Friendly Fireside Chats

Hello all and welcome to a little bit of the old and a little bit more of the new! On this episode, Adam and McKee talk about the charming Kingdom, an indie game that we spoke about a while ago, but only now are deeming fit to be released to your discerning ears. How does Kingdom fare? Is it reminiscent of Shelley’s historic titan or does it strike closer to Alexander the Great? Give us a minute, tune in and find out. Before the conversation(...read more...)

Remember when we used to do these regularly? Ha, me neither! Either way, we thank you for giving us your ears! This week, Adam and Adam and McKee talk about Street Fighter V, the latest and perhaps greatest (?) fighting game to grace the market. How’s it hold up? How’s it compare to other fighters out currently or soon to be out? Join the crew and we’ll let you know all about it. Aside from fighting in the titular streets, we talk about the Oculus(...read more...)

Hey folks and welcome to another Friendly Fireside Chats! After producing a bit of a lost episode, we’re getting together to talk about Jonathon Blow’s new game, The Witness. How do we like it? Does it make as big an impact as Braid does when it first released? Is it intimate and flawed, as Blow thinks indie games can and should be? Sit a while and listen to have all the answers revealed. Aside from connecting the dots, we talk about the future and more(...read more...)

Meet the New Year. Same as the old year. Welcome to 2016, the year that Friendly Fireside Chats makes it big, the year of the Linux desktop and the year that virtual reality comes to the mainstream. Yes, that’s right, we are grabbing the industry by its bootstraps and taking it to the top with us. No no, no need to thank us. The ascension of the art form is thanks enough. What better way to start the new year than with a slightly old(...read more...)

Yo! It’s time for Yo-Kai Watch! Join the Adams and McKee for another death-defying episode in which we talk about a game made for ten year olds and give it our harshest criticisms. Aside from bashing/loving on the new not-quite-pocket-sized monsters, we also talk about: fighting games! Perry’s here, so you know I’ve gotta catch up at least a little… Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valve’s not listening to nobody objectifying women and its consequences eSports (!) and competitive gaming Thanks everybody for joining us, especially our special(...read more...)

Continuing on an incredible streak of timeliness, our heroes today wrap up Life is Strange, Dontnod Entertainment’s episodic new-wave adventure game. How do they find the game? Does it stick the landing or does it crash and burn in the home stretch? You’ll just have to tune in to hear it from your hosts (or, y’know, play it and form an opinion yourself). Aside from hopping around a few different timelines, we talk about: Adam’s time and trials with the Steam controller Nintendo’s new social(...read more...)

Short (for us, at least) episode here where Adam and McKee discuss the plot of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. How can we find so much to talk about with this one game? Well, if you listened to the first one about it, you’ll know we didn’t touch on the plot and, even in spite of McKee not being crazy about it, they were still big fans of the actual gameplay. Now you can revisit our heroes to learn their impressions about the(...read more...)

Rocket League! The Marvelous Miss Take! A little bit of Snakebird! Summer of Indie is here! Again! Ish! This episode, we take a look at the marvelous The Marvelous Miss Take, a marvelous stealth game missed in 2014 but now, uh, took in 2015. After that, we get in our rocket cars and kick around some soccer balls in the almost-sports-almost-Transformers hit Rocket League! Lots of loot and lots of explosions...we're turning this episode into a Hollywood action movie. Aside from blowing each other up while stealing priceless art, we talk about: Satoru Iwata's passing and how sad it is drug testing in eSports how Xbox's revenue is up a full 27% Evo 2015 and the future of fighting games Shenmue III being the biggest video game Kickstarter ever...kind of. The MP3, that's below. It's also above, in the cloud, in iTunes land where apples are served fresh daily. Subscribe and let the heavenly sounds of our voices being automatically delivered to your computer whenever we post. Twitter's another way to hear from us, but probably not as often as you'd like; certainly not as often as we'd like! We put a lot on Facebook and, realistically, that's probably where you got here from. If not, like us there and follow our page for updates. Finally, click to send us an email and we will love you forever. Next time, we're going to talk about Crypt of the NecroDancer and some other mysterious indie game. What will it be? Only you have the power to decide. Tell us what you want us to play and we'll play it...y'know, unless we don't want to. In which case I'll just talk about Dustforce and DotA some more.

