Ep. 406 - Sextuple A, with Esper Quinn

Podcast Editor and Game Industry Analyst Esper Quinn joins the panel to cover why Silksong’s price doesn’t matter, what the A’s in AAAAA-Game stand for, and the Loudness War. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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SHOW NOTES:

• GDQ
• Peanut Butter the Speedrunning Dog
• Ivan Drago
• “It’s a Russian taunt”
• Void Stranger
• Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Sid Meier’s Civilization V
• Magic: the Gathering
• The Sims 2
• Hyper Gunsport
• Gunhouse
• Demonschool
• Oh, Deer!

1: Ash Parrish asks: Frank, have you gotten to the ladder in Snake Eater? (06:34)

• Triangle Strategy
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
• Taylor Swift
• Cynthia Harrell
• Vincent Diamante

2: What is the hardest console, currently and historically, to develop video games for? (10:54)

• PlayStation 3
• Sega Saturn
• Atari Jaguar
• PlayStation
• Xbox 360
• Casio Loopy
• Atari 2600
• Nintendo Entertainment System
• Spacewar!
• Atari 7800
• Amiga
• Sega Dreamcast

3: What is the most common thing to change in a video game’s first sequel? (16:47)

• Borderlands 4
• Metroid series
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Resident Evil series
• Yakuza series
• Miles “Tails” Prower
• Miles Morales
• Sonic the Hedgehog series
• Pokemon series
• Klefki
• Sinistea
• Mimikyu
• Pikachu
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A
• Tandemaus
• Maushold
• Blue’s Clues
• The Spice Family

4: What do each of the A’s in Quintuple A stand for? (22:01)

• GTA 6 Is The First “AAAAA Game,” Industry Veteran Says
• Grand Theft Auto VI
• Devolver Digital
• Hot Coffee
• XTC - Making Plans For Nigel
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Mel Brooks
• Richard Pryor

5: Anonymous asks, why do so few indie games share their price before launch? (28:17)

• Borderlands 4 turns off your brain and turns on the fun
• In Silksong, spite is my motivation to keep playing

6: What is the main reason someone will buy a video game? (34:51)

• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• The Toys That Built America
• Frank on the History Channel with the subtitle “This is epic.”
• Fortnite
• Minecraft
• Trojan Vision
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
• G4

LIGHTNING ROUND: Clown Car (42:30)

Recommendations and Outro (48:51):

• Brandon: Final Draft if you want to watch a bad competition show, release Tracie Spencer’s Naturelle album from 1993 if you work for Capitol Records
• Ash: Great British Bake-Off, Wildcard Kitchen
• Frank: Antiques Roadshow
• Jaffe: Esper Quinn is available for audio and video editing services
• Esper: Alex Jaffe is available for hosting and voice acting services, follow my partner and love of nine years Ripley, don’t watch Big Brother

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