Gamer Podcasts

ianunderhill wrote:
Space Indaver wrote:

And to the chap who complained about the rambly conversations in Giant Bomb Quick Looks, you're breaking my heart. They're the best games media out there IMO - rambly nerdy conversations whilst still talking about the game itself. The perfect level of informative and not taking games too seriously.

I'm sorry my opinion induces emotional distress in you.

My opinion stands.

(Psst, you're not really breaking my heart.)

Other than GB and Laser Time, there aren't any game podcasts where I instantly hit play as soon as I notice that there's a new episode. Conference Call comes just after that first batch, and then it kind of becomes the "if I've exhausted all other options" list.

4-player podcast still hasn't grabbed me. I'll keep trying.

cyrax wrote:

!!!E3 HYPE-TRAIN!!!

So, so good.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure I'm ready for four days straight of evening E3 Bombcast shows with guests. It can only be a hell of a good time, though.

I. Am. Ready.

Kerplunk wrote:
cyrax wrote:

!!!E3 HYPE-TRAIN!!!

So, so good.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure I'm ready for four days straight of evening E3 Bombcast shows with guests. It can only be a hell of a good time, though.

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to do a bunch of extra treadmilling to keep up with their extra content as each of those episodes is usually 2-3 hours and they start too late for me to watch the live streams and not be a zombie the next day.

The last time E3 rolled around, I was working at a job where I could have headphones, meaning I had minimum six hours a workday to do nothing but listen to podcasts. E3 time and GotY discussion time were my favorite times of the podcasting year for sheer volume of content to work through.

Now I have a job where I have exactly one hour a day on my lunch break to listen to podcasts. Hot damn. Something's gonna have to give. Maybe Diablo III time can be podcast-listenin' time from now on. That should even things back out.

Thinking of killing this latest episode of the 8-4 Podcast only a few minutes in. That would be a record!

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Thinking of killing this latest episode of the 8-4 Podcast only a few minutes in. That would be a record!

You so krazy.

cyrax wrote:

!!!E3 HYPE-TRAIN!!!

So, so good.

Haha, 8-4 Play is the Giant Bomb of podcasts about Japanese gaming. Kind of makes sense they merged with GB/Gamespot :p.

Tried 8-4 play after it was suggested on twitter. It seems OK, but not really for me.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Haha, 8-4 Play is the Giant Bomb of podcasts about Japanese gaming.

And this is why.

Pretty much down to 8-4 play, Bombcast, DGR, GWJ, Weekend Confirmed, and Idle Thumbs for me these days. The people I really miss hearing on a podcast are Shane Bettanhausen and Crispin Boyer. Shucks.

Thin_J wrote:

Tried 8-4 play after it was suggested on twitter. It seems OK, but not really for me.

If you're after a more intellectual podcast about Japanese video gaming then you should try WARNING! A Huge Podcast. They're insightful, they really know their sh*t and they don't patronise you like 8-4. Plus they are not so loud and in your face while still including the occasional rant (especially about Square-Enix!). Really can't recommend them enough. Unfortunately their release schedule is once or twice a month at best.
http://wahp.jp/

The only gaming podcasts I listen to consistently every week now are:
Giant Bombcast: Nobody has even close to the same chemistry as them, so it makes all other typical website podcasts that cover the same material pale in comparison.
Video Games Hot Dog: I don't even play 90% of what they are talking about, but they provide an interesting insight into working in the games industry.
Rebel FM: Arthur Gies is my hero.
Games, Dammit: I love the new formula which is just talking about one topic for the entire hour. Also Jeremy Parish.
Final Score: I never really cared for anything else Scott Johnson does, so I don't know why this one stuck with me. I guess because there's a hundred shows of non-professionals just sitting around and talking about games, but finding one where the people aren't just a bunch of cynical internet jerks, where you have similar tastes to them, and who can put out a polished podcast are rare.

There are some others that depend on who is actually hosting that week (Weekend Confirmed, GWJCC) or whether or not it is a call-in episode (Retronauts), but that's about it. I've pretty much moved on to non-game related stuff, especially since I'm not playing nearly as many games anymore. Naturally, I'm also waiting for Idle Thumbs to come back.

Who's on Games, Dammit now?

kuddles wrote:

Video Games Hot Dog: I don't even play 90% of what they are talking about, but they provide an interesting insight into working in the games industry.

