Tonight on GeekNights, in light of one of many Helldivers 2 kerfuffles, we consider yet another way that late capitalism is ruining the games industry: the stores make more money than the games. In the news, a Roblox game's attempt to fix its in-game economy causes a bunch of gamers to lose their minds, Sportsnet streams have freaky noises, and Ani…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how to ruin your competitive card game. Scott shares the original Sins of CCG design. This is all in the context of Marvel SNAP. In the news, the Rangers sweep the Capitals, Square Enix reported extraordinary losses, Dave & Buster's introduces real money gambling, and Fallout games don't work on modern PCs. Relate…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Klask. It's a well-designed extremely fun tabletop sport adjacent to but significantly distinct from Air Hockey. In the news, the Rangers are number one in the NHL, the Coyotes are moving to Salt Lake City, and Visions of Mana has quite the trailer. Also if you ever need to help out an injured pigeon in New York Cit…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Balatro (2024). From LocalThunk and published by Playstack, it's a roguelike deckbuilder in the vein of Slay the Spire, but in Video Poker. It's good. In the news, PAX East was all right but it's still a ghost town when the expo hall closes, the Rangers are top of the NHL coming into the playoffs, and you may not ha…

Tonight on GeekNights, having previously talked about Cheating we now consider Anti-Cheat. How do you prevent cheating? In the news, the Nintendo Direct is Feb 21 but the Switch 2 is likely 2025, and Helldivers 2's ugly anti-cheat in a PvE game leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Related Links Forum Thread Anti-Cheat Discord Chat Anti-Cheat Things of…

Tonight on GeekNights, we riff on some of the ideas we're exploring for our new talk for PAX East 2024: All Games are the Same Game. Turns out you can factorize games into other games. Also we're back after Rym was gone skiing for a week. In the news, the Logitech G PRO X wireless headset is all right, it turns out US presidents aren't immune to al…

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the extremely good games we played at MAGFest 2024, which itself was possibly the best MAGFest that has ever happened to date. Particularly, the MAGFest Indie Videogame Showcase (MIVS) and a shout-out to Nothing Good Can Come of This. In the news, Palworld surged onto the scene with massive sales and weird controve…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Whale Street. It is a solid concept, combining the stock/operating round structure of an 18xx game with poker hand mechanics, but it doesn't quite stick the landing on execution. In the news, Wizards of the Coast has an AI art problem, and Free to Play games like Overwatch and Marvel Snap have a new card/character p…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Lethal Company from Zeekerss. Rym tried out that Zelda 2 remix. In the news, Nintendo killed the Wii U and 3DS servers early, and Valve banned people who deserved it in a fantastic way. Related Links Forum Thread Lethal Company (2023) Discord Chat Lethal Company (2023) Things of the Day Rym - Disco Elysium | Pixel A…

Tonight on GeekNights we review Ahoy (2022). In the news, kids want Robux for Christmas, ByteDance is restructuring Nuverse in a "retreat" from gaming, and Nintendo has to make an 18+ version of the N64 app. Related Links Forum Thread Ahoy (2022) Discord Chat Ahoy (2022) Things of the Day Rym - 2017 Ohio State Drum Major Tryouts Scott - No-Bullshit…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Cobalt Core. It's a cross between Slay the Spire and FTL, taking the best aspects of both. It's also super cute. In the news, the Pickleball people are facing increasing drama, and it's good to "cheat" at Pokémon. We also make fun of AMD for a while. Related Links Forum Thread Cobalt Core Discord Chat Cobalt Core Th…

Tonight on the 18th anniversary of the first episode of GeekNights, we review The Jackbox Party Pack 10. It's got the streamlined TKO 2 and a trivia game that's like the ones we like. In the news, Rym keeps playing Overwatch, Super Mario Wonder is good fun, and Deltarune 3 and 4 will come out sooner than anticipated. Related Links Forum Thread The …

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Counter-Strike 2. We have been playing some form of Counter-Strike since 2000... We reviewed Counter-Strike in 2006 and Counter-Strike GO in 2012. In news that is as little as it is late, Unity backs down on much of their new monetization model, Epic lays off 16% of its staff, and Scott GeekBites Heretic's Fork. Rel…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review and discuss PAX West 2023. The new venue is fantastic and it felt a lot like PAXes from the golden age of PAX. In the news, Scott suffered Airport Adventures yet made it to Chicaco, Steam (and our Steam accounts) are 20 years old, and the Unity game engine destroys itself with an actively hostile monetization model …

Tonight on GeekNights, having somehow never talked about Quake (except for Quake Live in 2009, we discuss Quake 2 and the Quake 2 Remaster. In the news, the Atari 7800 is back legit, Charles Martinet is moving on, and Marvel Snap is paying people to watch Twitch streams with .pngs in their app. Related Links Forum Thread Quake 2 Remastered Things o…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review PitchCar (1995). It's a flicking game. It's a sport. It's pretty fun. In the news, a livestreamer guy caused a riot in New York for which he is facing charges, Gen Con continues to live up to its reputation with a disaster over unmanaged Lorcana lines (remember Lorcana is the subject of a lawsuit from Upper Deck) an…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review two games by the legendary Sid Sackson: Can't Stop (1980) and All My Diamonds (1969). They're both worth playing, but for different reasons. In the news, Overwatch League is in deep trouble along with much of the global esports ecosystem. Related Links Things of the Day Rym - German Community Gardens (Schrebergarten…

