10 Mar 2008
The new Zune software has added support for podcasts, so I’ve been spending the last couple months trying to find the right podcasts for me. Finding podcasts is really easy, but finding a small set of good ones to listen to regularly is no small feat. To really decide if you like a particular podcast or not it generally takes listening to a couple episodes, each with a running time that is often an hour or more. And there are hundreds of podcasts on each conceivable topic out there.
As that ninja humor is already well covered, I figured the next thing to do was nail down a couple solid gaming podcasts to introduce into my commute. And I’m here today to share my findings with you. Note that all the podcast links in this post are set up to subscribe in Zune.
GameSpot HotSpot (audio)
As you can see from watching their video reviews, GameSpot has a lot of down-to-earth gamers in its employ. Well, they did. There’s a good chance you heard the drama of Jeff Gerstmann’s firing, and since then my other favorites Alex Navarro and Ryan Davis have also left. It’s sad, because a lot of podcasts try to have fun and joke around, but the GameSpot crew was one of the few to actually pull it off without being obnoxious. This was one of my favorite podcasts, but the best people from it are gone, and I haven’t had the heart to listen to it since. It looks like Ryan Davis is trying to recreate the magic outside of GameSpot with his Arrow Pointing Down podcast, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.
1UP Yours (audio)
1UP Yours has become one of my favorite shows, primarily because the hosts are knowledgeable, well-spoken, engaged, and keep the show mostly focused on their personal gaming experiences (every show opens up with “What You’ve Been Playing”). I like that these guys talk about deeper social and political gaming topics. The only real downside is that they’re so immersed in the gaming industry that they can be a bit jaded and pretentious.
Achievement Junkie (audio)
There isn’t a podcast out there that I’ve listened to with hosts more likeable than Nelson and Natalie. There’s plenty of witty banter between them, and they know to not take themselves or the gaming industry too seriously. Despite what the title might lead you to believe, they’re more casual gamers than hardcore achievement whores. Best of all, this is one of the few podcasts that is consistent in its length. Every episode is somewhere around half an hour or forty five minutes long. You’d assume that all podcasts follow that pattern, but no - most of them meander on for well over an hour. I appreciate that Achievement Junkie is succinct. The downside? Well, I’m none to fond of my listening experience being broken up by Navy ads, and the prerecorded segments by the non-hosts are lame.
Major Nelson (audio)
This is one of the highest profile gaming podcasts. It’s well produced and moves along at a good pace. Unfortunately as that Major Nelson is Xbox’s official voice, he can’t really say anything controversial. The result is that the podcast ends up sounding a little too much like an clinical corporate Xbox ad, devoid of personality.
Joystiq (audio)
I already read Joystiq for my gaming news, so listening to their podcast is pretty redundant. And fundamentally reading news is far more efficient than listening to it, so there’s nothing to be gained from this podcast.
ScrewAttack (audio)
I really enjoy ScrewAttack’s excellent Video Game Vault videos, and the charming duo also has an audio podcast. Unfortunately the depth of content isn’t up to the level of their video productions. As far as Listening To Dudes Talk it’s pretty decent, but that’s about all it is. They actually spend a surprisingly small chunk of the time talking about games, with a stronger focus on supporting their website community’s contests, events, and such. Which is cool if you’re plugged into that community, but not so useful otherwise. What I really want is a podcast feed of their videos, and I have yet to find one. It’d be sweet if I could automatically get content like the Angry Video Game Nerd’s awesome coverage of Ghostbusters to take with me on the go.
GameSpy Debriefing (audio)
I tuned into this one and got undirected ramblings by uncharismatic people. I couldn’t even make it through a full episode. I feel a little guilty not giving them another chance, but frankly there are too many podcasts to sort through.
Video Game Outsiders (audio)
This podcast features a trio of Geek, Girl, and Loud Mouthed Annoying Guy. They see the world through very different eyes than the rest of the gaming press, which makes for sometimes entertaining, sometimes awkward arguments. Their main hook is supposed to be that they are casual gamers, but after two years of doing a weekly podcast they’ve started to crossover into the hardcore. As a result I have a hard time figuring out who their audience is. I do appreciate that they focus on their personal game playing experiences and don’t waste much time on news. That’s not to say that they don’t waste time though, because this podcast runs way too long.
My main problem with this podcast is that I flat out don’t like one of the hosts. He’s stubborn, can’t see the world through anyone else’s eyes, and steamrolls over anyone else when he disagrees with them (sadly the geeky host can’t articulate himself well enough to fight back). He’s also extremely inconsistent, spouting praise for a game one week and then totally indifferent towards it the next. Really, he’s just a terrible person and single handedly ruins this podcast for me. But I somehow can’t seem to bring myself to unsubscribe from this fascinating train wreck.
