GWJ Conference Call Episode 627

Super Mario Party, Yet Even More Spider-Man, Pizza Titan Ultra, NES on Switch, Arena of Valor and Magic The Gathering: Arena. Also, we check in with McChuck of Table Tanked to talk about game pairings.

Click here to download!

This week Amanda talks with Julian and Table Tanked's McChuck about what you pair with your games to enhance the experience and set the mood.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind.

  • Subscribe with iTunes
  • Subscribe with RSS
  • Subscribe with Yahoo!
Download the official apps
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android

Comments

Here's a list of links I mentioned on the show. The first two are ones folks should DEFINITELY check out. I meant to bring them up on the ep and didn't get to it!

Pairing Video Games with Children’s and YA Books Links for more games at bottom of the list
Why You Should Listen to Video Game Soundtracks at Work
Audio for focus and task-repetition
Most Popular Games to Play While High Includes pairings with strain types.
The Story of Dryad Teas A geeky tea-venture to enhance your gaming experiences.
My thread Pairing Recommendations for Gaming and Leisure

Afternoon Tea: An In-Depth Look at Tea and Video Games From PAXWEST 2018

If only Cory was there with McChuck when Julian dropped that old-school Goodjer reference.

00:01:50 Super Mario Party
00:07:12 Marvel's Spider-Man
00:09:53 Pizza Titan Ultra
00:16:05 NES Games on Switch
00:20:57 Arena of Valor
00:23:32 Game Pairings & Rituals
00:54:44 Your Emails

Rat Boy wrote:

If only Cory was there with McChuck when Julian dropped that old-school Goodjer reference.

Oh no! Did I miss it?

Thanks so much for the shout out! I’m super excited and hope people have fun for the Adventure game club too.

The brain is pattern finding and pattern making machine. If it always hears a bell before it eats, it will start to associate that bell with all the feelings of eating. Likewise, if a candle is lit before gaming, or tea is served before gaming, it will start to associate the smell of wax or the aroma of tea with all the feelings of gaming. These rituals can be quite enjoyable, but there is a danger in them in that gaming, already a sedentary hobby, can easily allow the eating of high-calorie foods to become a heavily entwined part of the experience. There is nothing wrong with indulging now and then, but many gamers could also use a wake-up call in how they have trained their brains to always, as in 100% of the time, heavily indulge during gaming sessions.

McChuck wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

If only Cory was there with McChuck when Julian dropped that old-school Goodjer reference.

Oh no! Did I miss it?

You of all people did not hear Julian say "it's business time" in a slightly singing manner?

Really enjoyed hearing Amanda run the Conference Call!

Pizza Titan sounds great and has been added to my Watch List! It's only €10 too which seems like a great deal.

The question about who you take recommendations from is a good one. I make a point of paying attention to any games Amanda mentions since the time she spoke about I Became a Dog. I also pay a lot of attention to Allen and Shawn too. I think I have a bit of overlap with the three of them. Outside of the podcast it's really only RMC at GoNintendo that I take recommendations from.

I enjoyed the conversation about carving out special time for gaming, and coming up with rituals that go with that. I have three young kids and I'm a full-time carer, so a fun ritual I like to do is that whenever everyone is asleep at the same time I'll start playing as quickly as possible. Then I'll just keep playing till I drop the controller cause I've nodded off. Depending on the game, I might spend some time struggling to keep my eyes open till I can save. Then I go to bed.

Your rituals sound nice too though.

Rat Boy wrote:

You of all people did not hear Julian say "it's business time" in a slightly singing manner?

I heard that and could tell that I was missing a reference. Glad to hear that it's not one I should have gotten!

Rat Boy wrote:
McChuck wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

If only Cory was there with McChuck when Julian dropped that old-school Goodjer reference.

Oh no! Did I miss it?

You of all people did not hear Julian say "it's business time" in a slightly singing manner?

Oh right! Yeah, I caught it but didn't jump in to say anything.

Big pointer to the person who felt like they weren't plugged in enough to current video games: if somebody shames you for your video game knowledge, you are legally allowed to murder them. The more painfully the better.

kazooka wrote:

Big pointer to the person who felt like they weren't plugged in enough to current video games: if somebody shames you for your video game knowledge, you are legally allowed to murder them. The more painfully the better.

Does that apply to everyone, or just this week's emailer?

Asking for a friend.

Everyone. Love the stuff you love. Enjoy what you want, and don't let anyone tell you different. Different strokes for different folks, nd just because you haven't played 1k+ hours of EU4, doesn't make you any less of a gamer.

Eleima wrote:

Everyone. Love the stuff you love. Enjoy what you want, and don't let anyone tell you different. Different strokes for different folks, nd just because you haven't played 1k+ hours of EU4, doesn't make you any less of a gamer. ;)

1,000 thumbs up for this.

