What I've Been Listening To: June 21-27, 2009

Once again big news came out of Las Vegas, this time because of SOE's Fan Faire 2009. But that news hasn't made the podcasts yet so that is something to look forward to over the next week or two. In the meantime there is a lot of podcast goodness out there. I'm behind in my podcast listening and I listened to 13 1/2 hours of podcasts last week.

If you are looking for a good place to start listening to podcasts about MMORPGs, head on over to the Virgin Worlds Podcast Collective. Brent has done a wonderful job of putting together a stable of podcasts that form up the bulk of the podcasts I listen to each week.

First Time Listen

The Drone Bay #22 (Hosts: Crovan, CrazyKinux & Alsedrech) - After a 7-8 month hiatus, The Drone Bay is coming back. This Eve Online podcast is pretty well-known but I never had a fresh episode with all three hosts to listen to until now. The hosts said that they are reconsidering some things they have done in the past going forward and may begin bringing in experts to help explain some of the new features, like wormholes. The hosts also spent a lot of time apologizing about the length of time they were away.

The hosts themselves said that the good was pretty good until about show 16, so I might go back and listen to the earlier episodes before I try entering Eve. I'm going to give this podcast a listen to in the future just to see where this podcast goes. Length: 40 minutes.

Old Friends

Virgin Worlds #145 (Host: Brent Darren) - Darren Love from The Common Sense Gamer and Shut Up We're Talking podcast hosts VW for the second week in a row and clearly became more comfortable as a solo performer in this episode. Topics included closed beta news, Star Trek and ship combat, Warhammer Online's top 5 priorities, gamers playing more but paying less, Massively.com's beta watch, bridging the East/West divide, and PS3 news. Length: 25 minutes.

Van Hemlock #56 (Hosts: Tim Dale and Jon Shute) - In an episode advertised as their least prepared ever, Tim & Jon showed that even without a great deal of preparation they still are better than most podcasters out there. The Twitter question, what MMO mechanic annoys you the most, turned into the main topic of the podcast. For Van Hemlock's take on the show, click here. Length: 82 minutes.

Van Hemlock #57 (Hosts: Tim Dale and Jon Shute) - The podcast was a news & "what I've played" show with Van Hemlock returning to Planetside in the wake of SOE's announced closing of The Matrix Online. For Van Hemlock's take on the show, click here. Length: 105 minutes.

No Prisoners, No Mercy #36 (Hosts: Sister Julie and Sister Fran) - Wow! Just wow! They work on about 3 shows at the same time and this time produced a gem, no matter what number episode it is. Where to start? How about with their announcement that they will be doing an interview with Warhammer Online's Paul Barnett in a future episode? Maybe the interview the sister's did with Keen from Keen and Graev's Gaming Blog about WAR's Land of the Dead expansion and other things WAR? How about the sisters dragging Keen into a segment of "Mad as Hell?" Or how about the second hour (yes, second hour) of the podcast and the interview with Saylah from Mystic Worlds about Runes of Magic? With the split in the podcast, I was able to listen to the first part on the train ride to work and the second part on the train ride home.

One further thing about the podcast. As regular listeners know, the sisters stop the recording of the podcasts at frequent intervals in order to save their work and not have an epic loss of content. Sister Julie took the opportunity of the breaks during the second hour to insert some old music with a magic theme to it. I may be showing my age once you listen to it, but I found it very enjoyable collection of musical snippets. Length: 118 minutes.

The Instance #150 (Hosts: Scott Johnson & Randy Jordan) - Life (i.e. change) goes on in World of Warcaft as the hosts discuss the changes upcoming in patch 3.2. I listen to the podcast from the perspective of an EverQuest 2 player who reached level 60 in Vanilla WoW and I have to say listening to this podcast does make me feel good. Having copied dual-spec from EQ2, Blizzard is going to introduce the level-locking mechanic in the next patch. If WoW is still copying features from EQ2, then my favorite game can't be that bad. Level-locking makes sense in EQ2, but I don't know about WoW. I think Scott and Randy did a good job during that discussion. And of course, don't forget to listen to the end to hear the content from the regular contributors. Length: 114 minutes.

Channel Massive #92 (Hosts: Noah, Jason & Mark) - Jason returns to the podcast as the M Team discussed FreeRealms and E3. Noah shares some of his experiences from the conference during the one-hour "E3 round table of death." And of course, much discussion about the people protesting the making of Left 4 Dead 2. Length: 116 minutes.

Spouse Aggro #80 (Hosts: Beau and Leala Turkey) - The Turkey's visit an Italian restaurant and talk about Beau's experience in Darkfall and Aion.. The Turkey's had strong views about Darkfall before. I don't think those have changed even though Beau did say some nice things about the game. Oh, and they talked about a movie about LARPers. Length: 47 minutes.

Through the Aftermath #12 (Hosts: Shawn Schuster and Jonathan Morris) - The hosts go through their email in a far-ranging show about the post-apocolypic genre. Length: 85 minutes.

Trying to Catch Up

EQ2's-day Originally Broadcast on June 2, 2009 (Hosts: Dellmon and Zanadi) - Dellmon posted 3 shows in a week and I'm a little behind listening to the show. In this show, Dellmon goes off on Free Realms (he's addicted) and Zanadi discusses the differences between her monk and assassin now that Zanadi's assassin has beaten Dellmon's sorry troubadour to level 80. Length: 83 minutes.