The Book of Boba Fett Review and Discussion

This might come as a shock, but many of my friends are Star Wars nerds. Two of the biggest Star Wars fans I know are veteran videogame journalist Paul Semel and former videogame journalist Chris Baker (Official PlayStation Magazine). When I thought about dedicating an episode of RPadTV 3000 to the first season of The Book of Boba Fett, they were there first people I thought of for guests. Thankfully, they agreed to swing by!

The Book of Boba Fett has been getting rave reviews and venomous criticism in the corner of the Internet that I hang out in. Some fans love it for adding more high-quality Star Wars content to Disney+. Others hate it for fleshing out Boba Fett’s story and taking away from the mystique that made him so cool in The Empire Strikes Back.

Now here’s the part where I warn you that there will be spoilers ahead. Now turn on your spoiler shields and lock your S-foils in attack positions!

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 7: Jon Radoff

Beamable CEO Jon Radoff is one of the smartest people I’ve met in the videogame business. I remember meeting him in San Francisco at my favorite coffeehouse (shout out to Farley’s!) and enjoying his company while also feeling kind of dumb (in a good way). He’s one of those guys that has a deep understanding of many interesting subjects. One of those subjects is the metaverse.

Technologists, nerds, futurists, and geeks are all talking up the metaverse and how it’s the “next big thing” for the Internet. While the technology is exciting and potentially very cool, it’s also confusing and intimidating. There are many definitions of what the metaverse is and while some of them are from people that genuinely understand it, there are some people pushing dishonest definition of what the metaverse is for self-serving reasons. This makes the very concept of the metaverse difficult to comprehend for “normal” people.

With that in mind, I wanted to have a conversation with someone that’s highly intelligent, good at communicating heady concepts in terms that most people can understand, and heavily involved in the metaverse. Jon Radoff was the first person that popped into my head.

In the latest episode of RPadTV 3000, Jon Radoff talks about what the metaverse is and why it’s important. Some of the points we chatted about include:

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 6: John Foster and Jon Robinson

John Foster was a longtime PR executive for Bender Helper Impact, one of the most respect agencies in the business. He started as an account executive and finished his career at Bender as vice president. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in writing, but got sidetracked by the wonderful and wacky world of videogames.

Jon Robinson was a longtime editor for numerous videogame publications. Many GamePro fans know him as “Jonny Ballgame,” while many IGN fans know him as the editor for IGN Sports.

Both of these guys have become award-winning authors.

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2022 WWE Royal Rumble Review

The dashing Jose “Fubar” Sanchez from Electric Playground joined me on RPadTV 3000 to talk about the 2022 WWE Royal Rumble. This year’s edition was a bit strange. People love the Royal Rumble for the surprise entrants, but WWE revealed many of the “surprises” beforehand. Additionally, the dirt sheets did a great job of revealing the returning talent, so many hardcore fans weren’t surprised at all.

Internet fans seem to be down on the 2022 WWE Royal Rumble, calling it predictable and boring. Personally, I didn’t think it was as bad as many people on Twitter have said. I enjoyed five of the six matches. That said, it certainly wasn’t as good as recent Royal Rumbles and there were certain “Superstars” that should never be in a WWE ring again (Shane McMahon, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, etc.).

For people that just want the results, here you go:

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 4: Chris Cross

Chris Cross has been working in videogame development since the mid-90s. He started off in QA at Blizzard, gained notoriety for his work on the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor series, and has led development teams at independent studios and large publishers. From big budget AAA games , to iOS games made by a team of four, to reimagining Pac-Man for Google Stadia, Cross has done it all.

I’ve interviewed Cross several times for various magazines and websites, but those pieces never showed how imaginative, interesting, and fun hanging out with him can be. I think this episode of RPadTV 3000 gets all of that across. Check out the video above to watch Chris Cross and I talk about:

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 3: Karen Chu and Chris Kohler

Good Job Brain showrunner Karen Chu and co-host Chris Kohler are the latest guests on RPadTV 3000! I was lucky enough to know these cats when I lived in San Francisco and we were all part of the games media. At the time, Karen was at 1Up and Chris was at Wired. I respected them as peers and enjoyed their company as friends. One of their favorite leisure activities was pub trivia and they were able to parlay their love of trivia into the ultra-successful podcast Good Job Brain.

In addition to sharing the story of Good Job Brain and how the podcast has evolved, Karen Chu and Chris Kohler talk to me about:

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 2: Jose “Don Fubar” Sanchez and Joey Abitia

Jose “Don Fubar” Sanchez, Joey Abitia, and I have been lucky enough to attend numerous pro-wrestling events, including several WrestleMania and Summer Slam shows. All three of us are lifelong wrestling fans and were thrilled to attend so many amazing wrestling events. With zero exaggeration I can say that I’ve had some of the best times of my life with these two gentlemen.

Millions of people know Fubar from the Electric Playground — the longest running show about videogames. He’s parlayed his following from Electric Playground into a successful (and hilarious!) Twitch stream. I’m normally not a fan of gameplay streams, but Fubar’s is supremely entertaining and I watch him play several times a week. You should too!

Joey recently launched a YouTube show called Infinite G. It started as a way for Joey’s son, Gio, to stream his Fortnite gameplay, but transformed into something more. It’s a really precious father/son show that’s surprisingly honest. You get to see the love and challenges of single father raising a son during a crazy time. Naturally, there’s a ton of pro-wrestling and videogame content in each episode.

In addition to talking about the Don Fubar Twitch and Infinite G, the three of us discuss:

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RPadTV 3000 Episode 1: Chris Taylor

Kanoogi Founder and CEO Chris Taylor was kind enough to join me for the first episode of RPadTV 3000! Chris has entertained millions of gamers with his critically acclaimed strategy games in the Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege series. His new company is making a strategy game called Intergalactic Space Empire and building a cloud platform that allows independent developers to realize their visions.

In addition to being an outstanding creative, Chris Taylor is a hilarious man that’s excellent to hang out with. Check out the video above as Chris and I talk about:

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