PPR AfterHours: Catching up before PAX

e’re off to the first day of PAX Prime 2013 y’all, but before we go, why don’t we give you guys a new podcast to listen to? This is the official Afterhours debut and hell, we figured we would use it to catch up on some nonsense like all of the shit that happened while we were on our break from the site. George moved to a new house, broke his toes in the process, and found love again, while Andrew was getting shitty in Las Vegas—oh, and we even talk about some of the video games we’ve been playing too…

Rate and subscribe to us iTunes today, follow us on our new Twitch page, mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and be sure to stop by at our Forums and register as well! Also, if you guys have any specific requests or feedback, be sure to email us at mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and if you guys are going to be there then don't be shy -- come say hello!

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Press Pause Radio at PAX Prime 2013

t’s been a while right? Thank Bullet Heavens (yeah, we just did that) that Ser was able to lead the charge for new content on Press Pause Radio these last couple of weeks, because our extended break was a little longer than we had hoped for. Wouldn’t you know it though? The moment we are ready to come back, it just so happens that it's the week of PAX Prime 2013, so we’re going to come out and hit the streets of Seattle, and we’re hitting them hard, like…uh; hard-hitters--yeah!

We’ll be on the floor mingling with every new indie game we comes across, and expect us to do some talking with the likes of Sega, Capcom, Ubisoft, and more in the biggest PAX we’ve covered yet. We’ll be recording a catch up a podcast just to clear some air from our absence on the web, then we’ll be dropping some podcast specials with some friends and give all the scoops and scores from Friday to Monday so stay tuned on the site!

Also, if you guys have any specific requests or feedback, be sure to email us at mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and if you guys are going to be there then don't be shy -- come say hello!

QCF: Papers, Please

oral choices in most games are easy. Save enough little sisters in Bioshock- you get the good ending, kill any and you're the worlds biggest monster. These choices are so ultimately binary that it's easy to even forget that they're questions of morality to begin with. Even when dealing with a complex issue, there's always a prompt telling you what kind of decision you made, regardless of your reasoning. "Yes and no" or "right and wrong" stick firmly into our heads to the point where we'll always know where our choices take us and what kind of end game they'll eventually lead us to.

However, Papers, Please doesn't play by those rules. In fact, it doesn't really play by any. There's no right or wrong here, only moral uncertainty and shades of horrific grays that lead to an experience which is devastatingly horrific, monotonous, and perplexing fun at the same time. Basically, it's one of the most interesting and creative video games you'll play all year.

Just don't expect to leave it feeling good about yourself.

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QCF: Fist Puncher

any questions come to mind when determining the worth of a classic arcade brawler: Does the game offer players more than “move right and punch”? Do levels have various weapons and interactive objects scattered throughout? What can one expect in the way of character selection, boss battles, and other classic tropes? In the case of Team2Bit's tribute to the genre, well... there's certainly more than just "keep going."

Enter Fist Puncher, a beat-em-up brawler that combines elements of other popular arcade classics from the golden age of gaming (think Double Dragon and Bad Dudes) and fuses them with the progression elements found in any character-building RPG. And yes -- you’ll have plenty of objects to pick up and throw at enemies. Hell, some levels feature nothing but trash cans and other debris scattered around for this very purpose.

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QCF: My Ex-Boyfriend The Space Tyrant

nfortunately there's little for LGBT folk when it comes to the mainstream culture of video games. There are very few games themselves that deal with the kind of issues relatable with the gay community, and often when homosexuality is bought up it's as a childish punchline ala Blood Dragon. Despite this, though, there are a few indie games that do appeal to this less-than-marketed-to demographic, and thankfully these games fill a void that other games are just afraid to even acknowledge.

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QCF: Regular Show-Best Park In The Universe

e live in a day and age where a blue jay and raccoon can make a living being hilarious through the lenses of rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, and it works... really well. Nostalgia is a strange thing, regardless of whatever we hold close to our hearts. Regardless of its age, the argument over whether or not it’s a product of the time becomes nullified; it’s a beast of philosophical proportions and a prevalent one within media -- especially video games. In this case, though, it’s been a mine of delight for nerd-culturist and artist J.G. Quintel and his wildly successful property, Regular Show, a program full of homages and references to video games. It only makes sense that a video game adaption would soon follow suit.

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QCF: Towerfall

ideo Games have the unique ability of making you constantly hate your friends with what should be a fun time making digitized pictures move with one another. The appeal of getting your buds and pals on a couch together, huddled around the glow of a television has always skirted towards the edge of violence and fits of rage that ranged anywhere from thrown controllers to controller unplugging. And you know, the internet makes me miss those days. The days of swearing at Bomberman because Chad pulled a dick move, or sitting back and watching Lisa ruin Mario Party because she somehow took everyone’s stars in one foul dice roll with Bowser are nearly long gone now. The good news is that the indie scene keeps the labor of love that is "couch play" alive.

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QCF: Kentucky Route Zero: Act 2

fter several months of waiting, we finally return to Kentucky Route Zero only to find that things are more bizarre than what they seemed. At the end of the first episode, as Conway and Shannon stare off into what must be Route Zero I imagined that the many questions I was left with would have some form of an answer after I hit the road. As I know now at the conclusion of Act 2, the answers will not come as easy, and that dealing with the questions is what makes this experience unlike any games on the PC right now.

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