This week we have a delightful doubleheader.

First up we have Ryan Payton, director of Batman: Arkham Shadow. I’ve been following Ryan’s career since he founded his studio Camouflaj back in 2011 back when I was doing stories about the rise of crowdfunding and here we are on the cusp of 2025 talking about the greatest game to be released on the Meta Quest platform so far.

In this conversation we get deep into the storytelling that drives the action of Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is some of the best I’ve encountered in any video game in years. With that in mind, we avoid spoilers for almost half the conversation. Spoilers start at 19:23 of the pod and end at 37:20. We get into some of the big character beats. So consider yourself forewarned.

Then we settle in for a long chat about the state of XR with friend of the show Alex Coulombe — chatting it up about everything from the Unreal Engine classes he’s teaching to folks who are working with the Apple Vision Pro to the recreation of the Halcyon — aka the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser — an open source project in Unreal that he’s been helping to lead pretty much since he got back from visiting the ship.

• Batman: Arkham Shadow
• Camouflaj
• République
• Get Cast In A Dream Role In ‘Batman: Arkham Shadow’ (The NoPro Review)
• A Christmas Carol VR
• GitHub - AgileLens/HalcyonVR
• Alex Coulombe (@ibrews.bsky.social) — Bluesky
• Alex Coulombe Presents Unreal Engine Training
• The (Unofficial) Unreal Engine Podcast - YouTube
• The Weeknd’s ‘Open Hearts’ Drops On Apple Vision Pro
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit

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This week we have a doubleheader as first we are joined by Third Rail Project’s Co-Artistic Director Jennine Willlet and musician Coyle Girelli to talk about their new collaboration True Love Forever, which has just opened in NYC.

Then Immersive Experience Institute co-founder Kathryn Yu joins me as we break down just how next year’s Next Stage Immersive Summit — coming up Jan 17-19 in Pasadena, CA — is going to work as the event evolves some new forms and formats.

• True Love Forever
• Third Rail Projects
• Coyle Girelli
• Love Kills
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit F.A.Q.

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On this episode: a preview of our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide with Kathryn Yu, Kevin Gossett, Patrick McLean, and Noah Nelson. Find the perfect gift for the immersive fan in yourself (even if that's just you).

GIFT GUIDE LINKS

• Box TWO by Neil Patrick Harris and Theory11
• Clue: Treachery at Tudor Mansion
• The Morrison Game Factory
• Star Trek: Resurgence
• Alan Wake 2
• Star Wars: Outlaws
• Life & Trust Gift Experience
• McKittrick Snow Globe
• Star Wars Etsy Universe
• Meow Wolf Vista Boss
• 2120

NOT GIFT GUIDE LINKS

• Denver Immersive Invitational Accolades (Facebook Post)
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit

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