Episode 41 - Ground Zeroes, Infamous: Second Son, and our Favorite Villains of All-Time

The Joy of Gaming Podcast, Episode 41:

Ground Zeroes, Infamous: Second Son, and our Favorite Villains of All-Time

It's the 41st episode of the Joy of Gaming Podcast, and this time, we (Rich, Tim and Jordan) explore the darker side of the character spectrum to choose our favorite video game villains of all-time. But first, we talk about the games we’ve been playing recently, including some of the recent big releases for the Xbox One and PS4, as well as a smattering of last gen goodness. Heavy hitters Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Infamous: Second Son start the show, and then we move on to discuss BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasm, Mercenary Kings, South Park: The Stick of Truth, The Amazing Spider-Man, El Shaddai, Epic Mickey 2, EDF 2025, Hitman: Absolution, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Binary Domain, Valkyria Chronicles, Plants vs. Zombies 2, and more.

Next we switch gears to discuss the latest gaming news, most notably the announcement of two new Assassin’s Creed games this year - Unity (which takes place during the French Revolution, and yes, Tim totally called it!) and the Xbox 360/PS3 release rumored to be called Comet.  We also talk about Facebook’s purchase of the Oculus Rift, the great sales numbers for Bravely Default and Square Enix’s encouraging response, Mario Kart 8, Persona 4's PS3 debut, the departure of Amy Hennig and Justin Richmond from Naughty Dog and the future of Uncharted 4, Amazon’s Fire TV, Jack Tretton’s departure from Sony (gasp!), etc.

Then it’s on to the main event – our discussion of the greatest villains in gaming.  When you think about video game villains, it’s likely that a few specific names come immediately to mind: Bowser, Ganon, Dr. Eggman/Robotnik, Sephiroth, etc. But interestingly enough, none of these villains made our top three lists, or even crept into the realm of honorable mentions. But I digress. We talk about our favorite gaming bad guys and gals, as well as what makes a gaming villain memorable, and the inherent challenges we faced in trying to choose the best of the worst. 

So join us, as we daringly desire to delve deeply into despots so dastardly their names are only spoken in hushed tones at villain conventions. This…is the Joy of Gaming!