This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest on the show talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that forged connections with others & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints!

My guest today is Robert Yang, a game developer and a teacher at the NYU Game Center. Robert's games are most known for their explorations and interpretations of gay sex, from spanking in Hurt Me Plenty to dick pics in Cobra Club, and we talk on what compelled him to focus in on these themes, and how something as seemingly juvenile as a dick pic simulator is actually a scathing critique of our surveillance culture.

We talk about his bad first impressions of video games, how Final Fantasy changed his mind, his introduction to modding through StarCraft and Half Life, that one time he interviewed for Valve and how best to approach a spanking game in VR.

We also hit on our favourite Golden Axe characters, Super Smash Bros. hipsters, how tough it is to do intimacy well in a video game, why twitch won't let people stream his games and how pop songs are some of his strongest influences.

"Every Final Fantasy game is basically about growing up, going through a goth phase and then killing God."

PATREON - patreon.com/checkpoints

iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW

Games discussed: Ladykiller in a Bind, Sonic, Golden Axe, Command & Conquer, Starcraft 2, Overwatch, Halo, Super Smash Bros, Oikospiel, Fatale, A good snowman is hard to build, Counter Strike, Half Life,