Spoiler Warning for Detective Pikachu from around 39 minutes to 43 minutes in. With Austin away, it’s time to whip this long podcast into shape by, uh, spending two hours with Rob, Patrick, and Cado discussing the disappointing Rage 2 and the questionable ethics of spoiling Final Fantasy VII in 2019? Naturally. In the strategy corner, Rob explains his best attempts to destroy an empire in Imperator: Rome , while Cado updates us on why Destiny Is Good Again, and Patrick explains the “charm” of A ...
May 13, 2019•1 hr 59 min•Ep. 235
It’s not true until you record a podcast about it, but yes: Natalie is leaving Waypoint. To send her off, we decided to, uh, talk about the latest Ghost Recon game for an hour?? After “doing our jobs” in which we “talk about video games,” the question bucket is opened for Austin, Natalie, Rob, Danielle, Cado, and Patrick, in which they answer everything from “What character, real or fictional, should become a keyblade master?” to “What boat are you?” Goodbye, Natalie. You’ll be missed. Hosted on...
May 10, 2019•2 hr 35 min•Ep. 234
The Waypoint Radio crew have a few announcements! Read more about the website changes here: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k3b9k/waypoint-is-joining-the-new-vicecom Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 06, 2019•50 min
It’s been a little more than a month since the release of the latest FromSoft game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Given how often we reference Souls games already, are you REALLY surprised we dedicated a few hours to a full-on spoilercast with Austin, Patrick, Cado, and Joel? At this point, nearly everyone (good luck Patrick!) has finished the game, which gives us a chance to reflect on the journey, and where Sekiro fits in FromSoftware’s catalog. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...
May 03, 2019•2 hr 15 min
Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame throughout, and for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 at 1 hour and 52 minutes in. When Austin and Rob weren’t looking, Patrick, Natalie, and Cado pulled off their own time time heist, smuggling themselves into the podcast room to spend nearly three hours talking about the epic conclusion to Marvel’s Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame. And because we couldn’t help ourselves, we also had to discuss the latest Game of Thrones episode, “The Long Night.” Oh, and beware:...
May 02, 2019•2 hr 33 min
Today's podcast starts off course and then, somehow, takes an even more unexpected turn. Natalie brings us a live update fresh from her 6:30 AM showing of Avengers: Endgame and last week's Tribeca Film Festival Death Stranding panel. Rob whisks us way to the ancient world with Imperator: Rome. Then Austin and Patrick pause the podcast so that they can report a breaking story: the news that employees at Riot Games are threatening to walk out in protest of recently reported policies at the League ...
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 52 min
Everything is interconnected, really. Frasier . St. Elsewhere . Friends. The Apocalyptic zombie-infested wasteland of Days Gone . Wait, really? Maybe. We spend a solid hour of Waypoint Radio talking about Sony Bend’s first big game, on which many large hopes and dreams were hung, but the finished product just doesn’t deliver. Elsewhere (but not St. Elsewhere), we touch on the missed marks of Katana Zero , the delightful puzzling of Boxboy + Boxgirl , and some campy workplace hell in Yuppie Psych...
Apr 26, 2019•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 232
Content Warning for discussion of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, homicide, and death Sometimes a new TV show launches and everyone likes it and wants to talk about it. Sometimes, it's even launched by your own company! This week we've been riveted by VICELAND's Dark Side of the Ring, a documentary series that revisits some of the more sobering, troubling stories in the history of pro wrestling. Sometimes they're stories about what happens in the ring, sometimes they're about what hap...
Apr 25, 2019•1 hr 35 min
Next week, we're launching Save Point 2019: a marathon gaming stream to benefit the Trans Lifeline. We interviewed Trans Lifeline's Executive Director, Elena Rose Vera, as she detail's the organization's mission and struggles. All donations to Save Point 2019 will be going directly to Trans Lifeline. Find out more: https://bit.ly/2Xz3xHM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 22, 2019•23 min
Even though Austin and Natalie have been playing a bunch of Dragon’s Dogma, Patrick and Cado somehow restrain them from spending an entire episode talking about a game from 2012 and also discuss the early details Sony revealed about the PlayStation 5, the rise of GamerGate politicians, the addition of Persona 5’s Joker to Smash, names.com, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 19, 2019•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 231
The gang finally discusses Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its themes around race, class, values, and the weight of heroism. Does the movie lean on humor to the point of detracting from important character arcs? Does it miss an opportunity with Uncle Aaron's character? Is Jake Johnson's Peter B. Parker akin to the treatment the character received in Insomniac's Spider-Man for PS4? Next, Austin's been getting irate about this story of what happened when the IRS launched a special initiative...
