Out of the Game Podcast (Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green, Robert Ashley, N'Gai Croal, and Luke Smith)

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

And no Luke Smith on it to boot! Awesome, I hope that continues.

There was no mention of him on the podcast and he wasn't on the last few previous ones either.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

And no Luke Smith on it to boot! Awesome, I hope that continues.

Ditto. Him, phoning it in, always seemed to drag on everyone else's performance. This was a really good episode.

Sweet! I hope they drag Remo in for one, I'd like to see his dynamic with those guys.

I am excited to listen to this! It's been far to long.

Yes, this has been a good episode. I hope I don't have to wait 9 more months for episode 18 though :/

Grubber788 wrote:

Yes, this has been a good episode. I hope I don't have to wait 9 more months for episode 18 though :/

It ended with a hopeful "See you next week?"

For anyone who cares, episode 18 came out a few weeks ago.

For some reason this is less appealing to me now - I feel like the group has all kind of "moved on" from each other and don't know how to do a Skype cast well. I wasn't that interested in their television commentary, I have to say. I think it's time for a new dynamic.

I understand, but I still like Shawn Elliot's irreverent commentary and banter with Robert Ashley while old man Jeff and N'Gai look on desperately trying to switch topics. I think it's amusing and I certainly no longer expect them to really talk about video games, for the reasons they discussed in episode 17.

At least it's not the Geekbox. I'm having trouble coping with both Alice Liang and Karen Chu. I find them both a bit difficult to bare sometimes. Actually, I shouldn't limit my criticism to those two. It seems everyone on that podcast has really strong and occasionally arbitrary opinions on things. I find myself rarely agreeing with them, or even understanding where they are coming from.

I like that they pretend at times that they're going to continue doing a podcast. The irregularity of the cast is the most consistent part of it.

Dysplastic wrote:

For some reason this is less appealing to me now - I feel like the group has all kind of "moved on" from each other and don't know how to do a Skype cast well. I wasn't that interested in their television commentary, I have to say. I think it's time for a new dynamic.

I still enjoy listening to them, but it's a weird mix of personality types. Shawn Elliot's puerile toilet-humour is an odd bedfellow to N'Gai's considered musings. I'm enjoying it a lot more without Luke Smith - never understood the love for that guy - he always came across a super-douche.

demonbox wrote:

I like that they pretend at times that they're going to continue doing a podcast. The irregularity of the cast is the most consistent part of it.

Ask and ye shall receive.

garion333 wrote:
demonbox wrote:

I like that they pretend at times that they're going to continue doing a podcast. The irregularity of the cast is the most consistent part of it.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Should I skip the first 20 minutes of this episode too?

I thought this episode was really good. Without Shawn there's definitely a different tenor. Stay tuned to the end for a cool remix as well.

I lost all interest in this podcast. I just want the GFW podcast back. Best video game podcast ever. Um...I mean the SECOND best video game podcast ever.

Good gods. I listened to the latest episode of this podcast today and for the first time in my life I was actually agitated at a podcast. Shawn Elliot spends the first 20 minutes condescending about navel-gazing about video games and people who use Twitter. The irony escapes him, apparently. Done with that podcast. Not that people don't act self-important about social networks. Not that there isn't extensive navel gazing in "video game culture". But what bitter bitter men they've turned into.

At one point Shawn Elliot jokes about why everyone cares so much about Egypt and how it's not a big deal that Internet access is down in Egypt. As if access to porn and XBLA is what that's all about. Clueless.

DSGamer wrote:

Good gods. I listened to the latest episode of this podcast today and for the first time in my life I was actually agitated at a podcast. Shawn Elliot spends the first 20 minutes condescending about navel-gazing about video games and people who use Twitter. The irony escapes him, apparently. Done with that podcast. Not that people don't act self-important about social networks. Not that there isn't extensive navel gazing in "video game culture". But what bitter bitter men they've turned into.

