Senior reporter Charlie Hall and guides editor Dave Tach host in-depth conversations each week about the latest games, movies, comics, and gear reviewed and recommended by the Polygon team. Produced by Polygon and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
28 min
After 192 episodes and millions of downloads, Polygon's Quality Control is going on hiatus. To celebrate we brought back creator Justin McElroy. Until the next time we've got a game, a movie, or anything at all to talk about, thanks to you at home for listening.
21 min
Managing editor Chelsea Stark stops by to discuss her review of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
28 min
After 192 episodes and millions of downloads, Polygon's Quality Control is going on hiatus. To celebrate we brought back creator Justin McElroy. Until the next time we've got a game, a movie, or anything at all to talk about, thanks to you at home for listening.
21 min
Managing editor Chelsea Stark stops by to discuss her review of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
13 min
An audiobook version of Polygon's Pokémon: Let's Go! review.
31 min
This week on Polygon’s Quality Control podcast, we’re joined by Jenna Stoeber and Tara Long. Between the two of them, they’ve spent dozens of hours in the Fallout 76 beta, so who better to bring onto the show to discuss it.
21 min
Charlie Hall sits down with Polygon's senior reporter Colin Campbell to discuss the latest game from indie developer Lucas Pope, Return of the Obra Dinn.
31 min
In this week’s Quality Control podcast, we discuss the newest edition to the Call of Duty franchise, a battle royale mode called Blackout. It’s available as part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. At a glance, it looks like many other battle royale games on the market. But, in motion, there’s a lot more nuance to the experience. I sat down with our Austen Goslin. Between the two of us, we’ve spent hundreds of hours inside PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, but also precursor games in the Call of Duty series. You can listen to the entire conversation below or on your podcast service of choice. We’ve also highlighted a few parts of the conversation and broken them out in the transcript below. Read our review, already in progress.
23 min
This week on Polygon’s Quality Control podcast, Mike McWhertor joins Dave Tach to discuss Mega Man 11, which is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows. In this episode, you’ll learn about Mega Man lore, how Mike played the game — and what Capcom seems to have figured out across a bunch of franchises lately. Much of the discussion centers around what Mike wrote recently in his Mega Man 11 review.
25 min
In the latest episode of Polygon’s Quality Control podcast we grapple with the Greco-action game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Guests include Colin Campbell and Simone de Rochefort. https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2018/10/1/17920288/assassins-creed-odyssey-review-ps4-xbox-one-windows-pc
25 min
At the beginning of every Pokémon game, players must make a Sohpie’s Choice-like decision to ally themselves with a single, cuddly fighting animal. While their stable will undoubtedly expand, it is that creature who will be their intimate companion on the long road to becoming the very best. Like no one ever was. Today’s formal debate brings three Pokémon experts to the fore, including Polygon’s Allegra Frank and Ryan Gilliam as well as The Verge’s Megan Farokhmanesh. They will each make their case for one of the three iconic starting Pokémon: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. Later this week, Polygon will also publish passionate analyses of each of these starting Pokémon. Then, next week on our official Twitter account, you will be able to make your voices heard with a final vote.
29 min
This week on Polygon’s Quality Control podcast, Chris Plante and Dave Tach join host Charlie Hall to discuss Shadow of the Tomb Raider. How did the franchise get to now, and what's it like to play through an introspective look at the narrative roots of Lara Croft herself? You can read Polygon's full review right here.
28 min
This week on Polygon’s Quality Control podcast, Chelsea Stark joins Dave Tach to discuss Spider-Man on PS4. In this episode, you’ll learn about why Chelsea and Dave like the game so much, even if they come just short of loving it. Much of the discussion centers around what Chelsea wrote recently in her Spider-Man review.
41 min
Ryan Gilliam returns to Quality Control, joining Dave Tach to talk about Destiny 2: Forsaken.
34 min
In this episode of Quality Control, Chris Plante and Charlie Hall explain the future of Polygon's reviews. Games have changed since we launched Polygon. We’re changing with them. We believe that a new strategy, focusing on criticism and curation, will better serve our readers than the serviceable, but ultimately limited reviews rubric that, for decades, has served as a load-bearing pillar of most game publications.
37 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Dave Tach and first-time guest and World of Warcraft veteran World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. This week, you’ll learn about Ryan’s history with the game, which doesn’t span from vanilla WoW, but still lets him say things like, “back in my day.” A lot of our discussion centers around what Ryan wrote recently in his review, “Battle for Azeroth continues World of Warcraft’s legacy as an excellent, but safe MMO,” where he wrote: "World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth has been given the unfortunate task of following up Legion, one of the best received World of Warcraft expansions in the last decade. Where Legion saw players go to space and fight hordes of demons, Battle for Azeroth brings the conflict back to Warcraft’s core: the Horde versus the Alliance in all-out war. "Thankfully for World of Warcraft players, Battle for Azeroth does almost everything right, and even succeeds in places where Legion failed. But in other cases, the expansion is left feeling a bit safe compared to its predecessor." Press play to hear about the good and the bad and the incomplete.
