Gaming Podcast Discussion

[Thierry Nguyen]

Left to right on bottom pic:
Rob Bowen, Jason Bertrand, Jay Frechette, Ryan O'Donnell, Cesar Quintero, Matt Chandronait, Peter Brown.

[Moggraider]

Thanks. Heh, in anticipation of 1up having to shut down or maybe cut down its server usage or something, I've gone through and DL'ed all of the 1up Show episodes. Heh, that took more effort than it was worth; I'll probably never watch them.

[Bahimiron]

Man, this week's PC Gamer podcast was terrible. I very nearly unsubscribed, paused at the last second while looking over my other podcasts, realized there was now a pretty big 1up voide to fill and left it subscrubed. They made the cut because even if they were the worst, there was just nothing to take their place. Good job!

(But seriously, 'Tribes 2 was one of the original class based shooters.'? Really? I'm not gonna be so stringent as to suggest they should know the date that it came out versus the original release of Team Fortress (a five year difference, btw) but c'mon, when talking about something called Tribes 2 you wouldn't stop to think that maybe it had some stuff in common with Tribes 1?)

[Rob_Merritt]

Yeah the past 2 pc gamer US podcasts have been really disappointing but I take it that maybe they are just in a down period. Hopefully with a new EIC they might spice it up a bit.

If you need a replacement, or just something to listen to, PC gamer UKs podcast is really good. They only come out once a month but they are a fun listen.

[MSUSteve]

After getting through Rebel FM and a recent GWJ (in which Rabbit got a lot of much deserved shit) I decided to give Octopodcast a go. So far I'm not in love with it. The guys seem cool, but the discussion of Japanese bands that were at the anniversary party for some 8-bit bar has gone on for fucking ever. I mean, am I the only one that couldn't give a shit? I'm surely not one to say that gaming podcasts can't have non-gaming topics, but listening to a dude try to remember what bands were at a party he went to is boring as hell. I'm gonna stick with it, but this is the first podcast I've listened to in a while where I thought, "Hell, me and my buddy could do something more interesting than this," and trust me, that's no compliment to me and my buddy.

[Bahimiron]

You're not at all wrong on the Octopodcast. The beginning and the end of every episode is packed with some pretty sharp commentary on games, the industry and especially on the enthusiast press itself. I'd put these guys up there with Shawn Elliott when it comes to their talk on games journalisms. However, between the start and finish there's about an hour where they go on and on about techno. Don't much like it on One Life Left, don't much like it here.

Also, I could do without Octopodcast's seeming loathing of every game released since 1996.

[MSUSteve]

I haven't even gotten to any actual commentary on games, but I'm looking forward to it if they're as interesting as you say bahimiron. I can see being annoyed at their loathing of games released after the mid 1990's, but I don't necessarily need to agree with their opinions to enjoy their show. I do need them to cut short ambling techno discussion though. Quick hit recommendations are one thing, but literally what I listened to for at least 20 minutes on my way into work today was a guy trying to remember bands he saw at a party. I don't even think people interested in the subject would be interested in that sort of stream of consciousness ramble.

I'm really looking forward to GWJ this week with Phil Kollar. Shit, I forgot to download another podcast he said he'd been on in his Twitter. It was something I hadn't heard of. It was Colony of Gamers' Ingame Chat podcast. (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20090108.mp3)

[interman]

Man, this week's PC Gamer podcast was terrible. I very nearly unsubscribed, paused at the last second while looking over my other podcasts, realized there was now a pretty big 1up voide to fill and left it subscrubed. They made the cut because even if they were the worst, there was just nothing to take their place. Good job!

Quoted for truth. I did the exact same thing, though one of my new year resolutions is to listen to fewer boring podcasts and more audiobooks, so it'll go if the next one isn't great. It's tough when you've been a loyal listener since pretty much the start though.

[MSUSteve]

Have the Rebel FM guys said what the donation total is yet? I've seen a few people ask the question over at www.eat-sleep-game.com, but they've completely failed to answer except to exclaim that the show of support has been massive. Maybe I missed it in the comments section, but if not, I think it's kind of weird that they don't want to say.

[DoomMunky]

Isn't there a historic and pan-media reluctance to talk about donation drive amounts? The recent GWJ fundraiser was successful enough to remove the necessity of ads on the site, but other than that, did they ever talk numbers? I think it's that American thing about money. We don't like to talk hard cash.

[MSUSteve]

Isn't there a historic and pan-media reluctance to talk about donation drive amounts? The recent GWJ fundraiser was successful enough to remove the necessity of ads on the site, but other than that, did they ever talk numbers? I think it's that American thing about money. We don't like to talk hard cash.
That point of view is legitimate, but if that's the case, I wished they'd at least say that. Ignoring all inquiries about the donation amount doesn't seem very responsive to those that actually put up all that cash. Hell, I just want to know how close they are to achieving whatever equipment purchasing/bandwidth goals they have. Even if it was presented as a meter without numbers, that would be enough to satisfy my curiosity as well as provide some measure of transparency regarding what the money is actually being used on.

[zengonzo]

Ryan Scott's endeavor:

http://www.geekbox.net/archives/2009/01/12/geekbox-radio-coming-this-week/

[Bahimiron]

Listened to the last Retronauts. So many peoples' last hurrahs.

And all I can really say about is 'Shane Bettenhausen claims GTA3 took its open-world formula from Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time'. Whatevs, Shane!

[Moggraider]

Someone up-thread had said that Shane was going to leave 1up anyway. Where did this person get this info? Thanks.

[Bahimiron]

Shane's blog indicated that he'd decided to leave over the vacation.

[zengonzo]

Ba-hah! You can't fire me! I quit!

[Chris Nahr]

Surely he's going to a PR job at Sony?

[MSUSteve]

Surely he's going to a PR job at Sony?
He should. That's what he's been doing for a long time anyway. Ba-dum-dum!

[MSUSteve]

Well the former 1upShow guys (http://talkingorange.com/) aren't hiding the ball on us:

As of 21:39 on January 12, 2009, we've received just over 500 donations totalling $11,839.52.

I'm pretty blown away by that tally. I mean, I gave $10 each to Rebel FM, talkingorange, and Geekbox, but clearly there are people out there giving much more.

Someone over at Rebel FM finally had something to say directly (http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/2009/01/13/equipment-for-podcasting/#comments) about their donation amount:

Anthony Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 4:41 am

I don’t know if we’re posting specific #’s as far as a total (it’s still going, after all), but we’re going to definitely not keep it a secret as to how we spend it on equipment. As of right now, equipment is the only expenditure we’re looking to use any donation money on…with the idea that we could use it to start up merch or possibly other things to help back the site long term. We’re looking into lots of things and will have more to say about the cash soon.

[ColonelT]

What I'll miss most about Shane is his undying and unhealthy obsession with Roberta Williams. Paraphrasing from his final Retronauts: "Without Robert Williams you wouldn't have games with graphics or sounds." Says it all right there.

[MSUSteve]

I went back to the Octopodcast yesterday for my drive home, despite hating the super boring section about Japanese techno bands. While it got even worse with the playing of a "song" that sounded like a Saturday morning cartoon theme, once I made it past that I actually started to really enjoy the podcast. When one of the Octo hosts said that, in response to allegations by Brian Crecente that it was racist, Nintendo should've responded, "Dear Brian Crecente, Get back in your box you greasy spic," I knew that it would be a podcast I continued to listen to. I was maniacally cackling in my car during that portion of the show.

[Moggraider]

The loss of the Ziff casts makes me too unhappy to listen to the inferior IGN casts. Anyone else?




EDIT: EGM --> IGN.

[MSUSteve]

The loss of the Ziff casts makes me too unhappy to listen to the inferior EGM casts. Anyone else?
I'm a little confused. Which inferior EGM casts?

Edit: Agreed regarding the IGN casts. In fact, I stopped listening to the IGN podcasts many months ago. They're awful and almost always degenerate into yelling "catch phrases".

[Moggraider]

Sorry, typo.

[Mordrak]

I'm pretty blown away by that tally. I mean, I gave $10 each to Rebel FM, talkingorange, and Geekbox, but clearly there are people out there giving much more.


Celebrity is a powerful tool.

[MSUSteve]

Celebrity is a powerful tool.
I think it has more to do with people wanting to show support in a real, definable way for those people they've come to like and rely on for quality, unique games coverage.

[Mordrak]

I think it has more to do with people wanting to show support in a real, definable way for those people they've come to like and rely on for quality, unique games coverage.

I guess that's one way of putting it.

[MSUSteve]

I guess that's one way of putting it.
I think the way you put it has negative connotations, whether you meant it that way or not.

[DoomMunky]

How about another way: Supporting people they like.

[MSUSteve]

I tend to also think that each donation to Rebel FM/talkingorange/Geekbox is a mini fuck you to Ziff-Davis (or UGO or fate for all I care) for dumping so many talented individuals.

[theblackw0lf]

I hope he makes good on his promise to do a Mother-themed Retronauts next.

You're in luck. It's up.

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8978569&publicUserId=5379721

[merryprankster]

I sent money to the Rebel FM/Talkingorange/Geekbox guys mostly because I think that they are all talented guys and deserve some seed money to get thier projects off the ground. I think celebrty has nothing to do with these donations, but rather a desire by the community to help get these guys started again and allow them to keep doing what they love doing.

[Zerot]

You're in luck. It's up.

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8978569&publicUserId=5379721

Oh yes, and it's great.

"Hello, welcome to Retronauts, now the flagship podcast of 1up!"

[MSUSteve]

It's good to see that Retronauts is back. Will be downloading that tonight.

Also, while I enjoyed the second episode of Rebel FM, I hope they're done with the discussion of the layoffs, etc. I realize that it will take much longer for those guys to get over such a terrible event and that they're all still looking for gainful employment, but I'm about full up on recounts of the mass layoff (especially with Phil Kollar appearing on every podcast known to man in the last week) and associated sad feelings. I really want those guys to get back to what they do best, and that's talking about games.

[ColonelT]

John Davison hints that the final(?) 1UP Yours episode will reunite Garnett, John, Shane, and Luke. This was part of his ZD/EGM retrospective at the end of the latest What They Play podcast.

I've been listening recently to the late 2006/early 2007 episodes of 1UP Yours and there's no question that quartet had...something...that subsequent casts did not. (I guess that something would be Luke, actually.) The shows hold up very well and it's great fun listening to their predictions, which are either eerily accurate or wildly off-base.

