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Episodes

The Fool Pitying Episode

In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit.  These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade and clicked on this week’s new episode link.

At some time in the past, likely years ago at this point, the quality of the Lego Star Wars games led the hosts to suggest that the combination of Lego and any beloved series was a natural path to joy and success.  Putting aside the fact that we were completely wrong, we’re tempted to repeat that claim where Mr T is concerned, and we’d do it based solely on the strength of a single, meme-tastic game announcement.

Once again we have to point out the sad lack of our Jeremy for this episode.  He has a bountiful family, and those things come with birthdays and other wondrous obligations of kinship.  What we have left here are the misers and hermits with no obligations and no ties that bind.  We’re sure someone out there understands.

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Episodes

The Rush Hour Episode

New episode now available at this link.

We’re in an awful hurry this evening, and we’ve contracted our usual schedule in an effort to flee the studio as soon as possible.  Minutes before our recording began we learned we had access to an NDA-restricted beta gameplay session, and that the session in question would expire in short order.  We’re nothing if not childish idiots where sneak-peaks are concerned, so we’ve opted for the John Moschitta school of podcast delivery.  (Not really)

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Episodes

The Two Blades Episode

Disturbing innuendo involving edged weapons can be found at this link.

By far the most electrifying news for the cast this week was the proper announcement of Assassin’s Creed 2, complete with all its bona fides and with enough preview information to keep us in thrall until the moment of release, or at the very least until the Electronic Entertainment Extravaganza force-feeds us all the media we can stand.  And by far the most disturbing image is of where UbiSoft might situate the inevitable “third blade” for the protagonist of AC3.

Show favorite topics “MMOs” and “digital delivery” feature heavily again near the end of our time, and in skimming the episode before posting it occurred to me that beside the point of certain ideas being timely or important, we have a tendency to abuse our favorite subjects and wail our opinions like they’re some kind of prayer or plea.  It’s as if talking about what we love most or what we’d most love to see in our future could bring it to pass that much sooner, or could deliver it to us when there’s no hope of it being real.

There’s certainly no shame in wanting it, but there’s sometimes an awful lot to be found in sharing it to no good end.  I can’t speak for others, but the reasons for my own love affair with the MMO are made pretty clear here, and I could swear that I’d never talk about it again if only each of my friends in the world would play what I wanted them to.

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Episodes

The Next Thing I Know Episode

Last Thursday is now available for download.

We’re paring back to a single episode per week starting just about now, so in an effort to sync distribution with production, we’ll give you a week-old piece of IGC today (which is typical), and a relatively fresh one tomorrow.  There’s more than enough to talk about, but we’re speculating and ruminating a lot without the hard facts and solid press we’re sure to be swimming in after the E3 season, and our studio time has been further eroded by other people’s useless commerce.

So it’s two-ish hours once a week now instead of one-ish twice, right?  You won’t notice much of a difference what with how we’ve been running things, with the exception of a more consistent lineup of our studio friends, and the subject matter of our show not being quite so far behind the times.

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Episodes

The GoGoGo! Episode

In-Game Chat is rushing the flag at this link.

“Never mind maneuvers,” Lord Nelson said “just go right at ’em!”  I’ve been a fan of this doctrine for some time where objective flags, capture points, gold crates and things of that nature are concerned – though I’d like to think the admiral wouldn’t begrudge me the occasional bunny-hop or circle-strafe on the way to my goal.  It’s not a suitable behavior for everyone, but it’s the only one that’s brought me any success, and, as with so many other things, I’m (unforgivably) appalled more people aren’t doing it my way.

You’ll be listening to this no less than a week after the launch of the DSi, but as of the recording it had been only 48 hours.  This presented us with the opportunity of unboxing a freshly purchased handheld, with news and commentary and the usual shenanigans woven into and throughout the account.  We apologize for the undertone of sweet chimes and optimistic ditties emanating from the device, but we were too drunk on the new-toy smell to notice.

Finally, yes, it has been some time since we published a show.  It’s all Scott’s fault.

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Episodes

The Fancy Pants Episode

New IGC now available for download.

The Game Developers Conference was still much in the news during this session, and even now the last filaments of related forum threads are being tweezed.  We’re flush with the excitement of expected and surprise announcements alike, and are suitably frustrated by the ludicrous amount of time we have to wait to play the things with which we’ve been teased – ludicrous referring to any amount of time greater than “right now”, of course.

