Listening To: VirginWorlds #147

Podcast: VirginWorlds #147
Host: Brent
Release Date: 16 May 2010
Length: 78:12

After almost a year's absence, Brent has published a new episode of the VirginWorlds podcast. With an assist from Darren Love from VirginWorlds.com podcast Shut Up. We're Talking, Brent begins the podcast by explaining why the long drought in podcasts and what the future may hold for the VirginWorlds podcast. Brent asked a good question in whether the old format is now relevant with the emergence of Massively Speaking and Van Hemlock filling the void of MMORPG weekly news when Brent stopped the podcast.

As is usual with a VirginWorlds podcast, Brent and Darren went though a lot of games. This episode's list included Age of Conan, Dungeons and Dragons Online, EverQuest II, Guild Wars 2, Sword of the New World 2, Eve Online, Warhammer Online, Moonlight Online, Mortal Online, Planetside, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Super Hero Squad Online and Warhammer 40K MMO. For me, the biggest news was the leak of the name of the next EQ2 expansion and that EA will probably not release The Old Republic in fiscal year 2011. This may come as a bit of a surprise considering that back in January the developers were looking to release the game in the first quarter of 2011. So if you want to get into the Star Wars universe, Star Wars: Galaxies is still the only game in the MMORPG genre.

I'll definitely look forward to the next VirginWorlds podcast to see what direction Brent takes the podcast.

Listening To: Shut Up. We're Talking #62

Podcast: Shut Up. We're Talking #62
Hosts: Darren and Karen
Release Date: 6 May 2010
Length: 62:04

One of my favorite podcasts is Shut Up. We're Talking. This episode had three guests: podcasters Garry Gannon of GameBreaker and Jonathan Morris from Through The Aftermath and blogger Sara Picknel of Symptom of a Greater Cure. Hmm ... didn't I listen to Gary and Darren on GamerBreaker #10? Yes, and I have to say this episode of Shut Up. We're Talking was much better.

I think with the sale of the sparkle pony in World of Warcraft that Darren has become one of the most sought after guests on podcasts due to his stance on Runes of Magic's $10 horse. But the discussion was not limited to the pony. The panel ranged far and wide, looking at consumerism in our games, Blizzard's motivation at introducing the pony, DRM, and the future of real money transactions (RMT) in MMOs.

The second topic of discussion was Roger Ebert's blog post about video games never being considered art. I think Gary sounded better discussing the topic than he did on his own show. I'm not sure if that is because on his own show he was the host and thus couldn't express all his own thoughts, but I liked this discussion better. Also, I thought Jonathan included a couple of movie references that were a bit of a smack at Mr. Ebert. I really liked his example of how the view of Star Wars has changed over the years.

For those who have read the blog for awhile, my recommendation that you should listen to this episode should come as no surprise.

Listening To: PODDED Podcast #28

Podcast: PODDED Podcast #28 - The Final Show
Hosts: Dillon Arklight & War Childe
Release Date: 5 May 2010
Length: 81:08

The PODDED Podcast has been the most steady and frequently published Eve Online podcast I found over the last year. I ate up every podcast and always looked for more. So I was sad to hear that episode 28 was the last show. I recommend listening to this last one as the hosts talked with a couple of friends about the latest goings on in New Eden.

Listening To: The Instance #187

Podcast: The Instance #187 - "Bag Passion"
Hosts: Scott Johnson & Randy Jordan
Release Date: 3 May 2010
Length: 116:48

This episode of The Instance is why I shouldn't try to blog about 2 hour podcasts. Real life got in the way of writing a real post. Instead of writing about how insightful Scott and Randy were about all the new Cataclysm news published by Blizzard or how much I enjoyed listening to Reggie add color to the podcast in a Madden-like way, I spent my time looking at hotels in Sofia. That's right, I'm going to Bulgaria for a business trip. I think I figured it out, now I just have to call the travel agent and see about getting the trip booked. But I don't feel as bad as that one guy who left a voice message for the show asking advise after his wife left his casual guild for a raiding guild so she could get better gear.

The Instance, in case you haven't heard of it before, is one of the best, if not THE best, World of Warcraft podcasts. I've subscribed. Those two hour podcasts might come in handy and fill in some time on that long flight over the Atlantic.