[MSUSteve]

John Davison hints that the final(?) 1UP Yours episode will reunite Garnett, John, Shane, and Luke. This was part of his ZD/EGM retrospective at the end of the latest What They Play podcast.

I've been listening recently to the late 2006/early 2007 episodes of 1UP Yours and there's no question that quartet had...something...that subsequent casts did not. (I guess that something would be Luke, actually.) The shows hold up very well and it's great fun listening to their predictions, which are either eerily accurate or wildly off-base.
I think that "something" was recaptured during Mark MacDonald's short tenure on 1upYours. He was the absolute perfect replacement for Luke.

[ColonelT]

Huh. I'd totally forgotten Mark was a permanent fourth chair. His tenure was what, like three episodes? Regardless, you're right, whether guesting or perma-hosting he was excellent on the show.

[MSUSteve]

Huh. I'd totally forgotten Mark was a permanent fourth chair. His tenure was what, like three episodes? Regardless, you're right, whether guesting or perma-hosting he was excellent on the show.
I thought he was around longer than that, but I could be wrong. The gaping hole he left in the show was brought into stark reality when he made one or two appearances while visiting San Francisco a while back. He's the best. I have to agree with Anthony Gallegos and say that I too have man-love for Mark MacDonald.

[Rorschach]

MacDonald. He hates being associated with fast food chains. :)

[MSUSteve]

MacDonald. He hates being associated with fast food chains. :)
Shite! My bad for lazily not looking that up.

[forgeforsaken]

Mark and Luke were good in part because they provided a foil to Shane. No one else on the show has every really fit that role.

[Rorschach]

S'okay, I made the same mistake back in college. Never was part of the old Impulse 9 clan, but I consider them friends and it's interesting to see the different paths all those folks took in the gaming industry.

[MSUSteve]

Matt Leone could've been great on 1upYours if he had any personality whatsoever. He's pretty exacting in terms of calling people out on hyperbole, but the guy is as vanilla and uninteresting as a person can be; at least that's how he came off during 1upShow and podcast segments.

[Jazar]

Don't forget Fragile Eagle AKA Bryan Intihar. He was great in 1UpYours IMO. :)

[ColonelT]

Every 1UP Show segment with Matt Leone involved the following elements:

1) Matt sitting in his desk chair, swiveling gently back and forth.
2) Everyone else in the segment standing in a semi-circle around Matt.
3) Some reference to God of War.

It always looked like he was holding court. This is not a rip, just an observation.

[MSUSteve]

Every 1UP Show segment with Matt Leone involved the following elements:

1) Matt sitting in his desk chair, swiveling gently back and forth.
2) Everyone else in the segment standing in a semi-circle around Matt.
3) Some reference to God of War.

It always looked like he was holding court. This is not a rip, just an observation.
I will argue with none of this. I'd simply add that when Matt Leone featured segments were held in Matt's cube/office, it was also very visually boring because Matt never had any decoration of any kind up anywhere.

As for Bryan Intihar, he was okay, but not great. Plus I found his voice mildly annoying.

[DoomMunky]

Bryan Intihar's voice could peel paint from a battleship, but a better podcasting personality will probably never be found. I used to listen to the Sports Anomaly because he, Greg Ford, and the other guy (sorry!) were so great together, and a lot of that was the energy that the Fragile Eagle (tm) brought to EVERY! SINGLE! THING! HE DID!

Great guy, much missed.

[MSUSteve]

Bryan Intihar's voice could peel paint from a battleship, but a better podcasting personality will probably never be found. I used to listen to the Sports Anomaly because he, Greg Ford, and the other guy (sorry!) were so great together, and a lot of that was the energy that the Fragile Eagle (tm) brought to EVERY! SINGLE! THING! HE DID!

Great guy, much missed.
Yeah, I also have fond memories of Zuniga, Ford, and Intihar on the Sports Anomaly. Their energy was infectious.

[Bahimiron]

I will argue with none of this. I'd simply add that when Matt Leone featured segments were held in Matt's cube/office, it was also very visually boring because Matt never had any decoration of any kind up anywhere.

Someone on some podcast not all that long ago mentioned that this was because the people who worked in the Gamevideos area of the office were encouraged to make their offices as visually 'busy' as possible specifically for 1up Show segments.

[MSUSteve]

Someone on some podcast not all that long ago mentioned that this was because the people who worked in the Gamevideos area of the office were encouraged to make their offices as visually 'busy' as possible specifically for 1up Show segments.
Yeah, I recall someone saying that (Matt Chandronait?) in relation to why it was so tough to cleanup the GameVideos area. Matt Leone certainly wouldn't have had any trouble cleaning out his office, that's for sure.

[DoomMunky]

Yet another plug for the Giant Bombcast. There's something wonderful about a bunch of guys who sit around, crack each other up, and aren't that invested in the moves being made by the Hardware manufacturers. Compared to this weeks RebelFM, the Bombcast guys sound totally independent and above all that fevered 'console war' mentality.

They're also funny as hell, and even when they're not funny to ME, they're funny to each other, and it's awesome to listen to a bunch of guys crack each other up.

[Jazar]

I laughed out loud like 3 times while listening to this week's bombcast. They're awesome.

[Moggraider]

Agree. Theirs is a cast that requires more active listening, but is more rewarding. Their jokes fly fast and sometimes I get lost if I'm not paying attention. It's not just background chatter like some others could be called.

[JZigish]

Ryan scott's new podcast is up at http://www.geekbox.net/

I'm listening now.

[theblackw0lf]

Ryan scott's new podcast is up at http://www.geekbox.net/

I'm listening now.

Man I hope Karen Chu is on this podcast frequently. She's one of the more insightful game commentators I've heard.

[Bahimiron]

Looks like we're pretty close to the Talking Orange gang releasing their thing.

Is it too much to hope that they got Jane Pinckard to whip them up a theme song?

Hey! I don't wanna get laid off today!

...maybe not.

Also, Geekbox is now on iTunes. My iPhone cheers!

[Nengjanggo]

How far into Geekbox do they start talking about games? I shut it off after about 15 minutes because they didn't talk about games at all (I also couldn't get very far into the latest giant bombcast for the same reason). I know not everyone's taste is the same as mine, but I personally want a podcast that focuses almost entirely on games, and not on people's personal lives etc. I don't have any gamer friends, so gaming podcasts sort of fill the niche that talking with friends about games would normally fill; other subjects of discussion don't interest me as much because I'd rather hear my real friends talk about them (this is not a criticism of other people who like less gaming oriented stuff, and I'm not trying to imply that you have no friends). The gaming focus was something I really liked about 1up yours and like about GWJ. Are there podcasts which are similarly focused?

[theblackw0lf]

How far into Geekbox do they start talking about games? I shut it off after about 15 minutes because they didn't talk about games at all (I also couldn't get very far into the latest giant bombcast for the same reason). I know not everyone's taste is the same as mine, but I personally want a podcast that focuses almost entirely on games, and not on people's personal lives etc. I don't have any gamer friends, so gaming podcasts sort of fill the niche that talking with friends about games would normally fill; other subjects of discussion don't interest me as much because I'd rather hear my real friends talk about them (this is not a criticism of other people who like less gaming oriented stuff, and I'm not trying to imply that you have no friends). The gaming focus was something I really liked about 1up yours and like about GWJ. Are there podcasts which are similarly focused?

They just lost their jobs. It's kind of ridiculous to not expect them to talk about their experiences at 1UP for a while.

Also I think they start talking about games around the 40 minute mark. The rest is pretty much all gaming.

[Bahimiron]

How far into Geekbox do they start talking about games? I shut it off after about 15 minutes because they didn't talk about games at all (I also couldn't get very far into the latest giant bombcast for the same reason). I know not everyone's taste is the same as mine, but I personally want a podcast that focuses almost entirely on games, and not on people's personal lives etc.

Then listen to the Future podcasts. They're still around while the 1up podcasts are all long gone because they're not personality driven, they exist almost exclusively to be advertisements for the magazines.

I don't have any gamer friends

If you tune out on your friends every time they start talking about their personal life, I don't wonder why. :(

The gaming focus was something I really liked about 1up yours and like about GWJ. Are there podcasts which are similarly focused?

Yeah. 1up Yours never got off track.

Hey, who saw the latest Lost? Crazy stuff, homedoggs!

[MSUSteve]

I'm most of the way through Geekbox and I've enjoyed it, despite the frequent talking off mic, which is hard to hear. Karen Chu does do a great job on the show. What really surprised me is how annoying Fitch was, at least at times. I've always really liked Fitch, but something about him on this particular podcast bugged me. Maybe it was his dig on Dunkin Donuts. :-p

[ColonelT]

Fitch bothered me too -- I was actually drinking Dunkin' Donuts coffee (the finest coffee our planet has to offer, by the way) while listening to that segment and I took his comments personally. Also, the discussion of "raw" women frustrated me as neither he nor Greg Ford could articulate what the hell "raw" means in that context.

[Moggraider]

Then listen to the Future podcasts. They're still around while the 1up podcasts are all long gone because they're not personality driven, they exist almost exclusively to be advertisements for the magazines.


That's not true. They're not afraid to tease something in the mag, but they still spend plenty of time talking about games without trying to push you to sub.

[Nengjanggo]

Then listen to the Future podcasts. They're still around while the 1up podcasts are all long gone because they're not personality driven, they exist almost exclusively to be advertisements for the magazines.

If you tune out on your friends every time they start talking about their personal life, I don't wonder why. :(

Yeah. 1up Yours never got off track.

Hey, who saw the latest Lost? Crazy stuff, homedoggs!

I liked the fact that I got the flavor of all the different podcasters' personalities on 1up yours and GWJ, but that I got it through listening to them talking about games. Sure, they got off track here and there, but the ratio of games to not games was very good for my tastes.

Maybe I'll try forwarding in 40 minutes like blackwolf suggests and see how I like it.

Also, I don't tune out my friends when they talk about their personal lives, I tell them to shut up and start entertaining me again. I can't do that with podcasts, so I have to be selective in what I listen to.