This episode’s out-of-game epilogue is devoted to a fairly acidic and cathartic release of the Battlestar Galactica energy that’s been collecting in our systems over the course of the last 5 years.  There are really no universal pronouncements to be made, and the series finale has at the very least done the job of being thoughtful and provocative.  We’re glad to have seen it, but are even happier now to be shed of the burden of caring.

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Episodes

The Old News Episode

Recent opinion can be found at this link.

Rest assured, despite this episode’s title, our conversation is very much about the here and now – except where it isn’t, in which case it’s just show and tell.  It’s hard not to find yourself rooted to the moment during the week of GDC, browser-refreshing your way through the day looking for headlines from the people who make the news, and forum commentary from the people who analyze it.

But it’s just as hard not to live a little bit in the future, as well – the future that’s far more than suggested by developers, but is often nearly insisted upon.  They tell us wonderful stories about both harsh and ideal circumstances, and we’re ready to believe nearly anything they want us to about how we’ll be experiencing the games of tomorrow.  There are simple untruths, like anywhere, but the delivery is so earnest and optimistic you’ll forgive us for being somewhat transported.

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Episodes

The Combined Episodes

Two-for-one IGC available at this link.

We’re offering both of our most recent recordings together this week, but at the usual low price of two hours of your time.  There’s some continuation between the two acts, but the combination had everything to do with our schedule, and little to do with the content.  In fact, the two performances vary quite a bit in tone – as much as we could make them do without diverting the subject away from games.  But games are what we like, so whether it’s high-spirits and big groups or something more subdued,  we clearly have something to say on the matter.

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Episodes

The Watch Out! Episode

New episode available for single- and multi-player here.

Recent cooperative opportunities have honestly exceeded our expectations.  Halo Wars may not be your genre bag, exactly (it isn’t really ours, either), but the quality of its multiplayer simply isn’t in question.  Wherever possible, this game should set the example for how to knit two players together in pursuit of a campaign or story line.  Having made that claim, we’d also like to acknowledge HAWX and RE5 for like efforts recently, and point out that we’ve got at least as much to say on their behalf later in the week.

The Watchmen have come and gone, now, and no matter what your relationship to either the film or the book, you’re likely to have an opinion on the translation.  A strong one.  We hadn’t planned to speak our minds on the subject, but that went right out the window one short moment after Scott asked if I wanted to talk about it and I said “no”.  The subject is isolated at the end of the program for anyone unwilling to expose themselves to spoilers.

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Episodes Interviews

The Nolan North Episode

The everyman hero is available at this link.

We did a very simple thing for the first of this week’s episodes: we invited voice actor Nolan North along for a chat and allowed him to completely steal our show.  You’re most likely familiar with his work as Nathan Drake, The titular Prince of Persia, or more recently as Sgt. Forge in Halo Wars.  His credits, however, are extensive, and we won’t choke this space with links or bios that are best left described by the man himself.

We don’t have any of what you usually come ’round for this episode, as it’s a solid hour of interview.  But if, like us, you’ve enjoyed as many things on Nolan’s imdb page as we have, you’re sure to enjoy yourself nonetheless.

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Episodes

The Ways To Be Cool Episode

Step 1: Click on this link.

Cool is something we’d clearly like to have more of, but it never occurred to us that putting together a list would help at all.  Maybe this was the problem all along.  The only way we could think to be cool this week was to deliver unsolicited opinions on your Killzone and your Halo Wars, with a guest host and a little bit of local color applied for effect.

We’d also like to invite you into a conversation that would have best been held in the studio the first time around.  Jeremy has twice reminded us how much we miss the arcade scene of our youth, and how much we regret the loss of the arcades we had assumed to be in our future as adults.  His restoration of a recently-acquired cocktail-table Space Invaders prompted a comparison of our “desert island” category favorites, and we realized this discussion deserved to be held amongst our listeners as well.  We demand that you contribute, and that you illuminate the inevitable flaws in our positions.

Furthermore, Jeremy, with the help of his daughter and the support of Chuck E. Cheese, seems to have struck upon a lovely idea for the salvation of token-subsidized gameplay.  Maybe this sort of thing is too dependent on nostalgia, and maybe paying quarters into a game we already own isn’t such a great idea, but it wouldn’t be the first hare-brained notion that made us happy despite all reason.  But who wouldn’t be happy with a flight stick and a gyroscopic games platform?

