So Leigh Alexander was there after all? rimshot
The first GDC podcast was horrible. Bad sound quality plus everyone talking at the same time makes me ears bleed.
And, like, a dogpile of snark.
The Idle Thumbs GDC cast was surprisingly boring, but the Weekend Confirmed GDC cast (with Jon Davison & Mark MacDonald) is surprisingly good.
Man, every time I see horror stories in this thread I end up wondering just what the average quality – or professionalism – level of gaming podcasts is. (For reference, I listen to Three Moves Ahead, QT3 Games, and - more intermittently - Active Time Babble and Jumping the Shark, and I have no horror stories about any of them).
I always enjoy Davidson. He seems to be one of the few people with enough confidence and camaraderie with Garnett Lee to not be pushed around or verbally dominated in discussions.
Jazar
3987
Listening to the Weekend Confirmed GDC cast now and Garnett can’t talk about a game to save his life. If you don’t know the game he’s talking about, the way he jumps around between specifics and generalities will make you even more confused. Mark had to take the reins a few times to keep the discussion actually worthwhile.
Mark: "Ok so what do you think about [Pixel Junk Shooter 2]?
Garnett: “So there’s two parts to it. Obviously there’s this crazy multiplayer edition that they did to the game, that is… I’m curious… where the balance… the question I want to ask most about the game is where do you guys set the balance for the competative nature of the game?”
Agreed. Garnett is probably my favorite video game podcast host. But when it comes to describing a game in detail or defending a position he often comes up lacking. Which I have always found strange, since presumably describing and critiquing games is his full time job.
I just think that Garnett isn’t very quick on his feet. For example, Jeff Cannata cracks jokes at a pretty quick pace, but the best Garnett can usually do is simply repeat whatever Cannata said in a “funny” voice. In a podcast setting Garnett does a great job planning the show and moving the discussion along, but he’s never the most interesting or astute person during discussions.
Yep, he’s an excellent “show runner” and he’s apparently a very networked guy in the games biz, which helps get access and guests. But he can’t seem to just stand back and let his guests do what they do, which they do better than he.
I also hate the “repeat a joke in a funny voice” thing. It’s as bad as “ums” and “ers.” Worse, even, because it actually interferes with whatever flow or timing the other person is trying to establish.
He also got pretty flustered at the hambone handling of the Q-Games guest, so it just spiraled down from there, retreating to sophomorism and more flustering when someone else ragged on him for it.
We don’t really have horror stories. We just like to use this outlet to bitch about what would otherwise be an intensely solitary activity.
I hated the GDC podcasts! More like shoutcasts! Podshouts! Unlistenable! Argh!
Hey, we say nice things too! I started listening to the Jumping the Shark podcast because of the good things people said in this thread.
LMN8R
3994
I could do without bullshit like “is SOCOM still relevant anymore??” though. Just talk about the games, stop conflating your personal disinterest in the series with some notion that the entire series is “irrelevant”. Who gives a shit?
(not a SOCOM fan, never played any games in the series)
BlakeD
3995
I posted this in the Thief 4 thread as well, but it looks like there’s a new podcast series by the Singapore/MIT Gambit Game Lab on the defunct Looking Glass Studios.
Looks like the first one has three former alums: Austin Grossman, Andrew Grant, and Sara Verrilli. Not sure how many there are going to be in the series, but thought it was worth sharing.
http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/audio/looking_glass_studios_podcast/
_Poe
3996
The Amnesia talk in the second Idle Thumbs Conf Grenade is exactly what I miss most about that cast.
LMN8R
3997
Yep - I’ve heard so many passing mentions of Amnesia on a variety of other podcasts, but never anything beyond “omg scary”. Idle Thumbs was the first podcast where I heard they actually go into awesome detail about the game.
jabroni
3998
I also really liked Sean Vanaman’s Disney story. He earned that “Famous” nickname.
Bombcast live was pretty hilarious. Jeff did a full on NDX segment. And to anyone stepping up to the Mic in the future please think long and hard before doing so and let the Bombcast boys make the jokes.
The live Bombcast once again proved that Johnny V is pretty funny in small doses. He’s kind of everyon’e favorite punching bag, but he takes it well. His “Tron three-way” story cracked me the hell up.