Apr 18, 2019•1 hr 59 min
Waypoint's Austin Walker sits down with Evan Husney, producer and co-creator of Dark Side of the Ring, VICELAND's new docu-series that digs into the human stories behind six tragedies of wrestling history. Evan previously worked with Waypoint on documentaries like our behind-the-scenes look at Superhypercube and our Waypoint Presents episode on Magic: The Gathering. Today, he talks to Austin about the inspiration and process behind the new show, and the remarkable response it's received so far. ...
Apr 17, 2019•57 min
On today’s episode of Waypoint Radio, we are joined by rapper Open Mike Eagle, fresh off his tour with fellow-musician and nerd Sammus. Austin, Natalie, and Cado catch up with Mike about his latest ventures in television, including his new show, “The New Negros,” which premieres this Friday, April 19th, 11PM ET, on Comedy Central. We talk everything from wrestling, being online, and Dark Souls, to things like burnout and Overwatch. Mike even gives us his hot take on The Legend of Zelda: Breath ...
Apr 15, 2019•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 230
Lots of games have things in common with one another, but it’s not typically because they all share a mixture of themes related to colonialism and racism. And yet, that’s what happened with the XCOM-meets-Indiana Jones tactics game Pathway, the Lovecraft (but without ignoring the racism) adventure game The Sunken City, and the game about raising a cute bird that’s actually about destroying your oppressors, Falcon Age. Somehow, in all of this, we also manage to record live reactions to the new St...
Apr 12, 2019•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 229
It's another episode of Waypoints where we find ourselves considering the strange expectations and position of a star athlete at different points in their career. First, we talk about the tell-all article at The Bleacher Report on the falling out between prodigiously talented Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his former coach, Mike McCarthy. Then, we have to ask ourselves, "Is Magic Johnson living the dream?" Finally, Austin discusses Kofi Kingston's WWE title belt, and its many me...
Apr 11, 2019•1 hr 46 min
This podcast contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III At the start of this weird project, we asked a simple question: Why do you love Kingdom Hearts? Hundreds of you wrote in with answers that ranged from the humorous (it’s fun to watch Mickey run around with a key sword) to the serious (it was part of understanding their own identity). As we close out this season of Lore Reasons, we wanted to revisit those letters, answer a bunch of questions you sent in, and contemplate the future of Lore Reas...
Apr 08, 2019•1 hr 53 min
We've returned from our trip to Boston only to find an olympic swimming pool filled with discourse waiting for us. So, what else could we do but dive right in? Rob, Austin, and Patrick try to untangle their own feelings on difficulty and accessiblity in games, pushing at the boundaries of those terms until they find something that feels more representative and less reductive than the shorthand we've all been using in this conversation. They also bring more stories from the PAX East show floor, i...
Apr 05, 2019•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 228
What do a women's college basketball star, the prison abolition movement, and The Occupation all have in common? Uhhhhh... it's Thursday, and they're all topics on Waypoints! First, Danielle was both fascinated and repelled by this profile of Oregon basketball star Sabrina Ionescu , whose sheer willpower, toughness, and intelligence have made her an all-time great in college basketball. But in focusing on Ionescu's drive and compulsion to greatness, do we also end up celebrating bad stereotype...
Apr 04, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Join Austin, Natalie, Patrick, Rob, Cado, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and one of several time traveling incarnations of some guy named Xehanort for an in-person edition of Waypoint Radio! In addition to talking about the games they played at PAX East, everyone who participated in our Kingdom Hearts season of Lore Reasons will be subjected to a live Mark of Mastery exam, forced to reckon with the way-too-many hours they’ve spent trying to understand the mythology driving Square Enix’s mashup s...
Apr 01, 2019•1 hr 7 min
It’s a disjointed week at Waypoint, with most of the crew headed to Boston for PAX East, but Austin, Natalie, Patrick, Rob, and Cado still found time to sit around some microphones and yap about the games we’ve been playing. Mostly, we’re still slowly but surely stabbing and shinobi’ing our way through Sekiro, but Rob checked in with Battlefield’s take on battle royale, and several of us have been exploring the post-apocalypse of Generation Zero. We also toss some serious skepticism at Google's ...