GameTrailers Video Reviews (video)
This isn’t really a podcast, but it is a great way to get awesome video content onto your Zune. GameTrailers stitches together great video reviews, and they’re not to be missed. I only wish that they reviewed more titles so I could make more of my rental decisions this way.
1UP Show (video)
This video podcast has great production values and interesting (if sometimes pretentious) people. Unfortunately it runs a little long for a video podcast, so I never end up watching it. The few times I have had the time I enjoyed it.
The Wiicast (video)
Tragic. Totally, utterly tragic. Couldn’t make it through a full episode. But I will say that the show that recently slammed The Wiicast is even worse.
Summary
Well, that sums up all the podcasts I’ve been sorting through. I’ve learned a lot about what I do and do not like from my podcasts. A set of people with spontaneous banter is good, but not if it means showboating or epic overtime. I have a preference for audio podcasts because they don’t demand my full attention. I’m actually surprised that I haven’t found a good audio review podcast. I’m fine reading my news, as that most of it gets filtered out by headline anyway, but I wouldn’t mind having reviews or general editorial content just flat out read to me so I can listen to them on the go.
As of today my running favorites are 1UP Yours and Achievement Junkie. They aren’t without their faults, but they have a consistent level of quality. There’s about a bajillion other podcasts out there that are also worth a whirl, but for now I need to stop the insanity and focus on enjoying the few I’ve landed on.
09 Mar 2008
I don’t read as often as I’d like, but that’s not the only reason you don’t see many book reviews on this blog. Although reading a book involves a similar time commitment to that of a video game, I usually don’t find myself with much to say after I’ve finished a book. I think that’s partially because for me books are more personal, and any description of them is littered with comments of “well, you really had to be there.” In contrast, games have such technically measurable attributes that it’s easier to arrive at some sort of review structure.
I guess it takes a movie to push me over the edge, because I wouldn’t be sitting here today to talk about Running With Scissors if it weren’t for its recent film adaptation. I enjoyed the book, but I just didn’t have much to say about it. But the movie got me all riled up.
The epic memoir that is Running With Scissors puts you in an odd spot as a reader. The events are so outlandish that you’re not really sure if you’re supposed to be laughing or crying. But of course the subtle cues of the book cover tilted me a certain way. A kid with a cardboard box over his head… that means I should be laughing (because boxes are funny, duh). The back of the book reinforced this with quotes like “ridiculously funny”, “hilarious”, and “loony.” Okay, so we’re supposed to laugh at this guy’s crazy tragic life story. I’m down.
Enter the movie, which tells the exact same story, but this time with moody music and tearful introspection. Had I not read the book, I probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I did, and the tone of the movie is an insult to the story as it exists in my head. Someone spoiled the whole thing with a pity party. Don’t get me wrong, Augusten’s story is a terrible one. But in reading the book I didn’t believe he felt it to be so. When you’re a kid, and you have no context, you don’t know what’s normal and what’s not. He proceeded through his life the same as any other, laughing away his crazy surroundings. At least that’s how I processed it, and I was okay with it because he was okay with it. In no way was it this dreary tale of an emotional boy and his mother’s descent into madness. Well, it is, but only if you take an objective adult perspective, and that’s not what this story was.
I came out of the movie feeling betrayed. Now I’m that guy. You know, the one laughing at someone else’s misfortune. In the book I got lured in thinking that I’m laughing with them, and then the movie comes around and tells me that I’m a terrible person. Well screw that. My reading comprehension may be questionable but I can still list many places where the movie distorted relationships to make them better fit its moping agenda. That makes them dirty liars and thus I can confidently ignore their judgment of my character… right?
27 Feb 2008
In continuing my exploration into zombie tabletop gaming, I decided to give ZombieTown a spin. From the reviews I knew that this was one best played with more people, and thankfully I had a set of patient friends willing to fill out a six player session. Unfortunately I didn’t anticipate the poorly written rules that turned the entire night into one big confusing… something. I want to say “tornado,” but that implies fast, which it was not.
The primary objective of ZombieTown is territory control. The zombie hoard is spreading out from the cemetery, and you need to secure the homes of the town before they get overrun. At the end of the game, you get points for the number of homes you control. Unfortunately the rules for transferring control are confusing. It’s not enough to be present in the home; you need to either erect a barricade or post a survivor in order to technically get credit. Survivors die quickly and barricades are easy for other players to bypass, so you’ll definitely see control switching around a lot. Unfortunately the rules aren’t so crisp about what happens in these scenarios. Intuitively I would think that control means you have a warm body in the house, and that barricades exist to keep it that way, but apparently it’s not so simple.