I loved the first and second questions this week. The first question — who do you take recommendations from — makes me think of how difficult it is for a lot of people to separate the ideas of “I like this game (or book, movie, hobby, etc.)” from “this thing is objectively good,” or, even worse “this thing that I like is better than the thing you like. I don’t have many specific reviewers who are bell-weathers for me, but I like any reviewer who tells me enough about a game for me to learn whether I like it, not just whether the reviewer thinks it’s good. Usually I think the folks on Kotaku are pretty good about this.

For the person who wrote the second question, if you’re reading this, don’t let anybody judge you for liking the wrong thing or not being as well versed in gaming culture. I think the people worth knowing, in any hobby, are the ones who think it’s cool that you like some of the things they like, and who will want to help foster that — even if you haven’t been around as long. And, if you need recommendations on how to jump into some great games today, I’m sure there are plenty of people here who would love to help!

Julian made a comment about most YouTube channels that teach rules of board games feeling like a classroom rather than learning from a friend. That very sentiment was the origin of my channel, youtube.com/getreadyforgamenight

My goal was teach my friends how to play my favorite games BEFORE they showed up for game night. A few of them shared a handful of my videos, and now I'm closing in on 1000 subscribers. It's NOT professional grade at all! But it does engender (I think) the feeling of sitting down at the table and learning from a friend. I do every video in one take, and with no script. Check it out if you feel so inclined.

Great show as always.

Stevintendo wrote:

The question about who you take recommendations from is a good one. I make a point of paying attention to any games Amanda mentions since the time she spoke about I Became a Dog. I also pay a lot of attention to Allen and Shawn too. I think I have a bit of overlap with the three of them. Outside of the podcast it's really only RMC at GoNintendo that I take recommendations from.

Here's my GWJ podcaster recommendation heuristics. It's a vast oversimplification, totally a reflection of my tastes, not a value judgement on theirs.

Shawn - add this AAA game to your sales watchlist.
Sean - remove this game from your wishlist immediately. It is not for you. Move along.
Julian - who knows? Julian's recommendations are all over the map. Some are gold, some have been spray-painted gold.
Cory - safe bet for a fun experience that probably won't make your GOTY list.
Amanda - watch a trailer, remark how pleased you are that games like this are getting made, then never buy or play it.
Alan - watch a trailer, remark how confused you are that games like this are getting made, play it for a half hour and agree that it's batsh*t insane.
Greg - like Sean, but with jankiness instead of impenetrability.

Having written that, I'm surprised to realize how out-of-whack my tastes are with the podcast roster. There's certainly a multiplicative factor in play too - if everyone agrees on a game, I'm more likely to fall into line with that groupthink too.

Greg - like Sean, but with jankiness instead of impenetrability.

Oh man. Laser accurate.

Certis wrote:
Greg - like Sean, but with jankiness instead of impenetrability.

Oh man. Laser accurate.

You know what, that's unfair to Greg - I can deal with jankiness more than I can deal with a game that I have to bloody-well study for, Sands.

Spoiler:

That's unfair to Sean, given that my current twin fascinations are Elite: Dangerous and the grognardiest of racing sims. Impenetrability is clearly not a problem. The wrong flavor of impenetrability is.

Certis wrote:
Greg - like Sean, but with jankiness instead of impenetrability.

Oh man. Laser accurate.

Hey, welcome back!

Great episode! Haven't realised how fast can Amanda speak :) Sounded totally "in the zone". Awesome listen!

Two things:

I love seeing rat boy around again!

I love the way you described my game recommendations as “gold or spray painted gold”. I’m grinning so hard my face hurts.

Felix Threepaper wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:
McChuck wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

If only Cory was there with McChuck when Julian dropped that old-school Goodjer reference.

Oh no! Did I miss it?

You of all people did not hear Julian say "it's business time" in a slightly singing manner?

I thought that was a Flight of the Conchords reference?

Jonman wrote:
Stevintendo wrote:

The question about who you take recommendations from is a good one. I make a point of paying attention to any games Amanda mentions since the time she spoke about I Became a Dog. I also pay a lot of attention to Allen and Shawn too. I think I have a bit of overlap with the three of them. Outside of the podcast it's really only RMC at GoNintendo that I take recommendations from.

Here's my GWJ podcaster recommendation heuristics. It's a vast oversimplification, totally a reflection of my tastes, not a value judgement on theirs.

Shawn - add this AAA game to your sales watchlist.
Sean - remove this game from your wishlist immediately. It is not for you. Move along.
Julian - who knows? Julian's recommendations are all over the map. Some are gold, some have been spray-painted gold.
Cory - safe bet for a fun experience that probably won't make your GOTY list.
Amanda - watch a trailer, remark how pleased you are that games like this are getting made, then never buy or play it.
Alan - watch a trailer, remark how confused you are that games like this are getting made, play it for a half hour and agree that it's batsh*t insane.
Greg - like Sean, but with jankiness instead of impenetrability.

Having written that, I'm surprised to realize how out-of-whack my tastes are with the podcast roster. There's certainly a multiplicative factor in play too - if everyone agrees on a game, I'm more likely to fall into line with that groupthink too.

I did not realise until I read this, but this is 100% how my tastes line up too.