The Longest Rainy Sunday Play Make Write Think

Today we will be talking about the Binding of Isaac. The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike game designed by Edmund McMillen Florian Himsl initially released in 2011. Roguelike games are a genre of rpg games that usually have procedurally generated dungeons, to different extents of turn based gameplay, and often pixelated graphics. Dungeons in this case would usually mean randomly generated stages that have different enemies and drops each time players enter them. 



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The Settlers of Catan is a game that almost everyone has at least heard of, if not played. Although released in 1995, its popularity is only growing all these years later. There are so many layers and facets to this game, that a single 10-minute podcast episode cannot do justice to it. Still, we try our best to touch upon some of the factors that make this game unique and relevant. ‘Strategy’ is a word that comes up very often while talking about Catan, and we talk about what kinds of strategies we need to use in the game, the way we need to think while playing, and why this is relevant to everyday life. We also talk about why Catan is a more accurate representation of how Capitalism works, as compared to other games, like Monopoly. Lastly, we also mention how the game has an underlying message of Colonialism, and why it is important to recognize that every part of the game has not aged well.



Sources



Keyes, Scott. “Settlers of Catan: How a German Board Game Went Mainstream” The Atlantic. June 7, 2011,Lee, Jonathan Rey. “One thought on “Capitalism and Unfairness in Catan: Oil Springs”” Analog Game Studies. March 20, 2017.Taylor, Chris. “Forget Monopoly: Six financial lessons from Catan” Reuters. June 28, 2016.Vesa, Markku. “Capitalism and Unfairness in Competitive Board Games” Playlab!. April 24, 2017.Poulos, James. “The Death Of Self-Centered Capitalism” Forbes. June 29, 2013.Bennet, J. Matthew. “Does Capitalism Promote Selfishness? - Capitalism” Capitalism.com. March 23, 2017.Pearlstein, Steven. “Five myths about capitalism” The Washington Post. September 28, 2018.ImageMusic



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While baseball may still be on the books as “America’s favorite pastime” it is very clearly no longer America’s favorite sport. As baseball fans clutch onto pre-war glory days of the previous century, filled with legends like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, they stay memories. Slowly fading into obscurity with lowered fan attendance and network ratings, the future of sports has pivoted towards more action packed games with more concise seasons - football and basketball. Football - Gridiron football, a game so American almost no one else outside of the hemisphere plays it - has been a shining success in usurping the throne as a cultural mainstay, with games regularly topping viewership records and the cementing of the Super Bowl as a national holiday. With this huge boom in popularity in the information age, both of these sports have experienced the effect of a novel interloper: fantasy leagues.



Sources



Collins, Kyle, and Adam Hoffer. Teaching Economics Using Fantasy Football. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2016. Ellis, Brandon and Jordan Simal. “Double Take: Is Baseball Still America's Pastime?” The Breeze, 28 Oct. 2018. Garda, Andrew. “How Fantasy Football Has Transformed the NFL.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017. 



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The 2020 US presidential election might be over, but just as other elections in the past, its stories and lessons remain: why did the winner win and the loser lose? What issues do American care deeply about at this moment? How will the country look like 4 years from now? Each question unfolds other questions that would take forever to find the right answers. Luckily, Democratic Socialism Simulator will help us solve part of our wonders, if not all. In this episode, we examine the choices a president makes during his/her term as well as the repercussions they bring. We hope you will gain insights into what makes a successful presidency. 



Sources



Flanagan, Mary. Critical Play: Radical Game Design. p. 4-6 Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2009.Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. p. 26-27. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.Ketsa. "Empty Playground." Free Music Archive.Engel, Kai. "Homeroad." Free Music Archive.Democratic Socialism Simulator by Unity, 2020



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In this episode of The Longest Rainy Sunday, we look at Journey; a game that is seen as a work of art by many. Journey certainly has its complexities beneath the stunning visuals and simple concept. In this episode, we analyze the meaning behind the Journey through probing, analyzing the multiplayer aspect, relating it to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and much more. Enjoy our take of the indie adventure-game, Journey. We can make it through this journey together!



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In this episode of the Longest Rainy Sunday, we bring our listeners to Super Mario Odyssey, which on one hand connects people’s childhood memories and emotions, but also extends horizons to the future modern world. In our podcast, we mainly analyze the elements that remained the same in Super Mario Odyssey when comparing it with previous versions in the series and the elements that become new in this newest version. Finally, we connect that with our current social and pandemic time, illustrating how Super Mario Odyssey is related to people’s daily lives under such a unique circumstance. 



Sources:



Super Mario Odyssey for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details. 



Thier, Dave. “'Super Mario Odyssey' Review: A Perfect Game With One Problem.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 2 Nov. 2017, .



Flanagan, Mary. Critical Play. I, “Introduction to Critical Play”. MIT Press, 2009. 



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