PixlBit

Really happy to hear this back! I missed the show a lot, but I made the decision back when Julian's mother passed to not bother you guys on twitter about it and just give you your space. I thought that if the show ever came back in the future it would be in due time and no sooner. I'm just the one goon that happens to comment the most, but I can probably say with some amount of certainty that many more people than myself missed you guys, and it's good to hear all of you in front of the mic again. We love and appreciate you.

I'm still in college and haven't been able to get a PS4 or XB1 yet, so I've been playing backlogged stuff, and occasionally new games that are cross-gen. I'd like to play the new Tomb Raider this holiday, that's probably the game I'm most excited for. When the previous TR game went up for free on Games With Gold I played through it and absolutely loved it. I want to get my hands on Metal Gear 5 as well but I'll save that till after TR since Metal Gear seems like much more of a time sink.

School has been going well, although it's been the toughest semester by far. I have calculus and calc-based physics together, and the next semester (in spring) will be the same thing but with the next classes in the sequence. Altogether I'll have a full year of calc and physics before I'm ready to transfer. Around this time next year I should be out of state at my next school programming a game finally.

At some point in a future episode I would love to hear Patrick talk about how school has been going. I remember him saying some time ago he was going into a Masters program and I thought that was fascinating!

I just started Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on Xbox One tonight and couldn't put it down for hours. It's a fantastic game, and a great palette cleanser after Halo 5. I also just got a Vita after some nudging by Patrick, so I decided to download Spelunky for it. I got it free on PS Plus and didn't care for it, but that was before I fell down the Rogue Legacy rabbit hole. I know you love that game, so I'll give it another shot.

We're glad to be back. You're probably one of the few people outside of the NWP cast that knew what had happened, and I appreciate your kind words and understanding that I needed time. Even though I have been doing the Slam Masters podcast that is a much simpler show, and I'm not in the driver's seat on that one. NWP takes a lot more thought and work on my part.

Played Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition for PS4, loved that game. My save got corrupted from a known bug and I had to start the game from scratch, no probelm though, I still beat it pretty fast. Can't wait until next year to play the next one (when it comes to PS4). 

I also just bought a Vita. I have tons of free PS+ games for it including: Uncharted Golden Abyss, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, Dragons Crown, Street Fighter X Tekken, Spelunky, Terraria, Rouge Legacy, Unit 13, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, Wipeout 2048...etc. Luckily I have been "buying" them each month of PS Plus just in case I one day decided to get a Vita. That day is here.

-Kevin

Thanks for the indirect shoutout. Happy to see you guys are back. I had no idea that had happened, I am sure you probably announced it via Twitter; I am not on Twitter though. Hope to hear another episode soon.

Sounds like we will be back on a normal schedule. This episode actually came out on the same week it would have if we hadn't missed any shows. It's just 8 episodes behind where we would have been. I have an idea for our last show of the year, too. Thanks for your kind words!

So sorry about your Mom Julian. That's just horrible.

All that stuff about Northern Ireland was certainly an eye opener. I knew there was tension there, but wow!

I'm just realizing that everyone I see at Thanksgiving is strongly Irish Catholic, including my Mom. Thing is, my parents (both from Catholic families) brought us kids up in the Episcopal church for some reason, and my Dad was half German, so I kind of lean towards the German side of the family. Now that he's gone, I'm left to confront my Irish side. I'm not sure what that really means for me except that I think I look more German than Irish. The religious stuff is another question. I'm not strongly one way or the other.

I've been coming to some very deep grips with family and religion since this happened, so I can understand some of your situation. As someone who always did what his parents said, it is an odd feeling to not only start to come into my own, but deal with the idea that I have different beliefs and values than I was raised with.

Yea, my life being at home with my parents is pretty far off now. Seems like another lifetime ago. All those influences have worn off pretty much. But i always feel like an outsider no matter where I go. Family functions included. 

Welcome back.

Plague Knight was my top choice for the boss campaigns.  After playing the game again and again I really wish that Propeller Knight was coming instead of King Knight.

