3901

Done with Rebel FM.

Listening to Arthur Gies complain about the quality of Vanquish before cutting to a song from Times of Grace pretty much sums up the podcast from me.

3902

You sound like me 2 years ago.

3903

My wife doesn’t mind when I play TWiT in the car, because a lot of it is about mac stuff and phones and she says she usually understands what they’re talking about.

She likes the Qt3 podcast, because, “It isn’t about the games, it’s about the people” and she thinks some of you guys are pretty funny.

All other games podcasts she politely asks if we can listen to something else because to her it’s like they’re speaking Martian.

3904

I’m not surprised about TwiT. Leo has been turning it into total fluff over time for a while now. He spends almost as much time talking about the hosts as he does about topics. And the show must be at least 10% commercials. Ugh.

Tom is easy to digest, plus it’s a calm two-person conversation.

3905

I play movie podcasts in front of my wife, never games podcasts though. Not because I’m ashamed, but because she’d be bored out of her skull.

3906

I’m fairly sure there was a discussion in here, not so long ago, about how the Joystiq podcast really grated people. Something about poor production values and one guy sounding like he was constantly drooling on his microphone. I gave it half a show to impress me and it failed.

After reading the more recent positive posts about the cast, I searched 35 pages backwards in this thread and couldn’t find the discussion that I’m going on about. My mind must be playing tricks on me.

I’ve given the podcast another shot (the NGP and DeadSpace 2 episode) and I’m really enjoying it. It’ll be staying in my subscriptions.

That intro is awful though.

3907

I agree Joystiqs intro is terrible, but at least it indicates that some thought and production has gone into it. Its not just a couple of guys sitting there with beers saying “so… games then… guess its that time of week we should talk about them”.

3908

Twitter killed TWiT really. TWiT began great and then a year (maybe two) passed and it turned to shit. I think I glanced at Twit.tv a year ago and I saw a live feed of Leo telling his daughter to relax about some teacher she has in France (boarding school?). He seemed way overworked.

I think the combination of Twitter (and the correlation between that and the rise in nerd celebrity) plus declining contributor interest (honestly I thought it was a breath of fresh air when Calacanis came on because at least he seemed enthusiastic) and Leo bringing less to the table (because he has like 8 other shows to do) killed TWiT. I don’t know how profitable it is, but I do remember them getting pretty high profile advertisers last time I listened (Visa, I think?).

And yes parentheses are annoying (I know).

3909

TWiT’s advertisers are Ford, Audible, GoToMeeting, some blog hosting service, and Corbomite (backup service).

Of those the Ford commercials are kind of interesting because of the whole Ford Sync thing. A friend of mine just got a Ford for the Sync stuff and my response was, “That’s all great, but, at the end of the day, you still end up driving a Ford.”

I like the Audible commercials because they recommend books.

The other three seem like not a big deal. I still like TWiT for phone news (I still don’t have a smartphone, but I’m about to make the leap), and it helps with apps and Mac stuff that I don’t care enough to read about but I like to know what’s going on. Plus it’s sometimes very funny.

3910

I only listen to podcasts during my commute, so my wife isn’t with me. When she is with me and I’m driving, I don’t listen to podcasts because I actually want to hear what the guys are saying and it’d be pretty rude to ask her to shut up so I can listen.

3911

My wife won’t even listen to my own games podcast, much less someone else’s. She’s embarrassed by the entire concept. Listening to one alongside her is…not in the cards for me.

3912

My girlfriend has some sort of allergic reaction to passenger seats which causes her to pass out after about thirty minutes of contact. Sometimes she’ll wake up in the middle of a show and listen for a bit. She doesn’t mind. Sometimes she even asks questions about the topics or games.

I wouldn’t play the Debriefings around her for exactly the content they seem to imagine makes them more interesting. Some of their stories are cute, but those are generally buried deep within a couple hours of them grasping at whatever immediate puerility first pops into their heads, and turboing their comedy buttons so hard that only dust and sparks issue from their jokeholes.

3913

I downloaded the Joystiq podcast on recommendation here and that horrible opening almost had me scrambling for the delete button, but then I recognized Justin M. (who I enjoyed on a recent guest stint on GWJ Conference Call) and settled in nicely. It always helps for me when one guy has an accent as well. Part of the reason I slavishly listen to One Life Left and Midlife Gamer.

Liked Tom on Jumping the Shark this morning, holding forth on DC Universe Online (my current obsession to the exclusion of all other games). Preach it.

3914

Yeah, you still end up driving a Ford. The one American manufacturer that actually prevailed while all others failed. The manufacturer that deservedly won Motor Trend’s (and many others’) Car of the Year awards. The manufacturer with some amazing 2011 models already on roads, and even more 2012 models that already look impressive.

Herp derp?

Anyway, TWiT’s advertisements aren’t that big of a deal. Easy to skip, but still sometimes interesting. The fact that Leo only advertises products and services he himself uses gives them much credibility - I’ve been a very happy Carbonite user for almost a year, and occasionally a happy Audible subscriber whenever I want some audiobooks.

Those advertisements have allowed his network to thrive like crazy, so kudos to him for finding a very successful business model that’s pushing podcasts to hundreds of thousands (if not millions by now) listeners ever week.

3915

Glad I’m not alone on the intro thing.

And yeah, Justin put on a good show for GWJ. Forgetting that he was from Joystiq, the recognisable voice did wonders to help me get into the cast this time around.

3916

It’s a shame the shows are so bad.

3917

I still enjoy TWiT itself. Occasionally listened to the Google and Apple shows, which were also good. Windows Weekly is hit and miss depending on how obsessed with his self-importance Paul Thurrott decides to be. Roz Rows was a very interesting show during its few limited runs. I have only listened to a couple of the other shows, but nothing seems “so bad” from what I’ve heard at all.

Really, the only time TWiT gets into “bad” territory is when one of the guests or hosts decides to say anything related to video games.

3918

I gave up on TWiT when it became meandering nonsense, which was some years ago. Security Now is as…whatever you want to call it…as it ever has been; I listen when I want some background noise. The Google show is good, mostly because the non-Leo hosts are interesting, enthusiastic, and non-sycophants (which is the death knell of the Apple show).

3919

If you stopped listening to TWiT years ago then I’d say it’s not fair to comment on its quality during the last couple of years. I still listen week-to-week, and enjoy it almost entirely because of the guests on the shows. While I’d disagree that “he spends almost as much time talking about the hosts as he does about topics” as someone else said, when they do talk about the hosts, it’s usually pretty interesting.

Also, he doesn’t have Calicanis on his show anymore, which is an automatic improvement in my book. The guy is a freaking self-promoting sociopath it seems like.

3920

I listen from time to time to see if it’s gotten any better, especially if the guest list is interesting that week. I long ago established a no-Dvorak rule, though.