[DoomMunky]

Aw man, I've been listening to GFW Radio episodes from back in the day. Makes me sad. Though Gladstone is still annoying, GOD it's a refreshing break from all the other hype and well-tread gaming narratives we suck down week after week. Everyone else in the gaming world seems to buy in to the stuff the publishers say, the stuff that is said on message boards, the overall 'narrative' of the gaming world, but GFW Radio got outside of that so well, and so often.

It's great to get a dose of another perspective.

[JZigish]

I will agree that Fitch was a bit irritating. He talks a lot like I do personally (lots of Like's and uhming), and I don't necessarily want to here myself talk on the interadio.

Overall Geekbox didn't instantly catch me the way that RebelFM did. I agree that Karen Chu was awesome, and we'll see how the show evolves.

[Bahimiron]

Just listened to the new What They Play podcast. The orchestral version of the 1up Show Theme Song was great. Kind of maudlin, but really beautiful. Was that ever used on the show? I recognized that he used the spring break song earlier in the show, as well.

[gamadict]

I'll listen to it anyway because I have a commute and am desperate for podcasts, but geekbox really needs more structure in future episodes

[Adree]

I'll listen to it anyway because I have a commute and am desperate for podcasts, but geekbox really needs more structure in future episodes

Amen, even if the main host didn't have a voice like nails on a chalkboard or the talkers not occasionally shout or whisper into the mics the total lack of structure would have made me unsubscribe. This podcast made RebelFM sound like a NPR show in comparison.

[Bahimiron]

Ryan Scott's voice is like a wasabi enema.

It just takes some getting used to.

(And even then it's still pretty painful.)

[MSUSteve]

Ryan Scott has been pretty vociferous in his pleading for iTunes reviews and Diggs. Is that just for personal gratification that people are listening, or is there some way to make money based on those things?

[zengonzo]

He might be able to parlay such success into a business opportunity. Moreso than if he just shops around the concept of a podcast. Might not even have a plan yet.

RebelFM was smart to get theirs rolling right away, even if they didn't have a solid format worked out.

[Rob_Merritt]

I always got the feeling that Ryan hated the podcast which makes it so weird that he is pushing this so hard.

[ColonelT]

I think the idea is that more publicity = more likelihood of work. I don't think outside of Leo Laporte and a few others that anyone is making any money podcasting. It's usually a promotional arm for whatever actually is making money, or for the independent and unemployed, just a straight-up publicity tool.

I thought Skip's comments on one of the recent refugee podcasts was interesting -- that no one could figure out how to make an effective audio podcast ad for a video game. I'd never thought about it, but yeah, it makes sense. You'd almost have to have the host do a live read; stopping the show halfway through and saying "Let's take a moment now and thank our sponsors at EA!" Which, of course, undermines your editorial credibility. If you could get someone other than a game company to advertise, that'd help, but that's obviously easier said than done if not impossible.

[MSUSteve]

I never got the feeling that Ryan hated doing the podcast. He was just dominated by stronger personalities on GFW Radio. He was much more active on LAN Party. Also, I think he, like others, became somewhat addicted to the internet celebrity he achieved by being on a popular podcast. That's completely understandable and not a criticism in any way.

[MSUSteve]

I thought Skip's comments on one of the recent refugee podcasts was interesting -- that no one could figure out how to make an effective audio podcast ad for a video game. I'd never thought about it, but yeah, it makes sense. You'd almost have to have the host do a live read; stopping the show halfway through and saying "Let's take a moment now and thank our sponsors at EA!" Which, of course, undermines your editorial credibility. If you could get someone other than a game company to advertise, that'd help, but that's obviously easier said than done if not impossible.
I think 1up should've at least tried some alternative ways to make money on their video and audio content. Clearly, based on the amount of donations these refugee podcasts are getting, people would have paid to support that content. I'm not sure how 1up could've locked that content behind a pay-for-play gate, but even trying a simple donation structure or perhaps selling 1up themed merechandise might've helped.

[ColonelT]

Totally agree. I suspect there's not a single one of us who wouldn't have bought a long-sleeve "97.5 The Brodeo" t-shirt.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Clearly, based on the amount of donations these refugee podcasts are getting, people would have paid to support that content.

I'm not certain about that. The donations and fan support that has been shown is great, but will it be sustained over the long term? I'm sure some of the donors were giving ten bucks and more - I doubt they would do that on a monthly basis.

If it was 1up the corporate entity asking for money for a once free service and not a bunch of exiles, I think the response would have also been much different.

Troy

[MSUSteve]

I'm not certain about that. The donations and fan support that has been shown is great, but will it be sustained over the long term? I'm sure some of the donors were giving ten bucks and more - I doubt they would do that on a monthly basis.

If it was 1up the corporate entity asking for money for a once free service and not a bunch of exiles, I think the response would have also been much different.

Troy
Whether the fans would've supported 1up's audio and video content monetarily would have depended a lot on how it was presented. If it was entirely optional donations, then I think the fans would've responded. What I would've done with that is figure out how much the podcasts/1upShow needed to make in a given month (or quarter or 6 months) to make money or at least break even. Then I would've put up a meter that tracked how close donations had come to achieving that goal. I think having a set goal would encourage people to donate on a somewhat regular basis in order to achieve said goal. Maybe not. But it's something that could've been tried.

If 1up had decided to lock the podcasts and/or the 1upShow behind a pay gate, they could've still come out as good guys. All they'd have had to do is be honest with how desperate the situation was there and present it as a case where continuing to provide the shows for free was untenable and would result in not providing the shows at all.

Regardless, it's a shame that they didn't try ANYTHING at all. I'm not sure if the situation was so hopeless that those in charge simply gave up, or if the Ziff overlords in New York just wouldn't allow it (maybe those are the same thing) but damn. I mean, I just don't know why nothing was tried.

[MSUSteve]

Speaking of the 1upShow, the creators' new project is live.

http://area5.tv/

[DoomMunky]

I gotta say, I'm so impressed by these guys and gals ability to KEEP MOVING. They've done an incredible amount of work in a short time, with very uncertain financial conditions surrounding them. It's a credit to them and their network that they're all able to stay motivated enough to keep producing content that's up to their usual level of quality. Kudos +1!

[JZigish]

Speaking of the 1upShow, the creators' new project is live.

http://area5.tv/

Interesting, this does NOT appear to be the same thing as the Talking Orange project that Matt Chandronait and Ryan O'Donnell were working on. The 1up show appears to have splintered into two competing shows.

[MSUSteve]

Talking Orange is Matt's personal website, which they used to temporarily get the word out before launching the new site and project. The Area 5 Co-Op show is indeed made by Matt & Ryan, the makers of the 1upShow.

[Bahimiron]

I get their reasoning behind no iTunes feed, but not being able to easily grab and watch this on my iPhone while reading a magazine means I'm not apt to be a serious viewer.

I'll subscribe to their YouTube feed, though. Doesn't cost me anything and it helps them.

[JZigish]

Ah, okay. Talking orange wasn't updated so I got confused, and I didn't see anything about matt or ryan. Ignore me, I am wrong!

[MSUSteve]

I get their reasoning behind no iTunes feed, but not being able to easily grab and watch this on my iPhone while reading a magazine means I'm not apt to be a serious viewer.
They're working to get it in on the iTunes TV side, as opposed to the podcast side, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you can grab it with your iPhone.

[Brian Seiler]

In the meantime, there's a feed working on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/user1162170/videos/rss) that will let you download the Flash video. I assume that at some point they'll have a little bit better quality feed set up, but it'll work with my podcatcher for now, so you might try that.

[Gunmetal]

The final episode of 1up Yours with Garnett, Luke, John, Andrew and Shane is up on iTunes. Three and a half hours! Oh my!

[forgeforsaken]

The final episode of 1up Yours with Garnett, Luke, John, Andrew and Shane is up on iTunes. Three and a half hours! Oh my!

I got about 5 hours of driving to do this weekend, so that will help.

[DoomMunky]

I gotta say, I'm not gonna miss Shane. At all. His complete contempt for any game that's not the Latest, Hottest Thing is a blight on the gaming world. He, for me, exemplifies everything that's wrong with gaming fans. I'm glad for his service over the years, but hearing him Pshaw at Garnett for wanting to talk about Sacred 2 made me hate him for a moment.

But man, what a great group of guys! I'm about 1/3rd through, and the mix of personalities is pretty goddam great.

[Jazar]

Shane is an excellent entertainer. Even if you don't like him everyone still talks about him. Hell 90% of this thread is MSUSteve raging over the latest Shane comment. His personality always adds entertainment to the show. It's part of why I love 1upYours best. I don't enjoy the dry, like minded discussion of other podcasts. I want to hear Shane act like a fanboy, Garnet play devils advocate, John play the corporate big dog, and Luke Smith throw temper tantrums like a screaming queen. At the end of it all though it's about the games and the enthusiasm these guys bring to the table. They all love what they do and it shows. I'll take that over the slow, jaded, off-topic, meandering shows that devote only 10% of their time on games.

[forgeforsaken]

Shane is an excellent entertainer. Even if you don't like him everyone still talks about him. Shane is fine as long as there's a foil for him like Luke or Mark. After those guys both left they never really filled that void, Shawn wasn't bad at calling Shane on bullshit but his personality I don't think really fit the show.

[MSUSteve]

Doom, I can't disagree with you about Shane except to say that for as much as he irritated me, I still appreciated his presence. I especially liked it when Luke or Mark would slap him down.

Edit: Also, I appreciate Jazar's recognition of my fine work in this thread.

[DoomMunky]

Oh, don't get me wrong, he's provided a lot of grist for my mill over the years, and I agree that he's a great entertainer, but outside of that, he has the regrettable habit of regularly annoying the fuck out of me.

Sure it's better than grey vanilla measured stentorian gaming talk, but so are lots of podcasts.

[Pumpkinhead]

I agree that he's a great entertainer, but outside of that, he has the regrettable habit of regularly annoying the fuck out of me.


Really?...really?...............really?

[Eric Majkut]

Word is that Robert Ashley is going to be doing a new show along the lines of the "Merchant of Cool" episode of GFW Radio. Awesome. :)

[MSUSteve]

Sure it's better than grey vanilla measured stentorian gaming talk, but so are lots of podcasts.
You gotta get yourself a new ice cream parlor my friend.

[Adree]

I listened to the new RebelFM:

They need to can that corny Portal lead-in at the start, it's bad enough most of the games they talk about are over a year old but even the bumpers?

