War, war never changes. Keifer returns with the most ambitious episode of the show to date, bringing on Jane from the Unwise Girls podcast to talk about war through Spec Ops: The Line. We also talk about perspective as artistic intention, exploring gender through customizable characters, life on the road with a Steam Deck, and more.

Other games discussed in this episode: Bastion, Transistor, The Beginner’s Guide, Undertale, Deltarune, the Professor Layton series, Deep Rock Galactic, Civilization 5, Misericorde, Hades, Live A Live, We Love Katamari, Ridger Racer 2, Ridge Racer Type 4, Mario Kart Wii, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Game Series, Thomas Was Alone, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, Army of Two, the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and more.

Select and Start is a video game podcast where the host, Keifer Lirette, talks with his guests about their most meaningful and memorable video game experiences. It is part of the Moonshot podcast network.

0:00 - Prologue

11:00 - Introducing Jane

42:10 - On Harry Belafonte

48:40 - Introducing Spec Ops: The Line

1:11:30 - No Country for Old Games

1:26:20 - Discussing Spec Ops: The Line

2:03:25 - White Phosphorus and war crimes

2:27:10 - Perspective, abstraction, and cognitive dissonance

2:43:00 - The legacy Spec Ops The Line

3:00:25 - Impact, weaknesses, and final thoughts

3:10:45 - Recommendations and Outro

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