Achievement Oriented
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Games of the Year, 'Gorogoa,' and 'The Last Jedi'
Plus: debating the best games of 2017 and discussing the future of the Lucasfilm franchise
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Ever-Evolving Games: ‘PUBG,’ ‘Star Citizen,’ ‘GTA Online,’ and ‘Zelda’
Ben and Jason bring on writers from Polygon, Kotaku, and Geek.com to discuss four games that continue to grow with downloadable content
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Triumphant Nintendo, ‘Xenoblade,’ and Loot Boxes vs. the Law
Ben and Jason are joined by Chris Lee of the Hawaii House of Representatives to discuss his plans to win the political battle against loot boxes
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EA’s Reddit-Driven Downfall and Overwatch League Unknowns
Ben and Jason discuss EA’s microtransaction controversy before bringing on ESPN esports reporter Jacob Wolf to preview ‘Overwatch’ as an esport
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We Finally Did a Mailbag Episode
From fallen franchises to the best and worst game trends of 2017, Jason Concepcion and Ben Lindbergh answer fan questions
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Loot Boxes Are Bad, but ‘Battlefront II’ Is Good
Ben and Jason discuss the new ‘Star Wars’ game and are later joined by its writer, Walt Williams, to discuss the thrills and challenges of writing for the popular franchise’s universe
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‘Assassin's Creed: Origins' and the Xbox One X
Polygon senior reporter Samit Sarkar joined Ben and Jason to discuss the new console
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'Call of Duty’ Goes Back to Basics With ‘WWII’
Plus Ben and Jason discuss 'The Frozen Wilds' DLC and 'Super Lucky's Tale'
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More ‘Mario,’ Visceral, Gambling on Loot Boxes, and ‘South Park’
Jason Schreier of Kotaku joins to discuss ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ and Nintendo’s stellar year
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‘Super Mario Odyssey,’ ‘Shadow of War,’ ‘Wolfenstein 2,’ and ‘Darkwood’
Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion celebrate the pod’s first anniversary and discuss a quartet of recent releases
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The Holiday Deluge, 'Stardew' on Switch, and the AI of 'Echo'
Nick Wiger joins ‘Achievement Oriented’ to discuss the appeal of ‘Stardew Valley’. Then, Martin Emborg talks about the AI of the newly released ‘Echo’
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'NBA 2K' Player Ratings and the Rise and Fall of 'Backyard Baseball'
Mike Stauffer of Visual Concepts joins to discuss how he develops player ratings in ‘2K,’ and Zach Kram breaks down his article on the 20th anniversary of ‘Backyard Baseball’
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‘Cuphead’ Cocreators on Delivering Difficulty Without Frustration in a Video Game
Chad and Jared Moldenhauer join ‘Achievement Oriented’ to break down ‘Cuphead’ and explain how they perfected the game's eye-catching art
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The SNES Classic, Revisiting 'Night Trap,' and Gaming Fear
Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk about ‘Red Dead Redemption’ and more
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Video Games Need Both Art and Soul
‘BioShock’ and ‘Battlefront’ veteran Walt Williams discusses his new book and how game writing works
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‘NBA 2K18’ Director Chris Papierniak on Channeling NBA Drama to a Video Game
Plus: Jason Concepcion discusses his first experience as a video game writer
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NASA Engineer Molly Bittner Explains the Science Behind Cassini and Why It Had to Crash Into Saturn
On ‘Achievement Oriented,’ Bittner details her history with the project and provides some insight into what NASA has learned from Cassini’s 20-year journey
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NASA Engineer Molly Bittner on Cassini and Space-Based Games
Plus: Rob Harvilla explains why ‘Metroid’ might be gaming’s greatest space series
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First Impressions of ‘Destiny 2’
Plus: Kotaku’s Jason Schreier discusses the industry and his new book
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Recent Releases, ‘Uncharted,’ and ‘Good Game’
Plus: an interview with ‘Uncharted’ writer and Naughty Dog veteran Josh Scherr
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Making Mo-cap Magic, and Going Inside an Esports Team
Plus: A look at a ‘Dota 2’ documentary
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'Dream Daddy' and Giant Bomb's Successful Pivot to Video
Everything you need to know about the hit summer game that defies dating tropes
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Gamer Grooming and the Golden Age of Board Games
Plus: what a new free-for-all mode means for ‘Overwatch’
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‘Tacoma' and 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'
The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion discuss whether makers of future consoles will feel pressure to support portability to keep pace with the Switch, then talk about Ben's impressions of 'Tacoma.’
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Why ‘Pyre’ Doesn’t Have Online Multiplayer — and Why That’s Not a Bad Thing
One of the developers spoke with Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion
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How Two Gamers Found Secret Aliens — and Love — in ‘GTA V’
Team Guru’s hunt for Easter eggs led them right into something even more elusive
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‘Overwatch,’ ‘Castlevania,’ and Games Done Quick
The ‘Achievement Oriented’ crew speaks with ‘Castlevania’ executive producer Adi Shankar, debates ‘Overwatch’ Season 5 and talks with writer Jacob Oller about Summer Games Done Quick
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Gamer Sensei, ‘Pokémon Go,’ and Funemployment
Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion discuss e-sports coaching and celebrate the anniversary of 'Pokémon Go,' before an economist weighs in on whether the rise in quality videogames is contributing to unemployment
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How the Developers of ‘Rocket League’ Got the Game to Feel Like a Real Sport
It’s hard to make the controls to a rocket-powered car feel intuitive
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'Arms,' Animating Sex Scenes, and Long Loading Times
Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion debate the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller before Nathan Grayson of 'Kotaku' joins to discuss E3 impressions and the specifics of animating sex scenes
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How Will Esports Solve Their Broadcast Problem?
They’re becoming a bigger industry, but there’s just one problem: esports are hard to watch
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Our E3 2017 Reactions
Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion tackle the biggest stories out of E3 2017