E4: Early Arcade Games
Recorded on July 25th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.
om talks about early arcade games, starting with Spacewar! and ending with Donkey Kong. Jim describes his present-day arcade experiences.
Brian asks the group about game development, and they briefly discuss game development frameworks.
Referenced Items:
World of Tanks, 38 Studios - Boston Magazine, Scott Jennings - Broken Toys, Copernicus - MMO, Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore, Portal 2 Book, Bastion, Penny Arcade Expo, Fieldrunners 2, Subatomic Studios, Madfinger Zombie Game, King of Dragon Pass, Final Fantasy 3 - Google Play, Space Pirates and Zombies, Subspace, Spec Ops: The Line, Max Payne 3, Fake Sponsor - Cardboard Council, Metal Gear Solid, Alien vs. Predator, Midway Games, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Computer Space, Electro-Mechanical Game, Vertical Sync, Gun Fight, Space Invaders, Battlezone, Tempest, Xybots, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, 3DFX, Dance Dance Revolution, Kinect, Dance Maniax, Guitar Hero Arcade, Fruit Ninja, Chuck E Cheese’s, Big Buck Hunter, Golden Tee, Brady Bunch Movie, Pong, Galaga, Galaxian, Centipede, Missile Command, Atari, The Sopranos, Little Big Planet 2, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Lunar Lander, Spacewar!, Galaxy Game, Digital PDP–11, Donkey Kong, ECL Logic, General Computer Corp, Racing the Beam, Atari 2600, Breakout, Tank, Warlords, Boom Blox, Smash TV, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery, Unity3D Engine, Kongregate, PyGame, Löve2d, Crafty, Geometry Wars, Particle Effects, Flixel, Remember the Milk, Turbografix 16, Bonk’s Adventure, Military Madness.
E3: Quality and Value
Recorded on July 16th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.
Tom, Brian and Jim talk about the Steam Summer Sale and how the Hunger games is similar to Special Ops: The Line.
Jim drove the main topic for discussion - Quality and Value in games. Is cost per hour of attention a valid way to talk about entertainment value? This doesn't seem to be a factor with printed material, but it often comes up with video or video games.
Games as Art are great, but junk games and junk food both have their place (just ask the deep fried Twinkie guy at the county fair).
Referenced items:
Tribes: Ascend, World of Tanks, Majesty, Evil Genius, Steam Summer Sale, Harvest: Massive Encounter, Serious Sam, Starcraft, S.P.A.Z., Eve Online, The Ur-Quan Masters, Skyrim, The Witcher 2, From Dust, Splice, Scoregasm, Dear Esther, Offspring Fling, Wine, Cider, Borderlands 2, Special Ops 2: The Line, White Phosphorus, NHS - The Line, Heart of Darkness, Binding of Isaac, Procedural Generation, Zelda, Max Payne 3, Gladiator, Hunger Games, Fake: Sponsor: Tanooki Tailors, Journey, Ars - Diablo is a game that ends, Hurricane Irene, The Sopranos, Starsky and Hutch, Murphy Brown, The Sims, Halo, Angry Birds: Seasons, Harry Potter, Words with Friends, Twilight, Marauder Map, The Wire, Road Rules, Jersey Shore, Saved by the Bell, Modern Warfare, Madden NFL, Crytek, MASH, Kindoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Planescape: Torment, Darklands, X-Com: UFO Defense, Super Meat Boy, Nintendo Hard, Bioshock.
E2: Suspension of Disbelief
Recorded on July 5th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.
Story-driven games and degrees of freedom in games are covered. Is a choose your own adventure interactive story really a “game”? How about puzzle games that are heavily biased towards a cutscene-based story?
Is there a good way to classify or categorize games? Our hosts start to talk about this but do not come to any conclusions.
The way games deal with suspension of disbelief, either elegantly or poorly, is reviewed and the team wraps up with a summary of EvE Online for Jim.
