Tech-Gaming Technology, Gaming, and Culture
This week on the Tech-Gaming podcast: SeanNOLA experiences the potential revival of arcades, DesertEagle ponders some of the approaches of game journalism, and Jeremy articulates the virtues of the 4X genre. Beyond offering impressions of Mugen Souls, Sound Shapes, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, and WizOrb, we also welcome Ryan Phillips, Steven Carlton and Akaya Ito of NIS America to discuss the company’s upcoming titles. As always, stay tuned for our usual dose of gaming trivia, certain to challenge even hard-wired cerebral cortexes.
Note: Mugen Soul‘s U.S. release has been moved to October 16th, 2012; the European release is unaffected.
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Bonus Pic
Love the cheesy intro. Reminds me of the CAGcast.
Music this week was from Excel Saga (more specifically from the “Love Hina” dating game that Ilpallazzo plays), which I thought was appropriate given our guests this week.
Sean, do you know they posted you instead of Blanka on the NISA Facebook page? And that’s how you treat them? 😉
I saw that as well. Sean is now part of the Prinny army!
Love the way you guys giggle as each other’s immuendo.
You should “put it in” every show.
I expect you to smile and Des to laugh and say “Fuck, yeah!” at that joke.
Question: If a soundproof wall falls, can the listeners hear it.
Answer: This podcast is long overdue.
Fun fact, Sean’s wall is actually lined with Japanese love pillows.
Furthermore, the sound they made when they fell was obscene squealing girl voices, so we had to overwrite the sound in post. <_<
I don’t believe that for a second.
Deagle would have reacted differently and said, “OMG, it that a rare Etna fleshlight love pillow so have Sean. So unfair, I want that now. Well, wash it first. by hand.”
That is so NOT true! I did not ask him to wash it, I did it myself.
Everything else is more or less accurate.
Which one of you has the Pokemon fetish?
Also: Where’s Blue and Sage? You didn’t even mention them in the intro.
Sage was on a plane back from CO, where she was testing for her Black Belt.
I think Blue had some sort of dinner engagement. I don’t remember exactly what went down.
Sailorcon 2012 happened.
Yeah, I was off doing some intensive Martial Arts training. Sorry for the absence. I should be available for the next one, though.
Lets hear about it on the next show, if you don’t mind.
“Should be”?
Make it happen, Sensei! I always like the show more when you’re on it.
Thanks Pocky (I also love Pocky by the way). I think I’m flying back in on the day our next cast records…I’m at another Aikido thing, this time a weapons intensive.
El Gato- noted, I’ll mention both trips on the next show I’m on 🙂
so between deagle’s armory, Sage’s weapons training and NOLA tables how come you haven’t taken down IGN headquarters and stopped the pollution of young minds. hehe.
Hear that Sektor? Sage know how to handle her weapons?
What kind, specially?
Sean’s recollection was spot-on. Sorry I couldn’t make it, guys. :S
I should be able to make the next show. Can’t wait to gush about (finally) finishing Persona 3: Portable and how it got me a little misty-eyed.[/Teaser]
Wow, how long did it take altogether?
Needs 100% more Andrea Rene. The drunk kind.
No, that’s not even funny. Although Blue does play the comic foil, but he’s way more interesting the Andrea. Just not 1/10 as sexy sounding.
Thanks!… Uh… I think! XD
So far great show. Can I just tell you I love the way you guys get right on and skip the “let’s talk about our uninteresting lives” foreplay.
Question for next week: what do you think about the Polygon reality show thing? Any interest at all? I think it’s hard to get excited for it.
Polygon was assembled from a group of personalities because of their star power. It’s a little silly to expect that they wouldn’t want to try to leverage that.
I’m not going to watch their documentary, but more power to them for doing it. I think it’s pretty weird that folks are getting so bothered by it.
(That said, someone please make a GIF of the scene from Anchorman where they all point at each other, but put Polygon heads on the people.)
I’m not bothered by it, but I probably won’t watch it. As for star-power, none of these guys are exactly household names. (I don’t know who tattoo guy is and guy on porch either.)
Still, it goes back to the eternal question- would you rather be playing games or watching a show about a bunch of guys that write about games? For 80% of players, I’d say it’s the first. 20% of people were really into “The Tester” I guess.
If they wanted star power they would have went after Adam Sessler and Geoff Keighley. Arthur Geis and Chris Grant aren’t exactly big names outside of hardcore games that follow game news.
