Today I have a chat with Darren - a podcast veteren and co-host of the Retro Domination Podcast. Darren has an extensive and successful podcasting history in both gaming and music, and we discuss the ups and down of managing a podcast in the modern era. We also 💩 on Sony for destroying physical discs 👎

Check out Retro Domination here - https://www.facebook.com/RetroDomination

https://open.spotify.com/show/2a9KLyfpYOeYBVAEA6nSVb

Drop bears and giant spiders - A psychological survival horror based on the real-life nuclear testing sites in South Australia. That's right, nuclear tests were conducted in the Australian Outback during the Cold War, and this developer is making a game inspired by these events.

Resident Evil meets...uh Crocodile Dundee?

Wishlist on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3813640/X300/

https://www.covyne.com/x300

Today I'm joined by Max and Darcy from The Rat Shed, who are developing a narrative driven interactive story.

One More Trail is a 'meditative' western that follows an Australian cowboy in the American frontier. The use of historic real world photographs and silhouetted characters gives this game a distinct look like no other.

Wishlist One More Trail on Steam:https://store.steampowered.com/app/4027330/One_More_Trail/https://www.instagram.com/the.rat.shed/

This episode I'm joined by the co-founders of Bad Plan Studios, Dan McGuinnes and Chad Habel, who are currently developing End of Ember.

End of Ember is a 'maximalist' twin-stick shooter rouge-like comedy horror, with inspiration from games like Binding of Isaac and horror films from the 80s and 90s.

Their game blends over-the-top gore with light hearted fun and comedy, with an art style reminiscent of hand-drawn cartoons and comic books.

https://badplanstudios.wordpress.com/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3217880/End_of_Ember/

https://www.instagram.com/end_of_ember/

Our first episode of Checkpoint Chats - A byte sized podcast on whatever happened this week in gaming.

This week the PS5 Pro was revealed and I'm joined by Rex, long time friend of the show. We discuss first impressions, price point, and whether we're forking out the cash this November.

My guest today is Steel Mantis co-founder Thomas Jenns. Steel Mantis is an independent developer behind Slain: Back from Hell (2016), Valfaris (2019), and Valfaris: Mecha Therion (2023).

These games take inspiration from classic shooters and come with a healthy dose of heavy metal, gore, and sci-fi.

Thomas shares his programming journey and what led him to work on these games.

Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1647920/Valfaris_Mecha_Therion/

Steel Mantis' other co-founder Andrew Gilmour:

https://x.com/MrAwolf

Podcast Social Links:

https://linktr.ee/semioccasionalgaming

See what I did there? Let’s finally review Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Listen to two fan boys gushing over this game that was another 4 years in the making. Cynthetic and I share our thoughts and theories on the game and what the hell happened in that ending. SPOILER EPISODE.

Cynthetic Gaming Links:

https://www.youtube.com/@cyntheticgaming

https://www.instagram.com/cyntheticgaming/

Podcast Links:

https://www.youtube.com/@semioccasionalgaming

https://www.instagram.com/semi.occasional.pod/

https://linktr.ee/semioccasionalgaming

In a slight change of pace this episode, my wife and I discuss some heavy topics of gaming in the modern landscape. Video game violence, parenting and gaming, representation, and the phallic undertones of giant swords.

Podcast Links:

https://www.youtube.com/@semioccasionalgaming

https://www.instagram.com/semi.occasional.pod/

https://linktr.ee/semioccasionalgaming

Special thanks to Fortress Melbourne for hosting us this episode.