What I've Been Listening To: June 14-20, 2009

Last week saw the launch of EverQuest 2's Game Update 52. The sad fact is that aside from doing the quests to get access to Kurn's Tower and the new live event involving mushroom rings, I haven't done any of the new content. At least I made it to the research assistant to start upgrading my combat arts.

A look at my site traffic shows that people using the search term "eq2 research assistant" are driving high amounts of traffic to the blog. Okay, not Tobold-type traffic, but high traffic for me. And while I haven't played EQ2 as much as I would like, I've still been able to blog and listen to podcasts.

Here is what I listened to last week.

First Time Listen

In-Game Chat, The No Balls Episode - Last week I wrote that I'm not really into podcasts about console games, and I think the In-Game Chat podcast just confirmed that view. The podcast is a weekly (I think) podcast about console games. I really couldn't get into the podcast because unlike the other podcasts I listen to, I didn't hear any talk about MMOs. To be fair, I stopped listening to the podcast after the first hour, so the podcast could have gotten better during the second hour.

The In-Game Chat podcast is a long-running podcast dating back to January 2006 that should have an adult rating due to language. It tends to run long (The No Balls Episode ran almost 2 hours). If you like console games, you might want to at least listen to an episode and come to your own conclusions. But if you are looking for a strictly MMO podcast, this is not a podcast for you.

Old Friends

Virgin Worlds #144 (Host: Not Brent) - Darren Love from Shut Up We're Talking and The Common Sense Gamer is the substitute host for this short edition of the Virgin Worlds podcast. I liked his point that EverQuest 2's research assistant sounds so much like Eve Online's time-based skill system. I've thought that, but Darren plays Eve, so his opinion counts for more.

Shut Up We're Talking #49 (Hosts: Darren and Karen) - The guests for this episode were Marty from Bullet Points Blog and Gary (Ardwulf) from Ardwulf's Lair. The two topics for the podcast were Dungeon & Dragons Online going to a free-to-play model and Gary's analysis of the player numbers on XFire. A very interesting podcast for those interested in the near term future of MMOs.

Van Hemlock #55 (Hosts: Tim Dale and Jon Shute) - Episode 55 is the E3 special, with the news segment dominated by E3 news. After reading all the major announcements, Tim & Jon came to the sad conclusion that the lack of MMORPG news means that MMO's, despite the recent success of Free Realms, are not mainstream.

If you find the E3 news boring, don't worry, because the normal format follows. If you really want to, just fast forward until you hear Tim & Jon read listener email. Yes, this week there is a listener email segment, and both emails concerned Eve Online. For Van Hemlock's take on the show, click here.

The Instance #149 (Hosts: Scott Johnson & Randy Jordan) - In this episode, travel takes center stage as not only is Blizzard making travel easier for lower level toons but Gerp now has a hog. In addition to the quick fire question segment and the content from the regular contributors, Scott and Randy discussed WoW's servers getting their own Twitter accounts, the upcoming new battleground, a site designed to help keep players healthy, and more reaction about the use of the Recount mod.

Channel Massive #90 (Hosts: Noah, Jason & Mark) - Jason is absent as Noah and Mark are joined by Phil, a restro druid from World of Warcraft to speak about the state of WoW and other things.

Channel Massive #91 (Hosts: Noah, Jason & Mark) - Jason is absent for a second show as Mark and Noah talked about Jumpgate, Free Realms, and Age of Conan. The podcast is still funny without Jason, but I can't wait until Jason's vision quest is over.

Spouse Aggro #79 (Hosts: Beau and Leala Turkey) - In this episode the Turkeys go to a Cracker Barrel and examine the question about adults playing MMOs. For me, the subject doesn't matter so much as long as its Beau and Leala talking.

Through the Aftermath #12 (Hosts: Shawn Schuster & Jonathan Morris) - Shawn and Jonathan have their second email show as they try to catch up on their email.

Trying To Catch Up With

PODDED Podcast Season 2 Episode 5 (Hosts: Dillon Arklight and War Childe) - I don't want to jump ahead of the podcasts, so I'm taking them in order. Topics include the upcoming Alliance Tournament, factional warfare, and Dillon's lesson that flying a stealth bomber doesn't mean you can't use TeamSpeak.