We're back! Every single post of ours seems to start like this! We missed E3 last year, but this year, it came back with a vengeance! We should probably have divided this up to two episodes, but...we didn't. We're actually hopeless and we'll never learn. Sorry about that. But now you've got a lot of E3 to look forward to! Things discussed include: Final Fantasy 7's remake, Just Cause 3, The Division, No Man's Sky and a thousand other upcoming games Bethesda's continuation of Fallout (now with more dogs!) and DOOM's revival and of course, The Big Three: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony's conferences See? There's too much! I can't even write everything up there in the bullets because this year was such a huge E3. And that's all, folks. I don't know why you'd stick around for more even if there was any, though. Two hours of two friends talking about too many games is too much. Go outside! But before you do, subscribe to us on iTunes, and like us on Facebook. You can follow us on Twitter if you like, but who knows if we'll ever update it. And don't forget, don't you dare forget that you can always send us an email. We're here for you. Forever. Next time, we're going to continue (start?) our Summer of Indie. We'll be looking at a whole bunch of games, including Snakebird, which we swore we'd get to last time, Crypt of the NecroDancer which Adam has been begging us to do for a while now and, of course, The Marvelous Miss Take which I spoke about this episode. Join us then, which should....well, y'know what I'm going to say. Should be in just two weeks or so. One big news item we did miss, as news broke after we wrapped up recording, was that Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo, passed away. No dirge nor elegy could come close to doing the man's life and career justice and, instead of an attempt, let me just say from all of us here: thanks for the memories, Iwata.

Well well well, look who's back. It's me, McKee! Yes yes, I know...you all thought (hoped?) I had fallen off the planet. But it was not meant to be. I'm back to bother you sorry lot. This week, we continue talking about Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange, tackling episodes 2 and 3 after visiting episode 1 in our 30th episode, here. This might be the closest we ever get to having a book-club kind of podcast, so give us your ears as we talk about what's changed and what's remained the same throughout the time-traveling, hella-teenage adventure game. Aside from diving into pools and making pipe bombs, we talk about: Steam's new refund policy and the fancy new Steam controller that we probably won't buy Nintendo and their World Championships, as well as their new VP of Sales not a whole bunch else. Everyone's gearing up for E3, what do you want from us?! The MP3 can be snagged from below, as usual. It's also up on iTunes if that's more your speed. Subscribe there and you won’t have to worry about coming to this site or maybe missing an episode, it just...does it all for you. Fancy! Adam continues to think he'll update our Twitter, but I won't buy it 'til I see it. We are also on Facebook, where we are a lot more Johnny-on-the-spot with updates and news and such. Never hesitate to drop us a link by clicking here; we love hearing from you. Next time we meet, which will admittedly be after another month or so, we are going to start what Adam's referring to as our Summer of Indie, not quite realizing that summer is well underway. Maybe 'half a Summer of Indie' would be a better title for it. SpyParty and Snakebird will be two games we're doing for sure, but Adam is convinced I'll try TIS-100...so we'll see how that goes. See you all next time!

We're alive! At least, Adam is living. Time will tell if I make it, or if this serves as my last will and testament. This week, Adam is joined by our frequent guest other Adam, who joined us for the Street Fighter 'cast a few months back. This news-only edition of Friendly Fireside Chats sees the Adams talking about a wide range of stories, ranging from Mortal Kombat X and Western fighting games to the separation of Kojima and Konami. Aside from hating on Japan, as Adam is wont to do, the two talk about: the short-lived monetization of modding as seen in Skyrim League of Legends, Dota 2 (and I wasn't even there!) and eSports on ESPN the Ouya, having lived a short and not so successful life, being for sale Konami leaving not only Kojima behind, but maybe the video game market? While we normally run long on the game section, these two today run just about right on the news segment. Our first episode that is of a good length and, don't you know it, I'm not even there for it. The MP3  is below as always, so grab it and plug it in to your MP3 player. Or check us out on iTunes and let it sync up automatically for you, you lazy bum. Twitter is a thing, so follow us on there. Facebook, another thing you guys are into, is something we're actually pretty active on, so like us there and we'll try not to blow up your Facebook feed. Lastly, you can send us an email and we would love to talk to you, about just whatever you like! We love hearing from you. We should be returning to your regularly scheduled programming within the coming weeks. All my friends are married, I'll be moved and everything that could have gone wrong will have gone wrong. Next time, we're going to be talking about the second halves of two games, Broken Age and Life is Strange. The original idea of the podcast was to be a kind of book club and this might be the closest we've come so far to actually achieving that. We'll see you there!

Join us this week as we take on a world filled with ethereal plot lines, crazy guys in rooster masks and more 80s-inspired music than you can shake a stick at, even if you woke up really early one morning and shook all day long. That's right, this week we are talking about Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. How does it play? Is it different than the first? What about that scene you heard so much about? Give us your ears as we reveal all. Along with discussing gratuitous amounts of violence, we talk about: Nintendo's move to mobile, courtesy of new partner DeNA and what it might mean for the Big N Kojima's leaving Metal Gear Solid behind and why it almost certainly doesn't signal the end of Snake how we will not be seeing that Zelda: Netflix show we were so hesitant and excited about the continuing of Life is Strange and the second half of Broken Age A light news week opens up to a good discussion about the game. Neither of us found the time to prepare for Sunless Sea, but it worked out, as we apparently had a fair bit to say about Hotline Miami 2. The MP3 is, of course, right below this wall of text, so go grab it and give it a listen. Alternatively, look for us on iTunes and let the big Apple know that we are oh-so-popular. Our Twitter is still mostly inactive, but we keep plugging it anyways, as isn't that what we are supposed to do in these things? On Facebook, we are staggeringly more active and regularly post. In fact, us telling you this episode is out is almost certainly the reason you're reading this now. I'm not quite clairvoyant, but I would say you shouldn't be surprised when I win the lottery.Finally, if the above avenues of communication just aren't enough, please, please don't hesitate to email us here. We love hearing from you. Next time you guys listen to our dulcet tones, you will have to suffice with a pair of Adams. I'm taking a quick break from the podcast due to April being a busy month and instead of punishing you guys with no content, we are going to just have a guest in the interim. Which works out, as Bloodborne, a PlayStation 4 exclusive, just came out and they can talk about that, as they have fancy new consoles. We look forward to seeing you next time as they surely curse the game's difficulty!

