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The Junk Shot Episode

The money shot was out of our reach at the following link.

For this episode we’ve been forced out of our usual studio space and into a backlot trailer.  The sound quality is an embarrassment, but only if you make the mistake of comparing it to any show we’ve produced in a proper environment.  If, instead, you pretend that you’re listening to a wiretap or some other kind of covert recording, you might forgive the dead echo, the drone of the air system and the rattle of ancient vinyl siding.  What you won’t forgive is the mindless banter – that shit seems to happen no matter where we record.

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The Xteen Episode

There’s no chance of encountering porn at the following link.

Our crack podcast staff reveals (and revels in) its true age during a short analysis and retrospective of Captain Power in the early moments of this episode.  We first started talking about it in the after-show of two weeks back, but I don’t remember why.  It was a short-run program in the “V” and “Otherworld” band of the sci-fi spectrum, but it was evidently formative for us in the way that only a toy/television cross-marketing animal can be.

It hit most of the standard 80s geek g-spots, but excelled by teaching us lessons about interactivity before we had the words to describe what we were doing.  Toy spaceships that were guns and could blow each other up, and a television show that could blow up that toy?  Love it!  None of us would dispute how truly awful this cheese was, or how badly it has aged, but those things don’t matter to the children we used to be.  I’m sure when we cry jaded tears about the games and fiction of today,  the Captain and his bitchin’ toy spaceships are working against us.

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The Chocolate Fantasy Episode

There’s no room for dessert at the following link.

Our new protocol for directing the show has prevented us, again, from suffering any train-wreck moments that need an explanation in the show post.  We’re still adjusting to the idea of a 2-hour performance that isn’t driven (entirely) by rage or personal drama.  It’s yet to be seen whether this makes for better show in the long-run, but it sure as hell makes it easier to wind down after a session.  The cash bar down the hall from the studio helps somewhat as well.

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The Relephant Episode

We can only remember what’s applicable at the following link.

There’s really nothing in this week’s show that cries out for a setup.  Other than our own thoughts on Splinter Cell: Conviction, we spend the body of the show fielding grounders from the audience.  In case it hadn’t been made clear before, this is now the preferred method of seeding our conversations, at least for as long as it takes us to radiate what’s left of our baseless rage.  Which is crap, of course.  We’re lazy, and we prefer to have you do our thinking for us.  Keep it up!

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The Billy Goat Episode

We’re all quite gruff at the following link.

I’d like to say we’ve come back from our break invigorated and flush with tales of the games we played while on hiatus. The fact is we needed a break more than any of us knew, and not just a break from the studio. There’s been no strenuous gaming activity, and a few of us have avoided even a casual sit-down in front of the consoles. We’ve always worked hard to play as many games as possible between episodes, and even harder to make sure that we’re all on the same page. This is a ridiculous pace to maintain for anyone with a full-time job who isn’t payed to play. Honestly, it’s done us a bit of damage.

We really are happy to be recording again, though you might not think so from the first hour or more of this show. For a moment, in fact, I swear we all genuinely hated gaming. We hadn’t aimed to be so maudlin, but we were just then realizing we shared the same feelings about our past habits, and that we should come up with something a little different. I think we shed our funk by the end of the program, but we intend to adjust ourselves away from the inevitable burnout pattern in the future.

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The Contempt For This Episode

Are we guilty or inn-o-cent at the following link?

Heavy Rain is in the bag, finally, and for the good of everyone concerned we’ve spilled our guts all over this episode.  The “good” not only being that we can move beyond a very contentious subject that has dominated the discussion for weeks, but that our final thoughts were surprisingly positive.  I don’t want to misdirect – we’ve still got a lot of awful things to say about how the game unfolded – but the shocking number of variations we discovered among each of our endgames, and the earnest gameplay experiment (something I’m always decrying the lack of) force us to admit that it was time well spent.  I’ll be hard pressed to look back in anger, and that’s something I’m usually quite good at.

Show note: we’re taking time off for spring break.  Scott’s going north, I think, and Jeremy, spawn in tow, will be heading south to the Magic Kingdom.    We plan to record again in two weeks, at which point we may well have played a game or three to completion – or maybe we’ll still be chasing class unlocks in BC2.

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The Lizard Wizard Episode

Mea maxima culpa for the content at the following link.

We’re honestly going to buckle under the weight of too many truly playable games before this season is over.  We haven’t got what it takes (unemployment?  time machine?) to play as much as we’d like of everything we could wish.  We’re either ignoring one piece of work to favor another or, as is true in my case, we’re wading deep into the stream, playing through everything simultaneously and failing to appreciate each to its fullest.  I believe this second approach was a mistake.

We were invigorated to a pretty great degree this week not only by an unseasonable deluge of news, but also by the strength of debate and feedback from our listeners.  It’s amazing the change a cross-grained perspective can bring, and a timely query or opinionated rebuttal is like unto a fresh spring breeze.  Or something.  Keep ’em coming.

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The Flush Button Episode

Our show can be found in its entirety at the following link.

I simply don’t care for Heavy Rain – for the admittedly very small portion I’ve played so far.  I’m just putting it right out front that, despite how critical we are as a group, I may be the only one who takes an active dislike to the game.  Collectively, we may have focused too little on the forest and too much on the trees, but man…the size of those trees.  Of course, now that our first impressions are a matter of record, we’ll probably reverse ourselves and undermine whatever value our opinions may have had.  They are, after all, a full week behind the opinions and experiences of the real world.

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The Creative Mugging Episode

Scott has no opinion about the following link.

