So Very Wrong About Games
A podcast about all manner of hobby games by Mike Walker and Mark Bigney. Bad games don't go easy on you, so we don't go easy on them. Thorough analysis via reviews, news, and discussion of topics in gaming. We take context seriously, we value your time, and we're not into hype. Just because games are fun doesn't mean we can't take them seriously, and just because we take them seriously doesn't mean we can't have fun.
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#255: The Great Wall
55 min
127
#254: Mille Fiori
67 min
128
#253: New and Improved
82 min
129
#252: IKI
79 min
130
#251: Game Design Trends
You like SVWAG? Their early work was a little too negative for my taste. But when SHUX came out in '20, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole podcast has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate...
65 min
131
#250: Autobahn
I once saw a video of a woman driving a Shelby GT350 Mustang on the Autobahn. It hit 275 kph without breaking a figurative sweat, roaring its primal power the entire way. I was petrified even watching the video. This is to say nothing of the terror I...
70 min
132
#249: Rolling Heights
A comprehensive list of what transpires in RRR would sound like the incoherent ramblings of someone undergoing a very potent trip, which is why we merely indulge in a curated list. While Mark does not retract his naming Decision to Leave as his...
69 min
133
#248: Serge Laget
Our favourite Serge Laget game is Senji. "Senji" is a contraction of "Sengoku Jidai," or Warring States Period, which refers to over a century of near total civil war in Japan that started in 1467. Scholars differ as to when it ended, but mostly we...
57 min
134
#247: Ginkgopolis
Ah, you dear internet pedants, I can hear your rapid and ever-present desire for infinite emendations and futile attempts to be comprehensive! "What of the expansion, uhm actually," you demand. We have little experience with the Ginkgopolis expansion,...
61 min
135
#246: 2022 Year in Review
Welcome to our year-end eleganza extravaganza! Lists are compiled. Harsh truths confronted. For example, while one generally takes a while to acclimatize to the using the new year in dates, 2022 seemed immediately apt and people switched over...
96 min
136
#245: Beowulf: The Legend
"I'm head of the class
I'm popular
I'm a quarter back
I'm popular
My mom says I'm a catch
I'm popular
I'm never last picked
I'm in the Green Team clique
Being attractive is the most important thing there is
If you wanna catch the biggest fish in your...
64 min
137
#244: Oak
After much popular demand, we present to you the much-anticipated return of Masterpiece Theatre. Our esteemed patron--who is utterly unaware of our existence, such is his focus on his twin demesnes of fastness and furiousness--deserves no less. Of...
81 min
138
#243: Real-Time Games
We take no time off for Boxing Day here at SVWAG, a day so named because according to the common law of the King (still feels weird saying that) citizens of the Commonwealth are permitted to punch someone in the face on this day only. It's like a...
84 min
139
#242: Random Events
All things in SVWAG are glorious, and that applies doubly for our glorious returns. We will also not be taking any additional breaks during the holidays! Yes, we can pledge an uninterrupted broadcast schedule through to the new year--leading directly...
82 min
140
#241: Planet Unknown
Sometimes a game's title leads to it being underplayed. Such is not the case for Carolus Magnus, whose chief downside might be the surplus of excellent aliases (Chuckie Mags, Charlie Big-Big, Carlos Grande, Caroolie Magoonie, et al). Planet Unknown,...
60 min
141
#240: Deal-Making
Walker has yet to inform us what agenda the aliens are pursuing in Argentina during their relentless campaign of cow abduction. Do the alien overlords practise colonialism in the same way as their human counterparts? Do the inscrutable...
82 min
142
#239: Dwellings of Eldervale
Say what you want about the evils of filthy lucre, but I find it amazing how managers turn communitarian and high-minded when it comes to fair remuneration. "Don't you believe in the project?" "Aren't you committed to the team?" et al get deployed all...
67 min
143
#238: Dealing with Rules Mistakes
Most of those time loop movies, while enjoyable, lack any degree of verisimilitude--clearly the chief use of a power to undo time or back up would be to get another chance at not saying something terribly stupid and embarrassing. One wonders if such...
71 min
144
#237: Flamecraft
"Let us go then, you and I,
When the board is spread out against the table
Like a beast euthanized inside a stable;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted tracks,
The muttering attacks
During restless nights of one-play bad games
And sepia box...
62 min
145
#236: Dead Reckoning
Replete with a robust menagerie in this episode, we perhaps begin to see why anthropomorphic animals seem to feature in every other game lately. We have Dalmations (plus a cow named Doog trying to impersonate a Dalmation), horsies, goats, weasels and...
75 min
146
#235: Games, Games, GAMES
We apologize for the all-caps implied yelling, but really, given this volume we had to have a corresponding... uh, volume. The puns are also somewhat fishy--but those you can feel free to skip, jack. The nautical theme doesn't end with fishing, as the...
79 min
147
#234: Live at SHUX!
Live at SHUX 2022, we are joined with extra-special guest Quinns from Shut Up and Sit Down! He was clearly thrilled to be with us, as evinced by the following exchange:
Mark: "We're professionals, Quinns."
Quinns: "Citation needed."
02:26...
59 min
148
#233: Heroscape
We apologize for the poor quality of Mark's half of the audio this week. We offer two possible explanations. One is that Walker, motivated as he is by spite and malice, engaged in an elaborate act of sabotage so as to undermine Mark in public. The...
67 min
149
#232: What a Campaign Needs
001
You approach a door. Test perception. If you fail, go to paragraph 105. If you succeed, go to paragraph 166.
105
You fail to notice a sharp thing, so you step on it and take 1 wound. Go to paragraph 166.
166
On the other side of the door...
78 min
150
#231: Capitol Lux 2
Even the steadfastly Imperial Americans are familiar with metric measurements of distance, volume, and temperature; but alas, the metric French Republican calendar has fallen by the wayside. Consisting of 12 months of exactly 30 days each (3 10-day...
57 min