Listening To: Declarations of War #13

Podcast: Declarations of War #13
Hosts: Alekseyev Karrde, Kan3r Blaze, Jimer Lins
Release Date: 2 May 2010
Length: 90:23

While browsing through iTunes I was pleasantly surprised to find a podcast published by one of Eve Online’s mercenary alliances. The podcast, Declarations of War, is put together by the Noir. Mercenary Group, which in the last few months has made news doing everything from coming to Chribba’s defense to being the first mercenary corporation since the Great War to take sovereignty in 0.0 space. So I was really interested to hear a podcast from this group.

The first segment of the podcast was a review of Noir’s contracts. The mercenaries completed contracts in Insmother and Providence plus busted up a couple of player-owned stations. I got a kick out of the business end of these contracts as seen from the mercenaries’ point of view.

Next was a segment on Eve news, which was interesting since the hosts helped make some of that news. First they covered the situation in Providence in which Against ALL Authorities finished booting CVA out of the region and help install small alliances into the space. Paxton Federation was singled out for their continuing presence in Providence, although it sounds like that future may not be long.

In additional war news the hosts gave their take on the Northern Coalition vs. Southern Coalition battle that has finally begun. They recommended a web site, Northern-Crusade.com, to visit to follow the war and gave their opinion on sov warfare.

Following the war news came commentary on the upcoming Council of Stellar Management elections. The hosts provided their endorsements for candidates which, not surprisingly, included Noir member Mynxee. The hosts bring some experience to the subject since Alekseyev is currently a member of the CSM.

The final two stories were the local invisibility exploit that some players were using against Russian players and coverage of the Alliance Tournament VIII selection process. Sounds like things are not running smoothly, but Noir is in and expecting to make a better showing than in AT7.

The last section of the show covered “The Week in Mercs” and covered some mercenary news. But for me the best part was when the hosts talked about Noir’s invasion of 0.0 space to take 4 systems. The stories were pretty good, including their take on Mynxee’s post on how she almost lost her jump freighter.

If you haven’t listened to an Eve podcast before, download this one. I loved it. Declarations of War looks like it comes out very often anymore, but I hope the hosts pick up the pace. After all, making a podcast is better than carebearing, right?

Listening To: ST:OKast #005

Podcast: ST:OKast #005
Hosts: Todd Gilbert & Brandan Higgins
Release Date: 27 April 2010
Length: 60:37

The ST:OKast is the first Star Trek Online podcast I’ve listened to. The podcast and hosts were clearly influenced by the World of Warcraft podcast The Instance, using terms like “rumors and scuttlebutt” and having additional content like Techno Babble and a lore segment at the end of the podcast. In fact, Todd and Brandan have even advertised on The Instance.

But while parts of the ST:OKast sound familiar, their approach to covering the game is one I haven’t really heard before. While some game podcasts will use a segment to cover the forums, ST:OKast is all about covering the ST:O forums. The verdict? I liked it.

The news the hosts featured came from the forums, featuring news on upcoming lower level content, efforts to make Memory Alpha less confusing, the possibility of purchasing bridge set-ups seen in the various Star Trek series, the results on a poll on what players want most in ship interiors, and an update in the death penalty. The hosts also have a feature in which they select the best post of the week. This episode’s winner was a thread about adapting the game so players can use voice recognition software to play the game. The fact that players have figured out how to do that has me tempted to try the game out just to see that in action. I've included a video of a player demonstrating using the voice commands below. Wow!

I do want to say that my impression is that Todd and Brendan are not die-hard fanbois for the game. From listening to the podcast I get the impression that the game was launched without a lot of content and needs a lot of work. But they are also not cynics either and believe the game is only going to get better. Fair and balanced coverage? I’ll let you be the judge.

One of the truisms about MMORPGs is that a good community can make a good game into something special. Eve Online is a good example of this principal as its player-driven stories are what drive the popularity of the indie sci-fi title. I was wondering how Star Trek Online could compete with that aspect of the game. Perhaps Turbine can’t, but I believe that Todd and Brandan have figured out a way to tap into the community to bring more to their podcast than just the game.

I don’t like to judge a podcast until episode 5 because, like a new MMO, I like to give the hosts of a podcast a chance to work out a lot of the bugs. I think I can now fairly say that ST:OKast has a good concept and a pair of enthusiastic hosts who show a lot of promise. I’m not going to subscribe to the podcast, but only because it is based on a single game that I do not play. But if you are playing STO, and especially if you don’t want to spend hours in the forums finding the best posts, then I would recommend giving ST:OKast a listen.

