Achievement Oriented

The Ringer

Every week, The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion delve into the virtual world, discussing the latest video game releases and trends, interviewing industry experts, and exploring fascinating subcultures.

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Top 10 Achievement Oriented Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Achievement Oriented episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Achievement Oriented for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Achievement Oriented episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Developing 'Pyre' and Composing Supergiant's Soundtracks (Ep. 44)

Achievement Oriented

07/28/17 • 75 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk to Greg Kasavin, creative director and lead writer of indie developer Supergiant Games, about the company's new game, 'Pyre,' its surprising shoutout from Arby's, the apocalyptic settings of Supergiant's games, how 'Pyre' is different from their previous works, 'Bastion' and 'Transistor,' whether 'Pyre' has potential as an esport (and the pitfalls of online multiplayer), why the company wants to stay small, how he uses music to aid his work, and how his past experience serving as editor-in-chief of Gamespot is still helping him make games (2:14). Then they bring on Greg's colleague Darren Korb, Supergiant's audio director, to discuss his process for composing the soundtracks for all of the company's games, how he branched out into new genres and instruments for 'Pyre,' the secret to making a video game soundtrack that stands on its own, how to account for the player's actions when making music for games, how to write songs that repeat but never get annoying, and more (43:53).

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'Persona 5,' 'Nier: Automata,' and the Evolution of Japanese Games (Ep. 26)

Achievement Oriented

04/07/17 • 47 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion report the results of a survey designed to reveal their gaming motivations, then bring on their colleague Justin Charity to discuss his spoiler-free impressions of newly released Atlus RPG 'Persona 5' and Square Enix action RPG 'Nier: Automata' (1:00). Lastly, Ben, Jason, and Justin talk to Kotaku features editor Chris Kohler about the hallmarks of Japanese games, the end of auteur developers, the convergence of Japanese and North American game-design philosophies, and his book, 'Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life' (21:45).

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Ep. 10: 'Achievement Oriented' on the Past and Future of 'Star Wars' Games

Achievement Oriented

12/15/16 • 60 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion name-check their favorite 'Star Wars' games and talk to Jack Sorensen, the former president of LucasArts, about how he helped oversee several classic titles during the heyday of in-house 'Star Wars' development (5:24). Then they welcome Douglas Reilly from Lucasfilm and Justin McCully from Electronic Arts to discuss the upcoming slate of 'Star Wars' games (34:10) and the challenge of telling original stories within the larger 'Star Wars' universe (38:10).

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Ep. 1: 'No Man's Sky'

Achievement Oriented

08/13/16 • 58 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion give their thoughts on one of the year's most highly anticipated video games, 'No Man's Sky.' Then, game creator Sean Murray joins (26:55) to discuss the release process and dealing with lofty expectations.

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Ep. 19: 'Achievement Oriented' on Becoming a Meme and Setting Speedrunning Records

Achievement Oriented

02/24/17 • 49 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion briefly consider the future of TV video game adaptations, reacting to comments by 'Castlevania' producer Adi Shankar and 'The Expanse' co-author Ty Franck (3:30). Then they bring on longtime Giant Bomb video producer Drew Scanlon to discuss having a GIF of his face go viral and how long his fleeting internet notoriety will last (9:30). Lastly, they talk to Kotaku staff writer Heather Alexandra about glitching, speedrunning, and the creative ways in which players navigate games (25:00).

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World of Warcraft' and 'Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator' (Ep. 28)

Achievement Oriented

04/21/17 • 58 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion banter about Ben finally losing his 'Overwatch' virginity (1:43), 'Star Wars: Battlefront II' (3:12), and the SNES Classic (4:13). Then, they welcome writer Tony Palumbi to discuss his new book 'Blood Plagues and Endless Raids: A Hundred Million Lives in the World of Warcraft' and the innovations, relationships, and legacies of 'WoW' (4:57). Lastly, they bring on one-man developer Rob Weaver to talk about his new YouTube and Steam Early Access sensation 'Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator' and the secret to rendering 100,000 AI characters on screen simultaneously (41:44).

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Ep. 6: 'Dishonored 2,' 'Watch Dogs 2,' and How Not to Screw Up Stealth

Achievement Oriented

11/22/16 • 51 min

The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion share their thoughts on stealth games and discuss their impressions of recent high-profile releases ‘Dishonored 2’ (3:25) and ‘Watch Dogs 2’ (16:40). Then, they bring on ‘Firewatch’ and ‘Mark of the Ninja’ designer Nels Anderson to explain ‘Dishonored’ from a developer’s perspective and reveal how his games avoid the potential pitfalls of stealth and narrative exploration games (21:33).

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Ian Dallas on 'Edith Finch' and Chris Person on Video Game Highlights (Ep. 29)

Achievement Oriented

04/28/17 • 53 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk to Giant Sparrow creative director Ian Dallas about his new first-person exploration game, 'What Remains of Edith Finch’ (3:38), the melding of moviemaking and video games (5:28), the centrality of story (7:39), and the ways in which 'Edith Finch' experiments with storytelling and interactivity (16:00). Then they bring on Kotaku video editor Chris Person to discuss his popular, long-running 'Highlight Reel' YouTube series (33:35), what makes a good video game highlight (35:55), and which games have been the best fodder for videos (44:48). Lastly, Ben and Jason list some of their most-anticipated titles for the rest of 2017 (50:25).

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Ep. 23: 'Ghost Recon Wildlands' and eSports Analytics

Achievement Oriented

03/21/17 • 52 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk to writer Reid McCarter and lecturer in video game studies Hugo Montembeault about the dark side of Ubisoft's 'Ghost Recon Wildlands,' realism in shooters, and big-budget games' ongoing struggle to depict real-world problems in fictional form (0:30). Then they bring on 'Super Smash Bros. Melee' analyst Daniel Lee and 'League of Legends' analyst Jeffrey Liang for a primer on the metagame and the past, present, and future of eSports stats (28:15).

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'2K18' Release Week (Ep. 52)

Achievement Oriented

09/22/17 • 47 min

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion discuss Jason's inaugural experience as a video game writer on 'NBA 2K18' (1:05). Then they talk to 'NBA 2K18' director Chris Papierniak about the difference between game direction and film direction, how to handle the development of a game that can't be delayed, how to channel NBA drama into an E-rated game, and the expanding scope of sports games (17:33).

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FAQ

How many episodes does Achievement Oriented have?

Achievement Oriented currently has 67 episodes available.

What topics does Achievement Oriented cover?

The podcast is about Video Games, Podcasts and Leisure.

What is the most popular episode on Achievement Oriented?

The episode title 'Ever-Evolving Games: 'PUBG,' 'Star Citizen,' 'GTA Online,' and 'Zelda' (Ep. 66)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Achievement Oriented?

The average episode length on Achievement Oriented is 59 minutes.

How often are episodes of Achievement Oriented released?

Episodes of Achievement Oriented are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Achievement Oriented?

The first episode of Achievement Oriented was released on Aug 13, 2016.

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Achievement Oriented

The Ringer

Top 10 Achievement Oriented Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Achievement Oriented have?

What topics does Achievement Oriented cover?

What is the most popular episode on Achievement Oriented?

What is the average episode length on Achievement Oriented?

How often are episodes of Achievement Oriented released?

When was the first episode of Achievement Oriented?

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