Ep. 298 - X-Commies, with Lucy James

Giant Bomb, Gamespot and Friends Per Second’s Lucy James joins the panel to cover video game convention panels, Oppenheimer, and getting Americans to care about 4X games. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and Lucy James. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Questions this week:

1. Is there a meaningful distinction between a minigame and a game within a game? (07:25)
2. How do you make a really big game without overwhelming players? (12:48)
3. What are the practical reasons to set a video game in the post-apocalypse? (18:38)
4. What are the pitfalls to avoid when organizing or participating in a video game panel? (22:02)
5. The Adaptation Game: Adapt Oppenheimer (2023) into a video game. (28:23) Insert Credit Quick Break: Moonstone Island on Steam (35:52)
6. Tom Arrow asks: What are video games that best exemplify tragedy, comedy and romance? (37:15)
7. What kind of video games do Americans not care about, and is there a way to change that? (43:32)
8. What is the “You couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today” of video games? (48:10)

LIGHTNING ROUND: GameFAQ&As - Mortal Kombat (53:43)

Recommendations and Outro (57:25)

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

• Super Mario Land
• Ace Attorney series
• Puyo Puyo~n
• Captain Marvel (2019)
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
• Kojima’s Twitter
• Resident Evil 4
• Metal Gear Solid
• NieR series
• Yakuza / Ryū ga Gotoku series
• Virtua Fighter series
• BioShock
• Pipe Dream
• Save Room
• Harmful Park
• Stardew Valley
• Ōkami
• Sonic Frontiers
• Final Fantasy XV
• Evony: The King’s Return
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• Dreams
• Roblox
• Fallout games
• Warriors of the Wasteland (1983)
• Exterminators of the Year 3000 (1983)
• Pitfall series
• Nvidia Broadcast can now deepfake your eyes to make you look at the camera
• Leisure Suit Larry series
• Monkey Island series
• Budweiser Frogs
• Pepsiman
• Oppenheimer (2023)
• Curran Walters
• Batman Begins (2005)
• Fallout Shelter
• X-COM series
• Game of Thrones
• The Godfather: The Game
• Cyberpunk 2077
• The Sims 4
• Peter Molyneux
• David Cage
• Omikron: The Nomad Soul
• Detroit: Become Human
• Elder Scrolls series
• Ribbit King
• There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
• The Stanley Parable
• Disco Elysium
• Football Manager series
• FIFA Manager series
• Pro Evolution Soccer / Winning Eleven / eFootball series
• Diner Dash
• Tapper
• FarmVille
• Train Simulator series
• PowerWash Simulator
• Lawn Mowing Simulator
• Animal Crossing series
• Wall Street Kid
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Everything (game)
• Everything (windows software)
• You Need a Budget
• Bubsy series
• Gex series
• Blasto
• Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude!
• Normy’s Beach Babe-O-Rama
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Batman Begins
• Batman Begins
• Cool Spot
• Grimace’s Birthday

Recommendations:

Frank: Everything, send your full video game interviews to the Video Game History Foundation

Brandon: Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster, try using your own website for once if you’re one of the people who make Ko-fi

Lucy: The New York Times Mini Crossword, The Design Behind Immortality’s Occult Secrets, JeffJeff’s Bizarre Adventure S03E01: Oh, those aren’t bullets, Baldur’s Gate 3 boss on Xbox Series S and “Redefining The RPG” I Friends Per Second Episode #26

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by Moonstone Island on Steam, and patrons like you. Thank you.

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