Category: Episodes

Here’s a brief update, with another on its heels.  We’ve got a backlog to clear and there’s no sense in dressing up the posts or adding context to weeks-old chatter.  It will all makes sense, assuming you’re up on current events, and some of it might still be worth your time and attention.  Let us know if that’s the case.  You can reach us at all the usual places.

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We’re at our worst at the following link.

There’s nothing much to say about this episode.  If you’re up to speed on news and happenings around the world, then this is sadly out of date.  But it’s funny a little bit, and it’s long, so we evidently had a  lot on our minds, or the listeners had a lot on theirs.  I can also promise (or apologize for) another round of backward-looking 90’s worship from a group too old to care enough about what the kids are getting into.  We’re hoping this will drop off soon with the arrival of fresh new games.  Of course, if those games suck (which they already do) then we’ll go right back to yammering about 1998.

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We’re absolutely petrified at the following link.

We’ve spent a lot of time lately examining the past and discussing old things, so it’s only fitting that our most recent posting is, itself, a very old thing.  There’s no benefit to anyone interested in timely and topical discussion, but there’s still a good time to be had if you’re willing to wipe off the dust and push away the cobwebs.

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We’re announcing our free-to-play model at the following link.

A year or more ago I was perfectly happy to scoff at the future of free.  No doubt a handful of games would butter their bread with paid skin packs or xp boosts, and there’s a chance I’d have admitted the inevitability of a new payment model somewhere down the line, but I had never thought the idea would storm through so many hearts and minds and in such a short stretch of time.  I was so concerned with what I personally thought best or most likely that I couldn’t see the wall, much less the writing on it.  And I’m not convinced this development is absolutely here to stay, any more than the subscription and retail models it’s displacing.  There’s so much in our future we haven’t even considered yet, and it’s not as though what we want or what we know to be best has ever had any real bearing on what we’re given.

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We were a lot happier about the state of things in this episode.  The Steam sale had come and nearly gone, and it had its usual positive effect on our previously shitty moods.  It’s more big fun for small money and a chance to compare loot with our friends.  And a great distraction, too, because as soon as it’s gone it seems like optimism is on the rise.  It’s not that long, really, until the next wave of new releases, and shortly after there’ll be more games than time or money.  And we’ll be sure to get in a shitty mood and whine about it when we run out of either one.

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So here’s a recording from some time ago.  We were in the worst part of the year for a man-child; no games releasing to satisfy our interests, and no interest in the things that were available.  It was the slowest part of the summer, the Steam sale was who-knows-where, and why won’t the Planetside beta start already?  This seemed to make for a pretty rotten list of discussion topics, and this episode seemed like a sharp reminder of how lousy we are at talking up video games at this time of the year.  Looking back now, it’s not so bad as it seemed, and I suppose off-topic chat does us a world of good when we let it.

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Our attributes are in disarray at the following link.

A single show just won’t be enough to cover the full range of reactions and emotions provoked by Diablo 3.  The last several weeks haven’t even seen the game clear of the terrible launch dramas surrounding its release, and they certainly aren’t enough to paint a picture of its future.  We’re still not sure whether we love it or hate it, or which of the many different flaws will be sorted out in the near future, and which will linger like a disease.  It’s a leading topic, and there don’t seem to be any news items or new releases standing by to upset it.  Although, there is that one event coming up next week…

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We’re available with a two-year commitment at the following link.

I’m not living in any of my imagined futures today, and I’m sure I never will.  I’m generally at peace with the way things turn out over time, but I’m still compelled to root for a future without precedent – a future without long-term contracts on my console purchase, without packet loss in a single-player game, and devoid of embedded ads or social media applications.  I’m not quite angry about what we’ve gotten, I’m just sorry I didn’t see it coming.  So many best wishes for the games industry have gone unrealized, and it’s a real strain on the optimism.

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We’re dropping our banner at the following link.

It took a lot less convincing than I’d expected to get Jeremy and Scott on board with Diablo 3.  I hadn’t planned to cajole or persuade at all, and I only suggested they play the beta weekend so they could comment on an experience that every other human in the free world was sharing at the time.  Neither of them is particularly attracted to the setting or the lore of Diablo, and there’s really nothing in the genre that turns them on.  They are, however, suckers for what may be the slickest, simplest, and most trouble-free multiplayer engagement we’ve every experienced as a group.  The fact that you’re playing with friends is often more important that what it is you’re playing, and usability can rank awfully high on our list of priorities.  There are now at least two preorders based entirely on that premise.  It seems that even in its current and very well-fed form, Blizzard still has some things to teach the rest of the world.

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Our feelings have been outsourced at the following link.

The Mass Effect controversy endures, but it looks like there might be enough time before the new endings are released for hurt feelings to mend, or for sharp memories to fade.  There’s no forgetting the embarrassing furor, and there’s likely nothing BioWare can do to mend the damage done to their image – time and the fickle memories of the internet are their best hope for that.  For most of us it’ll never do to dwell on an ancient, weeks-old disappointment.  We want now what we’ve always wanted: the next great game.  For as long as there’s nothing else to demand my attention, I might find space in my heart for a little more hate.  But I’m sure that somewhere, a few weeks from now, deep in my cups, deep in the second act of Diablo 3, or ankle-deep in Max Payne’s bullet casings, I’ll wonder what the hell I was so torn up about in the first place.

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The entire series is ruined at the following link.

I really wanted to engage the topic of Mass Effect on our own terms.  I imagined we’d compare choices and consequences and how they sometimes failed to materialize, then move on to highlights and lowlights of narrative and character development, losses and gains of affection, plot twists, that sort of thing.  We’d wonder why so few words were being written about the multiplayer and why so very many were still being written about the ending.  We’d have our own opinions and insights on the travesty, but we’d feel better after having a whine and could focus in the long run on the details of what made the Mass Effect universe a place worth visiting.  All I can say is we talked about it.  We talked about it and I feel worse.

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We’ve got one foot on the bandwagon at the following link.

It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to finish Mass Effect 3 by the time of this recording.  We’re always anxious to be a part of the full conversation, sure, but our worry is that the internet is being a real sonofabitch about this game, and it’s doing everything it can to spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t seen it to the end.  There’s some degree of difference between how we felt on the show and how we’re feeling at the moment, and we’re trending more towards the positive every day.  I’m told this will change abruptly at the end.  Maybe that’s a fact – it wouldn’t be the first time an ending has crushed our spirit.  But neither, if wrong, would it be the first time we’ve disagreed with the rest of the (apparent) world.  I promise you many thousands of words on the subject the next time we get together.

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We’re all a bunch of sluts at the following link.

This second episode is actually the first to be handed back to Kevin for fine-tuning and post-production.  It’s a thing he was pretty insistent about doing, and though I can’t see why, I’m awfully glad for his help.  So, on his behalf, the show is once again soliciting ideas for bumper content, intro/outro music, and any other formatting gubbins you think might enrich or enliven the experience.  Send thoughts or files to one of those places Scott mentions in our greeting and we’ll put it to good use somewhere, I imagine.

I’d like to think it isn’t necessary anymore for me to explain myself when I fly into a rage about this issue or that, but I can’t help feeling I may have Limbaughed the show otherwise.  So however things may sound, I don’t hate Tim Schafer.  I’m sure I hate something to do with him right now, or maybe it’s something to do with the internet and he’s standing just where I’d like to put my soapbox.  I think I said as much on the show, but there’s just no way I made myself clear.  If I hadn’t already sent the raw files out for editing, I’d temper the Double Fine bashing more than a little.  Though maybe it’s never as bad as it sounds in my head.  Maybe.

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