Hot Button

Episode 89: Well Bam, There It Is! - The History of the Xbox 360 Kinect

Don’t y’all just hate those pesky controllers? Wouldn’t your body or voice make a better one? Back in 2010, Microsoft sure thought that! This week we get into life of the motion-sensing camera peripheral for the Xbox 360 known as the Kinect. Everything from its inception to its reception as well as all the tech talk and personal experiences in between.

Episode 88: For the Love of Gaia… - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

We’ve watched the film, now it’s time for the full breakdown. This week we get deep into the production and release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within! A costly cinematic disaster of a computer animated sci-fi epic that for some reason shares a name with the hugely successful gaming series that inspired it. If you’ve also ever wanted to know how Square and Enix became Square Enix, than this is the story for you!

Hot Button Movie Commentary: Final Fantasy The Spirits Within

Our third official Hot Button commentary is here! Listen to us watch 2001’s mess of a sci-fi epic, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a film that is TOTALLY based off the popular video game franchise and not at all a bizarre fever dream of CGI and heady writing guaranteed to make your head spin.
So allow us to ease the pain of your viewing experience and be sure to check in again next week when we give you the full story of how this cinematic disaster came to be!

Episode 87: Dead Faction - The History of THQ

This week we dive back into the publisher graveyard and go through the full life of one of gaming’s biggest rises and falls. From Red Faction to Saint’s Row to Darksiders, we cover THQ’s extensive library of releases as well as the various developers behind them. It all seemed as if the B-tier game for them was on lock… or at least it was until their unfortunate demise.

Episode 86: The Development of Rogue F*cking Warrior

What happens when you mix a Navy Seal, Mickey Rourke, and Bethesda together? Apparently a pretty downright terrible first-person-shooter. This week we dig into the notorious Rogue Warrior, based on Dick Marcinko's "autobiography" of the same name! An unintentional comedy of broken mechanics and laughably poor writing, all wrapped up in an anti-communist package that only Reagan himself wouldn’t find excessive.

Episode 85: The Little Engine That Could - History of Unity

We’ve told you where Unreal came from, now it’s time we give the same treatment to Unity! A free cross-platform game engine that we almost guarantee that you’ve had experience with, regardless of where you play or what genres you like. Today we look at its development history as well as its uses and impact on the greater industry and beyond.

Hot Button Movie Commentary: The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters

It’s the second ever Hot Button commentary track! Once you finished listening to our series on Twin Galaxies and Billy Mitchell, you can now take a trip to 2007 and join us in a watch of the very film that brought them both back into the limelight brighter than ever before.

Episode 84: Can’t Ditch the Mitch! - The Story of Billy Mitchell and Twin Galaxies Part 2

It’s investigation time in the studio, because we’re back with part 2 of our series on the careers of several of the classic arcade scene’s most famous record holders… and therefor scandals. Everything from Dragster to Pac-Man to Donkey Kong. The race to the top of the scoreboard knows no bounds! So come find out the truth behind Billy Mitchell, as well as his hot sauce. Spoiler: It’s delicious.