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss worker placement as a game mechanic. We intend to turn this into a series of shows and panels following on from Mastering Game Mechanics as presented at PAX East 2013. In the news, Marvel Snap's Conquest mode is fantastic, and Valve is dropping Battle Passes for Dota 2 because "nobody buys them." Related Links Foru…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's one of the best pieces of entertainment software ever made. 11/10. S-Tier. A case study in good game design. Just go play it if you aren't already. In the news, Overwatch 2 is banning 5,000 cheaters a week, Street Fighter 6's control modes are looking pretty good, and …

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider lore in games. You know, all that text you didn't read in the tooltips of the inventory. Or what characters told you in Half Life while you tried to clip out of the room. In the news, the Rangers begin their first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a real game, SGDQ 2023 is immi…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Muneyuki Yokouchi's fantastic Cat in the Box. This is an S-tier trick taking game. A must-own. It takes about two minutes to teach (three if the player is unfamiliar with trick taking games) and we've had a blast with it so far. In the news, the world is safer today as Finland formally joins NATO, a Florida man is i…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Stacklands (2022). In the news, Counter-Strike 2 is likely coming, Disco Elysium gets a collage mode, and DPReview falls victim to Amazon layoffs and capitalism. Related Links Thing of the Day Rym - Masami Okui - Live in Hibiya 13 - Toki ni Ai wa (ITARU ver.).mpgBy Rym and Scott - The Front Row Crew

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss gamer furniture of the non-chair variety. In the news, Nintendo adds Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games to Switch Online, Microsoft adds Call of Duty to Nintendo, and Magic: The Gathering adds Lord of the Rings. We also streamed this show live on the Discord Stage in the official GeekNights Discord! Related Links …

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss games that are not fully dead, but are mostly dead. Dance Dance Revolution (at home), the resurrected Netrunner, The Realm, Steel Battalion, and whatever game you're mad we didn't include in this short list just now. In the news, The Last Rockstars have debuted, Rym has a high opinion of the L-TEK EX PRO 2 DDR pad,…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider teams. Playing on teams, forming teams, team sports, team games. All that team stuff. In the news, Dwarf Fortress with graphics is here (recall we interviewed Tarn Adams on GeekNights back in 2008), the FTC sues to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Blizzard will need someone new to offer World …

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss comms in games. Text chat, voice chat, open versus restricted, and the like. In the news, Pentiment is available, and Rym is obsessed with Disco Elysium. Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Tuesday - Comms in Games Things of the Day Rym - Digital database documents vital infrastructure created by the New Deal Sco…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review the surprisingly elegant Marvel Snap. Released this year on phones and PCs, it's essentially a flavor of Knizia's Battle Line (2000), itself in a narrow class of similar games of a shared lineage. In the news, Ross Chastain changed the meta in NASCAR with "Some Video Game Shit," Embracer rebranded Square Enix Montré…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Unknown Worlds' Moonbreaker (2022). It's a turn-based digital miniatures game that shares a lot of lineage with Hearthstone, Magic, and possibly Neuroshima Hex (at least in terms of the net effect of some of its mechanics). It's all right, but it has a lot of issues and remains in early access. In the news, Discord'…

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss the history and current state of online game servers. Rising primarily out of competitive FPSs like Quake and Counter Strike back in the day, they were often the only way to play with a reliable community of people. There weren't matchmaking or friend lists or anything like that. In the news, Rym and Emily are back…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider single player tabletop games. Distinct from Solitaire and Simple Games or Solitaire Puzzles, expanding on our discussion of The Number of Players, we look at what it takes to have a regular old tabletop game for one. We cite Why No One Will Game With You in the course of this, but there are plenty of great single …

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider casino games like Roulette, Poker, Craps, Blackjack, and Slot Machines. In the news, Unity is having significant woes, Cult of the Lamb looks cute, MultiVersus is something we will review in the future, Nintendo is just like every other games company, Gen Con struggles with the evil government of Indiana, and Twit…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider streaming games. Not to Twitch, but to devices. From Google Stadia to Steam Link to Steam Remote Play to adjacent game library services like Xbox Game Pass it's a space that continues to evolve. In the news, blue states in America are trying to save lives, Scott geekbites Nobody Saves the World, Asmodee sells Keyf…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider save games. Saving games, game states, save scumming, permadeath, passwords, batteries, statefulness, and more. In the news, The Stanley Cup finals are spicier than anticipated, PAX West badges are live (and not sold out), Street Fighter 6 is trying something interesting, and a strange attempt to take over Hasbro …

Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss how games monetize. How can you make money making games? We've done at least three panels around this topic: Monetizing Games and Game Design (PAX East 2012), Money Making Games (MAGFest 2012), and more recently The Real Harm of Games (PAX East 2019). In the news, the Rangers are still in the playoffs, Sony's Plays…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the fascinating art project x portable game console: Playdate. It's neat. In the news, the contest for Lord Stanley's Cup is underway, EA Sports loses FIFA, Bethesda finishes off their PC game launcher, Square Enix continues its long fall from grace by doubling down on a scam, Embracer is embracing a gaming empire…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Offworld Trading Company. An RTS with a M.U.L.E. lineage, we're having fun with it and even playing some multiplayer. In the news, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming, and the Playdate has a nice dev kit. In much more somber and tragic news, since the last episode we made, Russia has invaded Ukraine in what can on…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider lifestyle games. You know the person who plays Magic and only Magic? Or the phase we both went through playing CounterStrike literally every day? Or Chess players? In the news, Sony acquires Bungie (completing the balance of power among the AAAs) and The New York Times acquires Wordle. Related Links Forum Thread G…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Inscryption. It's worth the price of admission even if you don't know that it pulls a Frog Fractions. In the news, Rym beat Zelda II again for some reason, and Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard for ~$70BB. Also remember to aggressively confront any company that even hints at supporting NFTs in any capacity.…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Lost Ruins of Arnak (2020). It's an elegant worker placement deckbuilder. We like it. In the news, COVID-19 is again an extreme crisis (please don't go to MAGFest this coming weekend), Square Enix made a repugnant New Year's statement, Kickstarter is dead, and the fake high school was indeed fake. Related Links Foru…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Metroid Dread on the Nintendo Switch. It's a solid 2D Metroid, with a few horror elements and a lot of polish. In the news, Amazon is down and it's wreaking low-key havoc, Discord is competing with Patreon and Onlyfans (and Twitch), and Ubisoft is absolutely a garbage company. Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights T…

Tonight on GeekNights, we bring you our 2021 Holiday Gaming Gift Guide. What should you buy for that gamer you know? Our list might surprise you. In the news, the Legend of Zelda Game & Watch is a huge step above the Mario one, Epic Games has acquired Harmonix, and don't cross the Wirecutter picket line. Related Links Forum Thread GeekNights Tuesda…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review WarioWare: Get It Together! on the Nintendo Switch. The last time we talked about a WarioWare on GeekNights was back in 2007 when we reviewed the awful WarioWare Smooth Moves on the Wii. In the news, Konami lost the rights to some archival video they licensed, forcing them to take a number of Metal Gear Solid games …

Tonight on GeekNights, we review the portal-inspired multiplayer FPS Splitgate. It's free to play, not pay to win, and if you ignore the non-game-affecting skinz and lootz it's definitely worth trying. In the news, the Advance Wars remaster is delayed, BlizzCon is canceled to be re-imagined, and you don't need a rumble pack for your N64 Controller.…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider a game design topic in the number of players a game supports. For this exercise, we only consider orthogames. We've talked about two player games before. The reality is that one player, two player, and three+ player games are fundamentally and formally distinct. A game that supports more than one of these groups i…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider gaming magazines. Notable mentions include Electronic Games, Nintendo Power, Dragon Magazine, Dungeon Magazine, Scrye (for those MTG prices), InQuest, GamePro, Game Informer, PC Gamer, Games Magazine, and more. In the news, Asmodee is for sale for €2 BB, SEGA Genesis games are coming to the Switch (but you won't g…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile. It's a solid legacy game that's worth taking a look at. In the news, Rym finally played West of Loathing and is sorting out if we'll play Aliens: Fireteam Elite, The CEO of Broken Token steps down (but still owns the company...) after abuse and harassment allegations, the CEO of…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider Deathmatch games, particularly FPS deathmatches. Ostensibly beginning with Doom and Quake, the "genre" began already extremely refined, and frankly Quake 1 Deathmatch is literally worth playing today. In the news, Rym biked to Poughkeepsie again, Quake 1 got an update that makes multiplayer "just work" on modern P…

Tonight on GeekNights, we review Pokémon UNITE: the Pokémon MOBA. It's actually pretty fun, and it's a shame that it's microtransactional pay-to-win garbage. Only play it if you can play with friends who agree to never spend money, never grind, and never use any items. In the news, the NHL Expansion Draft has released the Kraken, Activision Blizzar…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider collecting in games. Specifically, we consider "new in box" cartridges and people who like to tell you how many board games they own. In the news, Advance Wars 1 and 2 are coming to the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Pro is exactly what we expected rather than what people seemed to imagine, someone buys a ne…

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the New Pokemon Snap. It's Pokemon Snap. It's exactly what it looks like. And it's probably worth playing. In the news, 1846 gets an update, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run By Dogs is out, the 3080 Ti is coming, Nintendo took down a rom site (but the buried lede is that the proprietor went pro se in court), an…