About "Listening To"

Back when I created The Nosy Gamer, I started a feature called, rather unimaginatively, "What I've Been Listening To". Running every Sunday from February 22 - August 16 2009, I reviewed the podcasts that I had listened to during the previous week. But after 6 months I ended the series because not only was it feeling like work but I wanted to concentrate more on writing original content about MMOs.

Looking back over the last 8 months, THAT idea didn't work out too well. Real life got in the way more than once and at one point I almost gave up the blog. But I never did give up listening to podcasts about MMORPGs. Now that I have bought an iPod Touch and have subscribed to iTunes, I'm listening to a steady stream of podcasts on the train to and from work every day. Over the past two weeks I've spent more time listening to the podcasts than actually playing games. So the appeal of writing about podcasts has returned, since I've got two hours every day in which I am not connected to the interwebs and thus really can't work.

What I've come up with is something I'm calling "Listening To". The idea is to write a post about a podcast within one day of listening to it. I also want to post newly published podcasts to make my posts more relevant. One of the weaknesses of a weekly feature like "What I've Been Listening To" was that some of the posts were rather out of date. Hopefully the new format will be more useful as well as entertaining.

Listening To: Channel Massive #129

Podcast: Channel Massive #129 – Dowels of the Doomspeaker
Hosts: Mark & Noah
Release date: 28 April 2010
Length: 55:19

And then there were two. Since the last time I did podcast reviews last August Jason has left the podcast. In this episode Mark and Noah sounded a bit more subdued than usual without Jason or their many guest hosts wandering onto the podcast. I think they were suffering from lack of material due to a slow news week.

I don’t think their hearts were really into the story about how using a Wii Fit turned a woman into a nymphomaniac. I think the story about the death of a HALO MMO at the hands of MicroSoft was a reach since the game murder occurred in 2008. The story about the Eve player using bamboo to multi-box within the rules of the EULA got a bit more of a charge out of the hosts, but not much more.

Or perhaps the hosts just were more enthused about the first and last of the show’s news stories. The pair led off the news segment with the short-lived offer wall Turbine placed in Dungeons & Dragons Online. I missed seeing that myself, but maybe because the wall was only up for 24 hours. The story really needed Jason to come along and say, “Epic fail, Turbine, epic fail!”

Of course, Noah and Mark had to come up with a story that actually made me think. That story was about the bi-partisan commission that President Obama created to address the gaping federal government budget deficit wanting to create a game to encourage people to come up with ideas to solve the problem. They could not understand what the commission was thinking. The government creating America’s Army as a recruiting tool they could understand. But to solve the budget deficit? Who is going to play that game. Aren’t all the players who game with spreadsheets already playing Eve Online?

Damn you Mark & Noah for that story! Now I’m going to have to write a blog post this weekend to get what I’m thinking out of my system. But the short version is that the commission wants the game for the same reason the Army developed America’s Army: as a recruiting tool. Any proposal that comes out of the committee (and with 14 out of 18 votes required to produce a report, the committee may not even issue a report) will need some popular backing to get the Congress critters to accept them. So if people have played the game and maybe understand the issues, then maybe they would support the commission. Of course, that would mean developing the game in such a way that the players would come to the conclusions the commission wants. Higher taxes anyone?

I’ve listened to a few episodes of Channel Massive since Jason left and I’ve heard Mark & Noah do better, so the problem isn’t Jason’s absence. I think they just had an off show. But even listening to an off show from this pair was an enjoyable experience and doesn’t make me regret subscribing to this podcast.

Listening To: Van Hemlock #100

Podcast: Van Hemlock #100
Hosts: Tim Dale & Jon Shute
Release Date: 28 April 2010
Length: 58:23

The Van Hemlock Podcast, much to the surprise of the hosts, has reached episode 100. Unlike a lot of podcasts that reach a significant milestone, Tim and Jon decided to look ahead instead of at the past. In a change in format, the hosts started with the week's Twitter question; what is the future of gaming? The quality of the submissions really makes the segment work every week and gives the hosts a chance to wander far afield.

After the Twitter segment, Tim unveiled his Tardis. Of course, Tim was only able to build one large enough to hold his iPhone, so Tim and Jon sent it into the future to download future Van Hemlock podcasts. The podcasts turn from the serious to the ridiculous as the duo send their iPhone farther and farther forward in time. I definitely smiled and chuckled throughout the skit.

Once again Tim and Jon produced another quality episode that I'd recommend listening to.

