I Speel My Dreenk

Old news here, but to hell with that stapler question. Mike is probably close to correct above.

This is a good and true point. The denizens of NDC are definitely a mish-mash reminiscent of those from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Pleasantville, and The Truman Show. Whoever populated the city with them obviously only had those sorts of inspirations to go off of, which is why they look like regular people from *our* dimension. It's really just a huge design faux pas by someone high up the chain in NDC, who is now too embarrassed to change it this late in the game.

The E-thlete reality show has the same structure (probably other shows do as well) as a recent Korean show called The Genius. Instead of athletes, the cast consists of roughly half South Korean celebrities, half semi-well-known-in-South Korea people of supposed higher intelligence - including multiple StarCraft pros. Additionally, instead of physical challenges, they engage in competitive mental games, usually involving bargaining, deduction, and deception on multiple levels. It's not the sort of thing I typically go in for, but I found it super entertaining, especially how the demeanor and relationships of the contestants are such a far cry from what you'd see on American reality TV. Here's the tumblr page for the person who's translated and subbed all four seasons (listed 4-1) http://bxrme.tumblr.com/tagged/the-genius

I'd love for you guys to stream some more Dark Souls - and while it's clearly up to you, I'd recommend setting Similar Face aside in favor of Breckon Jr., only because the game is already tough enough as it is, especially streaming, and it'd be great for y'all to see as much as you can. Something about the Souls/Bloodborne games makes them incredibly interesting to watch others play, even after hundreds of hours of playing them myself. It's probably seeing someone working through the learning process, discovering the game's ins and outs, and ultimately getting better (to one degree or another). Chris, you mentioned Kay's Youtube channel, and indeed her evolution from trying to remember where all the buttons on the controller are to thoroughly and effortlessly destroying everything in the game, all the while being observant and analytical, is incredibly satisfying to witness - especially in games like these (although she records video for, and is really good at, many other types of games). Hers are definitely my favorite Let's Plays to watch.

Has Doug Tabacco played Doug Dug yet? I'm super curious to know whether or not Doug dug Doug dug.

Please never stop talking about Fallout 4 so that Chris will keep this "Gollum tatoes joke" train rollin'. Also, I just thought of 'Brahmin Ramen', which I found funny and was wondering if that might be a real(?) thing in the Fallout universe. It doesn't seem to be, but I did find https://brahminramen.wordpress.com/, which purports to be a restaurant review site for the Boston area, but seems actually unfinished or maybe just a Wordpress demonstration site? Maybe it's a discarded Fallout 4 tie-in ARG site or something? Weird!

With both of their voices overdubbed by Steve Blum, naturally.

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

If Pardo would sit and talk for hours on end about WoW design choices and challenges, I would certainly listen. As someone who played so, so very much of that game and therefore spent so much time tangled up in all of its systems and mechanics, it's very interesting to think about lots of the design decisions from the outside-in as opposed to where the actual designers are coming from, especially while taking into account all of the changes that have been made over the last decade. That's something that is only possible to do for a handful of games.

After all these years, I don't expect you guys to ever stop worrying that what you're talking about is secretly boring the readers in some way, but: Just Do It™

Great job on these, Steve. It must've been difficult to find time for you and the interviewee to sit down and chat for a few hours, and with 14 fewer candidates (barring repeats) it likely won't get easier. Even so, looking forward to another season!

Junior Mints are is so, so, so good. Also, the candy is great. e: I'm surprised no one brought up Bill HIcks as the torch-bearer for offensive 90's stand-up comedy.

Was that mention of blankity-blank dot com at about 35:53 just a missed edit? or a megaton reveal?

Love these casts Steve, always something interesting contained within.

Definitely, this. I'm laughing constantly the entire time, it's the best.