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Few things in this world are as upsetting as have to talk about microtransactions more, but these people on the internet keep grabbing the ball and running with it some more. Luckily there's still plenty to talk about with Mario, as J.D. has beaten it, and Jeff and spent some very quiet, very personal time with the end game. Plus the Game Awards are on the way and the definition of "worthy" or "genre" is still up in the air.

There's a lot to unpack with Super Mario. The mustache. The jumping. Goombas. Jeff and J.D. meditate on some of those in today's episode, namely how it tastes after almost two weeks with it, late-game challenge, and if Mario games have good curves. Oh, do they. Plus Xenoblade 2 info! A new 3D Sonic that nobody likes! And, drumroll please, Vanilla WoW (and what that means to non-WoW players).

It's hard to play a lot of games when you're having so much fun with just the one, but that's how Super Mario Odyssey has been for your two faithful reviewers: fun, distracting, and, yes, basically a 3D Mario game. But 3D Mario games are good. Apparently Paris is turning into a big deal for Sony, since they've had a lot to announce over there, and EA has also done things that may make you think they're not so bad. Strange, right?

It's really too bad that major triple-A studios aren't going to make single player games anymore. Must be why Mario Odyssey is releasing in a week, or why Jeff is having fun with Shadow of War. Such things won't be available in the wierd, post-Visceral future. All Chicken Littling aside, J.D. has finally had time to wear a Hat or two, so there's a lot more to talk about in everyone's fav indie platformer, plus! More controversies. Whaaaaaaat?

The crazy thing about Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is the near infinite goofy stories it can provide. Deaths, rebirths, captures, defeats. Jeff could talk for hours. Which is good, because J.D. ain't got much to provide, and neither does the rest of the world. Sony has some unusual ideas on how to handle indie games, Rabbids has DLC incoming... oh, and EA has shut down yet another studio.

After a long, long time, one of the first games Jeff and J.D. ever kickstarted has finally released, and they're here to tell you why it's about as cute as the creators have been constantly saying. Then there are the downers in the world: loot boxes and lame reboots, weird stock image mistakes and long backlogs. Er, or something like that. At least we have good sequels... right?

Rabbids finally lay dead and defeated at both Jeff and J.D.'s feet, giving room to finally talk about things that matter: Metroids, for example, and how they hold up after some 30 years. October is a month with a lot of releases, and a couple of throwback titles are already in the door, with Cuphead and Hat in Time finally releasing. Plus we have our usual roundup of "WTF" news, with the Sonic movie making ripples, Skyrim's paid mods making you bite off a bit more than necessary, and Nintendo caring what is streamed on YouTube.

The theme of today's episode is "a bunch of complete whiners", which Jeff and J.D. are happy to whine to you about. Sure, they played more Rabbids, and sure, Jeff beat it, but they'd much rather tell you about the latest updates with Shadow of War, or what the owners of PUBG are complaining about, or the negative reaction to a developer saying "maybe devs keep quiet because they don't like complainers". Exasperation and frustration are tantamount to bring with you today. Plus! Voice actors' strike. It's over!

When J.D. and Jeff at last set down their weird honey guns to stop talking about Mario + Rabbids, there's quite a bit of stuff to cover in this podcast. A Nintendo Direct, for one, detailing release dates, British voices, and weird morphin' arena shooters. Then this new thing with Steam and how Valve is dealing with review bombs, plus some Sonic drama. Then genre semantics take over for your hearing pleasure! What more can be asked?

In this, our 2^8th episode, Jeff and J.D. tackle a truly difficult topic: how to express that the Mario + Rabbids graphics aren't quite as crisp as you think they should be. After that even more controversy as Jeff describes a short review of Sonic the Hedgehog's journey through the ages. Plus, excitement over the upcoming Nintendo Direct, some predictions in that court, a wrap-up on Cuphead stuff, and something that some streamer said causing a ruckus.

When it was first leaked everyone scoffed, but now that it's out it's the new hotness: Mario + Rabbids is at last in J.D. and Jeff's grubby hands and is being playtested continuously. Plus, Jeff has his first gruelling week with the new XCOM 2 expansion, and J.D. has final thoughts on Hellblade. In news there's the Fallout 4 Creation Club issues (it is a beta, of course), the No More Heroes sequel we've all been waiting for, and a little minigame we like to call "boredom, personified".

It's possible for someone to do one thing incorrectly on purpose and another on accident, which is something Jeff and J.D. discuss in this episode around everyone's favorite goofy game publishers. Plus they discuss Obduction, the Castlevania anime, and that rumor you heard about Bethesda's Game of Thrones game. But really: Nintendo. What's their deal?

Every year Jeff and J.D. sit down to play you some tunes, and THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT. No, just kidding, it's that. Plus the past three weeks summed up in just a few minutes, a very short review of Hellblade (which Jeff has heard too many times) and something about Erik von Detten?

Sometimes it's difficult to describe games, a problem Jeff arrives at as he tries to give a "first few hours" review of Pyre. Other times it's easy, as with Runbow and Speedrunners. And sometimes the situation of the game's development is tough, itself. Not even the developers know, despite having 153 million dollars to help! Plus: SNES, Metroid, Hellblade, and Resident Evil!

It's been two weeks since the last podcast, and Jeff has managed to squeeze in a bunch of free weekends of upcoming games. He's here to tell you why they aren't that great. J.D., meanwhile, has walked his simulator off, and has quite a few opinions on what the heck Nintendo is doing online (and what's wrong with it). Then there's this Pokemon Go Fest! For once, your boys aren't that happy, and they're here to tell you why. It's because everyone else is dumb.

There's something to be said about the internet age and the idea of "time-limited content". Today Jeff and J.D. happen to discuss two implementations of this: the first in Hitman and the second recently announced to be in Splatoon 2. J.D.'s also been checking out a walking simulator, Hello Games is up to SOMETHING with No Man's Sky, and nobody's too upset that Tony Hawk HD is being removed from Steam.

There's been a lot of money spent over the past week on games that may or may not be going up in price in a few hours, so Jeff and J.D. are excited to tell you about what they've bought--even if it's a few years old and the chances of you having already played it are high. Tonight it's Ori and the Blind Forest from the Shick camp, and Hitman from the Wax. Two very, very different games, and playstyles. In news we have Zelda's DLC (which did come out last week), Mass Effect's DLC (which may be not un-cancelled) and probably announcements for Splatoon 2's DLC incoming Thursday.

With Steam Sale season upon us, it's time to finally finish up some backlog. With that in mind, for what we promise is the last time, Jeff and J.D. finally lay to rest one of the more controversial games of this year, as well as one of the more universally praised games (and a couple others chocked in for good measure). Then it's on to the big news items of the week, including a return of what may be the best console of all time, a suppressed debate on Dark Souls' online mode, and a few more things up our sleeves.

Would you believe there's still stuff from E3 (and beyond) that didn't make it into last week's podcast? Luckily, Jeff is going to straight-up ignore that to talk, one final time he swears, about the GameBoy Advance Kingdom Hearts game, and J.D. will sum up his thoughts on Mass Effect. Oh, but sure, Bethesda announced paid mods (again), there's a rumor of a Tomber, and we finally have some release dates for things only vaguely mentioned. But other than that!

This week on Seventh Heaven, a very special guest stars in an episode sure to tug at your heartstrings. Or something, because it's E3! Jeff, J.D., and their old bud Scott will break down each conference, compare to their previous predictions, and give the old dumb insight you hopefully value by now. What's to come? Only more!