At one point Shawn Elliot jokes about why everyone cares so much about Egypt and how it's not a big deal that Internet access is down in Egypt. As if access to porn and XBLA is what that's all about. Clueless.

I wouldn't say all the men on OOTG have turned bitter, but Mr. Elliot definitely has. And what's more frustrating is that the others, especially Jeff Green, don't seem to call him on it.

Weak episode. It seems like OOTG is better when they don't focus on video games and instead talk about other media like TV, movies, and comic books.

DSGamer wrote:

Good gods. I listened to the latest episode of this podcast today and for the first time in my life I was actually agitated at a podcast. Shawn Elliot spends the first 20 minutes condescending about navel-gazing about video games and people who use Twitter. The irony escapes him, apparently. Done with that podcast. Not that people don't act self-important about social networks. Not that there isn't extensive navel gazing in "video game culture". But what bitter bitter men they've turned into.

At one point Shawn Elliot jokes about why everyone cares so much about Egypt and how it's not a big deal that Internet access is down in Egypt. As if access to porn and XBLA is what that's all about. Clueless.

I had the same response last time I listened to the Gamespy Debriefings.

Yah, Out of the Game had some big names, but it also had some enormous ego and pomposity.

Yeah. I was sad when GFW podcast ended. Now I think it might be for the best. Clearly Shawn Elliot is burnt out on games and kind of dislikes gamers writ large. That's fine, but he was in the wrong industry, then.

The best Out of the Game episode was the one where Shawn was absent. That said, I'll listen to anything with Jeff Green in it, because I don't want him to leave the limelight. I've really enjoyed him on the couple of occasions he's been on the Bombcast, which coincidently is my #1 podcast.

I concur, and I was a HUGE Shawn Elliot fan. I still really like Green, Ashley and Ngai, but Elliot is getting tired, even his twitter feed is much less fun than it used to be. I don't get how someone making games can hate games and the people who play them so much. Oh well. I think I'll just stop listening and remember things the way they used to be.

Grubber788 wrote:

The best Out of the Game episode was the one where Shawn was absent. That said, I'll listen to anything with Jeff Green in it, because I don't want him to leave the limelight. I've really enjoyed him on the couple of occasions he's been on the Bombcast, which coincidently is my #1 podcast.

I love Jeff Green, too. I tried Bombcast about a year ago and didn't much care for it - but tried it again a few weeks ago and loved it. It is my #2 fave currently (GWJ, I love you the most even if you don't read my letters:)).

Yeah, the 1Up diaspora is very hit or miss. 8-4 Play is kind of boring, but at least listenable. Geekbox is kind of annoying, IMO. Like someone else said, strong unmovable opinions and they tend to not like a lot of things. Jeff Green is still alright. As is N'Gai. But overall, listening to Shawn be so bitter makes it a hard listen.

I don't listen to much in the way of gaming podcasts, anymore. I listen to GWJ sometimes, Weekend Confirmed sometimes and I started from the very beginning with Idle Thumbs as I just discovered those guys. I just think it's sad that Shawn seems so bitter and just kind of dismissive of "Internet culture" and "gaming culture", being that he's a creature of it and has made a career off of it. At the very least if he thinks gamers are too navel-gazing (a valid critique), he could come at it with a perspective of what's wrong exactly instead of just doing voices and mocking everyone across the board.

Dysplastic wrote:

I concur, and I was a HUGE Shawn Elliot fan. I still really like Green, Ashley and Ngai, but Elliot is getting tired, even his twitter feed is much less fun than it used to be. I don't get how someone making games can hate games and the people who play them so much. Oh well. I think I'll just stop listening and remember things the way they used to be.

+1. Just finishing listening to the episode now. It got a lot better once Shawn started talking about Dead Space 2—i.e., saying constructive, interesting things. I think my enduring love for the triple-threat of N'Gai, Jeff, and Robert is just enough to counter Shawn, so I think I can stick with it given how sporadic it is.

The funny thing is I used to love Shawn Elliot. GFW was my favorite podcast for a while and I thought Shawn was fine. Was I high? Was he always this way and I've changed?

