The Gamers' Inn

This week marks the triumphant return of Jocelyn as she recounts her month long absence that was filled with Hearthstone and The Wolf Among Us. Ryan finished up Valiant Hearts from last week and it brought a tear to his eye. As a palate cleanser he booted up Episode 4 of Walking Dead's second season, which caused even more pain and suffering... Our topic of the week contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the entire season of Wolf Among Us, if you haven't played any of the episodes you're best to stay clear. That being said, find out what Jocelyn and Ryan thought of the finale for TellTales popular non-zombie adventure game. Did they enjoy the ending? Are they excited for the inevitable second season? Find out on this weeks episode of The Gamers' Inn! Contest You may or may not know, but each year around the end of October Gamers' Inn has taken part in Extra Life. A 24 hour charity where the Gamers' Inn team plays video games all day and night in the name of raising money for Children's Hospitals around the world. Over the next few months we'll be highlighting our plans for the big day and now we want to kick it off with a giveaway! Smite has sort of taken over our game time these last few months and the game will be taking over the remaining hours of our Extra Life stream. From 2 AM until the end we'll be playing a Smite drinking game (responsibly) and we want your help coming up with rules! Send your idea for a Smite drinking game rule to info@gamersinnpodcast.com and you'll be entered into a draw for Season 1 of The Wolf Among Us on Steam!

While Jocelyn has friends from out of town over, Josh from The Any Key Gaming joins Ryan this week to talk about sad war games, luchadores from Canada, and trudging through Final Fantasy XI. Ryan has had a busy week so he only got a chance to boot up the new UbiArt game by Ubisoft: Valiant Hearts. This side scrolling puzzler set in World War I showcases the brutality of trench warfare while still managing to feature a cackling evil German (not Nazi). Josh played Guacamelee on Xbox One, which was featured as a free game through the Games with Gold promotion. He also revisited one of his favourite MMOs: Final Fantasy XI. For our topic this week what better time to address the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios than with an actual Xbox One owner on the show! Josh shares his feelings on the closure and how it doesn't really bother him due to it being NOT the reason he bought an Xbox One. Makes sense overall and it seems Microsoft agreed. Here's hoping that Halo TV series works out though, which is still in production.

Welcome to the call-in special of The Gamers' Inn! Had a lot of fun hosting this episode with the listeners and we'll definitely look at improving the concept in the future and give plenty of notice. Starting things off Ryan talked about his experience with A Story About My Uncle, an indie title he picked up in the Steam sale that has a Father telling his daughter about his adventures with his Uncle. Oh and did I mention his Uncle gave him a Tarzan swinging machine? No wonder his parents weren't fond of him spending time with him... Another title Ryan talked about was Wolfenstein: The New Order, a Nazi killing game set in the 60's where Germany won WWII. Our call-in guests had a lot to say about what they were saying too! Josh from Any Key Gaming has been sending Kerbals to their doom in Kerbal Space Program. Lou from Zombies Ate My Podcast shared his side of the story from last weeks time with Nazi Zombie Army 2 and shed some light on his quest for infamy in Quest for Infamy, a new game inspired by old school point and click RPGs. Before heading off into the sunset both Josh and Lou give their spoiler free opinion on the season finale for Wolf Among Us (tune in next week for a spoiler filled discussion). Evan from Australia called in to chat about Sniper Elite V2, which went free on Steam for 24 hours a while back, to discuss killing Nazi's but not Hitler (which is paid DLC for some reason). Evan also shares his obsession with the new Dragon Age: Inquisition videos that Bioware has been releasing and is eagerly counting down the days until its October release. Near the end of the show Jocelyn calls in to give us an idea of what we missed at Nerdtacular 2014 and how she played Hearthstone for 16 hours while traveling. Our final guest Hog Hunter pops in to chat some more Hearthstone with Jocelyn and they use big magical words that confuse Ryan. Thanks to all our guests and listeners for allowing us to perform this experiment. Note that there are some technical difficulties that I did my best to edit out, in the future we'll be sure to iron them out. Thanks for understanding! If you want to see more of these specials be sure to let us know!

