Pixel Noise

Christmas 1: The Pixel Boys Retrospective

The Pixel Boys reflect on what they’ve learned in a year of podcasting and streaming. This episode was recorded live with our viewers at http://twitch.tv/pixelnoisefm.

36. The 2020 Game Awards

The Pixel Boys review each and every category of the 2020 Game Awards. But before, we have thoughts on what makes a "choose your own adventure," what makes an RPG, a little on Cyberpunk 2077, and our histories with how we create characters in games. Strap in, my friends, this one ran long.

35. “We Need to Talk.”

Lean forward, lean back, grab a coffee, or grab a beer, the Pixel Boys wax poetic in this one. We tackle a couple of big topics: how you create and foster the right energy in your Twitch stream, and how you keep toxicity out of your online community. We cap it off with a quick jaunt back into investment and goal-setting territory as well as some thoughts on the best platformer of this year– Astro’s Playroom.

34. Breaking the Immersion

We got a PlayStation 5 delivered right before we hit the record button! The Pixel Boys discuss the PS5 hunt and a ton of other games, including Bugsnax, NieR:Automata, Watch Dogs Legion, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Slay the Spire, No Man’s Sky, and The Pillars of the Earth. Also, Tony watches Steven Universe and Dan has a need for consistently themed trophies, and they’re not the kind of trophies you’d expect.

33. Titanium Spork

Dan has some shiny new DM-ing experience to bring to the table, Tony is enjoying NiER, Alex is eating with his Titanium Spork, and everyone has a lot to say on the new PS5 UI demo.  Also featured is a discussion on what makes a good boss battle, how Death Stranding was a missed opportunity, and lots of advice on working with coworkers, both online and off. 

32. The Final Exam at the End of the Game

The Pixel Boys reminisce about the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, dump on some other titles (Marvel’s Avengers, Dead Space), discuss the 1985 movie Clue, and give summative thoughts on Majora’s Mask and Among Us. Also co-op geese, Remote Play Together, Amazon Luna (and Stadia, I guess), and more.

31. I Don’t Like Facebook, I Use It

Happy The Last of Us Day!  This fortnight, Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax and Bethesda, which leads into our predictions for next gen and beyond.  Also, a deep dive on Animal Crossing New Horizons, Alex started playing Horizon: Zero Dawn for the first time, Tony’s continued playing Majora’s Mask for the first time, and many more games are discussed.

30. Zelda and Aristotelian Ethics

Games, ethics, aesthetics, and more! Tony did his first playthrough of Ocarina of Time, Alex finished RE2 Remake, Dan reminisces on the joys of Kirby Crystal Shards, and many more games are discussed. Tony discusses the PC he just built while Alex and Dan do their best to slow his roll. Finally, a discussion of Aristotelian ethics, because Alex is worried if we don’t find objective truths we’ll have nothing to talk about on the show.

29. Theater of the Mind

This week Pixel Noise swings into TV talk primarily. Alex tried a bunch of shows and is concerned about authenticity in character development. Also more follow up on work/play divide working at home, thoughts on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the pitfalls of nostalgia.

28. Yelling Loud, Emotional, & Wrong Opinions

This week we’re serving up the main topics, including development and polish in video games, maturity, console wars, education, Breath of the Wild, and more lessons we’ve learned from streaming!

27. Pushing the Genre Forward

An hour of what makes us different as people, followed by another couple on Ghost of Tsushima, Amnesia and horror games in general, and our different feelings on streaming.

26. Armsgate?

Criticisms (and spoilers) of TLOU II criticisms abound!  Dan gives his first impressions on Ghost of Tsushima and we make Alex defend his decision not to try it.  This leads to a deep dive on the value of trying new things, the definition of genre, and the value of physical games.  Oh, and we played Fortnite together for the first time.  

25. The Last of Us Part II... part 2

Tiered The Last of Us Part II spoilers! Check the show notes & chapter markers in your podcast player for timestamps. The boys also discuss big topics around audience member responsibilities, otherness, and discourse with people you disagree with on the internet. Wouldn’t be a TLOU II discussion without it! 😅. Yes, this one ran long. Yes, it’s all being released as one episode even though it’s double length. No, there will be no intermission. Join us!

24. The Last of Us Part II… part 1

It’s been a HUGE week for Pixel Noise, we tried D&D, cleared the follow up decks (Portal 2 Co-Op, The Binding of Isaac, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes), reflect on the Celeste Moonberry cup (in which Alex WON a speedrace), and, of course, begin our review of The Last of Us Part II with a spoiler-free review, and then spoiler-slot for the first 10 hours (chapter markers provided in your podcast app). More to come...

23. The PlayStation 5 Reveal

22. Practice Makes Permanent

The boys go deep on speedrunning, good movie-making, and practice.  They also do some more defense of Stadia Pro, discuss the Unreal 5 demo, the TLOU 2 State of Play, and give you all the latest Pixel Noise content updates.

Bonus– Education in Quarantine

Alex has a lot of questions for Dan about what it’s like to be a teacher in quarantine. It was just too good to lose, even though it has little to do with our normal content. Have fun, if you’re interested in this kind of thing!

21. Gotta Have Fatter Thumbs

A packed episode including Super Mash, MLB Advanced Media, quarantine talk, Tonight We Riot, politics, Minecraft, Celeste, LudoNarraCon, What Remains of Edith Finch, Coffee Talk, Eliza, Neo Cab, Cuphead, and Stadia Pro.

