Gamer Podcasts

Nicktock wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

On iTunes was enough incentive for me to subscribe and start listening in just 3 clicks (yeah I'm lazy). Audio sounds great so whatever the problem was, it's now fixed. You're coming through better than most of the podcasts on my rotation. Opening song is quite a bit too loud compared to the levels in the actual podcast so would be nice if you could tweak that. Just that I straight away turned it down but when the podcast itself started I had to turn it back up to hear what was being said.

VGA show seemed interesting but since I never actually watched it then it was tricky to follow so after about 10 minutes I went back to ep 5. Overall, some interesting chatter about ME2 and Walking Dead. I actually like listening to chatter about older games since I usually follow at least 12 months or more behind releases. Would like it if you did a spoiler section about Walking Dead, assuming that interests you, since the Conference Call's was, frankly, disappointing.

Nicktock wrote:

I'll probably make one last blatant plug here.

If you have something to say or add about it, then post away! It's the Gamer Podcasts thread after all ;).

Awesome, thanks Chris! I'll work on the levels for that theme song, by episode 6 it should be fine. And also yes, our plans are to have most of the next episode be a Walking Dead spoiler cast.

Had a chance to listen to Ep. 5 the other day, and was very pleasantly surprised. You two have a great reporte, are eloquant, and have good radio voices. If I remember, I'll leave the cast an iTunes review, which I never, ever do. Nice job, Nicktock.

cyrax wrote:

Had a chance to listen to Ep. 5 the other day, and was very pleasantly surprised. You two have a great reporte, are eloquant, and have good radio voices. If I remember, I'll leave the cast an iTunes review, which I never, ever do. Nice job, Nicktock.

Thanks! I appreciate that a lot. I'm glad it was enjoyed. Remember every, feedback is the best!

I posted this in the FC3 thread too.

I don't know why the Mobile itunes doesn't want to update for the year end Bombcasts. Bradley Shoefilibustermaker.

Listening to the return of WAHP (welcome back!) and their chat about Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System reminded me of how out of touch 99% of the professional gaming press is with that part of gaming history. For one of the most shameful podcasts in my memory, listen to:

Retronauts Episode 16: 03/22/2007

Looking back at the Sega Master System and trying to find a little light in the gloom. Not entirely successfully, it should be noted. With Scott Sharkey, Ray Barnholt and Chris Kohler.

To be fair, I grew up in Aus where Sega's platforms were clearly dominant and I have a definite soft spot for Phantasy Star, however, all 3 members of WAHP grew up in the States AFAIK and that hasn't stopped them knowing all the ins and outs of those games.

Also, I'm feeling very temped to download Hatsune Miku on the PS3 after listening to Shudoshi go on about it in length.

People getting drunk do not make for enjoyable podcasts. See: Weekend Confirmed's Holiday show.

Garnett, Garnett, Garnett. You were so close to winning me back.

Unless it involves getting into a slanging match with Dennis Dyack.

KidDork wrote:

People getting drunk do not make for enjoyable podcasts. See: Weekend Confirmed's Holiday show.

Garnett, Garnett, Garnett. You were so close to winning me back.

Yup, both were pretty bad. And it doesn't help that Andrea brings little to nothing to the conversation. And she's loud.

Yeah, Weekend Confirmed started to bore me at some point. My mind was drifting. I think I liked the guys saying games like Old Spice and You Don't Know Jack were good games. In fact, I like that one guy whenever he's on. I should really learn his name because he's the one host that has not only been memorable, but I like what he has to say.

When he left and they brought in the usual crowd my mind started drifting.

The guy with a bit of a lisp? Yeah, I was talking him up a few posts back. I should really be able to remember his name by now. Ah, Google tells me his name is Andrew Yoon.

There are few things that grate on me as much as listening to drunk people. I'm pretty open to the free content that's provided to me and happy that there's people willing to make it. I'll give almost anything a chance. But when I start hearing "lolz I'm so drunk right now isn't this hilarious" I can't turn it off fast enough.

Andrew Yoon. That's it.

The funny thing is for the audio quality in Weekend Confirmed, it feels more amateur than other podcasts I listen to. Hell, Jumping the Shark is God awful quality (and don't I know it having dealt with the troubles of Skype recording), but it seems like they carry themselves better.