I don’t plan on watching it either. SO I guess the big question is…who is the audience for the Polygon story.
it’s about time you have an interview. I’ve missed Deagle’s bits in the middle of the show.
BTW- How many times has NIS been on?
Don’t you know it’s the NIS podcast with occasional Tech-Gaming guests? duh!
Des, totally agree with you about Sound Shapes, Des. Some of the levels aren’t all that good. But on the whole it’s great. Ive been playing it more than any other game, even PS3 ones.
I’m interested to try Sound Shapes some time soon. A lot of personal friends really seem to like it. I’m hopeful that it will live up to expectations.
However! My “chain of 2012 indie darling disappointment” has been broken this year already… but by another game. Hope to get to talk about it.
Give us a clue at least. You’ve got to offer than at least.
It’s a game that has gotten mostly mediocre reviews, with only a few exceptions. :O
Remind me to evoke the “championing the underdog” discussion to derail our next show, ok?
Seriously, I’m always curious as to what The Lawman has up his sleeve.
Is that SeanNOLA about to undergo torture? Why are they making him watch hours of cheesy anime. Isn’t there laws against that type of thing?
That’s NOLA? So not how I pictures him. He looks like a younger skinnier Chris Kohler.
Haha, yea that’s me. I didn’t realize until I read this post that I had no idea what Chris Kohler actually looked like. There aren’t many flattering pictures of him, but I can kinda see the resemblance!
Hooray for new show. Second cheer for NIS appearance.
So far, so good. Liking Sean’s talk.
I really liked Jeremys discussion. He’s the man!
Thanks PSpapa! I forget what I talked about. I’m going to download the show and listen right now!
Actually, I do remember that I had wanted to talk about the MMO The Secret World, which I played during the free weekend. It will probably be too passé to talk about it in the future though. 🙁 Turns out it was really pretty good!
Looks like someone was sentenced to the chair.
I hope there’s some Japanese game talk. You know you guys hardly deliver any of that.
I’m a bit surprised no one (so far) mentioned New Super Mario Bros. 2 or the XL, it’s the big deal this past week.
My Dad has Woody and Arlo Guthrie records still. Jeremy, your joke wasn’t lost on me.
Oh man, I was so close — SO CLOSE — to busting out some Arlo Guthrie right there!
Then again, talk of pickles and tickles might have just encouraged the unsavory elements of the show.
Here’s the link to the Beaterator guy: http://www.365songs.co.uk/
Very interesting story about the guy behind it: http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/19491/the-365-songs-project-by-chris-sands.html
Day 364 is pretty groovy. Jeremy, I want you to take it back. These are quite good. Plus the guy had brain cancer.
Actually, pursuant to our podcast conversation about “cutting people more slack because you know about the creators”, do you think we should give a pass to bad Beaterator songs because the creator has brain cancer? 😉
I’m serious though. That convo in our show has stuck with me.
First, you have to take the time frame into account. Creating a song like that in less than 24 hours if pretty amazing. Most of his songs are more agreeably that the shit they play on the radio.
You also kind of have to take that into account they way they are created. He was bed ridden and couldn’t play guitar.
People do acknowledge and elevate Beethoven’s music because he was deaf right?
Well, but that’s exactly the point of that question. Do you look at it and say “Hey, that’s pretty good for doing it in a day!” or do you say “Well, it’s not as good as this other professionally-produced track, based purely on the listening experience”?
Yes! Everyone check this out!
Yuckman, no, I totally respect what the guy did! It’s AMAZING that he did it with his PSP. If you’re going to make a song every day though, they’re not all going to be gems.
I wish I could even do ONE song with my copy of Beaterator. It looked so confusing!
I might have put more time into Sins of a Solar Empire then any other game. Its so easy to get marathon sessions goings. The game is really a drug.
Sins kind of scares me. I try not to look directly at it for fear I’ll get sucked in.
I downloaded the new Elemental: Fallen Enchantress beta, and decided just to load it up and see if it worked. Five minutes passed before I knew what happened, so I ran from the computer.
I should probably go back and try it again.
What the hell is up with all the frightening pictures this week?
I’m in the Sound Shape camp with you Des. The fact that you can create levels really makes it fun.
I’m in for the Dust code!
Yes, Dust, do want!
Sean’s future of arcade talk was interesting, but seems like a long, long shot.
Who has the pokefetish?