Combat is resolved by drawing cards instead of rolling dice. In theory the card determines the range of your shot, but in a six player game there are so many zombie moves between your turns that combat is almost always a reaction of a close range attack. And even if you are being aggressive, you’re better off firing your gun in close quarters because the odds are against a ranged hit. Thematically it’s a little odd to have all these guns, but not be able to pick off zombies before they’re on top of you.
The biggest flaw in ZombieTown is that there are no rules to keep defeated players in the game. If you die early in the evening you just have to sit and watch until the game is over. Given that the whole point of a board game is to give some friends something to do together, this is flat out unacceptable. Give the player a point penalty, bring them back as a zombie… just do anything to keep them involved. It’s no fun to sit on your duff while everyone else keeps on playing.
If there’s one trend I’d like to kill, it would be games where the rules are in a book when they should be on the cards. There are cards in ZombieTown that have nothing but a picture on them. You have to go look at the rules sheet to figure out how that card works. There are also rules about “event” class cards, but there’s no indication on the cards themselves about what’s an event and what is not. Sure, after you’ve played the game many times you won’t need to fish around the rules to figure out what a card means, but until then it’s a huge barrier to entry.
Some of the rules of ZombieTown seem a little half baked, with a great example being the barricades. These come in varying strength, with each given a number that determines how many zombies it can keep at bay. According to the official rules, you’re supposed to keep that number hidden. I guess the goal is to prevent other players from strategizing about exactly how many zombies they need to divert to take down a house. The bizarre thing is that barricades can have traps as well, but if the strength number is hidden then the trap number is clearly visible. I’d think I was reading the rules wrong, but the cards are not designed in a way that would allow you to hide the trap number. This was the only rule that was so obviously impossible to follow that we immediately threw it out the window.
I’m truthfully trying to be reserved with the criticism I’m giving here, because I don’t think I can say with confidence that I’ve actually played ZombieTown yet. I’ve played some interpretation of it, but given the outcome I’m sure that we got several parts wrong. It’s not like Zombies!!!, which was so broken out of the box that I had to go get alternate rules before it was any fun. No, ZombieTown may be awesome as it was intended, but I still need to go online to figure out exactly how to play it. I’m not ready to write it off entirely, as that I really do like a lot of the ideas behind it, but I’m going to let this one sit until I can do some hardcore research.
21 Feb 2008
There are some action movies that feature a rich storyline where rampant violence is contextually appropriate. But most are riddled with half-baked plots that are a weak excuse for a series of action set pieces. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, unless they take that plot seriously, which for some reason almost all of them seem to do. Thankfully some action movies realize that the whole genre is ridiculous and leave the plot behind entirely. Of course your enjoyment of these is gated by whether you can consider excessive violence funny.
Shoot ‘Em Up is bound to be a polarizing movie. It’s intentionally shallow and gratuitous. There’s a plot, I guess, but it only kicks in after you’re already knee deep in over the top gunfight choreography. And if you think a movie of guns and one-liners sounds awesome, then you will enjoy Shoot ‘Em Up. If you don’t, chances are you’ll be mortally offended. There’s not much more I can write to sway you one way or the other, because all of the quality of this movie is visual and/or contextual. I guess I could describe it as a cousin of Hot Fuzz but darker and less obviously funny, if that helps. Or you can just go watch a trailer. Or I could just sum it up with one statement: “multiple vegetable-related fatalities.”
I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re jaded and desensitized like me, Shoot ‘Em Up is freaking awesome.
14 Feb 2008
I think I was in middle school the when I took a test to find out my Myers-Briggs personality type. It’s the sort of thing they made people do to figure out what career they were best suited for. Hell if I can remember what I tested as, although I can say with confidence that it started with an “Introversion.” Well, a lot of time has passed since then, and we have this whole internet thing, so thankfully you can go take a Myers-Briggs approximation online in no time.
This time around I tested as an INTJ. I can’t compare that to my younger self, but my guess is that I haven’t changed much. Certainly the Judging/Perceiving dichotomy is the most loaded of the four pairs, as that I doubt few people would rather be designated as “judging.” But apparently it refers to your preference for structure, which I’ll concede that my neuroses require. I think I might have fallen more on the open ended “P” side when I was younger, but I’ve probably benefitted from the slip (at least professionally). But I wonder if there’s a natural personality progression here. Kind of like becoming set in your ways, which for me is the most terrifying aspect of Becoming Old.
Of the four temperaments I’m placed with the Rationals, which apparently are in short supply (6%). That means that 94% of the people out there are irrational, right? Well, at least the description seems to match me pretty well. I do oppose to my specific designation of Mastermind, which of course implies that I should live in an underground lair somewhere. In general I’m in the same bucket as a bunch of boring scientists, but I do take comfort that I have the company of both Hannibal Lector and Gandalf the Grey.