This the week of Nerdtacular Jocelyn is in Utah and Ryan holds the fort with the help of Josh from Any Key Gaming. Josh has been keeping busy with Divinity: Original Sin and The Forest, which prompts a great conversation about the difficulty of games. Also how awesome are indies, right? Ryan discussed his time with Nazi Zombie Army 2 from the most recent Gamers' Inn Game Night (Thursdays at 8 PM EDT) and the on rails shooter for PS4, Blue Estate. While the tech of Blue Estate is cool, the content of the game is kind of shallow and very often unfunny. There's a demo on the PS4 if you're interested in checking it out.

RA'MERICA presents The Gamers' Inn, they may be Canadian but damn if they don't talk about Smite each week! After running through a Steam sale update and the new RA skin for Smite the innkeepers get into what they thought would be a quick What We're Playing segment. Both Ryan and Jocelyn played some Forced on Steam with the Patrons. It was our first Patron Reward Game Night where Patrons with $5 or more as their monthly pledge got a chance to win a free copy of Forced AND play with us on Steam. If you want to get in on the fun for the next Patron Reward Game Night, head over to our Patreon page: patreon.com/TheGamersInn. Next up Jocelyn purchased Wildstar and gives you her first impressions. Finally we go over her time in the Heroes of the Storm alpha. This triggers a conversation inspired by a recent Polygon article taking a look at Orcs Must Die Unchained and the idea that the devs welcome toxic players (the article was updated after our recording, supporting what we assumed on the show).

The Gamers' Inn returns from the moon to talk about some Alpha gameplay! Jocelyn finally got into the Heroes of the Storm and Warlords of Draenor alpha and can't wait to give her impressions soon. Ryan got a chance to try out Destiny on the PS4 and can't wait to see what Bungie offers on launch day in September. For our topics this week we get a chance to address listener Nick Carver who sent us a video by Game Theorists exploring the age old question: Are Smite's Goddesses TOO SEXY? Turns out historical accuracy has HiRez's back on this one. Check out the video and then listen to our thoughts!

The Gamers' Inn returns this week to cover all things E3! We've been soaking up as much information as possible this week and we're ready to discuss it all, including Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and of course, Nintendo. Enjoy this longer than normal episode and be sure to let us know what has you most excited about 2014 and beyond. Send us an email, at-reply us on Twitter, or comment on Facebook or Google+. Thanks for listening and continue to be super awesome! :)

Jocelyn makes her triumphant return to recap her last two weeks of gaming and recovery. She picked up Mario Golf and went through the Gamers' Inn Cup (which will be making it's return this week). She also discusses her time with Hearthstone on her new iPad and the a bit of WoW talk. Finally she's been playing a good amount of Smite, once again surprising us all that this game has taken such a hold on us all! Ryan on the other hand got a chance to talk Mario Kart last week, but takes advantage of the Luigi Death Stare meme to fill Joce in on the highlight feature and how Nintendo's E3 announcements need to hit it out of the park now that people are paying attention to them.

Jocelyn is still on the mend so this week Ryan is joined by James "Iyagovos" Bartholomeou and first time guest Eric Mahler. Nintendo had a new major release on the Wii U for the first time in 3 months with Mario Kart 8 and we're here to let you know just how awesome it is. From the tracks to the music and the online play, we cover it all! Eric and Ryan are especially big fans of the YouTube export functionality, a welcome change of heart from Nintendo who normally ignores the extra internet focused features. Next up James fills us in on his career as a Titan pilot in Titanfall. Just how satisfying is it to rip an opposing player from his doomed mech? Listen in and find out! We conclude the AAA video game talk with a chat on the new indie release A Story About My Uncle. Before we wrap up the show Eric shares his experiences as both a gamer and a father, and how that impacts your play time and the content you play. Future gamer parents will be happy to hear it's not doom and gloom, but with a balanced life it's possible to continue honing your leet skills while raising future gamers. About Our Guests James Bartholomeou is a host on two gaming podcasts, Initiative Check and Funderdome (launching soon). Also he's a contributor at the website Indie-Love.com. Eric Mahler has his own podcast as a stay at home Dad titled Mr. Mom Daily and is also a regular guest on the new Frogpants Studios podcast Nerd Parents.