There was some actual decent gaming discussion this time around at least, tempered by them bringing in the muppet from Geekbox. What's the point of having separate podcasts if they all guest on each others stuff every week?

They seem to have a decent structure down, if a bit loose. The review discussion was entertaining but nothing really new. I was happy to see Gravity Bone get a plug and even more happy for it not to get spoiled on the air.

They need to kill the EGM mail section. Hyucking over some preteens letter to EGM is pretty pathetic.

[Moggraider]

Hey shut up. You're the muppet.


I really hope Shane finds another podcast real soon.

[Hugin]

I gotta say, I'm not gonna miss Shane. At all. His complete contempt for any game that's not the Latest, Hottest Thing is a blight on the gaming world. He, for me, exemplifies everything that's wrong with gaming fans. I'm glad for his service over the years, but hearing him Pshaw at Garnett for wanting to talk about Sacred 2 made me hate him for a moment.

But man, what a great group of guys! I'm about 1/3rd through, and the mix of personalities is pretty goddam great.


I swear there's some kind of Shane Derangement Syndrome sometimes. Look, call him a fanboy, call him..whatever, but claiming he was only into the "latest, hottest" thing is absurd. Shane was one of the best of the former 1up people for knowledge of and love for old, obscure games and wacky fringy Japanese imports in out-of-mainstream genres or from oddball developers.

[Chris Nahr]

Shane is an excellent entertainer. Even if you don't like him everyone still talks about him. Hell 90% of this thread is MSUSteve raging over the latest Shane comment. His personality always adds entertainment to the show. It's part of why I love 1upYours best. I don't enjoy the dry, like minded discussion of other podcasts. I want to hear Shane act like a fanboy, Garnet play devils advocate, John play the corporate big dog, and Luke Smith throw temper tantrums like a screaming queen. At the end of it all though it's about the games and the enthusiasm these guys bring to the table. They all love what they do and it shows. I'll take that over the slow, jaded, off-topic, meandering shows that devote only 10% of their time on games.

Great summary, that's exactly what I loved about 1up Yours, too.

[Eric Majkut]

No love for Bobito? Harumph.

[Jazar]

I'm only 45 mins into the epic 1upYours and it's already amazing. Listening to the original crew together again makes me realize how much I've missed them. It's like watching a series finale of your favorite show. So good and so sad at the same time.

[DoomMunky]

I swear there's some kind of Shane Derangement Syndrome sometimes. Look, call him a fanboy, call him..whatever, but claiming he was only into the "latest, hottest" thing is absurd. Shane was one of the best of the former 1up people for knowledge of and love for old, obscure games and wacky fringy Japanese imports in out-of-mainstream genres or from oddball developers.
Well, I guess I went a little far with my criticisms, or didn't make clear my appreciation of what he does well. He does all the things you mentioned, and is a solid writer to boot. It's just that the things he doesn't like and thinks are stupid (PC games, niche games, turn-based PC games) are exactly the things I love.

It's hard to listen to someone be incredibly dismissive about stuff I like. Hell, maybe the main thing is I'm annoyed no one else calls him on precisely that stuff. Luke's ragging on him in this last episode was very, very welcome.

I'm only 45 mins into the epic 1upYours and it's already amazing. Listening to the original crew together again makes me realize how much I've missed them. It's like watching a series finale of your favorite show. So good and so sad at the same time.That's how I feel overall, too. Hearing their favorite moments was great, but mainly it was hearing their obvious affection for each other that made me happy/sad. They all obviously really, really enjoyed each other over the run of the show.

[Bahimiron]

You guys are making me wish that iTunes did a goddam better job of updating their iPhone store.

[ColonelT]

I'm only an hour into the 1UP Yours series finale, but the Gears of War 2 discussion, particularly Luke's rant about his co-op experience, is classic -- in-depth, funny, ridiculous, nostalgic, homoerotic... everything I love about this crew. It's like they never broke up.

[MSUSteve]

Oh man, now I'm anticipating feelings of sadness when I listen to this that are akin to how I feel every time I bust out my Firefly DVDs. I

[zengonzo]

Shane is an excellent entertainer. Even if you don't like him everyone still talks about him.

Infamous .. It means .. More than famous.

[Jazar]

Yeah this man Shane, he's not just famous, he's IN-famous.

[Zerot]

The end of 1up Yours was actually quite touching and emotional. I'm impressed. Can't wait to see what the replacement is.

[DoomMunky]

Yeah, I just listened to the end on the train coming into work and got a little misty. A great end to a faithfully entertaining, highly influential podcast.

[Jon Rowe]

Now I am all sad.

Everyone on 1up yours had their own flaws.

Luke and Shane were bombastic and often times annoying, but both were funny
Garnett can get a bit loud and angry and misinformed at times
John Davison was always cool calm and collective but didn't often bring alot of new discussion to the table.

The highlight of my 1up yours listening run, was having a post I made mentioned in the news, only to realize that my unchangeable nickname on 1up is super duper lame. (Especially in John's British accent)

[MSUSteve]

The highlight of my 1up yours listening run, was having a post I made mentioned in the news, only to realize that my unchangeable nickname on 1up is super duper lame. (Especially in John's British accent)
Ha ha! I actually signed up for a completely new account over there because I hated my username so much.

[zengonzo]

Dude, John Davison was the best thing going.

[Chris Whittington]

I'm loathe to pimp something I'm a part of, but I feel duty-bound: the Squadron of Shame (http://www.squadronofshame.com/files/squadcasts/MP3/rss.xml) (link to the feed) doesn't exclusively talk about retro/old games, but most of the missions end up focusing on older games that haven't gotten/aren't getting enough love.

Yes we do.

[MSUSteve]

Dude, John Davison was the best thing going.
I see your John Davison and raise you a Mark MacDonald.

[Bahimiron]

I'm with zen, here.

Though Mark MacDonald wins for showing us how many people don't listen to the entire podcast before running to Digg to frontpage 'BIOWARE WORKING ON HALO RPG!'

[Chris Whittington]

I see your John Davison and raise you a Mark MacDonald.

Seriously. During my "pre-final 1UP Yours" waiting period, I listened to a random episode from '06 with Mark filling in for John. He always had interesting insights and fit in perfectly with the guys.

The chemistry that the original crew had was truly electric. Now that I'm listening to the final episode, it's even more apparent to me that Garnett snaps out of his awkward funk and comes alive in their presence. There will never be another 1UP Yours and I'm very happy that they were able to wrap it up strong like this. Thanks for the good times, guys.

[MSUSteve]

I'm with zen, here.

Though Mark MacDonald wins for showing us how many people don't listen to the entire podcast before running to Digg to frontpage 'BIOWARE WORKING ON HALO RPG!'
My two closest allies, uniting against me! The horror! :-p

I don't have any serious objection to loving John Davison. The guy is awesome. I just have serious man-love for Mark MacDonald.

[zengonzo]

Honestly, I'm not as familiar with Mark. I don't think I could identify his voice. Just didn't catch the shows he was on in my irregular listening, I suppose. I'm familiar with the name more than else.

I just thought John deserved some greater representation. He's hip. Way hip.

[Bahimiron]

The best thing about John is that from his voice you'd never know he was sporting a giant head of big floofy hippy hair.

[zengonzo]

No kidding. I'd always pictured an effete Molyneux-type fella. Wouldn't've imagined a big lunk.

[Zerot]

Honestly, I'm not as familiar with Mark.

He's the guy on the cover of the latest Alone in the Dark.

[Papageno]

Speaking of gaming podcasts, does anyone know if Joystiq is putting one out this week? It's already official that there will be no PC Gamer podcast this week, per their site.

[JZigish]

Justin's twitter makes it sound like there's one ready, but they don't have an image for it yet. heh.

[Bahimiron]

Was there an expectation of Geekbox being a regular show?

If so, being late on the second episode seems like a bad sign.

Then again, now that these are no longer associated with big name 'gaming media' and the podcasts are no longer their jobs, there's always a good chance that any of them might stumble once people start losing interest or getting new full time jobs. I just have a feeling that the first time Rebel FM takes a week off every dipshit who gave a buck and assumes that means they own a share of eat-sleep-game.com will throw a hissy fit.

[zengonzo]

I was pretty skeptical of Geekbox. I don't know nothing about nothing, but Ryan's never seemed like a frontman. Now that he's been on Rebel, I expect he'll just slide into that cozy slot and just supply the intermittent 'what the hell' for the remainder of their run.

[MSUSteve]

I'm mostly through the epic last 1upYours and it's been great. I admit that I felt a bit emotional when they reminisced about the humble beginnings of 1upYours or recounted specific times together. I thought Luke's comments about being there during the 07 PA Expo were a little strange. While that show obviously had a big positive impact on everyone else (except Skip) Luke didn't seem to care much about it.

Speaking of Skip, I never realized that he threw a self-described fit over having to be podcast producer along with reviews editor. I can completely understand being pissed for (apparently) getting shit about one or the other when he was being paid only to do the reviews editor gig. It's really too bad that caused him to miss PA Expo '07. Skip also indicated that he would not be back to do shows with Garnett in the future and that the issue was not money. That implied to me he bears some (entirely understandable) significant hard feelings about the way things went down and the new management of 1up. He's really the only 1up ex-pat that I've heard be somewhat openly negative in that regard.

Frankly I'd probably feel the same way. I don't know how those guys go back for the 1up game nights. It'd be very upsetting to me to be in the old office after being summarily dismissed like that. I'd liken it to seeing an ex-girlfriend after a breakup. You don't necessarily hate her, but you also have some bad feelings that come up when you see her. I certainly wouldn't want to be going into the office and hanging with those that retained their jobs. It'd just be a tough reminder of that whole bad mess.

I think that Shane's statements about playing up a "character" on 1upYours were interesting. I don't quite buy that he isn't what he appears to be on the show since he was so consistent throughout the show's long run, but obviously he ratchets it up for entertainment value. All in all, I'm going to miss the guy.

Garnett was so sweet and genuine throughout the whole final show. You can always tell that Garnett wears his heart on his sleeve. He seems a bit dopey, but man, he sure comes off as really kind hearted as well. I felt bad for the poor guy when he had to excuse himself to cry a bit.

[Bahimiron]

I believe this is the second time Skip has been let go from ZD. So I can definitely understand having more than a little resentment. In addition, his blog seemed to strongly indicate that more than the layoffs went down for him over the break.