To look at it, you wouldn’t think this episode had been curtailed, but I can promise that we generated a lot of footage for the eventual director’s cut.  We haven’t been in the habit of making large edits to our program, but it’s become a necessary part of our new situation.  Of course, familiarity breeds contempt, so for every cut I make to cover a gaff, I grow more comfortable with revising the events in the studio.  The upshot is that we really do have a vault of (priceless?) artifacts planned for release at some point in the future.  Paid DLC, perhaps?

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The Tears of Justification Episode

There’s no excuse for our behavior at the following link.

Superfast show for you this week – superfast in IGC time, at least.  The bald spot in our news readers and the inevitable spread separating one host’s Mass Effect progress from another’s contributed to the hard cap on our run time.  There were also conflicts with More Important People who wanted our recording space.   There’s stuff in here we figure’s worth listening to, but I can tell you now that we’re saving our breath for next week’s show.  For tonight, alls we got is the hour-forty-five in front of you.

Regarding this week’s studio: having been turned away from each of our previous spaces for one reason or another we decided, reluctantly, to schlep out to the trailer farm behind our theater.  There, at the perimeter of a moss-choked wood, sits a disused telemarketing building.  It’s an evil place, but we really had no where else to set up shop.  I’m sure you’ll hear the keening spirits of former call-center workers and at one point, the howling of a werewolf.  So yeah…last minute change of venue makes the show sound like shit.  Sorry.

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The Fish It Is Episode

We are not having the lifespan talk at the following link.

It may not have been quite what we were expecting, but there’s no sense in pretending Mass Effect 2 is less than phenomenal.  We cocked an eyebrow at some of the changes, sure, but it’s hard not to fall in love.  As you’re no doubt aware, we like to bake and broil whichever game owns our attention in any given week, despite how much we may love it in private, so please excuse any hair-pulling and rough-teasing displays of affection.

We’ve been revising runtimes steadily upwards over the years, to the point where discomfort sets in at or near the 4-hour mark now, instead of the previous 3.  We can’t figure how this happens in weeks with a single strong release, other than to accept that we’re some seriously talky assholes with an inflated opinion of our own…opinions, I guess.  Hope you don’t mind.

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The Galaxy Class Episode

Enjoy the carpeted walls and space-jammies at the following link.

After the rage-hangover, I can remember being especially angry about two things this episode.  The first is what I perceive to be the unfounded distrust of Bioshock 2 – a subject we expect will snap into focus in the next couple of weeks.  The second, and the one I very nearly regret, is the state of play in Star Trek Online.  At the time of this recording I’d logged only one session in-game, and drew a number of conclusions from that quick flash of license abuse.

Since then I’ve decided to patch up, reroll and apply a fair mind to the game in the hope that I can separate the technical failures from the conceptual ones, and see what the fuss from either side is about.  Whichever way it falls, the fuss you’ll hear in this episode is woefully out of date.

This, our third week ex-studio, was recorded in yet another experimental location.  There’s really no telling what sorts of artifacts you’ll be asked to tolerate this week, but your feedback, as always, will be compiled with all other relevant dataz and shall eventually deliver us unto the perfect recording environment.

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The Who’s Matt Episode

Find out for yourself at the following link.

Our second experimental studio session is bottled and capped.  We’ve made a sole significant change for this episode and it’s time for the feedback to do its job.  More or less reverb?  Are we at all in agreement on who’s coming in too hot?  Is the new studio responsible for how terrible I’ve been to Matt?  Or to Darksiders?  I swear it’s all for show.

Bayonetta and Darksiders are, together, a fine enough way to start the new decade, despite how little regard some of the hosts may have for either one.  There’s ample good will for these games in the community, but there’s a sense that we’re foot-tapping with these two, waiting on delivery of the real goods.  Probably that’s just me.

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The Fabulous Episode

We’re too sexy for our studio at the following link.

We’ve admitted our helplessness in the face of problems that have dogged the show since its beginnings.  The show has abandoned its old digs for a studio space that’s theoretically friendlier to the sorts of people we’ve revealed ourselves to be.  You will notice the change, so we beg pardon for any jarring differences, and beg your indulgence as we ask for feedback on the guerilla-podcasting.

We’re all present tonight in the executive meeting space of our local theater, with the exception of having traded one Air Force guy for another.  We’ve been a long time without anyone to talk to, and without much to play, so a lot of what you’ll hear amounts to warming-up our process for the new year.  And that statement, of course, amounts to an excuse for a momentary fascination with gay bars and drag-queen Bayonettas.

Enjoy!

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The Chesty Jilnhalll Episode

It’s totally not Scott’s fault that we screwed up the title of this episode.

We’ve decided to share in the New Year’s celebration by releasing our jealous grip on this, our last episode of 2009.  It’s older than most – we were hoping to cover the holiday gap with prepared content – so we trust you can find satisfaction in our take on events that are weeks old by now.

Scott, for one, wanted to record a final show on the eve of the new year, but I plan to be drunk and immobile, and don’t intend to move from my comfortable spot in front of my computer, unless it’s to move to the comfortable spot in front of my television.  I can imagine any number of you doing the same.

We hope, as always, that you’ll enjoy the show, and that you’ll continue to enjoy it as we move into our fourth year.  We are proud of and humbled by our listeners, and wish we were equal to the task of thanking you for your time and attention.  Instead, we will simply clear our throats, shrug off what we see as a very unmanly display of emotion, and move on to the next in a long line of raving, hours-long fits of childishness.

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