Girl Mode – Details, episodes & analysis

After an exciting announcement about the podcast, we have a wide-ranging show this week, covering the return of sword discourse, two recent PlayStation games we feel weird about, and some brief thoughts on a whole bunch of news that broke this week. 

Timestamps

(00:30) We’re officially garbage

(04:30) Echoes of Wisdom and the return of sword discourse

(19:50) RIP Concord

(27:50) Astro Bot looks like a cheerful nightmare

(33:20) Willa’s gone space fishing

(36:00) FFXIV players get weird about a trans woman

(40:00) Arcane season 2 looks good as hell

(42:40) What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard is good?

(52:30) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Rings of Power, Twin Peaks)

Mentioned this week

Nintendo Needs a Reason for the Girl to be the Hero

Concord’s rocky launch is less complicated than you think

Astro Bot - Bot On Melancholy Hill

How Apex Legends made its first trans woman more than “the transition story”

TheWorstGarbage.online

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Street Food by FASSounds

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In today’s episode, we’re feeling normal about last week’s sicko-centric Nintendo Direct double feature. We cover a surprisingly stacked set of announcements, revisit the dating sim discourse that will never die, and predictably have different reactions to a re-release of a certified Old Person Game.

Timestamps

(01:30) Two normal people talk about the Indie World Showcase

(14:00) Date Everything and the return of dating sim discourse

(23:50) Nintendo Direct: Dorks and Losers Edition

(49:20) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. Alien: Romulus, dotzip’s 1000xResist episode, The Rings of Power, and Star Wars Outlaws)

Mentioned this week

dotzip talks for five hours about 1000xResist

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Street Food by FASSounds

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As usual, we kick things off this week with Willa’s thoughts on the Mets, then move into Willa’s thoughts on Endwalker (which she likes less than the Mets). After an Alan Wake detour, we then dive into the excruciating but still funny Shadow of the Erdtree difficulty discourse and other meandering thoughts about Elden Ring. Let’s go Mets!

Timestamps

(00:30) Willa is here to talk about the Mets

(11:30) Endwalker is generally bad, but also good (or vice versa)

(29:40) Night Springs is also good

(35:50) *sigh* Elden Ring difficulty discourse

(56:50) Baseball lore

Mentioned this week

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Was A Flawed Finale I'll Never Forget

If Shadow of the Erdtree Feels Too Hard, Try Playing Like Hidetaka Miyazaki

Elden Ring balance update makes the first half of the DLC easier, so you don't have to be as good as games journalists

Jose Iglesias singing OMG!

Elden Ring streamers Robin has been watching: Alyska, elliejoypanic, ohlindsey, skyytea, wraff

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Street Food by FASSounds

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We survived the game showcase gauntlet and our reward is one more game showcase — but good this time! This week is a Nintendo Direct spectacular covering everything from the Apple Arcade jailbreak to the surprisingly controversial Legend of Zelda game where we finally get to fucking play as Zelda.

Timestamps

(01:00) Nintendogz, Catgirl Simulators, and the Nintendo Direct

(04:10) Mario and Luigi: Brothership

(09:00) Fantasian and Hello Kitty escape Apple Arcade (plus “other stupid announcements”)

(19:00) Dragon Quest trilogy

(32:00) Metroid Prime 4 and the Nintendo Switcheroo

(36:20) Put some respect on Zelda’s name

(59:50) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? (feat. Metroid Prime and Arcane)

Mentioned this week

Princess Zelda Doesn’t Need A Sword to Be A Hero In The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

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Fresh off SGF, we’re covering even more showcases this week, with Ubisoft Forward and Willa’s takes on the Tribeca games selection. We’re also running down some great Steam demos for games that should be on our radar. And if that’s not enough for you, Into the Aether invited us to be guest hosts this week (for some reason) along with Emily Price, Tamoor Hussain, and AJ Fillari, so please check it out!!!

Timestamps

(00:40) We’re on Into the Aether baybeee!

(02:50) Half of Girl Mode is excited for Star Wars Outlaws

(10:45) Both of us are intrigued by Assassin’s Creed Shadows

(19:20) Some of our favorite Next Fest demos! (feat. Tormenture, One Button Bosses, Dice & Fold, Whimel Academy

(36:30) Willa’s field report from Tribeca Festival

(1:06:45) What else have Willa and Robin been up to? (feat. Ring Fit Adventure and Valorant on console)

Mentioned this week

Listen to us on Into the Aether!