He posts here, though. If he wants to share, I'm sure he will.

[MSUSteve]

I believe this is the second time Skip has been let go from ZD. So I can definitely understand having more than a little resentment. In addition, his blog seemed to strongly indicate that more than the layoffs went down for him over the break.

He posts here, though. If he wants to share, I'm sure he will.
Yeah, Skip had been gone for quite a while leading up to the holidays to deal with personal matters. It must've been awful to finally come back from that only to be fired for the second time from your workplace. My heart truly goes out to the guy.

[Jon Rowe]

Rebel FM number 3 seemed really dry to me. I am tired of people talking about reviews structure and the whole Games Journalism hoo-ha. It has been discussed to death... lets talk about games, I wanna hear anthony ramble on about yaddle for 5 minutes. Get a backlog together!! CMON!!!

[forgeforsaken]

The question a lot of these 1up spinoff podcasts have to answer is, how interesting/entertaining are they now that they aren't attached to a major site and are just a "bunch of guys talking about games." One has to think they aren't going to be flying all over to get early access to stuff, so they are pretty much going to be talking about stuff 2nd hand or stuff that is already out. They need to establish that their show is entertaining and also somehow answer the question why their opinions are important.

[DoomMunky]

Or get some really interesting discussions going. From what I've heard so far they're still trying to establish a coherent voice. Without someone like Shawn Elliot to talk about things from a unique perspective, they're going to have to start having a lot more FUN with each other in order to keep my interest up. They're doing good stuff, but I feel like they're finding their voice still.

[zengonzo]

Doesn't help either that the bloom of games from last season created an incredible feeding ground through which discussion, and podcasts, could thrive - which has since turned into a relative famine, starving out that excess growth.

Then again, those upcoming games I am anticipating don't seem to be receiving much conversation at all.

[zengonzo]

Also worth noting that when Shawn, Master of Analytical Flow, was on his way out, this was a bit point of interest for him. The discussion of games journalism. Maybe folks are running with that.

[JZigish]

They've mentioned they're just kind of going with the best topics they can think of, and wanted suggestions. So if you think they should talk about something more interesting, tell them about it on eat-sleep-game :)

[MSUSteve]

The Rebel FM guys did a great show with 1up FM. I'm not sure why they don't just stick to that format as much as possible. Of course, they can't do it in segments throughout the work week anymore and don't have access to interviews, but otherwise they could keep the same format.

[zengonzo]

So if you think they should talk about something more interesting, tell them about it on eat-sleep-game :)

Worth a shot!

Though a slight problem is that I'm hoping to hear about stuff I don't know about - not exactly helpful input.

[Jon Rowe]

I didn't really like the "interviews" very much at all. It was less like interviews, and more like having various developers/PR people talk up their product. Not very exciting. (No offense to anyone involved).

I don't know if anyone from Rebel FM reads Qt3, but I am sure my suggestions would be one of many. I don't think they have any way of submitting comments on their website, outside of a direct email. I am sure they will find their voice soon enough, but it doesn't seem like they have been doing much with the site outside of taking donations and making podcasts. There hasn't been much in the way of writing content, aside from revisiting a year old game, and talking about a game that has been talked to death.

There isn't much variety around when it comes to games coverage on the net. Most places speak about the same things and talk about the same subjects with the same point of view. I am not knocking anyone here, because every single entertainment industry does the same thing (movies/tv/music etc...)

Now, I understand this is a tumultuous time, as people are kinda splitting off into their own factions by finding new jobs and moving. Finding your voice is going to be hard if you aren't yet grounded. It is going to take time, and I am going to keep listening. (As I think everyone should)

[Kryten]

Robert Ashley's podcast has gone up - http://alifewellwasted.com/


Episode One: The Death of EGM

Robert Ashley talks to former Electronic Gaming Monthly writers and editors about their experiences at the long running magazine.


I haven't listened as yet, but it's interview based, not a round table discussion.

[Ryan Markel]

Robert Ashley has a podcast now (I didn't see this mentioned above, so forgive me if I'm wrong):

http://alifewellwasted.com/

Edit: DAMN it.

[zengonzo]

That's probably the last subject I need to hear any more of .. But Ashley's pretty cool. I'll definitely give it a shot.

[forgeforsaken]

Ok, the format of A Life Well Wasted is awesome and he should stick to it.

[Jeff Green]

Just listened to Ashley. Loved it, even though the This American Life influence is obvious. :)
He followed through with good content and good interviews, and a really nice structure and editing job overall. Thumbs up.

[zengonzo]

Loved it, even though the This American Life influence is obvious. :)

That's a total plus in my book .. More shows should be so influenced.

[Moggraider]

The question a lot of these 1up spinoff podcasts have to answer is, how interesting/entertaining are they now that they aren't attached to a major site and are just a "bunch of guys talking about games." One has to think they aren't going to be flying all over to get early access to stuff, so they are pretty much going to be talking about stuff 2nd hand or stuff that is already out. They need to establish that their show is entertaining and also somehow answer the question why their opinions are important.

Meh, I'll still listen. I'm happy to hear them talk only about games they are playing and are passionate about, rather than whatever's come out that month. I figure that the former will have less time where I'm uninterested.

[Eric Majkut]

Really loved A Life Well Wasted. Robert Ashley did an amazing job :)

If anyone wants to grab the show, get it from here: http://bit.ly/3AlZJj

He's been getting hit hard with the downloads, so I figured I'd put up a mirror :)

[jwtheiv]

Really loved A Life Well Wasted. Robert Ashley did an amazing job :)

If anyone wants to grab the show, get it from here: http://bit.ly/3AlZJj

He's been getting hit hard with the downloads, so I figured I'd put up a mirror :)

This is definitely slick and extremely well done. Well worth the wait and something I hope he continues.

[mono]

Despite the now tired subject matter, ALLW was a great first effort. It must have required a lot of production time. I hope it's something Robert can keep up with on a regular basis.

[Bahimiron]

I loved the hell out of ALWW. While some may call the subject matter tired, I think it's the opposite. Despite the title, very little of the podcast was actually about the death of EGM. Most of it was about the life of EGM, and that's awesome. I love hearing Crispin and Shoe talking about the hayday of the magazine.

Now I've DLed Giant Bombcast, Gamers With Jobs and Rebel FM all at the same time. One a day late, one a day early and one right on time. It'll be fun to listen to a really great show, a new show that's still getting into its grove and a show that is routinely apt to make me shout at my iPhone and ties with PC Gamer as the podcast I should just stop DLing.

[MSUSteve]

Really loved A Life Well Wasted. Robert Ashley did an amazing job :)

If anyone wants to grab the show, get it from here: http://bit.ly/3AlZJj

He's been getting hit hard with the downloads, so I figured I'd put up a mirror :)
Thank you! I can't be the only one with a non-Apple .mp3 player.

[Bahimiron]

Thank you! I can't be the only one with a non-Apple .mp3 player.

It's you and the Amish, Steve.

[moromete]

Amish = iriver?

[MSUSteve]

It's you and the Amish, Steve.
Back up off mah Creative Vision Zen! It's 30GB of goodness I tell you! Without any draconian anti-piracy schemes to boot. Oh snap!

[RickH]

Thank you! I can't be the only one with a non-Apple .mp3 player.

There's nothing stopping you from downloading iTunes and using it for the sole purpose of automated podcast retrieval. You can even slap in an RSS link for ones that aren't listed (or properly presented) in the iTunes store.

In my pre-iPhone days I used to do that and just slap the new stuff onto my Sansa Express.

[MSUSteve]

There's nothing stopping you from downloading iTunes and using it for the sole purpose of automated podcast retrieval. You can even slap in an RSS link for ones that aren't listed (or properly presented) in the iTunes store.

In my pre-iPhone days I used to do that and just slap the new stuff onto my Sansa Express.
I guess I just assumed that podcasts on iTunes downloaded in iTunes format and not regular .mp3 format. Is that not the case?

[madkevin]

Ashley's podcast is fantastic, by the way. I really hope he can crank one of these out at a regular pace, maybe every couple of weeks.

[RickH]

I guess I just assumed that podcasts on iTunes downloaded in iTunes format and not regular .mp3 format. Is that not the case?

Plain old MP3's. I'm not even sure if Apple hosts them, I think they just provide links based on some of the download speeds I see.

[MSUSteve]

Well shit! All this time I've been hunting down mp3s and downloading them myself when I could've had iTunes manage it all for me. What a bonehead!

[Jon Rowe]

Well shit! All this time I've been hunting down mp3s and downloading them myself when I could've had iTunes manage it all for me. What a bonehead!

Knowing apple, your suspicions were definitely not unfounded.

[AndrewPf]

I believe this is the second time Skip has been let go from ZD. So I can definitely understand having more than a little resentment. In addition, his blog seemed to strongly indicate that more than the layoffs went down for him over the break.

He posts here, though. If he wants to share, I'm sure he will.

I can't really say much until next January when my severance agreement expires and I'm free of that professional obligation, but you guys are fairly close with your speculation. Note that I harbor no resentment whatsoever for any of my fellow 1UP/ZD editors, be they laid-off or still employed.

Just comes a time in every young man's life when it's time to move along to something new. Since college, the only company I've ever known is Ziff Davis. That's just not healthy.

[ColonelT]

Bobito posted on The Gaf that it was a 30-hour production effort and that he's aiming for one episode a month. Fine with me -- loved the show.

[Quaro]

It's become a pain to not use iTunes anymore for podcasts if you want them downloaded automatically, as more and more shows don't even bother providing a plain RSS feed. Seems easier to give in and then rig something up so the files are synched with whatever hardware you happen to use.

[Eric Majkut]

I loved the hell out of ALWW. While some may call the subject matter tired, I think it's the opposite. Despite the title, very little of the podcast was actually about the death of EGM. Most of it was about the life of EGM, and that's awesome. I love hearing Crispin and Shoe talking about the hayday of the magazine.

Now I've DLed Giant Bombcast, Gamers With Jobs and Rebel FM all at the same time. One a day late, one a day early and one right on time. It'll be fun to listen to a really great show, a new show that's still getting into its grove and a show that is routinely apt to make me shout at my iPhone and ties with PC Gamer as the podcast I should just stop DLing.

