Historian, writer, and narrative designer Holly Nielsen joins Alex and Brandon to cover 19th century party games, Ayn Rand’s The Bachelorette, and David Attenborough narrating Monster Hunter. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Brandon Sheffield and Holly Nielsen. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
Question 7: What is the selecting a thermostat temperature to reflect your priorities in comfort, cost, and environmental impact of video games? (44:58)
Cricket doesn’t always take five days to play. Only some of the time. They jazzed it up around 2008 and created a reasonable format that only takes a few hours. Get in on Cricket now because it’s gonna be the new hotness in 10 years.
I’d like to think reconstruction-era gamers would make the same games we make today except it would look more like their contemporary ideas.
House Flipper would be Barn Flipper
Starfield would be Frontierfield
Forza Motorsport would be Drafthorse Stagecoach
Cyberpunk 2077 would be SteamRascal 1899
Hatsune Miku Project DIVA would be John Philipps Sousa Project DIVA
There’s many different types of Cricket which goes back a lot longer than that. I am not a fan of the sport (I had to play it in school) but it’s popularity globally is huge, especially in India. The long tests as they’re called can last several days, which if you like the sport is amazing.
Back in the 1970s they created one day internationals which is a set amount of overs per team but the game must be completed that day. There’s 20/20 which is 20 overs per team, that’s the game. They finish very quickly and are usually just a morning or afternoon. I believe there are more, but those are just the ones I can remember! Or honestly want to.
Odd fact: one of the most followed people in the world on Instagram is an Indian cricketer, with over 270 million followers, Virat Kohli!
Oh yeah I know. The jazzed up version I alluded to is T20 (20/20). It’s the one I’m a big fan of and the format of the game that I think could take off worldwide (more worldwide than it already is). I believe there’s also a T10 format and England has a 100 ball format? The one with the pink ball.
Kohli is actually one of my favorite players! I was introduced to cricket with the IPL and became a big RCB fan.
I think a 100 ball game would make sense, for ratings and getting viewership/sponsership. I’m guessing they’d have to change the rules slightly to make it faster but I could see that taking off in a big way globally where as a five day test would be a tougher sell.
Cricket is one of those things that really isn’t thought of being that popular outside of the Commonwealth, so any knowledge I’m impressed with.
I have one other amazingly odd cricket fact, but most people wouldn’t believe it anyways!
This episode was such a productive one to listen to on my commute home. Loved Holly Nielsen as a guest, as the crossover with earlier board games hits on a topic I’ve actually dabbled in academically. Her read of 19th century players being into Jackbox or Quiplash feels spot-on for parlor game culture. Card games are also good; they’d be like my dad in the late 1990s or early 2000s, playing bridge on one of the biggest multiplayer gaming sites around. Or autobridge, yeah.
Atlus Shrugged as a video game - yep, you’re wooing Ayn Rand. One of the Q&A minigames involves being given a person and having to describe why they would deserve to die gruesomely in a steam train as it goes through a tunnel designed for a diesel locomotive. The best answer is that they are complicit with the “moochers,” but the art of it is finding just the right frivolity in how: maybe one time they asked for ice cream without earning it or something.
My video game thermostat is figuring out exactly how much of a game I want to buy to have the experience I want. So for a AAA it’s often “Do I buy the base game or the digital deluxe? Do I buy X and Y DLC? Do I buy on PC to tailor the experience with mods or for PS5 to play on the couch?” For free-to-play games, it’s often how much, if at all, do I pay into an experience that is implicitly or explicitly nudging me to pay? For example, last night I noticed all my friends in Overwatch 2 had titles under their names, and the only way to get those titles is (presumably) through a battlepass or the like. So they have paid and sit in 72 degree splendor. But I’m over here sitting in my 80 degree sweat like, “Damned if I’m paying for that. I paid $50 or so for Overwatch seven years ago, and I’m not paying again.”
I believe at least one of those Marios Golf has the thing Jaffe mentioned about yelling while the other player is trying to concentrate. I just remember being Luigi and yelling “Wowzer, you’re da best!” Though I suppose nowadays he’d be saying Wowie Zowie you’re da best. At any rate, good episode.
For question 5, keeping eliminated players involved, good thing Holly was there to talk about the COD Gulag!!!
But also, I was thinking about the online werewolf games like Town of Salem. When you are dead living players can speak with you to get info and also you can be resurrected!
Also big ups to Brandon for mentioning Hidden in Plain Sight. Friends and I love that game, very fun for couch coop.
I still think the panel was right about Doom being the CK of videogames (not that there couldn’t be other answers, but Mystery Room don’t seem like it to me)
For Q5: reminded me that for the game Squish, once you die, you’re given one last chance to enact revenge by being summoned as a block with one shot to take out whoevers left alive. If you end up squishing the person, you’re revived and back in the game, but if you miss you’re done for good. It’s hard to do but of course super satisfying if you can.
Holly was such a great guest. I loved when she called out the “thirty/forty-something man answer”. Was this Holly’s first appearance on the show? I hope she comes back.
I also loved that job interview lightning round. I knew Brandon was going to choose “Prompto” before he said a word. If you do this game with Tim, he will absolutely be a Dragon Quest silent protagonist.
I’m waiting for the day snake facts devolve into facts about the cell phone game, Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll, or Metal Gear Solid.
I don’t mean to be negative, but I do think the show is best with host plus at least 3 panelists - allows for more variety of interactions. I know constraints exist and sometimes two panelists is all that can be mustered, but I honestly would be fine if a week is missed to get another person in.
Anyways, no shade on this episode but I thought I’d say it! I had this same thought the other times the ranks were thinned. Maybe nobody else minds, though!
While I agree the three panelist episodes are better:
sometimes you don’t know you’re doing a two panelist episode until it is starting
when it’s sporadic I am pretty confident having an episode vs no episode is the preference with the audience in general, but that’s hard to know for sure
two panelist episodes are never desired or intentional but they will probably still happen!
For sure, I felt like saying what I said was maybe a bit unspeakable, so thought I oughta just share the thought.
One other thing on this topic just to throw out there is the possibility of “re-runs” in emergency cases. I’m thinking of how a podcast like “this american life” often is pushing an old episode out (out of their however many hundreds), in whatever downtimes they have. I certainly would be tickled to hear an episode from back however long ago, as I’ve not listened to any from the beforetimes. Just a thought in case it’s not something that’s surfaced before. I know there’s a lot of effort put into making the show happen and keep happening.
Anyways, really wasn’t meaning to disparage or discount the real constraints and such, nor imply “no show would be better.” Just that I’d be fine if/when the call is miss a week. Thanks for hearin me out.
