This time on the book club, we're playing a game that definitely puts comedy above all else as we take a trip to the North, with 2024's hilarious indie gem, Thank Goodness You're Here! In this surreal British sitcom of a game, we'll be meeting such characters as greengrocer Rog with his massive head, Brigadier Bean Tin, and the mysterious man who passes raw sausages through holes in garden fences!

We also spend a little time doing our usual incredibly thorough job of looking at the games announced at Summer Games Fest, all of which we have definitely heard of, and care about. That's for sure.

Perhaps this episode is more like one of Tiny's Tom's tiny pies in terms of its length, but it's packed with laughs!

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Let's find out if this obscure Japanese Dreamcast release gets any love from Ollie and Tibbs.. we're playing L.O.L. Lack of Love - the life simulation game set on an alien planet in the midst of a human terraforming operation.

Elsewhere in the ep, we are of course chatting about the Switch 2 and its game announcements.. and we might touch just a little on those eye-watering prices too! Plus, Tibbs reviews Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Remastered, and why aren't Spotify very happy with us at the moment?

Get your designated urination buttons at the ready, and queue up for your free monthly retirement game.. it's time for Pod 'em Up 68!

Incoming Indie:

The Karters 2: Turbo Charged - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2269950/The_Karters_2_Turbo_Charged/

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In this episode, we celebrate one of the most standout, wacky and hilarious platformers of the 16-bit era, as we take on the original Earthworm Jim for the Mega Drive!

In addition, we discuss the very impressive fan-made static recompilation of Sonic Unleashed for the PC, Tomb Raider 4, 5 and 6 Remastered, some promising demos from Steam Next Fest, and more!

Incoming Indies:

Rad Venture's second kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/radventure/rad-venture-campaign-2

Elusive:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abraham-cozar/elusive?ref=bmeaei

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In this episode, we take a look at 2023 indie gem Cassette Beasts, an RPG that has you recording monsters onto cassettes and using them to battle rangers and archangels on your quest to escape the mysterious island you now call home. Better then Pokemon? Let's find out!

We also touch on what little we currently know of the recently announced Switch 2 and kill some time with a little video game movie chat.

Ok, so we're a little light in terms of variety of content this month, but the Cassette Beasts discussion is well worth your time!

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Our end of year special is upon us nice and early this year! NiGHTS Into Dreams on the Sega Saturn is being played in a particularly lengthy book club segment this time, as we go fairly indepth on all aspects of the Sonic Team classic - we also touch on Christmas NiGHTS and the Wii sequel too.

Plus, the highlight of the Pod 'em Up year - our 2024 book club awards, in which we rank the games we've been playing all year, via our patented and ever complicated points system!

Oh and we give a few minutes to that other, less exciting Game Awards too.

Apologies for very short notice, but Ollie will be doing some streaming on Friday 20th December at around 6pm GMT over on http://twitch.tv/podemup! Please pop in if you can, as he'll be playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary this year, and will also be chatting about his old website, Zone: 0 - celebrating 20 years since starting that project. If you missed it, it'll also be uploaded to: https://www.youtube.com/@PodEmUp

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We're celebrating our 64th episode with not one, not two, but THREE (count 'em) games in this bumper edition of the book club this month, across the Commodore 64 and Nintendo 64 systems!

Mayhem in Monsterland reveals what the C64 is truly capable of, and Spacestation Silicon Valley provides some great puzzles and silliness. 1985's quaint British platformer Monty on the Run, however, brings us the highlight of the show, in which Tibbs attempts to explain to Ollie what's so great about the game's Game Over screen.

As if that weren't enough, Sega is as inconsistent as ever this episode, as we praise Sonic X Shadow Generations, but bemoan their upcoming, and unexplained Steam delistings. We also ponder Nintendo's plans for backwards compatibility in the next gen, and smell something fishy about that SuperSega FPGA console..

Plus, look out for Vampire Survivors, Buckshot Roulette, and we discover some weird WWE crossovers and tie-ins!

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You can (and should) now get follow us on Bluesky! podemup.bsky.social

We're pointing and clicking once again this month, this time with Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror, for PS1 and PC!

Plus, we discuss the ridiculous price tag of the PS5 Pro, the Plucky Squire, Rugrats, wrestling, tabletop dishwashing and slippery knives!

Incoming Indie:

Fading Skies - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/distantbluegames/fading-skies

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We're earning some serious kudos (...) with our latest book club pick - the Dreamcast's stylish racing masterpiece that's not afraid to throw some cheesy tunes at you - it's Metropolis Street Racer!

Plus, we answer the following questions:

- How can Europeans stop killing games?

- Will Mad Max ever understand the meaning of friendship?

- What is the correct way to fuss a cat?

Find out in episode 62 of Pod 'em Up!

Links:

- EU petition to save games from obsolescence: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

- koROBO: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tinywonderstudio/korobo/

- Rad Venture: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/radventure/rad-venture

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