The fact that he covered the same material that's been beaten to death but still made it interesting and stylish shows me that this is indeed some good shit. :)

[Jon Rowe]

Good luck out there Skip. I know how tempting it can be to just up and move after something like this happens. If you are coming back to Wisco (note: Don't, unless you enjoy scraping ice off your car at 15 below) the job market isn't too bad, at least in the Madison area. Though I don't know about anything games related. I know Ravensoft is in Madison, but I doubt they are hiring.

Don't come back to Wisconsin, at least not till May.

[Moggraider]

It's become a pain to not use iTunes anymore for podcasts if you want them downloaded automatically, as more and more shows don't even bother providing a plain RSS feed. Seems easier to give in and then rig something up so the files are synched with whatever hardware you happen to use.

Uh, who doesn't have an XML or RSS feed? That's all iTunes is really reading, too - the directory is just an aggregation.

[DoomMunky]

Add me as another in the chorus of wild praise for A Life Well Wasted. It's fantastic; human and emotional, down-to-earth and personal. An incredible, incredible first show, especially for a one-man effort.

Hell, for a one-man effort it's fucking phenomenal. I can't wait for the next one.

[Jon Rowe]

The new Rebel FM was definitely a step up, back into gaming discussion. Good listen.

[MSUSteve]

Add me as another in the chorus of wild praise for A Life Well Wasted. It's fantastic; human and emotional, down-to-earth and personal. An incredible, incredible first show, especially for a one-man effort.

Hell, for a one-man effort it's fucking phenomenal. I can't wait for the next one.
Enthusiastically seconded! I listened to it on the way in this morning and despite all those saying how fantastic it was, I admit that I wasn't really looking forward to yet another discussion of the closure of EGM. But Robert approached it from a different angle and the whole thing just blew me away. It's a real treat and an extremely welcome change of pace from the more typical podcast fare.

[Adree]

The new Rebel FM was definitely a step up, back into gaming discussion. Good listen.

I agree. I found the whole GTA4 discussion pretty silly though, the player gleefully murders and robs but when he slaps a girl he crosses the line?

Looks like they are going to stop doing the stupid EGM letters segment and reply to real email which should be a welcome change.

[Zerot]

New podcast from Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer: the Dennyscast!

http://sorethumbsblog.com/post/74103623/will-podcast-for-food-the-dennyscast

The premise alone makes me laugh beyond what it should.

[Moggraider]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

[zengonzo]

A Life Well Wasted: Brilliant

[MSUSteve]

New podcast from Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer: the Dennyscast!

http://sorethumbsblog.com/post/74103623/will-podcast-for-food-the-dennyscast

The premise alone makes me laugh beyond what it should.
I can't wait to check it out. Also, Shoe and Crispin need to get steady gigs soon. They both look like they're on the verge of starving to death.

[JZigish]

If Crispin and Shoe keep making podcasts, I feel they need to merge with Idle Thumbs to make Sore and Idle Thumbs: The Podcast.

I keep mixing up those sites over and over.

[interman]

The latest PC Gamer episode was alright. I'll keep them in my rotation for now.

[Bahimiron]

There's a new Geekbox. It's pretty good. It's clear that their scope is more than just games, though. Games into TV into movies into comics. Which makes sense, since it's Geekbox, not Gamebox. Or, uh, X-Box? I like most of the cast. Most. I never paid much attention to Fitch when he was on the 1up Show or any other 1up podcasts, but on the Geekbox it's becoming kind of evident to me that he may be the most obnoxious person in all of podcasting. Not since the days of PC Gamer with Jeremy Williams insisting that PC game box covers should include screenshots of the game running on sub-optimal systems has one person made me roll my eyes so many times in such a short span.

[MSUSteve]

I always loved Fitch on the 1upShow and he was good on Retronauts as well. I haven't checked out the new Geekbox, but I did find him annoying on the first episode. He just came off as a bit of a "my way or the highway" kind of guy, stating things in absolutes and not being particularly open to other views.

I'm listening to the first episode of ListenUp and it's enjoyable. I haven't gotten to the new second segment, so it's pretty much 1upYours so far. I'm really glad John Davison is still doing it though.

I've been loving the Giant Bombcast. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. They do free form discussion as well as anyone. They have fun and go on tangents, but the show never feels out of control of bloated. Plus they're genuinely funny guys.

[Bahimiron]

ListenUp? Is that the new 1up thing?

I had no idea it was already out.

[MSUSteve]

ListenUp? Is that the new 1up thing?

I had no idea it was already out.
Yep. The first episode came out last Friday, 1/30.

[madkevin]

They really should have gone with the name Four Guys, 1up.

[zengonzo]

Sounds erotic.

[DoomMunky]

Or like an ad for an ED remedy:

"Was your last orgy ruined? You know how it goes, when there's four of you in a room, but only 1 of you is...up? Well now, with the help of...."

[DoomMunky]

Okay, I think I said this in the last page or so, but I'm re-listening to last year's GFW Radio episodes and they are so beyond the level of anything available now that it makes me sad. Granted, Giant Bombcast is very, very different and very good in its own right, but the stuff they talked about and the WAY they talked about stuff on GFW Radio is just amazing.

If you're interested listen to the episodes starting around September of 2007 (http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3148397). Listen and weep.

Jeff, Shawn, Sean, Ryan, Robert: You guys fucking ROCKED.

[interman]

The new GWJ was really good. I hope Lara is on more in the future.

[MSUSteve]

I just finished the 4th episode of RebelFM. The show is solid enough and I don't mind their tendency to talk about games that old, but there isn't much to distinguish it from other podcasts. It's missing something that 1upFM had. It probably has a lot to do with RebelFM being recorded all at once as opposed to discrete segments like 1upFM was.

Also, I'm undecided on how I feel about Arthur Gies. I tend to agree with him, including his take on MGS4 being complete garbage with regard to its storytelling and cutscenes. But I also find him to be a bit arrogant and condescending at times. Examples from the last show include him saying that he thought most people didn't get that the Mirror's Edge world was analogous to a fascist state and that he didn't think the masses would understand or want a more realistic character in a GTA game (as opposed to the raving and inconsistent psychopath that Niko turns out to be). I think Arthur's disdain for his fellow gamers and his willingness to believe that most gamers can't even pick up on the overt police state overtones in Mirror's Edge exposes him as somewhat of an elitist who looks down on his fellow gamers and believes himself to be smarter than them. Hell, he might be smarter than most of his peers, but I find his sometimes obvious disdain to be off-putting.

[zengonzo]

Haha. I really dig Arthur. He's along the lines of Robert Ashley to me - an occasionally necessary wet blanket.

I missed the bit about Mirror's Edge, though. I find myself less engaged by the podcasts lately.

[tylertoo]

Help me out, folks. I'm trying to wrap my head, and my aggregator, around all the podcasts now being done by former 1uppers. And yes, I could work my way through the last dozen pages of this thread, but maybe someone can list them quickly.

These I know:
Rebel FM
Geekbox
Ashley's effort (is there an rss feed?)

[Brian Seiler]

Those are the ones I know of. Phil has been working his way determinedly through the entire video game podcast universe like the captain of the football team's ex-girlfriend. Depending on how liberally you define "ex-1Up," there's also the Dennyscast which thus far is a one-time thing from Hsu and Crispin, for which there is no feed yet and you will only find at Sore Thumbs, and John Davison has a podcast for What They Play, but I have yet to finish an episode because it's.....well, I find it boring, but you can give it a shot.

The feed that I got A Life Well Wasted from is here (http://alifewellwasted.com/episodes/episodes.xml).

[tylertoo]

Thanks for the rundown and feed link.

Phil has been working his way determinedly through the entire video game podcast universe like the captain of the football team's ex-girlfriend.

Ouch.

[MSUSteve]

Phil has been working his way determinedly through the entire video game podcast universe like the captain of the football team's ex-girlfriend.
HA HA! I haven't been following him on the jizz tour, but I can't imagine it's very compelling to hear him rehash the 1up debacle over and over again. Listening to it on GWJ, In-Game Chat, and RebelFM was plenty.

[Papageno]

Why isn't the Dennyscast on iTunes yet, grrr.

[Moggraider]

There's no indication it'll continue yet. If it does, hopefully they use better equipment.

[Brian Seiler]

Moreover, there's no indication that it would be hosted at Sore Thumbs. Hsu has been going on for a while now about some kind of top sekrit project he's working on with unnamed other folks which we can only assume will be a website or television show or something that isn't a magazine because he apparently hates the hassles that come from doing print so hard that it would break his equipment. If they launch a new website, I'd be surprised if they didn't have some kind of audio or video podcast.

[DoomMunky]

Also, I'm undecided on how I feel about Arthur Gies. I tend to agree with him, including his take on MGS4 being complete garbage with regard to its storytelling and cutscenes. But I also find him to be a bit arrogant and condescending at times. Examples from the last show include him saying that he thought most people didn't get that the Mirror's Edge world was analogous to a fascist state and that he didn't think the masses would understand or want a more realistic character in a GTA game (as opposed to the raving and inconsistent psychopath that Niko turns out to be). I think Arthur's disdain for his fellow gamers and his willingness to believe that most gamers can't even pick up on the overt police state overtones in Mirror's Edge exposes him as somewhat of an elitist who looks down on his fellow gamers and believes himself to be smarter than them. Hell, he might be smarter than most of his peers, but I find his sometimes obvious disdain to be off-putting.I'm really looking forward to what you'll have to say after hearing Rebel FM Episode 5.

As much as I like them all as people and writers, I think I'm done with Rebel FM for now. They don't have anything unique to say, and they don't sound like they're having much FUN doing the podcast. Which means it's not that much fun for me to listen to.

I'm not sure what they'll need to do to interest me, but I'll be tuning out for a while unless there's a topic that is really up my alley.

[Adree]

The tranny or whatever who was on the latest RebelFM was pretty horrible to listen to. Arthur is starting to get annoying, but I think it's more because that he's just about the only one who I notice on the podcast and the only one that seems to have grown a personality other than the young guy who sounds like he just smoked a bowl.

[ColonelT]

Arthur should try to go more than 10 seconds without speaking, which sounds harsh, but he's literally interjecting after every single statement. He seems to be a smart guy, but he should let conversations happen between other members of the cast. He doesn't have to be involved in every exchange.

