Shall We Play a Game?

The NBC News investigative journalist talks about why he bought a PlayStation Pro, whether it’s OK to talk about “Myst” in mixed company, and what Mia Farrow thinks about “BioShock Infinite.” NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Planescape: Torment” SHOW NOTES: “A New Art Form May Arise From the ‘Myst,’” by Edward Rothstein in 1994 in The New York Times “The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamergate,” by Felicity Day   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Impressions of the Nintendo Switch after playing with it during its reveal event in New York City. Plus, why does “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” put jump on the same button as “The Last Guardian”? And the first reality TV show from Shall We Studios. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Ronan Farrow: What I Play

What was your favorite video game of 2016? We asked 23 of the smartest people we know–game designers, podcasters, YouTubers, journalists, a screenwriter, a playwright–and got 19 answers. Counting Chris and JJ, that’s 25 people and 20 games in our second annual GOTY Podcast Spectacular.  Plus, intense disagreement about the merits of “The Last Guardian.” STARRING, in order of appearance: Jason Concepcion & Ben Lindbergh, hosts of Achievement Oriented; Chris Remo, Idle Thumbs host and Campo Santo developer; Austin Walker, Waypoint editor-in-chief; Carolyn Petit, Feminist Frequency writer; Nina Freeman, “Cibele” designer and Fullbright level designer; Theresa Duringer, founder of Temple Gates Games; Adrian Chen, staff writer for The New Yorker; Jon Lovett, a Keepin’ It 1600 host, screenwriter, and former speechwriter for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton; Stephen Totilo, editor-in-chief of Kotaku; Susan O’Connor, writer for games like “BioShock,” “Gears of War,” “Far Cry 2,” and “Tomb Raider”; Virginia Heffernan, author of “Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art”; Clive Thompson, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, a columnist for Wired, and the author of “Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better”; Anita Sarkeesian, founder of Feminist Frequency; Lucy Prebble, playwright of “The Effect”; Meg Jayanth, writer of “80 Days”; Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman; John Davison, Glixel general manager; Gabriel Winslow-Yost, assistant editor of The New York Review of Books; Jason Killingsworth, writer for Riot Games and co-author of “You Died: The ‘Dark Souls’ Companion”; Brett Douville, lead programmer for “Skyrim” and “Fallout 4” and Dev Game Club host; Simon Parkin, contributing writer for NewYorker.com and author of “Death By Video Game”; Laura Hudson, writer for FiveThirtyEight, Wired and Slate NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Ronan Farrow: What I Play SHOW NOTES: Chris in The New York Times on “The Witness” and “Quadrilateral Cowboy” as his most anticipated games–of 2014   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter  

Is the first “Assassin’s Creed” movie better than the first “Assassin’s Creed” video game? Plus, what JJ is playing in VR with Oculus Touch. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Our 2017 Game of the Year Podcast Spectacular SHOW NOTES: Chris’s Glixel interview with Respawn’s Vince Zampella   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

What happens when a podcast rant about Nintendo turns into a New York Times op-ed. Plus, comparing PlayStation Move and Oculus Touch while playing “I Expect You to Die,” Schell Games’ VR spy puzzler. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: The “Assassin’s Creed” movie SHOW NOTES: Chris’s New York Times op-ed on “Super Mario Run”   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Is Mario’s first iPhone game–and JJ’s first Mario game (!!!)–brilliant, despicable, or both? Plus, our apparently annual review of a new “Star Wars” movie. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Oculus Touch and “I Expect You To Die” SHOW NOTES: “Why I Hacked ‘Donkey Kong’ For My Daughter” by Mike Mika Anita Sarkeesian’s “Damsels in Distress” video, Part One of “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” Chris’s Slate essay on whether the golden age of “Star Wars” video games is gone forever   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

“Confounding and transcendent” or infuriating? NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Super Mario Run” SHOW NOTES: The Ringer’s “Last Guardian” review Chris talks “The Last Guardian” on The Ringer’s “Achievement Oriented” podcast Chris’s essay on dogwalking and video games in The New York Times   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Finally. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “The Last Guardian” SHOW NOTES: Chris’s Glixel interview with “Dishonored 2” creative director Harvey Smith   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Brett Douville, a former lead programmer at Bethesda Game Studios on games like “Skyrim” and “Fallout 4,” talks about why he sees himself in the kill animations for “Skyrim,” why he loves “Rez,” and what he’s doing for “Tacoma,” the next game from Fullbright. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Kentucky Route Zero: Act IV” SHOW NOTES: Dev Game Club, a podcast hosted by Brett Douville and Tim Longo “‘Fallout 4’ Is Full of Bugs, But Fixing Them Could Ruin It,” by Double Fine’s Zak McClendon, in Wired Chris’ Glixel interview with Bethesda’s Todd Howard   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Emily or Corvo? High chaos or low chaos? Xbox One S or PlayStation 4 Pro? Unmentioned in the podcast: You can sing “Corvo Attano” to the tune of “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King.” NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Kentucky Route Zero: Act IV” SHOW NOTES: Chris’ review of the first “Dishonored” in the New York Times Rob Zacny’s Glixel review of “Dishonored 2” Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Jason Concepcion, a staff writer for The Ringer, talks about why JJ and Chris misunderstood “Overwatch,” taking a cathode-ray tube TV to a friend’s house to play multiplayer “Halo,” and the muddy frisson of “Battlefield 1.” NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: ‘Dishonored 2’ SHOW NOTES: The Ringer’s Channel 33 podcasts, including “Achievement Oriented” hostee by Jason Concepcion and Ben Lindbergh Jason Concepcion on “Halo 5” in Grantland Vanity Fair on Vince Zampella, Jason West, “Call of Duty” and Activision Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

The sequel to Respawn’s multiplayer-only shooter has a single-player campaign with puzzle-platformer levels that are reminiscent of “Half-Life” and “Portal.” NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Act IV of “Kentucky Route Zero” & the “Dishonored” story DLC SHOW NOTES: Geoff Keighley’s The Final Hours of Titanfall   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Spending 300 hours of your life on “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” staying awake until 3 a.m. playing “Civilization VI” and reliving the release of the Xbox 360 through the Xbox One’s “Gears of War 4.” NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Titanfall 2” SHOW NOTES: Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

Screenwriter and former political speechwriter Jon Lovett, who created the NBC sitcom “1600 Penn,” talks about whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama plays video games, why he loves “Portal” and “Portal 2,” and what HBO’s “Westworld” has to say about our interactive fantasies. NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: “Gears of War 4” SHOW NOTES: “Keepin’ It 1600,” a Ringer podcast with Jon Lovett “Westworld” story editor Charles Yu, writing for the Slate “Gaming Club” in 2011 Chris talks about “Westworld” in Glixel   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter

The “rhythm violence” of “Thumper” is one of the best experiences for PlayStation VR. Does it hold up on a two-dimensional screen? Then, why HBO’s new series “Westworld” is the most video-gamey TV show ever made. And did Chris quit “Clash Royale”? NEXT WEEK, WE HOPE: Former Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speechwriter Jon Lovett: What I Play SHOW NOTES: Chris talks about “Westworld” in Glixel “Who Would Actually Go to Westworld?”: Jason Concepcion on “Westworld” in The Ringer   Review us on iTunes Like us on Facebook Email us at shallweshow at gmail Join the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam community Follow the “Shall We Play a Game?” Steam Curators page Follow us on Twitter