Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 167

Gran Turismo 5 Demo, X-Com, Windows 7, A Special Christmas Reading, Your Christmas Stories, Emails and more!

Our Christmas show has arrived! Using the combined voice talents of the GWJ staff (and friends), we present to you a special reading of The Night Before Christmas along with a ton of Christmas stories submitted by the community. Lara Crigger and Julian Murdoch also chime in with theirs! Great work everyone and happy holidays! If you want to submit a question or comment call in to our voicemail line at (612) 284-4563.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind. You can even send a 30 second audio question or comment (MP3 format please) if you're so inclined. You can also submit a question or comment call in to our voicemail line at (612) 284-4563!

Sponsor
Good Old Games

  • Subscribe with iTunes
  • Subscribe with RSS
  • Subscribe with Yahoo!
Download the official apps
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android

Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro: "GWJCC Xmas" (Tom Quinn) - http://thomashquinn.googlepages.com/
Outro: "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" - Six String Christmas - http://www.feelslikechristmas.com
"Deck The Halls" - Seasonings - (John Morgan) - http://www.feelslikechristmas.com - 0:18:20
"A Kitschy Robot Christmas" (Benoit Casey) - www.cerebrimusic.com - 1:05:40

Comments

Awesome! Just in time before I'm internetless for over a week. Happy holidays!

Hooray for X-com! A force so great couldn't possibly be ignored. Can't wait to listen to this episode.

Yeah... kinda funny how X-com is on sale on Steam now

I had to blink twice to make sure I was reading that right. X-Com! Great to hear I'm not the only one who still plays every once in a while.

1/3 through it, the Goodjer "the night before xms" was nothing short of awesome, gratz guys, I'm grinning like an idiot.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

1/3 through it, the Goodjer "the night before xms" was nothing short of awesome, gratz guys, I'm grinning like an idiot. :D

I got just as far as that part on my drive in this morning. Sheer genius.

Cory,
My Big Christmas memory = SNES as well. I basically got my mom to pick it up on a sale where they gave A Link to the Past away with the system (inlcuding Super Mario World). Since I knew it was coming, I would actually sneak the system out before hand and hook it up and play super Mario World while my mom was out. I almost got caught once, too. I loved that SNES. Now it sits in my living room, all yellowed out and only mostly working. The battery in the copy of Link to the Past we now have doesn't keep saves anymore, though.

I also got a super advantage eventually and still have it. How do you snap that joystick? I thought it had a metal thread in the column to the base.

If I had the time, I would've submitted a Christmas story, but most of mine involve me getting envious that all my friends got more games than I did...and listening to that segment brought back a lot of those memories. Damn you all.

But, if you're looking for a nice story, here's the only one that comes to mind. Whatever Christmas it was (can't recall the exact year), I and my sister had our hearts set on a Super Nintendo. Ordinarily back then, whatever "Santa" gave us was already opened and laid out around the tree for us on Christmas morning* so naturally when the SNES wasn't there, both my sister and I gave each other these deflated looks. So, we went through the motions, opening the gifts from family members, dreading what eyesore our grandmother** sent us. As disappointment and depression started setting in, our father spontaneously got up from the couch and mentioned that there was one more gift left. He went into the hall closet, dragged out a box that was obscured in a garbage bag (guess he didn't have time to wrap it) and low and behold, there was the SNES. To this day, my dad wishes he had a video camera to record our reactions. I for one am grateful that he did not.

* = My parents plan backfired one year when I discovered the box to one of Santa's gifts in the garbage pile in the side yard. I naturally put two-and-two together, but kept playing along.

** = Seriously, what's with all these stories of grandparents giving consoles, let alone games, for the holidays? I think the most expensive gift my grandmother ever gave me for Christmas was a bottle of aftershave.

Aftershave means that grandma knows you are growing into a young man.

Seriously, that blows.

I'm into the Christmas stories now and though I'm not finished with the episode, I am gratified to learn that many of my fellow Goodjers had a C64 growing up.

Elysium: ...370z
Demiurge: Is that like the DeLorean?

Dear god people. What is wrong with you?

Also.. the 370z is maybe the best pure sports car in the $30k range built in who knows how many years. Lightweight, rear wheel drive, super sharp handling, that car is almost perfect.

Unfortunately the driving model in GT still feels completely numb, which is why you have such trouble with the GT5 demo.

the GWJ 12 days of christmas is impressive! Good work

"Female Doggoessss."

The perfect end to a special show.

I gotta say, after only listening to half the Christmas stories, I noticed this trend:

Did everyone steal time with their Christmas gifts prior to Christmas morning? Was I the only boring kid who didn't try to find gifts ahead of time? Seriously.