20. Juilliard Full of Tigers

What does the ideal Twitch streamer look like? What’s the difference between Emotes and Emoji? How does Mega Crit use big data to make an awesome card game? What is a AAA game anyway? The answers to these questions and many more, right here on the Pixel Noise podcast. 

19. Unsettling, but Not in an Artistic Way

We’re officially Twitch Affiliates! Moving up in the world, speedrunning, what we’re streaming, what TV we’re watching, what cool indie music we’re listening to, Celeste and Antichamber reviews, and, of course, more Slay the Spire. 

18. A Solution to a Problem No One Has

Minecraft, PS5 hardware stats, even more Slay the Spire, and special episodes of not a cooking podcast as well as not a politics podcast! Won’t you join us?

17. A Glitch Filled Run with an Odd Series of Events

Trophies, achievements, and reminiscing, oh my! We talk about Slay the Spire (more), the new Deltarune trailers, and some of our favorite games and gaming moments.

16. They Bring the Party

Settlers of Catan, Sheriff of Nottingham, Cards Against Humanity, Slay the Spire, Coffee Talk, and way too much TV and politics talk. Sorry.

15. Game of the Decade

It’s a brand new decade (some say) and in this one, in addition to naming our games of the decade, the guys talk about movies, the new PN Death Stranding video review, Sim games, Fortnite(!), and follow up on The Game Awards.

14. The Rise of Skywalker Review Part 1

Tony and Alex review Star Wars Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker.

13. Sometimes There Are Helpful Things in the Emails

Pokémon Sword & Shield, Death Stranding, a little Stadia, Mario Maker 2, and even ERB. Also, a new idle clicker appears! Finally, a big oof about Life is Strange 2. Oh, and GOTY predictions.

12. The Rain is Bad, but Sometimes You Have to Power Through It

Stadia, Death Stranding, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Pokémon Sword and Shield, Detroit: Become Human, and more.

11. The Xbox Story

The Big Xbox Story, music talk, customizable controllers, racing games, retro consoles, and only a sprinkling of Overwatch 2.

10. Not a Politics Podcast

Metagaming, lots on China, Blizzard, a little Death Stranding, hidden information in games, Debussy in Goose Game, and, at last, Red Dead 2, God of War, and Stardew Valley.

9. A Flaming Goat Blocks Your Path

Parsely text adventures, Untitled Goose Game, Link's Awakening, the upcoming console wars and TLOU release, and the recent OW Grand Finals.

8. WW4 Now Feat. More Kevin Spacey

This episode was recorded on March 31st 2019 and posted 7 months later. Some of the predictions about the future hardware are outdated now, but we had some great thoughts on some great games that it would have been a shame to lose. We’re still getting the hang of this posting thing… MTG War of the Spark Official Trailer Really Bad Chess Apple Arcade Stadia Stadia announcement Wii Mini Puss in Book Detroit: Become Human Red Steel The Occupation UNDERTALE Worst State of the Anythin...

7. The Data Says Lasagna's Not As Good As It Seems

Bandersnatch, Deltarune, The Witness, yearly themes, shortcuts, Kingdom Hearts, and a little Red Dead

6. A Stereotypical Demographic of Prepubescence

All the great games!

5. The Implications of 8-Bit Sex

Recorded 9/16/2018 and posted much much later. iOS Manifesto Monopoly (Tony had no idea how many there were on the app store) Holedown Mini metro Flow Free Desert Golfing (Number 29 in the Sports category on the App Store at the time of recording) Scalak Hexalogic Hearthstone .projekt Shadomatic Riddlestones The Witness Really Bad Chess Flipflop Solitaire Lifeline Nintendo Direct Animal Crossing Switch Final Fantasy VII on Switch Mega Man on Switch Input lag on televisio...

4. The Real Game Is the Friends You Made along the Way

Recorded 8/2/2018 and posted much much later. Switch Follow up Stardew Valley Minecraft (with mods) Breath of the Wild The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Game of the Year Firewatch –Contentious Conversation and the Director's Commentary Life is Strange Before the Storm Journey Wolfenstein II –Heavy.com –Polygon –Kotaku Magic: The Gathering Red Deck and Blue Deck we used, from the Core Set 2019 Teachers Against Education (http://teachersagainst.education) Game we’re (Tony and Dan) ...

3. Not Your Daddy's Joel Fist

Accidental theme of gaming past, present, and future.

2. A Couple of Strategically Placed Balloons

The gang gets together in person once more at the secret Manhattan bunker to discuss Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

1. Platinum Trophy… Get Off His Lawn Kids

There’s a few ways to objectively determine which game is the best. They’re all wrong, but let’s jump in and see if we can learn something anyway.

0: Runescape Is Like World Of Warcraft But More Sexual

Here, we take a stab at our new show, PixelNoise. It's an episode 0, please forgive us.

The Last of Us Pt. 2 – TAP #2

If you like the TonyAlexPodcast and would like to support us doing what we do while obtaining some one of a kind goodies please consider checking out our Patreon.  Also connect with us on facebook and twitter.   At last we've finished The Last of Us.  What follows are some much more fully formed thoughts.   That being said, SPOILERS AHEAD. Please "View Full Description" for links, photos, and more!

The Last of Us Pt. 1 – TAP#1

If you like the TonyAlexPodcast and would like to support us doing what we do while obtaining some one of a kind goodies please consider checking out our Patreon.  Also connect with us on facebook and twitter.   The background fan noise shuts off about 6 minutes in, don’t worry.  We didn’t even know we were making a podcast until the end of this episode anyway, a mic just happened to be on while we were talking about the game we were just playing.   Alex had only played about a quarter...