PPR Presents The Golden Zonkies: Class Of 2018

s far as years for Video Games go, 2018 wasn’t that bad. For starters, the distribution landscape received a culture shock with the innovative premise of Xbox Gamespass, Sony landed some truly blockbuster exclusives for the PlayStation 4, and Nintendo managed to plant a Switch in over 22.86 Million households since its launch.

2018 wasn’t the best year for a God awful lot of reasons, but we can all take solace in the fact that at least in terms of video games, it did pretty OK, and  we would love to celebrate that that.

And what better way to do that by bringing you our trademark Game of the Year podcast, The Golden Zonkies! This year also marks the first time that we have changed up our format for the special mega cast—we’re doing away with categories!  Now, bear in mind, we’re still giving our prestigious mark of excellence, a Golden Zonkey, to the games that are deserving of recognition, only, we’re not doing by a respective genre, or category. Instead, we will be giving them out in a personal list format by each of us in the podcast, and we’ll be spending time discussing why we picked the titles we did within a countdown of five, and before we even get into that, we’ll also do a roundtable of games that were worth a quick mention from the year. We will then award the “Golden Zonkey of The Year” in a unanimous vote that was similar to previous format, and conclude the show from there.

There you have it; welcome to the latest class of the Golden Zonkies, we hope you kick back and enjoy the show!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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Examining the masculinity of the newest God of War

Note: The author originally wrote this feature for Pixel Jizz; a gaming culture publication for California’s Bay Area Queer community, and has been given permission to publish it on to Press Pause Radio as well. You can obtain the latest issue from Comikake this upcoming September.

nder the creative direction of Cory Balrog, Santa Monica Studio was able to deliver a radical reimagining for the God of War series that not only changed some of the most fundamental gameplay dynamics of the series, but it also managed to re-characterize its protagonist into something more than a bland cipher for juvenile aggression. While there’s no denying the quality of the franchise and what it did for the character-action genre of video games, the heart of the property was ultimately nothing more than a navel-gazing male power-fantasy that embellished upon all the token signs of toxic masculinity to an obnoxiously troubling degree. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate the newest God of War title, but my favorite reason has to be the fact that it finally redeemed its hero with something far more meaningful than revenge porn, and I couldn’t be happier with the effect it’ll have on male culture as a whole.

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PPR 110

oylent Green is people, or some shit like that—there we just saved you an hour and thirty-seven minutes, or did we? We may have just pulled a super dick-move, all for just lazy comedy bit, and you’re probably super mad at us right now (assuming that you lived under a rock, and haven’t the seen one of Charlton Heston’s finest performances of course.)

This is the current climate of things, and no media is immune to the tyranny of spoiler culture, be they video game, film, or book, the nuances and charm that comes from the investment that we put into these cherished pieces of content can be ruined in an instant by the inconsiderate actions of a complete stranger.

We think that’s bogus; join Andrew, Ser, and George as they tackle the talking points that deal with Spoiler Culture, and why it’s gradually becoming more and more prevalent in the media spaces we keep. In addition to that, we talk about Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee edition, Street Fighter V Season 3, Bosskey Production’s Closure, Kenny Omega, getting a haircut, Apple being stingy with Valve, Ikaruga, God of War, the usual shit talk on the Ouya, and more. Smash that link, and get in on this episode before someone else spoils the sweet fart joke that Ser makes at the 45-minute mark!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR 104

eraflops counting in the sixes, Androids becoming human, and Plumber possessing dinosaurs; oh my yes, it’s another year of Electronic Entertainment Expo y’all and we’re here to talk all about it on Press Pause Radio!

It seems that 2017 is continuing to be one of the biggest years in gaming as there’s a ton of other news surrounding the grandest stage of Video Games with the announcement of the SNES Classic, SEGA, Forever, a new console from Atari and more.

Join in on the cast of Andrew, Ser, Alissa, and George as they discuss newborn babies, the Xbox One X, Marvel VS Capcom Infinite, the “Stüssy” S, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Nick Kroll, Super Mario Odyssey and other topics on this jam packed episode.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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Press Pause Radio at E3 2016

ur podcast has the highest quality pixels that you’ll ever find in a podcast, never before will you ever come across pixles that will look as amazing as these…wait, what’s that, you’re saying that podcasts don’t really have any pixels in them?

Well then…what about Teraflops; can we just say that we have more than the other podcasts? No…well, screw it, we’re just going to wing it then.

We here at Press Pause Radio have plenty to say about the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 trade show, and all of the weird yet, wonderful surprises that are in store for us for the rest of 2016, and 2017. George, Andrew, and Ser wax on about Legend of Zelda Breath of Wild, Dishonored 2, Prey, Telltale Batman, God of War, Detroit: Being Human, We Happy Few, Inside, Death Stranding, Project Scorpio, and so much more.

It’s a pretty full show, so kick back, and pause “I’ll be coming” by Low Roar that you’ve been playing on repeat already as we cover E3 2016!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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GDC 2013: The Breakdown of Inciting Emotions Through Playing

motions are strong, depending on how they’re conveyed or felt; they can go on to be overwhelmingly powerful. Storytelling in games is evolving from using the artifice of genuine emotion to simply drive plot or narrative, and instead is gradually manifesting itself into a very real takeaway from direct interaction that’s piloted by the player, and solely on a script. Susan O’Connor of Writing Studio alongside Chuck Beaver of Electronic Arts take the stage at GDC 2013 and explain the finer points and fundamentals of writing within games that will flesh out what the player feels above anything else.

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PAX Prime 2012: God of War: Ascension Preview

Earlier this year, Sony and Santa Monica Studios treated us to the reveal of the latest God of War title. And while we’ve seen our favorite angsty and ghostly killer about four or five times now, Santa Monica boasted the inclusion of multiplayer, and a refinement to the single player experience was also promised -- mighty big words from the studio, but the results surprisingly surpassed any predetermined expectations.

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PAX Prime 2012: Santa Monica Studios Interview With Aaron Kaufman

Imagine what kind of person you would become if everything you knew and loved was ripped away from you, and in a fashion that made it seems as if it were your own fault from the start. Only, you know, it was really a trickster god who set you up for disappointment following your assumed redemption.

Two years after God of War III, Santa Monica Studios is throwing Kratos back into action with God of War: Ascension, the latest installment of the franchise which describes the struggles and buildup of Kratos before his infamous rise as a God.

As George took some extended time with both the single player and multiplayer game modes, I had an opportunity to step aside with Aaron Kaufman, community manager of Santa Monica Studios. We discussed what’s new, what’s returning, and why fans are in for the greatest God of War console experience to date.

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