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A Candle in the Window

We indicated earlier that we were by no means alone when leaving our former home in search of new and better opportunities, and we promised to clarify our status just as soon as everything was in order.  Now the short wait is over, and today we’re happy to announce that Colony of Gamers will be the new home for In-Game Chat, and we its official gaming podcast.  

Colony of Gamers (CoG) is a new site that emphasizes an involved and evolving community atmosphere in the belief that it will help create meaningful content and guidance for the site as a whole.  Its staff members include former editors, contributors and prominent community members of Evil Avatar, and it’s the gift of their time and attention that has made this development possible.

Colony of Gamers is also a nascent portal for many sister sites with whom it shares a pedigree.  Co-Optimus, Play It Review It, Immortal Machines, Johnny Gigawatt and the Tiger Men From Mars, and our own In-Game Chat make up the current extended family.  We are all proud to be associates of what is sure to be a success, for each of us individually, and for the communities we serve.

While we will continue to deliver our own perspective on the medium and the industry, we nonetheless invite all of our listeners, old and new, to visit and be welcomed into Colony of Gamers, and we thank you once again for making us a success by lending us your ear.

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Episodes

The First Episode

The First Episode is live and available for download.

It’s hardly the sort of “first” you might expect from the title, as this is neither the first podcast we’ve produced or even our first show as In-Game Chat.  Regardless, our continuity experts have assured us that the easiest way to avoid confusion is to pretend the past doesn’t exist.  We’ve read the historical texts and we’re not sure we like this answer, but it’s a hard thing to deny when you’re looking to reinvent yourself.

Inside you’ll find discussion on the dissolution of our old affiliations and hints about the new ones, as well as plenty of reassurances that nothing will change followed by immediate discussion of the many exciting changes we have in store for the future.  We’d have liked to have been more overt, and you can’t imagine the painful self-restraint we brought to bear on ourselves this evening.  We can only say that we’re completely stupefied by the strength of our listener base, and we invite you to stick around.  It gets even better from here.

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The end of an EAR-a…or, Welcome back to In-Game Chat

We’ve been here before, and it’s time come round at last for the second cast of Evil Avatar Radio to retake its one true name.  We owe a great deal to the men and women of Evil Avatar, and we’ve come further for the association than we could have hoped to on our own.  But it turns out that to move forward we need to look back.  Community exists beyond name or URL – community is people, and we can assure you that the podcast is intact, in good company, and in high spirits.

Stay tuned.  Good things are close at hand.

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Your New Webmaster

Hey everyone! I hope you like the new site, and I apologize for any bumps you find in our transition. I’m working to smooth everything out and make the process fairly easy. That being said, I know the old site just didn’t quite get the love and attention it deserved. It was like that really awesome PS2 RPG you keep saying your going to put in one day, but you know, stuff keeps coming out on the 360/PC/PS3. You really want to play that older RPG, but it just never happens.

Well, I’m dusting off the memory cards, so to speak. I’ll try to keep things interesting and functional around here. Don’t look to me for much content, but if you have an actual site suggestion, please, let me know! And if you catch a little site bug or whatnot, then I’d love to get word about it. Sure, I may already know about it; but maybe that one is something I haven’t seen yet, and I’d love the help.

So, this is your new webmaster, signing off. Looking forward to seeing you around In Game Chat in the future!

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Episodes

EAR 9.25.08: “Red Eye Mountain”

Some of you may be familiar with the title of this episode. Those who aren’t will find out when they listen. Those who are…well, just keep in mind it isn’t all MMO/Warhammer talk that we do here. In fact, we discuss very little of that title. Why? Well, turns out a lot of things happened since Monday night. Actually, a lot of things happened the day we recorded this and you can bet we talk about them.

First up is the Spore DRM issue. We don’t really discuss it as much as we just recap the situation. After that….well, you didn’t really think we wouldn’t mention Jack Thompson’s disbarment, did you? And let’s not forget what Bungie did today.

We also touch on the Max Payne film’s rating, special editions and how publishers are doing it wrong, and Duke Nukem 3D on XBLA. Plus, we begin our Mailbag segment of the show, answering the emails sent to us each week (we don’t get much, actually, so send them in!), and we tell you who will be on Monday’s show (hint: he really likes Co-Op gaming).

Thanks for listening.

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Episodes

EAR 9.22.08: “It Was Kicked In The Junk Hard”

As slow as news can be sometimes in the gaming world, it never leaves us without anything to talk about. There’s proof of that in this episode of Evil Avatar Radio. James wrapped up his time with The Force Unleashed and lets us know that sometimes a story can hold a game together better than the actual gameplay itself. That and the fact that the tutorial level of the game is simply the most fun. Not only that, he has ideas on how to improve a title like this with just the addition of Ewoks. I know…Ewoks, right?

Also in this episode we talk about Mega Man 9, Duke Nukem 3D, and we go over the releases due out in October. We hear from TrackZero about his time spent with FarCry 2, and Ravenlock calls in to tell us just how hard Mega Man 9 is and what he’s looking forward to on the Wii/DS side of things to come.

That’s all followed by uncensored discussion of our Demigod Beta contest, duel wielding GameFly accounts, November’s release schedule, Warhammer talk, more (well deserved) praise for Uncharted, and what we’ll all be playing this week.