I dunno. I think for my immature "I listen to laugh not to be enlightened" I've found a home in RadioRadar.

As far as their drunk shows go, this one was pretty tame compared to some of the others, at least up until the end. I think they're dumb but at least they usually make no bones about what they are and they can be skipped. I have a stupid completionist bit in me so I listened anyway.

The only thing that really grated me about the show was how multiple people claimed that those talking up Spec Ops: The Line as an important story game were overstating it and that it was basically just another shooter story with some forced shock in it that everyone's taking to be meaningful. I wanted to scream at my laptop how incredibly wrong they were, especially considering if that's the line of thinking they want to use, the same criticisms could be levied against The Walking Dead as well and at least Spec Ops had substantially more game play. And I say this as someone who thinks both games are fantastic. You know what Writer Rumble is guys? Another iOS Boggle rip-off. See, I can do it too.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

The only thing that really grated me about the show was how multiple people claimed that those talking up Spec Ops: The Line as an important story game were overstating it and that it was basically just another shooter story with some forced shock in it that everyone's taking to be meaningful. I wanted to scream at my laptop how incredibly wrong they were, especially considering if that's the line of thinking they want to use, the same criticisms could be levied against The Walking Dead as well and at least Spec Ops had substantially more game play.

I'm glad I stopped listening, then. That would have likely driven me nuts.

I can accept the RadioRadar guys talking out their ass because their job is to be funny more than anything. But Weekend Confirmed sounds like it's supposed to be guys that allegedly know what they're talking about, and there's a lot more being attempted with Spec Ops: The Line than your average shooter story.

Blah. What an underappreciated game.

At least Jumping the Shark gave a nod to the end level of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Everything Brandon said is exactly what I've been saying since I beat that game.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

The only thing that really grated me about the show was how multiple people claimed that those talking up Spec Ops: The Line as an important story game were overstating it and that it was basically just another shooter story with some forced shock in it that everyone's taking to be meaningful.

Part of the problem is I didn't play it until people started talking about how amazing the story was, but I completely agreed with that point. I went in expecting to be blown away by a narrative that at every step of the way plays things far too safe to really be effective at what it was intending to do. Frankly, I wouldn't put it much further up from what was accomplished in Bulletstorm's story.

That said, the gameplay was also not as bad as some have made it out to be either.

kuddles wrote:

Frankly, I wouldn't put it much further up from what was accomplished in Bulletstorm's story.

I must have missed something because the only game more over-rated than Bulletstorm to me is Borderlands. I just do not grasp the love for it and feel the story would have been better if they just left it like an old school shooter. You're a random guy that wakes up on a crashed ship on this strange planet and now you gotta get off of it.

Everything else was dumb and took away from the combat, which itself was fun but not mind-bendingly bad ass and awesome.

I just meant that the last couple levels of Bulletstorm ends with

Spoiler:

hammering home the point that you have been literally killing hundreds of people and making jokes about it all to get revenge on one person, and yet you think you're taking the moral high road.

I honestly don't feel Spec Ops made their similar point with much more depth or subtext.

Eh, it could be the style of how they made the points.

Spoiler:

I felt like in Bulletstorm it was just poorly handled. It is quite obvious from the beginning that the character you're playing is an asshole and as a result bad stuff happens because he's an asshole. It goes so far as to basically cause the downfall of the hero's best friend.

But it didn't feel like there was any clever statement being made about games, and if it was it was ham-fisted alongside all the juvenile writing the game had on offer. It was too busy being dumb to accidentally be smart.

Spec Ops: The Line felt like it was working towards its goal from the beginning. The situation was always ambiguous. The "moral choices" never had a good or bad option, because in the end someone was always screwed. But most of all, it was actually trying to say something very specific about the industry and the current obsession with modern war shooters. It wasn't just a blanket statement about games, it was a question of why so many people swallow all these modern war games without a second thought. It did this all while telling a story about characters that are slowly losing who they are inside, right down to the moral compass character killing the DJ in cold blood.

Bulletstorm was a mess of writing that wasn't funny and got in the way of the game. Spec Ops: The Line made sure to follow a very specific theme, while simultaneously telling a story that still works on its own. It is a game that has something very specific to say about the games industry.