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Episodes

The Bad Explanation Episode

Another confused mess is available at this link.

The show has been spread thin since our last episode.  This time, like so many other times, it’s completely my fault.  I’ve been sick from a kind of horrifying something that I ate near the beginning of the week, and that put me right out of the mood to record a show or to play a game, or even to sit up straight and eat a food or two.  I had only just recovered my senses by the time of this session, and I’m sure that’s going to be clear.

Even if everyone’s physical and mental well-being had been at a healthy level, it’s unlikely we would have done any better discussing Noby Noby Boy.  Clearly this is not the sort of thing that should be discussed without a hookah in the room, or – more realistically – without everyone present having played the game.  Maybe we worked a bit too hard to pick up what Scott was putting down (to no avail), but Jeremy and I both found as much funny in the trying as we would have in the understanding.

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Episodes

The Three Mile Turd Episode

More pointless sophomoric humor available at this link.

This evening’s show title is a direct result of a conversation about GTA 4’s new expansion-grade material, but it isn’t intended as any kind of slander.  It’s a tasteless poop-joke that we honestly struggled against using (coming, as it did, so soon after a wiener-joke), but it’s hard to talk yourself out of something that makes you laugh.   None of us has committed the money to investigate the Lost and Damned properly, but the surprising reviews are working in its favor, and it seems willing to deliver on length what it isn’t willing to compromise on cost.

There’s also mailbag to be delivered, which means a quick mea culpa for breezing past the accomplishments of Final Fantasy XI, and an enlightened description of the ridiculous Rube Goldberg process our show has to travel through to get from our board to your earbuds.  It’s going to happen this way nearly every time.  We’ve only just gotten used to the fact, so we can understand if you folks are still scratching your heads from time to time.

An extra preview-spoiler for next time: Scott and I totally didn’t play each other in Street Fighter.

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Episodes

The Everything’s a Gun Episode

Our newest episode is locked and loaded behind this link.

You’ll forgive us for spending a little time here examining games and gameplay that most of you will have long since have gotten over.  I have no personal history with the God of War series; the PS2 having already become a part of my past by the time of the first game’s release.  In fact, Scott is the only host to have played either of the games, and as a consequence they’ve never been a part of our usual dialogue.

I’d like to say that I was compelled to start playing the games because of their reputation or on a recommendation, but it has everything to do with the recently extended teaser trailer, and the guilt I will certainly feel at having been out of touch with a clearly energetic franchise when the third game makes the scene.  There’s no chance I won’t be clawing my way across that titan’s landscape, and I’d sure as hell like to know what’s going on when I do.

We’re also delivering a very special portion of an otherwise unremarkable episode today.  Jeremy has apparently decided to spawn once again, and since we’re pretty fond of him we can only be happy that he’s decided to extend his own franchise even further.  Congratulations are also in order for the little lady, since we’re pretty sure she’s going to play a significant part in this process.  Bummer about PAX, though, Becky.  Maybe next year.

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Episodes

The Phallic Force Episode

This weekend’s suggestive themes are now available for download.

Our show has a strong sense of its own past, and the strongest memories are of things we’ve done together. We share an obvious affection for games in general, but despite a deep love of multiplayer, we neglect almost every opportunity to share in the gameplay itself. We have the appropriate internet connections, potent hardware, and real human proximity, but still leave each to his own in most cases and struggle to come up with a reason why.

History tells us that City of Heroes was our last best moment together – something shared between hosts, producers, significant others, friends, co-workers and guys we met on the internet. That time didn’t end well for anyone, really, and it didn’t end all at once. We shuffled off in different directions like weary protesters, a few of us having broken our backs on the cause.

With any luck, the near-future may see that trend returning. Jumpgate Evolution has a small chance of satisfying the “Freelancer should have been an MMO” contingent among us, and Champions Online stands to amend the appalling wrong visited on the heads of our happy band, despite the platform diaspora we suffered in the wake of its collapse. If approachable gameplay meets cross-platform functionality in an MMO with shit-hot character creation, then it’s safe to say the deal is done.

As a post-script, we’d like to point out that the long overdue spoilery discussion of Prince of Persia is available after the break at the end of the episode. We’re hopeful that you can attend.