lego Dimensions. All of these are huge money sinks, but they’re also fun to