Thin_J wrote:

Elysium: ...370z
Demiurge: Is that like the DeLorean?

Dear god people. What is wrong with you?

Also.. the 370z is maybe the best pure sports car in the $30k range built in who knows how many years. Lightweight, rear wheel drive, super sharp handling, that car is almost perfect.

Unfortunately the driving model in GT still feels completely numb, which is why you have such trouble with the GT5 demo.

As someone who doesn't drive anymore, but used to be a massive WRX STI Fanboi, it's hard for me to imagine that size sportscar without AWD anymore. At least, for real-world, living in New England fun. Isn't it about as practical as a Porsche (read, great fun for half a year).

I wish I had called in, but my most memorable videogame memory was getting a call for my 2 weeks before Christmas. It was a department store, and asked me to tell her that the Atari she had ordered was in.

I knew then that I had just been given the task to keep the secret from my younger brothers, as were had accepted that we just weren't going to get an Atari at all. I was ten at the time. My mom was furious that the lady had spilled the beans to me. But even though the gift was for me and my brothers, I got a nice feeling watching them get excited over the gift, as I had kept the secret. Heck, they still believed in Santa Claus, so I couldn't ruin that.

But my favorite Christmas was a year we all got different Mattel electronic football and basketball games for Christmas. All we were moving were little LED lights, but it just felt so high tech. The chirping sounds drove my mom and dad nuts.

But my favorite sports game was the year I got an electric football game. Electric, as in a large metal field that vibrated when turned on, moving the players around. The game would come with the players from the the previous super bowl, so I got the Vikings and Raiders from Super Bowl XI.

We would not only use notebooks to track stats, but we even recorded play-by-play into tape recorders. I was a sports game fan from lng before the digital age.

Ravenlock: the original King's Quest was incredible, at the time.

Do you remember, climbing down the well, and typing "throw dagger" at the dragon for the first time? Chills, cold ethral chills . . .

I am getting Dragon Age for my fifteen year old for Christmas. His Mom is getting him AC2 (or I would've, he wants it BAD). I also can't wait to take him to see Avatar. It's funny, I never would see Avatar alone, but taking him makes movies acessable again. I also at this age do not have the time nor inclanation to play DAO through, but I would like to supervise, and sleep through the FMV parts.

OMG geek out- I cannot stop commenting on this episode:
Adventure Construction Set- Sway-your recollection made me laugh, thank you. That was the correct name for the basic scenario, The Legend of Gilgamesh. Good times! I modeled the neighborhood I lived in, a quite advanced mod tool/game for the time (before internet, to share levels). This game has to be viewed in the light of not did they include multiplayer, but there was no multiplayer.

Ah, thanks, Larry. It's nice to know that someone else in the world had played ACS as well. I really did enjoy the game even in monochrome green. Unfortunately, I never made it through The Legend of Gilgamesh. I did fine in the Fertile Crescent area, but eventually I'd get to some area where I would be given my first gamer taste of being sniped from across the map. I had a ball making maps, though. If I recall, there were tilesets and objects from a few different genres.

Fun show this week. I, too, was surprised at the number of kids sneaking a play of their gifts before actually receiving them. I snuck a look at my gifts once and the anticlimax of Christmas morning was enough of a lesson for me never to do it again.

Awesome show, guys. Was a great listen - hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Cool to hear from Mr. Elliot. Great show guys. Merry Christmas!

Growat, radio voice. For some reason, L4D mic chat never put that across as much as this recording.

I barely played any ACS, but I did play Bill Budge's Pinball Construction Set quite a lot!

MeatMan wrote:

"Female Doggoessss."

The perfect end to a special show.

Every show should end that way.

Rat Boy wrote:

** = Seriously, what's with all these stories of grandparents giving consoles, let alone games, for the holidays? I think the most expensive gift my grandmother ever gave me for Christmas was a bottle of aftershave.

QFT. I still shudder remembering my 1982 Christmas when I received a bottle of Brut. Not only was the smell despicable, but I was seven. Thanks Grandma!

Quintin_Stone wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

"Female Doggoessss."

The perfect end to a special show.

Every show should end that way.

Maybe Podunk could hook us up with a special Female Doggoessss remix of the Podunk Stomp.

KaterinLHC wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

"Female Doggoessss."

The perfect end to a special show.

Every show should end that way.

Maybe Podunk could hook us up with a special Female Doggoessss remix of the Podunk Stomp.

Nerdgasm

HedgeWizard wrote:

QFT. I still shudder remembering my 1982 Christmas when I received a bottle of Brut. Not only was the smell despicable, but I was seven. Thanks Grandma!

It's never too early to start smelling like disappointment.