Unconsoleable

Who is the “lucky” winner of the first prize in dickery? It could apply to many people, as this episode will demonstrate. Sandwiched between guest episodes, this installment of the show brings you the Jessica and Anna you know and love, talking (and complaining) about the games we’re playing and calling out developers who have a dim view of mobile gaming, but still want to make mobile games. Luckily we played some great stuff this week too. Jessica rediscovers the joy of a Quell game while Anna plays a fencing game that actually feels like real fencing. En garde! There’s also some news to cover and we continue to be concerned about gaming’s favorite whipping boy, Nintendo.

Our guest this week is none other than Ron Gilbert, who we determined is definitely legendary, has achieved everything based on skill alone, and is totally not old. Is any of this true?! You'll have to listen to find out :-p We go all over the place in this episode, from the far reaches of adventure gaming history to what makes a game succeed to good and bad design in adventure games and even movies. What mobile games does Ron like? Is he ever moving to Australia? Will there ever be a third Monkey Island game? And how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? We get to the bottom of all this and much more!

The world has officially lost their minds over Pokemon GO, but has Jessica finally become a Pokemon trainer or not? And can we trust Niantic, the game’s developer, with our data? We also have a pretty huge announcement, squeeeee over Nintendo’s recent mini (tee hee) announcement, talk about what we’re playing of course, and Jessica looks forward to an impending VR adventure that might erase her disappointment with the Rick & Morty mobile game that fell flat.

Yes, Pokemon GO mania has come to Unconsoleable, but for only one of your hosts (for now :-)) But before we get to all that, we took a moment to acknowledge the difficult and violent week the US has had. We hope, if you’ve struggled this week as so many have, that we can take your mind off things for a little bit. Not to forget, but just to take a mental break.

Our WWDC spy has arrived! That’s right, back on the show for the third time and full of tales of San Francisco and Apple’s plans for gaming, it’s our awesome friend Joe Macirowski. Joe rains on our parade a lot, but hey, we already knew that Apple and gaming aren’t exactly a match made in heaven. If you’ve been deluding yourselves, maybe this episode will cure you! There’s a lot to talk about and many important questions to answer, like do games have a better shot of success on the Apple Watch or the Apple TV? Why doesn’t the West Coast know from good bagels? And will we finally find out what Craig Federighi’s hair smells like??!!! Listen now to find out. Please rate and review us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter (and follow Jessica and Anna too), like us on Facebook, buy our merch, and email us if you know anyplace to get good bagels in San Francisco :) Sponsored by * Fracture:  photos printed on glass. Tell them we sent you using this link and selecting "Unconsoleable" to get 10% off y

Jessica’s game drought continues unabated, but not for the reasons you might expect! Anna is enamored with some new games however while others have been… DELETED (gulp). Is everything lost for UK mobile game developers in the wake of #Brexit and does it even matter? Are games like Clash of Clans the future of gaming? Does mobile need more premium games? Should Steve Lubitz start a Hearthstone newsletter? (answer: YES) All these questions and more will be answered!

The great game drought of 2016 has hit Jessica as she played not a single new game this week, turning up her nose at everything new. Anna forced herself to try a few new games and actually liked one of them. Hooray! Meanwhile, there’s lots of news out of WWDC to dig into, a listener question to answer, and are messaging app games the future or a scourge to avoid? We discuss all this and more!

We have the best listeners in the world! Case in point, one of them recommended the most adorable and fun game to us, and it involves setting things on fire! Nothing could be more perfect, especially for Jessica’s appetite for destruction. It’s not a new game, but it’s new to us and might be to you too. The rest of you lot, if you’ve never recommended a game to us, get off your lazy asses! ;-) When not setting things on fire, we spent time this week wondering what both China’s new stance towards mobile games and the changes coming to the App Store will mean for developers. Is the sky falling or is everything going to be ok? Listen now to find out!

Jessica has fallen hard for Fallen London while Anna struggles to like a game that everyone else seems to love. And that’s only the beginning! Never Alone comes to mobile, a game that kinda makes you code might not be for actual programmers, some gamers are terrible, Miitomo isn’t doing so hot, and… well, just listen to the episode dammit! And yes, we’re still playing Candy Crush. FORGIVE US!

