#08 - Hurtling Over Peak Videograme

The Blood Zone

it's a video...grames episode! in this long-awaited new episode, i briefly talk about cool oddball that very much bear the mark of their creators: the colorful and goofy Super Bogus World (which has a recently released sequel) and the very unsettling Pagan: Autogeny.

then i spend the meat of the episode unpacking a recent obsession of mine: the Trackmania series (with focus on the recent Trackmania 2020 free to play game) with returning guest, writer and phd student Ian Williams. we ask the tough questions: what is so unusually good about Trackmania compared to other racing games? why does its company (Nadeo) seem to keep fucking something that works so well up? what is quintessentially European about Trackmania? what is our platonic ideal Trackmania track? and other such questions.

Ian's 2014 article about the Trackmania series (with an interview of director Florent Castelnerac) in Paste Magazine is here: https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/inside-trackmania-talking-with-nadeos-florent-cast/ Ross's Game Dungeon's video about TrackMania² Canyon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulp99wSUNgk

you can find Trackmania Nations Forever for free on Steam and Trackmania 2020 for free on the Epic Games Store (with an Ubisoft Uplay account)

hubol's website (where you can download Super Bogus World 1): http://www.hubolhubolhubol.com/

you can download (& donate) to Super Bogus World 2 here: https://hubol.itch.io/super-bogus-world-2

you can follow hubol on twitter here: https://twitter.com/hubol

you can find Pagan: Autogeny here: https://oleandergarden.itch.io/pagan3

youtuber Painticus's review of the Pagan trilogy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1y6xt8qAE

you can follow Oleander Garden on twitter here: https://twitter.com/void_hyacinth

you can follow Ian on twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/Brock_Toon

Ian's tabletop RPG ACTION MOVIE WORLD: First Blood is available here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/157229/ACTION-MOVIE-WORLD-First-Blood

youtuber Writing About Games's video "Trackmania Deserves to Be Far Bigger Than It Is": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxRM9YLaaU