[Cubit]

I tried out geekbox for a few episodes, but after listening to 10-20 min of this week's I decided to delete it. I like Ryan Scott and all, but it doesn't seem like they ever get into substantial discussion about video games. Hell, half the show is just random talk and TV show spoilers. It was all just so "meh"

[Zerot]

To be fair, it's called "Geekbox" and not "Gamebox." I don't know if it was ever presented as a gaming focused podcast.

[theborbes]

I've started to get really annoyed whenever Chris Grant goes on rants in the Joystiq Podcast. Sometimes he's right about what he's talking about but it's rarely a unique or fresh opinion on something. I love that show cause of Justin and Ludwig, and maybe if they interrupted Chris Grant with a joke it'd be okay.

[Cubit]

To be fair, it's called "Geekbox" and not "Gamebox." I don't know if it was ever presented as a gaming focused podcast.

Thats a good point. I may have been coming at it with the wrong expectations.

[Bahimiron]

The tranny or whatever who was on the latest RebelFM was pretty horrible to listen to.

She sounded like she was popping a Xanax every time she was expected to speak.

Arthur's insistence that Half-Life isn't a first person shooter was just asinine. His primary issue seemed to revolve around the notion that games since CoD2/4 tend to have the iron sights view. So was Doom not a first person shooter?

[Adree]

She sounded like she was popping a Xanax every time she was expected to speak.

Arthur's insistence that Half-Life isn't a first person shooter was just asinine. His primary issue seemed to revolve around the notion that games since CoD2/4 tend to have the iron sights view. So was Doom not a first person shooter?


I thought his initial argument about the combat not "feeling" right was dead on. There's just something about the HL2 weapons, especially the ones that use bullets that just feels ineffective.

[Bahimiron]

I thought his initial argument about the combat not "feeling" right was dead on. There's just something about the HL2 weapons, especially the ones that use bullets that just feels ineffective.

That may be true, but it's still a first person shooter. He kept saying that shooting wasn't the primary thing about HL2 and if you took the shooting away from CoD4 there'd be nothing but if you took it away from HL2 there'd still be stuff, but other than a few basic physics puzzles, that's just nonsense. And I'm gonna go out on controversy limb here, but I actually found CoD4's story to be better than HL2's.

Anyway, onto other podcasts... caught up on PC Gamer. Last week's was a good show. It had Logan on it, which is always good. The guy's knowledgable about the hardware and the games themselves and he's also a deeply strange guy who is easily the funniest thing PCG has going for it. They also had an interesting twist on the 'guess the sound effect' thing that tons of podcasts have or have had. In the end, they ended up reading off a brief interview they'd had with a sound designer for Fallout 3, explaining how he came up with the sounds for some of the weapons. It was really pretty cool.

Then came this week's podcast, which puts the damn thing back down to the bottom of my list, just short of the unsubscribe button. They had another sound effect game, but with none of the interesting information this time. Dan Stapleton repeatedly demonstrated that he didn't get MMOs at all. Yeah, Dan, we get it. We've gotten it for years. You can stop talking and assume we know. And that was just on top of Andy having an anxiety attack over Battlefield 1943. "You can tell it's for consoles because it only has three maps!" Right, guy. Halo's famous for the way it only has three maps. Hell, even Dan sounded like he was getting short with that guy toward the end.

I kinda wonder if people just get dumber when they go on PCG. Jeremy used to say all sorts of crazily dumb shit, but he was a decently enjoyable guy on NextGen. And Gary once insisted on PCG that the United Kingdom doesn't have a constitution since they have a queen instead. Maybe Dan Morris cast a spell on the show when he left.

Oh, and I'm liking Geekbox. Taken as a pure geek culture show, it's actually pretty good and they cover a wide swath of geekdom. Trailers for upcoming movies. Comics. Games. I like Ryan Scott and Ryan Higgins is pretty funny, but I'm getting to a point where I'd listen to anything with Karen Chu on it. She's hilarious and mean.

Oh, and Fitch? Admitting jokingly that you're a pretentious douchebag doesn't make it untrue. Though I'd never say that he's pretentious. I'm not sure he's bright enough for that.

[zengonzo]

Haven't listened to PC Gamer in a bit. Do agree about Logan, which is strange in that he doesn't sound like the kind of guy I would click with. But he pulls out something so strange every now and then that I can't help it.

I dig Arthur's point about Half-Life. Not that it isn't an FPS, which it is by the most basic definition .. But I feel it is very similar to Portal, where that aspect is somewhat incidental. I wouldn't argue the point beyond that, however. Certainly going back and forth about it for so long wasn't a great podcast decision. I skipped ahead to what turned out to be the end.

I really dig Arthur on Rebel. I feel like he's the hammer of reason when other folks get a bit loopy. If he's speaking too much, I would argue that's due to the vacuum.

[MSUSteve]

I listened to most of the first segment of Episode 5 of Rebel FM this morning and already Arthur is grating on my nerves. I found his and Anthony's dismissal of Ryan and Nick's Pixeljunk Eden discussion to be in particular bad taste. I was glad when Nick finally retorted that he and Ryan were polite and listened to all the WoW talk and CoH discussion without interruption. I was surprised that Anthony broke out of his typical depressive reverie to state specifically that the the Eden talk was as boring to him as WoW patch discussions. That coming from the guy that talks about CoH on a regular basis and who's recent "Whatcha been playin'" contributions have consisted of mostly old games. I don't begrudge him his discussion of those topics, but him and Arthur should politely shut the fuck up while others talk about what they've been playing.

I tend to agree with Doom's perceptive statement that it doesn't sound like the Rebel FM crew is having much fun at all. That was never the case on 1upFM. I don't know if its the combined wet blanket powers of Arthur and Anthony (wet blanket twins unite?) or what, but the show sounds like its a chore for those involved.

[zengonzo]

Heh. I completely agree on the dismissal point. That really did suck.

Though I don't think getting rid of Anthony or Arthur would be a solution. I think the other guys need to step it up. There was no shortage of agitation on GFW and that worked just fine.

[Rufus]

Those guys (the GFW crew) knew each other much better though and they didn't record the podcast in say, Ryan's (Scott) living room. It's a different social situation in many ways and it does impact their interactions, as it would anyone's.

[Cubit]

I tend to agree with Doom's perceptive statement that it doesn't sound like the Rebel FM crew is having much fun at all.

I get this impression also. You listen to Rebel FM for a couple min, and then start some Giantbombcast and the difference is incredible. Jeff and co. are loose, funny, and you can tell everyone is having a good time.

[MSUSteve]

Heh. I completely agree on the dismissal point. That really did suck.

Though I don't think getting rid of Anthony or Arthur would be a solution. I think the other guys need to step it up. There was no shortage of agitation on GFW and that worked just fine.
I wouldn't advocate getting rid of either of those guys, but I would suggest to them that they should be more courteous to their fellow podcasters. I don't know how Ryan and Nick felt about Arthur and Anthony being so dismissive about their opinions during their times to talk, but I know I wouldn't have reacted well and if I was Ryan, I'd be less likely to continue going out of my way to appear on the podcast. It's fine to disagree, but to interrupt and flat-out shit on what someone else is saying is complete garbage.

[MSUSteve]

I get this impression also. You listen to Rebel FM for a couple min, and then start some Giantbombcast and the difference is incredible. Jeff and co. are loose, funny, and you can tell everyone is having a good time.
Indeed. And it's not like those guys are in lock-step agreement with each other by any means.

[Cubit]

Indeed. And it's not like those guys are in lock-step agreement with each other by any means.

Exactly. The crazy arguments are one of the things that I love about giantbomb. Everyone has a chance to voice their opinion, and you really see the merits of each argument. Its just a different atmosphere.

[MSUSteve]

I really do think that Arthur Gies' wet blanket attitude toward most things brings the fun level down on Rebel FM. I'd compare his presence to that of Matt Leone. Listen back to some 1upFM episodes where Matt Leone was a guest and I think you'll see what I mean. I appreciated Leone in that he forced people to really articulate their views and always called out those that relied on hyperbolic statements, but he was also a bit of a fun sponge. Gies really reminds me of Leone, but with an extra layer of condescending attitude mixed with a voice that just somehow always sounds smug, no matter what the guy says.

[Bahimiron]

Giant Bomb needs to let go of the zombie cyborg thing.

[Jazar]

I love the GB guys and their podcast a lot but the only critique I have with them is how they are shameless achievement whores. It's really sad to hear how they play crappy games just for achievements. They bring it up all the time. They'll recommend games because it has easy achievement points. Seek help guys!

[MSUSteve]

Agreed Jazar. It's weird to me that all four of them seem to be into Achievement whoring. To each his own, of course, but I gotta believe that they represent a bizarre subculture of gamers and not the vast majority in this regard. I do find myself wondering why they seem to exhibit no shame for playing crap games just to get meaningless points. I love Achievements, but I never ever feel compelled to play a game simply because I can get easy points. And yet in a recent episode Ryan sounded like he was getting sexually turned on at the prospect of borrowing Jeff's copy of Fallout 3 for the PC because one can use console commands to unlock Achievements. The blue balls he was left with when Jeff said the game was tied to his account and thus, not borrowable, must've been very painful for poor Ryan. And all this went on with no sense of shame or irony.

[zengonzo]

Gies really reminds me of Leone, but with an extra layer of condescending attitude mixed with a voice that just somehow always sounds smug, no matter what the guy says.

I hear you, man, but I get so tired of the bland, empty chatter that the show - and I felt the same about FM - often falls into. You're right, he's condescending, and I'd prefer he realize you have to diversify the show - but I'd also prefer the other guys step up to the bat a bit more. Meet halfway.

I don't feel like picking out individual guys, because ultimately they're nice and decent and I hope they do better in the long. But I feel like too often it gets in this lazy 'I played x and it was sooo awesome' patter without any details or further examination. After a bit of that I'm just hoping for someone to be a little bit of a dick.

[Jazar]

Agreed Jazar. It's weird to me that all four of them seem to be into Achievement whoring. To each his own, of course, but I gotta believe that they represent a bizarre subculture of gamers and not the vast majority in this regard. I do find myself wondering why they seem to exhibit no shame for playing crap games just to get meaningless points. I love Achievements, but I never ever feel compelled to play a game simply because I can get easy points. And yet in a recent episode Ryan sounded like he was getting sexually turned on at the prospect of borrowing Jeff's copy of Fallout 3 for the PC because one can use console commands to unlock Achievements. The blue balls he was left with when Jeff said the game was tied to his account and thus, not borrowable, must've been very painful for poor Ryan. And all this went on with no sense of shame or irony.

