Fireside Game Chats

Welcome to Episode 45 of Fireside Tunes with Chops! Wait. Fireside Game Chats! For this special episode, I go through my origin story of being a radio DJ (DJ Mutton Chops) and how this all comes back to this podcast, though, without the chops. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 44 of Fireside Game Chats! On our final episode (for now) covering The Legend of Zelda, Kyle returns to talk about his all-time favorite, Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. We journey back to our youth to unearth memories from this never forgotten gem. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 43 of Fireside Game Chats! The Legend of Zelda train keeps on rolling, but with a new guest, Kyle! Similar with the previous episodes with Bill, we start our conversation with an older Zelda title, in fact, the oldest and first in the series, The Legend of Zelda. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 42 of Fireside Game Chats! Me and Bill continue our conversation around Zelda, but bring it more modern with Breath of the Wild. We discuss how much we like and dislike this particular entry into The Legend of Zelda franchise. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 41 of Fireside Game Chats! I bring in someone I met during a job interview, Bill! Me and Bill go way back as we built our relationship through the fire of bonding over working together for many years. Bill is a big fan of The Legend of Zelda series so thought it appropriate to bring him on to talk A Link to the Past. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 40 of Fireside Game Chats! For our special episode, I pivot the conversation to "Battle Royale" the movie, novel, and manga. As with all things Fireside Game Chats, I do bring it full circle back to the "Battle Royale" genre of video games that was popularized with PUBG and the others that followed with Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 39 of Fireside Game Chats! I return from my two week long poop for me and Jesse to continue our conversation, focusing on 2025's Arc Raiders. This one is a bit different because I have never played or seen Arc Raiders, so Jesse leads the discussion to convince me to play it. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 38 of Fireside Game Chats! Long time listener and my top 0.001% fan, Jesse, rejoins me at the fire to talk about the games we've played, wish we played in 2025, and the ones we're anticipating for 2026. I try to keep episodes listenable regardless of when you listen to it, but I wanted to put a focus on my first full year of Fireside Game Chats and those games I've been playing alongside life. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 37 of Fireside Game Chats! The "good" BioWare games journey continues with the first Mass Effect game. This game is one of my top 10 of all time, so I feel like I can never do it justice in an episode, but damn it, I tried! Don't get caught off guard with all of the blue alien sex you could be having. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 36 of Fireside Game Chats! Following our chat about Knights of the Old Republic, we're continuing onward with discussing "good" BioWare games with a focus on 1998's Baldur's Gate and 2005's Jade Empire. Join me as I discuss ancient D&D and hidden Chinese secrets. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 35 of Fireside Game Chats! In today's episode, we're covering my birthday memories related to video games, potato chips, and Japanese horse racing. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 34 of Fireside Game Chats! Following my "Bad BioWare Games" episode, I'm taking a crack at a "good" BioWare game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This one is quite a journey through decades of me attempting to play through this title. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 33 of Fireside Game Chats! John leaves the caravan to talk to me about one of our favorite games of all time, the tactical RPG for the Sega Genesis, Shining Force II. We geek out about this hardly ever talked about video game that has a special place in our hearts. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 32 of Fireside Game Chats! My older brother, John, joins me to complete the sibling trifecta. Coming off of the episode with Kristin, I decide to take a different approach with John by talking more generally about our history of gaming together rather than going right into a specific game. If Tom Hanks can understand it, so can you! Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 31 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I'm covering Need for Speed games I have played. This is a vast series, but I have only played two games, Most Wanted and Undercover. Join me as I navigate the L.A. smog, yellow tints, and go vroom vroom into a genre I'm not too familiar with in a way only Dom Toretto could be proud. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 30 of Fireside Game Chats! In the season finale as we start dropping into the 30's, I go into the nitty gritty details of the lists and spreadsheets I use to track my gaming habit. After covering the behind the scenes of my mind, I take you down into my basement and walk you through my collection of physical games and how I have my bookcases set up. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 29 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I'm covering the Donkey Kong Country series. Swing with me through the trees as I explore who has the biggest golden banana in the jungle. I'll give you a hint, it's not Kiddie Kong. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 28 of Fireside Game Chats! Matt returns with an electric guitar to rock our conversation about the Mega Man X1-X8 series of games. Journey with us as we go back in time, reminiscing about a convoluted story that no one really cares about where all we want to do is run and shoot. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 27 of Fireside Game Chats! I am joined by Matt C, not to be mistaken for Matt F, to talk in French about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. We take a different approach to discuss a more recent title that we both quickly fell in love with. We dive deep into the philosophy of the "whee" and "whoo" as well as asking the tough questions of MFK. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 26 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I'm beating up your local neighborhood bum and bear with my meaty hands! We talk about the most famous bum beating simulator, Condemned: Criminal Origins and Condemned 2: Bloodshot. Journey with me through a wonderful Xbox 360 series and watch your step, I don't know what kind of fluid that is. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 25 of Fireside Game Chats! In this special 25th episode, I was finally able to book a slot in my wife's calendar for her to come onto the show. The format is different than usual and instead of deep diving into a particular game, we go more into her history of games and our relationship. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 24 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I'm covering the Onimusha series...well, the first three. Join me as I make gratuitous sucking sounds and venture through this seminal PS2 series that mixed zombies and samurai. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 23 of Fireside Game Chats! Matt returns with his Lover Boy to keep the conversation rolling about The Division series (yes, another Tom Clancy game). We are rootin' and tootin' and talking shootin'. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 22 of Fireside Game Chats! Long time friend and gaming partner, Matt, joins me to talk about the entire Assassin's Creed series. That's a lot of hooch! I am not a fan of how the Assassin's Creed games play and Matt knows this, so he chose to torture me to talk all things assassinating. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 21 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I'm covering PS2 launch games that I got on launch for the PS2 on Christmas Day 2000. That includes Eternal Ring, Midnight Club: Street Racing, and Summoner. For the first time in Fireside Game Chats history, I'm talking about games I have never actually completed. The PS2 and its launch games hold a special place in my heart and glad to talk about these mostly terrible games. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 20 of Fireside Game Chats! For this special episode, I'm talking about my top 20 favorite games of all time. This is certainly my opinion and not a definitive list of the top 20 games of all time. With this list, you can get more of an understanding of my tastes and the types of games that I tend to gravitate towards. Some of these already have their own episodes! Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 19 of Fireside Game Chats! For this episode, I focus in on finals week of my college sophomore year and the games surrounding that, including Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Lost Odyssey. I took a different approach here of going backwards where I talk about the time period and then circle back to the actual games. I hope you enjoy my endless diet and possible indecent exposure. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 18 of Fireside Game Chats! I talk about all things MachineGames in this developer focused episode, covering the games I’ve played from this studio which includes Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wolfenstein: Young Blood, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. MachineGames is a premiere first person shooter developer and their pedigree has been impressive and is one of my favorite more modern game developers. This is the most I have talked about poop (but not my poop) in a single episode. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 17 of Fireside Game Chats! Jesse (or Booger42069) once again joins me to talk about our favorite man with goggles. For this second part, we discuss the last three games of the series, Double Agent, Conviction, and Blacklist. Change your smoke detector batteries before the fire gets to you. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 16 of Fireside Game Chats! Jesse joins me to talk all things Splinter Cell. I'm still unsure if Jesse is actually in this episode because he's just so damn stealthy. For this first part, we discuss the first three games of the series, Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, and Chaos Theory. Be careful and watch your back in case someone in a tight suit is crouch walking behind you. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 15 of Fireside Game Chats! This is THE HIT LIST, BABY! Over the years, there are several games I've completed and some, I don't have enough to talk about for a full episode. This is my chance to talk about a bunch of games that I don't have much to say about. This includes, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto V, Persona 5, Far Cry 5, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Devil May Cry 5, Super Mario 3D World, Five Dates, Splinter Cell: Conviction (sort of), and Tekken 8. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 14 of Fireside Game Chats! Steve returns...or did he really never leave? We sit back down to talk about our next game, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. As the night gets longer, the conversation gets weirder. Hold on tight to your prozac because we're getting real weird. Enjoy!*Apologies for the echoes happening at some points in this episode.