I would also recommend watching the Errant Signal video on Hotline Miami. I probably won't play the game, but I like his interpretation of it.

I feel like our industry has gotten too bogged down in "art games" like Limbo and Braid and Dear Esther, games that ultimately have nothing to say, that no one can recognize when a game is really saying something clever. I feel like this is the year where we've had game writers and designers that are above the coffee sipping college kids talking about their "art" and have actually produced something that's actually artistic while also remaining an enjoyable product.

If any of that rant makes sense.

cyrax wrote:
KidDork wrote:

People getting drunk do not make for enjoyable podcasts. See: Weekend Confirmed's Holiday show.

Garnett, Garnett, Garnett. You were so close to winning me back.

Yup, both were pretty bad. And it doesn't help that Andrea brings little to nothing to the conversation. And she's loud.

I feel bad that I really dislike Andrea Rene and Nikole Zivalich. I am worried that I am some kind of podcast sexist.

I really miss Ariel Angelotti though, so maybe I'm OK.

gore wrote:

I feel bad that I really dislike Andrea Rene and Nikole Zivalich. I am worried that I am some kind of podcast sexist.

You're not. I've taken stick in several places for just disliking Andrea because she's a women and that's crap. I dislike her because she's annoying and doesn't contribute much of value. I have realised though that she frequently gets derailed by Garnett and others taking pot shots at a lot of her statements which is also unfair to her, though she doesn't appear to mind. There's plenty of male podcast hosts I think similarly about, Luke Smith being a prime example. Ariel's a good example of an awesome podcast person who also happens to be female. So is Leigh Alexander but she got a bad rap because she purposefully did two Giant Bombcasts when she was hammered and made a fool of herself. Nothing against her gender, it was just poor choices on her part. I actually wish more gaming podcasts had female contributors, I just wish they were also more like Ariel and less like Andrea.

gore wrote:
cyrax wrote:
KidDork wrote:

People getting drunk do not make for enjoyable podcasts. See: Weekend Confirmed's Holiday show.

Garnett, Garnett, Garnett. You were so close to winning me back.

Yup, both were pretty bad. And it doesn't help that Andrea brings little to nothing to the conversation. And she's loud.

I feel bad that I really dislike Andrea Rene and Nikole Zivalich. I am worried that I am some kind of podcast sexist.

I really miss Ariel Angelotti though, so maybe I'm OK.

I dunno. I had that worry for five seconds, then remembered I like it when Lara Crigger is on the GWJCC, and also enjoyed when she and Certis' wife were on for the Journey spoilers section.

I'm guessing Nikole was the one on the last two Weekend Confirmed's? I found Andrea CAN have good opinions when she's allowed to speak them, but it seems whenever there's a woman on Weekend Confirmed everyone has to be drunk, and in such scenarios people are more encouraged to goof off. Garnett seems to especially encourage this out of the ladies.

I dunno. Maybe we're seeing something that's not really there, but even listening to the Silent Night Deadly Night series for Now Playing (a movie podcast) they didn't seem to behave any differently for Margery.

I think it is a shame that I know so few podcasts with regular female hosts, too, because sometimes I feel the perspective is just different enough from what I normally hear or expect from the slew of male journalists and such. I'm not one to believe sex will have that great of an influence on someone intellectually, and I should be able to read an article without knowing what gender the writer is and just appreciate it for its value, but sometimes you get these little insights that are just...different, and it would be nice to have more of that on more podcasts.

ccesarano wrote:

I'm guessing Nikole was the one on the last two Weekend Confirmed's?

Nikole's been on a few (three maybe?) times over the past few months. I mainly remember her for a monologue where she retold the plot of the Skyrim expansion in a way that just bored the heck out of me. Part of the problem is that the plot of the Skyrim expansion is boring to begin with, but she got extra negative points for reciting it to me on a podcast.

