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Tag: Geek

Jumping the Shark Podcast #111

Todd Brakke 10 Comments

No High Scores

Awaiting you on this week’s Jumping the Shark, it’s a whole lot of court intrigue as Bill dons a crown for Crusader Kings 2 and changes world history. If you were ever curious to know how King Harald of Norway could have erased England from the map, this is your show. If you never wanted to know how that might’ve happened, then you need to take some time to yourself and really think about your place in the world and why you lack an inquisitive nature. Just say’n. But, hey, if it’s just not gonna happen for you with this game then Brandon’s got you covered with tons of thoughts on the new Mass Effect 3 demo. We also spend some time making fun of the ridiculous amount of DLC items in the game. Good times.

On a couple of quick house-keeping notes: As Brandon noted on the show, the ever-overworked Danielle is officially taking a hiatus from the podcast. You’ll still be able to read her voice here at the site, but for the time being you’ll have to live with JtS being a Brandon, Bill, and Todd affair. We are all very sad. Also, since we’re no longer a Gameshark podcast, and my editing time isn’t compensated, Brandon has stepped up in a big way by volunteering to edit the show every other week. He’s a real peach, that guy. (Seriously. Editing the show nearly every single weekend for two years wears on you, so Brandon allowing me a weekend off every other week is a godsend that’ll help keep the ball rolling.) This is important to note for this week’s show because I put in an outtake from last week’s recording that Brandon didn’t have access to. I probably should have left it to the disappear into the ether, but I liked it too much. So, when you hear references to Diablo 3 in the outtakes, take your mind back to episode #110. It’ll all make sense.

As always, enjoy the show!

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(The embedded feed is included after the break.)

Jumping the Shark Podcast #110

Todd Brakke 8 Comments

No High Scores

With Danielle off surfing (not the web, mind you, actual surfing), Jumping the Shark #110 lets us boys run wild. There are kegs and strippers, a fire truck, and I think someone brought a donkey in the room at one point. (Kudos to you if that reference makes any kind of sense at all.) Once we get to down business, though, it’s all business. Bill tells Brandon and I that we’re stupid for liking Elder Sign so much. It’s a brutal evisceration that should be reserved for people that like Fran Drescher’s laugh. Fortunately for us, he had to interrupt the beating so he could send some disgruntlement in the direction of Kingdoms of Amalur. Brandon thinks The Darkness II is just ducky. And I put on my best Concern Troll mask and work through my discomfort with the Diablo 3 beta experience. All that and so much more awaits you this week on JTS!

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Edit Type: Skype
(The embedded feed is included after the break.)

 

Jumping the Shark Podcast #109

Todd Brakke 23 Comments

No High Scores

On Jumping the Shark #109 the gang is all-in for sanity rattling Cthulhian adventures on the iPad. Brandon deals with the trauma of trying to play Wasted Lands without crashing. Then he and I wade into the haunted museum of Elder Sign: Omens, while Bill explains all the Cthulhu mythology we don’t get. Bill keeps the ball rolling with some thoughts on King Arthur 2 and we segue from that into a discussion on the growing usage of online passes in video games, their affect on the used market, and whether it’s a good or bad thing. Finally, we wrap it up with some of Danielle’s thoughts on Trine 2, Ahmish bashing, and, is this the end of the line for Jumping the Shark? We’re not entirely sure. More details on that after the break…

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Still with me? Good.

So if you’ve listened to the show you’ve heard Bill address that, in all likelihood, Gameshark won’t be funding Jumping the Shark any further. If you haven’t – surprise!

It’s a shame if this comes to pass, but frankly, who, two years ago, thought we’d still be here? Not me. While we don’t know what changes we might have to make as a result of whatever is happening over there, the big point here is the show isn’t going anywhere. Its days as Gameshark.com’s official podcast are probably numbered. The name may have to change. Or not. I may take up the saxophone and become a street player, but that’s a separate issue. Whatever. Regardless of what happens, we’ll still be doing a show and you’ll still find it here at No High Scores. Why? Because you people can’t live without us and we all know it.

Jumping the Shark Podcast #108

Todd Brakke 12 Comments

No High Scores

Served up special for Jumping the Shark #108 our good friend and PR flack extraordinaire Troy Goodfellow returns to the show to help me talk about all the goings on at Paradox Convention 2012. Hear a detailed and fact-filled accounting of The War of the Roses (if you compare my knowledge of that history to, say, my six year old’s), an update on Crusader Kings 2, why Bill is betting me $10,000 I will not play Napoleon’s Campaigns 2, and why Troy thinks you should give Warlock some extra attention. After that Bill and Danielle ask if the games industry is getting too big for its britches and Brandon refreshes his love of Quarrel. Enjoy!

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Jumping the Shark Podcast Episode 107

Todd Brakke 6 Comments

When Todd asked me to edit this week’s podcast on account of him being in Sweden, I told him I was going to ditch the usual music and replace it with one of the many excellent songs that makes up Pearl Jam’s fantastic catalog. He was, in a word, uncomfortable with this. I’m not sure if he thought that Eddie would sue us or if Jeff Ament would kick down his door and punch his kids in the face, but whatever the case, I didn’t want to push it. Instead I went with the usual music rather than bring the show in on the heels of a truly spectacular Mike McCready guitar solo. I mean, I personally can’t think of a better way to end the show than with Yellow Ledbetter, but it’s best not make one’s producer uncomfortable.

I can, however, post whatever the heck I want for this podcast post, hence the above video. Backspacer is filled with a number of touching songs and Just Breathe is one of them. I was going to go with The Fixer because it’s an absolutely awesome song, but I’m feeling mellow today, hence this one.

Oh right, the podcast…

Tom Chick joined us this week to talk about his decision to review games solely for Quarter to Three. That kind of naturally led us into a discusson on the various changes recently taking place within games journalism, which I was concerned would be a little too inside baseball-y but I think we managed to handle it well enough. From there we were kind of all over the place, touching on the Amalur demo, the shitty Saints Row: The Third DLC, Scary Girl, Darkness 2, Mage Knight and probably other things that I can’t remember right now. I, personally, am still struggling with trying to keep the bouncing between topics sounding natural and I know I’m not doing as well as I could be, but it’s still fairly new for all of us. As with most things, I blame Todd. At any rate, here’s the show:

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I can’t get the embedded feed to work on account of me being a moron, so instead, here’s a totally badass version of Yellow Ledbetter.