DSGamer wrote:

The funny thing is I used to love Shawn Elliot. GFW was my favorite podcast for a while and I thought Shawn was fine. Was I high? Was he always this way and I've changed?

Shawn's obviously always been who he is, but with OotG being his own podcast, he can let loose with all his griefing stories, farting sounds, etc. When he has to cut that back on someone else's podcast, like 1UP of old when I did enjoy hearing his thoughts, or Irrational, he has to cut the crap and just stick to insightful, productive discussion. I don't know why he can't just save everything else for when the mics are off.

SallyNasty wrote:
Grubber788 wrote:

The best Out of the Game episode was the one where Shawn was absent. That said, I'll listen to anything with Jeff Green in it, because I don't want him to leave the limelight. I've really enjoyed him on the couple of occasions he's been on the Bombcast, which coincidently is my #1 podcast.

I love Jeff Green, too. I tried Bombcast about a year ago and didn't much care for it - but tried it again a few weeks ago and loved it. It is my #2 fave currently (GWJ, I love you the most even if you don't read my letters:)).

I'm right there with you. I didn't care too much for it initially, but I gave it another chance, and it is now only slightly edged out by GWJ for my favorite. I was really liking Weekend Confirmed, but now that Brian Leahy is gone, it has lost a lot of appeal for me.

R.I.P Idle Thumbs.

I always thought Shawn was an asshole. He could be funny and insightful but most of the time he was just too mean-spirited for my tastes. It's a testament to how much I like Jeff and Robert that I would stick with the podcast as long as I did (I haven't listened to the last couple episodes) considering I dislike Luke Smith more than Shawn and N'Gai can be pretty boring.

Dyni wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:
Grubber788 wrote:

The best Out of the Game episode was the one where Shawn was absent. That said, I'll listen to anything with Jeff Green in it, because I don't want him to leave the limelight. I've really enjoyed him on the couple of occasions he's been on the Bombcast, which coincidently is my #1 podcast.

I love Jeff Green, too. I tried Bombcast about a year ago and didn't much care for it - but tried it again a few weeks ago and loved it. It is my #2 fave currently (GWJ, I love you the most even if you don't read my letters:)).

I'm right there with you. I didn't care too much for it initially, but I gave it another chance, and it is now only slightly edged out by GWJ for my favorite. I was really liking Weekend Confirmed, but now that Brian Leahy is gone, it has lost a lot of appeal for me.

R.I.P Idle Thumbs.

Idle Thumbs isn't dead. They're still alive in history and I just started listening to them. I'm getting new (to me) podcasts to the face every day.

It's interesting. I didn't take that view of the latest Out of the Game at all but I was listening to it when I was working and also furiously working on stuff for the UBB fight going on up here right now. I'll have to give it another listen when I'm not distracted.

I liked Shawn Elliott too but I was never as big a fan of him as others were. I always thought his stories about going and ruining games for other people under the guise of "well the game lets you do it so it's OK" were funny but also mean-spirited. I think he has many very interesting things to say but I also think he takes his opinions far too seriously. If he was acting down on game culture on the show, I think that's incredibly hypocritical as it was being so heavily involved in it that got him the sweet job he has now. He went from working at a crashing magasine to a decent position at one of the most respected developers around with no real experience because he was so invested in the culture and in talking about it. I do hope that he was just in a foul mood when they recorded this episode and that he'll be better on others. That said, the worst episode without Luke Smith is still better than any episode with him. You want to talk about a raging ego that hates gamers...

My current top gaming podcasts are Giant Bombcast and Weekend Confirmed. They're very long but have great, in-depth discussions and the Bombcast guys really gel well and inject some good humour into it. I still listen to Rebel FM but only just as they clearly are keeping it going despite not really being into it anymore. I still listen to the Conference Call but I am in the distant minority who doesn't consider it one of my top shows anymore. And yeah, I miss Idle Thumbs very much.