THE FORCE IS...EXPENSIVE?: With the hotly anticipated Star Wars: Battlefront II released recently, with it came a lot of controversy. It stands at the apex of a recent trend toward big-budget titles adopting monetizing tactics more commonly found in free-to-play mobile games, this time in the form of blind boxes aka loot boxes. Andrew and D. dive into this controversy and try to find the middle ground.

LINKS:

• Brightman, James. "Loot Boxes Are Not Bad Game Design, Says Devs." GamesIndustry.Biz. 20 Nov. 2017.
• Kamper, Soeren. "It Will Take 4,528 Hours of Gameplay (or $2100) to Unlock All Base-Game Content In Star Wars: Battlefront II." Star Wars Gaming. 14 Nov. 2017.
• Klepek, Patrick. "'It Feels Wrong': Why a Popular Clicker Game Sequel's Ditching Free-to-Play." Waypoint. 20 Nov. 2017.

INFO:

• Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this Shortcast.
• Join our Facebook page
• E-mail: Andrew - andrew@forallintents.net, D. Bethel - dbethel@forallintents.net
• Twitter: Andrew - @ProfoundDark, D. Bethel - @DBethel
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Subscribe to and review the show on the iTunes store.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-"Thunder Busters" by Wax Audio

THE STATE OF SUPERHERO CINEMA (AND TV): With so much superheroic media out there right now, and with Marvel, DC, and Fox swinging wildly on both the large and small screens, Andrew and D. Bethel take a look at how things are sorting out, how they've changed over the last year or so, and where things might go.

RELATED EPISODES:

• Episode 27 - "Super Sleep Mode": The first Thanksgiving episode where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss post-apocalyptic fiction.
• Shortcast 10 - "Roll for Dark Meat": The second Thanksgiving episode wherein a Shortcast was recorded.
• Shortcast 19 - "What Was Town?": The third Thanksgiving episode which is yet another Shortcast.

LINKS:

• Alexander, Julia. "Ben Affleck's Batman Uncertainty Brings the Justice League's Future Into Question." Polygon. 14 Nov. 2017.
• Matadeen, Renaldo. "The Gifted Is a Better Introduction to Marvel's Mutants than Fox's Movies." Comic Book Resources. 12 Nov. 2017.

INFO:

• Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this Shortcast.
• Join our Facebook page
• E-mail: Andrew - andrew@forallintents.net, D. Bethel - dbethel@forallintents.net
• Twitter: Andrew - @ProfoundDark, D. Bethel - @DBethel
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Subscribe to and review the show on the iTunes store.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-"Thunder Busters" by Wax Audio

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew gets through the first episode of season 2 of Netflix's Stranger Things and has LOTS of opinions––not about the show, but about streaming in general. Dan succumbs to weakness and plays the Deadpool video game (while simultaneously playing the much better––but much more intense––Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus).

RELATED EPISODES:

• Episode 85 - "I Hardly Even Knew Me": Where D. Bethel discusses the Deadpool movie.
• Shortcast 12 - "Punch the Microphone": Where Andrew discusses the Deadpool movie.
• Episode 102 - "An Existential Poem": Where Andrew and D. discuss season 1 of Stranger Things.
• Episode 139 - "A Warm Heat": Where D. Bethel talks about starting Wolfenstein: The New Order.
• Episode 147 - "Whatever We Bring, We Bring It": Where the Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus ad campaign is discussed.

INFO:

• Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this Shortcast.
• Join our Facebook page
• E-mail: Andrew - andrew@forallintents.net, D. Bethel - dbethel@forallintents.net
• Twitter: Andrew - @ProfoundDark, D. Bethel - @DBethel
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Subscribe to and review the show on the iTunes store.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-"Stayin' in Black" by Wax Audio

WEEK IN GEEK: D. Bethel looks at DC Comics' retrospective of Jim Lee's Wildstorm Studios, Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years, and is completely underwhelmed by their effort while Andrew ponders the considerate world-building of Bethesda games as he dives back into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition.

RELATED EPISODES:

• Episode 30 - "Batting 100": Where Andrew and D. discuss world-building in fiction (starts at 39:15).
• Episode 128 - "His Curry Name": Where D. discusses DC Comics' current attempt to reboot Jim Lee's Wildstorm universe with the series, The Wild Storm (14:35).
• Shortcast 25 - "The First Second Time": Where D. discusses Wild Times: An Oral History of Wildstorm Studios (18:20).
• Episode 140 - "A Vernal Pool of Talent": Where Andrew first discussed playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (02:30).

INFO:

• Visit our website at forallintents.net and leave your thoughts as comments on the page for this Shortcast.
• Join our Facebook page
• E-mail: Andrew - andrew@forallintents.net, D. Bethel - dbethel@forallintents.net
• Twitter: Andrew - @ProfoundDark, D. Bethel - @DBethel
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Subscribe to and review the show on the iTunes store.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-"Stayin' in Black" by Wax Audio
-“WildC.A.T.s Theme Song” by Sheree Jaecocke and Gerry Mosby