Ghosts
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the concept of ghosts. From haunted bunk beds to haunted paintings, Fate Magazine to ghost stories, ghosts are actually a fascinating subject. In the news, The Amazing Randi has passed away, Artzie Music was destroyed by copyright, the Twitch Copyright Strike Apocalypse has resumed with far more dire consequences than last time, and it is a terrible idea to require a license to stream playing a game.
Star Wars: Squadrons
Tonight on GeekNights, we review Star Wars: Squadrons. It's great. It lacks some polish, but the gameplay is sound, the game is solid, and it's almost definitely worth your while. In the news, online chess has a cheating problem, Golden Axed was the product of unethical crunch, and some people are having problems using their Quest 2 due to Facebook.
Extra Olympia Kyklos
Tonight on GeekNights, we review the Extra Olympia Kyklos anime. It's kind of fantastic. In the news, Kipo's third and final season is live, Lupin III: The First will be available digitally December 15th, and you can help save the Museum of the Moving Image.
Bricked Devices
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider when devices get bricked. In the news, someone temporarily bricked their Ferrari, Spotify is working the hold your customers' data hostage angle, and SpaceX is developing military transport rockets.
"Live" At MAGWest 2020
Hey, we are going to be live (to tape) at MAGWest 2020! We were never able to make it out where before, but under the current circumstances it finally worked out!
Play Dirty to Win
Saturday Oct 03
7pm PT (10pm ET)
Main Twitch Stream
This is a 25 minute long hyper-real focused all-new take on an old classic. We drop dense and dangerous advice on how to become a monster in games. Any games.
If you caught us at PAX Online and are looking for more, check out this playlist with 41 of the other PAX talks we've given over the years!
Where is the Finish Line?
PAX Online 2020
All games must end. This is especially important for competitive games. A single-player game ends when you decide to stop playing. But a competitive game ends when someone wins. Or does it? Turns out a lot of competitive games are over before they’re over. A good game can be ruined by ending too soon or too late. Too late, and you have players who have already lost trapped with nothing meaningful to do. Too soon, and you didn’t even “get to the good part.”
If you’re designing a game, how can you determine the best time for the game to end? The conditions that make it happen? Join GeekNights for a thorough examination of the common types of game ending conditions and exploration of a process to determine which one is best for your game.
Book Club - The Tale of Genji
What better selection for the book club than the first novel of all time? And of course, we have to read the best possible unabridged translation. No baby mode here at GeekNights
The plot revolves around Genji, who is the son of the Emperor and a low ranking concubine. Genji is removed from the line of succession, and proceeds to go on an epic journey. The journey involves tons of romance and court drama. Spicy!
Despite being older than any other novel, The Tale of Genji has a tremendous amount of relevance to the geeks of the 21st century. The influence of Japan on nerds around the world is undeniable, and a surprising amount of things we see in pop culture are present here in a book from the 11th century. I'm quite confident after reading it how we will notice how many newer stories have been making references to this tale without us realizing it.
Also, I feel the need to point out that this first novel ever written was written by a woman. For all these reasons and so many more, this is more than worthy of book club selection.