One of my brothers grabbed a copy of Until Dawn over the weekend, so I look forward to bumming his copy when he is done with it.

I really wouldn't have picked Plague Knight.

King Knight always struck me as kind of a joke character. There's even an achievement that reads "beat any boss without taking damage... except King Knight" I'm kinda surprised he's the second one, but hey, considering how they brought me around on Plague Knight, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with him!

Since Yoshi's Wooly World came up, I figure I'd throw in my 2 cents:

It's definitely tougher than people give it credit for. If you're just trying to beat the game, yes, it can be quite easy. If you're trying to 100% it, you're playing a totally different game. After unlocking the S levels in each world, you will be legitimately challenged. Chessa and I have definitely enjoyed it and the level design is quite clever.

If you're not into hunting collectibles to get the extra challenge, you can probably skip it, since you won't be getting much out of it. That stuff totally does it for me, especially in platformers, so I'd give it a 4/5.

I might have to check this one out after all.

I'm so sorry about your mom, Julian. That's crazy it was such a random event. Glad you're trying to be independent and don't have to file for bankruptcy.

When I was little, we actually housed an Irish kid on behalf of our church or some other organization (my family is Catholic) because of the violence in Ireland. Sad that's still going on. My grandpa had a song I still remember hearing from his stereo with lyrics "I lend a hand to me Protestant brother, but the British man?" so ... at least the Irish have other prejudices?

I can attest to how awful PSN is for downloads and for some reason I have a hard time navigating PS Store from my actual PS4. I have to go online just to know what the full extent of my PS+ extras is most months.

I love John Lennon's music, but he is a giant hypocrite. That's funny about Jimmy Page's house. I prefer our system where you just add whatever flag to your house and be done with it.

Didn't realize we were touching on religion in this episode. I'm still an atheist and Patrick is going to get shot by a Protestant. Or several of them. Actually, now that I think about it, Deep East Texas might have that in common with Ireland.  Not really, SFA's Catholic church seems unmolested, just surrounded by Protestant churches.

I was wanting to play Until Dawn, but decided against it when it was revealed to me it was a QTE game. Still wanted to rent it, but not sure it's at Red Box now. I wasn't gonna buy it. There is definitely something to be said for games that just keep going. And I think that whole "oh I'd have done this" BS ppl say about stressful situations is always nonsense. You don't know until you've lived it. 

Rocket League is so great. I bought the DLC for the Back to the Future car. I didn't know Shantae and Shovel Knight were linked by composer. I like this guy. 

I would comment on whatever you guys were talking about before Rocket League, but I honestly threw my attention elsewhere for most of it. 

Tomb Raider is terribly violent and over-the-top, but I loved it. It looks awesome. Will admit though, Conan's reactions to her deaths were spot on. And yeah, video game logic. I don't remember ever having control taken away from me though. You sure it wasn't just meant to be a sudden wind? 

I rmember Fallout 3 being a big deal, but it wasn't a HUGE deal the way 4 is. I've never played Fallout, so I'll just rent it first. I am the only gamer in my circles who was not that hyped nor has played F4. 

You got a disc read error after the last boss? Wooooow. That would have been threats to call the President of Nintendo when I waslittle. I might actually do it now if that happened, just for the satisfaction. 

Cool you went to 24 hours Angelo. I did that for Heroic Inner Kids/Extra Life not too long ago, we had to keep the kids away from our Cards Against Humanity and ... some similar fun game made by You Don't Know Jack people. There were also tons of PC, tabletop and console games. Of course, I did not know your son was such a BA at SB. Awesome! Happy y'all raised some money too! I kinda want that Sonic spork. 

I could use an investment game besides GTA V. I kinda want to start investing. Outside of loan debt, I save perfectly fine, but I need to invest. Oh wait, you meant ... never mind. 

I also prefer a controller to arcade, but I will agree PS4 doing a quarter circle for GGXrd does not always work unless i use d-pad. A lot of times in fact I'll think I'm obviously going a certain direction on the PS4 joysticks and ... apparently not. That always happens with controllers for me though, at least on GCN it did.