Willa previews darkwebSTREAMER, Neva, and Skate Story

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

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eSims for Gaza

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Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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We’re rounding up some of last weekend’s game showcases, and mostly focusing on what we actually liked there for once! Despite Geoff Keighley’s dire warnings, SGF was pretty good this year, at least according to Robin who’s typing this right now. Then, Willa walks us through her demo of Citizen Sleeper 2, which Robin is definitely not envious of, before Joanna Dark barges in.

Timestamps

(00:40) Welcome to Keigh3

(02:00) How to watch (and not watch) games showcases

(11:00) Games we liked at SGF (feat. Neva, Blumhouse games, Alan Wake, Outersloth, and more)

(30:30) Games we liked at Day of the Devs (feat. basically everything at Day of the Devs)

(44:30) Picking a bone with Devolver 

(48:20) Honorable mention for Ebitapes

(52:50) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (Willa’s Citizen Sleeper 2 preview)

(1:07:20) The Perfect Dark interruption (not in real time because there was a lot of dead air)

(1:10:55) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (Robin played some demos)

Mentioned this week

Citizen Sleeper 2 Ups The Ante With A Bigger And More Dangerous World

How the fight for bodily autonomy shaped 2022's most fascinating video game

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Street Food by FASSounds

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Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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OK, this episode is very late so I’m posting it without show notes or you’d have to wait even longer. We talked about Summer Game Fest and how Geoff Keighley wants you to calm down about it, State of Play and how we wish someone would have warned us it would be bad ahead of time, and an inexplicable amount of baseball. Enjoy!

Watch Drawfee’s charity stream June 8 at 2 p.m. Eastern

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

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Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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This week, Robin had too much coffee and she’s here to YELL. Fortunately, there’s plenty to YELL about, from Neil Druckmann (again) to AI (again) to layoffs (again). After lots of shouting, we finally talk about a whole bunch of things we actually liked this week to prove that we’re not haters 100% of the time.

Timestamps

(1:10) More like Neil Suckmann am I right

(11:20) The Hellblade 2 detour

(22:40) And one more thing about Neil Druckmann

(29:00) The Minecraft detour

(32:00) IGN, what the fuck are you doing?

(45:00) Games you should and shouldn’t play (feat. Paper Trail, Duck Detective, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and The Rogue Prince of Persia [I keep saying Evil Twin when I mean Evil Empire])

(1:08:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week? (feat. the spy thriller genre, Jenny Nicholson, and I Saw the TV Glow)

Mentioned this week

Follow Alice Bell and Brendan Sinclair

That very bad Neil Druckmann interview (lmao they pulled this down, here's our annotated version)

Druckmann's unedited transcript

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel

The Buzzy A24 Film Making Trans and Queer Viewers Feel Seen

A very good review of I Saw the TV Glow I found after recording

And an interview with Jane Schoenbrun on Gender Reveal

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

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Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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We spent this week playing some great demos at Ludonarracon so we’re running down a few of the best that you should have on your list! Then, we check in on some disappointing changes and Mountain Dew-flavored events coming to Final Fantasy XIV!

Timestamps

(1:20) Our favorite Ludonarracon (not Next Fest) demos

(42:30) FFXIV Live Letter, RIP Astrologians

(1:04:30) Reminder: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is very good

(1:08:00) What else have Willa and Robin been up to this week?

Mentioned this week

9 Demos You Need To Play During Steam’s LudoNarraCon 2024

Uh-oh, I Already Hate What Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Is Doing To This Job

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Medical Aid for Palestianians

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Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

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We’re starting the week with bad news, including some pretty shocking layoffs at Microsoft, but it gets better from there. We move next through some of the best indie releases of the week before ending with the best indie game of the year, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

Timestamps

(1:00) Somehow, Stray Gods returned

(4:00) Microsoft fucked up

(19:00) A fantastic week for indie games

(35:00) We’re seeing it all through Laser Eyes

Mentioned this week

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes reviews from Robin and Willa

maybe you’ll find me by theydevil

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Music 

Street Food by FASSounds

We stand for a free Palestine, and against the occupation, oppression, and genocide perpetrated against its people.

Please consider donating or otherwise standing up to support Palestinians in the wake of Israel's attacks.

Medical Aid for Palestianians

Palestine Red Crescent Society

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

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Game Assist's "Gamers for Palestine" resource packet

Cartoonist Cooperative’s e-SIM fundraiser

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.