Mar 28, 2019•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 227
You’ve been patient, and it’s finally here. A little over two months since the conclusion of Tetsuya Nomura’s Dark Seeker trilogy, Lore Reasons tackles Kingdom Hearts III. (Naturally, it took us nearly three hours.) Austin, Patrick, and Cado join our resident loremaster, Natalie, as we pilot our Gummi Ship through a bunch of narratively useless Disney worlds en route to one hell of an ending. And that secret movie? THE SECRET MOVIE? It’s all here. Let’s ride. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...
Mar 26, 2019•2 hr 59 min
It's time for Austin, Natalie, Patrick, and Rob to return to the secret origins of Waypoints: a chance to talk about animated TV shows. This week finds the gang catching up on The Dragon Prince at great length, and wrestling with some of their misgiving's about the morality the show is beginning to articulate, and the plot arcs that are unfolding at a breakneck pace. But first, they return to Rooster Teeth's GenLOCK, to discuss the end of its first season, and what the show has revealed itse...
Mar 22, 2019•2 hr 30 min
Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice is out tomorrow but Austin, Natalie, and Patrick couldn't wait another second to talk about it! They talk about how the game's mechanics differ from previous FromSoft titles, how the game's focus on "posture" breaking combat changes the feeling of play, how the changes may impact its reception, and, uh, some really big chickens. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 21, 2019•2 hr 4 min
It’s Monday and we have so very many games to talk about. After a brief recap of our weekends, which included hours of unboxing videos, racing wheel setups, F1, grappling, and EMT service, we get into it. We’re playing the definitely-political Division 2, the charming but maybe-politically-confused The Occupation, the wildly creative Hynospace Outlaw, and the brilliant puzzler Baba is You. Strap in for a long one today! Discussed: The Division 2, The Occupation, Hypnospace Outlaw, Baba is You Ho...
Mar 18, 2019•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 226
Seven weeks ago, we at Waypoint set out on a journey to untangle the lore of Kingdom Hearts. Partially, this was for our listeners who trust our expertise in all matters of the heart, but in honesty, it was mostly for ourselves. We, perhaps like you, had been plagued by questions about the Disney-Square collaboration. These were not novel questions, we know, and to series diehards they were simple: Why do so many people have the letter X in their names. Who was Xehanort, and what did it men to b...
Mar 15, 2019•2 hr 15 min
Wait, what is FORMULA 1 RACING doing on a Waypoint podcast? Well thanks to a slow night for Danielle's EMS work, she fell head-over-heels in love with Netflix's new Drive to Survive series. Listen to Danielle and Natalie get caught up in the drama of tire changes and team budgets in the most lavish motorsport in the world, while Rob tries not to hog the microphone or get everyone to sign up for F1 TV. Meanwhile, the gang has been trying to figure out their exact level of dread for a Biden p...
Mar 14, 2019•1 hr 41 min
Join Austin, Natalie, Patrick and Danielle for a whirlwind tour of the games we’re playing, in mechs (Left Alive, Titanfall 2), in space (Objects in Space), and in… demon funtimes (Devil May Cry 5). We’re all anxiously awaiting Sekiro in different ways, really. Discussed: Left Alive, Devil May Cry 5, Objects in Space, Titanfall 2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 11, 2019•1 hr 46 min
Last week we were reminded of Troop-Cop , who was so troubled by protestors calling police fascists that he had no choice but to club the shit out of them, all in the service of a tacky clothing brand. It dovetailed well with an interesting graphic essay from Nate Powell on paramilitary aesthetics and their increasing popularity among reactionaries in the United States. Then, Danielle's been digging into the latest issue of Heterotopias, where she encountered an essay from María Bonete Escoto on...
Mar 07, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Waypoint doesn’t usually cover games ahead of release. Usually. But y’all know we have a real soft spot for the Souls games, and Natalie couldn’t resist spending a few hours of FromSoftware’s latest, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, at a recent press event. Austin and Patrick hopped on to grill Natalie about why she spent so much time trying to kill a dang fish, what makes Sekiro so distinctly different from previous Soulslikes in in ways beyond just combat and storytelling, and more. Hosted on Acast....
Mar 06, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Austin returns to the podcast after a few weeks of thinking about mechs, and finding rest and relaxation by staying up until the wee hours of the morning while—well, thinking about mechs. He’s joined by Patrick, Cado, Rob, and Natalie to revisit Kingdom Hearts III as everyone nears the ending (no spoilers!), while also touching on Daemon X Machina, Betrayal Legacy, Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee, the medical world’s recent decision to inflate Patrick’s stomach, and the THQ Nordic/8Chan fiasco from last ...
Mar 04, 2019•1 hr 59 min