22 min
This latest incarnation of the Monster Hunter franchise carved off many of the series traditional rough edges, but the console version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One didn’t always impress fans with its performance. The PC version, which launched more than six months later, has been a fixture on the Steam best seller’s list all month long. Patrick is our resident expert, so we wanted to ask him about his experience and also talk about starting out on PC for the first time.
24 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Dave Tach and Charlie Hall talk about We Happy Few. Press play to learn about the game’s history from Kickstarter to Early Access (where the original concept changed pretty dramatically) to its recent release on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One (which at launch reflects the changes that the game’s earliest players asked for). We Happy Few is the story of what comes after the fall of European democracy
35 min
On this week's episode of Quality Control, Charlie is joined by Gamers With Jobs' Allen Cook to discuss Gen Con 2018. Here's all of the very best board games from the largest tabletop convention in the United States. https://www.polygon.com/gen-con https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/1302125
35 min
In honor of Polygon's Backlog Week, we're tackling the topic of tabletop role-playing games. How do you find a group of people to play Dungeons and Dragons with? What are some good options to introduce role-playing to your friends and family? And how do you keep everyone comfortable at the table? To answer those questions, we invited the team from the One Shot Network onto the show to talk about their strategies. Our guests include James D'Amato, Meghan Dornbrock, DC and Daniel Kwan. One Shot Network One Shot on Twitch Mutants in the Night Star Crossed Dread Recommended episodes for One Shot Shows: Star Crossed, Dogs in the Vineyard, Honey Heist, Campaign: Episode 1, Back Story: Daniel Kwan, Modifier: Pasion De Las Pasiones w/ Brandon Leon-Gambetta
39 min
In this week's episode of Quality Control, Charlie and Dave are both on hand with Russ Frushtick to talk about Next, the massive new update for No Man's Sky. Our No Man's Sky thoughts from way back in 2014 Recent opinion from Ben Kuchera Tara Long, with 250+ plus in-game hours, gives her take A terrifying first encounter with new aliens
21 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Charlie Hall and Allegra Frank talk about Pokémon Go Fest 2018, which ran without a hitch, unlike last year.
18 min
In this week’s episode, Dave Tach and Michael McWhertor talk about Mike's Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker review. Press play to learn more about the game’s history and what you get with the new versions on Switch and Nintendo 3DS (spoiler: not a whole lot, but some of it seems cool). Stick around to find out just what it is about this little game that keeps Mike coming back.
25 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Dave Tach and Russ Frushtick talk about Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered (which is the remastered version of Red Faction: Guerrilla). Red Faction: Guerrilla is basically the definition of a cult classic — a game that didn’t quite break into the mainstream but gained a devoted following, including from Dave and Russ. Press play below to learn more about what makes this game so special, despite its drab (but justified!) appearance.
30 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Dave Tach and Russ Frushtick talk about Westworld Season 2. In this spoiler-filled episode, you’ll find out why Dave’s mad at Dolores, why Russ didn’t quite connect with the first season (but Dave super did), and why Westworld reminds us of Lost (which is a good thing) and the Matrix trilogy (which is a less good thing).
54 min
In this week’s episode of Quality Control, Charlie Hall, Dave Tach, Chris Plante and Allegra Frank look back at some of the best and most interesting games of E3 2018. We discuss Cyberpunk 2077, Rage 2, The Last of Us Part 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice — plus a bit about what it’s like to be in the presence of Hideo Kojima. For more on the biggest video game show of the year, check out all of Polygon’s E3 2018 coverage — including the 15 most promising games from E3 2018. You can also read about the games we discuss in the following articles. Cyberpunk 2077Three things Cyberpunk 2077 gets right about the original tabletop RPGCyberpunk 2077 will include full nudity for a very important reasonCyberpunk 2077 dev would appreciate if you’d stop asking about The Witcher’s Ciri, pleaseRage 2Rage 2 feels like a mixtape of Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein and Elder ScrollsWhen I asked about Rage 2’s worst character, I got an unexpected responseThe Last of Us Part 2The Last of Us Part 2’s beauty is in the little detailsThe Last of Us Part 2’s creators said Ellie is the only playable characterThe question looming behind The Last of Us Part 2’s gruesome, provocative E3 trailerSuper Smash Bros. UltimateRidley is in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and I’m freaking out38 things you should know about Super Smash Bros. UltimateSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate: 5 big changes that will dramatically alter the gameMetroid’s Ridley will be playable in Super Smash Bros. UltimateSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate will support GameCube controllers, amiiboSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate brings back every Smash fighter everSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceSekiro: Shadows Die Twice is definitely not a Dark Souls gameWhy FromSoftware showed up at E3 2018 with two surprises (and no Dark Souls or Bloodborne)21st Century Fox's James Murdoch on Recode Media with Peter KafkaApple PodcastsSpotifyOvercastPocket CastsStitcher
42 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon writer talks to a critic about a new game, movie or piece of gear. In this week’s special episode, Charlie Hall invites Polygon’s executive editor Chris Plante and Kotaku’s news editor Jason Schreier to preview this year’s E3, which kicks off next week in Los Angeles.