It's gotta be because they ecourage each other. If you work and play closely with a group of people that care about achievements you will also care about achievments. They need to come together as a group and realize how pointless it all is.

[zengonzo]

the prospect of borrowing Jeff's copy of Fallout 3 for the PC because one can use console commands to unlock Achievements.

Oh, lawd. That doesn't make any sense in so many ways. Why would you waste your time?!

[Cubit]

The giantbomb guys have a really old school gaming mentality that i can see a lot of people not liking. I think this is where much of the focus on achievements comes from too.

[MSUSteve]

I hear you, man, but I get so tired of the bland, empty chatter that the show - and I felt the same about FM - often falls into. You're right, he's condescending, and I'd prefer he realize you have to diversify the show - but I'd also prefer the other guys step up to the bat a bit more. Meet halfway.

I don't feel like picking out individual guys, because ultimately they're nice and decent and I hope they do better in the long. But I feel like too often it gets in this lazy 'I played x and it was sooo awesome' patter without any details or further examination. After a bit of that I'm just hoping for someone to be a little bit of a dick.
I agree that simply proclaiming that something is awesome without any real discussion or challenge makes for a bad podcast. That's one of the reasons the IGN podcasts are all in my rearview mirror (until Dana gets going on a GreenPixels podcast), but I think one can be interesting and challenging without being smug or condescending. I think that Shawn Elliott sometimes strayed into that territory too, which bugged me, even in the heyday of GFW Radio.

It should be well known that I have manlove for Mark MacDonald, but I'm going to again cite him as a great example of a guy that had strong opinions and was willing to call others out on BS, but who somehow also managed to not be a jerk. He'd defend his opinions, even if they weren't particularly popular (he was a big fan of Dragon Quest Swords) and would take to task things that were accepted, but still weren't good (Metal Gear Solid controls).

I have no idea how I'd sound on a podcast. I hope I'd sound like Mark, but there's a real possibility I might sound like Gies. That is, maybe Gies doesn't realize how smug and condescending he sounds during the podcast. zen, you mentioned you don't want to call people out by name because they're decent and good guys. I certainly am not trying to personally attack anyone, but I do think it's okay to civilly discuss particular hosts and their opinions and styles. I hope no one reads any personal attacks into anything I'm saying.

[zengonzo]

No, not at all. You're calling people out for being dicks which seems only just and fair - that's PvP rules, right? I was saying that my own criticisms stem from dickishness and that they're not doing anything obnoxious so much as unsatisfying. I'm trying to cover my dick, as it were.

Anyways, here's to podcasts growing less contentious and bland in equal measure.

(But, yeah, we all know what a ruthless bastard you are, Steve.)

[Papageno]

Oh, lawd. That doesn't make any sense in so many ways. Why would you waste your time?!

Because you're fairly young and think you've got nothin' but time.

[Bahimiron]

(But, yeah, we all know what a ruthless bastard you are, Steve.)

Steve's a confrontational a-hole!

[Pumpkinhead]

I just finished listening to this weeks Rebel FM on the train this morning. I essentially agree with Arthur Gies' points about Half Life 2 and MGS 4. But I still want to punch him in the face. There is somehing about that guy that makes me not want to listen to him even when I agree with his points. When he said that Vampire Bloodlines was one of his top PC games of last generation but then 2 seconds later said it was a buggy piece of crap I stopped listening. I think I may be unsubscribing. I really like Nick Sutner and respect his insights, but Geis' presence might trump that.

[MSUSteve]

I just finished listening to this weeks Rebel FM on the train this morning. I essentially agree with Arthur Gies' points about Half Life 2 and MGS 4. But I still want to punch him in the face. There is somehing about that guy that makes me not want to listen to him even when I agree with his points.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's so weird to me that I can essentially agree with the guy and yet dislike him at the same time. But I AM a confrontational a-hole, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

[Bahimiron]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's so weird to me that I can essentially agree with the guy and yet dislike him at the same time. But I AM a confrontational a-hole, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Yeah you are!

I donno. I can get behind the statement that the shooting in HL2 isn't all that great, but damn it, the game is an FPS. If you're gonna call it something like a 'first person action game', then you might as well call Doom a first person adventure. Use green key on door. Use plasma gun on imp. Use ammo on gun.

(Also, no HL game has ever provided me with a moment in the narrative where I just said 'Oh Jesus' like I did when SPOILER happened in CoD4.)

Fortunately, I've got a 40 minute walk to and from work these days, so there's no deleting even the PC Gamers of the world from my podcast list.

[MSUSteve]

I should retract some of my agreement with Pumpkinhead. I meant to agree with his sentiment, but I don't agree with Gies that HL2 isn't a good shooter. In fact, I'm more apt to disagree with the entire RebelFM crew that HL2 tells some kind of great story. I don't think the story of HL2 is particularly interesting, though it's surely not awful. As I've said before, I have a really hard time caring about it because Gordon Freeman is a voiceless empty shell.

[Gremlinclr]

When he said that Vampire Bloodlines was one of his top PC games of last generation but then 2 seconds later said it was a buggy piece of crap I stopped listening.

Why stop listening over that?

It is an awesome game.

It is a buggy piece of crap.

He's right on both counts.

[Pumpkinhead]

Why stop listening over that?

It is an awesome game.

It is a buggy piece of crap.

He's right on both counts.

Actually I've never played or even cared about the game itself. It's the contradiction that bugged me.

[KieronGillen]

It's not a contradiction though. The cliched turn of phrase Flawed But Beautiful exists for a reason.

KG

[zengonzo]

Or 'I'd still hit it.'

[Pumpkinhead]

It's not a contradiction though. The cliched turn of phrase Flawed But Beautiful exists for a reason.

KG

Then say it's buggy but worth playing. Not a "buggy piece of crap" a few minutes after saying it was one of your top games of the last generation. It just seemed like he was talking out of his ass and trying to have it both ways.

[Bahimiron]

I don't see it that way. Both descriptions are apt. It's an unbelievably good good. It's also crippled with tons of gamebreaking bugs. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways around them, starting with fanmade patches and going forward.

If anything in that particular conversation annoys me, it would be Gies' bizarrely adamant negative response to the notion that maybe they could play Bully. I donno what his issue is, but Bully is awesome. Still, CoC:DCotE is good, too. I've got it and never played past the first level, so maybe it'll get me to break it out again.

[zengonzo]

I didn't catch that Bully thing (probably something I fasted over), but that'd've made me blech.

[JZigish]

If I were to pick two phrases to describe Bloodlines, I would in fact use "awesome game" and "buggy piece of crap". Us PC users are extremely used to these coexisting. It's not a contradiction :)

As for arthur, he just needs to cut down on the interruptions. I feel like he keeps thinking he needs to contribute, but gets nervous about it and interjects before he's fully formed the thought. Podcasts are like improv theater, you have to keep it flowing forward.

[Jon Rowe]

Yeah, Vampire is awesome and a buggy piece of crap. at the same time. I guess you would have to know the game to get that joke.

So, I find him dry as well... the whole podcast seems a bit dry, but he said "skip to the end" in one of the podcasts, which means he has seen "Spaced" and that is like +1 million points in my book.

I will have to listen to this week.

[Jazar]

Damn GiantBombcast has achieved what I thought to be impossible a new level of achievement whoring. Getting Fallout 3 on the PC just so they can load up the console and give themselves all 50 some achievements just by typing them in. Last week they talked about it but this week they did it gleefully without remorse and just about succeed to convince Brad to do it as well. ugh.

[Cubit]

Damn GiantBombcast has achieved what I thought to be impossible a new level of achievement whoring. Getting Fallout 3 on the PC just so they can load up the console and give themselves all 50 some achievements just by typing them in. Last week they talked about it but this week they did it gleefully without remorse and just about succeed to convince Brad to do it as well. ugh.

See that doesn't bother me that much. Some people couldn't care less about achievements, some are really into it. These guys are really into it. If the system allows you to get your points that way, I'd say its fair game. If you aren't an achievement whore, who cares how the guys get their points.

[Jazar]

If you aren't an achievement whore, who cares how the guys get their points.

You bring up a good point. I shouldn't let it bother me, but when they encourage and try to bring others to the absurdity of it all, it just makes me cringe, like when you hear about people poopsocking in an MMORPG.

[Cubit]

like when you hear about people poopsocking in an MMORPG.

what is that exactly? it sounds fascinating. :)

[zengonzo]

Like .. You know how sometimes you have to go to the bathroom .. Really bad .. But here you are, playing a game .. And the toilet is, like, twenty feet away ..

But socks are right there on your feet.

That's it, pretty much.

[Cubit]

holy shit

[Jazar]

Yeah, still fascinated? :p Anyways the GB crew still had me in stitches when Jeff was arguing that "Rico Suave" is not a name but a state of mind. XD

[Moggraider]

Damn GiantBombcast has achieved what I thought to be impossible a new level of achievement whoring. Getting Fallout 3 on the PC just so they can load up the console and give themselves all 50 some achievements just by typing them in. Last week they talked about it but this week they did it gleefully without remorse and just about succeed to convince Brad to do it as well. ugh.

Hahaha, I heard about that today and instantly ordered FO 3 too, from www.gogamer.com , for the very fair price of $37. But I do actually intend to play the game, too.

[CalvinGT]

Still really enjoying GiantBombcast, and frankly, bored to tears by the Rebel FM. The ex 1Up guys just all sound...I don't know. Boring? Overconfident? Something? It doesn't work for me.

[thomas]

I find it strange that Idle Thumbs doesn't get mentioned more often if at all in this thread. IMO it is the best videogaming podcast out there, because the hosts are equal parts insightful and sarcastic, and they seem to have a good understanding of the medium. Also, the songs are amazing !

[Moggraider]

Who? Viral marketer!

[Bahimiron]

No, thomas is right, the Snuggie keeps me warm when I watch TV and looks great when I go to the big game!

[zengonzo]

And has totally replaced my silk cloak when I perform my ritual midnight sacrifices.

[thomas]

It's a podcast with sleeves !

Sorry, maybe doing a first post pimping something wasn't the smartest thing to do. Or it could be reverse psychology

/gets coat