Mind the Messy of PsychOdyssey

Here’s a newsflash for you that is probably super obvious: game dev is messy. Like, extremely messy. It’s all chaos all the time and then suddenly WHAM, out comes a game. Even throwing super regimented and organized individuals into the fray doesn’t seem to stem the tide of just pure, unadulterated chaos. I read books like Press Reset and Blood, Sweat, and Pixels and see some of the fallout from all this chaos and I can’t help but wonder…why? Why do people subject themselves to all of this…(please don’t say chaos again…) disarray for some pretty bleep bloops?

Enter PsychOdyssey, the enlightening 32-episode documentary series about Double Fine during the creation of Psychonauts 2. You read that correctly. Thirty-two. Episodes. 2 Player Productions, the documentarians in this venture, followed Tim Schafer et al. around for seven years, recording the ups, downs, and all the diagonals of the video game creation process. And boy are there a lot of diagonals.

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Mario, Mutants, and a Star Wars?

Trying a new thing here at the ATH Network. We’re going to give you old news. That’s right, it’s the news you may have already encountered out in the wild, packaged into a bite-sized link collection post with the catchy title “Yesterday’s News Today.” Now, you might be asking, “Why this? Why now?” It’s a good question.

Now without further ado, let’s see what happened yesterday.

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BBs, Bruises and Ultimate Fun! – Airsoft

History

What is airsoft? I’m asked this quite a lot when I tell people I’m going airsofting over the weekend. I normally describe it as similar to paintball, but better, so much better. The truth is, airsoft has quite a long history that spreads over almost 50 years.

Airsoft originated in Japan in the 1970s when a photographer called Ichiro Nagata came up with the idea of making model guns that shot non-lethal projectiles. The model guns also catered to shooting enthusiasts who found themselves unable to own real firearms due to the strict Japanese gun laws that banned private gun ownership from 1958 onwards. Originally referred to as “soft air” weapons, these guns were named for the type of gas they used to propel the projectiles they fired. Whilst airguns used co2, a high pressure gas, “soft air” guns used a Freon-silicone oil mixture. This was later changed to a propane-silicone oil mixture. Originally designed for target shooting, it wasn’t until the early 1990s when Tokyo Marui developed an electronic gearbox design that allowed for sustained fully automatic firing without the need to refill the gun with gas after a few shots.

Tokyo Marui S&W M59 – the first ever Gas Blowback pistol, released in 1986
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The Week in Review: 3/07/21-3/13/21

Hey guys! Hope your week has been excellent. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our podcast lineup this week, I highly recommend you do so. We’re getting close to the end of the Resident Evil rewatch over on the Binge Buddies feed, and we’ve just started up the Showa Era Godzilla films over at Behind the Hype.

Nice.

ATH NETWORK ON
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The Week in Review: 2/28/21-3/06/21

Frick. You know what? I forgot to toss out a “Guess the Still” this week. Makes it about the second or third week in a row I’ve forgotten to do that. You know what I haven’t forgotten? All the great content out this week.

Nice.

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The Week in Review: 2/21/21-2/27/21

Kind of got out of the habit of writing these. Shame. SHAME. Anyway, Binge Buddies is in full swing with its “Alice in Zombieland” series. They’re on the third one and having a blast. Brok and pal Charriii5 sit down to talk about the importance of accessibility in gaming, which you need to listen to ASAP. Last week’s Demon Dayz is a good one and full of fun banter. What else is new, am I right? And then things take a dark turn in this week’s Behind the Hype as Bryan and I discuss the dark and twisted Suicide Club from director Sion Sono. Just…yeah. Go watch it and join our discussion.

Before we jump into this week at a glance, I’d like to draw your attention to a few different ways you can engage with us and discuss the episodes below or anything else in pop culture that may interest you.

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The Week in Review: 1/03/21-1/09/21

It’s a new year and things have already gotten off to an unsavory start. There was a coup on the United States Capitol that happened on the 6th and as of me writing this post out we’re still not sure what to expect from the next few days. It’s also been a rather light podcasting and article week here at ATH Network. Damage Boost and Demon Dayz put out new episodes but Binge Buddies (formerly Welcome to You Are Doom) is still on hiatus, as is Behind the Hype.

Before we jump right into this week at a glance, I’d like to draw your attention to a few different ways you can engage with us and discuss the episodes below or anything else in pop culture that may interest you.

ATH NETWORK ON
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And now…let’s see what you may have missed this week.

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The Week in Review: 12/20/20-12/26/20

I hope you’ve had a happy holiday season so far and that the rest of your year features rest, relaxation, and an overwhelming sense of peace and contentment. We produce a lot of content over here at ATH Network and I wanted to start up a little recap post series every weekend to point out the shows and articles you may have missed and put links to them in one convenient place. Let’s get to it, shall we?

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Strange New Worlds: The Most Important New Star Trek Series?

With the announcement on Friday 15th May of the new Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, fans are unsurprisingly in a euphoric state. A lot of fans lauded Anson Mount and Ethan Peck for their portrayals of Captain Pike and Spock in Discovery’s second season and there were campaigns for a Pike series whilst Discovery season 2 was still airing. It looks like CBS have listened to what we want and commissioned this new series and it may be more important than we realise.

Putting aside the ability for it to offer explanations for some of the canonical irregularities that more hardcore fans of Star Trek accused Discovery of there is something way more important that it can do. Captain Christopher Pike is not someone who was just plucked out of thin air for the sophomore season of Discovery, he is quite an important character in the Star Trek mythos.

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Pandemic Picks: Sam’s Existential Book Club

Just before COVID-19 hit the US in force, I moved from Los Angeles to the suburbs of Nashville in hopes of a slower pace of life in which I could pursue more of my hobbies and spend more time with my family. I got the monkey paw version of this wish, to be sure, but I am truly enjoying all the time I’ve had to read while sitting on my back porch with my dog. 

I started with a collection of essays purchased before leaving titled Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed about writers who have chosen not to have children. It’s a great read. Something that fascinated me, and something nearly each author highlighted, is how new the choice to be child free really is. In the course of human history, people have been unable to produce children, but they have never had the ability to opt-out like we do now. That choice is more weighted than we give it credit. 

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