This week we're joined by Joel Duggan of Starcrossed Online and The Citadel Cafe as Jocelyn is feeling under the weather. Been some time since Joel's last time at the inn so he fills us in on his adventures with Batman and a merry band of pirates! How do Batman Arkham Origins and Black Flag stack up to the other games in their respective series? Find out what we think in this exciting new Gamers' Inn adventure!

We start things off with a happy 2nd anniversary to Diablo III by recounting our adventures from this weeks Gamers' Inn Game Night. We play every Thursday night at 8 PM EDT on The Gamers' Inn Twitch and Jocelyn's Twitch, you can watch or even join in! Jocelyn picked up Link Between Worlds again, only to promptly put it down in favour of more Smite and the new Warcraft book: War Crimes. Ryan scratched that third person action RPG itch he described last week with Bound By Flame. Our topic this week covers the flurry of Microsoft announcements in a lead up to E3. We cover Kinect being removed from the Xbox One box to the recent unveiling of Halo 5: Guardians. Finally we unveil the first winner in The Gamers' Inn Cup in Mario Golf... Congrats to Josh! This weeks tournament is now live, post your score before Friday May 23rd 6 PM EDT. To enter just boot up Mario Golf and go to Quick Round – Mario Golf -> Tournaments -> Private Tournament and Search by Code: 46-4930-2111-0872.

We return to the Inn with more talk of Smite and Diablo, then we hit the links for the announcement of the first official Gamers' Inn Cup in Mario Golf World Tour! Once again on Gamers' Inn Game Night we played Smite for PC and a few of us even picked up the $30 unlock to get all the gods. Needless to say, we're enjoying this title IMMENSELY! Jocelyn caught up to Act V in Diablo and is loving the new content as she makes her way to Adventure Mode. Ryan picked up Mario Golf on 3DS and announced the Gamers' Inn Cup Tournament. To enter just boot up Mario Golf and go to Quick Round - Mario Golf -> Tournaments -> Private Tournament and Search by Code: 29-4634-7572-8722. Tournament closes on Friday, May 16th at 6 PM EDT, so post your scores by then and the winner will be announced on next weeks show!

We've got Loot Crate on the brain as Ryan reveals which Elder Scrolls and Game of Thrones mini-figures he got. Next month is Adventure themed, which will include Zelda and Minecraft items! Sign up today! For games Ryan has been enjoying some 8 bit nostalgia with NES Remix 2 on the Wii U. This of course sparks a Wii U discussion involving Mario Kart 8 and the newly announced bundle from Nintendo. Finally we recap our great time with Smite from Thursday's Game Night. We were both quite surprised by how much fun we had with the game and look forward to jumping back in soon! Both innkeepers are happy to announce Game Night is here to stay as our Patreon just hit the $50 milestone! We would like to thank all our Patrons and we'll see you Thursday nights at 8 PM EDT on The Gamers' Inn Twitch.

We start things off this week with a discussion on PC repair, as Ryan performed a bit of open fan surgery on his video card since last we spoke. In the territory of games Ryan talks about his less than stellar experience with Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate Deluxe Edition, otherwise known as BAOBDE for short... Following that Jocelyn talks about the better Batman in Arkham Origins proper. Alongside Joce's continued Hearthstone and ESO play, she's been obsessed with Don't Starve and it's new expansion. Our topic this week was submitted by Patron Josh Cook, which focuses on stories in video games and whether or not our choices will truly change a games end.

On a special Saturday evening edition of The Gamers' Inn Jocelyn and Ryan go over their experience with The Wolf Among Us Episode 3 and a few iOS games. If you're saving The Wolf Among Us for when all the episodes are out be sure to skip our discussion as we SPOIL all the things in episode 3 and some major points in previous episodes. Between holiday gatherings, Ryan has been kicking up dust in Trials Frontiers on the iPad, a free to play game based in the Trials universe. Replacing her Threes addiction after the bus incident, Jocelyn is playing Monument Valley on iPhone, an amazing looking puzzle game with a touch of story.