Author: James

We’re paid in full at the following link.

Every exit is an entrance someplace else, and we’re about to find out if leaving the old gen for the new is worth our time and money.  We don’t have much to offer now beyond recollection, lamentation and stupid stories of the last seven years of console gaming.  We’re honestly very tired of, and from, all the discussions about the transition from this gen to the next, so let’s just get with the transiting already.  There’s a thousand dollars of toybox hardware to pass judgement on this month, and we’re not getting any younger.

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We’d like to buy a vowel at the following link.

For insights into the host’s week twenty-something opinions about the state of the next-generation console wars, I refer you to the first hour of our show.

For insights into how we spend our studio time during a pre-recorded interview(Outlast developers Red Barrels Studios, good stuff there), I ask that you tune in live if you’ve got nothing else going on a Saturday night.

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We’re pushing back our launch date at the following link.

I can’t say the recent delays have really affected our intent to buy next-gen toyboxes at all, really.  I had already lost the motivation to follow through on the PS4, nothing short of his own death would deter Scott from buying both machines next month, and none of the other hosts were in the market to begin with.  But the wind has shifted all the same.  For the bleeding-edge console-only gamer, either machine looks like a fine investment, but I can imagine the fence-sitters might be looking around now for something else to do with their money until must-haves and holy-shit exclusives make the decision for them.  In the meantime, I’ll spend my money on the perpetually dead, forever marginalized PC.  I hope I look wise in retrospect.

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We’re free and open at the following link.

It was only ever going to be about Valve this past week and, as you might imagine, a single hour is hardly enough time to digest the news openly and come to terms with how we feel.  We do a better job chatting up Zach Barth from Zachtronics (Future Technologies Consolidated), discussing past release SpaceChem and present release Ironclad Tactics.  Also, Grand Theft Auto 5 is still happening for some people, but I guess we don’t care anymore.

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We’ve reshuffled our loot table at the following link.

Though we’ve played it for days upon days, we’re discovering our real opinions about GTA V in real-time, and who can say how long these particular feelings might last?  We’re wary of good news regarding Diablo 3’s plans to rightfully compensate their adventurers.  Dave Fennoy and Cissy Jones walk us through the process of acting in our most-loved emotional tribulation, The Walking Dead, and we round out the show with Christoffer Greulich discussing the terrific co-op arena fighter, Forced.

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We’re in an uneasy alliance at the following link.

Herein: our love of cooperative gameplay, be it an organized MMO dungeon crawl or frantic arena combat.  Also, the tribulations of Final Fantasy XIV’s return to market, Steam’s half-answer to account sharing, a new sort of Vita, and a troubling lack of enthusiasm for the new Grand Theft Auto.

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We’re soothing the savage breast at the following link.

As something of an experiment, we’ve decided to focus this episode more on the listening than the talking.  Music has been integral to the experience of games for nearly as long as there have been games to enjoy, and we’d like to take some time out to highlight some of our favorites and yours, and to share a few moments with creators and composers of soundtracks and soundscapes.  We’ll be repeating this experiment from time to time, so enjoy it now, but get in touch with us and request or comment on your favorite tracks for shows to come.

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We’d buy that for a dollar at the following link.

It would be hard to pretend that EA wasn’t offering the Humble Origin Bundle to garner praise and sow good will, but it’s also hard to pretend it isn’t working.  As much well-deserved hate as EA has borne in recent years, it’s worth reiterating that consumer sentiment is useless if it can’t be adjusted, and voting with our wallets simply doesn’t work if you keep them closed.  If positive reinforcement works for puppies and children, then we can assume it works to some degree for publishers.  And radio hosts.

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We’ve been kept in the dark at the following link.

It would be hard for us to hide or deny our love of up-to-the-minute facts about the state of the games business or the progress of our most anticipated titles, but a reveal wouldn’t amount to much without the anticipation.  For that to work, publishers have to cultivate their lies and develop their policies in secret, and we try to remember that some degree of misdirection is fair.  But there’s a point beyond which every word they utter becomes suspect, and no two of us seems to agree on where that line should be placed.  We’ve been told by what passes for games journalism that gamers seem incapable of rising above their own entitlement – to product, price, and content – but it seems that where information is concerned, many of them have forgotten to pick the plank out of their own eye first.

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We’re head over heels at the following link.

While it’s nice to be rewarded for skepticism with the sure knowledge that you dodged a bullet or avoided an unwise purchase, it’s a far better thing to be pleasantly surprised by something you hadn’t been hoping for at all.  In this case, having never strapped one of the contraptions to my own head, I’ve been doubtful of the Oculus Rift’s capabilities and I’ve harrumphed about it often.  But the consistent goodwill toward the Rift has it creeping up my interest meter, and now, with the joining of John Carmack’s positronic cyborg brain to the Oculus imaginarium, I have no choice but to be excited for whatever the hell it is that thing will do.  No choice at all.

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We’re exploring the overworld at the following link.

It’s not uncommon for the developer of a newly announced MMOG to promise players the moon and stars and to insist they’ll offer a revolutionary way of getting there.  What’s strange to me is to see them (apparently) abandon the safest choices made by their peers, and to borrow so heavily from the most successful games in nearly every other genre and category.  If Everquest Next can deliver on even a portion of what they’ve promised and alluded to, then it will be well worth our time to investigate everything it has to offer.  But the odds are against them – against all of us, really – and I’m beginning to doubt the moon and stars exist at all.

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We’re taking the high road at the following link.

I can’t say for sure what’s gone wrong lately with people whose job it is to craft, promote, and celebrate video games.  I understand that games are literally serious business, and in a certain light might well be confused with serious art, but the lengths to which heads have gone up asses is beyond my ability to understand.  I know how easily a cause or an argument can grow to fill your entire field of view, but I don’t know how a person can stand to let what should be a cherished pastime become a bone of such incredible contention.  There are a lot of folks (myself included, sometimes) who should lighten up, maybe, and just enjoy some games.

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