Ive seen Deagle help push two Kickstarters now. What gives? Are you getting paid?
You didn’t think Dust was pure furry porn?
I felt a little bad about dissing furries so much by the end.
You never know. We could be on the wrong side of civil rights history by making fun of them…
Ever notice ever other review in the world was creeping out by the furries, but Deagle didn’t say a damn thing about it?
Just saying.
excellent show, gentleman!
I could use a Dust:AET code, please!
One word– bringbacksamurage.
Other than that the show as good. Just as good as three pervy guys can get.
Thanks Helloween! I was off doing intensive training for a black belt test ( i passed 🙂 ) Should be back next time.
I’d be happy to give Dust a good home!
Downloading now. sounds like a good one.
As much as I’d love to see arcades make a come back (“I’d drop 4 tokens in that” says Deagle like they haven’t disappeared) I doubt this could get people that excited. They seem like novelties. Sure, Pong was a novelty at one time, but there was both some learning (angle you hit the ball) and the concept was also easily understood.
I think it comes down to providing experiences that people don’t want to put in their home, and making sure that the systems in place a modular enough that business owners could cycle content.
I think between accessory fatigue and a move toward un-boxed content, people are going to want a place to play those games every once in a while without having to have a closet full of plastic guitars, lightguns, tympanis, skateboards etc.
I don’t think we’ll see arcades like we had them before, and I don’t think it will ever be a thing that the “core” shows any interest in ever again, but I can see the Wii crowd preferring a meat-space location rather than investing in more dust-collectors.
This makes sense.
I don’t want to pay $100 for a game and plastic guitar or skateboard. I’d rather pay $2.00 for a quick fix.
One clarification- isn’t the “core” crowd the Wii crowd?
Not to mention the times when you’re walking around with several friends and you all just want to engage in an activity that you can all participate in and have a good time doing, something more complex than drinking. I’ve had that happen with friends several times–we’d like to go somewhere for a while, play some games, have the option of a variety of choices, and not go to one person’s house with not enough room or which they don’t want to get trashed. Though it’s not an all the time desire, its not super rare either. Arcades are very good for that as well.
“and not go to one person’s house with not enough room or which they don’t want to get trashed.”
So true. Even though my friends try to be considerate and they recycle like good Canadians, my place always looks kind of messy after they leave.
Who starting drinking during trivia…be honest here?
I do like they way you guys try to do things that other shows aren’t. Most people don’t do interviews in the middle, trivia isn’t very popular and talking about experimental game you have to sign waivers for? No one does that.
I haven’t drank on the show in over a year!
I was actually really surprised how few people covered SIGGRAPH, especially since it was in LA this year. There was a lot of interesting stuff, and sure it was mostly conceptual, but so was the idea of playing games from a CD-ROM at one point. I think it’s one of the more important industry shows.
I think they were talking about Des’s stumbling with reading. BTW If SIGGRAPH is in LA, why didn’t he go.
In the past year, I think Ive had a total of two beers. And to answer the next question, they weren’t at the same time.
I’m not a drinker.
But…why?
Same here. I’ve tried multiple times, but booze just doesn’t float my boat, either. Gimme Welch’s Sparkling Red Grape Juice or gimme nothing at all!
Yeah, I haven’t touched alcohol is years. It just makes me tired and grouchy.
Play the harp? Shit, I want electricity to give me an incredible HJ.
Yeah, the NIS doods!
So why was Mugen Souls delayed. And when do we get a Legasista review?
For next show. How do you guys get your ads? I can’t seem to get anyone to advertize on my site.
Mugen Souls sounds kind of fun and funny. It’s coming out at a really bad time though- lots of competition.
NIS interview was good, so was trivia. No Sage or Blue? not so much.
Finally getting around to downloading and freeing my schedule for a listen.
I see you get a lot of comments. Can I ask how many listeners the show gets?
With NIS America on the show, this would have been the perfect episode to debut my Super Prinny Voice-O-Matic machine.
What a missed opportunity, dood!
I’d like to hear more (maybe on the next podcast) on why Deagle was kind of indifferent toward Papo and Yo. If Jeremy gets a change to play it, I would mind a discussion between the two.
For any of you playing NSMB2, care to comment on this: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AustinIvansmith/20120827/176530/Nintendo_Makes_3D_Pointless_With_New_Super_Mario_Bros_2_Blur_Effect.php
When the next show coming out? What’s the schedule?
Space Junk will be hitting your ears very soon.