Listening To: SOE Official Podcast #84 - Free Realms B-Day

Podcast: Sony Online Entertainment Official Podcast #84
Host: Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske
Release Date: 26 April 2010
Length: 50:55

Some people look at the official podcasts of gaming companies and just are not interested. Why? Because the podcasters are employees of the game company and have to toe the party line. That can lead to some boring and sugarcoated talk. But I wanted to listen to the SOE Official Podcast #84 for two reasons. Not only did the podcast come at the one year anniversary of the launch of Free Realms, but it was the first episode to come out without its founder, former SOE Community Relations Manager and, more recently, EverQuest 2 Senior Producer Alan “Brenlo” Crosby.

So how did the SOE podcast crew handle the transition? First, Brenlo’s longtime co-host Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske is now the permanent host and long-time news reader Jason “Pex” Ryan took a turn as the co-host. For this show Jason, the Community Manager for Free Realms, was the obvious choice since the podcast would focus on Free Realms. For the future, the current plan is to have a rotating crew of co-hosts and for the next episode listeners will get to vote on the next co-host. My vote is for Linda “Brasse” Carlson. Why? Because I’d really like to listen to her try to be corporate. I’m more used to listening to her appearances on The Jethal Silverwing Show on Online Gaming Radio.

As for Brenlo’s departure from SOE, the crew didn’t say anything themselves. The only mention was from a reader e-mail expressing reget and good wishes to Brenlo on his future. Yet more evidence that Brenlo’s departure wasn’t on the best of terms.

As is customary, the podcast had a news segment in which news of SOE’s games gets mentioned. EverQuest players will see changes in mercenary pricing, new alternate achievements and some fine tuning of the Underfoot raid. EverQuest 2 players were briefly told about the Passport program and directed to ZAM.com for interviews with the new producer of EQ2. Star Wars: Galaxies players will be getting a lot of new content to include a lot more storage for their stuff. And Pox Nora came out with its 13^th expansion on the 26^th.

Of course, the big news was the 1^st birthday for Free Realms. Aimee interviewed Free Realm’s Tiffany Chu and the pair went over all the in-game celebrations. I’m almost tempted to log in to see if the cake monsters disrupt the parties that will be held every hour today.

Official podcasts from game companies are supposed to drum up interest in their games and this podcast did a good job. Did you know that there are in-game staff wandering around the game world? Or that they hold live events on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Combine that with fun things like the cake monster boss that will run around as part of the celebration and I remember why the game is popular.

The Official SOE Podcast is not the greatest podcast by any means. But I’m going to listen to the next few just to see the direction it takes with the departure of Brenlo.

Listening To: Game Breaker #10

Podcast: Game Breaker #10 - Ebert Hates You
Host: Gary Gannon
Release date: 26 April 2010
Length: 50:09

Now that I have an iPod I've been playing around with subscribing to podcasts on iTunes. Yes, as much as I love podcasts, I never was attracted to the iTunes store. I always preferred going to Virgin Worlds. But now that I have the hardware, I've taken the plunge.

One of the first podcasts I downloaded was Game Breaker, which is actually a video podcast about games. I was a bit concerned about putting a large file like a 50 minute video podcast on my iPod, but I gave it a try. The host Gary Gannon is the former co-host of the popular Massively Online Gamer podcast that lasted 98 episodes. The guests for the episode were two podcasters I am familiar with: Massively Online's Editor-in-Chief and host of Massively Speaking Shawn Schuster and Shut Up We're Talking host and Common Sense Gamer blogger Darrin Love. Joining the two were BFF Report host Mike B. (aka Fony) and Jim Festante from The Game Show on theStream.tv.

The show's title, "Ebert Hates You", is based on the main subject discussed on the episode, a Roger Ebert blog post stating that games can never be considered art. Darrin took the side agreeing with Mr. Ebert while the others maintained that games are art. The conversation was entertaining and worth the time I spent listening to the podcast.

For the record, I agree with Darrin on this subject. I'd comment further, but Darrin did such a good job describing his thinking on his blog I'll suggest you go there. But then again, I got the point he was trying to make about the $10 dollar horse too, so that might make me a bit strange.

Other topics discussed were Warner Bros. purchase of Turbine, Blizzard developers for StarCraft 2 telling Gamasutra they are not trying to be innovative with the new title, another move toward 3d gaming, and one of the games under development for Sony's Project Natal.

I really enjoyed listening to the podcast, but not enough to subscribe to the video podcast. I just don't want to fill up my iPod's hard drive with all those files. Fortunately the podcast also has an mp3 edition I can download and I've subscribed to that.