Gamer Podcasts

Breaking News: today's Weekend Confirmed is the classic cast from 1Up Yours.

Hopefully that means it'll be a bit better. The bit where random developers that dropped by talked over each other? Not so great

I'd rather have Leigh Alexander again

Define classic cast.

Yes, but a little hit or miss.
I liked some of the guests, but others, not so much

Does Luke talk very much on it or is it more like the Out of the Game episodes he's on? The answer will determine whether I attempt to listen to it.

I sure am glad that I hate people enough in real life that I can't get worked up about podcast personalities and/or sports announcers.

Not long into Weekend Confirmed and already I remember why I wasn't so upset when John Davison isn't in the public eye much anymore - constant iOS fellatio. Even now that I have two years of experience with my own phone, this is way too much.

How does it compare to Chris Grant (from Joystiq)? Is it as bad, not as bad, or about the same? His constant worship of iphone/ipad has almost made me stop listening to the Joystiq podcast despite enjoying Ludwig and both of the McElroys. (and I like my iphone)

I've never listened to more than 20 minutes of the Joystiq podcast, so I can't comment.

It's not really one of the reasons I like the Giant Bomb guys so much, but they're one of the few outlets that have a similar view as myself toward mobile gaming. There's potential, but the bar for quality is way too low* and playing games via traditional controls shoehorned onto the touchscreen is just kind of not fun.

*For example, even on our own iPhone gaming thread I've seen the Zenonia series praised as nice action RPGs. They were all on sale lately so I picked up 2 and 3 for a dollar apiece. I was flabbergasted by the lack of quality. The animations are jerky as hell, there are mistranslations and typos at least once ever four lines, the combat is shallow. I just don't get it.

Speaking of podcasts and iOS gaming, did anyone else hear the throw-down between Arthur Gies and Ryan O'donnell a few months back on Rebel FM? Ryan hasn't been on the show since and he used to be on once a month.

It was episode 93, about 43 minutes in if anybody's curious.

I'd never heard an actual knockdown fight on a podcast til that glorious evening.

That was quite an episode. I think both Arthur and Ryan got too entrenched but it was interesting to see that long-running debate boil over like that. I doubt Ryan's been banned from that show, I think Area 5 has just been really busy lately. I hope to hear him on there again.

Like others have said, my problem is not when people talk about iOS gaming, it's when that is all they can talk about, when they compare everything else to it like they are supposed to be measured equally and especially when they dismiss anything else as old and outdated thinking. Though I own no iOS products, I definitely see the value they have as gaming platforms and they deserve to be called such as much as any other. One day when I can justify the cost, I will probably buy an iPad just for games. But the extremes some people take it to really make them seem no different than console fanbois on a message board. I'll give the new Weekend Confirmed a listen but it's a real shame if John Davison has gone that far into that position, especially since he's in charge of a site that's supposed to cover everything.

I think the word "flop" is thrown around a bit too loosely around E3, every year.

I don't think any dedicated gaming handheld will reach Game Boy or DS levels of success again. I do think they can still move 50 million or so and we'll still be getting the types of games we love on them. The critical thing is, if we can get those same experiences and pay $5 for them instead of $40, do we want to? Eventually you figure there'll be a phone that does gaming controls right, and at that point I'd be on board.

Of course, Pokemon. They'll never have Pokemon, and Pokemon is important to me.

Did you mean 3DS and Vita? Just asking 'cause I haven't listened yet.

Anyway, I've heard this same sentiment from a lot of podcasts, including GWJ, Weekend Confirmed and Giant Bombcast.

It gets more difficult to defend as the iOS/Android game market continues to mature. When you have a single device that "does everything", including gaming, it puts more pressure on dedicated portable game devices that only do one thing.

I can see where Vita and 3DS offer deeper gaming experiences, but on the same token I can also see where they're severely marginalized by smart-phone gaming. Esp. when you're looking at the compounded issue of paying $30-$40 for a single 3DS/Vita game vs. iPhone games that cost $.99-$2.99 on average.

I feel similarly to the Giant Bomb dudes about mobile gaming. I had a PSP and DS, and I enjoyed the games on both. I liked the PSP console-lite type games, but when I found myself playing them sitting on my couch, I realized that I can play a better version of those games on the console. With the DS, there are some amazing titles, but most of the best ones can be done on the iOS, where I'd pay a quarter of the price for them (at most). I may get a 3DS for Nintendo's first-party offerings eventually, but there's no way I could justify carrying around another device and keeping it charged for those.

That said, I have a Vita pre-ordered. I may cancel it, but the tech sure looks cool.

Just got done with the E3 Weekend Confirmed. It was fine, but the magic I remember wasn't really there. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Bombcast and how good they are at riffing off each other.