The one thing I actually like about Nikole is during the "tailgate" section, when she makes up a bunch of bogus but real-sounding commentator style jargon about her football predictions. As somebody who doesn't actually follow football but can't be bothered to hit fast forward at the end of the show I actually appreciate it

I think it is a shame that I know so few podcasts with regular female hosts, too, because sometimes I feel the perspective is just different enough from what I normally hear or expect from the slew of male journalists and such. I'm not one to believe sex will have that great of an influence on someone intellectually, and I should be able to read an article without knowing what gender the writer is and just appreciate it for its value, but sometimes you get these little insights that are just...different, and it would be nice to have more of that on more podcasts.

I definitely agree with this.

ccesarano wrote:

I feel like our industry has gotten too bogged down in "art games" like Limbo and Braid and Dear Esther, games that ultimately have nothing to say, that no one can recognize when a game is really saying something clever.

Well, I'm afraid I will just have to disagree, because I feel like all those games you listed have plenty of things to say, whereas the message in Spec Ops is literally the easiest/laziest message you could make in a shooter, to the degree where there have already been plenty of shooters that have already said it, and in more clever ways. Part of the problem is I had the exact same issue Jeff Gerstmann did, where

Spoiler:

the game forced me to kill a bunch of civilians for no discernable reason, then tried to tell me how horrible I was for doing it. Which was my problem with the whole game. Please play some more of this generic war shooter game so we can get to our next cutscene critiquing war shooter games.

I agree with kuddles. Meta-commentary is so overplayed at this point. It's not the height of storytelling games can achieve.

Giant Bomb's game of the year podcasts were lots of fun again this year, although they felt a bit more flat than last year. I think it's because I wasn't as invested in the games they were arguing about this year. Last year the big hit was Skyrim vs Saints Row the Third, two games I was ready to fight about (SR3 superior, obviously). This year the big arguments were in about culling the list down to ten, and then some squabbling about games I didn't play, like Journey, Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Sleeping Dogs, and some other stuff. Still a great week of casting, but I enjoyed 2011 the most so far.

Also, I'm loving the disparity in opinions between the different outlets I'm listening to. The quality of The Besties show really went up there at the end, and I thought their top 16 battle system was awesome. Props to them for admitting they were way off the rails with their SSX nonsense, and some other mistakes they made early. I'ts funny how their game of the year wasn't even in the Giant Bomb top ten. Good stuff all around. I love GotY season.

So perfect that The Besties GOTY wasn't the favorite game of a single panelist. Democracy!

Squee9 wrote:

I think it's because I wasn't as invested in the games they were arguing about this year. Last year the big hit was Skyrim vs Saints Row the Third, two games I was ready to fight about (SR3 Skyrim superior, obviously).

Agreed.

Slumberland wrote:

So perfect that The Besties GOTY wasn't the favorite game of a single panelist. Democracy!

My guess is that each panelists top ten lists were crazy different from each other. Dragon's Dogma was Justin's game of the year and I doubt it even made the list for the other three.

Some great games got knocked out early in the battle, but it's a fun way to pick a winner.

This sets the stage for my GotY selection cast based on BCS bowl selection criteria. It's a shame no one from the Big Indi conference can ever do much against a Big Budget defense.

Squee9 wrote:

Giant Bomb's game of the year podcasts were lots of fun again this year, although they felt a bit more flat than last year. I think it's because I wasn't as invested in the games they were arguing about this year. Last year the big hit was Skyrim vs Saints Row the Third, two games I was ready to fight about (SR3 superior, obviously). This year the big arguments were in about culling the list down to ten, and then some squabbling about games I didn't play, like Journey, Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Sleeping Dogs, and some other stuff. Still a great week of casting, but I enjoyed 2011 the most so far.

Also, I'm loving the disparity in opinions between the different outlets I'm listening to. The quality of The Besties show really went up there at the end, and I thought their top 16 battle system was awesome. Props to them for admitting they were way off the rails with their SSX nonsense, and some other mistakes they made early. I'ts funny how their game of the year wasn't even in the Giant Bomb top ten. Good stuff all around. I love GotY season.

I liked most of their choices even though I didn't play Fez or Journey. I felt it was too much self stroking when it came to Fez though. It seems to be a game in the moment. The overall design seems solid and good but still...

Yeah the giant bomb stuff end of year stuff is pretty great. A GOTY list taken in isolation is kind of whatever, you either agree or disagree with it, but to hear their reasons for cutting/not cutting a game from their various lists is actually fascinating.