PODCAST

Hot Button

Chronicling strange and interesting stories in the world of video games.

games & hobbies video games

All Episodes

05:49:08

Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 2

Hot Button ·

2022/01/14

It’s the spoiler-packed second chapter of Hot Button’s Game of the Year awards! On this episode we get into what we thought was the Best Moment or Sequence from a game, our favorite Best New Character, and which title featured the Best Narrative overall. This as well as finding out what was the Best Creature or Monster that we ran into in all of 2021! Timestamps: Best Moment or Sequence - 00:01:43 Best New Character - 02:27:50 Best Narrative - 03:48:36 Best Creature or Monster - 04:56:13

04:41:09

Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 1

Hot Button ·

2022/01/07

2022 is here! That must mean it’s time for Hot Button to take a look back on these past 12 months of releases and host its first ever Game of the Year deliberations! In our opening batch of categories, we discuss our nominees and find winners for Best Game Pass Game, the Game We Needed most, and Best Aesthetic. These along with Best Use of Music and Best Use of Time Loop! Timestamps: Best Game Pass Game - 00:05:25 Game We Needed - 00:48:11 Best Aesthetic - 1:54:21 Best Use of Music -

01:07:03

Hot Button Game Awards 2021 Special Follow-Up

Hot Button ·

2021/12/15

It’s time we tally up the results and see who came out on top following the airing of this year’s The Game Awards! NFTs thankfully weren’t welcome at the event, however it did come jam-packed with trailers, announcements, and of course those sweet trophies given to the victorious. So join in listening to us run through it all! Play by play! From Sting to the Matrix.

03:08:04

Hot Button Game Awards 2021 Special

Hot Button ·

2021/12/08

It’s awards season y’all! In this episode, we run through every category and nomination featured in Geoff Keighley’s big annual game of the year event. We then choose our picks on who we think will take home the gold and why as we play against each other in betting which title is going to come out on top in the end. Will it be Resident Evil: Village? Will it be Psychonauts 2? Is one of us upset that Returnal wasn’t included? Tune in to find out just how we align! Timestamps: Best Narrative -

02:23:09

Episode 95: Hot Button Year-Three Edition

Hot Button ·

2021/11/26

It’s a full house this week as we celebrate our third birthday together. So join us in going back through every topic we’ve ever covered from the very beginning all the way to today! A near two and half hours of updating, correcting, and reflecting on the good times. This along with poking fun at the constant strangeness this industry seems to endlessly relish in.

01:53:19

Episode 94: Microtransactions #5

Hot Button ·

2021/11/10

Our mini-stories series is back! This week we super vary it up and get into the licensing around car manufacturers in racing games, the theft of some classic internet memes, and finally which deep secrets lay hidden behind the legendary Demon’s Souls door.

01:09:25

Episode 93: Watching You - The Tale of Camdrome

Hot Button ·

2021/10/31

In what might be one of the most mysterious projects we have ever covered, this week we explore the confusing history of a social experiment who’s intentions to this day are still being investigated. A supposed horror FMV title played through web cameras that also may have even shared close connections with some of the top names in the indie gaming space. Whether or not it ever was destined to see release is truly the ultimate question here in the finale of our 2021 Halloween series!

01:04:39

Episode 92: A Free Mind is a Tasty Mind - Stubbs the...

Hot Button ·

2021/10/20

Are video games teaching your children to eat each other? This week we discuss the time that the industry became under fire in the absolute dumbest way imaginable, along with the origins of an inept advocacy group who hand-waved their way into headlines by picking a fight the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

02:18:08

Episode 91: I Podcast, Therefore I AM - The History...

Hot Button ·

2021/10/15

And we’re back with the second and final part on the captivating development behind Cyberdream’s playable 1995 translation of Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”. This week, we get deep into it’s actual production, release, and legacy! Along with our personal experiences of analyzing it’s intensely terrifying narrative themes.

01:41:56

Episode 90: I Podcast, Therefore I AM - The History...

Hot Button ·

2021/10/08

It’s finally that time of year again, everybody! And what better way to kick off the spooky scary Halloween season than by digging into the story of how one of cult gaming’s most fascinating point-and-click PC adventure titles came to fruition, a direct adaptation AND expansion of Harlan Ellison’s sci-fi horror masterpiece “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”. On Part I, we break down this twisted work of fiction as well as the early days of the author and developer team who made it all

02:08:31

Episode 89: Well Bam, There It Is! - The History of...

Hot Button ·

2021/09/29

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.

02:26:27

Episode 88: For the Love of Gaia… - Final Fantasy:...

Hot Button ·

2021/09/15

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!

01:50:31

Hot Button Movie Commentary: Final Fantasy The...

Hot Button ·

2021/09/08

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!

02:37:21

Episode 87: Dead Faction - The History of THQ

Hot Button ·

2021/08/25

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.

01:13:33

Episode 86: The Development of Rogue F*cking Warrior

Hot Button ·

2021/08/11

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.

02:01:26

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

Hot Button ·

2021/07/26

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.

01:38:03

Hot Button Movie Commentary: The King of Kong - A...

Hot Button ·

2021/07/14

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.

02:09:10

Episode 84: Can’t Ditch the Mitch! - The Story of...

Hot Button ·

2021/07/07

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.

01:17:02

Episode 83: Can’t Ditch the Mitch! - The Story of...

Hot Button ·

2021/06/23

So who has what it takes to be the ultimate Donkey Kong master? On part 1 of our new series, we take you through the origins of classic arcade’s biggest leap into the realm of tournaments and organized gaming world records ever. Along with the early years of its most controversial competitor.

03:16:54

Hot Button E3 2021 Special

Hot Button ·

2021/06/18

The Electronic Entertainment Expo has returned! And so has our bonus episode! On today’s recap, we run through each of the conferences, good and bad, as well as discuss all the fun announcements from this past week that’ll help us game our way into the next year and beyond! Timestamps: Summer Games Fest - 0:06:10, Wholesome Direct - 0:31:30, Ubisoft - 0:33:17, Devolver - 1:09:25, Gearbox - 1:18:12, Koch Media - 1:20:20, Microsoft & Bethesda - 1:23:28, Square Enix - 2:03:05, Back 4 Blood -

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