Exploring the Frustrations Surrounding Star Wars Battlefront II

Julian Meush November 16, 2017

Star Wars Battlefront II officially launches tomorrow. What should have been an overwhelmingly exciting day for gamers and Star Wars fans alike is instead mired in a controversy. Microtransactions, specifically loot boxes, have reportedly poisoned the games multiplayer and people aren't happy. I look at the reason why so many gamers are frustrated by EA's microtransaction strategy.

What EA's Star Wars "Update" Really Means

Julian Meush October 18, 2017

This week EA announced that there would be major changes coming to their much anticipated action-adventure Star Wars game. Along with that news we learned that they would be closing Visceral Games, the studio who had been working on the game since 2013. I examine what their curt press release says about the future of the game, the publisher and the games industry as a whole.

Playstation VR Impressions

Julian Meush August 16, 2016

Playstation brought their VR headset to town so I swung by their demo booth to check it out. From underwater shark encounters to 3D puzzle games Sony came with a diverse line-up of VR titles. Not everything blew me away though, check out my impressions to learn more about my experience with what many people are calling "the future of gaming".

Pokémon GO: One Trainers Journey to "Catch em' All"

Julian Meush July 19, 2016

Pokémon GO has taken the world by storm. It’s boosted Nintendo’s stock by over 25% and it hasn’t even been released worldwide. With over 10 million daily active users and growing it’s quickly become the newest mobile gaming craze, and one that looks to stick around a lot longer than Flappy Bird. Having only just been released in Canada on July 17th, we here at the ToB Podcast are about a week behind the phenomenon that’s been sweeping the US. But now that it’s here and I’ve had just under 48 hours to sink my teeth into it I’m ready to document my experiences going forward. Stay tuned to this blog post, as I’ll be updating it as the days go by with my latest thoughts and new screen grabs as I try to catch em’ all.

Harnessing Gaming's Potential

Daniel D'Souza March 2, 2015

Some exciting food for thought. We're all aware of the problem solving and coordination skills video games can endow, this TED talk considers other more unorthodox benefits and their social applications.

American Redemption - Expolring the Similarities Between American Sniper and Red Dead Redemption

Julian Meush January 28, 2015

While watching American Sniper something dawned on me. I'd seen this story before, in a game I'd played years ago. Red Dead Redemption was released in 2010 and remains one of my favorite games of all time. After realizing the similarities between the film and the game I jumped at the chance to look at the phenomenon that is American Sniper through a Red Dead coloured lens.

Nov 28, 2025

Bonus Episode - ToB Film Club - Dark City (1998)

The term often used to describe the 1998 Alex Proyas film, 'Dark City' is "Proto-Matrix" given the many similarities between the two movies. Fair or not, they do have a lot in common but I think the comparison does a disservice to what is still a very clever and well made genre-film that largely holds up today (minus some questionable early CG effects). The 4K re-release gives it a fresh coat of paint, looking extremely sharp on modern televisions, accentuating the mostly dark and moody imagery of this sci-fi film noir, and given it's title this is all very fitting. Alex Proyas has some bid ideas here; what is the human soul? Are we the sum of our memories? Can memories be distilled into chemistry? Is love transcendent? Many of these themes are explored with depth, with answers to many of the films mysteries being laid bare in mostly satisfying way. Performances are strong, with everyone seemingly understanding the assignment, though there isn't much for the female characters to do here. Which is unfortunate as what we do get from Jennifer Connelly is intriguing, if lacking depth. On the whole, despite being pretty weird, this is still a very fun movie, if a bit silly at times, that was unfortunately overshadowed by the phenomenon that was 'The Matrix' dropping the following year.

Nov 17, 2025

Episode 201 - Bond Turmoil and Goldeneye Retrospective

Julian and Matt start getting into the swing of thigs as they tackle the latest in film and TV news, with the hot story being about the turmoil surrounding the new Bond film. Fortunately, 'Goldeneye' turns 30, providing a positive 007 topic to dig into in an effort to balance things out. A new 'The Mummy' starring Brendan Fraser is in the works with Rachel Weis also set to return. To Matt's chagrin, more 'Jurassic World' is on the way as well with the 5th film in the franchise in development with Gareth Edwards looking to return to direct (say what you will but 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' was pretty fun). Lastly, the guys dive into what they've been watching, including 'Predator: Badlands', 'One Battle After Another', 'Pluribus' and for some reason, 'Dexter'. All that and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

Oct 19, 2025

Bonus Episode - ToB Film Club - Kingpin (1996)

Before Matt officially joined the show as a co-host he was invited on as guest to talk about one of his favourite movies of all time, ‘Swingers’. Now returning in an official capacity to the ToB Film Club, he brings with him another film from his top-3, another comedy, ‘Kingpin’. A Farrelly brothers film that followed up their smash hit breakout, ‘Dumb and Dumber’, and you can see the through lines. Like ‘Dumb and Dumber’ we follow two guys who are down on their luck as they head out on the road where chaos and hilarity ensue. Unfortunately it wasn’t the hit they hoped despite a killer cast, including legends Bill Murray, Randy Quaid and Woody Harrelson and as a result it didn't leave as large of a cultural footprint as some of the other Farrelly brothers films from this era. It's been nearly 30 years so now seems as good a time as any to revisit this sleeper and see what everyone was missing back then.

Oct 9, 2025

Episode 200 - Meet Matt!

After an extended hiatus, ToB returns with a fresh voice on the second chair. Julian is joined by long-time friend of the show, Matt Tworek. We spend this first episode of the "new" ToB getting to know him and setting up what else is to come.