Welcome to Episode 13 of Fireside Game Chats! I bring in my second guest of the show, Steve, to talk about the first game we played together, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Enjoy this episode full of reminiscing, debauchery, and a weird game offshoot!

Welcome to Episode 12 of Fireside Game Chats! Today, I welcome my next guest, Diablo. I sit down with the big guy and talk about his feature games, Diablo I through IV in a special "Late Night with The Devil". We dig deep into the first two games and pretty much dismiss the later two games, but nonetheless, we talked about them all. This action RPG series was a big part of my childhood and I had way more to talk about than I had originally thought. Enjoy this beefy (almost double in length) episode!

Welcome to Episode 11 of Fireside Game Chats! Today, I'm by myself talking about my best buddy, Crash Bandicoot and his four mainline games, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. I love myself a great, precision platformer and Crash Bandicoot is certainly one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 10 of Fireside Game Chats! Like five episodes before, we have ourselves a special treat. Today, I talk about how I acquired consoles, mobile devices, and computers throughout my life. This one is certainly a journey from my earliest memories to the day I recorded this one. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 9 of Fireside Game Chats! This is the second part of Michelle's guest episode where I bring my pick, The Sims, to the table for discussion. Hide your nude patches and give yourself a money cheat, because this one is a juicy one!*Note: There is some background noise in this episode.

Welcome to Episode 8 of Fireside Game Chats! I welcome my sister, Michelle, for my very first guest episode. For guest episodes, we tried something different by each picking a game and surprising each other with that pick. This first part covers Michelle's pick, Maniac Mansion. Strap yourself in and join the SCUMMettes, because we're traveling back to this point and click classic of the 80s/90s.*Note: There is some background noise in this episode.

Welcome to Episode 7 of Fireside Game Chats! Not all games are great and I'm not always playing the best, so let's dive into a few games I consider "bad" from BioWare, including Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Digging up sad memories is a part of this show as much as happy memories, it just so happens that the games associated to those these particular sad memories are also bad games.

Welcome to Episode 6 of Fireside Game Chats! In this episode, I talk about the very first video game I remember buying, Mega Man 6. The Mega Man series is my favorite and the sixth entry holds a special place in my heart and is one of my earliest memories. Grab yourself a drink (because I certainly did) and enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 5 of Fireside Game Chats! In this intersticial episode, I focus inward and discuss my gaming locations of the past. While most episodes will be about specific games, I want to have episodes, such as this one, focused in on my gaming background and my life around games. These will be tossed in about every ten episodes, though this one came early as I realized, you don't know me and I couldn't wait any longer for you to get to know me more.

Welcome to Episode 4 of Fireside Game Chats! In this episode, I talk about two games from my favorite survival horror series, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 4: The Room. Silent Hill 2 was the first survival horror game I ever completed and Silent Hill 4 was the last in the series I completed. I know this is my second episode with survival horror games, but it's spooky season and I couldn't resist.

Welcome to Episode 3 of Fireside Game Chats! In this episode, I cover the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy, well, the trilogy plus the spin-off movie tie-in game. Taking the opposite approach of the last episode, I dive into some of the earliest video games I had completed as I try to recall memories from two decades ago.

Welcome to Episode 2 of Fireside Game Chats! In this sequel episode, I take you through the catalog of video games developed by Tango Gameworks. This includes The Evil Within and its sequel, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush. All of these games being completed within the past 10 years, so I have a lot on my mind to cover as I continue to get in the groove of these episodes.

Welcome to Episode 1 of Fireside Game Chats! In this inaugural episode, I take you back to one of the first video games I have ever completed, Final Fantasy I, while also recapping the latest in the series, Final Fantasy XVI. This captures the essence of my show of remembering the old and the new and there's no better series which showcases that for me than Final Fantasy.

Welcome to Fireside Game Chats! Let this introductory episode serve as a preview of what's to come, what I plan on covering, and my general vibe. Enjoy!