Ehhhhh. They're really on the fringes of the industry. Like they seemingly go out of their way to avoid events like PAX or GDC, which is really odd compared to most indie devs, especially ones that have an established presence like Asymmetric. Maybe the podcast has improved but I really found a lot of their early episodes to be overly long and most of the discussion wasn't terribly interesting for some reason.

In a way I miss it when they had the video game discussion on the weekly KoL radio show. The weekly assignment thing is a good idea though.

Does anyone listen to The Indoor Kids? The topic is always gaming, but in general the focus is on end-user experience and gaming culture, not what's coming out. There have been some fantastic interviews - for example, last week's episode, with Guy Branum, who used to write for a G4 show and now appears on Chelsea Lately, is excellent. He talks about what it was like to be gay and writing for a show whose main audience was teenage boys.

My other top two have already been mentioned many times: Giant Bombcast, and GWJ: CC.

I tried a few eps of Indoor Kids and it just didn't do it for me.

I think someone mentioned Kat Bailey in here, right?

I started following her on twitter, pretty weird that she's into JRPGs and traditional sports games. My kinda woman.

I listened to a bunch of episodes of the RPG podcast Kat Bailey was on, but I could never get in to it. The Chrono Trigger episode was awesome, but the rest were meh. It might depend on how emotionally invested I am in the games she's talking about, but in general I don't find her that enjoyable or enlightening.

I also don't like her voice that much.

Started off talking about what we like in co-op games, moved into other topics. We had some new people on, so naturally there's a bit of stiltedness, but I think it worked out OK. Not too happy with sound quality.

cyrax wrote:

!!!E3 HYPE-TRAIN!!!

So, so good.

Which song was it?

I'm listening to the Bomcast 2010 Game of the Year debates for some reason. It reminded me how passionate they can get about the games they like, and how well the can articulate arguments for or against certain games. Not every award or argument is interesting, but as a whole the debates are awesome.

It made me sad that The Besties are not more like this.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Thinking of killing this latest episode of the 8-4 Podcast only a few minutes in. That would be a record!

I made it about two minutes into the episode before nuking it and moving on. I like Mark and John, but I'm growing increasingly tired of the show, especially how it's morphed into a glorified GAFcast over the last few episodes; do they even talk about Japanese gaming anymore?

So where are the marathon E3 Bombcasts?

It's Day 3 of E3 and all that's been on iTunes is a 45 minute short that they recorded in SF on Thursday.

I was looking forward to 3+ hours each night with industry special guests where they kick back and cover the day's events.

What gives?

Check your connection/iTunes settings. On my phone I'm showing 3 more episodes after that. Two that are around 2:15 and one 3 hour 22 minute episode.

EDIT: time correction

Yeah, that's strange.

I just looked over at GiantBomb.com and saw 3 new shows.

My iTunes must be acting funny.

OzymandiasAV wrote:

I made it about two minutes into the episode before nuking it and moving on. I like Mark and John, but I'm growing increasingly tired of the show, especially how it's morphed into a glorified GAFcast over the last few episodes; do they even talk about Japanese gaming anymore?

I quite liked Mark during his 1UP days but he really drags down the quality of conversation on the 8-4 podcast. There are some intelligent voices there but they are usually drowned out by his BS. To be honest, other than publicity, I kind of wonder what he does at 8-4. I don't have the greatest impression of his skillset you could say.

Really suffering from some WAHP withdrawal at the moment :(.

The best part about being about a week behind on podcasts is getting to hear people explain in detail their reasoning behind E3 predictions and knowing exactly how wrong they are at the same time.

While the sound quality is pretty poor, I've been listening to Roguelike Radio quite a bit. Because, well, roguelikes.

I've been enjoying the Jumping the Shark podcasts, but I'll be damned if I keep hearing names I know but don't know from where.

I was thinking for a minute that Tom Chick is the guy from ActionButton.net that write a million words without a central idea, but it's not. Wikipedia cleared that up for me. However, I now have no idea who ActionButton.net guy is. Troy Goodfellow? Heard the name, no clue from where. Jon Schaffer? Same thing.

I need to learn who people are, man.

Jon Shafer: lead designer on Civ 5, now works at Stardock and is evidently doing a tour of podcasts; I have heard him on a number of podcasts recently it seems.

Troy Goodfellow: Ex-games journalist, now-game PR guy. Started the Three Moves Ahead podcast, now hosted by Rob Zacny. Still writes on flashofsteel.com (not often enough, sadly).

No idea who actionbutton.net guy is.