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Episodes Interviews

EAR 9.15.08: “Like Highlights For Children…But Violent”

A lot of the times with our guests, we like to be timely. And the timing with having Josh Drescher from Mythic on the show to talk to us about Warhammer Online couldn’t have been better. We have to thank him again for taking time out of working on the game (and playing it) and speaking with us. He was great to talk to and actually quite funny. Of course, as usual, it’s where the show gets the title from.

Also in this episode, although later than we wanted, we again mention our Demigod beta key contest. We’ll be giving away a key during the live show next week, but we also have two more keys to give out. To win those, you’ll need to email us (everyone@ingamechat.net) with the best god-power you can think of (in terms of a balanced strategy game).

The rest of the show is spent on talking about Too Human, taking stock in Take-Two (or losing it), Peter Molyneux’s sanity or genius, losing your job in an attempt to be an “internet hero”, all of us being on a beta “black list” it seems, and I explain the reasons (yes, there’s more than one) I added the new Deer Hunter game to my Gamefly queue.

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EAR 9/11/08: “Sporehammer”

I’m not sure if these are considered a pre-show, or a post-show. Regardless, it’s a show, and one we hope you’ll enjoy. It’s a bit more free flowing than our regular Monday show, but that’s the reason we do it, honestly.  In this episode we talk a little bit on Warhammer and Spore, my frustrating time spent with Facebreaker, Jeremy’s time with the Force Unleashed demo, a bit on GameStop and digital distribution, and we also talk about GOG. It’s a discussion that leads us into talk of Mega Man 9 and how we’d all like to see a demographic breakdown of people who’ll buy that game.

Also in this episode we give you a head’s up on a contest for a beta key to an upcoming PC title. You’ll have two chances to win and it’s something we won’t officially announce until Monday’s show, but you can get a head start early by catching this episode of Evil Avatar Radio.

Thanks for listening.

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Episodes Interviews

EAR Episode 122: “It’s Not How Many Inches. It’s How Close Your Face Is To It”

You know, we could almost do a completely separate show focused only on MMO’s it would seem. What with all the information that keeps coming our way in both the form of Lich King, and now Warhammer Online. You’ll hear quite a bit about both in this episode of Evil Avatar Radio.

Also in this episode, we talk with Tarn Adams of Dwarf Fortress. We find out how DF came to be and where it’ll be headed into the future. Not only that, we look, yet again, to the next few months of gaming and how time management of those months are going to be so important. Plus, James has a pretty good idea of where the next big gaming convention should be held. If PAX needs more room, this is where they should go.

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Episodes

EAR Episode 121: Extra Content

Just so we’re clear, this isn’t extra content from the massive-cast. Trust me, we’ve used every bit of that audio we had. Nope. This is just Strax, Daniel, Dennis, and myself (get well soon James) going over more memories of PAX, but sticking a bit closer to the games. Dana drops by in the beginning of the show to let us know a challenge was made to us by the guys over at the Moofcast. We’re not sure of the stipulations of the challenge or what the stakes are but we’ll take it, regardless.

The rest of the show is devoted (mainly) to the games of PAX. This includes Dragon Age, Jumpgate, Champions Online, Little Big Planet, Legendary, Demigod, Dead Space, Gears Of War 2, The New Xbox Experience (has that name really stuck?), Mirror’s Edge (we’re worried a bit), Fallout 3, The PAX 10, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC, and, of course, LEFT 4 DEAD!!!

Of course, we couldn’t talk about PAX without mentioning, again, Strax’s performance with Rock Band 2, pillow walls for Dainel & Dave, and the deliciousness that is Maple Bacon Doughnuts. Plus, you’ll find out who we’re having on the show for Monday night.

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Episodes

EAR Episode 121: The PAX-Cast 2008

I’m on a plane right now over (let me check)….Kansas, at the moment listening to the current episode of Evil Avatar Radio. While it sounds like the recording of a panel, it’s actually a group of near 30 people crammed into a hotel room all talking. And, while this might sound scary to listen to, it’s actually the most organized conversation I have ever heard with this many people. Before we switched on the mics, there was sound everywhere from these people, but all it took were the mics to be turned on and the show to begin and we had 30 professional podcasters all doing their thing.

I hope I’m not missing anyone in the roll call here, but the cast is: Gambit, Ghostbear, Sandman, xoanon, UnknownName(?), mister_slim, Rogue_hunter, OrigamiPanther, Alias Unknown, Jackel, TrackZero, mightbe, Sl1pstream, BAPenguin, Bone, Psykoboy2, Straximus, UWCrash, BackseatKiller, AniAko, pheriannath, Kielaran, prenetic, Gaz, Skwish, Rinichanraar, Deadend, Thrak, and Dave.

There is plenty we talk about in the show. Tons of things really, but that’s to be expected when you have 30 opinions in the room. Everything from our “Best Of PAX”, to panels, to meeting each other, to experiences outside of PAX, it’s all covered in this show along with a lot more conversation, too much, actually, to cover in the write-up.  It might be hard to put some voices to the names, but it’s still an amazing thing to hear.

We end the show by going around the room with “final thoughts & thanks” from everyone and while it may be repeating what I said in the show, I’d like to say it again……This is the best group of people to have on a show, period. We have always said from the beginning of taking over the mantel of Evil Avatar Radio that it’s the community’s podcast. We do what we do, not for the developers or special guests, but for the listeners of Evil Avatar Radio. It’s your show, and the highest honor, for me, was being a part of it with all of you in this episode.

Thank you all for, not only just listening, but being on the show. Let’s do it again next year.