The Gayming Podcast – Episode 13 with special guest Anna Hollinrake
The Gayming Podcast Episode 13 has dropped and is an episode of laughs, contention, and wholesomeness!
At the top of the episode I’m joined by Mia S and Luke Bennett to review games we’ve played and stories we’ve read. Later, I’m joined by my special guest, video game artist, Anna Hollinrake.
What’s in Your Slot?
In what has now become the standard opening to the What’s In Your Slot segment, we have our usual Animal Crossing debrief. Specifically where I shared that I had “completed” the game by getting the K.K Slider to perform on my island. I was feeling so happy that I had reached this milestone, only to then discover just how behind I was as Luke & Mia simultaneously made me feel poor and inadequate by telling me how far they had got and how much money they had!
I did get to share with them the news that there is a whole K.K Slider covers album on Spotify, with my favourite being the cover of Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy!
We then went on to talk about the new Animal Crossing update which features the inclusion of shady art deals and bushy hedges, plus the new May Day celebration which started today – but it’s FAR less aggressive than the cursed Bunny Day!
We also briefly mentioned the wholesomeness of Elijah Wood’s polite visit to a fan’s island!
Elijah Wood visiting a random person’s Animal Crossing island to sell his turnips is the best thing I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/hLHQXnvtx6
— Haley (@Haleyinho) April 23, 2020
I then moved on to talk about sports ball games, specifically my weird heterosexual obsession with cricket – you might have to google that one, American listeners!
Mia then moved on to talk about why she was disappointed with Resident Evil 3 and how it pales in comparison to Resident Evil 2 Remake, and she felt it was rushed out. She also talked about playing Final Fantasy VII Remake and how its the complete opposite of RE3 in terms of scale and scope. Luke and I then shared the humiliating news that neither of us had ever played a Final Fantasy game!
Luke talked about playing Persona 5 as part of his new years resolution to play different types of games and how he’s getting used to the JRPG detailed story style. We joked it was actually perfect for this current lockdown life!
Gayming News
Further into the episode, we talked about what we’ve been reading on Gayming Magazine recently.
Mia spoke about Aimee’s recent article about the The Last of Us 2 leak, and this lead into a really interesting discussion about leaks, mentioning the recent Animal Crossing data mine too. I spoke about how from a media point of view it’s hot news and good for eyeballs, but we did all agree that from an ethical point of view it’s terrible. Luke spoke also about how from a PR point of view, the amount of work that goes into campaigns and reveals is all ruined too. But, we did say that there can be upsides to it by getting the game trending.
Luke then spoke about the new ability to say sorry in Overwatch and how it’s good that online gaming is bringing in elements of politeness. We all agreed that being polite and civil in online gaming is the next big challenge.
I then finished up talking about the new Games for Carers initiative from the UK games industry which is giving away free games to all NHS workers. We all agreed that it’s great for the industry that good news is coming out from it, pushing back against these negative stereotypes that the mainstream media has.
Special Guest
To round off the podcast, I am joined by a special guest. In this episode, I’m joined by Anna Hollinrake. Anna is an art director, illustrator and 2017-18 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. She has worked for a long list of companies since joining the industry as a freelancer in 2014, before heading to Mediatonic this year.
We spoke about lockdown life and the very British topics of the weather and tea! This then led to the important revelation of Anna’s favourite biscuit.
Leading off the career discussion, I asked how it felt to be named on of MCV’s 30 Under 30 for 2020. I also wanted to find out who wrote the endorsement that reads: “She’s a gem that outshines every other in this industry and she will continue to glow forever more. She’s great, get her on that goddamn list else it’s just INVALID.”
We talked more about Anna’s work and creative process, and the differences between working in games and in TV. This was where Anna could let a bit of geek out and revealed that games art is more geeky than TV art!
I asked Anna about what she thought the next big frontier in art was, given the arrival of the next generation of consoles this year. Her reply was beautifully geeky but so so true, and I’m excited to see the next steps the art world can take in these new environments.
Finally we spoke about games that are getting her through lockdown and what the big dreams for the future were.
You can find out more about Anna and her work by visiting www.annahollinrake.com.
Listen to the full episode below, as well as on Spotify, Stitcher and Apple Podcasts. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
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