36 min
Fortnite has been in development since at least 2011 and when it came to market as an early access title it wasn't very good. Come marvel with us at Epic Games' epic turn around with Fortnite: Battle Royale. Vox's new Netflix show, Explained, digs into the most fascinating and misunderstood topics of the day, from cryptocurrency to the racial wealth gap. Watch on Netflix now! https://www.netflix.com/explained
1 hr 36 min
We put the band back together to discuss Solo: A Star Wars Story. Vox's new Netflix show, Explained, digs into the most fascinating and misunderstood topics of the day, from cryptocurrency to the racial wealth gap. Watch on Netflix now! https://www.netflix.com/explained
52 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic about a new game, movie or piece of gear. In this episode, Susana Polo and Dave Tach talk about Deadpool 2, the X-Force, Cable’s bizarre backstory and the future of the MCU.
24 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic about a new game, movie or piece of gear. In this week’s episode, Charlie Hall and Dave Tach talk about the state of Destiny 2 in the wake of the Warmind expansion.
32 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic about a new game, movie or piece of gear. This week’s episode is a special preview of the newest comics from DC and Marvel, just in time for Free Comic Book Day this Saturday, May 5. Joining host Charlie Hall is Polygon’s comics editor, Susana Polo. If you're headed out for FCBD, here's a cheat sheet with all the upcoming comics we mentioned in this episode. Be sure to check out Susana's series on the best #1 comic each week. DC Comics titles: DC Nation #0 (May 2) Justice League: No Justice #1 (May 9) Justice League #1 (Jun 13) Marvel Comics: Avengers #1 (May 2) Black Panther #1 (May 23) Fantastic Four #1 (August) Captain America #1 (July 4)
48 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? This week, Polygon's Susana Polo and Dave Tach discuss Avengers: Infinity War.
25 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon's Simone de Rochefort and Brian Gilbert stop by to discuss their time with the Nintendo Labo line of games.
21 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon's Dave Tach joins host Charlie Hall to discuss God of War. Also, be sure to read Polygon's review, written by Chris Plante.
17 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon's Ross Miller joins host Charlie Hall to discuss Ready Player One.
31 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon's Ben Kuchera joins host Charlie Hall to discuss the first few hours of Far Cry 5.
30 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon's Russ Frushtick joins co-host Dave Tach to discuss his time with Sea of Thieves.
20 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, deputy new editor Allegra Frank joins host Charlie Hall to discuss her time with Where The Water Tastes Like Wine.
35 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Mike McWherter joins guest host Dave Tach to discuss his review of Metal Gear Survive.
19 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Grant joins host Charlie Hall to discuss his review of the Analog NT, which you can read right here.
20 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Chelsea Stark joins co-host Charlie Hall to discuss her review of Monster Hunter: World. https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/26/16934076/monster-hunter-world-review-ps4-xbox-pc-release https://www.polygon.com/guides/2018/1/25/16911176/monster-hunter-world-guide-walkthrough
19 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Jeff Ramos joins editor-at-large Justin McElroy to discuss his review of Dragon Ball FighterZ.
18 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Michael McWhertor joins Charlie Hall to discuss his preview of Metal Gear Survive. https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/17/16897202/metal-gear-survive-single-player-campaign-gameplay
23 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Chris Plante joins editor-at-large Justin McElroy to discuss his review of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
1 hr 34 min
Part 2 of our annual deep dive into this year's entry in the Star Wars franchise, featuring Susana Polo, Dave Tach and Ben Kuchera. Come on inside the jedi tree. We've got a few porgs roasting over the fire, and a warm cup of blue milk waiting for you. And join us next week with part two. In the mean time, check out our review: https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/12/16749732/star-wars-review-the-last-jedi-rian-johnson-luke-rey
1 hr 40 min
Our annual deep dive into this year's entry in the Star Wars franchise, featuring Susana Polo, Dave Tach and Ben Kuchera. Come on inside the jedi tree. We've got a few porgs roasting over the fire, and a warm cup of blue milk waiting for you. And join us next week with part two. In the mean time, check out our review: https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/12/16749732/star-wars-review-the-last-jedi-rian-johnson-luke-rey
28 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Owen Good joins co-host Charlie Hall his part of the review of Star Wars Battlefront 2. https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/20/16682342/star-wars-battlefront-2-review
25 min
In each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon editor talks to a critic after they review a new game, movie or piece of gear and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong? This week, Polygon’s Samit Sarkar joins editor-at-large Justin McElroy to discuss his review of the Xbox One X.
–
0 ratings from members
Rate this podcast
Log in to rate and review the shows you listen to.
No reviews yet — be the first member to rate "Quality Control".
This podcast, its content and its artwork are not owned by, affiliated with, or endorsed by Castquire.
Keep listening
Up next