On this episode we’re psyched to welcome special guest Enric Jorda, one of the creators of Love You to Bits, which we both adore! We’re sure you’ll love it too, so go play it immediately, if not sooner. Adorable, lovingly made adventure games on mobile are a rare breed, so they need our support! Enric tells us about his backstory in game development, how Love You to Bits was conceived, and much more. So get in your spaceship and blast off on an adventure with us!

Surprise, surprise, Jessica is still not happy about Apple’s featuring changes. Will nothing satisfy her? Maybe only things with candy can do that. That’s right, Jessica may have gone deeper down the Candy Crush rabbit hole this week. But don’t judge her! Or judge her a lot, your choice! ;-p We also hear about Jessica’s adventure’s in VR-land, Anna’s misadventures with another arty game, Monument Valley Year Two numbers, and much more!

Anna thinks things are looking up as there were some great games out this week, but Jessica finds cause to complain about the way Apple is handling featuring lately. And the complaints don’t end there! Both your hosts also try to make peace with the fact that we didn’t drop Candy Crush Soda Saga as swiftly as we expected to. This week’s hot topic was a piece that claimed that the gaming industry is aging us out. Is it? Elsewhere, should no one have been surprised that Nintendo’s mobile games will be free-to-play? We dig into all this and more.

Games are BLAH lately; where is the excitement?? INKS is great, but we’ve been playing it forever now and nothing else interesting seems to be coming out. We are boooooored. Trying to find something new and fun, Anna bravely wades back into the featured games and finds out that yep, they still suck. Meanwhile Jessica gives the Uncharted mobile game a whirl, and both of your hosts admit to something they aren’t proud of. The news is full of depressing stuff, Anna has to be bleeped for the first time ever, and much, much more awaits you!

Hang onto your hats, ladies and gents! Anna and Jessica played one of the Candy Crush games. You can pick your jaw up off the floor now and have no fear, we played other stuff too :) In other news, it turns out there are some good reasons for why touch controls can be so bad. But we’re not letting developers totally off the hook just yet. And can the founder of Atari make great mobile games? He certainly seems to think so, but what do we think?

Things haven’t been easy this week, but we’re here for you dear listeners, and the show goes on! We played some good games—even ones we might be a little, err, ashamed of, and discussed a few truly bizarre news items. One of them is guaranteed to make your jaw drop, we promise.

This week we discover who the Real Gamer is on the podcast as Jessica dominates in a game that Anna can barely play. Anna also wades into the dangerous territory of the top charts on the App Store and samples an arty game (they do exist on mobile!) that may or may not be awful. You’ll have to listen to find out. And, of course, as is often our way, we have some important anger to share with you. You don’t have to agree with our anger of course. But you do  have to listen to it :)

Games, games, and more games! If you’ve ever wanted to hear us spend a ton of time talking about what we’re playing, this is the episode for you! Suuuuure, much of that time is taken up by Disney Crossy Road, but hey, what do you expect? It’s new and adorable and we’ve predictably been playing it a lot. But don’t worry! We played lots of other games too. Some are out, some aren’t, but we have important opinions about all of them and think you’ll probably want to check them out. We also touch on some news and along with that, what sort-of game is Jessica boycotting and why? All this and more so get to listening!

At long last we bring you a chat with our awesome friend, Unconsoleable #1 fan, possibly the best Australian Matt, and oh yeah, game developer of some note, Matt Hall! Disney Crossy Road is now out everywhere, and we talk to Matt about how this dream team-up with Big Mouse came about, what players can expect, and much more! Matt also turns the tables and interviews Anna about her recent sojourn at GDC, and we all ponder why extreme commercial success turns into a nightmare for some developers.

It’s kind of back to normal with this episode; no more husbands and still no Matt Hall. Patience please, you’ll eventually hear the dulcet tones of that Aussie accent :-p We did play some new games though and some of them were even good! Jessica is in the thrall of a bunny while Anna doesn’t know what to make of an adventure game she’s playing and tries to understand why people like idle clickers. So sit back, enjoy and please don’t stalk people on LinkedIn, mmmkay?

We know you were expecting an episode with our friend Matt Hall, but hey, sh*t happens and being the pro podcasters that we are, we rolled with it. Not only did we record a replacement episode for you, dear listeners, at the eleventh hour, but we also managed to snag the awesomest, the most amazing, the most famous guests EVAR. That’s right! Put your hands together for Anna and Jessica’s husbands, Jim and Reuben! (oh, and some guy named Moises was there too ;-p)