Adam and McKee join together again to take on The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and confront the horrors (or lack of horrors) therein. Having never played the games, the two are able to look at it free of the unfortunate influence of nostalgia...mostly. Is it as great as the fanbase makes it out to be? Is it a dark and complicated game? How does a game built 15 years ago hold up after remastering? Lend us your ears and we will let you know. Before we play dress up with our masks, though, we talk about: Game Developer's Conference and a few pieces of news that came out of that Steam Machines and Steam Link, and our thoughts about the newest Valve tech the makers of SimCity and Spore closing this article and make a few, superficial and perhaps incorrect observations (really, you should read this) Apparently fatigued from last time's Evolve episode, this one is a lot better in regards to time. You can almost hear the sigh of relief rebounding across the internet. That beautiful MP3 is below, so feel free to download that and throw it into your music player. Or! Check us out on iTunes to remind Apple we're still around. Follow us on a Twitter that updates not so regularly and like us on Facebook that we can't stop posting to. It makes our mother's hearts swell with pride whenever anyone likes us there. Facebook has never done too much for me, though, which is why I prefer to get my emails here, so as to better communicate with you, my adored listener. Next time, we plan on having a bit of a indie game extravaganza, focusing on Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and either Sunless Sea or Cities: Skylines. We haven't quite decided yet and would love to know which you'd rather hear about. If you don't tell us, you're just going to be subject to whatever we choose...and that would be a terrible fate.

Having thankfully been pushed back a week due to inclement weather, our heroes join together anew to talk about Evolve and how four small Hunters can possibly fair in the world against a big bad Monster. This asymmetrical multiplayer game turns you into a space bounty hunter gunning after the biggest pelt in the universe, or makes you a multi-floored abomination unto mankind. But why bother reading about all this when you can just listen to it? Aside from discussing what to do with our Wraith hides, Adam and I talk about: how Nintendo's New 3DS is treating Adam Peter Molyneux's lying, be it pathological or simply ambitious how Metacritic is bad and you should feel bad the HTC and Valve created VR headset, named the Vive Personally, I thought that this was not going to be too long an episode, in terms of the review part. As you can see when you start to listen, I have been proven wrong. In fact, this may be our longest episode since Bioshock Infinite way back when we started this cast! Take a listen to the MP3 below or check us out on iTunes if you want to support us there. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. It really helps us know there are people out there listening! If you've got any complaints, death threats, manifestos or just plain, boring questions, send us an email here and we will do our best to get back to you. On next time's Friendly Fireside Chats, Link and Zelda will be joining us to talk about Nintendo's recently re-released Majora's Mask on the 3DS. Adam shall play on his fancy machine and I'll be clinging to the past, playing on my boring old normal 3DS.

Computer Chair You are sitting in a comfortable chair in the middle of your house, with your speakers on. There is a bit of text written here. >read text "WELCOME TO FRIENDLY FIRESIDE CHATS! FFC is a podcast of adventure, danger, and low cunning. In it, you will listen to two guys talk about video games longer than is recommended for mortals. No computer should be without it!" Pitch taken care of! Now then: welcome to Friendly Fireside Chats! This week, Adam and McKee talk about a fondly remembered adventure classic, Grim Fandango and the newly released, as-of-yet-not-remembered-at-all Life is Strange. Some of you might recall from our Broken Age episode, neither of us are steeped in adventuring nostalgia, but when a game like Grim Fandango gets remastered, you just cannot say no. Aside from laughing at almost everything that Tim Schafer has to say about life and undeath, we talk about: Joystiq closing; seriously, this is sad stuff Nintendo's coming around to the Smash community, coming around to television, and really bungling up Let's Player the $10 million injection that the Ouya got from China glNext and why you probably won't be seeing Half-Life 3 in a month As always, the MP3 can be grabbed from below. Also available on iTunes for your listening pleasure. Subscribe there and you won't have to worry about missing another episode of ours ever! Automatically downloading our voices into your computer...the future is neat. Be sure to send us your love on Twitter and Facebook, where we post updates about what we have going on. And don't forget to send us love letters and hate mails to our email, found here. For the next episode, we'll be taking on Turtle Rock Studios' Evolve, which looks to be a good bit of asynchronous asymmetrical multiplayer fun. Get used to hearing that word, as I think it is going to show up a lot in about two weeks.