Referenced items:
Jurassic Park, Casablanca, Jaws, Halo: CEA, Pac-Man, Dark Side of the Moon, F.E.A.R. 3, Bullet Time, Modern Warfare, Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Civilization, Settlers of Catan, Catan - AI Formulas, Velociraptor, Whimsy Land - Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, Borderlands, Dungeon Defenders, Iron Brigade, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, Resident Evil, Metal Gear, God of War, King’s Quest V, The Act, Dragon’s Lair, No High Scores: 100k Xbox Points, Tribes: Ascend, Jetpack Joyride, Journey, Fake Sponsor: Grog, Nethack, I Love Lucy, Choose Your Own Adventure, Metal Gear, Catherine, Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Uncharted 3, Mario 64, Assassin’s Creed, Mirror’s Edge, Strategery, Risk, Tetris, Helvetica Clock, Superbrothers: Swords and Sworcery, Pixeljunk, Voxel, Uncanny Valley, Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Wolfram Alpha Critique, Super Meat Boy, Grand Theft Auto 3, Air traffic controllers: Flight Simulator, Crossword Puzzle, Scrabble, Eve Online, Cow Clicker, Winterspring Frostsaber, Angelic Horse Mount, Tie Fighter, X11, PLEX, Counterstrike, Unfairness in PvP - Tobolds, Halo, Level 19 PvP - WoW, Ten Ton Hammer - EvE Tips, Unique Ships in EvE, Time Dilation in EvE.
E1: Introductions
Recorded on June 26th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.
Brian, Jim and Tom talk about beloved games and give some general background on their goals and interests regarding games. They each provide the following background info:
- Five games you love
- A game you wish you loved, but you can’t
- Your most memorable gaming experience
- A pet peeve in gaming (something that is easy to fix or avoid)
- A wish or dream (something that is hard to fix or do)
- What games you are playing now
[Editor’s Note: There was a technical error with this recording and some of Jim’s discussion right at the beginning was lost.]
Referenced items:
Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1, Mirror’s Edge, Assassin’s Creed, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, The Last Guardian, Red Faction: Guerilla, Homefront, Robotron:2084, Eugene Jarvis, Larry DeMar, World of Warcraft, ToeJam and Earl, Geometry Wars, Inferno, Portal, Tempest, Space Invaders, Vector Graphics, Battlezone, Fake Sponsor: Weighted Companion Cube, Nethack, Colossal Caves, Zork, Roguelike Games, Rogue, Angband, Ancient Domains of Mystery, X-Com: UFO Defense, X-Com: Terror From the Deep, Hunters (iOS), Masters of Orion 2, The Ur-Quan Masters, Twilight Imperium, Fable, Peter Molyneux, Grand Theft Auto 3, Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Penny Arcade: Backstory in The Old Republic, Natural Selection, Natural Selection 2, Tribes, Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Duke Nukem Forever, Left 4 Dead, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, Rise of Nations, NBA Jam, Double Dribble, Tony Hawk 2, Tecmo Bowl, Robo Rally, Little Big Planet 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Journey, Klax, Klax Strategies, Zelda, Golden Cartridge, Dwarf Fortress, Elder Scrolls, Curses, Eve Online, Fake Sponsor: Horse Armor, AT-AT Greyhound Costume,, Chicken Wing, Orisinal Games, 45 minute Baron Run, World of Warcraft - Karazhan, DKP, Halo Reach, Gears of War, Team Fortress, Counterstrike, No Zombies Allowed, Draw Something, Words with Friends, Super Smash Bros., Raving Rabbids, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Penny Arcade - Priorities, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, Skulls in Halo, Sith Slave: The Old Republic, Apocalypse Daily, Real Money Trade, Black and White, Sim City Deluxe, Populous, Civilization, The 10 year Civ Game, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, The Witcher, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Darkness: 2, Alan Wake, Lone Survivor, Superbrothers: Swords and Sworcery, Diablo 3, Torchlight 2, Tobolds: Workification, Gauntlet, World of Tanks, League of Legends, Jetpack Joyride, Carcassonne, Ascension, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.