Some Patches Required
Hello everybody, and welcome to Some Patches Required. Every other Thursday, your hosts Aaron and Zak use their backgrounds in game development and analysis to discuss various facets of the ever-turbulent games industry. From interviews with AAA/indie devs to deep dives on timely topics, the duo hopes to entertain and educate you on this wild medium we all love.
Episodes
123 episodes
Mobile Game Marketing, Celebrity Likenesses, and the Joker's Book Blockade
We know that the last few episodes served as a showcase for the guest-heavy format we're looking toward, but we wouldn't judge you for missing the dulcet tones of Zak and Aaron as they agree about things and talk about KFC way too much. Well, A...
Double Trouble With Doug Trein, Reviewing Reviews, and Evaluating the Value of Wikis
Are you ready for another dose of in-the-trenches insight from Doug Trein? Well, you'd better be, because this episode concludes our first collaboration with this consummate professional, multi-talented, and profoundly bassy-voiced developer/wr...
SPR Watch Party - Star Wars: Episode VII With Daniel DiManna From The GNP
Brace yourself: SPR is trying something new.That's right, Some Patches Required — ever a bastion of consistency — is shaking things up. This time around, Zak and Aaron invited The Godzilla Novelization Project founder (and elder brother...
Indie Insights From Basileus Games, Building a Visual Novel, and a Hint at What’s To Come
We usually start these descriptions with an overlong, unnecessary description of our topics based on a tangentially related idea. Today, we break the mold.On this, the 20th episode of Some Patches Required (who would have guessed it wou...
An Episode of Intros, Lots of Roblox Talk, and an Unnecessary Adherence to Naming Conventions
As one great Greek philosopher famously said: "Sometimes, you've got enough material in the bag to make a beautiful quilt, even if you may see it as too little." Of course, another said, "If you have no material from which to craft your art, wh...
Remasters, Re-releases, and Googling "Frank"
Before you begin this episode, Zak and Aaron invite you to revisit the treasured memories you built while playing your favorite games. Were you trying to best your father on the digital be-iced colosseum that plays host to hockey? Working night...
Switch OLED, Steam Deck, and Activision Blizzard's Moral Reckoning
CONTENT WARNING: During the first part of this episode, the discussion references harassment, suicide, and sexual abuse. If you would like to avoid these topics, please skip to at least 20:48.At the risk of ge...
Gameplay vs. Narrative, Second Chances, and Our First Concise Outro
A wise podcaster once said, "Look to your games for gameplay; nothing else." Another said, "narrative is vital, no matter the experience." Neither Zak nor Aaron know where to find the ancient texts that hold the ultimate truth as to whether sto...
Talking Shop With GuessworkVR, Indie Dev Insights, and a Surplus of Sarcasm
Here at Some Patches Required Industries, we like to think of ourselves as people of the people despite our staggering success and record-breaking download count. As such, we decided to grant Tyler Blust and Anthony Mikicic from GuessworkVR an ...
E3 2021, Opinions Aplenty, and the Colonel's Nasty Boy
At the risk of sounding like the introduction to nearly every article, press release, or set of podcast show notes written since the start of "you know what," the world looks a little bit different today than it has in years past. But, since 20...
$70 Games, Appropriate Compensation, and the Legendary Lost Lozenge of Hades
Here at SPR, we like to think that highlighting serious topics within the games industry doesn't require emulating the tone of a particularly boring episode of "Mr. Wizard's World." If you're not 150 years old (or Aaron), that means we try to b...
Bad Video Game Movies, a Ton of Monster Hunter, and Commander Shepard's Nasty Knob
An intellectual once said, "To err is human, to complain for a really long time about movies that tried and failed to capture the nature of the games from which they drew inspiration is the height of entertainment." Who was that shining light, ...
Sony, Game Preservation, and The Taking of a Tremendous Duke
Cast your mind back to the halcyon days of one episode ago, when we spent more than an hour talking about wacky licensed video games with Aaron's brother. Fun times, right?Now, pop your earbuds in and listen to us talk about the borderl...
Licensed Games, Godzilla, and a Very Special Guest Host
Oh, hey, didn't see you come in there. Well, now that you're here, we'd like to welcome you to a very special episode of Some Patches Required! This week, we take a trip down memory lane while talking about licensed video games. What makes that...
Gaming Superiority, The Snyder Cut, and an Unfortunately Clicky Chair
We try to structure every episode around a clear idea, use our first- and second-hand experiences to bring some level of knowledge to the conversation, and do our best to address societal issues while recognizing our privilege. But, sometimes, ...
Open World Games, Blaseball Banter, and the Naming Of a Toilet
Today we celebrate an astronomical achievement. It's the first time we've managed to post an episode that's under an hour. But fear not, dear listener. We still dive into the nitty-gritty of a topic that's on the tip of everyone's prove...
Google Stadia's Empty Stadium, Plenty of Pokémon, and a Very Vocal Feline
Have you ever wanted to hear two white fellows in their mid-twenties talk about a big tech company's most recent bungle while a very cute cat with a tiny face you can't see and a loud voice you can very much hear screams in the background? Well...
IP Usage in Games, Star Wars, Warhammer, and the Horror of Texas Snowstorms
As the well-trodden platitude says, "life happens." Sometimes that means the majority of your state goes dark because of a winter storm. Sometimes it means you need to record a podcast in the same room as a cat who just loves to scream...
Exclusivity 2: Electric Boogaloo
We’re nothing if not people of our word, and we deliver on our promises at least 50% of the time, 100% of the time. So, as promised, here’s the second installment of our discussion on exclusivity.This week, we start ...
Platform-Exclusive Games, King Kong, and a Michael Caine Mea Culpa
Well, we've finally done it. How long did you really think it would take for Aaron to invite his very good friend Michael Caine to do a guest spot on this undeniably popular podcast?Unfortunately, the appearance by America's favorite Al...
Genshin Impact's... Impact
This week, we ramble about Star Wars and Lucasfilm Games for a while, then turn to our main topic: The impact of Genshin Impact. Is it a Breath of the Wild clone? Are its microtransactions and gacha mechanics problematic? How did it bec...